Sun Rose (Rose of the Dawn Series Book 1) by Ily Maguire Page B

hook you up to an IV of
rejuvenating fluids. You’d have to get a lot of sleep the day before the
procedure, so we’d keep you on bed rest.”
    “You
mean you and Hara. You could do all of this here?”
    “We
could. We’d have everything sterilized and set up. Hara is quite capable of
performing everything herself.”
    I
stifle a laugh. She’s just a nurse. “And then what?”
    “Then,
whether you’re here in my room, or in the lab, we’d biopsy your organs one at a
time. There wouldn’t be any slicing. Just a really long needle gathering a
specified amount of viable cells to regrow in something similar to a Petri
dish.”
    “Wouldn’t
that be the same as cloning?”
    “Not
exactly. Once we regrew your organs, we could change the genetic code to match
the recipient. It doesn’t sound like it, but it really would be much less work.
All we would need are the cells. They’d take care of the rest given time.”
    “All
of my organs?”
    JJ
nods. At least he isn’t shrugging.
    “My
heart?”
    He
nods again. “And your brain,” he adds.
    “My
brain? How could you get those cells without killing me?”
    “That
would be a bit more delicate,” he says.
    “Explain
it to me.” I’m getting testy. The sound of his voice already belies the
challenge of the task.
    “We’d
have to stop your heart to harvest the cells. I agree, it wouldn’t be easy, but
it is so necessary to further science and test the limits of human capacity,”
he talks to himself now, not to me.
    “Test
the limits of human capacity,” I repeat. “Like with your parents?”
    “That
isn’t the same, Rose. They had no choice. But nothing they underwent caused
them to suffer undue pain.”
    Like
a robot, he talks of his parents much like Patience did when we were first introduced.
I’ve become speechless. I don’t know what to say even given the ability. It’s a
lot to wrap my brain around and that’s before it’s biopsied. How much of this
plan does Pike know and how much did he consent to?
    “But
once we had them,” JJ continues, again talking at me, “we’d start it up again.
You’d be fine.”
    “Yeah,
but if I wasn’t, and my heart didn’t restart, you’d be free to take all of my
organs without worrying about the opinion of Rosamund Campbell . That
sounds like a much better plan to me.”
    “Don’t
be ridiculous, Rose.” JJ grabs my shoulders. He has the same tone my father did
that night in the hospital. Condescending. Like I have no say in what happens
to me, like I don’t know what I’m thinking about. “With you dead, your organs
would die, too. They would be worthless without you alive. It would all be a
complete waste.”
    He
lets my shoulders drop. He’s so strong; he was almost holding me up. I feel the
weight of my body and I have to regain my balance.
    “And
my brain? What about that?” I ask.
    “Again,
we’d have to stop all neurological processes. Though if anything went wrong,
not that it would, we’d just implant a chip until we could right things.”
    A
chip.
    “What
if I want to leave? Just go home?” I don’t like what he’s proposing. It
terrifies me.
    “What
do you think would happen to you if you go home? Once the Imperial Bead finds
out you have such an unprecedented genetic code, which I’m sure they have
already, that’s exactly what they’ll do – hook you up to machines and keep your
organs alive with or without you. We can’t do that here because we don’t have
the capabilities. The Beadledom does, though.”
    “So
you’ve thought about it?” I, too, consider the validity of this point.
    “Rose.
Come on now. No one here wants to lose you. We like you. We can keep you safe
here.”
    “You
want to use me, though.”
    JJ
shakes his head. There’s something terribly charming about him even as he
discusses my potential demise. I didn’t learn about any of this during my
studies. I don’t know how to relate to others, let alone deal with charming
boys.
    No,
I won’t let