Birthright: Book I of the Temujin Saga Read Online Free PDF Page B

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    Ohrb smiled. It was the perfect crime. By the time Amaadoss found out what he had done, the trail leading back to Ohrb would be long cold.
    At first the plan had been to simply destroy the embryos, but why ruin the experiment when you could ruin the man ? Sabotage would only rally support to Amaadoss’s cause, but failure would discredit him in the eyes of his investors, namely the Phaedojian government.
    “Yes,” Ohrb said to the tiny glowing larva. “Go forth, my little soldier, for the glory of the Federation and for the preservation of the Phaedojian way of life.”
    The admiral laughed as he crossed the room, returning to Jiri’s terminal. He carefully moved Jiri’s chair back into its former position and pressed a button on the terminal. The pop music filled the room once again, and for a moment, the admiral feared that the noise might rouse Jiri, but the sleeping lab tech only let out a small grunt and turned his head aside.
    Ohrb quickly walked to the door and sighed with relief as the soundproof doors sealed the maddening music off from him. Moments later, as the grav-lift carried him away from the scene of the crime, he allowed himself a hearty laugh of triumph.

Chapter Four
     
    May 15th, Earth Calendar
    Amaadoss dressed in the grav-lift, pulling his tunic over his head as he shot down the tube toward sub-level three. Mere minutes before, he’d been roused from his slumber by an alarm on his personal computer terminal. Someone in the lab had declared a Priority One emergency.
    Another failure, he was certain of it. And this time with three expensive Replodian implants infused with the fetus, with no chance of salvaging them.
    When Amaadoss cleared the security checkpoint on sub-level three and entered his laboratory, he was greeted not by the usual loud music but by utter chaos. Lab technicians of all shapes, sizes, colors, and species stood around the gestation cylinder at the center of the room. Broken beakers and equipment were strewn all over the floor. In the center of the chaos — jumping up and down on top of a table and struggling to be heard over the din of voices and klaxons — was Jiri.
    Amaadoss took a step and a piece of broken glass pierced the tender flesh on the bottom of his foot just below his sixth toe. He cried out and carefully removed the shard with his fingers. Jiri leapt from the table and landed on the wall next to Amaadoss’s head, attaching himself with the suction cups on the bottoms of his feet. He looked down at his boss, his four eyes threatening to pop out of their stalks.
    “Doc,” he shouted. “Something’s happening to the twins! Their tube’s breaking up!”
    Over the technicians’ heads, Amaadoss saw a long Y-shaped crack slowly spreading over the tube from top to bottom; small streams of amniotic fluid sprayed out from the crack in multiple places. Inside, the fully developed twins kicked and flailed furiously. With total disregard for the debris-strewn floor, Amaadoss surged forward through the chaos and ran to the tube, shoving his subordinates aside. He brought the twins’ vital signs up on one of the monitors.
    The brain wave pattern for the telepathic twin, labeled “Subject One,” was completely off the chart — a blur of constant, unreadable motion. “Subject Two,” however, showed distinct signs of distress.
    With a loud thump, Jiri landed on the table next to the tube and examined the crack. “What’s happening to them, Doc?”
    “They’re birthing,” said Amaadoss, his expression grim.
    “B-birthing?” Jiri stammered. “But how can they be birthing ? They’re not scheduled for birth for another five days!”
    “Apparently, they are ready without us,” said Amaadoss. “They are in distress. Subject One is destroying the tube with his mind. He’s unable to control his power.”
    “What do we do?”
    “Clear the room,” said Amaadoss. “We have to make an emergency delivery, or we may