Chapter 12. Sacrifice

He had to kill Norman Reeze and Alexander St. Rio. That decision came as the result of many hours of thinking, analyzing and comparing all the alternatives. Iutah knew that making such a move would involve huge risk, but it was more preferable than allowing the situation to develop the way it did.

"Today we're going to talk about protecting the most vulnerable spots on your body. You already know that level two is only the beginning of the way. Your power is so low that you're considered to be humans, not hybrids. We will discuss why that happens and what you should do about it to stay alive."

The lectures of Daiga Kostor were a perfect place for thinking. She wasn't really a bad teacher, and the information she was giving could be considered useful. But Iutah knew all of that, the Organization had taught him a lot about hybrid anatomy, and he learned the rest here on Ceres by looking through the library. What kind of agent would he be if he didn't know how to kill his enemies?

Iutah was confident about who he was. He never doubted the Organization either. But Arriz… that's where the confidence ended.

On the one hand, he was crucial to One Breed. A talented spy and a telepath – a very rare combination! But at the same time Iutah couldn't feel that blind devotion in him that was necessary for working undercover.

He didn't know why that happened. Arriz was the son of Derek Songo after all! The man who served the Organization till his last breath… Could his child be any different?

But the longer he watched Arriz, the stronger his doubt became. A bad agent was worse than no agent! What if he betrayed the Organization and Iutah? Then the project into which One Breed had invested so much would fail!

"The first things that the hybrid matter adapts to are your skin, muscle tissue and blood," Daiga continued. "That's your level now. It makes you stronger, any wounds heal on you better, it's easier for you to deal with temperature extremes. But those abilities are nothing in comparison to what mature hybrids can do! For instance, Teacher Damian can walk the surface of Ceres without any protection. The lowest temperature you can handle for a long time is minus twenty Celsius so far."

That wasn't too outstanding, but still more than humans could take. Iutah remembered about that when he sent Arriz into the tunnel. He had no clear intention of killing the telepath, because that would've been a crime against the Organization. Iutah just let the situation go, leaving Arriz's life to destiny. He knew that being beside the construction robots was very dangerous and he was hoping for an accident.

But Arriz survived. It appeared that something had happened there after all, but he made it in one piece. He never discussed that with Iutah, but there was reproach in his eyes, and their communication became limited.

That's when Iutah understood that he had made a mistake. He had to be more precise about the situation, either killing Arriz or becoming his friend. And now, because of his indecisiveness, they were stuck in some gray zone… They lost contact, and Iutah had no idea what the telepath was busy with.

"Level two is not enough to strengthen your bones and joints. You'll go through that only on level four. Yes, your skeleton is surrounded by your improved muscles, but it's a weak spot nevertheless."

Iutah could see that few of his classmates were actually listening to Daiga. He was in the Red Team after all, these hybrids weren't too patient! Norman Reeze was no exception: sitting there and staring into an artificial window.

It was hard to track the moment when Arriz got friendly with him and St. Rio. Was it truly friendship? Maybe the telepath was just using them for his mission. But their cooperation in the forest was so disturbingly perfect!

They had to die. Naturally, he couldn't attack them openly, he'd get expelled! He decided to spend some time gathering the data. He had to know strong and weak features of his enemies, and how Arriz would react to someone harming them.

"Your head is something that should always be under protection. Even the level six hybrids remember about that. Hybrid matter doesn't merge with your brain cells completely, so the brain is always vulnerable. Partial merging is possible only on the eighth level, and even that doesn't bring invincibility. So keep your head protected!"

"But what if we're under crossfire?" Clara asked. "Can't leave the battlefield unscratched!"

"Sometimes you'll be leaving it with bullet wounds, not scratches, you can't escape that. But your task is to study your surroundings and minimize the damage."

"Why? Not like we're going to leave Ceres with level two! When we return back to Earth, our powers will be totally different!"

"Even then you need to know the basic means of defense," the teacher explained. "The terrorists keep improving their weapons, they're studying us. By the time of your graduation they may invent something that'll make even level six seem weak."

Iutah barely managed to suppress his smile at hearing that. Of course they will! And the information Arriz would bring to them should influence the process. That's why Iutah had to keep him alive, freeing him of the seduction to change sides.

In his case, the seduction was presented by the faith that hybrids were human too, they could be negotiated with. Even the thought of that was worthy of a deadly punishment! But until Iutah could replace the telepath completely to the Organization, he had to postpone killing Arriz. Though the idea of taking his life someday seemed fair. He didn't deserve to be called the son of Derek Songo!

And Iutah wasn't going to fail his own father. Few people actually knew about his connection to one of the leaders of One Breed - or else everyone would think he'd gotten support to get this position… It wasn't even close to the truth. Of all the kids who were passing the tests, Iutah was the only one who believed in his goals and values completely. Others were a lot like Arriz: they were doubting, trying to play nice. They failed themselves and the Organization.

After leaving Earth Iutah was sure he'd uncover all the secrets of the Second Breed in no-time! But he wasn't even taken directly to Ceres. He and the others were held on a huge space station, where the kids were passing through new tests – just to prove they were worthy of undergoing the transition. And only when the tests were finally over, Iutah found himself in the medical office.

"That's the hybrid matter," a nurse explained to him when she put a needle under his skin. "It'll bring you straight to level two. You shouldn't be afraid, it won't hurt you."

He wasn't afraid, he had been waiting for this for months. But not everyone were so calm – he could hear some kids going hysterical at the prospect of losing their humanity. They were expelled, he stayed. He watched his blood leaving his body through one plastic tube, while the hybrid matter was replacing it through the other.

Every ten percent of his blood changed with the hybrid matter equaled one level of power. He and the others got twenty percent initially – doing less than that was pointless, while doing more was dangerous. Human body needed time to adapt to the hybrid matter. If the initial doze was too big, it could cause insanity, uncontrollable aggression and other problems.

But even after the numerous tests not everyone passed through the transition. Some developed an allergy and had to be taken out of the project. There were those, who had a psychological breakdown. And a couple of those kids died on the spot, the moment the hybrid matter entered their veins. No-one knew why that happened. The hybrids claimed that it couldn't have been predicted. Iutah didn't believe them.

His transition went fine. He didn't feel that "horrible pain" that other kids where gossiping about before the procedure, and no hallucinations. He simply fell asleep – to wake up eleven days later to the doctors congratulating him.

After that he didn't feel any different. He was afraid that the hybrid matter would change him, making him abandon his beliefs. But none of that happened, he remained loyal to the Organization, despising everyone who surrounded him at the moment.

Later he learned that out of one hundred kids that came to the space station, only half passed the transition. The Second Breed was as cruel as he had expected it to be, he was sure that the second half was slaughtered.

He was appointed to the Red Team and sent to Ceres. He was studying side by side with hybrids, making friends among them, and soon became the top student of his team. It was a critical achievement for the One Breed agent. He knew that not everyone would be allowed to pass the second transition. The students with the worst results would have the hybrid matter removed, their memories deleted, and they'd be sent back to Earth. Each team would have only seven members left, and the only ones protected from that were the Black Team – there were only five of them to begin with.

He really wanted to become stronger, he was the first and the only hybrid serving the Organization! He liked thinking about rising above the rest and becoming the exterminator of that filthy breed. Unfortunately, his logical mind kept reminding him that it was a very unlikely outcome. Sure, he was the best in his team, but so far it was the limit of what he could do. This generation had such warriors as Karajo, the Silver twins, Immanuel Cuyo… All of them surpassed him. He hoped to change that.

Someone would leave after the second course of training too. Extracting the hybrid matter from a level four hybrid was extremely dangerous, but the Second Breed didn't care. On the third course they'd become mature hybrids, reaching level six. After that part of them would stop their training and go back to Earth to work.

And for the others the transition would slow down. They'd be getting only ten percent of the hybrid matter per year. After getting to the level seven they'd have to prove they were worthy of it and only then considered as candidates for level eight… Not more than five hybrids from the whole generation would go to level eight.

There was also a rumor about the level eight and a half existing. But hybrids never confirmed that to humans… And the ninth level surely wasn't real. Such balance of human blood and the hybrid matter would influence personality greatly, turning a hybrid into a monster…

Though all of them were monsters to Iutah. He was going for the eighth level in his mission, thus he had to abide the rules and continue his training. Only getting this power could help him in destroying Ceres and all of its inhabitants.

As for killing a couple of hybrids right now… Why not? If the Organization started to ask him questions about it, he'd explain why he had to take that risk. He had to get rid of two warriors only! If he played it right, no-one would suspect him of anything. One Breed considered that possibility, that's why they had passed him some weapons with Arriz.

"And now I'm going to tell you about the most dangerous blows for any hybrid," Daiga said. "I'll also show you how to avoid them. You'll need them, so watch carefully!"

That made Iutah return his full attention to the lecture. He could use that knowledge earlier than the rest of his team!

And Norman was still looking into the window, not trying to hide how bored he was. He had no idea that soon his life would depend on the attacks Daiga was talking about!