Post by Sontin-JudasFm on Jun 13, 2006 13:05:48 GMT -5
Okay. I was wondering about this on and off and finally decided, what the hell. For now (it'll change if I get a publisher's offer) I'll be posting Song of the Siren - the sequel to Project Tau - in much the same way as its prequel 
Chapter One
The house was large, expansive, utterly derelict and looked very, very out of place on top of the mesa. Or to be more accurate, it would have done if it hadn't been surrounded by several others, all in a similar state of disrepair. Its owner had clearly gone to some pains to disguise it; sand had been actually stuck to the pale brown walls and more sand and rocks had been scattered over the roof. About the only things to give it away were the windows and doors.
Inside, Project Kata took one look around at the deep red carpet in his living room, sighed and plugged in the vacuum again. That was the problem with living here; it was private and inhospitable enough to discourage all but the most determined visitors, but one gust of wind and everything was covered in grit and sand. Kata wasn't the best of housekeepers – as the pile of books and assorted items of clothing scattered around on the furniture bore witness – but even he drew the line at living in dirt.
Besides, it had cost a damn fortune to get these carpets fitted! Or at least, it would have if Kata had had a chance to offer payment; by the time the carpet fitter had shown up, seen Kata, freaked, passed out, come round again, measured up, seen Kata's closest friend Project Tau knock through a stone wall, freaked again and finally offered up a quote that was some five hundred dollars below the normal price, Kata had been heartily sick of the whole business and wishing he'd lived with the dirt. The same thing had happened with the furniture delivery people, the plumbers, the electricians and...well, alright, so the glazier hadn't reacted that way, but Kata thought rather sourly that this was only because all that time spent around bubbling liquids and squinting at near-invisible panels had probably sent the man's brain doo-lally. Kata had got the windows installed and two days later had destroyed them all. Desert sun through double glazing wasn't a good combination.
A knock heralded the arrival of the only other person besides him and Tau who ever came to this desolate part of the planet; namely the man who delivered the groceries. Tau had never managed to get his head around the concept of knocking and since it had been some time before Kata had even acquired a front door, the Project had resigned himself to Tau's wandering in and out at random. He hadn't even bothered putting a lock on the bathroom. He and Tau had seen each other naked several times in what had been euphemistically referred to as 'pain acclimatisation sessions'. There was nothing disturbing or freaky about nudity, at least not as far as they were concerned.
And although he hated to admit it, when he'd staged their dramatic, bloody escape, Kata had overlooked a momentous and staggeringly obvious fact. Whatever he'd thought of that sadistic bastard Dr Dennison, the man had been dead right about one thing; Tau hadn't a clue about surviving in the outside world, of the social niceties and taboos. It wasn't even as simple a process as becoming institutionalised; he'd never seen anything outside of the few rooms GenTech had seen fit to take him into. If it hadn't been for Project Kata – despite rediscovering his identity as a fully-fledged human, GenTech's coercion and brainwashing held true enough for Kata to still think of himself as a Project – Tau wouldn't have lasted three minutes by himself. Kata still remembered how Tau had freaked out big time when he'd encountered his first thunderstorm and even now he wasn't entirely happy with them.
And then he wanted to get a closer look at that tornado, Kata thought with a slight grin. On foot, no less. By some cruel twist of fate, tornados were the one thing that really freaked him out. He'd seen a picture of one in a children's encyclopedia when he'd been about four or five and something about the dark menace of it had terrified him.
The Project shook his head, grin broadening. That GenTech scientist Andrew Renfield had injected him with something called androcolic formula, the end result increasing Kata's speed far beyond that of the normal human speed and most vehicles as well. He could go at over two hundred miles per hour, but he didn't think that even that would be fast enough to escape if he got caught in a tornado's slipstream.
They'd arrived here some six months ago and picked this place to live in purely because it was so derelict. It had been inhabited twenty years ago, when people had been sold on the quietness of desert life (albeit a quietness that also held a ten screen cinema, huge shopping mall and ten thousand other inhabitants; one couldn't live without the bare essentials, after all) and abandoned over the next five years. The day was too hot, the night was too cold, the wind was constantly blowing sand and dirt all over the place and you had to wait six months before the newest movie releases arrived. Kata didn't know what the city had been called originally, but Tau had come up with the idea of combining both their names and calling it Katau. He'd been so pleased with this idea that Kata hadn't had the heart to argue with him. They'd picked houses, got things sorted and made them more or less habitable, and so far had seen no sign of any search parties. As for the extreme temperatures...well, both of them had altered their sleeping patterns and time of activity, sleeping through the hottest part of the day and the coldest part of the night and doing whatever took their fancy in between.
The knock came again, more insistently this time, and Kata rolled his eyes goodnaturedly.
"Yeah, alright, I'm coming!"
Retrieving one slipper from under the couch, he rummaged around for the other one before finally extracting it with a triumphant, "Yeah!" from underneath a discarded t-shirt. Dusting the sand off, he pulled it on, glanced at the t-shirt, threw it back onto the floor and headed to the door. Furry slippers helped to reinforce the image of him as a harmless eccentric, and besides, it was nice to have something human. They also concealed the inch and a half long talons on the end of Kata's feet; so long as he didn't do anything too fast or go invisible, nobody would ever know who he really was.
Pulling the door open, he grinned at the delivery guy.
"Sorry. I had something on the boil. What've you got for me?"
"Just the usual, buddy." The teenager handed the electronic pad over to Kata. "Sign...here..." His voice trailed off and he stared openly, jaw hanging.
Following his gaze, Kata saw that in his rush to get to the door, he'd forgotten one small detail; namely the gloves he usually wore to conceal the claws on his hands.
Heart racing, Kata forced a grin. "Oh, you like 'em? I got them implanted before coming here."
"Rad!" The kid admired the claws, envy in his gaze. "Oh man, I wish I had that kinda money to burn! How much'd they cost you?"
"A lot," Kata said succinctly. They had as well, albeit not in money. "It's damn painful as well and before they harden...?" He shivered dramatically. "Not a pretty sight. Still, worth it now." He signed the pad and handed it back. "How much?"
"Sixty seven dollars eighty three cents."
Kata rolled his eyes. "You put your prices up again, huh?" He pulled out a roll of money and counted out three twenties and a ten. "Keep the change."
As soon as the front door closed, he grinned. Kata had a devious, political mind that Machiavelli himself would have bowed down to, and he'd been working on this little scheme for some time now.
Objective one: do not permit recapture.
Objective two: however, should this occur, make sure public opinion is high enough in your favour to help you escape a second time.
Yeah, that would work nicely, Kata thought. GenTech was under enough public criticism as it was; they'd probably want to avoid any more.
Wondering if there was anything good on TV – even for the desert, it was already too hot to do anything except veg out – he tried to stuff a bag of chips into his already bursting freezer and wished he could come up with a better way of shopping.
Kata's methods were simple yet effective; using the chameleon technology GenTech had forced into his body, he blended in with his surroundings, went into the city, waited until a likely looking person withdrew money from an ATM and then swiped it and ran.
In theory, it was great. In practice, it left a little to be desired; Kata's one thought after a snatch was to get rid of the money as soon as possible – he didn't know if it could be traced, but he was taking no chances – which meant that he often had to use it to buy food a little sooner than he intended, and a lot more than he needed. He kept buying more exotic spices and fruits in an effort to reduce space and possible suspicion; after all, everyone wished they'd bought this or that after unpacking the groceries. On impulse, he'd also invested in a cookery book in the hopes it would tell him how the hell to use some of the multicoloured powders now residing in his cupboards in little glass bottles.
Kata had never cooked in his life prior to arriving here, but he was a quick learner. He was also starting to hope they might be able to spend a little longer here than they had other places, and with the houses on top of the mesa, there was no way anyone could catch him or Tau unaware.
They'd been running, on and off, for the best part of eighteen months since both had snapped and literally butchered their way out of the GenTech facility that had imprisoned, mutated and tortured them for two full years...at least in his case. Tau had been there an extra six months before Kata – then a spotty student with a weight problem and owl glasses known as Kalin Taylor – had blundered in, been imprisoned, officially 'killed' by the use of an illegal clone, mutated, tortured until he'd finally turned on the scientists responsible. Since then the pattern had become inescapable; they'd find a place to squat for a month or so, then someone would spot them, call GenTech and he and Tau would be off running for their lives again.
Kata shivered. He had an imagination that was a little too vivid for his own good sometimes, but even he couldn't imagine what GenTech would do to him and the other Project if they caught them. Even some of the more brutal members would be hard pushed to do anything to either Kata or Tau (especially Tau) that hadn't already been done. Kata had gone through everything except actual rape or death – those two dubious attentions had been reserved for Tau, and the other Project still remembered the fear he'd felt at seeing his friend's lifeless body being dragged out the airlock – including water boarding and curing (both of which featured in his nightmares more than any other) but he was sure if there was another physical and/or mental torture, GenTech would use it. The longer they stayed free, the more savage their punishment was likely to be upon recapture.
Except that's not going to happen. Eyes burning with grim purpose – narrow and blue, unlike the normal Project's large grey eyes – and a deadly light that was the last thing most of the scientists involved with GenTech had ever seen (when they'd seen Kata at all) the Project turned one hand over, admiring the deadly black talons that now served him instead of fingernails.
No, it's not. Kata clenched his fist, squeezing his eyes shut as blood oozed out past the claws now digging lightly into his palm, then opened them again and looked at the smeared redness.
Let them come. When all is said and done, I'm the one with the claws, and if I have to, I'll use them.
First on Tau, then on myself.
Opening the fridge, he put the six pack of soda on the top shelf where it had two others to make friends with and looked around him at the spacious kitchen. It was the first place he'd been in where he'd actually dared to relax a little. Kata hadn't been truly happy for years – the most recent memory of pure joy he could come up with was when he'd been accepted to Sanderson College of Arts and Sciences to train as a doctor, and that had been over four years ago – but at the moment he was...content. Yes, that was it. Resigned. Satisfied with his lot.
Besides, happy people tended to trust far more easily, and in this case trust and therefore happiness were luxuries neither Kata nor Tau could afford.
He finished putting the last of the groceries away and turned on the TV, cycling through until he found the sitcom channel. One of his favourites was starting and Kata settled back in the couch, wondering if he had time to set some popcorn going before the beginning credits had finished.
"Kata!"
Or not, Kata thought wryly as Tau burst in. Oh well, guess I'll catch it on the Plus-One channel,
"Turn on your TV!"
"It is on," Kata pointed out reasonably.
"You have to switch channels!" Tau snatched up the remote and pushed a series of buttons. It didn't work, largely because the remote in question controlled the DVD player.
"Here." Kata tossed the right one over to him. "What's got you this excited?"
"The TV!"
Kata rolled his eyes. "We've been on TV and Most Wanted for two years, Tau. Even with four hundred channels, hasn't the novelty worn off for you yet?"
Tau didn't answer, too occupied in scanning channels.
"There!" He paused on the 24 Hour Headline Network.
"—presumed armed and dangerous," the newsreader was saying. "GenTech have offered a substantial reward of half a million for information leading to this individual's safe recovery."
Kata frowned slightly. "Individual?"
"Keep watching."
Kata obliged, his curiosity stirring. Maybe GenTech believed one of them dead...that would make things so much easier for both of them.
"The suspect is physically eighteen years old, with black hair and grey eyes typical to all genetic Projects—"
Kata glanced at Tau's features, all of which matched the description perfectly, and quirked an eyebrow.
"—and female."
The other eyebrow joined the first as both shot up and lost themselves in Kata's fringe.
"Is there something you're not telling me, Tau?"
"Do not, repeat, do not accept any offer of seduction this Project may make. It will kill without hesitation and is utterly insane. Call for backup and a team of trained handlers will respond to your call immediately."
Kata froze rigid. Out the corner of his eye, he noticed Tau had done the same thing.
Handlers. Kata didn't think there would ever be a word that he hated more. One hand hovered over his muscular stomach, over the scar on his side where one of the handlers had blasted him with a cattle prod on such a high setting it had permanently destroyed some of the nerve endings. He couldn't feel much in that area anymore beyond the vaguest itch and knew enough medical science to know that this was how it would be for the rest of his life.
As for Tau...Kata still wasn't sure whether it had been the handlers or scientists that tortured his friend so callously and so often, and he didn't much want to know either.
"There's another Project out there?"
"Keep watching," Tau said again.
"Eyewitnesses report seeing this creature running loose and wild after an unprovoked attack on two scientists and a passer-by. The creature in question was last seen in the Gaberdeen Forest heading north."
The colour drained from Kata's face. "Fuck! Oh man, this is some seriously bad shit!"
"Tell me about it," Tau said bitterly. "GenTech are still claiming innocence and superiority over us. Who do they think they're kidding?"
"Tau, if that Project isn't found and recovered pretty damn soon, we're gonna be up shit creek!"
Tau frowned. "You know, Kata, I've studied every named creek on three separate worlds, yet I still can't find this creek. Are you sure it exists?"
Kata dropped his head into his hands. Tau was almost on a par with him as far as colloquialisms went, but the key word was almost.
"It's not a...it doesn't really..." He broke off. "Never mind. Tau, look." Reaching out, he pulled a pad and paper towards him and drew a rather wonky version of the mesa, a child's interpretations of the houses on top and a roughly oval shape underneath scribbling circles inside it that were meant to represent trees. "This is the forest—" he indicated the oval— "and this is us," indicating the houses. "Does that suggest anything to you at all, Tau?"
Tau squinted at the paper. "Well, for one thing, you can't draw."
"You're a riot." Kata drew a straight line up from the forest to the mesa. "Look. If that Project is heading north, she's heading right for this place, and if she takes it into her head to hide here and if GenTech follow her..." He let the sentence trail off at Tau's stricken expression. "Ah. I see you've gotten a word picture."
"We can't let them get to her."
"Look, pal, good Samaritan notwithstanding, I'm more worried about us. If they do come up here, we're going to have to be ready to run."
"I'm sick of running," Tau said unexpectedly.
Kata glared at him and opened his mouth for a sharp retort, then abruptly closed it again and sighed. "Yeah, Tau. Me too. But if GenTech don't find her before she reaches this place, we're dead and if they do, we're probably still dead, especially if they see the houses. If she comes here and tries to hide, it won't take them long to figure out that maybe, just maybe, we might have done the same thing." He looked away. "Face facts; she's a Project, probably even more innocent and naïve than you are – no offence – and GenTech are going to find her and drag her back, and if you and I want to stay safely out of their reach, there's no way either of us can dare to interfere. Unless..." Kata hesitated and Tau filled in the silence obligingly.
"Unless we find her first."
Well, that's it for now
Hope you enjoyed it and please leave feedback
“When dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but with creatures of emotion, creatures bristling with prejudice, and motivated by pride and vanity”—Dale Carnegie
Chapter One
The house was large, expansive, utterly derelict and looked very, very out of place on top of the mesa. Or to be more accurate, it would have done if it hadn't been surrounded by several others, all in a similar state of disrepair. Its owner had clearly gone to some pains to disguise it; sand had been actually stuck to the pale brown walls and more sand and rocks had been scattered over the roof. About the only things to give it away were the windows and doors.
Inside, Project Kata took one look around at the deep red carpet in his living room, sighed and plugged in the vacuum again. That was the problem with living here; it was private and inhospitable enough to discourage all but the most determined visitors, but one gust of wind and everything was covered in grit and sand. Kata wasn't the best of housekeepers – as the pile of books and assorted items of clothing scattered around on the furniture bore witness – but even he drew the line at living in dirt.
Besides, it had cost a damn fortune to get these carpets fitted! Or at least, it would have if Kata had had a chance to offer payment; by the time the carpet fitter had shown up, seen Kata, freaked, passed out, come round again, measured up, seen Kata's closest friend Project Tau knock through a stone wall, freaked again and finally offered up a quote that was some five hundred dollars below the normal price, Kata had been heartily sick of the whole business and wishing he'd lived with the dirt. The same thing had happened with the furniture delivery people, the plumbers, the electricians and...well, alright, so the glazier hadn't reacted that way, but Kata thought rather sourly that this was only because all that time spent around bubbling liquids and squinting at near-invisible panels had probably sent the man's brain doo-lally. Kata had got the windows installed and two days later had destroyed them all. Desert sun through double glazing wasn't a good combination.
A knock heralded the arrival of the only other person besides him and Tau who ever came to this desolate part of the planet; namely the man who delivered the groceries. Tau had never managed to get his head around the concept of knocking and since it had been some time before Kata had even acquired a front door, the Project had resigned himself to Tau's wandering in and out at random. He hadn't even bothered putting a lock on the bathroom. He and Tau had seen each other naked several times in what had been euphemistically referred to as 'pain acclimatisation sessions'. There was nothing disturbing or freaky about nudity, at least not as far as they were concerned.
And although he hated to admit it, when he'd staged their dramatic, bloody escape, Kata had overlooked a momentous and staggeringly obvious fact. Whatever he'd thought of that sadistic bastard Dr Dennison, the man had been dead right about one thing; Tau hadn't a clue about surviving in the outside world, of the social niceties and taboos. It wasn't even as simple a process as becoming institutionalised; he'd never seen anything outside of the few rooms GenTech had seen fit to take him into. If it hadn't been for Project Kata – despite rediscovering his identity as a fully-fledged human, GenTech's coercion and brainwashing held true enough for Kata to still think of himself as a Project – Tau wouldn't have lasted three minutes by himself. Kata still remembered how Tau had freaked out big time when he'd encountered his first thunderstorm and even now he wasn't entirely happy with them.
And then he wanted to get a closer look at that tornado, Kata thought with a slight grin. On foot, no less. By some cruel twist of fate, tornados were the one thing that really freaked him out. He'd seen a picture of one in a children's encyclopedia when he'd been about four or five and something about the dark menace of it had terrified him.
The Project shook his head, grin broadening. That GenTech scientist Andrew Renfield had injected him with something called androcolic formula, the end result increasing Kata's speed far beyond that of the normal human speed and most vehicles as well. He could go at over two hundred miles per hour, but he didn't think that even that would be fast enough to escape if he got caught in a tornado's slipstream.
They'd arrived here some six months ago and picked this place to live in purely because it was so derelict. It had been inhabited twenty years ago, when people had been sold on the quietness of desert life (albeit a quietness that also held a ten screen cinema, huge shopping mall and ten thousand other inhabitants; one couldn't live without the bare essentials, after all) and abandoned over the next five years. The day was too hot, the night was too cold, the wind was constantly blowing sand and dirt all over the place and you had to wait six months before the newest movie releases arrived. Kata didn't know what the city had been called originally, but Tau had come up with the idea of combining both their names and calling it Katau. He'd been so pleased with this idea that Kata hadn't had the heart to argue with him. They'd picked houses, got things sorted and made them more or less habitable, and so far had seen no sign of any search parties. As for the extreme temperatures...well, both of them had altered their sleeping patterns and time of activity, sleeping through the hottest part of the day and the coldest part of the night and doing whatever took their fancy in between.
The knock came again, more insistently this time, and Kata rolled his eyes goodnaturedly.
"Yeah, alright, I'm coming!"
Retrieving one slipper from under the couch, he rummaged around for the other one before finally extracting it with a triumphant, "Yeah!" from underneath a discarded t-shirt. Dusting the sand off, he pulled it on, glanced at the t-shirt, threw it back onto the floor and headed to the door. Furry slippers helped to reinforce the image of him as a harmless eccentric, and besides, it was nice to have something human. They also concealed the inch and a half long talons on the end of Kata's feet; so long as he didn't do anything too fast or go invisible, nobody would ever know who he really was.
Pulling the door open, he grinned at the delivery guy.
"Sorry. I had something on the boil. What've you got for me?"
"Just the usual, buddy." The teenager handed the electronic pad over to Kata. "Sign...here..." His voice trailed off and he stared openly, jaw hanging.
Following his gaze, Kata saw that in his rush to get to the door, he'd forgotten one small detail; namely the gloves he usually wore to conceal the claws on his hands.
Heart racing, Kata forced a grin. "Oh, you like 'em? I got them implanted before coming here."
"Rad!" The kid admired the claws, envy in his gaze. "Oh man, I wish I had that kinda money to burn! How much'd they cost you?"
"A lot," Kata said succinctly. They had as well, albeit not in money. "It's damn painful as well and before they harden...?" He shivered dramatically. "Not a pretty sight. Still, worth it now." He signed the pad and handed it back. "How much?"
"Sixty seven dollars eighty three cents."
Kata rolled his eyes. "You put your prices up again, huh?" He pulled out a roll of money and counted out three twenties and a ten. "Keep the change."
As soon as the front door closed, he grinned. Kata had a devious, political mind that Machiavelli himself would have bowed down to, and he'd been working on this little scheme for some time now.
Objective one: do not permit recapture.
Objective two: however, should this occur, make sure public opinion is high enough in your favour to help you escape a second time.
Yeah, that would work nicely, Kata thought. GenTech was under enough public criticism as it was; they'd probably want to avoid any more.
Wondering if there was anything good on TV – even for the desert, it was already too hot to do anything except veg out – he tried to stuff a bag of chips into his already bursting freezer and wished he could come up with a better way of shopping.
Kata's methods were simple yet effective; using the chameleon technology GenTech had forced into his body, he blended in with his surroundings, went into the city, waited until a likely looking person withdrew money from an ATM and then swiped it and ran.
In theory, it was great. In practice, it left a little to be desired; Kata's one thought after a snatch was to get rid of the money as soon as possible – he didn't know if it could be traced, but he was taking no chances – which meant that he often had to use it to buy food a little sooner than he intended, and a lot more than he needed. He kept buying more exotic spices and fruits in an effort to reduce space and possible suspicion; after all, everyone wished they'd bought this or that after unpacking the groceries. On impulse, he'd also invested in a cookery book in the hopes it would tell him how the hell to use some of the multicoloured powders now residing in his cupboards in little glass bottles.
Kata had never cooked in his life prior to arriving here, but he was a quick learner. He was also starting to hope they might be able to spend a little longer here than they had other places, and with the houses on top of the mesa, there was no way anyone could catch him or Tau unaware.
They'd been running, on and off, for the best part of eighteen months since both had snapped and literally butchered their way out of the GenTech facility that had imprisoned, mutated and tortured them for two full years...at least in his case. Tau had been there an extra six months before Kata – then a spotty student with a weight problem and owl glasses known as Kalin Taylor – had blundered in, been imprisoned, officially 'killed' by the use of an illegal clone, mutated, tortured until he'd finally turned on the scientists responsible. Since then the pattern had become inescapable; they'd find a place to squat for a month or so, then someone would spot them, call GenTech and he and Tau would be off running for their lives again.
Kata shivered. He had an imagination that was a little too vivid for his own good sometimes, but even he couldn't imagine what GenTech would do to him and the other Project if they caught them. Even some of the more brutal members would be hard pushed to do anything to either Kata or Tau (especially Tau) that hadn't already been done. Kata had gone through everything except actual rape or death – those two dubious attentions had been reserved for Tau, and the other Project still remembered the fear he'd felt at seeing his friend's lifeless body being dragged out the airlock – including water boarding and curing (both of which featured in his nightmares more than any other) but he was sure if there was another physical and/or mental torture, GenTech would use it. The longer they stayed free, the more savage their punishment was likely to be upon recapture.
Except that's not going to happen. Eyes burning with grim purpose – narrow and blue, unlike the normal Project's large grey eyes – and a deadly light that was the last thing most of the scientists involved with GenTech had ever seen (when they'd seen Kata at all) the Project turned one hand over, admiring the deadly black talons that now served him instead of fingernails.
No, it's not. Kata clenched his fist, squeezing his eyes shut as blood oozed out past the claws now digging lightly into his palm, then opened them again and looked at the smeared redness.
Let them come. When all is said and done, I'm the one with the claws, and if I have to, I'll use them.
First on Tau, then on myself.
Opening the fridge, he put the six pack of soda on the top shelf where it had two others to make friends with and looked around him at the spacious kitchen. It was the first place he'd been in where he'd actually dared to relax a little. Kata hadn't been truly happy for years – the most recent memory of pure joy he could come up with was when he'd been accepted to Sanderson College of Arts and Sciences to train as a doctor, and that had been over four years ago – but at the moment he was...content. Yes, that was it. Resigned. Satisfied with his lot.
Besides, happy people tended to trust far more easily, and in this case trust and therefore happiness were luxuries neither Kata nor Tau could afford.
He finished putting the last of the groceries away and turned on the TV, cycling through until he found the sitcom channel. One of his favourites was starting and Kata settled back in the couch, wondering if he had time to set some popcorn going before the beginning credits had finished.
"Kata!"
Or not, Kata thought wryly as Tau burst in. Oh well, guess I'll catch it on the Plus-One channel,
"Turn on your TV!"
"It is on," Kata pointed out reasonably.
"You have to switch channels!" Tau snatched up the remote and pushed a series of buttons. It didn't work, largely because the remote in question controlled the DVD player.
"Here." Kata tossed the right one over to him. "What's got you this excited?"
"The TV!"
Kata rolled his eyes. "We've been on TV and Most Wanted for two years, Tau. Even with four hundred channels, hasn't the novelty worn off for you yet?"
Tau didn't answer, too occupied in scanning channels.
"There!" He paused on the 24 Hour Headline Network.
"—presumed armed and dangerous," the newsreader was saying. "GenTech have offered a substantial reward of half a million for information leading to this individual's safe recovery."
Kata frowned slightly. "Individual?"
"Keep watching."
Kata obliged, his curiosity stirring. Maybe GenTech believed one of them dead...that would make things so much easier for both of them.
"The suspect is physically eighteen years old, with black hair and grey eyes typical to all genetic Projects—"
Kata glanced at Tau's features, all of which matched the description perfectly, and quirked an eyebrow.
"—and female."
The other eyebrow joined the first as both shot up and lost themselves in Kata's fringe.
"Is there something you're not telling me, Tau?"
"Do not, repeat, do not accept any offer of seduction this Project may make. It will kill without hesitation and is utterly insane. Call for backup and a team of trained handlers will respond to your call immediately."
Kata froze rigid. Out the corner of his eye, he noticed Tau had done the same thing.
Handlers. Kata didn't think there would ever be a word that he hated more. One hand hovered over his muscular stomach, over the scar on his side where one of the handlers had blasted him with a cattle prod on such a high setting it had permanently destroyed some of the nerve endings. He couldn't feel much in that area anymore beyond the vaguest itch and knew enough medical science to know that this was how it would be for the rest of his life.
As for Tau...Kata still wasn't sure whether it had been the handlers or scientists that tortured his friend so callously and so often, and he didn't much want to know either.
"There's another Project out there?"
"Keep watching," Tau said again.
"Eyewitnesses report seeing this creature running loose and wild after an unprovoked attack on two scientists and a passer-by. The creature in question was last seen in the Gaberdeen Forest heading north."
The colour drained from Kata's face. "Fuck! Oh man, this is some seriously bad shit!"
"Tell me about it," Tau said bitterly. "GenTech are still claiming innocence and superiority over us. Who do they think they're kidding?"
"Tau, if that Project isn't found and recovered pretty damn soon, we're gonna be up shit creek!"
Tau frowned. "You know, Kata, I've studied every named creek on three separate worlds, yet I still can't find this creek. Are you sure it exists?"
Kata dropped his head into his hands. Tau was almost on a par with him as far as colloquialisms went, but the key word was almost.
"It's not a...it doesn't really..." He broke off. "Never mind. Tau, look." Reaching out, he pulled a pad and paper towards him and drew a rather wonky version of the mesa, a child's interpretations of the houses on top and a roughly oval shape underneath scribbling circles inside it that were meant to represent trees. "This is the forest—" he indicated the oval— "and this is us," indicating the houses. "Does that suggest anything to you at all, Tau?"
Tau squinted at the paper. "Well, for one thing, you can't draw."
"You're a riot." Kata drew a straight line up from the forest to the mesa. "Look. If that Project is heading north, she's heading right for this place, and if she takes it into her head to hide here and if GenTech follow her..." He let the sentence trail off at Tau's stricken expression. "Ah. I see you've gotten a word picture."
"We can't let them get to her."
"Look, pal, good Samaritan notwithstanding, I'm more worried about us. If they do come up here, we're going to have to be ready to run."
"I'm sick of running," Tau said unexpectedly.
Kata glared at him and opened his mouth for a sharp retort, then abruptly closed it again and sighed. "Yeah, Tau. Me too. But if GenTech don't find her before she reaches this place, we're dead and if they do, we're probably still dead, especially if they see the houses. If she comes here and tries to hide, it won't take them long to figure out that maybe, just maybe, we might have done the same thing." He looked away. "Face facts; she's a Project, probably even more innocent and naïve than you are – no offence – and GenTech are going to find her and drag her back, and if you and I want to stay safely out of their reach, there's no way either of us can dare to interfere. Unless..." Kata hesitated and Tau filled in the silence obligingly.
"Unless we find her first."
Well, that's it for now
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) and I don't want to take the chance.