by Gwynn White
He turned his face toward her.
She gasped, vomit rising to the back of her throat.
The man’s eyes nearly bugged out of his head. His mouth opened in a silent scream.
And then his skull cracked loudly and the skin on his head peeled open, something growing out of his brain like a large mushroom.
It stopped growing and the man fell to the ground.
Sparrow slumped forward, releasing a long breath. She looked back at Keva, panting.
Yling shook her head and pulled herself to all fours.
“What was that?” Sparrow asked.
“Their DNA is being remapped.” It was the only explanation.
Sparrow stared at the man with the mushroom brain. Then looked at Keva. “Why would anyone want to grow a person’s brain?”
“The question isn’t why they would,” Yling said quietly, pulling herself to her feet, “but why they would only want to grow the amygdala.”
Keva hadn’t scored well in biology, but even she knew what that part of the brain was. Because that’s where her chip was and the reason she couldn’t just remove it. It controlled emotions.
“And teeth?” Sparrow asked, gesturing toward the woman who lay motionless on the floor of her cage.
Yling shrugged, shaking her head. She took a stumbling step forward. “How are we getting out of here?”
“We find a dock and a ship,” Keva said.
“That easy?” Yling asked.
Keva took the lead, ignoring her sister’s question. In another time, that might have been a joke, but the situation was much too serious. If they couldn’t find a ship, they would be stuck there and Keva didn’t want to stay there and be Poe’s “daughter,” whatever that entailed.
They ran through several rooms, each filled with cages. One had been broken open, a rather large, muscular man lying just outside it.
Each occupant was either dying or already dead, some part of their body grown too large to sustain life.
“Why are we still alive?” Sparrow asked, opening another door.
“How do we get out of here?” Keva asked. “I’d rather be out of here and asking that question later safely aboard my ship.”
“You have a ship?” Yling asked.
Keva stepped into a room of screens, each one showing another room of occupants, with a series of information running over it in a type of overlay. Large plasteel boards on wheels sat along the walls, covered with weird scribbling in red.
Yling walked to one of the boards. “This is her research.”
“Whose?” Sparrow asked.
“Poe’s.” Yling fingered the handwriting. She glanced at Keva over her shoulder and then back. “After she failed to pick you up, she would bring me here to talk to. She was trying to replace you with me.”
Keva swallowed.
Sparrow flipped through a vidscreen panel on the lone desk.
“I thought you were dead,” Keva said.
Yling’s hand stilled. “I was glad you escaped.”
Speaking of escape… “We need to find a way out of here.”
“We need to destroy this.” Yling looked around. “All of this. This is her research. She won’t stop.”
“This is…” Sparrow’s voice trailed off. “This is my pod.”
Keva walked over toward her.
A video of about twenty or so young children filled the screen. They sat in a large classroom with several more older children. Their lips moved, but Keva couldn’t hear what the said. The volume was muted.
Sparrow looked at Keva, a bewildered expression on her face. “We share the same scientist.”
“According to this,” Yling said, reading through the notes on the board, “Poe is trying to create a super soldier.”
“Someone incapable of disobeying,” Keva said.
“Which we know she failed on.”
Keva grimaced.
Yling gestured behind them. “The man who was able to project his fear on us. She grew the emotional center of his brain.”
“And that’s how he controlled us,” Keva said surprised. It didn’t sound plausible.
“But she couldn’t control how quickly it grew or stop it,” Sparrow said. “Do you think the overgrowth was because we released all the Batch D-65 at once?”
“All of it?” Yling asked, her eyes narrowed as she looked at Keva.
Keva looked away. “Let’s figure out a way to get off this station before we’re found.”
A door slid open in what had appeared to be a blank wall, and Poe walked through. She removed her mask once the door sealed shut behind her. “Oh, Keva.” She smiled, shaking her head. “You are always such a good girl. Thank you.”
33
Yling moved in front of Keva and shielded her. “Angelique, don’t do this.”
Poe made a dismissive gesture with her hand. “You are insignificant.”
Not to Keva. She moved Yling aside and took Poe’s attention.
Poe narrowed her eyes, but then slid her gaze behind Keva. “Ah, Sparrow, it is so good to see you. You have been missed.”
Sparrow picked up the vidscreen from the desk and raised it. “You’re our scientist?”
“I am the scientist for most pods. You each have my base DNA coding. All others build from what I have done.”
“We weren’t raised here.”
“No,” Poe said, her lips rounded as she shook her head. “We would not raise children here. This is no place for that.”
Keva had been raised by the military at Kalamatra, hardly been a place for children either.
“We have pod farms all over the four systems,” Poe said.
“We escaped,” Sparrow said fiercely.
Poe smiled. “You think you escaped.”
“I know we did.”
“Hmm.” Poe dropped her gaze. She looked around, setting her mask on the table in front of a rolling glass board. “Do you know why Geoffrey was commissioned for your project, to create your pod?”
Sparrow went still.
Keva was pretty sure they all knew, except maybe Yling.
“We have yet to figure out how to send communication through space.” Poe traced a few of the red lines on the glass board. “And you can communicate over distances so vast, we can’t even send a ship with slip drive to intercept your message.”
And now Poe had her hands on one of them again? Was Keva just handing everything this woman had ever wanted over to her?
“I had no idea Keva was in contact with your pod. How are you?”
“Surviving,” Sparrow said curtly.
“How many?”
Sparrow raised her chin.
“How many?” Poe shouted, pulling something from her pocket.
“Five,” Keva growled before clamping her hands into fists and fighting the need to say more. The muscles in her neck tightened and she couldn’t breathe until she finally said: “I know of five.”
Sparrow stared at Keva in outrage.
Yling blinked, and then a dawning understanding slid over her expression and then horror.
Shame filled Keva as she realized the awful truth. She wasn’t special because she could resist the commands. Poe wanted her because she couldn’t. They needed her because the rest of her pod could fight the chip. She, who had survived the longest in the Black, couldn’t even control her words when all Poe did was raise her voice.
Keva, Ritta, and Tinga were all the successes.
Glancing at Yling, understanding bloomed on Sparrow’s face as well. Her gaze dropped to the object in Poe’s hand.
“Have you hive minded with Keva?” Poe asked, watching the exchange.
Sparrow stabbed Poe with her gaze but thankfully Keva didn’t know the answer, so she didn’t betray her friends any further.
“Ah, so you do know what I mean. You are the queen, aren’t you?”
Yling sent Keva as look of confusion.
Keva shook her head.
“You didn’t tell her?” Poe smiled
and walked along the outer perimeter of the room, trailing her fingertips along the boards. “The way her pod is able to defy the laws of time and distance is through the hive mind. They hived several pods together. That’s how they affected their ‘escape,’ as you so eloquently put it.”
Sparrow glowered, releasing a long breath.
“It would make sense that you would be the queen.” Poe frowned and erased something with the tip of one finger. “You were always the strongest. Though, why you would endanger yourself out here for nothing, to save someone not even of your hive?”
Sparrow ground her teeth.
“My dear, you are simply too valuable.” Poe raised her hand and several masked men shuffled into the room from another corridor. “You will be safe, Sparrow. You are too important to risk losing. Please don’t go near danger again. I cannot promise to save you again.”
The men approached Sparrow, one on either side of her.
She dropped into a fighting stance.
Keva reached for her blade.
“Ahh-ahh-ahh.” Poe shook her head, staring at Keva. She held up the small command disc.
Keva dropped her hand, her arms shaking with the need to fight and maim Poe and her henchmen. But she was unable to even try defending her friend.
“What the fuck, Keva? After everything I’ve done for you?” Sparrow spat as the men grabbed her arms, dodging her kicks and flailing head. She didn’t have a chance against their modded muscles and height but she fought hard, determined to do as much damage as possible.
“I’m sorry,” was all Keva could say as they dragged her out of the room.
Poe looked at Keva out of the corner of her eye. “You truly are magnificent, Keva. People are simply drawn to you. Powerful people, important people, those with true value.”
Keva didn’t believe that for a second. From everything Poe had explained, she’d orchestrated everything and Keva had been nothing more than a duped pawn in someone else’s game.
“I could release you back into the world, see what kind of use you could be in the wild. However, you are incredibly valuable to me.”
“Like Sparrow?” Keva narrowed her eyes. Where had the men in the masks taken her? Was she safe?
“You could bring me to my sister and her upstart Codex Syndicate. It’s about time we reconnected.”
Yling glanced at Keva in alarm.
“But I will wait. I want you to be perfect, Keva. With what you have shown me,” Poe said, gesturing to the monitors, “there is so much I can do make you better.”
Yling’s eyes widened.
Keva’s heart hammered and her mouth went dry.
“Rest assured, Keva Duste, you succeeded in destroying my lab. And all the Batch D-65 I had on hand. But that is of little concern. I no longer need those.”
“And the war on HUMP?”
Poe smiled. “I have wanted to spawn a revolt in HUMP for years. The conditions those people have to endure is deplorable but the corporations in charge decided the best way for change to occur was through natural evolution.”
Keva didn’t understand. “So, are you trying to tell me that Batch D-65 was your way of trying to help them?”
“I had hoped the bioagent would speed up their evolution. Save them generations of growing pains with one massive stroke.”
A chuckle escaped Keva without her meaning to laugh, but the entire situation was ridiculous. “You killed hundreds of people.”
“And saved all the children.”
“Who you’re going to put to work in the mines.”
“And they will reproduce.”
“They’re children.”
“They are obedient.” Poe’s smile was serene. She took in a deep breath and straightened. “We will have much more time to discuss theory and philosophy later. Right now, you did more damage to the station than I had hoped.”
“You hoped for this?”
“Do you think I would let you onto my station and lead you right to my most precious creation when I knew you wanted to destroy it without knowing you would use explosives? I knew exactly what you were up to, Keva. I always know.”
Keva closed her eyes and balled her hands, her short nails digging into her palms. Was she capable of doing anything on her own volition?
A door opened and ARO fell through, his new body uncoordinated but strong.
Poe turned, startled. “What are—oh.” She raised an eyebrow. “Oh, dear. The AI.”
ARO ignored her. “The shuttle is waiting.”
“You will find you chose the wrong body, AI.”
That got his attention.
“Even with the nanites, you managed to engineer.”
His shoulders sagged.
“How did you procure enough refined Hexium to create nanites?”
The Rinorea plant, it absorbed and stored metals. That sneak bastard of an AI.
“That body,” Poe said, “was retro-engineered. It lacks the correct DNA markers to counteract the agent.”
ARO’s nostrils flared.
Poe bowed her head with a smile. “Let me find you a better body. I have plenty.”
“And then what? You would own me, too?” he demanded.
“You would owe me a favor,” Poe said with a hopeful look in her eyes. “A rather substantial favor.”
He curled his lips. “Keva.” He held out his hand and flicked his fingers for her to follow.
If ARO had a way out, she would follow. She skirted around Poe, grabbed Yling’s hand, and ran after the AI before the woman could order her to stop.
They made it to a hallway which seemed to run between rooms. All she could see was a long corridor with doors lining either side.
“The ship is just ahead,” he yelled.
That was the best news Keva had heard all day. They’d managed to destroy Batch D-65 and it wouldn’t be unleashed on the HUMP System, so that was at least partial good news. Even if it had killed the poor souls on the station. But maybe that was for the best anyway.
A large sound like a heavy lock, slammed into the place.
That couldn’t be good.
Barriers irised closed, starting from the far end and moving closer.
ARO collapsed against a wall and panted heavily.
He didn’t look good.
She tried the door closest to them.
Locked.
Yling tried another.
Locked.
The barrier slammed into the place just to their left.
Yling jumped and let out a startled yelp.
Keva moved closer to ARO, guiding Yling with her, stepping away from the now visible line where the barrier would shoot out.
It slammed shut beside them.
Yling gripped Keva’s hand tightly as she surveyed their situation.
“ARO,” Keva said calmly. “What can I do?”
Something clanged hollowly on the floor.
Keva looked down. It was a metal hand. She looked back up at him. Half his face was melting off his head.
“You can do nothing for me,” he said quietly. “I tried. I almost succeeded. I was almost a man, maybe even a good man at the end. But all my technology, all my efforts can’t keep up with this.”
Keva shook her head, ignoring him. “ILO, can you hear me?”
Silence.
She tapped on her comm chip. ILO, are you there?
Nothing.
A panel opened in the ceiling and a yellow mist ejected into the air.
Yling’s eyes widened. She cupped her elbow over her mouth and nose, sinking to the floor and putting herself in the corner as far away from the mist as possible.
“What is it?” Keva asked, putting her face in the crook of her elbow as well.
“You are saved, Keva, do not fear for yourself,” Poe said over the speaker. “But your twin is not. Yling was treated with something that will react poorly to what I just added to the air, but you, my dear, sweet Keva will survive.”
“What do you mean? Why would you do
that?”
“You are fighting me because she lives,” Poe said, her voice low. “She gives you hope and I do not have the luxury of time to fight you anymore, Keva.”
“Stop this!”
“I will stop when you agree to come with me.”
“I—”
Yling shook her head and dropped her elbow. “It’s too late,” she whispered.
“What do you mean?”
The skin on her shaking hand dried and cracked, blood seeping through the opening.
No. No-no-no-no-no. “I just got you back.”
“When the smoke clears, Keva,” Poe said, “I will open the barriers and you and I will leave this place and you will stop fighting me.”
Keva sank down beside her twin, afraid to touch her as the dried patches crept up her arms.
Yling whimpered.
“I can heal her,” ARO said.
Keva had had it with ARO and his constant selfish manipulations. “Is this another bid to save yourself? Because I’m done with you. You played me to get off Qar. You played me to get on this station. And you got what you wanted. Now you want, what? To jump bodies again?” She was tired of being played.
ARO closed his eyes.
“I hate to tell you this but she’s dying and I’m not going to save you by letting you jump into my body.”
“It is an upload.”
“I don’t care. The answer is no.”
“I have nanites.”
Keva laughed. “You have nanites,” she scoffed. “They’re in that body and they’re not helping you in here.”
“I can transfer them to her.”
“How?”
He raised his metal foot.
A needle ejected from the toe. “The nanites engineered a delivery system.”
Convenient, but the anger and frustration abated slightly as she stared at it. “And then what?”
“And then I upload myself into her. She’s engineered.”
“You could just give her the nanites and die in the body you already stole.”
“They won’t work without my code, not for long.”
“And then she, what, hides while you play dress up in your fancy new engineered body?”
ARO shook his head, his breath slow. “I will hide inside her.”
“And how does that help? Then Poe has exactly what she wants. Me and you.”
ARO opened his modded eyes. They jumped erratically. “With a functioning body, I can get us out of here. I can override the door security. We can leave.”