4.

I found out later they were hours ahead of us. They had set up one of the Souls to maintain communications while they made their escape, soon after the swap. The terrified Soul had kept up their task for hours, but had eventually run out of text to read out, and didn't dare say anything else.

And their lead only grew, as we waited on Seeker reinforcements from other cities, and a better idea of where they had gone. I felt like I was suffocating.

"We know they must have gone north, at least let's go to Churchill; we'll be that much closer," I begged Jackson. Anything but waiting around here. It had almost been 24 hours, and I was desperate. He did what he could, and as soon as sufficient Seekers were assembled, a cargo plane was sent to fly us North.

***

Yash sat on Alida's bed, her eyes latched onto me as if they could prevent me from going by will alone. A much loved velveteen rabbit, donated by Etty, suffered in her overzealous embrace.

"Mummy's going to go get Daddy now," I told her softly, smoothing her hair, "Yash is going to stay here, ok? It's safe here."

"Mummy's coming back?" she whispered.

"Of course. With Daddy."

I kissed her head and hugged her tight and abandoned her quickly, before Margie or my tears could catch up with me.

"You're being selfish, Hungry Flame!" Margie called after me, chasing me as I fled the house. "Let the others do their job. Your daughter has had a prick of a time. Stay with her. She needs you!"

"She needs a father too," I muttered, getting into the waiting car and slamming the door. As we drove to the airport, I began to weep helplessly. Jackson drove in silence. I couldn't endanger Yash by bringing her with me. And I had to find Alex. I had no choice. Didn't mean I liked it. I was very very far from liking it.

Shepherds Sound was waiting for us in the cargo hangar, pacing up and down beside a large container.

"What's this?" I asked.

"New toys," Jackson muttered.

"They're not toys, Seeker Jackson," Shep remonstrated. "They are new technology, if you must. Almost untested in the field. You treat them well."

"What is it, Shep?" I asked a little guardedly. Shep being enthused about something always made me feel apprehensive.

"First batch of Empty Shells." He showed us into the container. Two rows of human cold storage tanks lined the sides. All occupied. It was like walking into a morgue.

"A Seeker wounded in the field doesn't need to be stuck in cold storage limbo til another host is found. You can pop them into one of these babies, and you can gather their Intel straight away. Back in the field in hours."

"But these are children…" I whispered, my fingers pressing against the cold glass, staring at the still young faces inside.

"They are human?" Jackson asked.

"Technically. But they have no minds."

"How can that be?" I asked, horrified.

"They have never been awake, not since gestation, if you can call that awake. They have spent their whole lives in cold storage, just warm enough to develop physically but not mentally. The perfect solution for all our Soul problems on earth. No ethical problems whatsoever."

"How did you do this?"

"Test tube babies. We're breeding our future! And, a few were unwanted babies…"

I knew 'test tube' gestation had come a long way in the past decade, so that unborn children could spend sensitive parts of their gestation safely in the laboratory. But what did he mean, unwanted babies…? Surely Soul parents would not be irresponsible enough for unplanned pregnancies.. apart from me... and if he meant humans – how did he know they were unwanted? Shep liked to believe what he wanted to believe. I doubted that he really cared where the children came from. I realized he was still talking and tuned back in.

"This way we can seperate the generations, like with our other hosts. That's how it's meant to be, for us. Mothering isn't really a Soul thing. It's not conducive to the future of the species."

My words jammed in my throat, too many protests trying to come out at once. Jackson shot me a look, and I closed my mouth. A Soul who was leaving her daughter behind didn't really have the right to argue.

"Especially after the Kimberley, our supply is insufficient to replace ourselves," Shep went on regardless, "It has become critical. People don't want to leave here. Falling Smoke didn't want to leave."

"Yes he did," I said quickly, automatically.

"How do you know? He had so much unfinished work…"

Because he told me, I thought, but shook my head free of Falling Smoke. "But our hosts have important information about this world, their history, their humanity…"

"At this stage it's for 2nd human host Souls only," he assured me, "they will have got all that information from their last human host."

"But, but their emotions will be children's emotions, their capability to control themselves…"

"Will be that of a Soul. The Soul is in control here. Flame, you always look for the reason why not. Its healthy I'm sure, for me to have to enlighten you, keeps me on the straight and narrow, eh? But you must not expect them to be perfect. They are only at field testing stage."

"You don't make an omelette without breaking eggs," Jackson murmured.

"Exactly, Jackson."

"Well, if we have the opportunity we'll give them a spin. But right now, we need to be heading North." Jackson was already heading for the plane.

"Of course," Shep said, having to raise his voice as we left, "I look forward to your detailed notes when you return."