The Sympathizer

Chapter 34

"So in conclusion, I need four humans," I explain determinedly to a preoccupied General Lyra, who is looking through a microscope at cells that divide concurrently, becoming clones of each other. Recently she's been spending a lot of time and resources on cloning technology. 

Her lips purse but she doesn't answer. I take one breath, then two, wondering if I should repeat myself, the silence and her reluctance putting me on edge. 

"You have been acting independently so far, why do you need my help now? Certainly Lucian can help you since you two seemed to have teamed up for this escapade." She looks up at me through magnified lenses, her blue eyes larger than ever through those glasses. 

There's no mistaking the sarcasm in her tone even though her face displays no emotion.

I take a step back, chagrined. "I... I've found a way in. Finally."

She looks back at the eye piece of the intricate machinery embedded into the table. She adjusts the focus on one of the pieces and then looks into it again. "I told you to lay low. Did you not get my message?" 

We're in the underground laboratory and General Lyra was not expecting me today. Her clear instructions were for me to stay under the radar ever since Lazarus locked me up but I can't pass up on such a golden opportunity like this. 

Not when this might be the only chance for me to find out what those heat signatures under the labs are. 

And then there's Ron but I've been trying not to think of him and the imminent death I'm sending him to on Earth. 

"You've always been stubborn and reckless. I thought I'd ironed out that part of you but it seems it has remained." The General murmurs. "You know I can't get involved. Grievous took the risk but smuggling humans is illegal, even leadership cannot escape those rules." 

She gives me a side glance and I know the implication behind her words. She's not only talking about herself. 

"I know of the risks but in this case the risks outweigh the benefits." 

"You don't know that." She straightens and pulls off her gloves, throwing them into a sanitary bin below the marble countertop. "You don't know if there's anything significant under there. This human you talk of, the one with the missing brother, what if they recognise him? If they took his twin, certainly they will." 

"They deleted his records. I'm banking on the fact that they won't." I scratch the inside of my wrist absentmindedly, her doubts are making my skin itch. 

"We have humans here but they know of our existence and therefore they can never leave. I'm sorry, Luna but you got yourself into this mess, I'm afraid you're on your own." 

All I can do is stare after her open mouthed as she leaves me in that chamber alone. In all my years of service, General Lyra has always had my back. This has to be the first time she's refused to help. 

It takes a moment to sink in but soon all I feel is anger. She's the one who set me on this path to begin with and now when stakes are higher, she conveniently pulls out. 

I charge out of the Sympathizer labs without speaking to anyone else and then head to Onyx to meet Ron. He's by the bar, serving drinks to a customer when he spots me. I order a drink and thankfully it's less crowded this evening. 

It's easy to slip out of view and meet him at our freezing rendezvous point. 

"I've found a way to get you in." I tell him and watch his face brighten with hope. "But I need four more willing humans, preferably ones who won't babble."