Page 44 of Call of the Fathoms (Deep Waters #4)

Forty-Four

Alexia

T hey returned without hurrying like they might have once before. Alexia wanted to indulge herself in him. And for the first time in her life, she didn’t feel like she had any duties to return to. After all, she had completed her mission. She had brought back an undine of impressive power and she had saved the world with him.

Let the others figure out the rest of it. She wasn’t the person to ask about relocation or how other people might feel. She was a soldier. Always had been, and always would be.

So she fought a battle of a different kind with him. Fortis fought with lips, and teeth, and tongue, learning each other’s bodies anew as it felt like the two of them were different people. Like they were allowed to be who they wanted to be for the first time.

But eventually, reality set in. They needed to return to Tau, at least for a little while. Fortis gathered her up in his arms, a low growl rumbling through him as she wrapped her legs around his tail and her arms around his neck.

“Don’t look at me like that,” he rumbled, pressing a kiss to the side of her neck. “We won’t leave.”

“You and I both need to eat something more substantial than fish you caught in the ocean.” She laughed at his antics, though.

With him, she felt like she was his world. And that was a blessing. It was more than she ever thought she’d get in this life.

He sighed and pressed their foreheads together, soaking her in one more time as he placed the breathing tube in her neck. It was an easier insertion these days. He’d done it so many times, she finally had that small bundle of goo that kept it from resealing as she healed, just like the other undine mates.

“Fine,” he grumbled. “But the first moment I can steal you away, I intend to.”

“Of course you do.”

And she wouldn’t stop him. Together, they swirled through the waters until they approached Tau again. She had expected to at least see some bodies floating in the water, but there was nothing around the city but suspiciously clean water.

A bright flash of yellow approached them, and at first she thought it was Maketes. But then she realized the light was a bright glow, and she knew it wasn’t any of the undines who were more used to shallow waters. This was a depthstrider.

Aulax raced toward them and let out a whooping call before he finally reached their side. “And here I was thinking you’d be gone for at least a week!”

Fortis shifted her over and reached for his son.

She hadn’t expected to be greeted with a hug. When was the last time that had happened? Had it ever happened? And it wasn’t like they moved her out of the way so that Fortis could have a moment with his son, either. Aulax grabbed her and wrapped her up in the hug as much as his father. The wall of undine wrapped around her, tugging her deeper into their family unit and she...

She didn’t know what to do with this. Was she meant to hug them back?

Aulax ruffled her hair with his hand and tugged her even harder until she was sandwiched between the two of them. “You’re overthinking it. Just be hugged and hug back.”

This would take a lot of getting used to. But she snuggled into the surprising heat of the two of them and let herself relax. Maybe it was new and uncomfortable, but it was also hers. And that was something she valued.

Finally Aulax drew back and with another tug at her hair, he guided them back to Tau. “When you offered the city to Mira, I think at first she wasn’t going to take it. There are an awful lot of ghosts in this city, but also I think she was excited. The more contacts she made, the more she thought it was a good idea. Of course, many of the people from Alpha aren’t trustworthy to be left alone yet. Not in a city like this. But there were plenty of families in Beta who have been working for a very long time and haven’t gotten the space they need to grow. This facility could be a home for them, unlike any other.”

That had always been Alexia’s hope. They spun in the water around one of the coiling hallways and then up into one of the few moon pools in the city. This was where ships usually had at least two check points before they were let into Tau. Now, all the doors were open.

A few undines swam in the spears of light that illuminated them from the city. A couple of them had tablets in their hands, holding them up to scan pieces of the city that might need to be repaired after the fight. Droids were also in the water, some of them zipping past with what looked like vital seeds or food. Maybe they were bringing some of these resources to the other cities who desperately needed it.

She liked that idea. They should be doing something along those lines. Spreading the wealth and ensuring the longevity of each city.

“Mira wanted to talk with you,” Aulax said, looking at her and not Fortis. “I think about that room full of bodies.”

“The drowned ones?”

“No. The people who haven’t woken up yet.” He scratched the back of his neck. “No one else will deal with them, I’m afraid. The People of Water don’t like... them.”

Right. That made sense.

Fortis grabbed her arm, making her look at him before she left. “Do you hear that?” he asked.

“Hear what?”

“The voice.”

She furrowed her brow and tried to listen as hard as she could. “No, Fortis. I don’t hear any voice.”

He looked troubled by that fact, but then he shook his head as though to clear the thoughts from his mind. “It’s fine. I forget that the sea talks to me, at times. It is just...”

“A new voice,” Aulax interrupted. “Why is there a new voice?”

The two of them stared at each other, and she feared she was missing something very, very important.

“Boys?” she asked, slowly. “Why does that sound bad?”

They remained looking at each other, and then she realized they were listening . Intently. Their eyes were fogged, and some of the other depthstriders had also stopped moving. They were all staring into the distance as though listening to something or someone who she could not hear.

Swallowing, she sat down on the edge of the moon pool and waited. Soon, Mira joined her as well. The two of them remained quietly looking at all these frozen undines, even though some of the higher water ones moved around them. As though it was normal to see the depthstriders all freeze as one.

“Have you ever seen this happen before?” Alexia asked.

“No. But Arges said it’s nothing that’s hurting them, so we shouldn’t worry too much.” Mira put her hand on her shoulder and squeezed. “Perhaps we should leave them to it. The depthstriders are closer to the ocean than any other of their kind, and sometimes it talks to them. Like a goddess.”

“They said it was a new voice.”

She looked over her shoulder and up into Mira’s troubled expression, but the redhead quickly wiped that look off her face the moment she saw Alexia looking at her. “We’ll deal with it when we must. But first, I would have your opinion on those rooms full of people.”

Standing, Alexia headed off with her, but stopped into one of the guard rooms to change her clothing. She was wet and covered in only a jacket and pants that had certainly seen better days. If Mira reacted to seeing her so unclothed, the other woman was very good at hiding it.

Finally, she headed off toward the room where all of her nightmares had begun. When she walked into the area for genetic enhancements, she was pleased to find none of the children were there.

Mira waved at the empty tubes where some of them had still been growing. “Children, we know what to do with. Even though they are going to have different needs, we already reached out to Beta and many of the people who were relocated from Alpha. Quite a few of them have experience in childcare, and they have been informed that these are slightly different children than they are used to. I’m certain with enough time and love, they will be just like everyone else.”

“That’s... nice.” Alexia didn’t have the right words for the relief that poured through her. These kids, who were just like her, were going to have a normal life. People weren’t going to hate them or fear them or try to put them in little boxes like that was a normal thing for children to suffer through.

She was going to see them grow into people. Just like they were supposed to be. Even if they were a little stronger than most or if they were a little more capable, they were not going to be looked at as different.

They were just kids.

Mira smiled at her, as though she understood the meaning underneath those two words. “Your Doctor Barker has offered to be their personal physician throughout their lives. He’s already quite concerned about the genetic enhancements and what that might mean for children or breeding with the rest of us. He thinks you all might be the future of humanity. Even if the origin of where your bloodlines came from is a little unusual.”

She grinned. “I hope they make up the most ridiculous story about where we came from. I’m going to tell the children we’re aliens who came from Above.”

“You just might be. Doctor Barker has made suggestions that your people might be able to survive on the surface, or at the very least, be hardy enough to manage it.” Mira shrugged. “Who knows? Maybe someday we’ll make a trek up there and discover other people already living there.”

Wouldn’t that be a surprise?

Alexia strode through the room that had inspired all her personal nightmares, and into the frigid room where all the reborns were stored. Her breath fogged in front of her mouth as she stood there with Mira, looking at all the hundreds of tubes filled with people. Each of them were identical to the others. A perfect match. A clone of all twenty-five people who had ended the world.

It was strange to look at them. She walked a few feet forward and stopped in front of a woman suspended in front of her. She was a clone of a lesser known Original. The woman had been a social recluse.

“Clara,” Alexia said. “This one is a clone of Clara, one of the scientists who headed the genetic program.”

“Oh, so some of the Originals were actually useful, then?”

“Some of them. Most were intelligent folks back in the day. Scientists, doctors, Harlow was a physicist. But hundreds of years of life had made everything boring and some things she knew would never have answers. Why we were here, what lives beyond our planet, all of that knowledge was taken from them the moment they couldn’t get off this planet and had to come underneath the sea.” She laid a hand on the ice cold glass, fractals of frost spearing between her fingers. “But these people are not them.”

“That’s why we wanted you here. We have a bit of a problem. Waking them all and sending them to the cities underneath the sea is going to be difficult. Swarms of the same person walking around isn’t going to be good for... anyone.” Mira ran a hand down her face. “Logically, we all understand these aren’t the same people. They’ve never been awake. They don’t even have memories. But they need to have a decision made about where they are going and what we are doing with them. Frankly, I don’t feel like I should be the one making that choice.”

Of course they couldn’t just wake them all and unleash every single one of them into general populace. There were hundreds of them. So many clones in varying states of age.

She headed out of the icy cold room and booted up one of the computers. She brought up the life chart for Mira to see. “There are eight hundred and fifty-four clones currently in this room. Half of them have already been used. The reborns are frozen and put back in stasis if some of their organs have been harvested, but there were more organs that still be used. Essentially, if they only removed a kidney or a liver, they would keep the reborn alive just to take more organs and have less waste.”

Mira’s face twisted in disgust. She didn’t have to say anything.

“I agree. But it was the only way they could make sure that every body was appropriately used and not wasted.” She typed in a few more things and then pointed at the screen. “That leaves us with four hundred and twenty-seven. Half of which are still in the zygote phase. They can be terminated without feeling any guilt. They are still growing.”

“So that ends up being...”

“Two hundred and twelve. Just about eight versions of each person left. I would suggest that a set of them who are capable of existing on their own as adults, be put in separate cities. They’re unlikely to ever meet.” She pointed to a count. “It’s essentially two of each person that are always available for some sort of need.”

“One can go to Beta for now. I can have someone there show them the ropes and how to be people. The other can remain here.”

Alexia pointed to a few more numbers. “And there are six more each that are babies. Two could be brought out into the world as twins.”

Sitting on one of the chairs near her, Mira blew out a long breath and puffed her cheeks. “So there’s a hundred more. That still leaves us with what? A hundred and twelve people in stasis?”

Alexia nodded. It didn’t settle right, but that was where they were. “We can’t just wake them up now. They’ll have to remain as they are and slowly be added into the cities.”

“We could do the same here. It’s unlikely that Beta and Tau will mingle, but there’s always the chance.”

“A hundred people that we’re choosing to keep asleep.” Alexia shook her head. “It feels wrong.”

“There’s nowhere else to put them, unless you want them to go to the prison city.”

“I don’t,” Alexia snapped. “I know it’s the right thing to do. They will wake up eventually. I just... I wish I could save them all.”

“You did save them all.” Mira scooted her chair closer, pointing at the numbers once again. “If you weren’t here, these people would have been used for god knows what. Now, they have a chance at a normal life. Alexia, you have to take that as the sign that it is. Without you, they would have all suffered a much worse fate than waiting a few more years to wake up.”

Alexia nodded and tried to get that through her head.

“Listen to me. You’re saving four hundred and twenty-seven people. Not to mention countless others that Tau was controlling and using to distract from what was going on here.” Mira grabbed her hands and squeezed them. “Take the time you need to let this settle in. I’m sure it’s not easy to believe. But it’s the truth.”

The truth.

Alexia bit her lips and nodded. She could believe it. Someday.

But for now, she would help get these reborns to homes where they could live. Really live.