Down Deep

Chapter Twenty Four - Grant

Grant scratched his bare left wrist. Now that they were free from the Capital, Orick had given Stine his device to remove the orange criminal bands. Stine removed Zdana's first followed by Grants. He knew he should have been happier about it, but his mind and heart were in turmoil. Looking back to the terminal, he tried to find some answers.

The Citynet was useless until he tapped deep into Mores personal logs. The man was connected to several secret experiments, but nothing that was unexpected. Frustrated, Grant tried looking for anything linking his father to Mores. He knew if he asked, Zdana would know where to look, but the woman was caring for her sick parents right now. Everyone other than the mixed kids were sick in one form or another.

The machines process to save both the people who lived down in the deeps, and the people who had been born in the Capital, was to fluctuate pressures until everyone's bodies were adjusted to Fens depth. The process was playing hell on everyone and left most of them feeling ready to pass out, or throw up. To his and most everyone else's shock, he was not affected which had reminded him of Mores taunting him.

Since then, he had been ransacking the councilman's records trying to find anything that could give him answers. All Grant could find on his father was an order sent down by Councilman Ridden for the arrest of his father. He had been forced to take the long walk after he had been charged with treason. Grant's father had been caught breaking into an off limits area. Searching Ridden's files yielded exactly what Grant had been looking for. Quarr had broken into an area marked Sector D. Grant knew what that area had been. That was the same place countless flu survivors and been tortured, and Logan had broken free from so long ago.

Ridden's files told horror stories about what the place was used for now. Genetic research and experiments twisting DNA. What he had not expected, was to see his momma's name tied in with the place. According to the files, she was the head geneticist in charge of the projects. His momma had died years before, but her files were still there.

'No.' He whispered seeing the data spread out before him.

'What?' Came a voice from the door. He looked to see Zdana standing there looking worried. 'What is it? You look like you have seen a spirt.' He shook his head not sure if he was ready to share this.

'How are your parents?' He asked

'Resting for now.' She said relieved. 'Everyone is starting to improve. How about you? How do you feel? Toren says you have been in here the last couple of days. He was worried it was finally hitting you.' Grant shook his head and sighed. He trusted Zdana and if he was going to tell anyone, it would be her. He motioned to the small terminal that had come with his house. She frowned, but looked. Her eyes widened in shock and she had to sit down. 'How?' She whispered. 'You are her son.'

'No I am not.' He said looking back to the screen. 'She just carried me. They took the egg from a wounded woman taken from a tunnel near the Deeps. She died hours after they harvested one of her eggs. Quarr had no idea his seed was used to fertilize a Deeps woman's egg. He just thought his mate had become pregnant after so many years of trying and failing. He never questioned it. When I was six, Mores wanted me taken in for more testing. Quarr found out about everything. He tried to get me out of the labs and planned to take me to the Fens where I would be safe from those two. He was never sick, he was murdered for trying to protect me.' She shook her head and was quiet. Grant looked back to the screen. His momma had mourned the loss of Quarr. After his death, she had not really been the same woman. He understood now why.

'Why?' Zdana said breaking into his thoughts. 'Why would they do that? I do not understand.'

'They wanted to know if a mixed person could survive in the Capital.' He replied glaring at the terminal. 'Apparently, I exceeded all of their expectations. No one had expected me to survive childhood let alone thrive. I was smarter, faster, and stronger than any of the kids in my age group. Not only did I excel at sports, I finished all levels at the top of my class. When I finished advanced classes, the whole world was open for me. With my score, I could go into any department I wanted. Mores had talked me into joining his staff. Said he would like to see me rise to a council seat one day and his office was the starting point I would need.' Grant shook his head feeling sick. 'He just wanted me close by so he could watch me. They are afraid of us Zdana.' He told her looking to her. 'They feared what would happen if the miners revolted and over took the Capital. This experiment was to see if the miners could survive on this level and I proved they could.' She looked ill and looked back to the terminal.