John Mule -
“God, what a dump!” Lucy laughed as the two of them forced
their way into the office. Papers and box of junk strewn across the floor made
opening the door difficult. “Was there a robbery?”
Maxa let out a long sigh as she stood in the door way in
front of Lucy. “Nope, no robbery, just Dr. Gourevitch. He, uh, wasn’t the
neatest –“
“Is that a laptop? Oh wow, and all these books. A real
fossil.”
“He was-“
“Shit, it smells too.”
Maxa turned with a pissed off look. “OK Luce, cut it out
already. Sorry you had big plans this afternoon, but I thought you might want
to help me go through Gourevitch’s stuff instead of sitting around all day
voicing with Janx.”
“Sorry pepper.” Lucy said, smiling a wide smile. “I’ll keep
it real for now then. Ow long did you work for this geezer anyway?”
“Past three years. And he wasn’t old, just kind a stuck. “
“Right, books and paper. What he die of anyway?”
“Dunno, heart attack he wasn’t healthy-“
“Should be with me in socsh, lots of cute profs.” Lucy
laughed. “Seriously, total fun bunch.”
“Not what Janx tells me. OK. Well, let’s clear off the desk
and table first, just put shit in boxes.”
“Think we’ll find any pervvy stuff?”
“I doubt-“
“Was he a perv? I swear , half the dudes in Socsh are total
pervs.”
“Well Luce- maybe if you didn’t dress like some street-“
“Hey, step off the slut shaming girl!” Lucy laughed. “So
what did your saint research anyway?”
“Ex-Terr Breeds.”
“Mules?”
“That’s no approp-“
“OK, so now we’re getting someplace after all. Did he know
about your little cultural interest in Mule slang?”
“Luce! Jesus, yes, that’s why he hired me!”
“Sorry, what do I know, I got my fellowship by dressing like
a slut…”
“Not what I meant Luce, it’s just.. well, never mind.”
Luce smiled again and thrust her chest up against Maxa.
“Like these girlie huh?”
“Stop it!”
The two broke down laughing for a moment. Maxa stopped and
looked around.
“Fuck, it’s gonna take a long time to dig through this crap.
I bet he has every damn device and gadget from the past 30 years in here…”
“And lots of books. Who the fuck keeps book anymore?”
“He liked them-“
“What’s in the desk? Was he a cookie freak? I could go for
some if they’re not stale?”
Luce opened one of the desk drawers.
“Ugh, nothing useful, just dildos” Maxa gasped and turned to
look, the drawer was empty except for some rubber bands. Maxa slugged Luce on
the arm. Luce laughed and opened the drawer underneath.
“Fuck, the guy was like in love with paper. What is this, a
book, never seen one like that?”
Maxa looked over and saw a manila folder.
“It’s a file… a file? Jeeze Luce a way to organize paper?”
She said the last part very slowly.
“Sorrrreee Maxa, over in Socsh-land we have things called
computers…”
“Gourevitch had those too, wonder why he had this? Looks
like a report, thick too..” She was mumbling to herself and she pulled up the
file out of the drawer. She opened the
file and looked at the top sheet of paper, her brow furrowed. After a moment
Luce stopped putting books in her book and leaned over. Maxa snaped the file
shut quickly.
“What is it?”
“Nothing?”
“Let me see!” Luce playfull grabbed at the file but Maxa
hung on to it.
“Seriously Maxa, what the fuck?” Luce grabbed hard the file
came out of Maxa’s hand.
“Serious fuck girl, what is it…?” Luce scanned the top
sheet.
“I, I’m not sure…” Maxa said.
“Mule stuff? Sorry, Ex-Ter-Bred stuff?”
“Yeah…”
“So? Was he Anthro or Bio?”
“Anthro…”
“Then why is he looking at some pregnancy crap?”
“I… I don’t know. I think we need to show this to someone
though…”
“OK, sure. I guess we can give it to his chair or someone…
Maxa? What the hell? What’s wrong.”
“Nothing, I’m sure it’s just some thing…. I might be reading
it wrong.”
“Reading what wrong?”
“The result there. The Ex-Ter-Bred.”
“What about it?” Luce said, feeding off of Maxa’s change of
mood.
“She’s preganant.”
“And?”
“Luce, Ex-Ter-Breds, they can’t get pregnant.”
Luce’s eyes went wide. “Mules…”
“Yeah, that’s where that comes from.”
“Ok, so one got through. I read some place Mules can get, I
mean, real mules…”
“I dunno Luce, but no Ex-Ter-Bred in history has ever gotten
pregnant. Thousands of them, never once, no record of one ever getting
pregnant.”
“OK, well one did…”
“No, Luce, this report says she carried it to term… 25 years
ago…”
“So?”
“ETBs being sterile is like the third thing they tell you on
day one of ETB studies. If one got pregnant it would be a pretty big footnote.”
“Ok, well… I dunno. But your guy did a study right, so,
there was a paper?”
“No, I mean, not that I’ve ever heard of… again, that’d be a
pretty hard paper to miss.”
“OK, so maybe they never wrote anything.. they lost interest
or the money ran out, their grat got defunded… “
“Maybe, but Gourevitch spent the past 30 years working in
the field. He was pretty rabid about his reputation. A find like this would
have made him famous instantly…”
“What? What’s wrong?” Luce asked.
“Maybe they had to leave it alone…”
“What do you mean- had to?”
“The government may have-“
“OK, please stop. Maxa, you are not the tin foil hat
type. Who gives a shit about what some
academic is doing?”
“Luce, I had to get a license just to take courses in ETB
studies, much less work on a PhD. The forms I had to fill in for my thesis… how
many licenses you need for gender studies?”
Luce started to laugh but stopped when she saw Maxa’s
expression. “Ok, soooo, the govermnet stopped him, 25 years ago.”
“But she carried the child to term, that means the kid could
be out there still.”
“Someone would have found him then, maybe he’s dead. We sure
it’s a he?”
“Yes, look at this, next page- sexed as a boy. They did a quick
DNA work up- nothing out of the ordinary. EBTs live to be in their mid 30s
usually.”
“So, wait a minute, they did a DNA work up? And he’s
ordinary?”
“Well, for an ETB.”
“Now, wait, if I recall about mules, I mean real mules, if
they do have offspring the… kid? The offspring is suually a horse or a… um..
the other one.”
“Donkey.”
“Isn’t that a mule?”
“No.”
“OK, so wouldn’t this kid be human or-“
“Well, maybe, but not according to this report. But they did
not do a very good test, even for 25 years ago. It looks like they shut things
down before they did more stuff.”
“OK, so.. what? Hand this over to-“
“No! I mean, no way. This is pure gold Luce. Even if
Gourevitch gets all the credit and I just hand it off, it could really help me
and my career. ETB studies aren’t exactly begging for people these days. Look,
I need to verify this somehow. If I found the kid, the guy…”
“Sure… how many ETB’s are there?”
“Fewer, but still, couple hundred thousands..”
“A couple hundred
thousand?”
“Yeah.” Maxa looked up from the report with a confused look.
“You didn’t know-“
“That many women had… are you serious?”
“It is fewer these days…”
“It still goes on?!”
“Oh my little sheltered gender studies queen…” Maxa laughed.
Luce rolled her eyes. “It’s not that bad, 25 years ago, 2067… not sure, but
maybe there would be several thousand babies, maybe five or six, cut out half
for the females… assuming the kid was placed in the US… it would only be one to
two thousand interviews…”
“You could get those done by the weekend…”
“Shut up! I need to find out more details, like where the
kid would have been placed. That would help. Ideally a name and government
number…”
“ Yeah, well, if it is some massive government cover up you
won’t get that online… who would know?”
“Meredith Ake.”
“Who?”
“Ake, Gourevitch colleague in the lab notes…”
Chapter two
Maxa walked down the quiet residential street bundled up
against the raw mid Atlantic winter weather. The tram stopped several blocks
away and she had been forced to walk to Ake’s address. Meredith Ake had been
easy enough to find, she was still teaching in the Universities biology
department. Maxa had thought about stopping by the professor’s office, but
thought it might not be prudent to be seen with her in case there was some
danger involved. Better to stop by the house on an overcast and cold day. No
one was out on the street.
The house was a small bungalow style from the mid 2oth
century. The front yard was mostly dried out dead Bermuda grass, lying dormant
until Spring. Maxa took a deep breath and rang the doorbell. After a few beats
the door opened. A tall, thin woman in her late 60s stood in the doorway. She
tilted her head like a bird when she talked.
“Yes dear?”
“Hi, are you Dr. Ake, Meredith Ake?”
“Yes?”
“My name is Maxine Anansi. I am a research assistant for Dr.
Gourevitch, well actually, I was-“
Dr. Ake put her hand up sharply and then put a finger to her lips. She turned slightly and
retrieved an envelope from a small table by the door. She fished in her pocket
for a pen.
“Sorry dear, I am really busy now and can’t really help you.
I think you have the wrong person, I don’t know anyone by that name.” She
chatted breezily. On the envelope she scribbled
something and then showed it to Maxa. It read “No talking. Did you
drive?”
Maxa shook her head. “Ok… I see, sorry to bother you. I took
the tram here, is Oxford the nearest stop?” She said slowly. Dr. Ake started
scribbling again.
“Um, oh yes, dead, that is the nearest. Good luck and stay
warm.” She stepped back and got behind the door, closing it. But right before
she did she flashed the envelope at Maxa again. It said “World Coffee, 20
minutes.” And with that Dr, Ake closed the door.
Maxa stood there for a moment and then turned and walked
away from the house. Her head was spinning. In all of the scenarios she had
imagined about meeting Dr. Ake, this had not been one. This meant that
something was off about the report and how the findings had never been
published. As Maxa walked she stopped
and looked around. Nothing seemed out fo the ordinary, no parked vans or
following figures in long coats. But Dr. Ake’s very strange behavior when Maxa
had mentioned Gourevitch’s name spooked Maxa.
Although she had not noticed it, Maxa figured that “World
coffee” most have been the name of a coffee shop near the tram station. Sure
enough, when she got to the station she noticed a small coffee shop with a few
tables and seats in it across the from the tram stop. Maxa went in, ordered a coffee, sat down and
waited.
After a few minutes the unmistakable tall figure of Dr. Ake
came in, ordered a cup of coffee and sat down across from Maxa.
“Maxine is it?”
“Yes ma’am, friends call me Maxa…”
“Alright then Maxa. Does Dr. Gourevitch know you are here?
If he does I am going to kill him myself…”
“No ma’am. Dr. Gourevtich is, well, uh, he died last week.”
Dr. Ake seemed taken aback. “Died? Really? How?” She leaned
in, her eyes wide, demanding.
“Uh, well, not sure, heart attack, pretty sure.”
“Huh, well, that could be anything. So he opened the shit
back up and got in trouble…” Dr. Ake said, almost to herself.
“No ma’am, well, I mean, I don’t know, exactly.” Maxa was
trying to suppress the desire to make a run for it.
“OK, cut the ma’am stuff. My friends call me Mary, Maxa.
Look, let’s start over. Sorry for the foolishness back at the house. It is just
that I panicked when you said Gourevitch’s name.”
“So… it’s true?”
“What, exactly, do you think it true Maxa. Tell me what is
going on and I can tell you how uch trouble Gourevitch got you in…”
“He didn’t. Uh, well,
it’s a little embarrassing… but, uh, I was cleaning out his office and found,
well, found a report…”
“Please do not tell me he had a copy of that stuff
squirrelled away someplace.”
“No Ma’- I mean, Mary – no, it was in a drawer, just sitting
there. Anyone could have found it…”
“The idiot!” Dr. Ake pounded the table. “So what did the
report say?”
“Just about the ETB woman and her child…”
“Fuck! Sorry, but.. fuck! So, basically everything?”
“Well, a lot, but this is why I wanted to talk to you
about-“
“No, stop. Look, I am pretty sure we’re ok here, the house,
not so much, may be bugged. It has been 25 years, but who knows, right? But
even here, we’re not talking about that stuff, understood. That stuff is red
hot, radioactive, pure poison. I would tell you to forget it, but I bet Rick
didn’t hire you because of your office cleaning skills. I bet you’re tops in
your class…”
“No, well, I guess. A class of one?”
“Shit, really, I heard ETB Studies was in trouble, but…
really, just you?”
“Well, some behind me,a few still ABD folks hanging around…”
“They should have shut that down years ago. No offense Maxa,
I am sure you like what you are doing, but it is dangerous. And this… this is
beyond dangerous.”
“ETBs are harmless Dr. Ake, you should know that…”
“Not talking about them, it’s the others, the government,
others…” Dr. Ake looked up at the ceiling of the café with arched eyebrows. “Maxa, look, walk away as far and fats as you
can. If you want a career in academia, you need to walk away. Burn the report
or something. Hell, I dunno, but just make sure you are never connected with it
in anyway.”
“What happened?”
Dr. Ake sat back, she seemed to deflate a little. “We got
spooked. Gourevitch and I were in the lab one afternoon. This guy came in,
well, this guy and two others, who stood by the door. He told us our research
was sensitive and being stopped. He told us that he’d already gotten the Uni to
delete our files and he demanded our notes and flashdrives. Took him all of 10
minutes to wipe out 6 months of research.
Told us if we ever even talked about it again, even to each other, we’d
be ruined. Then he left. I thought he had gotten everything, we had no warning.
But I should have known Rick had a paper copy someplace, he was strange that
way.”
“Dr. Ake, Mary, is there anything you can tell me about the
child?”
Dr. Ake looked at Maxa for a moment. She sighed. “I
shouldn’t. You seem nice enough and a little naive. If I said no it would mnake
it a lot harder on you, but it wouldn’t stop you, would it?”
“No.”
“Thought so. The kid was carried to term, we did draw some
blood and run a first pass test the day before the agent came. The child was
taken too and placed into the ETB system, like them all.”
“In the US?”
“Who knows, but I don’t see why not. ETB programs were pretty small then, not well developed,
most other states refused to take in any that were not from nationals. I think
the US would have aroused suspicion if they had tried to put it elsewhere…”
“Thank you Mary. I promise, I was never here.”
“Thank you Maxa, but you really are naïve. It’s ok, but once
this gets out my name will come up again. Bound to.”
“It might not be a bad thing… there might be protection in
having it come out.”
“Maxa, the government… looks, if it wants something buried, there are ways. They won’t kill you, I doubt
they killed Gourevitch really. But if they want you buried, they can destroy
your career. Being buried alive is worse than death, at least in Academia.”
“Thanks Dr. Ake, but I’ll be careful. Only myself, you and a
friend of mine know about this anyway.”
“that’s at least three too many dear.”
Chapter Three
A few days later Maxa met Luce in a different coffee shop,
this one right next to the Uni.
“What’s the emergency babe?” Luce said, flinging her
backpack on the chair next to her.
“Nothing, can’t good friends have a cup and catch up?”
“Riiiight, look, I have a huge paper due tomorrow. If this
is just you complaining about the date last night.”
“Oh no, the guy was fine, really. If you like walking fur
balls…”
“I thought your type did. Anyway, gotta run, that guy was my
good deed for the week, fuck maybe the
year, so fuckyouverymuch and you’re welcome.”
“No, no wait, Luce. Not about the guy. About.. other stuff?”
“The mules?”
“Stop goading me Luce!”
“Goading? What the fuck does that even mean?”
“Cut with the Mule crap. It’s derogatory.”
“It’s a construct girl, nothing more.”
“Nope, nope, nope, none of that Socsh crap either.” Maxa
laughed, Luce made a rude gesture.
“Seriously, 20 pages are waiting with my name on it.”
“Ok, ok, I met with Dr. Ake, the co-author? It’s pretty deep
shit. I was right, they did get shut down.”
“By the government?” Luce said, half whispering and leaning
in.
“Yes. Calm down.”
“Shit girl, they could already be on to us!” Luce said, even
quieter.
“Look who’s got the tin hat now. Look it was 25 years ago,
who cares. Anyone connected is retired, or dead.” Maxa decided right then not
to tell Luce about the way Dr. Ake had acted when Maxa had contacted her.
“So what’s up?” Luce said, still leaning in.
“Dunno, but I need your help and maybe at least one or two
other people.”
“Jenx is in.”
“Jesus Luce, tell me you did not talk to her about it!”
“Why not?” Luce looked hurt. “Jenx and I is lovers
girl.”
“Really, when did this happen, before or after that huge
fight the night before last. You two are like oil and water!”
“Jealous much?”
“Look Luce, you can’t just… urgh! OK, but nobody else. And
tell Jenx to shut her trap too. Until we figure out what is going on I want
this kept a lid on. “ Maxa sat back her brow furrowed. Luce remained leaned in,
her face still hurt looking.
“Ok Luce, Jenx is fine, I still need a coder, someone who
can work media, preferably one in the same person. That would make four. Way
too many people, but it has to be…”
“I might have someone.”
“Just no first year Socsh guys please…”
“Last night was ABD babe, but no, this guy’s in Medieval
Lit. Don’t ask! Jenx travels in funky places girl. What’s the plan?”
“We need to find a reason to interview some ETBs. I found
out that there are about 800, 857 to be exact, ETB males that fit our kid,
birthdates around the same time.”
“That many?”
“By year, they don’t usually have the exact dates. Too many
variables, not everyone gave birth in public hospitals exactly.”
“It’s a fucked up world you study babe.”
“Tell me about it. You
guy has to help up get a database and then film interviews.”
“You’re going to talk to 857 ETBs?”
“No, you and I and Jenx are, That’s less than 300 each then…”
“Sounds deadly girl. Aren’t Mules, I mean ETB’s supposed to
be boring as all fuck.”
“They are,,, quiet, but they have their own culture you
know.”
“OK! Ok! Now you stop with the Anthro stuff. Meet me in Governor’s
Hall, room 14 tomorrow at 8 pm. Should be empty then. I’ll bring Jenx and my
dude, you bring the snacks!”
“Thanks Luce.”
“Well, at least you give me thanks for something today!”
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