Read Birthright: Book I of the Temujin Saga for Free Online

lose them both. Subject Two’s body may be impervious to injury, but his mind is not. Quickly. We’ll need clamps, cutters, and something to wrap them in once they’re free.”
    “You’ve got it, Doc.” Jiri turned toward the other technicians. “Everybody out! This room is now off limits to any personnel without level four clearance or higher. Move, people!”
    One by one the techs scurried from the room until only Amaadoss and Jiri remained. Jiri silenced the alarms and the room’s lighting returned to normal. The fissure in the tube expanded with a loud crackling sound, spilling more fluid onto the ground in thicker streams.
    “We’ll need something to wrap them in,” said Amaadoss urgently. “A blanket, towel, anything.”
    Jiri bounded off. Amaadoss carefully placed his palm against the glass and immediately his mind was flooded with impressions of misery and fear. His bottom lip trembled. So much pain.
    Finally Jiri returned with two sterile white lab smocks and handed one to Amaadoss. “This is all I could find, Doc. The birthing supplies are still in storage.”
    “Be ready to catch them,” said Amaadoss as he keyed in a sequence of commands on the tube’s terminal. Flashing red light filled the room once again and a computer-simulated voice announced, “Fluid purge in five… four… three….”
    The crack in the glass reached the edges of the tube and the front of the cylinder exploded outward in a flood of amniotic fluid. The garbled wailing of the two infants filled the air. Amaadoss was caught off guard by the sudden rupture and lunged forward to catch the newborns, but slipped in the growing puddle at his feet.
    With a startled bark, Jiri leapt forward, his outstretched arms holding his smock. He sailed over his fallen superior and hooted triumphantly as both babies fell into the safety of the smock. The Glynfarian cradled the infants close to his chest and spun in mid-air, attaching himself to the wall with his suction-cupped feet.
    Slowly, carefully, he pulled the bundle away from his chest and breathed a sigh of relief as both children cried up at him, their eyes closed and tiny fists clenched and shaking. Amaadoss rose to his feet and carefully crossed the sticky floor to where his assistant held the fruits of their labors. Jiri passed the squirming bundle to him, and Amaadoss stared down at the children with disbelief. He’d done it. He’d finally done it!
    *****

A couple hours later, Amaadoss and Jiri watched the twins through the glass-domed ceilings of their incubator chambers. Wisps of bright red hair topped their heads. The children were virtually identical, save for one obvious difference. The Seignso hybrid child had the blue-gray eyes typical of newborn humans, but those belonging to the other were a bright emerald in color and seemed to glow with a jewel-like luminescence.
    Jiri’s breath fogged the glass as he leaned forward to inspect the child. “What’s wrong with Subject Two’s eyes, Doc?”
    “Nothing, Jiri,” whispered Amaadoss. “It’s merely a trait of Homo immortalis . You see, what gives them their unique regenerative abilities is a very potent energy, which is stored in the spinal column. This energy courses through the entire nervous system and, if the subject receives a wound, gathers to rapidly repair the damaged cells.
    “This energy can sometimes surge and illuminate the optic nerve, making the eyes glow a brilliant green. In time, the glow should subside and only manifest itself during times of stress.”
    Jiri’s eye stalks twitched in astonishment. “Incredible! But wait, Doc. What if the energy runs out?”
    “From what I understand, it’s self-sustaining,” Amaadoss replied. “However, if the subject is wounded severely enough to exhaust the energy completely, or if the spinal column is severed and the energy is released all at once, then life is extinguished permanently.”
    Jiri’s eye stalks drooped sadly as he looked down at Subject Two,