AN: Here we are, another chapter here.
I know some people get frustrated in the stories when their favorite characters aren't the focus of chapters, so I'll apologize if you've had to wait. However, certain characters are needed to put certain points in place. Hang tight.
I hope that you enjoy! Let me know what you think!
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Milton sat on the couch and looked through the legal pad that he carried with him.
"All of her responses are the anticipated responses," Milton said. "No matter the variation of the question, her replies remain as uniform as can be expected."
"Because she's not fuckin' crazy and it's not an accident," Alice said around a mouthful of pizza.
"All the responses I'm getting are pretty much in keeping with what we expected," Melodye said. "As long as I can convince them to be honest, they're giving me the same responses. I have no idea, though, what they're giving Maggie."
"It doesn't matter what they're giving to Hurricane Maggie," Alice said. "Not as long as they're keeping themselves alive."
Milton ignored her comment, but Alice was used to Milton doing his best to ignore her at times.
"I find the responses, though often quite laden with emotion, to be only logical," Milton said.
"That's because they are logical," Alice offered. "We're dealing with mothers. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that losing their children is going to terrify them. It also doesn't take a genius to figure out that they'd kill to protect their children. That's like—the first law of nature."
"Unfortunately it's a law that belongs to the animal kingdom," Milton said. It would have seemed that it was written somewhere on his legal pad because he was still searching it like it offered over every word that he needed to speak during the gathering. "It does us very little good to argue animal logic."
"Unless we compare that with human logic," Melodye said. "The fact of the matter is that human beings are animals. We're not wild animals, but we're all animals. If we can compare simple human reaction to the reaction that the so-called Wilds are having, it's just another point of comparison and it strengthens the argument."
"I've thought of that," Milton said. "However...there remains one flaw to going in that direction."
"What?" Samirah asked.
"We haven't got a human subject," Milton said. "Rather, what I mean to say is that we don't have an accepted non-Wild subject. We can't make a comparison when we don't have a subject."
"He's right," Alice offered. "I searched the databases. There's not a single reported pregnancy anywhere that belongs to a non-Wild."
"And with a non-Wild subject," Milton continued, "we lack the leverage that we have with the Wilds. There's nothing legally stopping us from performing the necessary experiments with the Wilds. There are no laws protecting them. Quite the contrary. Our treatment of them is actually humane in comparison to the way they would be treated if they were, at this point, removed from the project. With a non-Wild subject, we would be unable to subject them to the same questioning and psychological tests unless they explicitly agreed to such a thing."
"And the likelihood of finding someone who's going to agree to that is right up there with pigs flying," Melodye said.
"I'll do it," Alice said.
"What?" Melodye asked.
"I like kids. You like kids. I'll do it. I'll inseminate myself. I'll sign the papers. You can run the tests on me. I'll be the test subject," Alice said. "Non-Wild A, if you will."
"We need you being a medical doctor," Milton said. "I don't need you distracted by anything else."
"I'd do it," Melodye said. "Except..."
"Except?" Samirah asked.
Melodye shrugged.
"I can't question myself," Melodye said. "And you'd be hard-pressed to find another psychiatrist willing to go along with the project. Especially one who doesn't have an agenda. My results would be null and void if I were testing myself."
"I'll do it," Samirah said. "I will," she insisted once everyone was looking at her. "I don't have a partner to discuss it with. I don't have family. I've wanted a child. Alice—you can be my doctor. Mel? You can—ask me whatever you want. I'll take your tests. All of them. I'll sign whatever I have to sign. Get me a release. I'll sign it. I'll wear two hats. When I'm the test subject, I'm completely void of rights."
"You already know too much about the project," Milton said, dismissing her.
"Nothing that everybody else out there doesn't know," Samirah said. "I read Kreegan's book. I have just as much ability as anybody else to comprehend what took place there. But that shouldn't matter. What matters is only that I answer the questions honestly, right? I don't know what you and Melodye are looking for. I haven't heard enough about it. Let me do this."
"How would you do it?" Alice asked.
"The same way you would," Samirah said. "You'll help inseminate me. We'll use Milton."
"I beg your pardon," Milton offered.
"It's the best idea," Samirah said. "It adds another layer of credibility to our findings. My child and Andrea's child will be biological half-siblings. It's perfect to study the effects of Andrea's theoretical wild-genes on the child."
"She's right," Melodye said. "Actually—Sammi that's brilliant."
"You do realize, though, that you'd be signing yourself up for a form of...well, essentially psychological torture?" Alice asked. "At least a great deal of psychological stress."
"She knows too much about the project," Milton said. "It won't have the same effect. Her responses will be colored by the knowledge that she has about the plan moving forward."
"Then they'll take my responses with a grain of salt," Samirah said. "But the genetic proof? I can't alter that. They can't dispute it."
"She's right," Melodye said. "Milton—we're never going to find a non-Wild volunteer for this project. Never. Not if we put out advertisements. Nobody is going to sign up for this. They just aren't. But we need this. It could—change the entire view of the project if we're able to offer this data to go with what we've already got."
"Very well," Milton said. "I'll address it on Monday with the Governor."
"You'll stress the importance of it," Alice said. Milton glanced in her direction, but he didn't respond. Instead, he frowned at his notes—probably because he hadn't already solved the problem of locating a non-Wild participant for Wave Thirty Three. "Would it help if I wrote it down for you?" Alice asked with a laugh. "I could just—scribble it in the margin for you there. Put a star by it?"
"If I'm to be ridiculed," Milton offered, "then I'd rather be at home where it's pleasant."
"With Andrea?" Alice asked.
"Alice," Melodye offered. Alice heard the warning in her partner's tone.
"I'd want compensation," Samirah said quickly.
Milton glanced at her. He was already scribbling in his notes, no doubt jotting down information that he thought he would need to remember as he was writing things up for his meeting.
"Food and medical costs are included," Milton said. "Housing can be provided within the community if you'd like to stay there. Otherwise, I'm afraid our budget doesn't allow us much in the way of compensation. That's primarily the reason that it's been so difficult to acquire assistance with the project. Very few individuals like the idea of sacrificing their time or efforts with no promise of reward beyond mention in the study."
"Not that kind of compensation," Samirah said. "Though—I would like to stay in the community."
"Go ahead," Milton said, not looking up from what he was scribbling. "What are your requests, then?"
"I want to add another dimension to the project," Samirah said.
"Beyond the one you're already adding by offering yourself as a sacrifice?" Alice asked. "What?" She asked when she suddenly had the attention of the room. "She kind of is. Milton's the only one that really knows where the hell this shit will end up. And it's a surprise to him half the time when the power decides to change the rules."
Samirah clearly sucked in a breath and held it for a moment. She was set on her decision to do this, but it wasn't an easy thing to swallow. Alice knew that as well as anybody in the room did. They all hoped they knew where this would end, but every single one of them had signed onto the project knowing full well that if things went badly, there was a possibility that they might end up facing the same fate as the Wilds. After all, their long-term exposure to the Wilds, in accordance to Kreegan's beliefs, could possibly condemn them as being seen as Wild themselves if they didn't prove the dead man wrong.
"I don't mind being a sacrifice," Samirah said. "But I mean another dimension. Possibly one of the greatest...pieces...that we've added so far. I'm going to go ahead and tell you—I'm not willing to let this go. I'll fight for this aspect of the project if I have to go to the Governor myself and argue my case."
"Let's hear it first," Melodye said. "There's probably no need for that."
Samirah sucked in a breath and let it out, clearly calming her nerves.
"I've found Carol's daughter," Samirah said. "I've located the girl. I've located—also—the boy that I believe to be Andrea's son. I don't have any proof for him without a blood test but, I think it's him. I'm going to keep looking for the others. I think that—the children should be rejoined with their parents. In Wave Thirty Three. They should be reconnected and integrated into the community."
"That's not possible," Milton said.
"It's impossible to ignore it," Samirah said. "Sophia? Carol's daughter? She was born before the turn. She was a non-Wild. Her mother was a non-Wild. Carol carried her infant daughter into the wild and she was captured as a Wild. Sophia was captured as a Wild. Studying their interactions can only show us more about the Wilds and their contact and interaction with each other. Carol's reactions to her daughter? Sophia's reactions to being reunited with her mother? Especially compared to what she's like now...it's important to the project. Andrea's son was wild-born. He was the genetic offspring of two Wilds. He's an already existing piece to the puzzle we're trying to create. If we miss this? We're missing out on an opportunity that's—it's incredible for advancing Wave Thirty Three."
"Wild A was never reunited with her offspring," Milton said.
"This would be a deviance from the rule," Samirah said.
"Andrea's actions and reactions would change," Milton said.
"No," Samirah said. "They wouldn't. Because Andrea's actions and reactions are primarily driven by the baby she's carrying now. Not the son she lost. Besides—Wild A birthed both her studied children in captivity. Both births took place under the control of Kreegan. Both of Andrea's births will take place in Wave Thirty Three. Her son is just another birth—something extra—but you'll have your controlled births. And you'll have a Wild-born child of two wild parents to study."
"The isolation that's necessary..." Milton started. Melodye cut him off.
"Is already compromised," Melodye said. "If anything? If Andrea's emotions stray too far from where you need them to be? We can use the boy as a—well...I hate to say it, but as a string to manipulate her emotions."
"Threaten the boy," Samirah said, "and you've got Andrea in the palm of your hand."
"Is that even—allowed?" Alice asked. "Milton?"
"Technically," Milton said, "we could dispose of the entire population of Wilds within our care with no other justification than the fact that it was the best thing to be done. It wouldn't be illegal."
"Fucking hell," Alice said.
"Fucking hell exactly," Milton said. Alice swallowed back the inappropriate laughter she felt bubbling up inside her at the fact that, though he used the words, he lacked any true emotion behind them.
"What do you say?" Samirah asked. "We add the extra component to the project and—you get your non-Wild test subject."
"I will bring it up in the meeting on Monday," Milton said. "You'll have an answer by the evening meal."
"But what are the odds that it happens?" Melodye asked. "Because I'd like to get a jump on preparing some things if we're going to introduce this into the project."
"Where are the children located that you've already uncovered?" Milton asked Samirah. "We'll need locations for the guards."
"I can get you the addresses," Samirah said. "Sophia is at the residence of Regina and John Hokes. Andrew, I believe, is in the care of Mark and Jennifer Owens."
Milton nodded his head.
"Alice—when will the insemination take place?" Milton asked.
"We'll check for ovulation," Alice said. "But—as soon as that's happening? It's game on. We'll need you but—you know, only for a bit."
Milton flipped the pages over on his legal pad to hide away the newest notes that he'd made and returned the pad to his bag.
"I'll be leaving you now," he said. "I meant to return to my home hours ago."
"Take pizza with you?" Alice asked. "I could wrap some up."
"That won't be necessary," Milton said. "I much prefer the meal that I requested be delivered at my call. Samirah? I'll be in touch. Monday—by the evening meal."
