Casey watched as the mountain gorilla took a pair of shears from his leather belt and carefully pruned the rose bush in her garden. His son, Baha watched the procedure with great intensity. When the old one finished, they both moved on to the next bush and repeated the lesson. Casey wondered how long it would be before Koko let the younger gorilla try his hand at pruning. Koko was protective of his roses, yet he would have to let his son try soon, or he might be swayed to leave and tend some other garden. Koko had already lost his eldest son in that manner.
She could still remember Koko’s howls of rage and betrayal when a wealthy Chemco executive lured Haga away with the offer of head gardener at his estate. While the garden itself was not half the size or grandeur of Casey’s, it provided the young gorilla a chance to be his own master. She could not fault Haga’s ambition. She only wished his promotion ended with a happy ending.
It had not. Haga, having been trained by the finest gardener alive, had very definite ideas as to the structure of a garden. His ideas differed significantly with the genetically enhanced wife of the Chemco exec. That difference of opinion proved fatal.
Haga’s skin was rumored to adorn the woman’s private sitting room. Casey never scanned the woman to determine if the story was true. The truth would serve no purpose except more death. It could not bring the young ambitious Haga back to life. Could she exchange the life of the Chemco wife for Haga, she’d do it in a second, but taking the pathetic woman’s life would only add one more death to the long list that blackened Casey’s soul.
She flinched at Damion’s touch as his arms encircled her waist from behind.
“You must be in very heavy thoughts not to notice my arrival,” he murmured as he nuzzled her ear.
She continued to stare at KoKo and his son, trying to ignore her husband’s attempts at affection. “I was thinking perhaps the gorillas were better left off in the jungle.”
Damion pulled her tight against him. “And who would tend your gardens? You hated the robots.”
“I know. I still do. But to take a free and wild animal and reengineer it into a domesticated servant is morally wrong.”
“Trust me. The way you treat those apes, they’ve nothing to complain about. They live better than most people do.”
“But their home is—”
“Destroyed, Casey. Gone. You did the best you could for them. Let it be.”
Casey sighed and leaned back against him. It had been a very long time since he had touched her. She had forgotten the pleasure of human contact. As she turned her face so her cheek touched his strong broad chest, she caught the fragrance of his latest mistress. The warmth and pleasure of his touch deserted her body.
She felt Damion scan her mind when she stiffened beneath his touch.
He released her and stepped away. “Have you eaten?”
“No.” She fought off the wave of depression that threatened to engulf her. What was the point? She could never eat again and he would still keep her alive. If only Dance had killed her when he had the chance.
“Don’t even think that!” Damion snapped. He mentally called for a servant.
Casey glared at him. “I’ll think what I want, and I’ll thank you to stay out of my head!”
When the servant arrived, he ordered lunch and frowned at the girl’s thoughts. He turned to Casey. “How long has it been since you last ate?”
She didn’t answer, having no desire to be the brunt of one of his lectures. Instead, she focused on Koko. His son held the pruners and anxiously made his first cut. Koko rubbed his son’s head and then pointed to another branch.
Damion tugged her from the window and led her to the dining room. They sat at each end of the long table, with twelve feet and miles of space between them.
Damion’s anger and frustration grew as the dinner progressed. It was only under his relentless scrutiny that she ate anything at all.
”I won’t let you die.”
His tone was of anger, not concern and made her so exhausted she felt ready for bed, despite the sun had barely risen.
“Why not? What do I matter? What is the point of making me live forever?”
“I need you.”
“Liar!” she half laughed, half cried. “You haven’t stepped foot in this house for over seventeen years. You don’t need me, you have Zakee.” Her mind turned to that poor child she had rescued, only to lose him to Damion. She paused and looked at him. “Why are you here?”
Damion reached for his wine glass. “Are you scanning me, Casey?”
If she hadn’t known him for over two hundred years, she wouldn’t have been able to detect the touch of nervousness in his voice.
“I try not to swim in toxic waters.”
She expected her response to anger him, given he was the most powerful man on what was left of Earth, but he didn’t show it. Instead, he acted as if her words wounded him.
“You once loved me.” His soft voice hinted of sadness.
“I once trusted you.” She desperately tried not to let the tears swell in her eyes as she thought of the endless betrayals and manipulations he had played over their long partnership.
“I wish you’d trust me again.”
“Never!” The image
of Zakee’s parents flashed in her mind; their white
bloated flesh floating in her pond. She had convinced the couple to escape with
their son Zakee into Damion’s waiting arms. But Damion only wanted Zakee. He had no use for the autistic
boy’s parents. Once they arrived in
Casey never knew whether he had murdered them or they committed suicide. All she had to do was scan his mind to know, but she feared to go there. What did it matter, anyway? They were gone, and ultimately she was the cause. Had she never returned to the Maori tribe she had established after the apocalypse, had she left the village alone, they would still be alive.
“Zakee needs you,” Damion finally spoke, breaking into her thoughts.
“Zakee has you.” She recalled the gentle boy she had discovered in the tribal village. Severely autistic, the villagers thought him an idiot, but Casey soon discovered his brilliant mind simply had trouble dealing with tedium of everyday life. Thus, he escaped into his own extraordinary thoughts, discovering and forgetting more in a few moments than a team of scientist could formulate in a year.
Damion had befriended the boy and isolated him to cultivate and mine his brilliance.
“It’s not enough.” Damion sighed and stared down the long table at her. “He needs companionship. He’s become fragile.”
Casey looked up, half in contempt, half in alarm. Zakee was always “fragile” so what was Damion saying.
“I can’t reach him anymore.” His fingers rapped his wine glass in agitation. “You’re my last hope.”
Casey shook her head. “I can’t help you.”
Damion’s eyes darkened. “It’s his only chance. If he can’t be reached…”
Damion left the threat unspoken, but Casey knew what he was saying. Zakee was too powerful to leave out of control. Damion would destroy the boy if he could not control him.
“He’s not a boy anymore. You haven’t seen him for a long time. He’s a grown man now.”
Casey shook her head. No, she hadn’t seen him. She couldn’t. Watching the poor child float about in the water tank was too horrible.
“I’m not asking you to go to the lab. I’m asking you to let him live here.”
The image of him in water tank still held in her mind.
“He’s not in a tank anymore. He demanded out when he reached puberty.” Damion laughed. “Actually he started demanding a lot of things when he reached puberty, but nothing seemed to help. He’s lonely. He has no one but me, and I can’t give him whatever it is that he needs.”
Casey nodded in understanding for the poor Zakee.
Damion leaned forward, as if those few inches could overcome their distance. “He remembers you. He has asked for several years to see you, but I thought it would be too much of a distraction.”
Casey glared at him in distrust. “And what has changed your mind?”
Damion shrugged. “Nothing. But I don’t see I have any alternative. Well, one….but I’d rather give you a chance first.”
Casey’s heart sank. He would kill Zakee if she could not reach him. She let fear for the boy’s safety leak out from her thoughts, while behind her mental barrier she promised herself she would destroy Damion before she let him harm that boy further.
“Will you do it?”
Casey looked at him. “You leave me no option. Of course, I will do it, but on one condition.”
“What?”
“That I never see you again.”
Damion’s dark eyes rounded in shock. She even sensed a tinge of anger but he quickly squelched it beneath his black wall. “If that is your wish.” Pushing the food away, he stood and walked over to where she sat. When she continued to stare at her plate, he leaned over and kissed her on her head. “Thank you. And should you change your mind about your condition, I will most willingly re-negotiate our agreement.”
She didn’t breathe until she heard the front door close and felt the absence of his presence. Still it was not safe to think outside the protection of her mental barriers. Damion’s mental strengths were not nearly as strong as hers, but he kept them well-honed from centuries of use. She knew he was trying to enhance his powers so they matched hers.
While she avoided scanning him, she would on occasion scan those who worked for him. His lack of success in duplicating her talents, made her wonder if her mental abilities had been chemically induced as he claimed or whether they were just an aberration of nature. She dearly hoped they were an aberration that he would never be able to duplicate.
Even with a conscious and a good heart, she had done more terrible deeds than the worst of dictators in the post apocalypse era. She could only imagine the havoc someone less guilt-stricken might accomplish.
After the apocalypse, she had killed billions of people, to save them the pain of dying excruciating deaths from radiation poison. Damion had insisted, saying it was cruel to let them suffer. Agreeing, she did it. Unfortunately, she didn’t realize the extent of her power at that time. She didn’t know that when she killed with her mind, it obliterated the soul as well as the body of the person. In one thought, she had extinguished 99% of the souls in existence. All that remained was her Maori tribe and Damion’s Paradisians.
She scanned
her Maori village. They were halfway across the world, but their presence gave
her comfort. After her departure, Makai had taken
back leadership and turned the people into one cohesive group. They flourished
on the tiny and isolated
Without that
protection, the Paradisians would have attacked and
driven the Maoris from
Only through
her interference had the mountain gorillas escaped eradication when copper was discovered on their mountain. She didn’t own the swath of
Even that
act of kindness he mutated into something macabre and terrible. He saved the
gorillas so they could live their life in a laboratory breeding “enhanced”
primates capable of performing domestic duties that no citizen of
To soothe her guilt, she mentally reached out to Koko. He was having lunch with his family. Tinka, the youngest of his twelve children crawled up his back to perch upon his head. Gently, he lifted her down and fed her a piece of banana held so daintily between his massive fingers.
Most of the wealthy Paradisians dressed their primates in maids’ outfits and butler suits. Casey knew the gorilla’s hated emulating humans. Even with their intelligence manipulated, they were still noble gorillas, and felt the parody beneath them. She had spent considerable funds developing natural housing for her gorillas where they would feel as comfortable as possible in their unnatural environment. They wore only what they wished. For Koko, that was a tool belt. She suspected it was the only man-made item he had ever admired—man’s last act of reasonableness before lapsing into frivolous absurdity and wanton destruction.
Aching with loneliness, she rose from the table and went to seek out her only friend. He was the only one in her entire household who cared whether she was dead or alive.
The family was just finishing lunch when she arrived. The young ones hide in the dense foliage upon her arrival. Koko’s second wife glared at her intrusion and stomped away.
Koko frowned at his wife, but only scratched his shoulder and shook his head. His dark brown eyes turned to Casey and he studied her several minutes. His giant palm touched the ground beside him in invitation to join. Casey smiled and sat down.
He offered her a piece of banana, much as he had offered the same to his child. She shook her head. He pinched at her skin, noting her extreme thinness, and shook his head. He then offered her the banana again.
Knowing he was not accustomed to disobedience from his children, she sighed and put the banana in her mouth. He patted her head in response.
“You treat me like a gorilla baby,” she mentally complained.
He shook his head and answered her with a complex flurry of hand gestures and mental thoughts combined. “No. Baby gorillas never turn down bananas.”
Casey smiled and willingly took the next piece of banana he offered.
Koko studied her with his large brown eyes. “I sense more sadness than usual around you.”
“Damion was here.”
Koko bared his teeth in response. Casey didn’t have to read the gorilla’s mind to know his opinions of Damion. Koko was a first generation from the laboratories. He knew Damion personally.
“He has agreed to never come here again.”
Koko looked confused. “This saddens you?”
Casey considered this question. “Yes, in a way. But it was it my request and he agreed to it.”
Koko put away the banana he had been eating. His appetite was gone. “At what price?”
“Many years ago, there was a boy. He was special.”
“Like you?”
“Not like me, but yes, like me. He could go into his mind for months, thinking thoughts beyond comprehension. Every thought would be new. He never thought the same thing twice. He never recalled what he had thought before.”
“Does the demon know of this boy?” Koko asked nervously.
“Yes. He helped me save the boy from his tribe. They were frightened by the things his mind created and they wanted to kill him.”
Koko nodded. “How long ago did the demon take him?”
Casey sighed. “Twenty-five years ago.”
“Have you seen him since?”
Casey shook her head and ignored the tears welling in her eyes. “I couldn’t. They had him in a water tank, like some giant specimen. Damion said it was so he wouldn’t be distracted from thinking, but I couldn’t bear it. I visited the lab only once and then no more. It was too horrible. And I knew it was my fault the boy was there. I knew Damion’s obsession with knowledge, and still I let him have the boy.”
Koko caressed her head and pulled her into his big furry arms. “Calm, lil one. You must not blame yourself for the acts of the demon. Once he knew of the boy’s existence, nothing would have stopped him. Not you, not parents…” He felt her stiffen in his arms. “Ah, the parents, too. I suppose they were in the way. How did they die?”
“How did you know they died?” she asked, wondering if Koko was learning to read minds.
“They would interfere with the demon’s plans. A counterclaim to his new found property. “
“I found them in my pool. It was ruled a suicide.”
Koko nodded. “You bear much guilt which is the demon’s. But this is an old burden, why does it cause you new pain and sorrow?”
“The boy has asked to live here. I agreed, but his presence brings the past to surface.”
Koko continued to hold her in his arms. “Surely, he does not hold you responsible for the actions of the Demon.”
Casey pushed herself away from the comfort of Koko’s arms. “Don’t you understand? I hold myself responsible.”
“Then say no. Tell the demon to house him elsewhere.”
“I can’t. I am the boy’s last chance. He’s evidently become recalcitrant, refusing to work with Damion. If I don’t make him compliant, Damion will destroy him.”
Koko bared his teeth again. “And if you save him, it is for the demon you work. Better to let the boy die.”
Casey sobbed. “I know that! Don’t you think I don’t I know that? Yet, I couldn’t say no. After all I’ve done to the poor boy, I couldn’t refuse Zakee’s request for asylum.”
Suddenly Koko stood, his massive form towering above her. “I know this boy! I never saw him, but I know the name Zakee. I am one of his thoughts. I am one of those new ideas he had. Aren’t I?”
Casey nodded in shame. “But it’s not his fault, he was only a child.”
“He is a monster! And should be destroyed!” bellowed Koko. “And you would bring him here and tend his wounds so he can think up more abominations to nature.”
“He is not a monster. He’s an innocent, unaware of how his thoughts are used. And yes, I will do everything in my power to save his life, just as I would yours, my friend,” Casey said reaching her hand out to Koko.
For a moment, she thought he was going to refuse, but with a shake of his body, he resumed his seat, taking her hand into his giant paw. “Your path is never easy, lil one. It often seems you do more harm with your kind heart than most do with evil intent. However, you cannot change who you are, anymore than I can change what the demon has made me. Do what you must…and as your friend, I will stand with you.”