The Golden Couple (The Samantha Project Series, # 2) (35 page)

“Wow. You’ve really given this some thought, Erik.”

“Yeah, because what they said today—and how they said it—it just really pissed me off. They act like they control everything about us. Like we’ll never have choices. But they’re wrong! I was thinking about this whole attraction thing, and you know what? I would have been attracted to you even without their stupid software. I like you, Sam. You’re different than other girls, and not just in a genetic way. I have fun with you. I can talk to you about stuff. And none of that has to do with physical attraction.”

“But if it weren’t for the software drawing us together, I don’t think we’d be as close as we are now. I wouldn’t have been so open with you. And I wouldn’t have let things get as far as they have. It’s just not me.”

“I’m not saying that the software doesn’t work. It’s affecting me now and I’m doing all I can to control myself.”
He kissed me.

“Hey! Don’t start!”
I kidded.

“I’m just saying that we need to think for ourselves. Take control of our actions. And however they try to brainwash us, we need to ignore it and not let them get to us.”
 

It was a good reminder and I needed to hear it. I kept telling myself that I couldn’t change what GlobalLife had done to me. But of course I could, at least somewhat.

“We need to work harder to get out of here, Sam. No more nights off. We have to spend every free minute planning our escape.”

“And figuring out how to open the globe,”
I added.

“Speaking of that, I’m done working on the cipher. I couldn’t sleep so I worked on it and finished it like an hour ago. I know the password now.”

“Erik, that’s great!”

“It’s just one piece, Sam. We still need to get that word or phrase figured out. And we have to learn how to copy brain waves.”

“I was thinking about that earlier. I think we were focusing on the wrong thing before. As we heard today, brain waves are just energy waves released into the air. We need to focus on the energy waves that are released when the phrase is said or thought rather than the words themselves. I’m too tired to try it now but we’ll do it tomorrow.”

The next day, we went to the lab again and asked tons of questions about how brain waves worked. Alison wasn’t there but Haden was, and he answered everything we asked, not suspicious at all. We even got him to describe in detail how Erik and I were able to take the brain wave energy from the air and use our minds to interpret it. Haden’s explanation was exactly what we needed for our practice session later that night.

“So remember what he said about paying attention to the frequency,”
I said.

“Yeah, I got it Sam. Just go.”

I said a phrase out loud and Erik tried focusing on the brain waves being released. Then I said several more, first saying them out loud, then thinking them in my head.
 

“I can’t get any of those to work, Sam,”
Erik thought to me after an hour of trying.

“All right, I’ll try.”

Erik and I pretended to read while he made occasional statements about something in his book. Then I would repeat those statements in my head. It was a difficult process. First, I had to learn to tell the difference between energy from a brain wave and the other energy in the room. And once I found it, I had to focus on the various nuances of Erik’s brain waves as he said each word. Then I had to try to re-create those same energy waves in my own head. It was much harder than just letting my brain listen to his thoughts.

After a few hours of trying, Erik said it still sounded like me talking in his head.
“It’s really late and we’ve been doing this for hours. Let’s just try later. Give your mind a break.”
 

“Just a few more times. Come on, Erik.”

He said another phrase. I decided to try focusing on Erik as well as the energy coming from his thoughts, remembering what Alison had said regarding the waltz. If I focused on Erik, I might be able to harness the energy in his mind to help me replicate his brain waves.

I thought Erik’s phrase back to him. He gave me a strange look.
“Hey, it sounded like you except for the last few words.”

“Let’s try it again, Erik.”
 

He said another phrase and I thought it back to him.

He looked excited.
“Three words this time, Sam! I got three words!”

We tried again and again until I could mimic up to six words all in a row. I needed more practice, but at least we knew it could be done.

On Wednesday, we headed back to the lab. They took several vials of blood and ran the scanning wand over us. Then they did hearing and vision tests. After lunch, they strapped some helmet device to our heads and made us look at different images.
 

They let us leave the lab early that afternoon. Haden took us back to our room. “I need to talk to you both.” He sat down, so Erik and I did as well. “Ever since we told you about your engineered attraction to each other, we’ve noticed that you haven’t been as, um, affectionate toward each other.”

Erik and I remained quiet.

“We can’t have that,” Haden said, in an almost threatening tone. “You need to resume that behavior or we’ll need to take more drastic measures. And we really don’t want to have to intervene like that.”
 

“What behaviors exactly?” I asked.

“You know what I mean, Samantha. You know where babies come from.”
 

“What’s the rush?” Erik asked.

“We’re on a schedule. And we don’t know how these genes will affect a pregnancy. Could make it shorter, longer—we just don’t know.”

Hearing the words “baby” and “pregnancy” and having them relate to me was making me feel light-headed again.

Haden punched Erik’s shoulder. “Come on, Erik. Be a man. Just get the job done.” He turned to me. “And Sam, look at this handsome young man. You don’t even need the software to be attracted to him, right? Well, I’ll let you two get down to business.”

“Tonight?” I asked. “We have to do this tonight?”

“You don’t have to,” he said, getting up to leave. “But if you wait much longer, we’ll take measures into our own hands. So it’s up to you.”
 

He left. Erik and I looked at each other. “Well, I wasn’t expecting him to say that,” I said.

“Me, either. Guess they’ve really been watching us.”

Erik switched to mind-talking.
“So what are we gonna do?”

“We’re not doing it, Erik, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

“Well, I don’t exactly like the idea of them ‘intervening,’ whatever that means.”

“Maybe we could pretend. Put on a show for the cameras.”

“I think they’ll know, Sam.”

“It’s worth a try.”
I got up and took a book from the shelf, then sat down pretending to read.

“And if they find out we faked it, then what happens? I guarantee it won’t be good.”
Erik grabbed a book as well.

“So you’ve just decided we’re doing this?”
 

“Maybe just once, to get them off our backs.”
 

“They won’t accept us doing it just one time, Erik. And what if I really get pregnant? No way. Forget it.”

“You won’t get pregnant the first time. That never happens.”

“Are you kidding? It happens all the time! I can’t talk about this right now.”

“Okay, but like he said, we can’t put it off much longer, Sam.”
 

“Then we need to get out of here before it comes to that.”

Erik sighed.
“Yeah, but we haven’t spent any time figuring out how to do that! All you want to do is focus on getting that globe open!”

“Because we need those base codes! Owens said he’d get us out of here. So let him worry about the escape.”

“And what if he doesn’t? What if he can’t? Then it’s up to us to find a way out.”

“Okay, but let’s talk about that later. We need to practice the brain wave thing again. Say a phrase.”

Since I was having better luck mimicking brain waves, I kept working on it rather than have Erik try. I focused on his mind again, along with the energy coming from it, as I had the night before.
 

After several hours of practice I heard Erik shouting in my head.
“Sam! You got it! Just now. Every word. It sounded like me talking in my own head!”

I wanted to hug him, but I didn’t since it would look odd with us not talking aloud.
“We’re getting closer, Erik! We might actually get the genes!”

“We still have a ways to go, but yeah, this is a huge step.”

“I’m exhausted, Erik. I’m going to bed.”

By morning, I felt a rush of optimism. By learning to mimic brain waves, I’d accomplished what I thought was impossible. And that gave me hope.
 

At 9, there was a knock on the door. It was time to leave for the lab. But instead of a lab attendant coming to pick us up, Allie’s mom walked in.
 

“Mrs. Taylor,” I said. “You’re taking us to the lab today?”

“No, no. I’m just here to give you some news.” She seemed way too happy and way too excited.
 

“What news?” Erik asked in a suspicious tone.

“Well, we got your lab work back from yesterday. It showed that Samantha is pregnant! You two are going to be parents! Congratulations!”
 

I thought I was having some awful nightmare. But then Erik grabbed my arm in case I passed out, and I knew it was real.
 

“Is this a joke?” I asked. “Because it’s not funny.”

“Of course it’s not a joke. I wouldn’t joke about a thing like that. You’re going to be a mother, Samantha. And Erik, you’re going to be a father. Isn’t this marvelous?” She gave us a loose hug, then stood back again.
 

Mrs. Taylor was loving this far too much. She knew this was the last thing I wanted to hear, and knowing that, she insisted she be the one to tell me. And I hated her for it.
 

“So what do you think, Samantha?”

“This isn’t possible. How could this happen?”
 

“You do know how babies are made,” she said in a condescending tone.

“Of course I do.”

“Then you know how this happened.”

“Are you sure about this?” Erik asked.

“The blood work doesn’t lie,” she said.

“But it’s too soon,” I insisted. “How could you possibly know that soon?”

“Our equipment is far superior than some drugstore test or whatever a doctor’s office would have.”

I looked down at my stomach. “But I don’t feel pregnant.”

“You were feeling kind of sick the other day,” Erik whispered to me.
 

Mrs. Taylor noticed him whispering. “Well, I’ll let you two lovebirds celebrate. Someone will be in shortly to take you to the lab.”

I went over and sat on the bed. Erik followed. “I guess it
can
happen the first time.”

I punched his arm. “That’s the first thing you’re thinking, Erik?” I punched him again. “You said we didn’t do anything! You said, ‘Oh, I’d know if we did anything, Sam.’ Were you just lying to me?”

“No! I really don’t remember doing anything that night. Honestly, Sam. I don’t.”

“There’s no other way this could have happened, Erik!”

“Yeah, I got that. But I don’t see how it’s possible. Why can’t I remember anything?”

I stood up and started pacing the floor. “I can’t be pregnant. I’m only 18! I don’t even want to get married until I’m at least 30! And I don’t want kids.”

“Really? Huh. I would have thought you were a kid person.”

I stopped pacing. “What gave you that idea?”

“I don’t know. You just seemed like you’d want one or two.”

“Maybe someday, waaay off in the future I might
consider
it. But at 18? No way!”

“I’m sure they won’t let us keep it, Sam. They’ll take it and raise it in a lab. I probably shouldn’t say ‘it,’ should I? Let’s assume it’s a boy. I’ll say ‘he.’”

“No, I don’t want a boy. What am I saying? I don’t want a baby! And if I’m really having a baby, I definitely don’t want it raised in some GlobalLife lab.” I sat down on the bed again.
 

“They could be lying about it.”

“Why would they lie about that, Erik? They know we don’t want to be forced into having sex and if I’m pregnant, we don’t need to do it anymore.”

“I guess. But how could it happen so fast? You think it’s because of our genes?”

“I don’t know. But I can’t go to the lab today. You’ll have to go alone. Tell them I’m sick.” I pushed the covers back and crawled into bed.

Erik switched to mind-talk.
“Sam, we need more answers. You have to go. We need to get out of here as soon as possible. The sooner we get out of here, the sooner we can see my dad and Colin again.”

I sat up, yanking on Erik’s sleeve.
“Oh my God! Colin! He’ll completely freak out about this! And he’s gonna kill you, Erik! He’s never gonna believe that we don’t remember doing anything. He’ll never forgive me!”

“Relax, Sam. Colin will forgive you. He won’t forgive
ME
, but that’s all right.”

“No, Erik. Colin will never look at me the same way. He’ll always think of me with you. He’ll see me as a cheater and a liar and—”

“I shouldn’t have brought it up. Let’s just focus on today and what we’re gonna do at the lab.”

But before we could make a plan, Walter came through the door. “Apparently, I’m supposed to take you to the lab now. They’re waiting for you.”

Erik gave me a look, trying to convince me to go. He got up as I lay back down in the bed, pulling the covers over me.

“What’s wrong with her?” Walter asked Erik.

“She’s um, not feeling well.”

“Ah, yes. Morning sickness, perhaps? I heard that you’re expecting, Samantha. Congratulations to you both.”

Erik gave me another look, begging me to go, but I wouldn’t move.