The Neptune Project by Polly Holyoke Read Free Book Online Page A

come as well, but I’m too furious with her right now to ask what she’s planning to do.
    Then her words sink in. He’s building a colony?
:You mean there are others of us?:
    :She did say that hundreds had gone through this transformation before us,:
Robry points out.
    My mother sits where she can read our monitors. I notice the solar pistol is never far from her hands.
    :Twenty years ago, as our planet continued to heat, and people fought devastating wars over scarce resources like water and food, a group of geneticists devised the Neptune Project. All life came from the sea. In our darkest hour, they hoped the sea would save our species. So they set about altering their own unborn children in an effort to create humans who could survive in the ocean.:
    I look into my mother’s eyes and I see a light in them that frightens me. I realize this has been her dream all along.
    :So I’m just a specimen you grew and operated on in a petri dish to make your dream come true.:
    :That isn’t true.:
Her mental tone sounds much more like a mother suddenly, and her eyes soften.
:I never knew how much I’d grow to love you and James. Your father and I risked everything to give you both a better life.:
    :James! You altered his genes, too?:
    I can tell she’s choosing carefully which thoughts to send me next.
    :We made a mistake with some of the genes we altered in James’s case.:
    :What do you mean, you made a mistake?:
    :That’s between James, your father, and me.:
Her mental voice is tinged with a deep sadness.
    I wonder if she’ll feel that sad if she finds out she’s made a mistake with me, too—like maybe those gill filaments in my lungs aren’t going to work underwater and I’m going to drown in a few hours.
    She gets to her feet and brings me a cup full of dark blue fluid. When I hesitate to take it, she says aloud, “There’s no turning back now.”
    I snatch the cup from her, take off my oxygen mask, and drink it down. It tastes bitter and sour—nastier than any medicine she’s ever given me before. Then she takes cups to the others.
    â€œTo our dear, darling parents, who stole our future before we were ever born,” Lena says, her eyes glittering as she raises her cup in an angry toast. Then she downs its contents.
    I wish I’d thought up that toast.
    Almost right away, I start yawning.
:What exactly did you give us?:
I ask my mother.
    :A chemical to hasten your transformation and a med that will make you sleep. The next phase is painful. It’s better if you sleep through it.:
    Normally I’m in favor of avoiding pain, but the trust factor is now at an all-time low between us. I fight to keep my eyes open.
    What if the soldiers come, and Lena, Robry, and I are unconscious? They’ll probably kill us as soon as they realize what mutates we are. My mother’s drug feels like cold seawater creeping through my veins. My muscles relax, and I slump over on the stone bench.
    :If we all die from what you’ve done to us, I hope you feel guilty for the rest of your life,:
Lena says to Gillian, and sends her a venomous glance.
    My mother looks stricken by her words. As my heavy eyelids sink shut, I can’t help wondering if I’ll ever wake up again.

THE SECRET POLICE are chasing me down the dusty road to Santero. I can’t run fast enough because my lungs are burning—I can’t suck enough air into them. Suddenly, I’m in my school classroom, and everyone is laughing as I gasp and flop around on the floor because I have no legs. I’ve become a monster that is half fish, half human.
    Somehow I have legs and feet again, and I run from school and dive into the sea. I see the Sandpiper in the distance. I wave desperately. Cam is at the helm. He raises a hand and steers the Sandpiper my way. When the boat comes near, he smiles and reaches down to help me aboard. He grabs my wrist, and finally I’m safe. But then