The Last Mate on Earth

Part 1 - Chapter 20

* * * Hayden’s POV * * *

I’m feeling better but I’m still signed off from duty. Until my bruising disappears. The last three days I’ve spent inside that small room in some obscure corner of the facility have felt more like imprisonment than recovery.

I guess it was a prison. I was sent there to keep me silent, to protect my father. Sending me down to the medical unit would have raised too many suspicions.

The parents were the safest option. It broke protocol but they don’t ask questions. I’m pleased to be back in the dormitory, back with Joven. “Dude, it sucked. They’ve not let me leave the dormitory,” he explains. “For three days!”

He notices my lack of sympathy. I point to the small red mark on my forehead from my father’s beating, which is now little more than some barely noticeable scar tissue, thanks to parent Kimberley’s expert sewing.

Of course, if I’d been sent to a medical clinic there’d be no trace of anything, thanks to the technology they have access to, but I’ve never been shy of scars. I ran my rough fingers over the pale, bumpy skin on the back of my left hand.

I’m ten years old again and my father lashes down on my knuckles. My tears don’t stop him.

“You must never speak about yourself to Hope,” he growls through his clenched teeth.

“You are not Hayden Philip when you are with her. You are not my son when you are with her.”

You are not my son. You are not my son.

I’m back in our dorm rubbing my hand. Hope’s not the only one with a physical reminder of her father.

“Goddess, he hit you hard this time, Hayden,” Joven says, lowering his voice.

“They all hurt the same.” I shrugged.

A slip of paper slides under the thin gap beneath our door. Joven and I looked at each other. An assignment? Are we allowed to get back to work at last?

“Squad briefing, tonight nineteen hundred hours,” Joven says, reading the single line of typed instructions from the paper. He looks at me and smiles.

“I guess we’re back!”

The briefing room is alive with the usual whispered excitement that follows any unforeseen event in the facility.

That Joven and I have been mysteriously absent for three days has not gone unnoticed.

“Hey, Hayden, I read the transcript from your last session,” Lewis calls over the noise.

“Playing pretty close to the line, aren’t you?”

I don’t give him the satisfaction of an answer. “What line is that?” Joven replies.

Great, here we go.

“Getting into discussions about her parents. Your parents. It’s all a little real for my liking,” Lewis says, while digging chunks of his dinner from his teeth with a toothpick.

“Well, who gives a s**t about your liking, Lewis?” Joven fans the flames.

“Be careful, is all I’m saying.” Lewis warns, not bothering to look at us.

"You care about us now, Lewis?” Joven asks sarcastically.

“Look, I don’t know where you two have been hiding for the past few days, but I imagine it has something to do with what was said in the last session. No one gets away with breaking protocol so blatantly without punishment. Rumor has it that you’ve been holed up in some ward for psychiatric treatment, Hayden. That true? Getting things off your chest about your difficult relationship?” Lewis mocks.

“And where did those rumours start?” my father said, entering the room behind us.

The squad shuffled in their seats awkwardly, instantly becoming more alert and professional in his presence. My heart sinks at the sight of him. It’s the first time I’ve seen him since, and I realise I’m touching my head. I snatch my hand away and shake off the memory.

“There’s far too much at stake to waste energy on rumours and lies. This is not the academy. You are not children. You are young men at the epicentre of the most important moment in the history of our species and your personal issues are of zero importance in comparison to the challenge we face. Now suck it up and let’s get to work,” my father commands.

I can’t help but feel that his words were meant for me alone. Suck it up and get to work. That was his apology.

“Prospect Number Three,” he begins, wasting no time as he flashes up an image of a young man we’ve not seen before.

“Although, prospect is no longer appropriate as it’s absolutely necessary that this partnership is successful.” My father talks us through Prospect Number Three’s family history, his genetics, his political value, his fertility, his beliefs and morals.

“He has been vetted, cross-checked, analysed, trained and briefed down to the most detailed level. He is, if it were at all possible, the most perfect match for Hope we have found to date.”

“On paper,” I interrupt. A few heads turn slightly and shoot me awkward looks.

“Do you have something to add, Hayden?” my father asked. The room falls silent.

“Well, it’s just that …” suddenly I feel unsure of the words flowing from my mouth “... that it’s not about his intelligence or genetics. That’s not what relationships are based on.”

“Go on.” My dad nodded.

“So it doesn’t matter if we fill Hope’s head with how perfectly meant to be this or that one is. She’s a young woman with a mind and a heart of her own.”

Joven forces a laugh, which I try my best to ignore. “She can’t be controlled like that. After what happened last time, you can’t just shove her into a room with one of these guys and expect them to play happy families,” I finished.

“Thank you, Hayden,” my father said calmly. “That’s why we won’t be asking them to do that. It is no longer an option.’”

The squad listened intently. Seems that everyone is as eager as I am to find out what the new plan is.

“Things are going to take a more scientific approach from now on. Hope is required to have no emotional relationship with Prospect Number Three. She doesn’t even need to meet him if she doesn’t wish to. We simply need her cooperation, her compliance, and the procedure will be simple and painless. If it’s successful, she could be pregnant next month, which is the timeframe we are currently working towards.”

My father had finished, standing in front of images showing various statistics and figures about Prospect Number Three’s impressive genetic compatibility with Hope.

We take a moment to absorb the new plan. The approach we need to adopt to persuade Hope to comply with it.

“Pregnant within a month and she’s not even required to meet him?” I called out. “Is that the way our future begins? Are those the foundations humanity is to rebuild on?”

I feel the stares of my fellow squad members, obviously not sharing my discomfort with this new arrangement.

“Any future is better than none at all,” my father said, looking deep into my eyes.

“Is it?” I replied.