Page 121 of Star-Born Anomaly
Another section of his chest shifted at the thought. Despite their limitations, they were connected.
Wynn stepped inside and swept her gaze back and forth. Storage crates towered in rows, creating temporary corridors. Iax knew from others that at the onset of theCalypso’smission, terraforming machines had filled this hold. Space had claimed those machines for two hundred years, some probably still orbiting Mesola and Eridu, the rest scattered to the stars.
Wynn frowned at him, opened her mouth to speak, when a soft noise echoed from within. Alarmed eyes met his, then she was off, following the sound. He trailed in her wake, matching her speed through the crates, until she stopped at where they opened up into a makeshift room.
“Oh, my stars,” she breathed. Her hand flew upward and pressed against her chest while distress swirled around him.
Iax stepped close behind her to see what she saw.
Six children occupied the space. When they noticed them, they all clustered on one of the two sofas that sat perpendicular to each other in the center of the room. Double-stacked cots, bunks, were pushed to the edges where blankets lay in heaps. An array of personal items spread throughout the room, some tidy while others were more haphazard. In the corner, two angled crates made a counter of sorts. On top, a clear container held water, with six cups stacked neatly. A smaller crate lay open next to it, rations and other food set inside.
The children huddling together pulled Iax’s gaze. Emotions swelled and took over the space in his chest where only Wynn had existed moments ago. Wearing clothing made of the same webbed organic material as most Calypson apparel, the two oldest, one boy and one girl, held their arms around the younger four protectively, their eyes wary.
The boy’s brown hair hung past his shoulders in untended clumps, and the girl’s hair was just as unruly, though a darker shade. A few years younger, the two other boys looked almost identical in appearance. The youngest girl appeared barely able to walk. She stuck her thumb in her mouth and turned her eyes away from them. The last child looked only a couple of years older than her.
None of them had the distinctive eyes of Calypsons, but all were born here.
They were like Wynn.
An unsettling emotion coursed through his body, one he could not name yet. There was affection there, but also a different sort of protectiveness than what he felt with Wynn. He wanted to help these children. They lived, but was this living when they were so isolated?
A shot of anger followed the thought. He knew the anomalies existed here, as everyone did, but he had not been a part of their care and had not understood their living arrangements. But seeing them now? Emotion settled in the back of his throat, burning.
He realized it was calculated. The Four kept this from most of the population to protect them, but also to hide their failure at taking care of the anomalies. He and the others were sent to retrieve the original twelve for that reason.
His hands fisted and clenched.
“I didn’t think it was possible for me to get angrier at those people.”
The little ones jumped at Wynn’s harsh words.
“I’m sorry,” she said in the next instant, her voice gentled. She squatted down, making herself eye level. “I’m not mad at you.”
The youngest curled tightly into the older girl, but the others stared at her with curiosity.
“Can you tell me your names?” Her voiced trembled.
The oldest boy stared at her with his brow furrowed, then he looked to the older girl and gestured with one hand, grunting twice.
Wynn gasped, then turned to Iax with horrified eyes. Hotter emotions swelled and slapped against him.
Her expression cracked his chest wide open.
“They can’t speak?” Wynn’s breathing matched her emotions, panicked and chaotic.
A sound came from the girl.
“No, it’s even worse,” Wynn murmured, standing to face Atlas, who had followed them in, but kept his distance. “You didn’t bother to teach them language.”
Atlas only stared at her, his eyes glinting, but Iax heard one wayward thought.It was not necessary.
But Atlas and The Four were wrong. If Iax found solace in communicating with Wynn verbally, then these children would have benefited from it as well.
Wynn looked to Iax when Atlas did not answer. “What are they doing here?”
“This is their home.” It did not seem an adequate accommodation, but it was what others had deemed appropriate.
“But whyhere? Like this? Away from everything?”
