Rook

wary of us, and I wanted them to see that it was in their best interests to join with us.”
    “By making a threat?” asked Myfanwy.
    “By demonstrating a position of mutual advantage,” said the Belgian diplomatically. “Or perhaps, showing you the stick and the carrot. If we reveal ourselves, and the Checquy decides it cannot countenance our continued existence… well, we have no intention of dying.”
    “Ah.” Myfanwy nodded.
    “Recently it became clear that my cousin had become disillusioned with my ideas. He thought our preparations should be used to cripple, rather than…” He trailed off, and shook his head wryly.
    “Yes?”
    “Rather than to graft.”
    Myfanwy gave a wan smile.
    “He was basing more and more of his choices on personal enmities. A few months ago I learned that the subjects at Camp Caius were selected because their ancestors had been Checquy soldiers at the Isle of Wight. It was petty, and made the operation far more vulnerable than it needed to be. I had a hunch such small revenge was just the tip of the iceberg. And so,” continued the Belgian, “I made arrangements to keep my cousin busy for several weeks and had myself transported to see you in order to broker some sort of treaty.”
    “And you picked the old ‘ship a heart to the other party and then grow yourself a new body’ trick, eh?” asked Myfanwy.
    “Uh, yes,” said the Grafter.
    “This was the only way you could figure out to get in contact with me?” said Myfanwy. “It never occurred to you to pull the old ‘pick up the phone’ trick? Or, and here’s just a completely random idea, couldn’t you have abducted me from a nightclub?”
    “Do you think you would have been inclined to accept any proposals I put to you under those circumstances?” asked von Suchtlen mildly.
    No,
admitted Myfanwy to herself, remembering the rage she’d felt in the skinless Belgian’s car.
    “And besides, the heart was the only way for me to leave the facilities undetected. My cousin was becoming paranoid—justifiably, I’ll admit, since I
did
arrange for his assistant to be interrogated. Phone lines were tapped, and I couldn’t risk having
my
assistant interrogated, so I couldn’t place any calls through him. In fact, the entrances and exits to my laboratories were being watched. I found, much to my dismay, that I was almost a prisoner. I could not go anywhere without my cousin’s being aware of it.” The Belgian sighed, and his face darkened as he contemplated the situation. “I left the heart box in the mail-out tray. It was sent to a mail-forwarding service, which forwarded it to a courier, who delivered it to you.”
    “I’m sorry, but how did
you
send a box containing your own heart?” asked Myfanwy. She was getting one of those M. C. Escher–style headaches.
    “You want to know how it works?” asked the Belgian, brightening visibly. “It is quite fascinating, really. Very new technology. Experimental.” He took a breath, and Myfanwy cut him off, desperate to forestall a further lecture.
    “I’m sure it’s amazing, but I don’t need the technical details right now.”
    “Of course,” said the Belgian, and she thought he looked a little embarrassed. “I am sorry, the… is it nerds? The nerds can be a little contagious. In any case, you take a sample to grow the heart, and the body that grows from that heart will have all the memories you had at the time.”
    “So there could be two of you wandering around?” said Myfanwy, her head spinning.
    “No, the sampling is thorough, stripping various vital components. The original body begins to break down an hour after the sample. It sticks around just long enough to pack the sample in the box and then undress and go into the shower. Then the remains liquefy. The sample will have grown into a heart by the time it is delivered, and then will pause for a while before regenerating into anentire person in a couple of weeks. It can even be dissected and will still regrow itself.” He looked at her proudly and she nodded. It sounded gross, but she thought she understood.
    “The person it grows into can select a couple of abilities to be reborn with,” he continued expansively. “Nothing like the capabilities we can provide via surgery, of course. And there are some risks involved.”
    “Oh?” said Myfanwy.
    “Some of the early subjects were known to abruptly melt into a sort of slurry. But we had mostly ironed that kink out, and it was a risk I was