Authors: Sally Painter
“I know, dear, it hurts me, too.” Ellen
leaned over and drew her arm around Randi’s shoulders.
* * * * *
Randi spent the next days poring over the
autopsy report, looking for something that would stand out as the trigger for
William’s death, yet found nothing. Simple degradation of cells. How had she
not seen it coming? Missing him was the worst feeling she’d ever known. When
she thought of the last months and how often they’d been separated, she was consumed
with regrets.
“If only…” she mumbled, knowing those two
words were now her worst enemy.
She stared down at the data stream flashing
over the holograph desk. It was as if William had simply stopped breathing. No
cursor markers. Nothing to trace back to the moment it started. She recalled an
ancient saying,
all living things have a lifespan, some are long while
others are short.
Could it be so simple? Had William lived out his short
lifespan? She wanted to place his death on a single cause, but the only thing
she knew for certain was he died in his sleep when his cells had suddenly begun
to deteriorate.
“William,” she whispered his name, afraid
to say it louder or she’d surely crumble under the silence when he didn’t
respond.
Days drifted into weeks and Randi returned
to Sexed Up, no longer feeling the energetic spark about her work. She created
another sex replacement and six months later was working on the next bigger and
better version, but she still pined for William. She would always long for him.
The robots only reminded her of what she had lost and how her heart had died
with William.
“There is an incoming call for you, Dr.
Mayers,” the office computer announced.
“Put it through.” Randi sat back in the
chair and stared at the blank screen. Her pulse spiked when no image appeared.
“Randi Mayers?”
“Speaking,” she responded.
“You don’t know me, but I have some
important information for you.”
“What kind of information?”
“The William kind.”
She leaned forward. Now she understood why
the call was in the privacy setting with no image showing. She couldn’t be
certain if the caller was pro-male or anti-male. Either way, she didn’t care.
William was gone. The hope he’d represented for the world—for her—was gone.
“Who is this? What do you want?” she asked.
Anger rushed through her.
“All we want is for the truth to be told.”
“Truth?”
“I know what really happened to William.
I’ll explain more if you can meet me in an hour at Pier Shrimp House. You know
where it is?”
“Yes.”
“Come alone. You have nothing to fear from
me. I’ll recognize you.”
* * * * *
When she arrived at the restaurant, Randi
was ushered to a table in the back overlooking the ocean. She sat there
remembering how William had surprised her that night in the hot tub. The memory
darkened when pain rushed in, shoving the joyous thoughts aside with the brutal
memory of his cold body.
She squared her shoulders. Just what kind
of information did the caller have? A nervous quivering had settled in her
stomach from the moment she’d received the call and hadn’t gone away.
Tragedy had brought her full circle in her
career. Since there was no more DNA, at least no viable DNA, and certainly no
original samples on the black market, she was back to creating synthetic sex
replacements. Even if there had been more DNA and she’d managed to clone a
male, it wouldn’t have been William. He was gone forever. Maybe it was nature’s
way of keeping the dead dead.
She’d been surprised how readily Ellen had
accepted that they could no longer pursue the mission to reintroduce human males
into society. Her boss had been changed by the destruction of the lab too.
She’d said something the day after William’s funeral—held in private and marked
with a stone plaque with the name William etched into the stone and no
dates—that still haunted Randi.
“Perhaps it’s best to just let the world
continue on its collision course. This must be God’s will.”
Did Ellen really feel that way? It was hard
to believe the CEO would give up so easily.
Randi was grateful the press hadn’t picked
up on anything and no one outside the handful of Sexed Up employees knew about
the project and its horrid demise. The explosion was believed to be an
undiscovered underground arsenal that blew up. She knew Ellen had worked hard
to perpetuate the cover story and the world had believed it.
“What can I get you?” the waitress asked.
Randi looked over the hologram menu.
“I’ll have the seafood platter and ice
tea.”
“Maybe you would prefer something else, Dr.
Mayers,” the waitress smiled stiffly. “Like a generous helping of the truth?”
Randi pursed her lips together and stared
up at the young woman. She was tall and thin and wore her red hair in a
ponytail.
“This is the only way I could meet you
safely. Just pretend we’re discussing the menu. Now, what I’m about to tell you
is going to sound impossible, but I’m risking my life and the lives of
thousands by telling you this.”
“What about the fettuccini—is it any good?”
Randi asked, trying to keep her voice from shaking. “Thousands?”
“Please don’t create a scene.”
Randi nodded.
“First of all, your company was responsible
for the explosion in the lab.”
Randi tightened her hands in her lap and
gritted her teeth to keep from screaming her outrage over such a wild
accusation. She hardened her stare on the waitress.
“Please look at the menu and try not to
show any emotion. I know you don’t want to hear this, but I think you prefer
the truth over cover-ups.”
“W-Why…” her voice broke off, “why would my
company do that? They were on a mission to—”
“They were on a mission, only not the one
you thought.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, there are right-wingers in
disguise within Sexed Up. They never wanted men to be created. They espouse the
current government’s belief that the destruction of men was God’s will.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“I didn’t think you would. When I bring
your ticket at the end of the meal, it’ll have an address on it. Go there at
sunset and you’ll see I’m telling you the truth.”
“I’m not going anywhere—”
“Did you love William?” the woman asked,
staring down at her.
“How do you know about him?” Randi bit back
the tears threatening to unravel her strained control.
“I know everything. I’m with the group you
thought
you were working for at Sexed Up. Please, if you want to know the truth, go
to the address.” She raised her voice. “I’ll have your order in just a few
minutes.” She turned before Randi could question her further.
It wasn’t possible. Sexed Up? Not Ellen. So
who? The Board of Directors? Why would they go to so much trouble? All they had
to do was destroy the DNA before they ever gave it to her. Unless…” Her mind
whirled. Unless not all of them were right-wing anti-male. It would only take
one. Randi couldn’t believe it.
Her mind filled with discussions she’d had
with Ellen. She remembered the look on Ellen’s face when she’d played the
surveillance vid of Dr. Eastman and Leachum. Ellen had been shocked and
extremely nervous. She knew it wasn’t Ellen. Yet the CEO hadn’t fired Eastman.
Instead, she’d gone into great detail how she would keep her on payroll and
feed her misinformation. Who could Randi trust? Ellen? The waitress?
It was impossible to eat so she asked for
the check. When the waitress handed the hologram tablet to her, the woman
leaned over to whisper, “You have nothing to lose if you go, but everything
will be lost if you don’t.”
Randi started to respond, but once more the
perky redhead pivoted and disappeared into the next dining room. She turned the
small chip over and sure enough there was an address scratched on the back of
it. An address in the seedy side of the city and she wasn’t sure she wanted to
go, especially at sunset. Randi tucked the chip in her pocket and swiped her
card through the slot in the table to pay the bill. She looked around for the
waitress before leaving but the young woman wasn’t in the main dining area.
Randi left the Pier Shrimp House and
started down the boardwalk taking the long way back to her office. The pounding
surf and constant caw of seagulls grounded her frayed emotions and in the
brilliant afternoon light, the incident seemed absurd. Yet…how had the waitress
known William’s name? And she spoke about the truth the same way he had.
“William…” Her lips trembled over his name
and she swiped at the tears.
She owed him the truth. She took a deep
breath and entered the office building from the ocean side. She rode the
elevator to the top floor, staring out across the vast Atlantic Ocean until the
doors pinged open and she turned to exit, nearly colliding into Ellen.
“Oh Randi, I’m so glad I bumped into you.
Ride back down with me. I’m late for a luncheon. Sexed Up is receiving the
Critic’s Award for your latest design, George. Which I lovingly call Georgie,
the sex orgy. He is one delicious bot.”
Randi nodded and reached over to press the
ruby on Ellen’s bracelet.
“What’s wrong?” Ellen asked.
“Is that it then?” Randi frowned at her.
“What?”
“It’s been months and not once have you
mentioned reviving the project.” Randi tried to keep the anger from biting her
words.
“The only decent DNA sample is gone. What
do you want me to do, Randi? Pull it out my ass?” Anger flashed over Ellen’s
face.
“If William’s DNA survived from that clinic
nearly two hundred and fifty years ago then surely other samples were
salvaged.”
“As a matter of fact there were five,”
Ellen sighed.
“Ellen?” Her heart thudded hard. Her boss
had told her there were no other samples. What else was the CEO not sharing
with her?
“We bought all five. Unfortunately, the
other samples were corrupt. We couldn’t revive the cells enough to be viable.”
Ellen flipped her hair over one shoulder and trained her stare on Randi.
“What?” Randi stared at the woman, trying
to decide if Ellen was telling the truth.
“I didn’t see any reason to tell you.”
“I just can’t believe this,” Randi shook
her head and paced the tight confines of the glass elevator.
“Look, you have to let this go, Randi. I
certainly have. It was a huge expense, but George is going to more than make up
for the loss.”
“And that’s all it’s about? Money?” she
asked, staring at Ellen, longing to find a small thread of hope she could latch
on to.
Ellen shrugged.
“We just roll over and die then. Literally.
We let the elite inherit the earth?” Randi glared at her, beginning to believe
the waitress was right. Maybe she didn’t know Ellen. Maybe Ellen was the one
who had sabotaged the project. She mentally shook her head. That didn’t make
any sense. Ellen had wanted this project to be successful as much as she.
“If you know of some other way to do this,
then please tell me. I’m eager to resume the project, but what can we do?”
Ellen asked.
“I don’t know.” Randi ran her hand through
her hair. “It’s just…I don’t know, Ellen.”
“It’s time to let it go and get on with
your life.” Ellen put her hand on Randi’s shoulder.
Oddly, instead of finding the consoling
touch comforting, Randi felt threatened.
“Anyway…” Ellen moved to look out the glass
elevator wall and then turned to face Randi again. “I wanted you to ride down
with me because I needed to give you a heads up. Our investors are coming into
town tonight and I’ll be conducting a tour for them tomorrow, so if you could
make sure your lab is tidied up and no secret projects out in the open.”
“We have no more secret projects,” Randi
reminded her.
“Well, your latest sex replacement,
Antonio, certainly isn’t common knowledge.”
Randi nodded.
“Just make sure it’s all perfect and once
they’ve been through the lab, why don’t you make it an early weekend. You don’t
look so good.”
“Thank you, Ellen,” she said with hopefully
a sincere smile, when in reality she wanted to scream at her boss and demand to
know if she was the traitor. Instead, she stood silently in the elevator while
the doors opened and Ellen stepped out.
“And congrats on the award you’re winning
for us today. Anything you want me to say in the acceptance speech?” Ellen
smiled from the rear lobby.
“Just that George represents a dream for
the future,” she said as the doors started to close. “A dream that died,” she
added. Ellen’s face clouded into a pensive frown and Randi smiled slightly as
the doors closed.
As the sun disappeared along the watery
horizon, Randi regretted having walked to the west-side docks. She was risking
her life by coming here and it would be a bigger risk walking home. No cab
would venture into the area after dark. Still, she had to know the truth.
If
there was a hidden truth. Part of her longed for there to be more, while
another part of her just wanted it to be over. She didn’t know how to make it
end—how to stop the pain. So here she stood, staring at the house that matched
the address on the gold chip she held in front of her.
The house was so dilapidated and in such an
extreme state of disrepair, she worried about stepping onto the wood porch,
fearing the movement might jar it into tumbling upon itself like a set of
dominos. She took a long deep breath and stepped onto the rotting porch,
careful to dodge the missing pieces and jagged gaps.
She reached to grasp the rusty handle on
the torn screen door when the Victorian glass door behind it creaked open and
the waitress from the restaurant stood smiling at her.
“I was worried you wouldn’t come,” she said
and pushed the screen door open.
The faded wood frame creaked on its rusty
hinges and Randi caught it but didn’t enter, still not sure about entering the
house.
“I just want to know what this is about,”
Randi clipped, glancing over her shoulder. The hairs along the nape of her neck
tingled and she sensed someone watching her.
“Come in, the interior is much nicer,” the
woman said and turned into the house.
Randi started to comment how she found that
impossible to believe, but the waitress disappeared inside the dark, abandoned
house. Standing in the open doorway, Randi’s nostrils prickled with the scent
of neglect.
“Over here,” came the whisper and Randi
took a timid step inside the dusty foyer, noticing the expensive tile floor,
now caked with mud and all kinds of debris.
She lifted her stare and saw a small light
shining a few feet away and slid her feet in front of her, afraid to lift them
lest she trip over a pile of garbage.
The waitress retraced her steps, shining the
flashlight beam in front of Randi.
Relieved to have the light, Randi picked
her way through the stacks of discarded clothing, chairs and mostly
unrecognizable trash. How could the waitress believe this was better?
“Down here,” the woman said and opened a
side door.
“I’m not going down there,” Randi said as
the musty cellar smell assaulted her nostrils.
“It’s okay, Randi. We don’t want to hurt
you. We just want you to know what really happened to William.”
“I know what happened to him.” Her voice
cracked under the onslaught of sudden tears. “It took a while, but the cause
was identified…degradation on a cellular level.”
“And who provided you with that data?”
“What?”
“Sexed Up did, right?”
“I looked over the data.”
“Do you really know who you can trust, Randi?”
the disembodied voice asked from behind the flashlight beam.
“Well, I’m not going down there. So you can
just tell me whatever it is you think you know, right here.”
“Just a little bit of faith, Randi. Don’t
you owe it to William to find out?”
“Don’t you dare tell me what I owe
William.” She swallowed back the rising lump.
“Randi?” a male voice sounded from the
cellar.
Her pulse quickened.
“Who’s that?” she asked. A man? Impossible?
The only man she knew was William and that was not his voice. William’s voice
was deep and rich—the echoing voice that had called her name was a melodic
tenor.
“He’s one of us. There’s so much more than
what you’ve been told. Please.” The woman held the flashlight higher and
motioned with it for Randi to follow her.
“One of us?” Randi echoed.
“Come, we have to go about five steps and
then we’re there.”
Randi’s pulse pounded out the fear raking
through her. She hated dark places and this house gave her the creeps, but
she’d come this far and was not about to turn back after hearing a man’s voice.
She counted each step, listening to their footfalls in the silence.
Earth scents surrounded her and the girl
flashed her light from the steps as Randi descended the last one. Her feet met
hard earth.
“One last door,” the woman said and stepped
through it.
Randi followed her and jumped when the
doors closed like an old-fashioned elevator and overhead lights flashed on. She
blinked against the blinding light and realized they were actually inside an
antiquated elevator.
“Where are you taking me?” she asked her
guide, who pressed a round button with the number five on it and they began to
descend. “That man’s voice. Was it real?”
“It was real,” came the response behind
her.
She gasped and turned to find a man
standing behind her.
“Oh my God!” she panted, trying to grasp
that a real man was standing there. He was middle-aged with a receding hairline
and stood a couple of inches shorter than she, which placed him around five
feet and six inches tall.
“It’s okay. My name is Allan Templeton,” he
said and extended his hand.
Numbly, Randi shook his hand.
“Dr. Templeton’s genes survived the
cataclysm, along with William’s and around twenty other males,” the waitress
said.
“Twenty?” Randi released his hand to clutch
the wide metal railing that ran around the elevator walls.
The car stopped and the doors opened.
“Easy now, Dr. Mayers, I know this is a
shock to you, but there’s no way to ease a person into this reality. Please
follow Jess.” He nodded to the waitress who now stood outside the elevator in
what appeared to be a hallway. A very white and antiseptic hallway that
reminded her of ancient photos of hospitals.
“Welcome to the future, Randi,” Dr.
Templeton grinned and shoved his glasses back up his nose until they returned
to their proper place. “We’ve been here for nearly twenty years, ever since our
research was outlawed, trying to revive the cells a few dedicated women managed
to save and keep in protective hiding. They call themselves the Guardians of
Life. Rather appropriate I think, don’t you?” He nodded for Jess to proceed and
the young woman led them down a lit corridor.
“But how? I don’t understand…” Randi was
confused and attempted to grasp what he was telling her.
“We allowed the sample for William’s DNA to
be placed on the black market. In fact, we are the ones who sold it to Sexed Up
for twenty million dollars.”
“Why?”
“We needed to expose our enemy. The Right
Wing is as determined to stop us as we are to revive as many males as we can.
You did what all the scientists on our staff couldn’t. And using your research,
they were able to revive me. And then I began to revive the others.”
“What?” Randi looked back at him. “How
could you? My research has not been compromised.”
They had come to an intersection. The
tunnel ended and became a series of hallways and open areas, resembling
lounges.
“My colleagues implanted a memory in
William’s genes before they sold the DNA to Sexed Up. The memory of this secret
group. They knew if you were successful then he would regain the knowledge of
his life as well as the memory they’d imbedded. He contacted them and while you
were busy in the secret facility, he transferred your research to them and they
revived me.”
“Wait…what?”
“I know you feel betrayed, but he was only
doing what he felt was best. What we all feel is best for our world.”
“Was that why he was killed?”
“No. We had hoped that wouldn’t become
necessary, but as it grew closer to the time for activating the clones in your
secret facility, our sources indicated the plant was going to be destroyed and
William would be executed.”
“So you did nothing to stop it?” she asked,
trying to rein the outrage blistering her.
“It wasn’t like that at all, Randi,” he
said and touched her arm. “Just a little further.” He guided her down another
hallway and past what appeared to be a lab, but the window in the door was
covered in a dark film.
“So you tried to save William?” she asked,
worried this group was a radical, far left-wing and not a more moderate,
level-headed group.
“All shall be revealed,” he grinned and motioned
for Jess to stop. “Please, this is my office, come in.” He opened the door and
let Randi enter first. He paused to whisper something to Jess and then joined
Randi in the antiquated office. “Please have a seat.” He indicated the table in
the corner and she sat down in one of the chairs. He sat down across from her.
“I just don’t understand. If you knew all
this, why didn’t you contact me? I would have…”
“Believed me? I don’t think so. Correct me
if I’m wrong, but up until Jess’ call, you thought Sexed Up wasn’t responsible
for the explosion and William’s death. You still don’t believe your company
ordered the explosion and William’s assassination.”
She tilted her head in a side-ways nod.
“So we couldn’t really contact you until
now.”
“Why now?”
“Because the traitor has been identified.
We know who the real leader of the underground arm of the right-wing is.”
“Ellen?” she asked, squinting as though
preparing for a physical blow.
He nodded, peering over the rims of his
glasses.
“Oh God,” Randi sighed. “I just can’t
believe it. Ellen set it all up?”
“We put the word out there were more DNA
samples as a way to draw her out after the initial first sale. She went to
great lengths to find them and was never fully satisfied when the other samples
were found to be corrupt. She’s on a mission to make sure there’s no viable DNA
left.”
A beeper sounded and he touched a small box
on his belt.
“So what happens now? You said you had been
reviving—”
“I need to attend a small matter, I
apologize,” he said and stood, leaving before Randi could protest.
She sat there staring about the sparsely
decorated room, worrying over the box on his belt and what it meant when it
beeped. Had it been some kind of timer?
She gnawed on her lower lip, trying to put
everything into chronological order and understand that William had been
transferring her research to this group. How? There had been security…of
course… She shook her head. The security was part of this group, but if that
was so then why didn’t they save William? She had questions and needed answers.
Where had Dr. Templeton gone? She stood from the table, determined to find him
when the door opened.
Her eyes widened on the man and she
blinked, unable to trust what she saw.
“Hi,” William said with a lopsided grin.
“William?” she asked. Her body trembled and
her heart felt like it would pound right through her chest.
“It’s me, Randi. I’m so sorry to have put
you through all this.”
“William?” she squealed and ran into his
arms, sobbing and scattering kisses over his face. “Oh my God, you aren’t
dead?”
“I’m so sorry, baby.” His voice cracked.
She stiffened in his arms and pulled from
him as a painful thought pierced through her.
“Is it you or are you a clone of my
William? How? Wait. I saw you, felt you. You were dead.”
“That wasn’t me, baby.” He cradled her face
in his hands. “Listen to me, Randi. It’s me. Your William. This isn’t some
cruel trick. The body left in your penthouse was a first attempt by these
scientists to revive me. They used some of my DNA material before they sold it
to Sexed Up. The body you found was their failed attempt.”
“But the autopsy would have shown…”
Realization struck her full force and her knees turned to water. “Ellen didn’t
order an autopsy since she believed the guards had carried out your
assassination. They gave me a false autopsy report?”
He nodded.
“How could you put me through all this?”
she cried in a mixture of anger and relief. “Didn’t you trust me?”
‘Of course I trusted you. Believe me, I had
quite a few arguments with Dr. Templeton and his staff, but I couldn’t risk
your life too.”
“William.” She looked into his eyes and
knew it was really him.
Randi lifted onto tiptoes to receive the
kiss she was never supposed to taste again. His mouth claimed hers. Emotions
surged in her from relief, fear, anger, but the strongest feeling was love. Her
beloved was alive!
Her fingers gripped the front of his tunic
shirt, digging into the silky material as she grasped it in hardened fists. She
would never let him go. William was alive. Tears rolled from the corners of her
eyes, wetting her hairline.
He tasted just as she remembered—spicy hot.
She wrapped her tongue around his, longing to keep him with her forever.
She wasn’t aware how they ended up on the
table, just that she was tugging at his clothes like he was hers, only he made
faster progress. The table was cold against her buttocks as warm hands massaged
her breasts and moved over her abdomen to spread her legs apart. Her heart
throbbed in her ears when he toyed with her pussy and leaned over to lick a long
wet path down her slit. She gasped and tilted her hips to receive the probing
tongue. Her orgasm came so fast, she was shocked as the clenching tensed
through her body and she cried out.
William groaned and tugged her down the
table, tilting her hips then lifting her legs to his shoulders. He guided his
cock inside her and plunged into her, past the velvet folds of her pussy. She
felt so good. He’d missed her and had worried about her every moment they’d
been separated. Now they were back together. Nothing could ever tear her from
his arms again.
He thrust his cock deep inside her and she
titled her head back, a soft murmur separating her lips. Her juices drenched
his cock as he slipped in and out of her, the quickening friction scorching a
path up his cock to his gut. He grasped her by the waist, digging his fingers
into her flesh.