Flashback …
One lab looked pretty much like another. This one was guarded by soldiers instead of Centre Sweepers. Jarod had gone to sleep in his cell at the Centre but woke up the next day in a foreign atmosphere. Everything felt different, the barometric pressure, the smell. He caught a whiff of flowers instead of the waters outside the Centre.
I'm above ground, perhaps I'll get to see the sky, Jarod thought, though he kept a neutral expression in-place.
"Good morning, Jarod," Sydney's cultured baritone greeted him through the bars of the cell.
"Hello, Sydney." A stone-faced guard opened the door for the graying European. A metallic scrape indicated the door had been locked behind him.
"Where are we, Sydney?" Jarod watched his mentor closely. Questions piled up at the tip of his tongue.
"We are guests at a military facility for a few days. They have been working on the gene-splicing project you developed a few years ago. We've been asked to assist them in the refining process. After you've eaten there are several people for you to meet." The two reviewed the project as Jarod ate. His mind lept from point-to-point even as Sydney talked. If this was a military base it meant they'd successfully produced the enhanced soldiers and had implemented a training regimen. The refining process must mean the first series had turned out anomalous. Jarod's sims had predicted that. Now the client needed his expertise to prevent further failure.
After the meal, Sydney led Jarod through an underground warren of rooms to a large lab. Soldiers and cameras kept watch at every turn. In the lab sat a man about Sydney's age, taking notes between slides at a microscope.
"Mr. Sandeman," Sydney spoke quietly.
"Oh, hello," The man turned to greet them with a distracted smile on his face.
"Jarod, this is Mr. Sandeman, the founder of Project Manticore." The two shook hands briefly before diving into a technical discussion on junk DNA. Lab techs went about their work as Sandeman took them on a tour of the research facilities.
"Jarod, I'd like you to meet the first fruits of Project Manticore." Sandeman's chest puffed out as he opened a door adjacent to his office. Inside sat two children on a large rug, both with long, auburn hair.
"Joshua, Issac, I'd like you to meet Sydney and Jarod." Both boys stood up and walked over to the strangers and began sniffing them. Their pale hazel eyes peered up at the strangers as they tilted their heads.
"Please boys, remember your manners," Sandeman chided them. Jarod studied the boys, their broad noses, thick nails and the way they communicated by both human and animal means.
"Extraordinary," Sydney commented as he and Jarod followed Sandeman to a table covered in pages of finger paint pictures, books and file folders.
"I couldn't have done it without your help." Sandeman gestured between Sydney and Jarod.
"My boys are intelligent, strong and have superior senses to any of their contributing species." He went on to rattle off specifications, superior sense of smell, eye sight, taste, eidetic memory and so on.
Gingerly, Jarod knelt down to look at the boys. They scooted closer together, wary of the inquisitive stranger.
"Hello, I'm Jarod." He looked from one boy to the other.
"Joshua," one of them spoke in a gruff voice. He patted the other on the chest and announced, "Issac." Jarod shook hands with the boys.
"Come along, Jarod." Sydney broke the spell. Jarod had so many questions. Were they colorblind? What kind of canine had Manticore mixed into their DNA? He would have to settle for what information he could glean from his observations and what he already knew.
When Jarod waved good-bye the one who had introduced himself waved back.
"Where are you going?" Isaac asked, his voice a bare whisper near his brother's ear. Their cell, though more comfortable than the rest, still felt chilly at night. The transhuman brothers usually slept in the same bunk for both warmth and comfort.
"See Jarod," Joshua answered as he slipped out of the bunk, ready to hoist himself into the duct work.
"Careful, brother," Isaac warned. Joshua grinned before disappearing.
Following his nose, Joshua found his way to Jarod's cell, past the guards and cameras posted seemingly everywhere. Jarod lay on his back with his arms crossed over his chest as the transhuman boy looked down at him through the small vent. He had seemed much larger earlier that afternoon; so tall and vital. Now he seemed to have drawn in on himself. Josh knew the feeling.
Joshua dropped a button he'd pulled from off his shirt on the young man's face. As he woke and looked around Joshua spoke. "Up. Joshua up."
Jarod's face mutated from confusion to delight before settling on concern.
"You shouldn't be here. What about the guards?" Jarod helped the boy down from the duct work.
"Guards not miss Joshua." He waved Jarod's concern away.
"What are you doing here?" Jarod whispered as he sat down on the cot beside the boy of about ten.
"Talk to Jarod. Joshua curious." He studied the stranger, from his short hair combed straight down to the bland, gray clothes he word.
"Jarod human?" Joshua asked as he lifted his nose to catch the man's scent.
"Yes. I've never seen anything like you and your brother. Are there others like you here?" Jarod's questions might finally be answered, he hoped. He hadn't had a new friend since he, Angelo and Miss Parker had met Faith years ago. Despite the age difference, he sensed a kindred spirit in Joshua.
"Others in Basement. Nomalies. Joshua and Isaac special. Father keep Upstairs."
As Jarod listened to the boy's unique way of speaking he could imagine the boys' life; the medical exams, I.Q. tests, skills assessments and being handled by indifferent techs instead of caring family. Father - Sandeman - was to Joshua and Isaac what Sydney was to Jarod.
They only talked for a short time before Joshua once again crawled into the duct work, headed for his cell. Before he disappeared the boy leaned down and grabbed Jarod's hand.
"Jarod Joshua's friend." The boy grinned, his eyes lit with fidelity.
"Always. One day we'll both be free." Jarod pushed down the lump in his throat at the thought of the life Joshua and Isaac would endure.
Joshua waved before he faded into the darkness.