The Druid Gene Read Online Free PDF

without a hint of emotion. He released her and sank onto the sleeping platform. “Well?”
    She dipped her head, and the ferny fronds decorating her skull waved. “We took samples from the planet according to established protocols, focusing, as usual, on remote locations with geomagnetic intensity. Testing revealed ninety-seven percent of the samples of the dominant species to be unremarkable anthropoid bipedal hominids. Most of the specimens are soft, the product of an overabundance of resources and little nutritional sense, not atypical for cultures at a midindustrial, prototechnological stage of development.”
    He opened one eye a fraction. There had to be more to it than this. None of this was unexpected. The only surprise had been finding a habitable planet so far from any known trade route. It was completely off the star map. That suited him well.
    She straightened slightly under his gimlet glare and he felt a measure of satisfaction at this minute evidence of her discomfiture. She knew who called the shots.
    “One specimen had a markedly different profile. I noted distinctive characteristics during the pickup and rushed the primary genetic sequencing. More-extensive testing will be necessary and that will take a great deal of time, but I just processed the preliminary results. You need to see them immediately.”
    It was her typically dispassionate delivery, yet there was some breath of intensity in her voice or manner. His hair stood on end, almost against his will. He felt his senses sharpening despite the post-vasdaszian haze.
    Hain almost vibrated with excitement, watching his reaction with dilated pupils. Her stomata emitted more ozone than usual. Every chemoreceptor on his body took notice. He could hear her weak, dual-chambered heart flutter. He sat up, forgetting his fatigue.
    She continued, “I’ve never seen genetics like this. It is the stuff of legend.”
    His breath caught. “Do not play with me, Hain. What kind of genetics are we speaking of?”
    “Sir, it is drudii. The most complete genome we’ve ever found. As close to full-drudii as is statistically possible, though the odds were greatly against it. Shall I ready your personal shuttle and begin the search for a suitable planet?”
    He stood. “No. We will not be rash. This is a once-in-a-lifetime occasion. We will evaluate before taking any action.”
    He sent a small prayer of gratitude to the Cunabula.
    Finally.

4
    “ Y ou …Darcy…Jesus!”
    Adam rolled to his feet, pulling up his pants. He stood over her, staring at her with a frightened look on his face.
    A rush of conflicting emotions surged inside her. Fear, confusion—even anger that her body had just done something that she hadn’t been able to control. She felt exposed and raw. She whipped the sleeping bag back over herself and stayed still, staring numbly at the sky, trying to figure out what had just happened.
    He’d seen the blue lines under her skin.
    Okay. She hadn’t hallucinated them. They were real. Two people don’t hallucinate the same thing.
    She wanted to burrow down under the sleeping bag and pretend this wasn’t happening.
    She noticed for the first time that the sky was very different out here, so far from the cities’ light pollution. The sky wasn’t black with just a few glowing pinpricks like back home in the Midwest. It was a breathtaking, cobalt canopy of glowing glitter.
    “What was that?” he whispered, forcing her to stay present, instead of escaping inside her mind.
    Her voice came out weaker than she wanted. She found herself repeating the same words she’d been saying earlier, right after the event. “I don’t know.” She cleared her throat and felt for her clothes so she could slip them back on.
    “Darcy, you’re freaking me out!”
    She huffed, and it was almost a sob. Almost. She fought to hold back a second wave of tears, her face stretching tight with the effort. She could barely get words out. “I’m freaking out too.”
    He