Page 71 of Black Star

“Wait a minute.” Grimm went suddenly sober. Or, at least, as sober as he was likely to be. “What time is it?”

“Oh nine hundred,” Admiral Amos murmured, but said nothing else. He’d bent back over the computer screen he’d been working at for the past twelve hours. Nani had hoped she’d be done with the chip by the time Dr. Zabin finished with Darian. She hadn’t had any communication with Darian for a couple of hours, but he’d said he didn’t want to distract her when the doctor started the procedure. With him deliberately blocking her, she had to simply wait for him to contact her. That was almost as maddening as this absurd project with a mad scientist.

“Good, good!” Grimm clapped his hands together like a child about to get a cookie. “Move over, girl. Let me show you how it’s done.”

He practically shoved Nani from her chair and sat down. Quick as lightning, he keyed a set of commands and passwords faster than the computer could keep up. Nani had never seen anyone move so fast. There was no way she could follow what he was doing, but she had no doubt she could backtrack him later and figure out exactly what he’d done if she needed to. He continued this for several minutes before a video popped up. There, on the screen, was Nani herself, begging for the life of her child.

She felt like the bottom had just dropped out of her world. Her knees gave way and she fell hard to the floor. Admiral Amos was at her side almost immediately but she was sure his look of horror matched her own.

“Stop playback,” Pardell Grimm said, all hint of madness gone from his voice. Nani wanted to look at him to see if he looked as sane as he sounded, but she couldn’t take her eyes off the screen. In that one instant, she relived all the pain and horror of her past.

Her newborn baby literally ripped from her body and the pain -- both mental and physical -- was tremendous. Not only childbirth itself, but all the hideous things that followed. She could almost feel the blinding pain as they cut into her skull. Unable to move or even scream because of the paralytic she’d been given, she remembered, of all things, one tear leaking from the corner of one eye to run down the side of her face. That moment had shaped her psyche for the years ahead.

One tear was all the satisfaction she’d given Samair. From then on, she’d swallowed her emotions. Until she’d been reunited with her body, it had become easy to prevent herself from becoming too emotional. Now, however, she ached from anger, sorrow, and despair as well as joy, happiness, and anticipation. Emotions threatened to overwhelm her in a way she hadn’t experienced since the day she was staring at now on the computer screen.

She reached out for Tyrelle Amos blindly. The older man pulled her to him and held her carefully, patting her head sympathetically. She got the feeling he was very uncomfortable, but he didn’t push her away.

“That was harsh, Pardell. You could have simply saved the file instead of playing it,” the admiral admonished quietly, still patting her comfortingly.

“Yes. I could have.” Pardell Grimm looked more sane than he had since this ride had begun. “But when would she have watched it and who would she have been with? This isn’t something she should watch by herself, nor something she could have been prepared for by anyone so she could have been with her beloved. Neither of them should have to see this alone, and in each other’s company doesn’t count.”

Nani got to her feet with a little difficulty, tears now freely streaming from her eyes. “This was all an act. You did this when you were sure Darian wouldn’t see it without the support of friends and people who love him.”

“Absolutely.” He laid his hands on Nani’s shoulders and hunkered down a little to look into her eyes. “It’s all documented. Every second. Everyone involved. Samair even said enough to get him forcibly removed by your family.”

“You didn’t keep any other copies of this video?” Nani knew she had to pull herself together. She had to have all the facts and think the situation through before acting on it.

Grimm straightened and let go of her, shaking his head. “Absolutely not. I couldn’t risk Samair finding out. I faked a brain injury shortly after that day so I could work on making those computer chips and growing clones to place them in. Believe me, smuggling out the video was simple compared to getting viable DNA samples without anyone important finding out.”

“I’m the only other person who knew,” Amos said from behind Nani. She turned to look at him. “I helped Pardell every step of the way and kept him under my protection all these years.”

“So, how did the Hand of God end up with Diamond and Phoebe? Why make them suffer so much? It’s unthinkable.” Nani had been horrified about this most of all. This man created two lives designed solely to carry the means of giving her and Darian back their lives and to hold information to overthrow a tyrant. No matter how noble the intention, no matter how grateful she was to be whole again, nothing could justify what had been done to those two women.

“It was a risky decision, to say the least, but we knew if they survived, we’d always know where to find them. That’s why I imbedded the beacon within the chips. To keep up with them.”

“But, Diamond and Phoebe finding their way aboard either theBlack Staror theSword Breakerwas nothing more than blind luck. Why would you leave something like that to chance?” Nani was growing more and more angry the longer this went on. “You made them suffer so much. Why take a chance it might be in vain?”

“There was an unacceptable amount of chance involved, but we didn’t have much choice.” The admiral sat down heavily in the chair he’d occupied most of the evening and into the morning. “Those chips were the only chance of righting so many wrongs. At the time, the Hand of God was merely a religious colony with a few radical beliefs. They didn’t treat their women so abominably, and both girls were placed with families we thought would take care of them.”

“We didn’t count on one family dying and the other alienating the adopted girl out of fear.” Pardell Grimm placed a hand on the admiral’s shoulder and gripped it in a show of support. “It was luck Phoebe actually made it aboard theBlack Starwhen she did, but we’d had people down there for months subtly planting the idea it was time to go. We knew Damon and Mikiel were trying to decide what they were going to do since they’d basically stolen the flagship of the Vok’nair Empire. So we made sure the outer boundary patrols drove them toward Graves Station. Again, subtly. We didn’t want either of them to feel like they were being set up.”

“Them coming back for the rest of the women was a given, though.” Amos looked at Grimm and put his own hand on the other’s, which was still resting on his shoulder. The intimate gesture was telling. “We both knew neither of them could look the other way. So, yes. We were lucky. But we tried to make some of our own luck as well.”

“You know, Diamond may very well kick both your asses when she finds out.”

“No, she won’t.” Grimm raised his chin. “She’ll know her life served a great purpose. All her suffering was for a greater good, and she’ll understand that. Look at what she did for Viktor. Look at what she did for this ship and her crew. She’s risked her life many times over for people she didn’t know. She’s not going to be upset about what she did for you, however unintentionally. Phoebe either. Not once they’ve had a chance to think about it.”

“There’s more to this than you’re telling me, isn’t there?”

“There always is.” Admiral Amos looked even wearier than she felt, the worry and sorrow showing clearly on his face. He looked like he was about to say more, but his composure finally collapsed, and he dropped his head in his hands and shook slightly in despair.

Grimm’s jaw clenched. She could see the muscles working as he looked at his friend. “Those girls were more than mere clones. They were genetically engineered from our own DNA. I altered one X chromosome to make them both females, but they’re essentially our daughters. They’re just grown like clones instead of allowed to develop naturally.”

“Sweet stars,” Nani whispered. “You did this to your own children?”

“It was the only way.” Grimm looked as if he’d argued this point with himself and Amos on more than one occasion and found it lacking. “We had very little time. We also had devised a way to give ourselves children even though we were a same-sex couple and unable to have our own children outside of adoption or use of a surrogate. Had we been found out, we’d have been executed for ethics violations in genetics, and the girls would have been destroyed. I would have gladly sacrificed myself for my children, but there is no way Samair would have let them live. At least this way, they not only served a higher purpose, but they had a chance to be happy. And they both are.”

“This just keeps getting better and better,” Nani murmured to herself. She was saved discussing it further by an internal comm chime from Dr. Zabin.

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