Steven Harper - Trickster

"Kendi asked me to run some tests," Harenn explained. "He also told me that the two of you want to raise them as your children."

Ben flushed. "He told you that?"

"Why shouldn't he?" Lucia said. "I think you've made a wonderful decision, Ben. That's why we brought you down here."

"I don't understand."

"You will need host mothers," Harenn said. "I would like to volunteer."

Ben stared.

"You and Kendi have reunited me with my child," Harenn said simply. "In the process, Kendi lost his own family and had to risk his freedom to get them back. I can never fully make that up to him-and you-but this thing would be a start."

"I'm volunteering, too," Lucia said. "It would be an honor. Both of you have been touched by Irfan, and I don't mean because you're Silent. Besides, these children need parents, and I want to help."

Ben cast about for something to say and came up empty. At last he only said, "Thank you. Thank you both."

"There is more," Harenn said. "Lucia doesn't know this, but if she bears one of these children, she needs to be informed."

Alarm thrilled through Ben. "Is something wrong with them?"

"Not at all," Harenn said. "Something is merely… interesting."

"What do you mean, Harenn?" Lucia said. "Don't be cruel by keeping him-us-in suspense."

Harenn nodded. "Ben, Kendi said you don't know where the embryos come from, that your mother found them on a derelict ship. Do you know how old the embryos are?"

"Only vaguely," Ben said. "The cryo-unit was something over thirty years old when Mom found it, so that would mean the unit is close to sixty years old now, but that doesn't say anything about the embryos. They could be a lot newer."

"Or older." Harenn took a deep breath. "Ben, did you or your mother ever have a comparison done with the monastery's genetic database?"

"No. What would be the point?"

"Curiosity," Harenn said. "I ran such a check with the database carried on this ship. You should sit down, Ben. You too, Lucia."

Nervously, Ben took up a rolling stool. Lucia did as well, a mystified look on her face. Harenn leaned against the counter next to the cryo-unit.

"What's this all about, Harenn?" Ben asked. "What did you find?"

"I ran the check three times," she said. "Every test came back with the same irrefutable result. Those embryos-and you-are the direct issue of Daniel Vik and Irfan Qasad."

Lucia gasped and realization stole over Ben like a cold hand. "What are you saying, Harenn?" he whispered.

"I am saying, Ben, that Daniel Vik was your biological father and Irfan Qasad was your biological mother. In every sense of the word, you are a true child of Irfan."