Title: Project R (2)
Author: Yih
Written: February 26, 2001
Dedication: To the following Reviewers- Max, Ellen Million, Arlene, amberthistle, Max (again) and (again), Eternity, Kara, Laurenzo, karisma_30, lady244, Courtney, Grasshopper aka cynnicle boo, The Inimitable Pooh_Bah, felicia, Graywolfian, and medusa
Disclaimer: All rights are Eglee and Cameron, except for ACC- mommy and dada.
What if Max didn't
know she was a genetically enhanced human?
What if she had a
happy life?
She had a loving
mommy. She had a caring dada.
She had a
boyfriend.
What if it all
that were real?
This is that story…
Part 2
"We need to leave tonight," her mommy muttered to her dada. Her mommy threw the clothes into the luggage with precise aim, she had been doing this for years now.
He nodded. "They've just started to get our trail again. It takes them longer since the Pulse. Even though its horrible for our country, it's like a gift from God for us. If the Pulse hadn't happen, I really don't know where we'd be now."
She flashed him a small smile. "Who should wake up Maxzene?"
"I'll wake her up," her dada replied. "But first I want to talk to you about something."
"What?" she inquired.
"I think we should tell her that I'm not her real father. I think we should also tell why we need to move so much." She began to protest, but he continued, "she isn't the type to talk. She's very careful with herself. She's a good deal more careful than I was in my teens. She has a right to know. Waiting longer only hurts us, not her."
"I know," her mommy said agonizingly. "But I just can't tell her--not yet, okay? I"ll tell her soon. I promise, dear. I'll tell her soon. We'll both tell her soon."
Her dada smiled calmingly. "I guess I'd better go wake her up?"
She nodded. "Actually, do you think you can get her down here without waking her up?"
"My specialty," he answered with a grin.
Max heard the sound of her dada's feet treading over the stairs. She quickly closed her bedroom door and messed up the blankets on her bed. She settled down into the sheets and pretended to be asleep when her dada came into the room. She felt his familiar touch as he brushed a lock of her hair from her face.
He kissed her forehead and murmured, "I hope you're having sweet dreams, sweetheart."
She never had dreams. But she didn't need to tell her dada that.
She heard her mommy's voice saying, "I've got all the stuff we need. Ready to leave?"
"Yeah," her dada responded. "I just wish we didn't have to. This life has got to be hard on her. She never brings home any friends. I don't want her to go to Manticore, even if she's not my own, I love her more than I love my life. I just want her to be happy."
Max felt her eyes wetting from the emotional impact of her dada's words. She wanted to tell him that she was happy. She couldn't have been any happier. She loved her parents. She loved her mommy so much. She loved her dada, she loved him because he loved her even though he wasn't her real father. She loved her parents so much.
"So do I," her mommy murmured. "So do I…"
"HAVE YOU FOUND THEM YET?" raged Lydecker.
The soldier tried not to cower, but Lydecker was scary when he was as enraged as he was just now. He shook his head and wished that his body would collapse into itself—just disappear.
"ANSWER ME!!!" roared Lydecker.
"No, sir," answered the soldier in a meek, soft voice.
Lydecker's eyes glint into a color that looked remarkably like red. "Would you like to explain your incompetency or should I just shoot you?"
The soldier was trying very hard not to burst out into tears. "We're getting closer to their trail, sir. We are so close; I just need more time. If I had enough time I could get them for you. Just a few more months and you'll have them back, sir!"
Lydecker heaved a very heavy sigh. "I've given you a year to find the X-5 group that escaped, and what results have you given me? NONE! I think that you're contract to find them is going to end very soon unless you can prove to me that you're somewhat close to finding them. Afterall, you've been on the case all along, right?"
The soldier was nodding his head with every word that Lydecker spoke. "Yes, sir. Of course, sir. Here's the information I've managed to collect." He handed Lydecker the small pile of papers he took from the folder. "This is just some of the stuff I've managed to dig up, the best stuff. The other stuff could be coincidental, so I thought they were too insignificant to follow, sir."
"Never assume anything," Lydecker said sharply as he looked over the materials. Even he had to admit to himself that this soldier had done a very good job. He had been very detailed, but he wasn't very strong. Well discipline, but he wasn't strong enough for the job. This soldier was only good to command. Lydecker muttered, "you can continue the case.
"But you will be continuing under my supervision. Anything whatsoever that you dig up, I want to hear about, do you understand me?"
"Yes, sir," answered the soldier with relief.
"Good, you are dismissed."
The soldier hightailed it out of there. He almost bumped into the scientist who was coming in to give Lydecker the latest results of the study on RAD. "Sir?"
Lydecker turned his full attention upon the scientist. The scientist continued, "autopsy on the X-3 group suggest that RAD is caused by a strange manipulation of the genetics. Scientists theorize that the already manipulated genes have become so unstable that they are mutating from their superior forms to something even weaker and even more unstable. But we don't have enough proof. X-3 group wasn't the best of the groups in genes. Some of the X-4's have fallen under RAD, we've done treatment on them.
The scientist paused to catch his breath. "We found that from what we've discovered in the genes of the X-3, that it is repairable in the X-4's that have succumbed to RAD. The X-4's we've repaired have been reported to be back to their status before RAD. But the treatment was difficult and …"
"And what?" asked Lydecker with a glare.
"And we lost 2 of the X-4's to treatment. They weren't strong enough and their genes were very unstable," answered the scientist.
Lydecker turned his gaze to his computer files on the X-5 group. Every group that the Manticore scientists had created had eventually caught RAD, only now had they made a breakthrough of what specific gene might be causing it. They had managed to find it and isolate it. He didn't doubt that the X-5's would eventually get RAD, it was inevitable. He just wondered when.
And when they did, they would have to come back to Manticore.
"Mommy?" asked Max with a fake sleepy voice. "Where are we going?"
Her mommy glanced behind her at her baby in the backseat and whispered gently, "we're moving. How would you like to go to Seattle?"
"We haven't been there, yet, have we?" queried Max.
Her mommy smiled at her. "No we haven't, baby. We haven't been to Seattle, yet."
Side Note: I made a few typo mistakes in the first part. Her dada really isn't her father. Big booboo on that. Sorry guys, I was typing so fast cuz I was excited, you know how it is ^_^. And I don't have a prereader/editor for my DA fics.
Author's Note: I'm really going to try to keep this weekly, but who knows? I may just write faster if you guys keep reviewing! This is out a lot sooner than I thought it would be, but you guys just made me have to write with all those reviews! I just couldn't disappoint you guys, especially since I kinda had the story already written out in my head. I hope you like this part, the story's going to get really interesting from here! Can you guess what's going to happen next?
P.S. Don't complain about the length, this story is probably going to have 15+ chapters or so, so that's about 15,000 words. I'll keep the chapters about 1,000 words because that way I don't have to push myself to hard to get the length. 1,000 words takes me about 30-60 minutes to write depending on how much I really have to think. (sometimes less if I've gotten it in my head). Each part is 2 pages long (about) in 10 pt. Arial font, which is quite small compared to 14 pt. Also, don't be shy, review, even if you don't like it and think it's crappy!
Remember: Reviewing is Doing the Giving to Caring authors Slaving over Working on Writing fanfics!