New Blood by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Format: epub
Published: 2010-02-13T07:01:23+00:00

Chapter 8

Peter sat listening to the chaos of the Group Mind. They were ill equipped to deal with change. His son was now five days old, but the information of his existence was still ricocheting around, leaving flurries of concern in its wake, but no action.

Samara had sensed the Group Mind through Dael as a swarm of bees clustered on a branch, individual insects clambering over each other to provide protection to the queen. He could see the similarity, except there was no queen.

The only hierarchy he could detect was the existence of the Hive Masters, former leaders of the hives, one of which Dael identified as hers. They’d had power once and retained some memory of its feel, but not its organization. Individual members of the Blood accepted the Hive Master’s decisions from habit and believed the Group Mind all-powerful and all wise, which, for them, made it true. The mind rewarded individuals with a feeling of well-being, drawing them in, and allowing a sense of community to hold them in thrall. Individuals could enter the mind, access information merely by thinking about it, and go away with their illusions confirmed.

He thought of it more as a vast library, staffed by volunteers who came and went as they pleased. The analogy fitted poorly, but gave him a picture accurate enough for his purpose. It explained why Dael’s world had stopped changing millennia ago. Not because of the stable weather patterns, but because the individuals of the Group Mind saw themselves as custodians of perfection, a never changing, perfectly sustainable world.

They stifled all threats.

His plan depended upon their response.

Peter. Dael had woken from her nap. It’s time.

He translocated to her side, abandoning his surveillance for the moment. She’d forgiven him for protecting her during the pregnancy, but only just, and he was on sufferance for the moment. He’d tipped the balance by revealing his method for counterbalancing the effects of his deterioration on Earth. A mixture of her methods and his to re-imprint his memories on the body he occupied here, it reversed the apparent aging. He suspected there’d be a price to pay sometime in the future, but circumstances were forcing him to live from day to day.

“Let me see if anything’s changed,” she said, and scanned him thoroughly.

He submitted without comment, looking down at the sleeping form of his son. It was hard to believe something so perfect had come from his loins.

Karrel’s eyes opened and knew him.

You are only five days old. The child smiled, closed his eyes again, and Peter felt him drift into a doze.

“It’s disconcerting isn’t it?” Dael had sensed the exchange. “His brain is racing ahead of his body. We may have to find a way of correcting the imbalance.”

“Let’s see what he does first.”

He was exultant. Logic had paid off. Karrel could be the fulcrum to change this world.

* * * *

Dael refused to worry about the Group Mind. Peter was right. They’d take forever to make a decision, running down a dozen harebrained ideas along the way, but they’d not act until they knew everything.

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