“Oh. Jenny, you don’t even realize what you are,” he said. “How much do you really know about Nikolai Drakov?”
She shook her head, dazed, still unable to believe he wasn’t furious with her, that he wasn’t striking out at her.
“He’s insane. Jenny. He’s brilliant, a genius, but he’s a madman and a criminal. God knows, maybe he even believes that the hominoids aren’t human. It would certainly fit with his insane megalomania. The thought that he’s created an entirely new species, that he’s some sort of God…”
“What are you saying?” she whispered.
“Jenny, the first hominoids that Nikolai Drakov created were androids. They weren’t really human, but crude imitations. They weren’t really capable of independent thought, or of human feelings and emotions. But later, Drakov resorted to genetic engineering to create clones in a laboratory…” He trailed off as he watched her. “God, you don’t understand the first thing about what I’m saying, do you?”
She shook her head.
He stared up at the ceiling. “How on earth can I explain it to you? You don’t know the first thing about science…”
“I understand a little about science.” she said, in a small voice, still confused by his lack of a violent reaction, which was what she had expected.
“Well, genetic engineering is a science,” Scott told her. “What Drakov did was to… to give birth to humans in a laboratory without the benefit of parents. What I mean is, there were parents, human parents from whom Drakov obtained the raw material, but the hominoids-he still called them that, even though they were different from the first ones-were born without the necessity of a man and a woman having sex. The eggs were fertilized in a laboratory and the fetuses came to term in artificial wombs…”
He saw that he was losing her again and he felt exasperated. There had to be some way that he could make her understand.
“What I’m trying to say. Jenny, is this, Even though you were never born in the normal way, even though you never had a father or a mother, you are still a human being. Drakov lied to you. He wasn’t really your creator, he… he was more like a midwife. It’s much too complicated for me to explain to you, but you have to believe one thing. You are as human as I am.”
She shook her head, slowly. “Is it possible?” she whispered.
He grabbed her by the arm. “That’s human flesh. Jenny.” He put his hand on her breast. “That’s a human heart beating in there.” He kissed her. “Those are human lips.” he said, softly. “I couldn’t love you if you were not human. And I do love you.”
She gave a small cry and clutched at him, burying her head against his chest as her small body was wracked with sobs. He held her tightly, stroking her hair and kissing the top of her head. Meanwhile, his mind was racing. Drakov, here! Then it wasn’t the Network or the S.O.G. Or perhaps the Network was here, as well. Or maybe the S.O.G. He was no longer sure of anything except two things. One was that with Drakov here in this time sector, the threat was even greater than he had imagined. And the other was that he was deeply in love with this poor, tortured girl.
He couldn’t begin to imagine what her existence must have been like. Cloned in a laboratory, she had been raised to believe she wasn’t human, but some sort of cle
ver simulacrum. It was simply monstrous. Unlike other hominoids that Neilson had encountered, she had not been artificially mutated into some sort of frightening creature, her mind had not been destroyed, her personality-severely damaged though it was-had been left more or less intact. Only she had grown up believing that she was some sort of an inferior creature and that Nikolai Drakov was her “master.” her god, to whom she owed unquestioning obedience. Except that he had triggered feelings in her that had been powerful enough to upset a lifetime of conditioning.
Apparently, she had been told that if he found out “what she really was,” he’d kill her. And yet, she had disobeyed her master. Convinced that he would kill her if she told him the truth, she had told him anyway. Because she loved him. At that moment. Neilson would have died for her
She needed help. It would probably take years of therapy to overcome all the damage that had been done to her. But before he could even think of that, he first had to make sure that he could get her away from Drakov. And that Drakov would be stopped. Only he wasn’t sure if he could do it alone.
If he kept her from going back to him, wherever he was, Drakov would realize what must have happened and it would force his hand. But he could not bear the thought of having her go back to him. Obviously, Drakov had placed her in Tombstone, in the saloon, so that she would be in a position to report to him. Which meant be had to know about him. Scott was torn. He didn’t know what to do.
Where the hell were Priest, Cross and Delaney”
Lucas Priest came over to the table in the hotel dining room where Neilson was eating his dinner and sat down.
“Mind if I join you, Kid?” he said.
“Looks like you just did, mister.”
“I’d like to introduce myself. The name’s Priest, Lucas Priest I’m a writer and, from what I hear, you’re somebody worth writing about.” He lowered his voice and said. “We have to talk.”
“Go ahead and talk. Mr. Priest. I’m listenin’.”
“I’m writing some articles about the West for a magazine back in New York and I believe you’re someone my readers would be very interested to know about.” He lowered his voice again. “Why the hell haven’t you made contact? Are you being watched?”
Neilson put down his fork and frowned. “Beg pardon?”
“I hear you re mighty fast with a six-shooter,” Lucas said. “I’d like to ask you some questions, if you don’t mind.” Then lowered his voice once more. “Are you under surveillance?”
“No, sir, I ain’t no surveyor. Don’t know anything about it.”
Lucas stared at him. “What the hell’s the matter with you, Neilson?” he whispered.