Houston Run

Chapter Fourteen

The sun had been up for hours.

Lynx paused in the midst of his constant pacing and stared up at the barred window in the south wall of his cell. In addition to the thick, unbreakable steel bars, the window contained a pane of clear, shatterproof plastic. He measured the distance to the windowsill for the umpteenth time, calculating the sill was eight feet above the blue tiled floor. He knew he could reach the window with a running leap; he’d already done so twice. But the steel bars had resisted his powerful muscles, and his claws could not penetrate the plastic pane.

He was trapped, confined with no way out!

Those bastards were going to pay! he mentally vowed.

Lynx resumed his pacing, going from one side to the other of the 15-foot-square cell. He wanted to find a Superior and sink his claws into the android’s neck! He needed to do something to vent his pent-up wrath.

What was that?

Lynx halted in the center of the room, gazing at the door on the east side.

A key was turning in the lock!

They were coming for him! They were coming to lop off his nuts!

Lynx scanned the cell for a weapon. There was a green cot along the west wall, and a sink at the foot of the cot. A toilet in a small cubicle was in the middle of the north wall. And that was it. Nothing he could use to defend himself against the silver pricks!

The doorknob was turning!

Lynx darted behind the door, next to the east wall.

They weren’t taking his balls! He’d die before he’d let them castrate him!

The door opened, swinging inward, almost touching Lynx.

“Hmmmmm,” a low voice said.

Lynx tensed. He heard someone take a step forward, into the cell, and he pounced, bounding around the door and grabbing a brown, furry arm.

He yanked on the slim arm, pulling the newcomer into the room and extending his left leg simultaneously, tripping the astonished arrival and sending the newcomer sprawling onto the floor near the cot. Lynx spun toward the new arrival, intent on slashing his adversary to shreds. But he stopped in midstride, flabbergasted.

“Well, I never!” exclaimed the newcomer in a low, yet decidedly feminine tone. “Is this any way to treat a lady?” She slowly stood, her features reflecting her annoyance.

Lynx was shocked to his core. The figure before him was an exact copy of his own: the same pointed ears, the same slanted green eyes, the same curved forehead, the same color fur. Everything. But with a notable difference. “You’re a woman!” he blurted.

She brushed at an attractive white smock she wore, appraising him critically. “And is this how they treat women where you come from? By manhandling them?”

“I didn’t mean…” Lynx started to say, his mind whirling. He was stunned, intoxicated by her beauty. “That is, I don’t… but then, you…”

She shook her head. “Pathetic! A handsome hunk like you, and it’s all a waste. There must be a vacuum between your ears.”

“I…” Lynx mumbled. “You…”

She grinned. “I see that witty conversation is not one of your strong points.”

Lynx took a step toward her. “Who are you?”

“Melody,” she answered. “Melody 741950.”

Lynx suddenly realized she wore an Orwell Disk on her forehead.

“And your name, I believe, is Lynx?” Melody asked.

Lynx nodded.

Melody pointed at his loin cloth. “Why aren’t you wearing any clothes? That… diaper… barely covers you.”

Lynx glanced down. “This ain’t no diaper, sweets.”

“Sweets?”

“All us wear ’em,” Lynx said.

“All of whom?” Melody inquired.

“All the mutants the Doc created wore loincloths,” Lynx explained.

“Ferret, Gremlin, and I are the only three left, and we still wear ’em.”

Melody scrunched up her nose distastefully. “How barbaric,” she commented.

“Do all the mutants here wear clothes?” Lynx queried, eager to keep her talking, to do anything to keep her angelic presence in the room.

“What a silly question!” Melody stated. “Of course! All civilized mutants wear clothing. We don’t traipse around in our underwear.”

“This isn’t my underwear, gorgeous,” Lynx declared.

“Gorgeous?”

Lynx took another step toward her. “Look! I don’t get any of this! I thought those silver bastards were comin’ to whack off my…” He abruptly stopped, appalled by his blatant crudity.

“Whack off your what?” Melody asked, and then looked at his loincloth.

She hastily averted her eyes, pretending to be interested in the toilet. “Oh, my!”

“What are you doing here?” Lynx questioned.

Melody cleared her throat, then gazed into his eyes. “I came to find out if you’re hungry. Would you like something to eat?”

Lynx’s brows furrowed in consternation. “Eat? Are you for real? Who can eat at a time like this?”

“I don’t understand,” Melody said. “Why are you upset?”

“Don’t you know what they’re going to do to me?” Lynx responded.

“Primator said I was to be neutered.”

“You will be,” Melody confirmed. “Day after tomorrow. That’s the soonest you could be squeezed into the schedule. They can only do so many a day, you know.”

Lynx snorted. “Lucky me!”

Melody seemed confused. “Why are you taking this so hard? It’s a simple operation. You’ll be back on your feet in no time.”

Lynx walked right up to her, glaring. “I’ve heard of dingbats, sister, but you take the cake!”

Melody retreated a step. “Why are you acting this way? You won’t feel a thing, believe me! I don’t know what it’s like where you come from, but in Androxia most of the male mutants are neutered. That’s just the way it is.”

“And the males don’t object? They don’t resist?” Lynx asked.

“No. Why should they?” Melody replied.

Lynx shook his head contemptuously. “And for a minute there, I actually thought you had the brains to go with your looks!”

Melody was upset by his insult. Her green eyes blinking rapidly, her fists clenched at her sides, she edged around him to the right, making for the door. “You are so… strange!” she cried, and moved toward the door.

Lynx turned and gripped her left wrist. “Wait!”

Melody recoiled, tugging on her wrist. “Let go of me, you… you savage!” She swung her right fist and struck him on the right shoulder.

Lynx reluctantly released his hold, his shoulders slumping. “All right!

Get out of here! I just wanted to talk to you, but you’re obviously too self-centered to waste time with a barbarian like me. So get lost!” He turned his back to her.

Silence descended.

“I am not egotistical,” she stated after half a minute.

“Want to bet?” Lynx responded without facing her.

Her voice lowered, softened. “I would like to talk to you.”

Lynx turned. “You would?”

“I have a break in fifteen minutes,” Melody said. “If you want, I’ll come back and we can talk then.”

“You’ve got a deal, princess,” Lynx said.

Melody opened her mouth to speak, then pursed her lips and walked to the doorway. “Are you certain you won’t have something to eat?”

“I’m too excited to eat,” Lynx declared.

“Excited?”

“Yeah. About seein’ you again,” Lynx told her.

Melody stared into his eyes. “Are you always so blunt?”

“You call this blunt?” Lynx rejoined. “You should see me when I’m not being formal.”

Melody smiled and exited, closing the door behind her.

Lynx expected to hear the key rattling in the lock, but nothing happened. He moved to the door and tried the knob.

It was unlocked!

Lynx crossed the cell to the cot and sat down. Had Melody deliberately left the door unlocked? Had she forgotten to lock it? Or were the lousy Superiors playing some sort of trick on him? He discarded the last notion as ridiculous.

Fifteen minutes, she’d said?

Lynx thought of her face, and her lovely eyes, and shook his head in wonder. Never had he imagined the possibility of meeting another genetically engineered mutant like himself. The Doktor had rarely created two of a kind; he had always been too busy experimenting, continually striving to improve on his creations, to bother with such a trifling detail as producing compatible pairs capable of mating. Which had always struck Lynx as odd, because, as he’d reasoned at the time, breeding pairs would have increased the numbers of the Doktor’s Genetic Research Division dramatically, if not geometrically. Although the Doktor had never admitted as much, Lynx had always suspected there were ulterior motives behind the Doktor’s action, or lack of it. The Doktor might not have wanted the mutants to breed on their own because, as he had demonstrated again and again, the Doktor had been fanatical in his compulsion to dominate every aspect of their lives. They were his creations, his creatures, his mutants, and he had exercised complete control over them from the test-tube to the grave. Another element in the Doktor’s decision not to produce mating couples may have been the loyalty factor, Lynx speculated. Mutants with a mate and offspring would be no different from married humans; they would be loyal, first and foremost, to their mates and their children. And the Doktor had demanded total loyalty from his mutants.

Lynx sighed.

In all his two dozen years as a mutant, he’d never seen another one exactly like himself in every respect. He’d seen genetically engineered mutants resembling frogs and lizards, alligators and snakes, bears and boars, lions and tigers, and many, many more. But no two were ever precisely identical. The Doktor had never produced a male and female of the same type. Lynx had encountered other cat-men and even cat-women, but none of them had resembled him beyond a few superficial feline features.

Lynx idly gazed at the window.

Some of the Doktor’s mutants had secretly mated. Lynx had known several of them very well, and he’d been privy to their darkest secret. Try as they might, and those mutants had enthusiastically tried, they could not perpetuate their lineage. The females simply could not become pregnant. Lynx had heard two rumors pertaining to the problem. Some of the mutants believed the Doktor had intentionally created them sterile, incapable of reproducing. Other mutants had been convinced the sterility stemmed from their genes. Only exact matches, so the reasoning had went, could successfully breed. Disparate pairs were doomed to disappointment.

Lynx had listened attentively to their plight, and sympathized with their dilemma. But he’d never met a female mutant he’d been attracted to.

Until now.

There had been a few, Lynx remembered, he’d cared for a lot. One, in particular, had been a female with the hybrid traits of a human and a bobcat. Despite his affection, he’d never seriously considered mating with her. And she had come the closest of all of them. Frog-females, lizard-ladies, and tigress-tomatoes had done nothing for him.

And now this!

Lynx chuckled. Who would have expected it? After all these years, to discover a potential mate in a city governed by a demented computer and his android flunkies!

What was his next step?

Lynx nervously wrung his hands. How should he go about this? he asked himself. He didn’t want to blow it. An idea occurred to him and he leaned back, musing. The Doktor had given Primator his secret technique for altering human embryos in a test-tube, for creating genetically engineered mutations. But even though Primator and the Superiors had learned the technique, they would have started from scratch as they developed their mutants, just as the Doktor had done. Was it possible then. Lynx speculated, that Primator was replicating the Doktor’s earlier efforts? Was Primator producing mutants similar to those previously created by the Doktor?

It would explain Melody.

There was a tap on the door, and Lynx started, jumping to his feet. He hurried to the door and opened it.

Melody was in the corridor, a tray of food in her hands. “I thought you might like some food anyway. I wouldn’t want you to starve.”

Lynx stepped aside and motioned for her to enter. “Has it been fifteen minutes already?”

Melody walked past him and deposited the tray on the cot. “Ten minutes,” she told him. “I received permission from the floor supervisor to take an extra five minutes on my break.”

“You’ll have to thank her for me,” Lynx said, closing the door.

“My floor supervisor is a male,” Melody divulged. “And he wouldn’t like it if he knew we were fraternizing.”

“Oh? You’re not allowed to fraternize with the inmates?”

Melody scrutinized him. “Inmates? Where do you think you are, anyway?”

“In prison,” Lynx replied. “I didn’t see much of the place when they brought me in, and the Superiors weren’t very talkative. But I know a prison when I’m in one.”

“Well, you’re not in prison,” Melody stated.

“I’m not?” Lynx said in surprise.

“No, silly. You’re in the Science Section of the Medical Building, not in Containment. They perform all of the neutering on our kind in the Science Station. The humans, though, are neutered in Medical,” she elaborated.

“It figures,” Lynx muttered.

Melody nodded at the tray. “Would you like a bite to eat? I’ve brought you a steak, rare.”

Lynx crossed to the cot. “Really? That’s my favorite.”

Melody smiled sheepishly. “Mine too.”

Lynx sat down to the left of the tray. In addition to the bloody steak on a white plate, there were three slices of buttered bread, a glass of water, a glass of milk, and a slice of pie.

“It’s the best I could do,” Melody offered by way of an apology.

“It looks delicious,” Lynx complimented her. “I’m so starved, I could eat a Superior!”

“You’d eat an android?” Melody stated distastefully.

Lynx glanced up at her, his eyes twinkling. “Nope. Not really, I’d probably get gas!”

Melody laughed heartily. “You’re something, you know that?”

“Is that a promotion?” Lynx asked.

“A promotion?”

“Yeah. The last time you were here, I was a savage. Now I’m something.

Is that an improvement?”

Melody nodded. “Definitely.” She pointed at the steak. “Please. Eat.”

“After you’ve gone,” Lynx said. “We have a lot to talk about first. Park it, princess.”

“Park it?” Melody repeated.

Lynx swallowed. Hard. “I mean, have a seat, please!”

Melody sat down on the right side of the tray, crossing her legs at her knees.

Lynx wrested his eyes from those legs with difficulty. “I need to know some things, and I think you can help me.”

“I’ll do what I can,” Melody promised.

“And this won’t get you in trouble with your floor supervisor?” Lynx asked.

“Tom? You let me worry about him,” Melody said.

“I don’t want to get you in trouble,” Lynx stressed.

“You won’t,” Melody assured him.

“Okay then. You say I’m in the Medical Building. How far is this dump from the Intelligence Building?” Lynx queried.

“About three miles,” Melody revealed.

“Damn!” Lynx muttered, then hastily asked another question to cover his blunder. “Are there two other mutants on this floor? New mutants?

Savages?”

“No,” Melody said.

Lynx frowned.

“What’s the matter?” Melody inquired.

“I have two buddies named Gremlin and Ferret. I need to find them.

Primator said they were gonna be tested as per prescribed procedure, whatever the… heck… that means,” Lynx informed her.

“They could be on another floor,” Melody stated. “All mutants are tested in the Science Section, which includes floors thirty through ninety.

They usually test on forty-five.”

“And what floor are we on?” Lynx wanted to know.

“Thirty-eight,” Melody said.

“So the testin’ floor is seven up?” Lynx questioned.

“Yes,” Melody answered.

“What kind of testin’ do they do?” Lynx queried.

“The Superiors test us physically and mentally,” Melody explained. “The test results are used to determine where we’ll work and how much education we’ll receive.”

“You don’t get six years like the Serviles?”

“It varies for us,” Melody stated. “The Superiors seem to think many of us are smarter than the Serviles, so many of us receive more schooling.”

She paused, frowning. “Those of us who aren’t used in their experiments or lobotomized, that is.”

“You don’t sound like a dummy,” Lynx noted.

“I’ve been fortunate,” Melody commented. “I started out as a Superior’s aide, then transferred to nursing.”

“You’re a nurse?”

“What did you think I was?”

Lynx gazed into her magnificent green eyes and totally forget himself.

“The hottest momma this side of the Milky Way.”

“What?” Melody said, sounding shocked.

Lynx stared at his feet. “I’m sorry, gorgeous. But I ain’t had much practice talkin’ to a lady. I never know what to say, and I want to say so much. I want to tell you you’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met. I can’t think straight around you.”

No response.

Lynx closed his eyes. What a dipshit! he berated himself. If stupidity was gold, he’d be the richest person on the planet!

“Lynx…” Melody said.

Lynx opened his eyes, but he couldn’t bring himself to face her.

“Lynx, please look at me,” Melody requested.

Lynx slowly complied. Her eyes bored into his, probing, seeming to reach into his very soul.

“When I said you were blunt,” Melody remarked, “it was an understatement.” She paused. “I appreciate your honesty. I really do. And I’ve something important to say to you.”

“Go ahead,” Lynx said. “Chew me out! I deserve it.”

Melody reached over the tray of food and gently placed her right hand on his left wrist. “No. You don’t understand.”

Lynx stared at her right hand on his wrist. It felt like his whole arm was tingling.

“I was attracted to you the moment I saw you,” Melody divulged.

“What?” Lynx blurted, amazed.

“Yes. There’s a quality about you, something I can’t put my finger on. I find you almost irresistible.”

Lynx’s eyes widened. “Me?”

Melody sighed. “I don’t know how it is where you live, but in Androxia the Superiors create one pair, and one pair only, of each mutant type. If we pass all of their tests, and if we aren’t neutered or spayed because we’re inferior, we’re expected to breed.” She stopped speaking, her mouth twisting downward. “I have postponed breeding for as long as I possibly can. The Superiors created a male like me. We were reared together, and we’re expected to mate and have children.” She paused, and when she resumed talking her tone conveyed a sense of sorrow and desperation.

“But I can’t stand him. Lynx! He’s a monster! Oh, not physically. He looks a lot like you. But inside, where it really counts, he’s wicked. Rotten to the core. He… he hurts me!”

Lynx saw tears forming in the corners of her eyes. A peculiar constriction developed in his throat as he opened his mouth. “He hurts you?” he asked huskily.

Melody nodded, gazing at her lap. “He’s a brute. He can’t understand why I won’t go to bed with him. He’s been pressuring me to sleep with him. He’s even hit me a few times.”

Lynx was feeling dizzy. “Hit you?”

“He’s threatening to report me if I don’t cooperate,” Melody said. “If I don’t give in to him.” She looked up at Lynx, her eyes rimmed with tears.

“But I can’t! I won’t! I refuse to share myself with someone I don’t love! I don’t care if the Superiors do spay me!”

“They’ll spay you?”

Melody nodded. “If I don’t breed, as required.” She took a deep breath.

“I feel so helpless at times.”

Lynx tried to speak, but he experienced an unusual difficulty in forming the words. There was an odd congestion in his throat. “I won’t let him hurt you again,” he finally managed to say. “I’d never let anyone hurt you. Ever.”

Melody nodded. “I know that. I sense it, somehow. Maybe it’s intuition. Maybe I’m just crazy. But I believe I can trust you.”

“You can,” Lynx assured her, and squeezed her hand.

Melody used her left forearm to dab at her eyes. “I shouldn’t be troubling you with my problems,” she said nervously.

Lynx leaned toward her. “From now on, your troubles are my troubles.”

Melody mustered a feeble smile. “You sure move fast, don’t you?”

Lynx glanced at the cell door, then at her. “I don’t have any choice. I want you to listen to me, to think over what I’m gonna tell you. Give me your answer as soon as you can.”

“My answer?”

Lynx nodded. “As you’ve guessed, I’m not from Androxia, and I don’t intend to spend the rest of my life here. I’m going to find my buddies, rescue a couple of human dummies I know, and get the hell out of here. And I want you to come with us.”

Melody went to respond, but he held up his right hand, stopping her.

“I ain’t finished,” Lynx said. “I want to get it all out before I start trippin’ over my own tongue. I’ve never felt this way about a woman before. I’ve just met you, yet I feel like I’ve known you forever. And I want to go on knowin’ you. I want you to come with me. I’m asking you to come with me. I’ll take you to a place where you’ll never have to worry about the lousy Superiors. You’ll be free. You can do what you want once we’re there.

But I’m warnin’ you here and now. If you come with us, I’m gonna do my best to sweep you off your feet with my sexy looks and natural charm, and I won’t stop tryin’ until you say you’ll be my mate. There. I’ve said it.”

Melody was grinning. “And quite well said, too.”

“If you leave now,” Lynx declared, “I won’t hold it against you.”

“Why on earth would I want to leave?” Melody responded.

“Because you’re a lady,” Lynx stated. “And ladies don’t usually mix with savages.”

“Are you hard of hearing?” Melody queried.

“No. Why?”

“Didn’t you hear a word I said to you?” Melody questioned. “I like you, idiot! I’m not about to walk out on you.”

“Does this mean what I think it does?” Lynx asked hopefully.

Melody nodded. “I’d like to see this place where you live. Where I’ll never need to worry about the Superiors,” she added, quoting him.

Lynx beamed like a lunatic. “You mean it? You really mean it?”

“Lynx,” Melody said earnestly. “You may be the only true chance I’ll ever have at genuine happiness.”

Lynx leaped off the cot and spun in a circle. He smiled at her, joy pervading his being. “Damn!” he exclaimed. “Damn! Damn! Damn!”

“Are you always this articulate?” Melody inquired sarcastically, grinning.

“I don’t know what else to say!” Lynx declared happily. “I’m walkin’ on the clouds.”

A hard pounding on the cell door abruptly brought Lynx down to earth.

“Oh, no!” Melody cried.

“Melody!” barked a stern voice. “Are you in there?”

“Who is that?” Lynx whispered.

Melody hesitated before replying. “The floor supervisor.”

Lynx dashed to the rear of the door, flattening against the wall.

“Melody!”

The cell door flung open, forcing Lynx to stop its inward sweep with the palms of his hands.

“What the hell are you doing in here, bitch?” demanded the floor supervisor in a harsh tone.

Melody, her face downcast, stood.

Lynx bristled. What right did the floor supervisor have to address Melody that way? Who did the son of a bitch think he was?

“I asked you a question!” the floor supervisor snapped.

Lynx scowled, hoping the bastard would enter the cell all the way.

“I’m on break,” Melody said defensively.

“You’re on break when I say you’re on break!” the floor supervisor bellowed.

Lynx resisted an urge to spring from concealment. He wanted to tear the sucker into teensy-weensy pieces! What had Melody said his name was?

“But you said I could take an extra five minutes, Tom,” Melody mentioned.

“I’ve changed my mind. I want you out on the floor. I thought you were going to take your break in the break room, and I went there looking for you. But you weren’t there! I had to search the whole floor to find you!” he stated angrily. “And you still haven’t answered my question! What the hell are you doing in here, Little Ms. Prim!”

Little Ms. Prim? Lynx wondered if he’d heard correctly.

“There’s no need to bring our personal life into our professional relationship,” Melody said.

Personal life? Lynx listened intently.

“What personal life?” Tom retorted, and laughed bitterly. “You have to be close to have a personal life, and baby, you’re too cold to touch!”

“Don’t start,” Melody said.

“Or what?” Tom rejoined. “Are you going to run to the Superiors and complain?”

Melody didn’t comment.

“No, you won’t!” Tom continued. “And do you want me to tell you why?”

“No.”

“Then I’ll do it!” Tom mocked her. “You won’t say a word, Ice Lady, because you know they’d ask questions, and you don’t want them to know you’re still a virgin!”

“Tom! Don’t! Please!” Melody begged.

“Cut the crap, bitch!” Tom declared. “Do you think I give a shit about how you feel? After what you’ve done to me?”

“What have I done to you?”

Lynx heard Tom move further into the room.

“Don’t play innocent with me!” Tom hissed. “How long have I been after you to do the right thing? To do what you were created for? And how many times have you said no? Even when I twisted your arm?” Tom paused. “You’re not a woman!” he said resentfully. “I don’t even think you have a cunt!”

Melody stiffened as a guttural growl emanated from behind the cell door. She’d dreaded this happening, had hoped Tom would depart without insulting her as he normally did. She knew what was going to happen and she’d tried to prevent it, fearful of the possible consequences for Lynx. “Tom! Get out of here!”

The mutant named Tom, resembling Lynx in practically every respect, attired in a white shirt and white pants, ignored her. He faced the door, taking two more steps into the room, reaching for the knob. “What the hell was that?” he demanded. “Who’s the patient in this room, anyway?”

The cell door suddenly swung out from the wall.

Tom, startled, jumped out of the door’s path, moving between the door and Melody.

The door slammed shut.

Both Lynx and Tom did double takes, and then Lynx stepped in from of the closed door, blocking Tom’s retreat.

“I’m the patient in this room!” Lynx snapped.

“And who the hell are you?” Tom demanded.

Melody took a step toward Lynx. “Please! This isn’t necessary!”

Lynx crouched, his claws held near her waist.

“Who is this jerk?” Tom asked Melody.

Lynx uttered a trilling sound.

Tom raised his hands, displaying his own tapered claws. “I don’t know who you are, asshole, but I’m not scared of you! Ask anybody. I’m as mean as they come!”

“Yeah. I heard,” Lynx said. “I heard you like to beat on women. In my book, that makes you the lowest scum there is.”

“So what are you going to do about it, prick?” Tom taunted.

“Just this,” Lynx said, and attacked.