Genesis Rising

by Eliza Green

  Taggart’s eyes widened. ‘What the fuck is he doing here?’

  ‘He says he has information on Harvey,’ said the leader.

  Marcus glared at Ben, wishing he didn’t have an audience right now. ‘Last I saw I had you tied up.’

  Ben strode up to him. Marcus laughed. Little man was being all brave, now he was surrounded by allies. Although, Marcus still wasn’t sure what side the Conditioned were on.

  Ben surprised Marcus by landing a fist to his gut. ‘That’s for killing my family by the way.’

  Marcus doubled over and coughed. Hard. ‘I didn’t kill them, you dipshit.’

  ‘You put them in the situation where they ended up dead. Same thing.’

  Okay, so he had done that.

  ‘Why are you even here?’ Taggart was staring at him. ‘What do you know about Harvey? Do you know he has men following us?’

  Marcus hadn’t stuck around long enough to hear that part of the plan. ‘Look, ever since I set foot on this world, I’ve been playing second fiddle to that creep. He’s on his own mission and I don’t feature in it. That’s why I’m here, to fight on the right side.’

  Taggart sneered. ‘You mean the side where you get to live?’

  Marcus had no problem with that. ‘Every scenario where I get to live is the right side.’

  The leader of the ITF snorted. ‘I suppose you have a point, even if it’s you making it.’

  He strode forward. Marcus shrank back. Taggart grabbed the front of Marcus’ jacket and twisted the fabric. He lifted him off the ground a little. ‘So tell me, what do you know about Harvey’s plans?’

  ‘Put me down; show me some respect.’

  Taggart laughed. ‘You don’t deserve respect. Would you prefer if I put you back in your airless box and we wait for you to run out of air?’

  Marcus flicked his gaze to the leader of the Conditioned. ‘He’s threatening me. Aren’t you going to do something about it?’

  The leader shook his head.

  Taggart was still glaring at him. The pressure on his neck intensified. If he didn’t give them something, they would surely send him back to prison—or worse, Harvey.

  ‘Fine. I heard Harvey ask about Jameson. He’s after his data.’

  Bill put him down and released him. ‘We figured that part out. So I guess you’re of no use to anyone—again.’

  Marcus fixed his jacket and rubbed the ache out of his neck. ‘I have more: times, schedules that predict his movements. But better still, the guards’ schedule at Base Station One. What would that be worth to you? They change shifts at certain times, but the men are lazy and don’t always watch the entrances and exits, if you know what I mean.’

  Taggart glared at him. ‘What do you know about Harvey’s alliance with the Indigenes?’

  ‘He’s using them, like he’s using me and the other men. I want Harvey gone and I’ll do anything to make it happen.’

  ‘And what do you want in exchange? I assume you’re not doing this out of the goodness of your heart.’

  There was only one thing Marcus wanted. ‘The right to a new life.’

  Taggart laughed. ‘But you don’t have any rights. You were a criminal on Earth and you came here illegally. Now, you’re a criminal here.’

  He knew his life story. Didn’t need this asshole telling him what he was and wasn’t.

  He gritted his teeth and smiled. ‘No, but you can change that. I’ve paid for my sins. I’ve been almost killed, locked up, forced to keep this brat under control.’

  He flicked his gaze to Ben.

  ‘Hey!’ said the teen.

  He flicked his gaze back to Taggart. ‘Now, I’m stuck here with no options left. I’m a desperate man who needs one last chance to prove what he can do.’

  The head of the ITF strode to the entrance and Marcus was sure he was going to leave. But then he turned and addressed the leader of the Conditioned. ‘Can you keep him in line?’

  The leader nodded. ‘We can.’

  Another chaperone? Marcus shivered hard. That was not part of the deal.

  When Taggart stared at him, he forced a smile. ‘What do you want me to do?’

  ‘Let’s start with the details of the guards’ movements at the base station.’

  29

  Laura touched the neurosensor on the side of her head.

  What Harvey was discussing with his selected team was only half the story—of that she was certain. To hear the real one, she needed to talk to his ghost.

  Harvey continued to discuss matters.

  The female in the group said, ‘If we know Jameson is with the Conditioned, can’t we just smoke them out?’

  Harvey tapped one finger on the side of his leg, as if he were considering it. ‘They’ll know we’re in the vicinity before we get within a mile of their place. Just think of them as having similar skills to Indigenes.’

  A male said, ‘We have plenty of those on our side.’

  ‘True,’ said Harvey, ‘but I’m not prepared to venture in there. I don’t know enough about what they can and can’t do.’

  ‘But the Elite are dead.’

  ‘They are, but the Conditioned are the ones with strength, speed, skill. Trust me.’

  Without even reading Harvey’s ghost, Laura could tell the octogenarian was beginning to tire of the questions. She worried he might leave soon before she had a chance to read him. But also of worry was Harvey’s mention of Bill in an earlier comment. She needed to warn him to stay away from the caves.

  She turned to a silent Clement beside her, one eye on the team in the next room, one eye on her.

  I really need to warn Bill, she said silently.

  Clement stared at her. Not until you do what you came here to do. We won’t get another chance.

  She blinked and refocused. Clement was right. Sorry.

  One of the men asked, ‘What do you need the doctor for anyway? You sick or something?’

  The thought that the former geneticist might be ill hadn’t occurred to Laura.

  But then Harvey shook his head. ‘Not me, but plenty are.’

  The man rattled off a laugh. ‘What, you and the doctor gonna change the world?’

  ‘Something like that.’

  In the midst of his selective truths, a black shadow had peeled itself away slightly from Harvey’s body.

  Laura glanced back at Clement, who egged her on with a nod. Read him.

  She looked back inside the room. The flicker from the candlelight made it easier to see. It appeared to be watching her, even though it had no eyes or face—only a silhouette.

  She said to the ghost, I only want to talk.

  The ghost pulled out farther. I can hear you.

  The dialogue gave her hope. She pressed further. Talk to me, please.

  Harvey continued his conversation with the team, but their words had reduced to murmurs. All she could sense now was the ghost, like there was an invisible buffer between her and the ghost on one side and Harvey on the other.

  The ghost snapped back into Harvey’s body suddenly, and Laura sighed. But then the flickering shadow peeled away from Harvey once more. None of the men noticed, except for one. He stared at the shadow that was moving on the wall, before blinking and shaking his head.

  You want to know what he’s thinking, said the ghost.

  Its low, ethereal voice was almost a whisper now.

  Laura breathed out. Yes.

  He wants change.

  Using my DNA?

  Yes.

  Her body shook with fear. She swallowed back a lump in her throat. This was what she’d feared.

  He wants to change people into something else?

  No.

  She exhaled quietly. At least it wasn’t exactly what she’d feared. But the ghost’s reply still didn’t answer why Harvey wanted Jameson. The doctor had only one thing to offer him.

  The research, Jameson’s work with the Elite. He n
eeds it?

  Yes.

  To change whom?

  The ghost shifted farther out. The world.

  I don’t understand. You just said he doesn’t want to change people.

  Yes.

  But then who?

  The world.

  Laura huffed out a breath. The ghost was stuck on some kind of repeat.

  She changed tack. Not people.

  Yes.

  The Indigenes?

  Yes.

  How?

  Make them better.

  Better, how?

  Make them like before.

  A noise sounded as a man burst in through an entrance leading to Harvey. He looked agitated. Laura flicked her gaze to the ghost, but the noise had chased it away. Clement mouthed birdsong at her—Hetty’s warning to them.

  ‘Boss, we saw someone loitering around the gates,’ said the man.

  Laura breathed out to Clement, ‘We’ve got to go.’

  Harvey straightened up and became alert. ‘Check the perimeter, go!’

  The man nodded and left.

  Laura checked one last time for his ghost, but it was gone. To wait for it to appear a second time would take longer than she had.

  She and Clement left the way they got in, through the window and over the back railing. There was no sign of Hetty.

  ‘If she has any sense, she didn’t wait for us,’ said Clement.

  Laura hoped so. ‘Back to the safe house. We’ll inquire about her whereabouts there.’

  She raced ahead with Clement following closely.

  They made it past the front gates before Harvey’s team had a chance to mobilise. Down a nearby street, Hetty appeared from the shadows, like Harvey’s ghost.

  ‘There you are,’ said Laura breathing out relief. ‘Come on, before they see us.’

  The streets were quiet, which made it easier to hear the commotion behind them.

  Hetty ran but she didn’t have the speed of either Laura or Clement.

  The voices were getting closer.

  ‘They’re searching the area. We need to move faster,’ whispered Laura.

  Clement scooped Hetty up into his arms and carried her faster than she could move on her own. She protested but they made it back to the house in half the time.

  Safe in the living room, Laura leaned against one wall and released a hard breath. The adrenaline coursing through her body made it hard to unclench everything. Hetty collapsed onto the sofa while Clement paced and remained on high alert.

  ‘What did Harvey’s ghost say?’ he asked.

  Laura looked at him. ‘I don’t know what it was trying to tell me. It said Harvey wants to change the world.’

  ‘How?’

  ‘I don’t know. I asked if it meant people. The ghost said no, but it did say Harvey wanted to change Indigenes back to what they were before.’

  ‘What, into humans?’ asked Hetty.

  Laura widened her eyes. That hadn’t occurred to her, but it was the only thing that made sense, given the ghost’s cryptic clues.

  ‘He wants to undo the genetic changes in everyone? Indigenes? Conditioned?’ asked Clement.

  ‘I don’t know. Maybe.’

  ‘What if Jameson’s in on this?’ asked Hetty.

  Fear tightened her chest. She looked at Hetty, then Clement. ‘We have to warn Bill and the others. They need to stay away from Jameson. It could be a trap.’

  30

  Stephen ran as hard as he could, which, given his reduced abilities, wasn’t nearly as fast as Serena. While he blamed the virus, he couldn’t help wondering if he was also the problem. He’d doubted so much for so long. The virus had stolen something from him.

  But maybe it hadn’t. Elise had told him once that severe stress brought about evolution. Anton had been trapped on Earth and Stephen had been going through a change at the time.

  Anton, Arianna and Margaux kept up with his slower pace while Serena became a blur in the distance. The rising sun warmed the hard edges of the night. And for that he was grateful. The weak sunlight gave him the confidence to run faster without the risk of tripping over anything.

  But he slowed down when Serena returned as fast as she had left.

  She stopped, out of breath. ‘There’s a group loitering at the entrance to District Three.’

  Fear made his hands shake. ‘Near our new way inside?’

  ‘No.’ She glanced back. ‘At the main entrance.’

  ‘Humans or Indigenes?’

  ‘Indigenes. I can’t tell if they’re friendly or not.’

  ‘Could be some of your charges,’ suggested Anton. ‘They could have left through the new exit.’

  ‘Could be.’ But he didn’t want to take the chance. ‘Someone could have seen us inside the city. Harvey might have sent out renegades to stop us from getting back inside.’

  Margaux glanced up at the sun, casting its warm orange glow across the blue and grey landscape. ‘But we’ll bake out here.’

  Serena patted the former elder on the arm. ‘It won’t come to that.’ To Stephen, she said, ‘I can try to influence them.’

  ‘Your skill worked with a few humans, but it’s harder where Indigenes are concerned.’ He walked towards the main entry point. ‘I’ll talk to them first, see what they want.’

  ‘Or we could just sneak to the hole,’ suggested Arianna. ‘If they’re not from our district, they won’t know it exists.’

  ‘Or they’re waiting to see how we got out.’ He picked up the pace. ‘No, I should speak with them.’

  It didn’t take long before he came upon a group of eight Indigenes waiting near the electrified, metal balls. Some he recognised, some he didn’t. He expected some might have come from Emile’s district. He considered the idea that Emile could have orchestrated this move. He’d been there when Clement made the hole. He could have told them exactly where to look.

  But they weren’t at the hole.

  ‘What are you doing here?’ he demanded, keeping a few feet between him and the strangers.

  Heads whipped round in surprise, as if they hadn’t detected him. More victims of the virus. Others seemed less surprised.

  ‘We’re here to stop you from getting back inside your district,’ said a tall male that Stephen didn’t recognise.

  ‘Who sent you?’

  One snarled, ‘Who do you think?’

  He wished he knew. These days it seemed that Stephen had many enemies.

  He stepped closer to them. ‘You need to leave this area, now.’

  ‘Or what?’

  ‘Or we’ll make you.’

  A whoosh of air chilled his skin as Serena came to his side.

  ‘Two of you?’ one of the Indigenes said, laughing.

  ‘There are more of us and I know some of you can sense them.’

  The strangers faced him and Serena.

  The male said, ‘Give up this fight, Stephen. A new world is coming and you need to be ready for it.’

  ‘It is, but it won’t be the one you envision.’

  Anton and Arianna arrived next. Margaux was last. He caught her squinting at the group.

  The male laughed. ‘An elder? You expect to fight with her?’

  He hadn’t but it was the best he could manage.

  ‘Leave here,’ he repeated.

  ‘Or what?’ said the male.

  ‘Or somebody gets hurt.’

  Stephen pitched one foot in front of the other and tightened his hands into fists. The Indigenes laughed at his attempt to bring order.

  ‘They can’t be reasoned with,’ whispered Serena.

  ‘Listen to your mate,’ the male said. ‘This world does not work with the rules that are in place. This hierarchy no longer serves a purpose. Elders have no further place in our society.’

  Stephen growled. ‘And what would you replace it with instead?’

  ‘Let everyone live as they wish. No rules imposed upon us b
y the humans.’

  A libertarian society? He couldn’t see how that would work. ‘If you allow Harvey and his men to get their way, what makes you think their rules will be better?’

  The male smirked. ‘We are pretending to go along with their plans. The humans are simply a means to an end.’

  ‘Dangerous talk.’

  ‘True talk.’

  But what about the humans who have fought for you? Bill Taggart, Laura O’Halloran?’

  ‘They are fooling themselves. Clinging to the past. Their ways allowed the Elite to become something they shouldn’t have. Their rules gave Elite One the power to enter our domain. To almost kill us. We are better off without them. Without you.’

  Stephen caught the glance Margaux gave Serena. The elder nodded almost imperceptibly at her.

  The visiting Indigenes clutched their heads suddenly, just as Margaux intensified her focus on them.

  ‘Get out of my head!’ said one.

  Margaux muttered back, as if under a trance. ‘They plan to take over the district, as soon as they find out how you get in. They’ve tried to move the metal balls but the electricity is too powerful.’

  One of the Indigenes shifted out of line. He turned his back to the group and got on his knees. Another Indigene followed, then two more.

  ‘Hurry,’ said Serena, her gaze fixed on the group. She was sweating and straining against the power her influence clearly needed to work.

  Stephen nodded to Anton and Arianna but they were already on the move. Together they restrained the four on their knees. As soon as they did, Serena appeared to shift her attention to the remaining four, who were clutching their heads, already confused by Margaux’s mind invasion. He still didn’t know how Margaux had escaped the after-effects of the virus, why her senses worked as well as they had before. Maybe it had to do with her telepathy existing on a plane different to the rest of theirs.

  Whatever the reason, none of it mattered. It was working.

  ‘I can’t keep this up for long,’ muttered Serena.

  ‘I can keep this up for as long as I want,’ said a smiling Margaux.

  ‘We need more help,’ said Stephen. ‘Anton, can you get help from the district?’ He glanced up at the rising sun. ‘The sooner the better.’