Conduit - M J Marlow (best short books to read txt) 📗

would make our research easier, child,” Winston smiled at me. He frowned as I shook my head. “Everyone around here has a job to perform, Princess. This will be part of yours.” “Then I’m leaving,” I snapped at him. “I am not going to be used as your personal research tool…” “How exactly are you going to get out of here, child?” Winston broke in. “We are in a secure research facility 500 feet below ground. Even if you do get to the surface, you have no idea where you are, and no resources…” “That’s never stopped me before,” I spat back at him. “I may be just a child in your estimation, but I’ve been through worse situations.” “I’m sure you have,” Winston replied. He pulled a manacle up off the floor and I heard the rattle of chain. “So,” he said as he fastened the manacle around my ankle, “we will just avoid all of that.” “Doctor Winston,” Mary protested. “She’s not an animal!” “No,” Winston agreed. “She is a valuable tool and I am not going to run the risk of losing her because she wants to throw a temper tantrum.” He looked at Mary sternly. “No more argument. The girl stays like this unless we need to take her elsewhere; and that will be in leg shackles if she doesn’t learn to behave.” “Is he kidding?” I asked as I pulled on the chain and watched him leave. “Mary?” She looked at me. “He’s really going to keep me chained up like this?” “I’m afraid so,” Mary replied, frowning. “He’s done it before, Dulcie. His way of enforcing discipline.” “But you can’t let him do this to me,” I said to her, begging her to help me. “Please, Mary. I can’t…” “You’ll do what he says, Dulcie,” Mary broke into my tirade, “or he’ll do much worse.” Her expression showed me she knew what she was talking about from experience. She patted my hand. “I’m sorry, kid. You did this to yourself.” She picked up an artifact and put it in my hand. “You know what he wants from you.” “I don’t want to,” I cried in protest. But the talent kicked in without my asking for it. I was in the village again and the spoon she had handed to me was in the hand of a young girl. She was excited. Today was the day of selection and her husband would be chosen for her. “Her name was Magdalena,” I said softly. “She was using this the day they selected a husband for her.” I frowned as I watched like a peeping tom. “She didn’t want the man they chose for her. So they…” I put the spoon down and backed away as I found myself in another place, watching another girl. “No,” I shook my head in refusal. “I won’t look.” “It’s all right, Dulcie,” Mary soothed as she rubbed my back. “Everything you see is in the past…” “No, Mary,” I broke in and looked at her. “It’s not. The same things they forced on that girl back then are still going on.” I quieted as Winston came back. He handed me a plate of food and a cup of lemonade. “Tools don’t need food.” “Don’t get smart with me, Princess,” Winston told me, “or I will sedate you between readings.” He saw the spoon. “Anything?” “It belonged to one of the girls in the village,” George told him as he opened the notebook and added what I had said to the notes on the artifact. “Her name was Magdalena.” He looked at me as I turned away from them to eat. “Dulcie didn’t just see who owned it, Winston. She was in the girl’s mind. She knew how the girl was feeling.” George frowned as he saw something on my wrist. “What’s this, Dulcie?” He lowered the blouse and ran the tip of his finger along a dark swirl. “A tattoo?” “A birthmark,” I told him as I looked at the swirls that formed a cuff around my left wrist. I looked at Winston as I had an image of him speaking to a man in a military uniform. “You know that, don’t you?” “A sign of your heritage,” Winston replied. “Proof that you are connected to them.” He saw the plate. “Are you done, child?” I looked at the half eaten dinner and wanted to throw it in his face. Instead, I finished the food and lemonade and handed the plate and cup to him. He moved away and I returned my gaze to the black mark on my arm. I had a strange feeling that this was not the end of it and I felt the fear surge into my mind. George asked me go through three more artifacts before bedtime and I was shaking from the turmoil I picked up from minds of people who had been dead for four centuries. Winston took the notebook to his office, and the additional notes my ‘readings’ had added to the research excited him. He couldn’t wait to get me started on the rest of the finds. Perhaps he would take me out on the dig site and see if I couldn’t locate artifacts by proximity. He thought over what their research had already told him and shrugged. This kind of research was worth the price one child would pay to make it happen. The next morning I woke up and looked at my wrist. The mark had deepened and it was enough to see a definite design instead of a smudge. These artifacts were changing me! Mary frowned as she saw it. She had not signed up for this, her mind sang out to me as if she had spoken. She backed away as fine lines of gold, copper, and silver appeared drawn in the center of the black now. The design was mirrored as a collar around my throat. “My God, Dulcie!” she cried as she touched my throat. “What did you just do?” She guessed. “Every time you use your talents, it changes.” She grabbed my hands. “You have to stop, Dulcie.” “They’re not going to let me stop, Mary,” I told her. “You know that! He is going to keep using me until I am no longer me!” “You are being prepared to become something better,” Winston said as he brought me my breakfast. He set it down on the table. He looked at the change. “Very unique.” He looked at Mary and saw her frown. “There is no stopping what is happening to her, Mary; so we might as well enjoy the benefits.” “It’s all right Mary,” I said as I saw into the man’s mind. “He is not going to listen. Your Doctor Winston thinks he’s going to be rewarded for what he’s done.” I was in Winston’s mind andimages flooded in that terrified me. I was on my knees, shaking in pain. “What is happening to me?” “You are changing, Dulcinea,” Winston laughed. “The abilities that were bred into you are coming awake!” He indicated that Mary should leave. “You have become a scientific study in your own right, child. You should be excited.” “You’re turning me into a monster,” I cried as the fire went off in my veins. My eyes began to blur and my mind blazed with pain. “Make it stop!” “It’s too late for that, child,” Winston replied as he sat on a chair and watched as I began to writhe in pain. He got out his recorder and turned it on. “Subject female, age 17 years. Designation: Dulcinea. All physical tests and samples have been taken, and we have found several interesting anomalies. Her normal temperature is now 102 degrees. Her vision and hearing are acute. She is growing stronger than the norm.” “Please make it stop,” I screamed and backed away from him. “I don’t want this!” “Herparanormal abilities are still being discovered,” the Professor ignored me. “She has exhibited the ability to ‘read’ the past of several of the objects found at the dig site.” He reached out and I hissed. The sound coming from my throat made me pale. “From her comments, it is apparent she is also capable of telepathy.” “Why are you doing this to me?” I whimpered as the pain slowed. “What am I turning into?” “We are not doing anything, child,” Winston told me. “You are merely awaking to what you were designed to be; a creature of great power and intelligence,” Henri told me. “You should be proud that they selected your family for this honor.” “Honor?” I hissed as I threw the mirror at him without even touching it. “You are letting me be turned into a monster! Why?” “Subject Dulcinea,” Winston smiled as he flicked on the recorder again; “has just proven telekinetic ability, as well.” He turned to look at me in fascination, like I was a bug under a microscope. “They began this experiment to create a human female who could breed with them.” “No!” “It is the only reason that makes any sense,” Winston replied. “I can’t see spending all those centuries to create a being like you just to pass the time. No,” he said as he reached out to touch me, “they have a very specific purpose in mind for you.” I don’t know how I did it. I just knew that I did not want him touching me and he was flying. He hit the wall and slid down it, moaning. Two soldiers ran in and one of them held a tranq pistol on me as the other helped Winston to his feet. He was shaken, but not frightened. If anything, what I had done excited him. He rushed out of the room and the soldiers followed him. I backed into the corner, shaken by what I had just done. I didn’t want this! I wanted to be home with my ‘family’ and Gramps. I didn’t even know if they were all right or not. Would they check in on them for me, if I asked? “That child is becoming dangerous, Winston,” the General frowned as the doctor joined him and the rest of the research team in the conference room. “We are going to have to look into ways to contain her.” “She was just frightened,” Winston shrugged. “She has lived her life believing she was a human girl. So her behavior patterns are set to that of a 17 year old child.” He smiled at everyone around the table. “She has only just learned that she is something far different.” “I’ve run all the tests I can think of,” one of the other doctors, a short, dark-skinned woman, stated. “It is obvious that their intention for this experiment is for breeding purposes. There are significant changes to this girl’s reproductive system that would point to that.” “Mating?” Mary squeaked. “They did this to her so they could make her have their young?” “She is the only one who could,” the woman nodded. “If these changes are true indicators of what they suggest.” “Whatever their reason,” the General frowned, “the fact remains that what we now have on our hands is an adolescent alien female. You are to no longer consider the subject human.” He looked at them all sternly. “If you go in to see the alien, watch out. As we have just witnessed with Winston, she will attack you if you get too close.” “Would you be happy about being turned into an alien breeding machine?” Mary hissed. “I need some air.” I felt concern and anger and I followed the emotions and saw Mary leaving the complex. I didn’t question how I was able to follow her with my mind. I was hungry to know where I was. She stepped outside and walked off a few yards to light a cigarette. Her anxiety level dropped and she sighed. She was concerned about me and angry that she had been