CHAPTER THIRTY

  Stephanie Yurik gazed at the children seemingly asleep on the benches beside her. Though motionless, their eyes flicked and fluttered while Dreaming. Despite the many times she had witnessed this state, she shuddered at the power each tiny body possessed. Thankful for their innocence and age, she feared the full extent of their abilities if allowed to fully mature.

  “The Russian infantry followed your bait, General Braston, and are moving toward Stuttgart.”

  The general stood near the doorway, stoically taking in their report. “Are you certain the bulk of their force committed? Surely many have splintered away.”

  “Your advance scouts did their job, leading the invaders where you wanted. They’re pushing on Stuttgart with eighty percent of full strength.”

  “How large is their total force, then? Is it as bad as Sergeant Roark said? He reported one hundred and fifty thousand.” Jake asked.

  “Larger,” said Adam. “At least two hundred thousand.”

  Braston let out a whistle. “I’d call that full strength. They’re committed to securing the entire region and crushing all resistance, but their haste is the error. Are our forces in place to cover Roark and Titus’s escape to Germersheim?” he asked.

  “They are,” a dozing Eve assured.

  Braston’s plan, Stephanie knew, was for Sergeant Benjamin Roark and Colonel Frank Titus to hold Stuttgart just long enough to draw the Russians into a skirmish. For weeks the bait was laid, leaving word and pamphlets behind that the NATO alliance was strongest in Stuttgart and Ramstein. As soon as the enemy engaged, the American troops would appear to break, making a running retreat toward Ramstein along one single route. The Russians, having the upper hand, would make their way along Highway E35 and eventually to the Rhine River at Germersheim.

  Along the way to the river, Braston had entrenched several squads of special forces—a combination of the United States Army’s 173rd Airborne out of Frankfurt and Germany’s 313st Paratrooper Regiment based in Ramstein. Their job was to harangue the larger pursuing force, hopefully cutting their numbers and disabling as many vehicles as they could along the way to the Rhine. There, Braston and Richter hoped to blow the Rudolf von Habsburg Bridge and bog them down in Germersheim. There, the NATO forces would converge a flanking maneuver to surround and siege the invaders.

  “And you’re certain,” Jake insisted, “the battle must occur there? In Germersheim?”

  Adam and Eve answered in dry unison, “Yes.”

  The boy aroused from his sleep and stretched before explaining, “Your job is to draw as many of their force into one spot of our choosing and hold them there.”

  “I understand all that,” the general growled, his irritation showing through. “What I don’t comprehend is how we actually win this thing. We’re outnumbered and overpowered, using only small arms and antique cannons we’ve gathered up by raiding military museums. Hell, we’ve barely enough ordinance to keep them pinned down for an hour. They’ll break through, mark my word, or move north and south to the other bridges. We could be overrun within a couple of days.”

  The door to the lab had opened quietly and neither Jake nor Stephanie noticed a weary Michael had entered. Worry was written upon his brow and sunken eyes betrayed lack of sleep. He leaned forward to study Yurik’s notes.

  “So, it really is that bad?” he asked. “We can trap them easily, but have no way to win the battle?”

  “Not definitively,” the general admitted, “and not without heavy—and I mean heavy—casualties we can’t afford to lose.”

  “Please try to relax,” Stephanie pleaded.

  “How far along are you, Doctor Yurik?” Eve asked suddenly.

  All three adults turned shocked faces toward the sleeping girl. All were taken aback, but most of all Stephanie.

  In a startled voice she admitted, “I... If I am, I didn’t know!” Her eyes darted and met Michael’s. He smiled broadly.

  Eve shifted in her sleep, eyes fluttering open to focus on the couple. “He’ll grow to become a powerful leader,” she promised, “and his descendants will rule an entire continent for centuries to follow.”

  Adam’s voice interrupted. “We want to be there at Germersheim when the battle begins. It’s the critical step in securing this continent and where the NATO alliance will witness your victory. Eve and I would like to witness this as well.”

  “Absolutely not,” Michael refused. Turning to Jake, he asked, “How do we do it, then? How do we deal the killing blow? This has every look and feel like the Alamo to me, and that battle didn’t end well for those holed up inside.”

  “You will overcome their greater forces,” Eve insisted. “We’ve both seen it, but we are there as well, when you do.”

  “No,” Michael insisted again, waving his hand dismissively.

  Jake was more opened-minded than his friend and suggested, “Michael, our men have the vaccine and are stronger and better rested than the Russians. They’ve marched in chemical and radiation suits and are no doubt exhausted. We can win this if the flanking maneuver works. But what would it hurt if the children are there? An extra set of eyes and ears wouldn’t hurt—especially psychic ones.”

  “I won’t risk it,” the senator said with finality. “They remain in the lab for their protection.”

  “If you won’t allow us to be there, at least listen to our counsel,” Adam pleaded.

  “What do you suggest?” Jake asked.

  “Parley with their leadership. Get them into your camp and stall until you clearly see a path to victory.”

  Esterling let out a sigh. “Parley? You’ve underestimated our situation here, Adam.” Turning to Jake he asked, “What is the key to winning this battle? We can’t kill them all and we can’t hold the siege long enough to starve them out. Can we surprise them with a direct attack across the bridges?”

  Jake shook his head. “No. If we charge the bridges, they’d focus their front and flank us before crossing.”

  Stephanie chimed in, “Jake, what about Adam’s idea? Couldn’t you convince the Russians to talk?”

  “They’ll know we’re outnumbered and will use overwhelming force no matter what we say.”

  Eve interjected. “You will win this battle, but only a treaty will secure sovereignty. Ivan Petrov will establish his command and control in Waghäusel. Find him in a Sonderposten with a metal roof and bring him to talk. He will listen.”

  “Who’s Ivan Petrov?” Jake demanded.

  “The general in charge of this invasion,” Eve explained. “He will surrender and do as you say, returning to Moscow with a warning for his commanders never to again invade Astia.”

  “What the hell is Astia?” Jake asked.

  “I’ll explain later,” Michael promised, seemingly shocked to hear the word spoken aloud.

  Jake stood, frustrated the children had not provided clear answers to their problem. “We’d better go. Germersheim is a long ride on horseback, and we have a lot of set up. Let’s go fight our Alamo, Senator Esterling.”

  “Great,” the senator replied, smiling at his friend, “I can be William Travis and you be Jim Bowie.” Jake laughed but Michael shot Stephanie another look betraying deep worry. “We’ll be back,” he promised.

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  “We’ll be here,” she replied. After the men left, she asked of Adam. “Why are you so vague when giving them details of the battle,” she asked. “Haven’t you seen it all?”

  “I have, and they will overcome the invading army.”

  “But how?”

  “We will help them,” Adam insisted. He picked up Stephanie’s notepad and tore off a blank page, hastily scribbling a message.

  “What is that?” she asked.

  “Esterling won’t listen, but General Braston may. This is the location and name of the Sonderposten. Place it into his hand before he leaves, and tell him it’s his only course of action after the senator’s plan fails.”

  Stephanie took the paper, reading the words and wondering how this knowledge would help the battle.

  “Also insist Sergeant Roark is the one who captures Ivan Petrov,” Eve suggested. “That part is very important.”

*****

  David Andalon was bent over his console when Dr. Yurik departed the lab. She stood in front of him, shifting her weight nervously as if wanting to speak.

  “Can I help you, Captain?” he asked without looking up.

  “I seem to have a problem,” she said at last. “Eve believes I’m with child.”

  This was a surprise, and he lifted his eyes to meet hers. “Why is that a problem?” he asked softly.

  “I don’t want to keep it.”

  “Let me understand. The world as we knew it is over after shedding more than seventy percent of its population, and you don’t want to bring another life into the world?”

  Her posture changed, with back stiffening and standing taller. Her eyes narrowed and seemed to pierce his as if ready to meet his challenge. “I don’t want a child.”

  “You don’t want a child, or you don’t want his child?”

  This caught her off guard, clamping her mouth shut just as she was about to speak.

  “I don’t love him. Up until the recent... events... I meant to call off the engagement. Now I see no way out.”

  “People fall out of love often. Michael’s reasonable, just talk to him.”

  “I can’t, he’s no longer himself. He’s so focused on this new society and blocking out reason from anyone but General Braston. He’s getting worse. I once saw him a great leader—the president someday. But he’s making mistakes. Just a bit ago, he and Jake committed to a battle with no clear path to victory and refused to allow the children to help.”

  David nodded. “I’ve seen some of that recently. But why allow Adam and Eve along? Does he suspect they’ll betray him?”

  “I don’t think it’s that. I know them, raised them, even, and they’ve never been wrong. They’re insisting on success and even promised his child would become king of generations of kings—but only if they are present at the battle.”

  “Then they should be there.”

  “He said no.”

  “So despite their insistence, they’re kept prisoners in a fancy dungeon and hidden from the real world. Michael’s decision was final? There’s no way to change his mind?”

  “They’re experiments, Dr. Andalon. You of all people should understand the experiment must remain uncontaminated. Besides,” she added, “The outside world isn’t ready for them.”

  “So you don’t care for them as children but as experiments?”

  “Of course I care!”

  “Then in which way are they more important?” Andalon asked.

  “Children...”

  “Yet you’re ready to destroy your own.”

  Her mouth again clamped shut, but this time she paused to consider.

  “Stephanie,” David asked gently, “why did he order you to bury the truth about Brooke’s child? Do they fear I’d stop aiding the project?”

  “You knew? How?”

  He shrugged and smiled. “I’m a genius with a lot of time on my hands and no classes to teach or lectures to give. It didn’t take me long, once I realized how you’d coded the false stream.”

  “I see.”

  “So which was the reason? Why would my wife and longest friend hide it from me?”

  “All of the above, actually. Mostly it was to protect Brooke. She wanted a child so badly and couldn’t wait. That’s how he got her to give up your project in the first place. He promised her a quiet in vitro.”

  “I wondered about her thirty pieces of silver.”

  “Don’t be angry, David. Brooke’s a good woman and loves you very much.”

  “What about him? Can I hate my friend? Even you’ve admitted to falling out of love with him, why can’t I do the same? Why shouldn’t I burn this experiment to the ground and walk away?”

  “What we’re doing is wrong,” she admitted.

  “With Adam and Eve?”

  “Yes. All of it. The enhancements, their existence, it’s unnatural. Released into the world they would change it all, perhaps in a dangerous way if unchecked.”

  “Yet you love them?”

  “Yes.”

  “That’s the funny thing about love, isn’t it?” he asked. “If you love something, you set it free and let it live without boundaries.”

  “And if it hurts you or others after you set it free?” she demanded.

  “Then at least it was truly loved.” Their eyes locked in a moment, and David knew she understood his meaning. “They want out—to be free. That’s all they want is to be children and grow into adults. But they know it can’t happen here, not with...”

  “Not with Michael,” she admitted.

  “No, not with Michael. He’s ambitious and they are the key to his power. But if he’s too weak he’ll always live in fear they’ll seize it away from him.”

  “I think he fears Jake will do the same.”

  “They’re different kinds of leaders, those two. Isn’t it funny how they led each other down this path?”

  “They meant well,” she insisted.

  “Do you really believe that? Maybe at first they did, but not now. They’ve already claimed this continent as their own, and Adam assured me they’ll hold onto it as Astia.”

  Yurik’s eyes grew large at his words. “What did you just call this place?”

  “Astia. That’s the name Adam used.”

  “I’ve heard him use it also, but in a different context. He said their bodies were the astia of the future, or something like that. But earlier, he used it like you just did... as a name of a place—this place.”

  “What’s it mean?”

  “It’s the Finnish word for vessel.”

  It was David’s turn to display shock upon his face. “He meant it the same way.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “The children fear Michael and have asked me to take them to the battle. They claim he’ll destroy them after he sees their true power unless you and I convince him to let them leave.”

  “He never will.”

  “Not to stay here, no. They want to go to North America, to recreate the continent so their kind can live in peace.”

  “That’s... Oh my God, it actually makes sense,” she realized. “They’re human, and human nature is to survive at all costs.”

  “As well as be fruitful and multiply,” he agreed. “They want all emotants to have the same opportunity to live. We’ve created a new race of humans, Stephanie. We can’t allow him to destroy the children.”

  “What do you think Adam means by naming his new nation Astia? A moment ago you seemed to understand.”

  “Their bodies hold the key to all of Michael’s problems. If he can harness the power as a drug instead of within a human, something he can control by only dispensing to the most loyal of his followers, then he would dominate the world. Think about it, there are no more electronics outside this lab—no communications whatsoever. He’s without radios, internet, radar, and satellite, and he has no way of predicting whether or when this or any future crises will end. Dr. Yurik, Michael Esterling does not need nor want the children. He craves only their powers and has you studying them to learn their extent.”

  “And once he discovers how helpful they truly are, he will destroy them and create a second batch he can control.”

  “No,” David insisted. “He’ll create a farm to supply the essence he needs to harness their power. That’s all he’s truly after.”

  “I... I believe you,” she admitted. “But what do we do?”

  “I’m going to keep my promise to a pair of children I’ve grown increasingly fond of. Will you help me?”

  “I... I don’t know. What will you do?”

  “For starters, I’m going to find a way to get them to the battlefield and let them do what they say they can. Then, I’ll find a way to give Michael the currency he wants without harming the children and get them to North America.”

  “I can help with that,” she promised.

  “And what of his child you’re carrying?”

  “David, this isn’t Michael’s child.”

  “I see.” Inside he wanted to laugh, to selfishly celebrate a private victory against both his friend and Brooke. It felt good knowing Michael would suffer the same way as he. But, in the end, it won’t matter who the child’s father was, as long as the others can be saved from destruction. “Come over here,” he suggested, leading her toward a cooler. “I’ve a wonderful prenatal combination that has done wonders to offset our restricted diets and lack of Vitamin D.”

  “It’s what you’re giving to Brooke and Mi-Jung?”

  “The very same,” he said with a nod, drawing out a syringe and vial from the refrigerator. “Have a seat and I’ll get you started.”

  “Thank you, David,” she said with a warm smile.

  “No, Stephanie,” he said from behind, wearing a smile of his own. Only his was darker, sinister even, and matching the secret triumph in his eyes. “Thank you.”