by Eliza Green
Sheila whispered, ‘We can’t trust anyone.’
‘Not even Alex?’
‘Especially not him or Jerome. We have no idea what was done to them in the city.’
Anya wanted to say she felt odd around Alex, that she thought his reaction to Frahlia was over the top.
Sheila glared at her. ‘What is it?’
‘I don’t know... don’t you think Alex is being too full on with Frahlia?’
Sheila folded her arms and raised a perfect brow. ‘Remember the eighth floor and the babies?’
Like it was yesterday.
Anya hadn’t known what to do or understood the others’ reaction to them. ‘Okay, I get your point. Are you saying I’m worrying over nothing?’
‘No, not nothing. But this place has me more worried than Alex’s obsession with Frahlia. When you went for your examination, what did they tell you about it?’
‘Other than what Agatha had told me and Dom in the office, nothing.’
Sheila uncrossed her arms. ‘Dom’s not trusting his gut. If Max were here, the pressure would be off and Dom would be all over this. But as leader, he’s worried about messing it up for everyone else.’
Anya felt that way, too. ‘So, what do we do about it?’
‘We make him see sense. This place is sending out serious vibes of déjà vu and we need to understand why.’ Sheila shivered and looked back at the room they were in. ‘This one reminds me of the boy’s dorm room on the fourth floor.’
So she wasn’t imagining it.
‘Yes!’ Sheila shushed her and Anya lowered her voice. ‘What do we do?’
‘Agatha says the door will open tomorrow. We wait for that to happen, get the others across, and see what to do then. We should try to bring the wolf over, you know, for protection.’
Having Rover here would shift the balance in their favour.
‘What happened at your medical?’
Sheila shrugged. ‘Nothing much. They took my temperature, blood pressure, heart rate. Then they scanned me and found nothing. You?’
‘Same. They found Dom’s tech.’
Sheila checked the corridor. ‘We need to keep an eye on him.’ She looked back. ‘Make sure he doesn’t become their newest experiment.’
Anya nodded.
Sheila checked the corridor a second time. ‘We should get back. You coming?’
‘In a minute. I want to check one thing out first.’
Sheila slipped out the door as quietly as she had entered it.
Anya crept back to the control room. Maybe it would give her some insight into how this place operated. She froze at the door when she saw the screens had been activated and Alex was hitting something on the console.
‘What are you doing?’ she whispered.
Alex startled. He yanked his hands back as if something had electrocuted them.
‘I... was seeing if there was a way to release the door.’
She checked behind her and stepped inside the room. The screen showed security details. It looked like Alex was searching for the security access.
‘And is there?’
‘Nothing I can see.’ His eyes shifted. ‘Go back to bed. I won’t be long.’
She took a step closer. ‘Maybe I can help.’
Alex stepped in front of the console, blocking the screen.
‘Why aren’t there any guards in here?’ she asked.
‘The system is a sentient one. It runs on its own schedule after hours.’
‘Did you find anything?’
He shook his head and shifted to the left. She caught a glimpse of something on screen. Override command codes.
She hadn’t spoken to Alex properly since the Collective had taken him prisoner. Frahlia’s birth had pushed that conversation further away.
‘I need to talk to you,’ she said.
‘Can’t it wait?’
‘No.’
Alex hit something on the console and the screens went black.
She walked out of the control room and led him back down the corridor to the start of the more basic designed area.
‘We haven’t spoken since... you know.’
‘Yeah.’
‘What happened when Julius took you and Jerome to the city?’
Alex shrugged. ‘They separated us. Then you found us.’
Anya frowned. ‘Nothing else?’
‘Like what?’
She didn’t know. ‘Did they try to experiment on you? Did anyone talk to you?’ She gripped his sleeve. ‘You and I spent a week together and they barely left us alone.’
Alex eased his sleeve away. ‘It wasn’t like the last time. I guess my Breeder status meant something only when there were females to pair up with me.’
Anya shivered, thinking how clinical it all sounded. ‘I guess.’ She paused, bit her lip. ‘Are you and June doing okay?’
He shrugged again. ‘Sure. We’re fine.’
‘And Frahlia?’
His eyes lit up and he beamed. ‘She’s perfect. I couldn’t believe it when I saw her. I never knew how perfect children could be until she came along. She’s something, isn’t she?’
The child with the strange eyes, less than a day old, was certainly something.
‘She is perfect.’ It was the only way Anya could think to describe her. ‘But her eyes, they’re a little bright, don’t you think?’
His smile dropped away. ‘Do they give her away?’
She understood his worry. If Agatha discovered what Frahlia was, she could be experimented upon for the rest of her life.
She smiled. ‘No, they’re fine.’
The way Alex looked at her, the way he switched from a quiet energy to a nervous one, bothered her.
She rubbed her arms. ‘I’m gonna head back to the dorm. See you back there?’
Alex nodded. ‘I’m going to take a look around.’
Anya watched him go. A hand on her arm startled her. She spun around to see it was June.
‘What are you doing here, Anya?’
‘I... was talking to Alex about his time in the city.’
‘Sounds like you were interrogating him. And asking about Frahlia. Do you have a problem with her?’
Her mouth flapped open. ‘No... I... we were just talking.’
June’s eyes had hardened. ‘I will do anything to protect her, so don’t get in our way.’
‘I wouldn’t...’
‘And leave Alex alone. You had your time together in the medical facility. He doesn’t want you; he wants me.’
‘I’m not interested in Alex.’
It was true.
‘Stay away from him. Leave him alone.’
‘Fine. I’m gone.’
Anya turned and walked back to the dorm.
24
Carissa
Carissa marched on ahead of the others, out of the school and towards the Learning Centre.
She heard a set of steps behind her hurrying to catch up.
The Inventor reached her and put a hand on her shoulder. ‘Where are you going, miss?’
‘Back to the Learning Centre.’
She resumed her walk but the Inventor stopped her again. ‘To do what?’
Carissa caught the looks on the others’ faces. Both Vanessa and Charlie were concerned, but Thomas was curious. She’d forgotten the Originals needed more detail to make decisions. They could not hear her thoughts or gauge her response in the blink of an eye.
‘There’s a download-upload room in the Learning Centre.’ She looked from one to the next. ‘I used to provide my daily uploads there. The console says there’s someone in that room who might be able to help us.’
The Inventor’s eyes widened in fear. ‘More Copies?’
She shook her head. ‘Not like the ones in the Great Hall.’
She didn’t explain further.
The old man released her arm and she hurried on, keen to see if the Copy she needed to find was actually there.
Rover was sitting in the middle o
f the courtyard amid the broken bricks, his tongue lolling out the side of his mouth. His mate was lying beside him, head nestled in her paws. Rover stood when Carissa approached; the second wolf lifted her head with apathy. Carissa rewarded Rover with a pat on the nose as she passed.
The entrance was still unlocked. She hurried inside and down the corridor leading to the Great Hall, stopping outside the door just before it.
The Inventor caught up with her a second time. ‘Are you sure, Carissa?’
She stilled at the Inventor’s formal use of her name. Not miss, but Carissa.
She nodded. ‘I’m sure.’
Truth was she had no idea what she would find. Her connection to the Collective, meaning her connection to other Copies, no longer existed. Anything she did now came from a gut feeling.
She tried the handle but the door was still locked. Thomas got out his lock-picking set and worked his magic on it. Carissa pushed the handle down again. The door clicked open to reveal a dozen upright pods lining both sides of the room. The familiar connectors hung down from the ceiling over each pod. Carissa shivered at the sight of the room, a place she had been expected to upload her experiences to the Collective. Her NMC had been disabled, but Quintus could still contact her. Could she still use one of these?
She shook the thought from her mind. A collective gasp from the others pushed her on. Of the two dozen pods, only half were connected. She walked along the right-hand row, checking the occupants there. She stopped at one, the Copy she’d wanted to find, the same one who’d helped Anya to escape.
The medic’s eyes were closed. But her lids betrayed no rapid movement to indicate an upload was in progress.
The Inventor came to her side. ‘Do you think the units were shut down mid-upload?’
‘It’s possible.’ She looked up at him and pointed to the connectors. ‘I can’t reach. Please disconnect this Copy from the pod’s connector.’
The old man reached up and pulled the connector away from the Copy’s NMC disc. Her eyes remained closed.
Carissa waited for the medic to reboot. Within a minute, the Copy’s eyes fluttered open.
She flashed a nervous look at the Inventor, her spine straightening. ‘What are you doing here?’
118-C stepped out of her pod and a fearful Inventor stepped back.
Carissa placed her hand on the Copy’s chest, breaking her fixation on him. ‘I asked him to disconnect you.’
118-C blinked and refocused on Carissa. Her eyes narrowed.
‘173-C,’ she said. Carissa nodded. ‘Why can’t I sense you?’
‘I’m no longer connected to the network. Do you remember the last time you saw me?’
The medic blinked, her pupils sharpening to fine points.
They dilated and she gasped. ‘The escape! Did you make it?’
Carissa nodded. ‘Thanks to you. What happened after we left?’
118-C frowned at the floor. ‘I was captured and taken here.’ She looked at Carissa. ‘Then you woke me up.’
‘I don’t have time to explain, but the Collective has abandoned the city.’
The medic frowned. ‘Abandoned, why?’ She closed her eyes, and Carissa knew she was attempting to assess the situation. 118-C opened her eyes with a sigh. ‘I can’t sense anyone. Can the Collective leave?’
‘I don’t know, but I need to know where they went. Also, do the names Alex and Jerome mean anything to you?’
The medic frowned deeper and shook her head. ‘I don’t know anyone by those names.’
‘Hidden data says you were the last to speak with them.’
118-C paced a small area. The others kept well back.
‘They must have deleted my memories of that interaction.’ She stopped pacing, looking unsure. ‘How can I help?’
Carissa cut her eyes to the Inventor.
The old man stepped forward. ‘Do you know who I am?’
118-C nodded nervously. ‘The Inventor. You disable Copies. I thought you were here to disable me.’
The old man shuddered. ‘Correct. But no, I’m not here to disable you. I have a diagnostic machine that will help to read the data from your memories. With your permission, I’d like to use it to read your mind.’
118-C eyed him, then the others.
Last, she cut her eyes to Carissa. ‘Is he a friend?’
‘Yes, and also of Anya and Dom.’
‘They’re alive?’
‘And well.’
A look of relief crossed 118-C’s face. ‘I’m glad I helped them.’ She straightened up, her expression growing stern. ‘We must try.’
Ω
They regrouped in the Inventor’s workshop. Carissa stood back while 118-C sat in a chair. The Inventor had attached magnetic discs from the machine to her NMC and communication discs. The old man turned the machine on; it whirred low. Both he and Thomas checked the screen.
The Inventor called Carissa over. ‘Miss, tell me what you’re seeing.’
He stepped back as she stepped closer. A stream of green code was displayed on the black screen. Carissa recognised the jumbled-up words as an encryption. She memorised the out-of-order words and closed her eyes to reorder them.
New words came into focus. She opened her eyes and committed more jumbled-up text to memory. A pattern unfolded in the data that would be impossible for either the Inventor or Thomas—or any human—to decipher. Alex and Jerome’s names popped up several times in the medic’s memory. Except their names had been replaced with a Praesidium designation that only the Copies would recognise.
118-C turned sharply in her chair. ‘What do you see?’
She knocked the connection loose and the data vanished.
The Inventor turned her back and reconnected the discs. ‘I need you to sit still.’
118-C did as she was told. The data displayed on screen again. Carissa found mention of the battle and Alex and Jerome’s capture. She continued her search for new mentions of the pair—designation or otherwise. But when Quintus’ name popped up, she switched her focus to all mention of him.
A hidden message between the Collective members was buried deep in the encryption.
She frowned at 118-C. ‘Were you called to the Great Hall in the last couple of days?’
The only way 118-C would have had access to the Collective’s thoughts and conversations was if she’d been touching the podium.
118-C blinked. ‘I don’t remember.’
Carissa looked at the data once more. Before her was a transcript of what the Collective had discussed while she’d been connected.
They were arguing over 118-C’s proposed punishment for helping the prisoners to escape. Then the conversation veered to a new topic.
A sentence stopped her cold.
We may have found a way to replicate Julius’ success.
It was from Septimus to Quintus. She read on.
Yes, the newborn proved to be not only useful, but controllable.
And the new prisoners?
One is a newborn, lost from the city. The other, one of our Breeders.
How soon before we can fit the behaviour modifier? asked Unos.
Quintus replied, Soon.
The Originals will be coming for them. We must leave.
Our success with Julius will give us a way out...
Carissa stepped back, feeling sick.
She swayed. The Inventor’s hand on her arm steadied her.
‘What is it, miss?’
118-C was staring at her, too. ‘What did you find?’
Carissa swallowed and focused on the Inventor. ‘The Collective mentioned a behaviour modifier it used on Julius and plans to replicate that success elsewhere.’
The Inventor’s eyes widened. ‘You’re saying someone else may be under the Collective’s control? Jerome or Alex?’
With no mention of surgery in 118-C’s memory banks, she wasn’t sure he’d had time to do anything. ‘Ever since the others escaped through the door, I haven’t heard from Quintus.’
/>
‘Silence doesn’t mean anything bad,’ said the Inventor. ‘It’s possible he failed and went into hiding.’
But 118-C’s stare unsettled her. ‘The Collective cannot survive outside of the system.’
‘If the Ten aren’t here, where did they go?’ asked Charlie.
Carissa wished she knew.
Vanessa said what Carissa was thinking. ‘They must have found another way.’
25
Anya
Anya woke to the sound of gentle snoring beside her. Sheila’s long mane of hair covered her face. She grunted, then swiped at something imaginary in her sleep. Anya suppressed a giggle and turned to Dom. He was awake, sitting up, fully dressed.
Ready for action.
Anya had slept in her clothes last night, despite Agatha leaving her a pair of pyjamas on the end of her bed. From a look around the room and its twenty-four beds, some had opted for the new clothing. Many had not.
She sat up and rubbed her eyes. But when she saw the worry on Dom’s face, her spine stiffened. ‘What’s the matter?’
Dom’s eyes flickered to her, then away. ‘Nothing. I couldn’t sleep.’
Neither could she at the start, but exhausted with grief at losing Jason and full from her meal last night, she’d eventually conked out. Things weren’t right here, but at least she’d slept a little after her confrontation with June. In the cold light of the dorm room, she knew what had to be done.
She pulled on a hoodie, also from Agatha’s stash, with the words New San Francisco emblazoned across it. Similar to the poster in Agatha’s office.
The name sounded familiar, but not enough to evoke any specific memory of it.
Anya stood. It prompted Dom to do the same.
‘We need to get that door open,’ she said.
‘Just what I was thinking.’
Dom strode out of the room; Anya chased after him. The others slept on.
He followed the corridor back to open-plan area that Agatha’s elevated office overlooked. He crossed the space with trucks to the corridor that led back to the door and the Region.
Nearing the place where the Collective ruled slowed Anya’s walk. It wasn’t like she was going back, but it still made her skin prickle with fear. She imagined the others trapped with a small army of Copies. The thought spurred her on and she overtook Dom.