Free Mutant Legacy by Karen Haber

he had to be stopped. Briefly, I wondered if Metzger was truly opposed to Rick’s cult on the grounds that it could hurt the mutants en masse or whether he was more concerned that Rick’s ascendancy might damage his own political plans. Regardless of his motivation, he was apparently on my side.
    “You know,” he said, “I originally contacted you because I hoped you would have some suggestions for how to bring your brother to heel. But I see it’s not quite that easy. Nevertheless I’m sure we could work together, Julian.”
    I stared at him, deeply ambivalent. In the same conversational tone of voice in which he might have invited me to a cocktail party Joachim Metzger had asked me to betray my own brother. Yet hadn’t I decided to do just that?
    As I struggled with a momentarily unruly conscience Metzger pressed home his point. “You know that your brother puts us all at risk. Performing public sharings with nonmutants. What’s next? A vid ministry?” The Book Keeper made a grimace of distaste. “Do you know that we have had complaints from all over: the pope, from the Mormons, even the Episcopalians? And my contacts in government tell me that he is being watched. Closely.”
    “You don’t have to recite chapter and verse to me,” I said. “The threat is clear enough. Rick’s actions put us all at risk.” And, I thought, forced me into odd alliances. “I’ll cooperate as long as we get one thing clear.”
    “What’s that?”
    “I refuse to allow any knowledge of my biological relationship to Rick to be revealed. I won’t do that to my parents. If word of it gets out, then I’m out, too.”
    Joachim Metzger gave me a long, searching look. “Very well, Dr. Akimura,” he said, finally. “It will be as you wish. You will be a spokesman for the mutants without any mention of family ties. No one outside of the Mutant Council knows who Rick really is. Your secret will remain safe.”

5
    bac k i n thos e days I didn’t know Joachim Metzger very well and what I did know I didn’t much like. But how often do wartime allies like each other? So I shook his hand and sealed our compact against my brother and against Better World.
    A soft, three-chord chime interrupted my memories and brought me hurtling back to the present.
    My message sim spoke in its gently asexual voice: “Forgive me, sir, for the intrusion. But you have a call.”
    “Who is it?”
    “Alanna.”
    I hesitated. I hadn’t expected her to call back so quickly. Was I ready? Of course not.
    “Put her through.”
    My half-sister’s face appeared, ivory skin with just a touch of celadon, curiously unlined. Her dark hair was upswept, held in place by a thick green ribbon. She looked ageless, untouched by the years.
    “Julian.” Her voice, at least, had grown deeper, throatier. “It’s been ye Ffy" tars.
    “I never bothered to count.”
    “Why break the silence now?”
    “I need your help.”
    “So you said. But what’s happened?”
    “I’m not comfortable explaining it over the phone.”
    “Don’t you have a privacy shield?”
    “Yes, but I don’t trust it.”
    “You’ve gotten paranoid, Julian.” Yet she was the one who looked suspicious and regarded me without trust.
    “Can we meet?”
    “Where? I won’t come to Taos.”
    “Albuquerque, then.”
    “Why don’t you come out to the West Coast?”
    “No good. Too many people would come with me.”
    “Can’t you just slip away?”
    I laughed at the thought. “These days I can scarcely get enough privacy to go to the bathroom by myself.”
    Alanna hardly blinked. “I don’t see why I should make a special trip to New Mexico. You know I only come out there once a year and I’m not due for months.”
    “It’s only a half-hour shuttle ride,” I said. “If you like, I’ll buy your ticket.”
    “Thank you, I can afford my own fare.”
    “Then you’ll come?”
    “No. Can’t it wait until my regular appearance?”
    “Alanna, I need you. Right now. You’re the