[Makebelieve] Fic: Brothers of The Blood - Mark OF Cain 16 (Original) Please Feedback

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Brothers Of The Blood -  Mark Of Cain

Chapter 16

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"Commander." Domani shouldered his hard muscled body between Dalton and
Adric, making himself a flesh and blood shield. "This man's readings are not
completely human."

"Not human?"

"That is correct. At least, not by our standards."

Dalton stepped impatiently around Domani and locked his chilled gaze on
Adric. "What do you mean not human, Domani?"

"It is hard to explain. I sense a basic humanity," Domani said slowly. "But
there is something alien merged into his genetic coding." He tilted his
head, frowning. "I am... uncertain, but I believe I am sensing a...a
neutralizing effect."

"Ian, can you confirm?"

Ian frowned, staring hard into Adric's grim face. "I be na' getting any
unusual read off him. But he's wearing one of those bloody vests, so...."
Ian crooked his brow, his hand resting on his empty holster. "'Tis a
neutralizing field, you say, Domani? A personal shield, mayhap?"

Domani shook his head. "Negative. It is like nothing I have encountered
before."

Adric held up his hand, halting their speculations. "Don't let's get
excited. I thought Nicki would have told you about the neutrite," he said,
turning to the woman. "Guess you haven't, have you?"

She ducked her head, picking at her nails. "It never came up."

"Well, it's come up, now," Dalton tilted his chin up, staring down his
finely chiseled, aristocratic nose from heavy-lidded eyes. "Mysteries make
me nervous, Adric. Why don't you enlighten me about this field of yours?"

Adric grimaced, rubbing his limp arm. "Nothing for you to worry about,
actually. It's simply the result of some trouble I had during the evac that
last day over Veegus."

"What kind of trouble?"

Adric's amber gaze shifted away. "If you'll remember, the computer was
threatening an imminent shut down in life support. We were forced to abandon
the ship while the autos implemented repairs to the damaged areas."

"I remember," Paris said. "It was...quite hair raising."

Adric nodded, smiling sadly. "Yeah, you thought so, but from my angle it
looked like the evacuation was going off like a page out of the textbook.
Everything was happening as it should have.

"Even so, I didn't want to leave anything to chance. I personally wanted to
make sure everyone got off safely. For that reason, I was the last one to
leave."

He tipped his chin down onto his chest. "I supervised the launchings. Each
and every one went off without any trouble. At least, nothing showed up in
the preliminaries. Anyway, once everyone was off-loaded, I ejected feeling
pretty damn confident."

"And something went off on your shuttle?" Paris asked.

"No. At least, not at first. The launch went smoothly enough. I had no
problem. Once my shuttle cleared the Venture, it locked onto a suitable
planet away from the Veegus home world, which according to the scanners was
going up like a massive ball of fire, and I settled down to wait out the
trip." He shuddered caught up in his memories. "The trouble started right
after I entered my touchdown planet's stratosphere. There must have been
something undetectable in the atmosphere. I don't know. The shuttle controls
froze up. Wouldn't respond to command." Adric's face went deathly pale and
he swallowed convulsively. "I crashed on that damn planet."

"Evac shuttles are designed to withstand an upper atmosphere crash," Paris
said.

"Yeah," Adric's voice dripped with sarcasm. "But unfortunately the crash
system failed, too. The shields didn't activate." He shuddered, swallowing
with difficulty. "The ship smashed up a bit. I, on the other hand, smashed
up quite a lot."

"Yet you survived?" Dalton lifted a dubious brow. "Seems unlikely without
the buffer to cushion the impact."

"It was touch and go," Adric said. "The impact was impressive."

Nykita dropped her hand onto Adric's shoulder. "When Adric was found, I
understand his body was mangled pretty badly. At first glance, the rescue
team thought he was dead. But once they pulled him from the wreckage, the
doctors managed to find a spark of life remaining."

"This is getting a little hard to buy," Paris said nervously.

Nykita sneered, her eyes glittering with temper. "Believe what you want. I
really couldn't care less. What matters is Adric is here. Proof positive he
indeed survived."

"Is that what matters?" Dalton asked. "I have to wonder how all this ties
into the neutralizing field."

Nykita glared at him. "The inhabitants of the planet were advanced. Far
advanced compared to our standards. And they had an amazing respect for
life. They absolutely refused to relinquish Adric to the comfort of death.
They labored over his broken body for months. Forced him to cling to his
life when his body would have succumbed. They even went so far as to put him
in stasis when things looked past redemption."

Distrust dimmed Dalton's clear eyes. "That doesn't explain the curious
readings."

"You want the gruesome details?" Nykita's fingers tightened on Adric's
shoulder and she ground her teeth noisily. "Very well, then. The surgeons
were working on a man who had been jelified. Every bone in his body was
splintered. He was mangled beyond recognition." Her lids dropped over her
eyes, shielding her thoughts from them. "Adric survived, but it was a
miracle. Pure and simple. Nothing else explains it."

Adric shook his head, staring at his hands. "I rather thought it closer to
the work of the devil."

"The readings."

"Dal, there's something you have to understand," Adric said softly.

"I'd say there's quite a lot I need to understand," Dalton challenged. "But
say your piece. The rest will come."

"These people. They didn't mean any harm in what they did. I'm certain of
it. Their only concern was to keep me alive." His eyes lifted, meeting
Dalton's, then shifted away again. "Judes, they should have let me die."

A creeping horror took hold in the pit of Dalton's stomach. He moved swiftly
to Adric's side, kneeling on one knee. "Just exactly what did they do to
you?" he asked, staring deeply into the other man's glassy gaze.

Adric offered him a weak smile. "They were losing me, Dal. My body had
exhausted itself in the healing process. I couldn't even maintain my own
bodily functions."

"Sounds messy," Paris muttered.

Adric moaned deep in his throat, like a wounded animal. "It was the most
dehumanizing thing I've ever experienced. If they'd been human, or even had
human morals, they would have extinguished my life. It would have been the
merciful thing."

"But they did not."

"No, Dal, they didn't. They followed their own culture. Did the only thing
left them to do that would honor their beliefs."

"Which was?"

Adric shuddered, swallowing hard. "They grafted neutrite into my DNA."

"And?"

"And the neutrite changed my cell structure. Mutated me."

Dalton's jaw jerked spasmodically. "Mutated?"

"But it did work," Adric continued. "I got stronger every day. I survived.
And I became something not myself. God in His mercy, I wish they'd let me go
naturally."

Dalton jerked to his feet and backed away several paces, putting space
between them. "Domani. What the devil is neutrite? What type of mutation are
we dealing with here?"

"I have no information."

"Nothing?"

"I am sorry, Commander."

Dalton nodded. "If I'm understanding you right, Adric, you spent several
months on a planet you have yet to name and were treated with an altering
element of which we have no previous knowledge. That's what you're saying,
yes?"

"Sounds a bit vague, doesn't it?" Adric admitted. "Hell, it's vague to me
too, and I lived through it." He paused, staring at his hands. "I know how
it must come across, Dal, but I am telling you the truth."

Dalton wanted to believe what Adric was saying. Wanted it so bad he could
taste it on his tongue. Just as he wanted to take this man's word on faith,
but his past would not allow it.

Groaning as if his doubts were tearing and ripping his very soul apart,
Dalton strode back to Adric. "Make me believe, Adric. Explain it to me so I
can believe."

"What more can I tell you?" Adric demanded desperately. "The only thing I
know is the neutrite is a synthetic, living organism. It is almost metallic
by nature. A living metal, if you like."

"Not very well, actually."

"No more than I do." Adric sighed. "Understand, Dal. The neutrite has a
unique ability to unite with organic tissue. In my case, it was seeded
throughout my body. It bonded with my DNA and restructured my bone and
musculature from the basic life unit up."

Dalton shook his head. "It all sounds a little too alien. A little too
inhuman."

"He be a bloody gestalt," Ian said, backing away.

"Put away your superstition, Ian," Dalton snapped. "This is neither the time
nor the place."

"But he's right, Dal. That's what it amounts to." Adric spoke softly,
despondently. "I am human, but not human. Machine, but not machine.

"They made me into a hybrid, meshing me with metal and circuitry when all
else failed, until I sometimes forget what it means to be truly human.

"I'm a freak of nature thanks to their meddling. But, I am still alive. I am
still man enough to fight for the rights of mankind. I can still feel the
need to free men, real men, from the grasp of the Coalition."



end part 16

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