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Chase merited it. She waved him into the exam chair that stood in the center while she reviewed his file. A computer screen took up nearly half of one wall and displayed his entire body, inside and out in precise detail.
    "You were about to tell me about my new roommate,"
    Tristan reminded her.
    Dr. Chase read through the last part of the file, then set it aside and met his gaze. "You should know that the guild is debating a new series of experiments."
    "Do I want to know?"
    "No, I don't think you do. But I'll tell you anyway." But she didn't. Instead, she pulled on her gloves and pushed a button to summon a hovering table. She opened a kit and neatly spread the contents on the table before sending it to Tristan's side.
    "You're hedging," Tristan frowned. "That's not like you.
    What's going on?"
    Dr. Chase looked at him for a moment, then nudged the hovering table aside to reach the keypad on the back of Tristan's chair. It beeped softly with each button she pushed 43

    Blood Moons
    by Alianne Donnelly
    and then the surveillance cameras turned off. "Ten minutes, that's all we have. Then the system reboots and security is notified."
    He nodded.
    "I was recently given the results of a statistical analysis done on Earth. The sample size was big enough that I'm inclined to believe it. It shows an increasing trend of chemically ... different people. They don't fit any of the original DNA profiles and are proving to be resistant to the chem treatments."
    "Like me."
    She nodded. "Like you."
    "Are you sure they were even treated?"
    Dr. Chase gave him a look. "Tristan, the treatments are mandatory. People can protest all they want, but whether they like it or not, their children will receive it with or without their knowledge. There are no loopholes. The guild and the government—since they're chief advisors to the president—
    thinks it's because these traits are being naturally selected for."
    "I don't think I like where you're going with this."
    It was easy to keep up with the political currents when he was being swept up in them. And Tristan had been paying close attention.
    Since the last fallout, the government had taken a stronger hand in the ruling of its people. They dictated where people should live, what they should eat; they even controlled fashion trends, although why anyone would want to get involved with that was beyond him. Chem treating people 44

    Blood Moons
    by Alianne Donnelly
    right after birth to prevent any problems was just another way to stay efficient.
    If that was starting to fail, people were shit out of luck.
    Because the next step would be engineering people according to the government's specifications.
    "Believe me, I don't like it, either. But the grants have been received, supposedly with no strings attached—"
    "And yet in a few months' time, officials will be knocking on your door for results on the studies they want done," he finished for her.
    "Yes," Dr. Chase agreed unhappily, then hesitated before blurting out, "They're reproductive studies, Tristan."
    It took his brain a moment to process what she'd just said.
    The rest she related quickly, as if she didn't want to pollute her mind even long enough to put the thought into words.
    "The preliminary design is to pair inmates according to three processes—chemical traits, natural selection, and randomization."
    Tristan stared at her, astonished. "Please tell me you didn't just say what I think you just said." They wouldn't dare.
    "It gets worse," she said. "Interaction is necessary. They don't want to see in vitro fertilization in their results because it creates bias. As far as chemical traits and random selection go, a computer can find candidates fairly easily, but the rest of it, especially the natural selection part, is nothing more than..."
    "Rape." Tristan's stomach did a nasty dive. Those bastards. "How will it be conducted? What's the scope?"
    "You don't want to know."
    45

    Blood Moons
    by Alianne Donnelly
    "Yes, I do, damn it!" he