Ch 4 and 5 have been redone, due to advice from my sister. So, I hope this
flows better ( To Jaz for deciding to get me to update. Oh, and to
girltype, Ty and Ashantai – for reviewing my fics, I feel like I've met
celebrities ;)
The so called penthouse has changed a lot - I climbed via the sky light. Lots of photos of Max, Evie, us X5s...very few of Logan, though. And lots of toys.
I hear laughter coming from the other room and slip into the shadows in the doorway. Eight year old Evie is playing with a Play Station (how on earth did Logan find one of those ?) And Syl, Krit, Tinga, Max, Logan, Bling, Zane and Zack...
I stepped into the light, leaning against the doorway. "Hey."
Everyone looked up, eyes widening. I guess I don't look much like myself anymore, I suppose - I cut my hair to my barcode and dyed it cherry plum red. It looks good, I think.
"Dee," Zane reached up and pulled me down next to him. "My god, you hair..."
"It's really, really red," Krit nodded, holding up what appeared to be a half eaten hot dog covered in blue sauce.
"It looks cool," Rain looked up from a book. "Can I dye my hair that shade of red?"
Zane gave her a Look. "No way in hell. You already have red hair."
"Not that colour red," Rain muttered, going back to her book.
Zack looked at me. "It makes you look younger."
I raised my eyebrows. "Does it?"
Awkward silence time. I stretched. "Anyway - I took time out of my busy schedule for a reason. So can I know the reason?" I sit back, Zane's arm around my shoulder.
"Here," Logan handed me a folder full of papers, not smiling.
I took them and flipped through them. A few procedures jumped out at me - stuff I studied in college. Messy, very messy.
The designations jumped out at me - X8-534 and X10-5452. Weird. The last prototypes made were X9s.
"Where's Brin these days?" I asked, glancing at the photos of X8-534. She was about nine years old when the photos had been taken.
"Salt Lake City and not interested in helping," Max sighed.
I nodded. "The last known X series prototype created was X9 - there are no X10s. Does it say how many X10s are in existence?"
"On page eight," Zack said. "Three confirmed and one that needs testing."
I nodded. Something niggled at me. The designations.
"Ten. X10 - the next generation X series.," I gasped, picking up on the coding in the files. X10-5452 means X10 - non Manticore made. The 5 part is what series her parents are from and 452..."
We all realised it at the same time. Oh shit. Evie. Evie is X10-5452. Oh f***. Staring us in the face the whole time.
"So what do we do?" Krit asked.
"We need to find X8-534," I said. "Can't protect her if we don't know where she is."
"I'll see if any teenagers have commited crimes recently," Logan said, standing up.
I poured over the pages with a highlighter and a couple of my older medical text books. Krit and Syl got food and then proceeded to read the above mentioned text books aloud, stopping to ask us `what in the hell did this mean?'
Max, Tinga and Zane made a lot of phone calls to everyone. Zack tried to help me with the pages of DNA, but a lot of it was computer jargon.
"How can you understand all of this?" Zack tossed the random papers down.
"I excelled in Computer Technology, remember?" I said, distracted. The DNA sequences of Evie and the other missing X series weren't anything I was familiar with.
"This has been coded," I said suddenly.
Everyone looked at me.
"Huh?" Logan said.
"These DNA sequences are nothing like what I've worked with and created myself," I said, holding up the paper. "It's code. It's definitely a DNA code, but scrambled - I'll need the original files and the code disk before I can work with it."
"Raid on Manticore?" Krit joked.
"Yeah," Zack nodded slowly. "Okay, we need to get those files. Does anybody know where the remaining files are kept?"
Tinga nodded sheepishly. "Yeah - they rebuilt the Gillette facility and use it as a resource for the newer DNA sequencing projects."
"Like what?" Zane asked, munching on a carrot.
"ViviSys," Tinga said. "And ChemiLabs. Both are working on similar projects."
"So, Manticore's old files are incredibly valuable," Syl said.
Bling nodded. "Positively. Stops these new projects from making mistakes that Manticore made."
"So what do we do?" Max asked.
"I can't work out these files and why they are coded with out the main disk or file," I said, shrugging, standing.
"Look," Logan interrupted, "I'll make dinner and we'll have tonight off. Tomorrow we'll work out what we need to do."
So, Max and I were assigned to make salad.
"So, we've changed, huh?" Max smiled, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear.
"Yeah," I said non commitedly.
"It hit me a couple of weeks ago - just little things. But Zack looks heaps better now, so..."
"Zack? What happened with Zack?" I asked, a bit too quickly.
Max smirked knowingly at me. "After the whole...yeah, he headed off to NYC for a couple of weeks and came back here. Lost a heap of weight, became addicted to sleeping pills and just..." Max looked sad and frustrated. "He lost quality of life, I suppose."
I looked at the half mauled tomato in my hand and accidentally sliced into my hand. Everything went in slow motion - the knife slid down my palm, into my wrist and the blood trickled down my arm.
"Jondy!" Max shook my shoulder, and grabbed my bloody arm.
I blinked and the knife hit the counter. "What?"
"You spaced. Here, I'll get a bandage." Max hurried off, as I held a tea towel to my arm.
I shook my head, trying to clear my mind.
Dinner was a noisy affair. I kept my mouth shut and listened to the happy noise.
Zack ate. He looked thinner, tired and older. Not terrible. Just super, super sleepy.
"When are Jace and Alec arriving?" Logan asked.
"Tonight sometime," Max said, "I know Jace's leaving Maxine in boarding school."
"Bummer," I said. "I like meeting new nieces."
"You haven't met her?" Zane asked, obviously surprised. "She's a great kid."
I smiled. "Yeah – Jace and I were never terribly close when we were kids…I haven't seen her since the escape."
"We saw Aunt Jace last Christmas," Evie grinned at me. "Maxine is okay – bit of a snob."
I nodded. Jace was always very shy – I suppose she came off as a snob too. Shy people always seem a bit snobby.
"Anyone home?" came a yell.
"In here, Alec!" Max called back.
"Hey…woah! Redhead," he said, looking at me with interest. "Sexy."
I smirked at him. "Thanks." Alec always was fun to be around.
The so called penthouse has changed a lot - I climbed via the sky light. Lots of photos of Max, Evie, us X5s...very few of Logan, though. And lots of toys.
I hear laughter coming from the other room and slip into the shadows in the doorway. Eight year old Evie is playing with a Play Station (how on earth did Logan find one of those ?) And Syl, Krit, Tinga, Max, Logan, Bling, Zane and Zack...
I stepped into the light, leaning against the doorway. "Hey."
Everyone looked up, eyes widening. I guess I don't look much like myself anymore, I suppose - I cut my hair to my barcode and dyed it cherry plum red. It looks good, I think.
"Dee," Zane reached up and pulled me down next to him. "My god, you hair..."
"It's really, really red," Krit nodded, holding up what appeared to be a half eaten hot dog covered in blue sauce.
"It looks cool," Rain looked up from a book. "Can I dye my hair that shade of red?"
Zane gave her a Look. "No way in hell. You already have red hair."
"Not that colour red," Rain muttered, going back to her book.
Zack looked at me. "It makes you look younger."
I raised my eyebrows. "Does it?"
Awkward silence time. I stretched. "Anyway - I took time out of my busy schedule for a reason. So can I know the reason?" I sit back, Zane's arm around my shoulder.
"Here," Logan handed me a folder full of papers, not smiling.
I took them and flipped through them. A few procedures jumped out at me - stuff I studied in college. Messy, very messy.
The designations jumped out at me - X8-534 and X10-5452. Weird. The last prototypes made were X9s.
"Where's Brin these days?" I asked, glancing at the photos of X8-534. She was about nine years old when the photos had been taken.
"Salt Lake City and not interested in helping," Max sighed.
I nodded. "The last known X series prototype created was X9 - there are no X10s. Does it say how many X10s are in existence?"
"On page eight," Zack said. "Three confirmed and one that needs testing."
I nodded. Something niggled at me. The designations.
"Ten. X10 - the next generation X series.," I gasped, picking up on the coding in the files. X10-5452 means X10 - non Manticore made. The 5 part is what series her parents are from and 452..."
We all realised it at the same time. Oh shit. Evie. Evie is X10-5452. Oh f***. Staring us in the face the whole time.
"So what do we do?" Krit asked.
"We need to find X8-534," I said. "Can't protect her if we don't know where she is."
"I'll see if any teenagers have commited crimes recently," Logan said, standing up.
I poured over the pages with a highlighter and a couple of my older medical text books. Krit and Syl got food and then proceeded to read the above mentioned text books aloud, stopping to ask us `what in the hell did this mean?'
Max, Tinga and Zane made a lot of phone calls to everyone. Zack tried to help me with the pages of DNA, but a lot of it was computer jargon.
"How can you understand all of this?" Zack tossed the random papers down.
"I excelled in Computer Technology, remember?" I said, distracted. The DNA sequences of Evie and the other missing X series weren't anything I was familiar with.
"This has been coded," I said suddenly.
Everyone looked at me.
"Huh?" Logan said.
"These DNA sequences are nothing like what I've worked with and created myself," I said, holding up the paper. "It's code. It's definitely a DNA code, but scrambled - I'll need the original files and the code disk before I can work with it."
"Raid on Manticore?" Krit joked.
"Yeah," Zack nodded slowly. "Okay, we need to get those files. Does anybody know where the remaining files are kept?"
Tinga nodded sheepishly. "Yeah - they rebuilt the Gillette facility and use it as a resource for the newer DNA sequencing projects."
"Like what?" Zane asked, munching on a carrot.
"ViviSys," Tinga said. "And ChemiLabs. Both are working on similar projects."
"So, Manticore's old files are incredibly valuable," Syl said.
Bling nodded. "Positively. Stops these new projects from making mistakes that Manticore made."
"So what do we do?" Max asked.
"I can't work out these files and why they are coded with out the main disk or file," I said, shrugging, standing.
"Look," Logan interrupted, "I'll make dinner and we'll have tonight off. Tomorrow we'll work out what we need to do."
So, Max and I were assigned to make salad.
"So, we've changed, huh?" Max smiled, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear.
"Yeah," I said non commitedly.
"It hit me a couple of weeks ago - just little things. But Zack looks heaps better now, so..."
"Zack? What happened with Zack?" I asked, a bit too quickly.
Max smirked knowingly at me. "After the whole...yeah, he headed off to NYC for a couple of weeks and came back here. Lost a heap of weight, became addicted to sleeping pills and just..." Max looked sad and frustrated. "He lost quality of life, I suppose."
I looked at the half mauled tomato in my hand and accidentally sliced into my hand. Everything went in slow motion - the knife slid down my palm, into my wrist and the blood trickled down my arm.
"Jondy!" Max shook my shoulder, and grabbed my bloody arm.
I blinked and the knife hit the counter. "What?"
"You spaced. Here, I'll get a bandage." Max hurried off, as I held a tea towel to my arm.
I shook my head, trying to clear my mind.
Dinner was a noisy affair. I kept my mouth shut and listened to the happy noise.
Zack ate. He looked thinner, tired and older. Not terrible. Just super, super sleepy.
"When are Jace and Alec arriving?" Logan asked.
"Tonight sometime," Max said, "I know Jace's leaving Maxine in boarding school."
"Bummer," I said. "I like meeting new nieces."
"You haven't met her?" Zane asked, obviously surprised. "She's a great kid."
I smiled. "Yeah – Jace and I were never terribly close when we were kids…I haven't seen her since the escape."
"We saw Aunt Jace last Christmas," Evie grinned at me. "Maxine is okay – bit of a snob."
I nodded. Jace was always very shy – I suppose she came off as a snob too. Shy people always seem a bit snobby.
"Anyone home?" came a yell.
"In here, Alec!" Max called back.
"Hey…woah! Redhead," he said, looking at me with interest. "Sexy."
I smirked at him. "Thanks." Alec always was fun to be around.
