After the Second Fall Pt. 02.2

"They fight the Adams in the pool," replied Cap after a pause, surprising the other three.

"He's right," exclaimed Geo, energy returning to his body. "If they're constantly fighting superior opponents with different styles, they'll improve faster, and the pool Adams should have enough control to know when to stop. Do you agree?"

Cap wasn't quite so enthusiastic, but he nodded anyway.

"Fuck!" exclaimed Geo, slamming his right fist into his left palm. "It seems so obvious in retrospect."

"There's been a lot of that recently," Cassidy replied while looking down at Lilith.

"What else did I miss?" Geo asked, surprised.

After a nudge from Cassidy, Lilith recounted their talks about socializing and educating the Adams, and how they had eventually led to their current discussion.

When Lilith had finished, Geo let out a long, low whistle. "Fuck me sideways," he said aloud to himself. "You're talking about foundational changes, right down to the bedrock that our program is built on. All this because it might help?"

"Yes," Cassidy stated firmly. "Small improvements that might yield big results.

"Plus, it's the right thing to do," she added more quietly.

"What do you think, Mr. Carson?" Lilith asked.

The old man looked worn out, his shoulders slumped and head drooping. At the mention of his name, he stood back up to his full height. "I don't agree.

"All of these things you're talking about: they don't seem obvious to me at all. If they were, we wouldn't have the system we have." He looked pointedly down at Lilith. "On the other hand, I've known Adams that could have been something more than a training fatality or a farmhand. I can't tell you if it's worth the effort and the risk -- that's your job -- but I'll support you any way I can.

"I do feel like I should tell you that at least part of this has been tried before. Up until a few years before I started school, the young Adams were educated with us normal kids. There was an incident with a seven or eight year old that went off -- I don't know all of the circumstances, but several kids and the teacher were killed, so keep in mind that the risks involved aren't just to the program." With a nod to each of the directors, Cap excused himself and walked away, clearly having had enough.

Geo, also shook up, stepped away immediately afterward.

"Are you pleased?" Cassidy asked curiously.

"I honestly don't know."

At the next Council meeting, Directors Baker and Frazier were brought into the discussions, which continued daily for a full week until they were all in agreement regarding how to proceed.

The project to develop female counterparts to the Adams would go forward, as previously agreed. The final details were still open, but the key pieces were ready: Northumberland did still have operational facilities and were happy to put them back into service, because it meant three dozen technical positions subsidized by Rieckenburg. A former Northumberland program geneticist named Wilkens would lead the effort to cultivate Eves (they had settled on the name after all). Citing difficult technical challenges, he asked for five years to deliver viable embryos; Lilith gave him eighteen months, with the promise of a Council seat as the Head of Research & Development if he delivered -- there was no more argument. As soon as cold storage was prepared, which would take a couple months, sample collection would begin.

The secondary effort to address training and education within the Complex would take a more nuanced approach.

The plan called for all of the would-be-Adams younger than six years old to start attending classes with their developmentally typical peers. The older children would join fewer classes, focusing primarily on the three R's and history, while the teens in the program would study only history. Each Adam would be accompanied by their handler at all times, meaning that Geo had quite a bit of shuffling to do.

The changes to the educational program would be guided by a stern looking woman named Gilda Locken, head of the Primary school. She had been skeptical initially, but when presented with additional funds to update classrooms to meet the needs of larger students, her attitude fell quickly into line.

As to increasing the number of adolescents surviving to adulthood, each of the members in the lower half of the Adam pool, as well as the few surviving retirees, would be assigned lessons with the juvenile Adams each week, under the general direction of Geo himself. Full contact sparring matches between trainees would be significantly reduced and strictly limited, and the director had a small team looking into safety equipment, although he wasn't particularly optimistic on this point.

When Lilith presented the two programs to the Complex's full leadership team, both met with the expected skepticism; they represented a dramatic shift in the current paradigm, after all. However, when faced with the united voice of the Council, the resistance broke down quickly.

For Lilith, the experience was a significant personal victory, representing her ability to realize a vision by influencing others, as well as her emotional recovery from the attack that had taken John from her. What's more, since things had happened so quickly, Lilith's mind was once again fully engaged as Rover climbed into the transport that would take him to the match with Marbelo.

Chapter 14

Pip never really liked waiting, but this was something else entirely, and somehow it was worse than actually being in the Arena. Surrounded by the girls, with Mars just a couple strides away, he felt oddly alone, isolated.

It should have been him fighting.

The transport arrived, flag draped over the hood, and the waiting crowd cheered the city's victory. Pip didn't relax, however, and it took him a moment to figure out why: the vehicle was moving much more quickly than was typical, ending in a short skid in the gravel drive.

The rear doors opened and another shout went up from the crowd -- it was stifled as Dr. Shepard jumped out, his shirt more red than white. The driver and his helper scrambled around the vehicle and pulled down the huge gurney on which Rover lay.

The victorious Adam was unconscious and barely recognizable. Pip couldn't see the full extent of injuries in the brief time before the gurney was moved to the surgery, but it was clearly bad. Lilith and Geo, who had been standing together, followed the procession into the building.

In times past, victory meant celebration, even though the winning Adam was rarely able to participate. Following the streak of nearly flawless performances Pip had strung together, the mood was more subdued this time. Some of the spectators were still cheering, ready for revelry, but were quickly admonished into toning down their activities. Even so, the gathering didn't break up; instead, people stood together talking, sipping recently delivered alcohol and talking about Rieckenburg's glory days past and still to come.

It was almost a full bell later when the Executive Director stepped back outside; in less than a hundred beats, nearly all eyes were on her. In the loudest voice she could manage without actually shouting, she stated clearly, "He will live." After a pregnant pause, shouts erupted again. Her brief address delivered, Lilith walked tiredly to where Pip and the others were still waiting as the celebration began to ramp up around them.

"He won, but it was a near thing. You can get the details tomorrow, but the gist of it is that his opponent was a better match than we expected."

"But he'll recover?" asked Maggie, her protective instincts kicking in.

"Maybe. Dr. Shepard thinks he stopped the internal bleeding, but won't know for sure for a few more bells. If Rover does survive, he'll probably lose his left leg below the knee; two of the fingers on his right hand are gone, as is most of one ear." Lilith waited a few beats to see if anyone had questions, then trudged back inside. Maggie was torn between wanting to comfort Pip and finding out if she could help; seeing the conflict, Pip sent her away with a wave and the best smile he could work up.

The group continued to watch the revelry, but Pip seemed disinclined to do anything. After more than a quarter bell, Rosie decided it was time for a change and took Pip's hand in her own, leading him and the others into the middle of the adjacent green space. She placed a hand on his hip, but Pip shook his head gently, declining the unspoken offer. Undeterred, Rosie urged Pip to sit by tugging down on his arm, then sat gently on his thigh; Rachel soon joined on the opposite leg.

The closeness of the girls helped Pip to relax some, and he looked back up to Mars, indicating the bigger Adam should do the same. Finding herself alone, Emily decided that Mars' lap looked quite inviting, and settled down on top of his folded legs.

Around them, groups of varying size continued the party. Two women Pip didn't recognize were now playing guitars and singing while people danced and clapped. It seemed everyone except for the group of five seated in the middle of the Courtyard was having a grand time, and while Pip was still feeling out-of-sorts, at least his melancholy had dissipated.

He was staring off into the night sky when a gutteral exclamation snapped him out of his trance. Pulling back his focus and lowering his eyes, he realized that a couple was on the grass not two body lengths from them.

In time to the still-going music -- a sort of shanty with shockingly dirty lyrics -- a man was thrusting vigorously into a woman from behind. Likewise, her grunts corresponded directly with the claps of the dozen or so spectators that had formed a semicircle around them, cheering and shouting suggestions.

Looking down further, he saw that Rosie was also watching the couple, but in a semi-detached manner, her mind clearly elsewhere; Rachel was leaning against his chest with eyes closed. Pip himself looked on for perhaps a hundred beats, but he was still feeling drained, so the spectacle didn't hold his interest.

With a deep breath, he turned to his right, and found that Emily was quite engaged in the show, learning forward, wetting her lips repeatedly and fidgeting incessantly. For his part, Mars' entire body looked tense, shoulders hunched, fists balled, and eyes fixed on the back of Emily's head.

Without warning, Emily popped up, turned and said something softly to Mars, then raced across the grass, zig-zagging around people toward one of the building entrances; the young Adam was left looking stunned, and after readjusting himself, turned to Pip for advice. "I'll explain later," said Pip as he slowly lifted the girls to their feet and stood. Following the general path Emily had established, the four remaining companions picked their way between or around other couples or groups, with Rachel politely declining several invitations along the way.

The following morning, Pip and Mars were barred from entering Surgery One, where Rover would be kept for observation until his situation stabilized: unfortunately, severe bruising on the thigh of his damaged leg had led to blood clots, and it was now looking likely he would lose the entire appendage if Dr. Shepard couldn't get the situation controlled quickly. Maggie walked out to greet the Adams, looking tired and defeated.

"I wish I could help more, but trauma surgery isn't my specialty," she said dejectedly.

Pip scooped her up, and together with Mars they made their way back to the Adams' dorm so that she could sleep. As Pip laid Maggie gently on his bed, her eyes popped open suddenly, and with a strange exclamation, she scooted quickly off the bed and ran back through the door.

Once again, Mars turned to Pip for explanation, but the smaller Adam had nothing to say. It wasn't until after the evening meal that Pip and Mars saw Maggie again, sleeping deeply on his bed.

It was during breakfast the following morning, sitting across from the men that Maggie started filling in the details. "It looks like we're going to save the rest of Rover's leg," she said excitedly between bites of an atypically large breakfast of eggs and porridge. "Dr. Shepard was concerned about using heparin or one of the other standard anticoagulants after the initial amputation, and also because of how much internal hemorrhaging he had suffered. The problem was that if we did take the rest of the leg, it might mean other bad things because of all the trauma in such a short period, like septic shock; on the other hand, uncontrolled clotting can lead to death in a bunch of different ways."

"But?" offered Rosie.

Maggie smiled broadly. "But I realized we must have a huge blood bank here, and that we might be able do a massive transfusion to replace his blood to stop the clotting."

"Really? I didn't know that was possible," said Emily, also speaking around food.

"Possible: yes. A good idea: no," responded Maggie. "If you try to put in too much new blood, you can actually make the situation worse by causing things like an embolism."

Emily's face showed her confusion. "You're still smiling, though."

"Um huh," Maggie nodded, then paused to swallow. "When I asked Doc about it, he got to thinking about cleaning out the blood, rather than replacing it, so we looked through some of his old reference literature, stuff I've never seen or heard of before. It turns out you can bind the free calcium that allows blood to clot with a different medicine he had on hand to treat things like gout. So we borrowed a few centrifuges from the research guys, cleaned about half the blood, and replaced the rest. It took almost all day, but things looked a lot better when I left."

Maggie continued to eat, focusing intently on her food, oblivious to the silence that had settled on the table and to the glances passing between the others, except for Rachel, who just nodded and continued eating. "That's amazing, Mags," Rosie said softly; Emily nodded vigorously.

Before Mars could ask, Pip said to him, "I didn't understand what half those words meant, just that Rover gets to keep some of his leg. Good job, Mags."

Maggie beamed as Rosie and Emily both patted her back, the former leaning in to to kiss her cheek for good measure.

After the meal was complete, the entire group made their way to the surgery to check on Rover's condition. The injured Adam was still in the room, meaning his condition was serious, but at least he was conscious. Dr. Shepard was again reluctant to allow them entry, but did confirm that Rover was on the path to recovery, having prevailed in a second fight with a deadly opponent in as many days.

The group was about to split up to go on to their daily business when Lilith and Geo rounded the corner. After a brief hallway exchange with the doctor, the two directors were granted access for the delayed post-fight debrief, pulling Rachel in behind them. A dozen beats later, Lilith popped back out. "Pip, you might as well come in, too -- it will save us having to repeat what we hear later."

Pip nodded, and with a final wave to Rosie, Maggie, and Emily, stepped into the white room with Mars immediately behind him.

The injured Adam was conscious and propped up on the oversized operating table that was still serving as a bed. Much of his head was bandaged, as was his hand, and a large, heavy blanket was tucked tightly around his lower half, hiding it from view. The lights in the room were dimmer than normal, but even so, it was immediately evident that Rover was paler than usual, and there was no hint of the cocky smirk he usually wore.

"Rover," started Director Humbolt, "we'd like to hear about the match. Can you tell us what happened?"

There was a pause as Rover opened his uncovered eye, struggling to focus on the person speaking. He was eventually successful and his mouth turned up a little after recognizing Geo. "Oh, hello, Director," he slurred slowly. He looked around, taking in the other faces until his gaze stuck on Pip, at which point he made a pained face. "That was a lot harder than I expected, Piper."

Pip looked quickly to Lilith, who encouraged him with an insistent head tilt and an impatient expression, which was just as effective as if she had actually kicked him in the rear. Stepping around the table, he reached out and took hold of Rover's left hand, clasping it tightly -- the contact seemed to give Rover a foundation and his open eye cleared further.

"You want to know about the match, I guess," Rover said, to which Pip nodded. Rover took a deep breath, preparing to speak -- or tried to -- but started coughing violently instead. It was half a hundred beats before the fit stopped, and that long again before his breathing was back under control. "Fuck, I hurt everywhere." Pip nodded again, but didn't say anything, knowing Rover could only proceed at the pace his body would allow.

With a more cautious breath, Rover tried again, still speaking haltingly, his words understandable but thick. "I always thought it would be like a dance, violent but beautiful." He paused, trying to order his still addled mind. "It was, maybe, for a little while. We circled one way, then back again. A punch here or there, neither of us really doing very much. I was on such a high, like everything was worth it.

"Somehow, we lock up, and I'm trying to get him with my knees, but he's doing the same. I try to throw him down, but he's fucking strong, and longer than me, so I can't get leverage. We keep grappling and eventually I push him back and away, but he's fast and throws this wheel kick at my thigh, really damn hard. I get my leg up, but it's not a good block and we hit shin to shin, and there's this awful crack, and pain. We both go down. He's howling, and I can see that the whole bone snapped in two, but then I try to get up and mine's broken, too. So I crawl toward him, and from then on, it's just a scrap, like when I was a kid. I don't remember the details, just flashes, like him kicking where my leg is busted."

Through the brief story, Rover's eye never left Pip, although it did cloud over several times. As he wound down, Pip gave his hand an extra squeeze and nodded again. "You did good."

"Fucking right," Mars offered from the other side of the bed, which pulled Rover's attention away from Pip. Seeing the directors for the first time (again), Rover made a point of acknowledging Geo with a nod.

"You know what, Piper," he said turning back to his left, "I would do it all over to hear the city cheer like that again as we came back. I don't remember it so clearly, but I can hear them screaming. It gave me the chills."

"That was probably the blood loss," suggested Dr. Shepard, who had just walked up, but Rover paid no attention.

"They do that for you, too?"

"Every time. It is pretty awesome, isn't it?"

"The best," replied Rover, closing his eye; his hand slackened in Pip's grasp.

Dr. Shepard looked at an instrument that was attached to his patient, then set it down again. "He's still very weak, so that needs to be the end of questions for now. If necessary, you can try again later, but I would rather give him a couple more days to recover."

Geo looked to Lilith, who nodded, then turned toward the door. "It's okay, Doc, we learned what we needed to know."

Back in the hallway, the group stood together quietly for several beats before Geo spoke to the two women. "Well, it's not the worst case, but not what we hoped for."

"Was his opponent one of their top Adams?" Lilith asked.

"Er... probably not. The Arena Council published the name yesterday, and it wasn't a fighter with previous Arena experience. Based on our intelligence, that probably means he was fifth or sixth in their lineup."

Lilith sighed. "Okay, that's not good news, but we stick to our plan and Chaz fights in two weeks -- right?"