Prime (Nate Kenyon) by Nate Kenyon

Author:Nate Kenyon
Language: eng
Format: mobi
ISBN: 9780982159620
Publisher: Apex Publications
Published: 2009-07-01T22:00:00+00:00

-9-

Bellow awoke inside a medical trauma unit. He flexed his fingers and felt the tingling of nerves as they reattached themselves and settled into place. Surgeons had removed his damaged hand at the wrist. Using cultivated stem cells from his body, they had teased gene paths, tweaked growth hormones, and grown him a new one on the back of a laboratory clone.

What the hell had happened in there? He'd never seen anything like that before. Someone—or something—had sensed him inside the recorded histories and come after him in a way that defied all logic. It had moved with a speed and agility he had only come close to seeing once before, at a time he'd rather not think about if he could help it.

Not exactly true, though, is it? The real truth was that he couldn't remember much of what had happened in Mexico City at all.

The door opened, and a medical technician entered the room. “Glad to see you're back with us,” he said. “Feeling okay?"

"If you call feeling like I've been run over by a Carrier okay, then yes."

The tech smiled. “Your hand was like a charcoal briquette. What happened anyway, did you reach into a rocket thruster or something?"

"Something like that."

"We've given you a quick body scan, and I have to say, you have the cells of a teenager. Remarkable. Deterioration of tendon and cartilage is minimal, and your telomerase are unusually long. Work done?"

"Does it look like I've had work done?"

"Hmmm. I suppose not. I'd say you were in your late forties except for the scan.” He checked Bellow's new hand, tested muscle growth rates and responses to stimuli. “I'll leave you to rest now. You'll need to give your new hand a few hours to regain full strength. Try to stay in bed for a while. You might be in great shape, but nobody recovers from losing a limb in one day."

The tech left Bellow to the hum and hiss of machines. He drifted off and dreamed of floating helplessly through black cotton, eyes and ears and skin void of any feedback, as something came for him. The thing had many arms and legs and looked something like the goddess Lakshmi, and he had the feeling that whatever this thing was, it could open up and swallow the world.

Prime.

He woke up to a soft knock, the word still echoing in his head. He opened his eyes, bathed in sweat and heart thumping, still half in the dream.

Kara slipped through the door. She looked beautiful. Something deep inside him was glad she'd come, and he didn't bother to question it.

She came over to the bed quickly, padding silently on the balls of her feet. “I had to see you,” she whispered. “You've been set up."

"What the hell are you talking about? And how did you get in here without someone noticing?"

"Shhh. There's no time for any of that. Chin-Hae says they're listening. They've probably got this room bugged right now. We've got to get to a safe place.

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