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told him just as much if he weren t sealed inside a skimmer.
 Here we go. She pointed to a solitary figure.  They just got out of a small land
vehicle. I can t get a visual on them from this angle.
 Are they alone, or is someone waiting in the car?
She made several adjustments, but shook her head.  It s hard to say. This could
be residual heat from the person who just got out. My guess would be he has a buddy.
 Let s concentrate on the mover. Cruz watched the shadowy figure cross the
scanner screen, wishing he could better relate it to the world around him.
As if she heard his mental grumblings, Emily activated the main viewscreen and
winked at him.  Better?
 Much. The man crept along, keeping his back to trees, and hesitated at the
smallest clearing.
 He s depending completely on visual clues. He must be human.
Cruz smiled. A few days ago, she d proudly claimed the title for herself.  Stay
here. He punctuated the directive with a firm glower, but suspected she d disobey.
This was her mission too. In fact, they had been dispatched by her supervisor. He was
technically the interloper.
The human crept along in the shadows, a silver case clutched in one hand.
Without warning or debate, Cruz charged the man, ramming his shoulder into the
smaller man s gut and ripping the case out of his hand.
The man yelped then cursed, coming alive with brutal alacrity. He swung at
Cruz with a tight right fist then immediately countered with a left upper cut. Cruz
dodged the right, but the left caught him on the jaw, jerking his head sharply to the
side. Lights danced before his eyes and he felt the man tugging on the case.
 Back off! Emily s voice cracked like a whip, and he couldn t help but smile.
The human let go with a curse and stepped back.
Aubrey Ross Alpha Colony: Uninhibited Fire 93
Cruz saw panic in the human s eyes half a second too late. The man glared at
him, as if he d continue the fight, then he turned and ran off through the woods.
He didn t get far. Maddox tackled him and the rumble of an engine told
everyone the human s driver had just deserted him.
The cameraman shot the human from several angles so facial recognition could
identify the culprit.
Emily opened the silver case, but would need to analyze the liquid before she
could determine what the vials contained.  None of it was anywhere near the water, so
I m not sure it matters. But I m dying to know what they were hoping to accomplish.
Milo and Tayla arrived a few minutes later.  Your team must have warned the
others. All we saw was a shuttle speeding off across the sky. Tayla caught a less than
stellar image of it, but I m not sure it will help. There didn t appear to be anything
unusual about the shuttle.
 Then we have no idea who set this in motion? Cruz had never been so
frustrated in his life.
 We have two important clues, Tayla reminded him.  The human you
captured, and whatever is in his silver case.
Emily nodded.  You take the human; I ll take the case?
 You re on.
* * *
 It s not a toxin. Director Jack Darman told Emily a couple of hours later. He
moved out of the way and motioned her toward the microscope.
It felt wonderfully familiar to be working at his side again. She just wished
something pleasant had brought about their reunion. Focusing through the lenses, she
felt her heart miss a beat.  Oh Gods. Why would anyone revive this? She straightened
and shook her head, feeling nauseous and shaken.  Father worked so hard to purge
every sample, every record that even mentioned this atrocity.
Aubrey Ross Alpha Colony: Uninhibited Fire 94
 What atrocity? Cruz asked from the doorway. After realizing he would have
nothing to do in the lab, he d decided to visit some old acquaintances in the feline
village.
 DOMA calls it the failsafe, Darman told Cruz.  Every morph was engineered
with a genetic message that can be activated at will. This message has been inherited by
your children. If the morph population becomes too large, or too unruly, they can be
terminated at any time.
 Terminated? Cruz echoed.  What does this message do?
 Causes your DNA to deteriorate. Darman glanced at her then clarified,  You
would all die, and it wouldn t be pretty.
Cruz s sculpted features settled into an expressionless mask, but Emily knew
him too well. Fury and betrayal twisted through his gaze.  DOMA was trying to
annihilate us?
 I don t think it was DOMA, Emily said.  We ve wanted to pull off the puppets
and reveal the puppet-master. Well, here s our chance.
His gaze narrowed and his hands clenched at his sides.  Why are you defending
them? Karah had to have known about this.
 Oh she knew. I have no doubt she knew. She also knew this activation wouldn t
hurt you, it would only unmask whoever had attempted to use it.
He raked his hair with his hand, his agitation obvious.  Okay, you lost me. What
are you talking about?
 The failsafe was the primary reason my father left DOMA. The board refused to
abandon the protocol, so he resigned. Before he left, he destroyed the template and
every variation of the activator. He also purged the archives of any research material
that pertained to the failsafe s development.
 If this code is already in all of us, why won t the activator hurt us?
 Because my father engineered a genetic response, a cure. His brother, Karah s
father, engineered the failsafe, so Father felt personally responsible to right the wrong.
Aubrey Ross Alpha Colony: Uninhibited Fire 95
 He worked in secret after he left DOMA, Darman added.  Rumors circulated
that he was attempting to override the failsafe, but everyone believes he died before he
accomplished the goal.
 You said Karah knew, Cruz mused.  Why would she allow the board to
believe the failsafe was still in effect if she knew your father had succeeded?
 Despite her shortcomings, Karah genuinely cares for the morphs. Both Cruz
and Darman snorted, but Emily went on as if they hadn t made the disparaging sound.
 Someone sent Father anonymous information that allowed him to progress at several
pivotal junctures. He always believed it was Karah.
 When was this cure administered and why do we know nothing about either
the failsafe or the cure?
 The cure was part of your admissions protocol, and newborn cubs are injected
shortly after birth. Darman buried his hands in the pockets of his lab coat and asked,
 How do we find out where this came from?
Emily smiled.  We keep searching until we do.
* * *
Three days later Emily sat beside Cruz in the skimmer watching Tayla on the
main viewscreen. Her effervescent personality made her easy to like, and Milo s faith in
her made her easy to trust.
 The human was nobody, a thug-for-hire, Tayla began.  But the shuttle we [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]