ARCHIVE: No
By Valjean
The Truth Revealed
The seizures tended to run in cycles. Once he'd gone two days without suffering one, Alec relaxed a little bit. His genetically enhanced body had quickly returned to normal, his strength almost back where it should be, the headaches fading. But he knew there would be a next time, and a next time, and a next time until finally, in spite of the drugs, the day would come when his brain would overload, he'd fall into a coma, and he'd die. All that would be left of X5-494 would be a carcass lying in the ground out in the cemetery, the only reminder of his existence one of those granite tombstones Luke was so good at carving.
However, as frightened as he was, Alec still felt guilty. At least he was alive ... breathing ... A teenager had died yesterday, an X6. Even Lydecker's strong sedative and Dr. Makari's administrations hadn't been enough to save the kid. A fresh grave ... more work for Luke ... more grief for Max.
Somewhere McKinley and his people were probably laughing.
There was a pall over Chimera now. Even the mutants ... the freaks ..., immune to the seizures and once so eager to build their new home, now felt as if the Sword of Damocles was hanging over their heads. One-by-one the X series ... the leaders ... were dying. Someday not too far in the future the transhumans would be the only Manticore alumni left alive. Without their more human appearing brethren, what chance would they have for survival in a world that could never accept them?
"Father will help us," Joshua said, coming up behind Alec where he stood looking out over the graveyard.
"I'm not so sure about that," Alec said quietly. He turned around to look at his big friend. "I mean, if he could stop the seizures, why hasn't he done it by now? He knows what's going on. He just keeps sayin' he's too busy fightin' the plague, that he doesn't have time for the kind of research it would take to help us."
Joshua was shaking his shaggy head. "I don't understand," he said. "Why would Father go to all the trouble to make us, to save us from White, to help us come here, only to abandon us now?"
Alec had been wondering the same thing, and unfortunately, he thought he might have the answer. "Because he's found another army," he said grimly. "Sandeman doesn't need us any more. He's even pretty much finished with his Special One ... with Max."
"What other army?"
Alec shrugged. "I dunno. Maybe he's breeding his own batch of X5's out on Calvi, the new and improved version." The second the words came out of his mouth Alec felt the truth in them. He'd really only been talking for Joshua's sake, but suddenly a lot of things began to make sense. Blinking, he looked up at the dogman.
"What is it, Alec?" Joshua asked, sensing the transgenic's change in mood.
"Oh, my God," Alec whispered, his mind racing. "Everything fits. Sandeman hasn't been helping us because he's directing all of his resources not just into treating the plague, but into a new batch of ... us."
*****
"You're crazy," Max said bluntly. "You've got no proof at all that Sandeman's mixing up a new generation of transgenics."
"Why the hell not?" Alec lashed back. "He's got all the data. Lydecker gave it to him. Remember the case he swiped from White, the one Renfro had? Not only was your DNA info in there, but there were discs with all of our records." Agitated, Alec was pacing around the barracks they used for their personal quarters.
"But he'd need more than just raw data," Max said. "He'd need embryos and surrogates. Where would he get the biological material ..." Her voice trailed off as Alec just stared at her. "Oh my God," Max said, echoing Alec's earlier exclamation as she suddenly realized what he was saying. "Sandeman took all kinds of samples from my body ..." Her eyes went to Alec, a look of horror in their brown depths. "Did he ever ... Alec, did he ever ask you to ..."
"Make a donation?" Alec finished for her. "No. But your eggs might be enough. He could fertilize them with genetic material from any X5 male. Wouldn't have to be me. Then he could make the corrections to the DNA, eliminate the serotonin deficiency, before implanting the embryo in the surrogate."
"There aren't many X5 males left in the world," Max pointed out. "He'd have to have a source. Who's missing from the island?"
Alec shrugged. "Wouldn't necessarily be someone from here. There were some X5's on missions when Manticore went up in smoke who never reported back ... some in Canada like your brother Krit. We've never tracked him down. Then there was Zack, although I'm not sure if he'd be a suitable donor anymore what with how he was cut into pieces and stitched back together."
"And Riley," Max said. "Riley's with Sandeman right now. You wouldn't let Logan bring him to the island, remember?"
Alec stopped by the window and dropped his face into his hands. Of course. Riley. Already a blood donor for Logan Cale, the next logical step would be for him to be a donor of another kind. Which lead to another very obvious conclusion. Alec raised his head, the look in his eyes deadly. "Where's Logan?" he asked softly.
*****
Alec very badly wanted to wipe that smug smile off of Logan Cale's face with his fist, but Max had decided to take the more roundabout emotional route.
"You knew all along and didn't tell us?" Max said, her eyes brimming with tears. "Logan, how could you keep this a secret? You know how sick a lot of my people are."
"And Sandeman can't help your people, Max. So what would be the point?" Logan replied easily. His eyes pinned Alec. "Sandeman told me months ago there was no real hope for the X series on the island. He didn't tell you because he didn't want you to get all depressed and worried, not to mention homicidal."
"You mean there's no way to really fix the serotonin problem in our brains," Alec clarified.
"No," Logan said bluntly.
"And so he's gone to Plan B. Breedin' a new generation of transgenics without the problem."
"The serotonin deficiency was a trait ordered by the U.S. government," Logan said, restating what they already knew. "They wanted a fail safe in case their super soldiers got too independent, a 'kill switch' so to speak. They forced Sandeman to insert the faulty gene into your DNA strands. It's actually ridiculously easy for him to now create a clean batch of X5's without the defect."
"But why all the talk about us breeding and creating his army?" Max implored. "Why did he get our hopes up?"
Now it was Logan's turn to shrug. "Because Sandeman thought he'd give it a shot. At first he believed you guys could reproduce and not pass on the defect, but Gem's little girl still has it, and so does Brac. Sandeman saw right away that the X5's here couldn't give him what he wanted, so he turned to other means." Logan flashed her a big sarcastic smile. "Can't really blame the guy, can you? I mean, it's only the fate of the world at stake."
"Our so-called defect was cured for more than ten years," Alec argued. "It can't be that hard to fix again. Even if we can't give him his army, Sandeman owes us that much ... owes us our lives."
"Don't know anything about that," Logan said easily, standing from where he'd been sitting on the edge of their bed and walking to the door with only a slight limp. "You'll have to talk to Sandeman ... try to convince the old guy that he should stop saving the world long enough to waste time, energy, and resources on you guys ... a handful of X series rejects ... failures." His blue eyes glittered behind his glasses. "You do the math, Alec. But I don't think you're going to like how things add up." He glanced over at Max. "She's got a few years, you know, before her genetic 'fix' goes bad. But don't worry. After you're gone ... which won't be long now I'm guessing ... I'll take good care of her and your son."
"Alec!" Max said sharply.
Alec forced the balled fists in his jacket pockets to relax. Beating on Logan now wouldn't do anything but upset Max. Besides, Cale wasn't the problem. Sandeman was. Somehow they had to convince "Father" that his first born children were worth saving.
To be continued ...
Also, I'd like to encourage all M/A DARK ANGEL fans to read Max Collins' official prequel novel BEFORE THE DAWN. True, Alec isn't in the story (yet), but there's lots of canon background material in the book that would be pertinent to Alec later on. Plus, Mr. Collins says that Alec and Joshua will be "centerstage" in the DARK ANGEL sequel novel SKIN GAME coming out next February. -- author's note