The general exchanged a glance with King. The younger man's eyes went curiously blank again, and then life returned as he glanced back to the general. It was almost as if the general was asking permission to explain.
Maybe that explained King's presence here. He was the link back to base. Which might also mean every word they said was being monitored.
But how, if Han had the scramblers up?
The general met her gaze again. "Though our failures could not shift or change, they still carried the genes. In manipulating them in the manner we did, we accelerated some of the problems shifters face."
"But only two of our four victims had the degeneration."
He nodded. "It depends on which genes were matched. Some got lucky."
Or unlucky, depending on your view. "Then why were the two without the degeneration being prescribed Jadrone? The drug is dangerous long term, and kills changers outright."
"We discovered a mix that hybrids can take with no ill-effects."
She wondered how they'd discovered it. Wondered how many had died in agony before they did. "Do you know if there's a drug in development that can take Jadrone's place?"
The general exchanged another glance with King. "No. Why do you ask?"
"Harry Maxwell was a junkie addicted to Jadrone. Yet a week before he was murdered, he gave up cold turkey. His supplier said he'd found something to replace it."
"I know of no such drug."
Was he lying? She wasn't sure. Either way, it was obviously time to change the direction of her questions.
"Why do at least two of our victims have Emma Pierce listed as their birth mother, when Hopeworth took her ovaries long before she was ever able to produce children?"
The general smiled. "You've certainly done your research, young lady."
"I'm trying to save lives, General. We think someone is going after your failures."
"It could be just coincidence."
The look in his eyes told her he didn't believe it was. "Answer the question, General."
He smiled. A crocodile toying with his prey, she thought.
"We never did anything without the permission of people involved. In Generation Eighteen, the sacrifice was one they made willingly."
Not if what Allars said was true. "Then why was Emma Pierce listed as birth mother to at least two of your failures when in truth the children were conceived and raised in a test tube?"
"Because, in a sense, she was their mother. If the eggs from her ovaries resulted in successful births — and by this I mean children evolved from the initial procedure and reached full term — then she was listed as birth mother on the certificate."
Given a woman's ovaries carried all the eggs she needed to see her through her years of menstruation, it left open the possibility of there being hundreds of children out there who owed their existence to the unknowing Emma. It also meant that there could have been literally thousands of children who began their journey to life only to have it snuffed out by natural or military causes.
Her heart ached at the thought. But maybe it hurt more simply because she could never have children of her own. "And the seventeen children placed into Greenwood? Were they the only failures from the project?"
"The only ones that survived, yes."
"How many of them can Emma call her own?"
The general hesitated. "Nine, I believe. But surely that is something you can discover yourself."
She smiled. Of course she could, but it was easier to ask the source directly. "What about successes? How many of those belong to Emma Pierce?"
"Five."
"Are they still with Hopeworth?"