Geminus

Chapter Ten - I Have Questions For You

Despite the chaos I jumped down onto the floor below, my super speed would be enough to disguise me. My human heist would be over before anyone realized what was going on... I grabbed Ben, the man who had helped create me from the unsettled destruction. I had so many questions, ones that his death would have snuffed out forever. I climbed up walls, escaping through the hole in the ceiling. Ben gasped, but held on and trusted me anyway.

I had left my chip in my room, sooner or later the queen would come looking and wonder why I wasn't where my tracker said I would be. I had to return before that happened, but figured after the mayhem I'd caused I had some time to spare, even if it was brief.

I ran to the outskirts of Geminus, where the white clinical city become a never ending forest. The sickness that had threatened humankind had saved the beautiful world, plants and wildlife flourished out here, it was obvious to anyone who venture this far. I'd seen pictures in books in the underground, but nothing had prepared me for the actual visual beauty.

"You saved me." Ben exclaimed. He brushed loose dust off his suit and sat down on a rock. "Why?"

I smiled. "I have questions for you." I replied, sitting on a rock opposite him.

"I don't know why you were created. The project was quashed after an investigation after the first death. The board have no idea she continued."

I nodded. "I gathered as much." I closed my eyes and tried to put aside the sadness I felt about ten others before me, losing their lives for something that didn't make any sense. Why did Geminus even need super soldiers.

"I don't know what else I can help you with."

"Surely you must realize I'm 18. Fresh from the underground, the place where your daughter would've grown up."

Ben looked at me, shocked. He sat up straight and looked around, as if he expected someone to jump out from behind a tree to capture him. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't you want to know about her. Have you ever thought about her?"

Ben looked at me and tilted his head. His eyes stared at me with an intensity so strong that I actually found myself feeling a little breathless. He leaned back and swallowed hard.

"You have familiar eyes." He whispered. I nodded and placed my hand on the chain around my neck. Ben nodded and looked away. "Every day. I've thought about her everyday."

My eyes filled with tears as a feeling I couldn't even begin to describe washed over me. He had wondered about me. To him I wasn't a number in a bunker. I was a person.

"Why did you survive." I whispered. "The mother was killed, but you survived and received a promotion."

"I can't answer anymore of your questions." He replied. "And I have nowhere to go. The queen will have me executed as soon as I return to Geminus."

"Why? Why would she kill you now, when she couldn't do it then." I replied, not willing to let him thwart my questions.

"I don't know you. For all I know you're playing mind games with me."

I pulled the chain from around my neck and let the ring sit in my hand. "My mother gave this to my uncle to give to me. In case he was ever lucky enough to find me."

Ben looked at the ring, and then up at me.

"My Uncle works in the castle. My Uncle is Thomas."

Ben's face drained of colour, he slid off the rock and let his hands fall into his head. "You're my child." He whispered.