Beyond: Book Four of the State Series

by M. J. Kaestli

  “Awwww. You want a failsafe in case Hope gets recoupled?”

  Lottie smiled. “No, I feel I have taken enough precautions simply from her new assignment. She will not get coupled again. I need you to veto her child from reproducing.”

  “Did you buy into my alien theory? Are you afraid this child will come out green?”

  “No. But I am certain this child will contain a genetic code which could be our undoing. There could be a resurgence of illness or impairments, or even physical traits; DNA for the genetics the State has worked so hard to remove.”

  “Oh, I see. If the kid ends up getting diabetes or asthma, or maybe simply a low IQ, people will pay too much attention to that child.”

  “Exactly. Or if that child has children with a defect, they will investigate it.”

  “But what happens if this child has some physical trait which is racially influenced, something we haven’t seen for generations?”

  Lottie nodded. “That is what I fear the most. If the child looks too unique from the rest of us. That is why I need you there in close proximity. I need you to watch both of them and more importantly, the people around them to see if they have any suspicions. You will still have top clearance in your position and able to access medical records. See if the doctors make note of anything peculiar. See if the child’s teachers make note of anything out of the ordinary.”

  “And what do I do if they notice?”

  “You speak to me on our private line. We come up with a plan. It will depend entirely on how many people are suspicious, and who it is. If it is one person causing a fuss, you kill them. If it is multiple people, you may need to kill the child.”

  Cameron stood up from the table and held his hand out to Lottie. She shook it firmly.

  “When do I leave?”

  “As soon as I choose the appropriate candidate to raise her child. When I select that candidate, I will have an apartment ready for her. I don’t know how long that will take. It could be a week, or I could have everything ready tomorrow.”

  “And what do we do with Hope until we leave?”

  “We keep her exactly where she is. She is safe and fed. I don’t care if she is a prisoner, as long as she is segregated from the rest of the mountain.”

  Chapter 25

  Hope stared out the window of the truck. There were so many things she should have been thinking about but her mind kept focusing on a singular trivial question: if I were on the radio at Reuben’s place, could I listen in on a conversation in the earpieces of these suits? Or was this transmitted through satellites like everything else?

  After her last interrogation with Cameron, she thought she had lost. They had left her locked in her room with no further communication. A meal was delivered three times a day along with fresh uniforms, and she was accompanied to a room to exercise once a day while someone cleaned her room. She was following this routine for what she guessed was three weeks before Cameron suddenly showed up unannounced at her room and woke her up. They had not given her time to shower. She was simply instructed to change into free time clothing and then brought into the room where they put on hazmat suits. She wasn’t entirely sure if she was being moved into a new home or if she was being executed.

  Standard protocol was followed. There were two soldiers in the truck’s front with two in the back, just as it had been when she was brought to the mountain. Right before she put her helmet on, Cameron informed her that the same rules applied. Once the helmet had been secured, communication was strictly for emergency purposes only. She knew as soon as the truck turned away from the direction they usually traveled to the test site; she was headed back to the dome.

  She wanted just one moment to speak to Joshua, her husband. She so desperately wanted to explain how she could have done something so callous and so cruel. She wanted to explain how leaving him wasn’t because of anything he had said or done; it was simply to ensure the survival of their child. She knew her baby would be born safe, but the closer she got to the dome, the more panic-stricken she became.

  When she had fled from their home to come back to the mountain, not a single rational thought was going through her head. Now, she was sitting in silence on a long drive away from the mountain, the reality of what she had done set in. There was no chance she could ever see or speak to him again.

  A safe delivery was all she wanted from the State. She wanted to be free of Miriam and the calling which she felt did not suit her, but she most certainly did not want to be free of Joshua. Stinging tears filled her eyes as she realized her miscalculation. She had to truly give him up now. The hot tears flowed down her cheeks at the thought of him. The moisture was uncomfortable underneath her helmet; it infuriated her she had to wear it. The discomfort it caused wasn’t necessary.

  She made a silent vow to herself then: once her child was no longer in her care, she would do everything within her power to end the State’s rule. She lost Weston in an unnecessary experiment. There was no good reason to colonize and Weston was still dead. There was no good reason for her to be wearing this helmet, for the people to live in the mountain or under the dome, to have food rations or restrict how many people could reproduce or how many children they could have. This Empire was corrupt and evil, and she wanted to make it burn.

  It would not bring back Weston. It would not give her back Joshua. It would not grant her a safe or predictable life. There was no personal benefit to her whatsoever. I need to damage the State. Maybe I can destroy it from within without Clint’s army.

  She tried to form plans in her mind as the truck drove on, but she still didn’t know if she was headed towards her own death. There wasn’t much conspiring she could do, so she committed to finding a way to damage the State.

  The truck came to a halt. She hadn’t noticed their close proximity as she had been so lost in her thoughts. The four of them climbed out of the truck and brought her into decontamination, moving her into the underground afterward. Once she was free of the additional guards, Cameron led her into a room and closed the door. He invited her to take a seat at the table.

  “I have some information to go over with you, Hope. I’m sure you can understand our need for secrecy in your situation. It should come as no great surprise that we have some explicit confidentiality forms for you.”

  Hope nodded “Yes. I expected as much.”

  He activated a tablet and scrolled through some information. “Hope, we have decided you may keep your name.”

  She blinked in surprise. “Should I thank you?”

  Cameron laughed. “You can if you want to, I guess. We don’t feel it is necessary to change your name. All of your colleagues from the mountain were moved to the breeding centers and you will never run into them. Anyone you went to school with might remember you, but it is doubtful as you weren’t educated with other children for long.”

  “Alright. I am still Hope. Who is Hope?”

  “I’m so happy you asked. Hope is a scientist—”

  “Oh, really? That will be easy for me to remember.”

  “Very funny. We can’t have you be anything but a scientist because you are too smart to be believable as anything else. So, Hope is a scientist who works in research and development of electronic devices.”

  “Research and development? Funny, I don’t think the tablets have changed much since I was born. I didn’t know such a civil duty existed.”

  “It doesn’t.” He smiled. “The State has deemed our computer technology as advanced as it needs to be. We don’t need new computers, but the general population doesn’t know that, which makes it the perfect civil duty for you.”

  Hope shrugged. “Do I get a real civil duty? There are no scientists under the dome, are there?”

  “Usually there aren’t. But lucky for you, or perhaps I should say lucky for the State, a new project has opened. You will lead a team of engineers whose sole purpose is to create a failsafe in case there is ever an attack on the dome.”

  Hope’s jaw clenche
d involuntarily. The last thing she wanted to do was to make the dome indestructible.

  “Will my team also be working on the advancement of computers?” She asked in an attempt to hide her reaction.

  “They most certainly will. You were coupled with a man, you may call him Weston or feel free to make up a new name; again, it is unlikely anyone will remember him either. Your former partner worked with you and was killed in a tragic accident at his civil duty, leaving you pregnant and alone. We have made arrangements to have your child cared for by another woman who is raising a child of her own.”

  She flinched. “You are taking my baby from me?” She couldn’t hide the acid and repulsion displayed in her voice.

  Cameron held up his hands defensively. “Your child will live with you. Nobody will take that baby from you until they turn 12 and go to school, just like everyone else. What I am referring to is who will care for them during the daytime while you are at your civil duty, and who is responsible for their home education until they turn 12. When couples are permitted one child, the mother educates and stays at home, excused from their civil duty while the fathers are still expected to work. You will be more like the child’s father than mother in this way. You will still live in the same apartment and spend all of your free time with that child until they leave for their formal education.”

  Hope didn’t know how to feel about this information. She had spent her younger life terrified of ending up a breeder. She had escaped her fate, the fate of her peers, because of Weston’s death. Now they had a project for her to work on while she also had a child to love. It sounded like the perfect life for her. It was the life she had always dreamed of having. The only thing that had changed was her.

  After doing what she had done to ensure this child’s safety, she wanted nothing more than to stay at home and spends 24 hours a day, seven days a week with her child. As this was surely the only child she would have, she wanted it even more. This was Joshua’s legacy. She also had a project to complete which she was morally opposed to. She wanted to help the war efforts. She wanted to encourage the people around her to stand up against the State. Now that she was back underneath the dome, she could never be more than one of their pawns.

  “Do you have any questions?”

  Hope looked up at Cameron. “I take it, I am not to be re-coupled, and I will not be having more children.”

  Cameron shook his head. “The rules are the same. If you and your team had not finished your project, you would still work on it instead of having children. That is why the people in the breeding centers are there. Some scientists spend their entire lives working on their projects and cannot pass on their genes. You have a project which will take, I’m certain, a considerable amount of time. If you wrap up and are young enough to still reproduce, I’m sure that is a conversation which you will have with the State.”

  Hope shook her head. “I know I am a genius, but I do not feel optimistic this project will be complete in time for me to have another child.”

  “I don’t think so either." Cameron stood. “It’s time to go to your new home.”

  Hope didn’t speak another word. She followed Cameron as expected, but, in her mind, she seethed and plotted. If they were not expecting her project to be wrapped up quickly, she would ensure it took as long as it possibly could. She doubted she could stall long enough for Clint to assemble and move his army, but it was worth a try.

  Cameron brought her up a flight of stairs into another clinic.

  “Hope, this is where I leave you. I will come to check up on you periodically. Good luck to you.”

  He held out his hand, and she shook it. She had no response. She held no attachment for this man and couldn’t wait to be free of him once again.

  She turned to exit the clinic and once in the underground walkway she activated the call button for Security.

  “Hi, I’m Hope 986. I don’t know where I am being moved to.”

  Security responded almost instantly and lit a path of red lights for her to follow. Soon she was rising in an elevator to her new home. As she walked down the hallway, an apartment door opened and a woman stuck her head out, looking up and down the hall.

  “Are you Hope?”

  “Yes.”

  The woman’s face broke into a wide toothy grin. “Hi! I’m Cora. I just got an email saying you were on your way here. I wanted to come and meet you right away. I am the woman who will educate your child once they are born.” She walked down the hall and extended her hand to shake Hope’s.

  Hope tried her best to smile. “Hello, nice to meet you.”

  A little girl popped her head out of the door frame, looked both ways and then came running towards her mother, crashing into her mother’s legs and then hugging them.

  “Ursa!” She snapped. “Where are your manners?” Cora looked up at her again. “Hope, this is my daughter, Ursa.”

  She looked down at the little girl and smiled warmly at her. “It’s nice to meet you, Ursa.”

  Ursa played shy, hiding her face behind her mother’s legs.

  Cora tugged on Ursa’s arm, moving her towards Hope. “Ursa, Hope has a baby growing inside of her tummy. When that baby is born, it will be kind of like a little brother or sister for you.”

  Ursa looked up at Hope’s tummy for a moment and then tucked her face back into her mother’s legs.

  An uneasy feeling came over her. This woman seemed too abrasive with her own daughter. How would she treat a child who wasn’t her own? She swallowed hard. “Thank you for coming to speak to me. I do however, need to excuse myself. I am exhausted and need to settle into my new home.”

  She nodded. “Of course. I just want you to know, if you need anything at all, I’m just next-door. I can’t imagine losing a partner while being pregnant. Please reach out, even if you need some company.”

  Cora smiled at her warmly, nearly turning Hope’s stomach. My child is safe, and I will live. That is all that matters. Hope took a deep breath and did her best to smile. “Thank you. I will.”

  Chapter 26

  6 Months Later

  Lottie

  Cameron typed the code into his tablet to give him a secure line. It didn’t ring for long before Lottie picked up. He had messaged her when he found out Hope had gone into labor. She had clearly been waiting for his call.

  “It’s a girl!”

  “I don’t care about the gender.” Lottie rolled her eyes. “Do we have a problem?”

  Cameron breathed out a heavy sigh and looked back down at his tablet, scrolling through the doctors report.

  “I can’t be certain. I mean, the kids got 10 fingers and 10 toes. It’s a human baby—”

  “Will the genetics of the child come into question?”

  “It’s tough to say.” He put down the tablet. “The doctor is amazed and marveling about some recessive genes which haven’t been seen in generations appearing in this baby. The fact he has already noticed is concerning.”

  “What recessive genes, exactly?” Lottie leaned forward in her seat.

  “She has blue eyes.”

  “Anything else?”

  “It’s too early to be certain, but her skin and hair may be a little more fair than average.”

  “Is the doctor suspicious?”

  Cameron gave a half laugh. “Why would he be? There is only one person inside the dome who knows about Hope’s little adventure. Who could possibly conceive that the father of her child is from outside of the dome where people shouldn’t be able to live? He took one look at that baby and remarked how interesting its genetics were.”

  “And the baby’s health? Normal heartbeat? Blood count? Temperature?”

  “Like I said, 10 fingers and 10 toes. This baby looks like any other except a little more fair with a supposedly extinct eye color.”

  “You’ll keep a close tab on every single medical report for abnormalities.”

  “Of course I will. I will not shirk my duties, but I’ll be sleeping just fine at nig
ht. I don’t think we have anything to worry about. As long as Hope keeps her nose clean, you and I will be just fine.”

  She nodded but still looked tense. “I hope you are right.”

  “Me too.” He leaned closer to the screen. “How did things go on your end? What about the data?”

  She nodded. “It’s been wiped clean. The date of the accident has been removed and Weston’s death. The information states they had an accident, Weston died, Hope was already pregnant and moved back to the dome. No dates are available and Hope never disappeared.”

  “Wasn’t Hope declared dead?”

  Lottie shook her head. “No, neither of them were. That’s why I could doctor the information. I filled out the paperwork as presumed dead, because it doesn’t trigger an investigation the way a conclusive death and body would.”