Do No Evil (Aeon Trilogy Book 2)

Chapter 23

Laura came alone again. She always came alone these days. The other Aeons distrusted and disliked Vinicius too much to visit him willingly, and Vinicius guessed she had given up on browbeating them to accompany her.

"What have you been occupying yourself with, Vinicius?" she asked. He saw that she was wearing her usual long flowing white gown, accentuated by golden jewelry. "There's a war brewing. Make yourself useful."

Vinicius couldn't hold her gaze. "I was remembering the riots in New York. The day Sarah's identity as a spy was revealed, and the day I became a murderer."

"Murderer?" asked Laura.

"The more I replay the moment when I took the shattered glass and tore out that boy's throat in my building lobby, the less it seems I killed someone else and the more it seems like I killed myself."

"That was no innocent boy, Vinicius. He attacked you with a knife, slashed your face."

"He looked how I should have looked, if my parents hadn't engineered my DNA to alter my natural appearance. He was what I should have been. Just a normal boy of mixed heritage, not the misshaped monstrosity I've become."

"You're divine, Vinicius."

He shook his head. "It might as well have been I who died in that lobby. And then I lost Sarah the same day. I thought she was dead, but it was even worse."

"She betrayed you."

"Yes. And without her, what point does existence have?"

"You are immensely powerful. You are the god-king of a growing city. You can use your MindWave to experience any sensation you can imagine as if it were real."

"Knowing that Sarah betrayed me, I can only experience bitterness."

Laura slapped him hard across his face. "Pull yourself together. I'll not have you mewling like a hungry kitten when the rest of the Aeons are fighting a battle to defend your privileges."

Vinicius stared at her angrily as he held his stinging cheek.

Laura's expression quickly changed from anger to pleasure. "I have good news, Vinicius. I've found a safe location to relocate our growth vat. Kobus is almost full formed. As soon as he's ready, I will move the incubator to the new location and begin rejuvenating Abril. The trip is just going to cause a few days' delay. I have already mapped Abril's brain in detail and I've got her memories all packaged up and ready to go. I can transmit this information to the new facility when we're ready."

"That's good," offered Vinicius in a flat voice. He had little hope that Abril would view him any differently than did Kobus and the other Aeons. She, after all, had been the first Aeon to die at Sarah's hands. She would have as big a grudge against Vinicius as anyone.

"It will be symbolic of our impending victory to have all of the Aeons restored to life again," continued Laura. "And of course, Abril has such an important role to play in building our future. For even as the humans destroy each other, we have a new civilization to build. We can't very well create a culture without art and beauty to inspire us. And Abril's artistic talent truly is magnificent."

"Yes, I've seen her plans for Sanctuary, and for some of the other havens," allowed Nick. He still disliked the plans, but he didn't want to refight that battle now.

"Oh, and wait until she's revived and can plan the newest haven I have in mind. You see," said Laura excitedly, "that facility where you were being held captive by Sarah before I rescued you, I've made some overpasses with our satellites. The whole complex is heavily shielded, but just based on the size of the armoring, it looks like it's a giant underground facility. And it must be fully wired for a MindWave user if it's where Sarah used to operate out of. And if I'm not mistaken, the radiation signatures I'm picking up mean that it's powered by its own thorium reactors, so it can power itself for thousands of years."