Genesis

by Lara Morgan

  Gerry was holding her shoulders down, his breath hot and smelling like onions. She struggled but the straps only cut into her wrists.

  “Pip!” she pleaded with him but he moved the needle to her vein as though he couldn’t hear her. “Pip!” she screamed as he punctured her skin and pushed.

  She felt scarcely any pain, just a pinprick, but he’d killed her! She started to cry. How could he do this? A part of her had thought that maybe, just maybe, he wouldn’t be able to because he liked her. Just a little bit? The syringe emptied into her arm. Pip took it out and threw the needle into a disposal unit nearby.

  “Now,” Yuang was talking to her but Rosie could barely understand him. “There’s a sedative in that shot, Rosie. Not a great deal but enough to make you drowsy for an hour or two just in case you panic and hurt yourself against those straps.”

  He was worried about her hurting herself?

  “It will take four hours or so before you feel any effects of the disease. It shouldn’t be too painful at first, but I’m sure you have some idea of what is to come.”

  He was starting to look blurry around the edges and she could hear herself mumbling as though from far away. Mum, I’m scared.

  “Come on.” Yuang’s voice sounded like an echo as he turned away, the guard and Pip following.

  No, don’t leave me. She stared after them. She didn’t want to be alone with the beeping machines and the roaring in her own head. Pip was the last to go and as he turned to activate the door, he mouthed something silently to her that the other men didn’t see. Through her tears and the roaring, Rosie couldn’t tell what it was. Hurry, or sorry, or something. She didn’t care; she hated him. She tried to scream but everything slid away like the tide sucking her back into roaring waves.

  Riley was having trouble breathing. His ribs were cracked and, judging by the rising and receding pain in his abdomen, he suspected Rosie had been right: there was something wrong inside. He felt weak and clammy.

  For the hundredth time he cursed his own stupidity. He should have gone into the colony with the kid. He should have listened to her.

  He had blacked out not long after getting in the rover, and by the time he’d come to and managed to get hold of Chris on the com, it had been way too late. Chris said she’d never showed up at their dome.

  Yuang would have her. He knew he wouldn’t kill Rosie himself – even Yuang had limits – but he’d leave her there with the rest when he “cleaned” the place out.

  The indicators on the nav panel flickered as the com buzzed with static, the relay interfering with the old rover’s engine.

  “Riley, where are you?”

  It was Jo. Wincing, he reached for the set and depressed the link button. “About ten minutes out,” he said, trying to breathe evenly.

  “Okay, hangar’s quiet. We’ll be waiting.”

  The com went dead and he dropped it on the seat. Pain stabbed his side, and every time the rover went over another rock or dip, it jarred through his body. He wiped the sweat off his forehead and tried to brace himself against the door of the vehicle.

  The small beam of the headlights was almost swallowed by the dark Martian night. The moons were dim, and when he looked up through the semitransparent canopy, he could see a million stars dotted across the black. He was in a narrow valley that ran behind the colony, a lone rover trundling across the regolith in the middle of the night. He’d be easy to spot.

  Riley had no idea how he was going to finish what his parents had started. If truth be told, he only had a slim chance at the beginning, but now … He gripped the steering hard, squinting against the throbbing pain in his gut. Now everything looked hopeless.

  He needed a new plan.

  CHAPTER 35

  The world was grey, as though she was outside in the moonlight. Everything was made of shadow. Rosie blinked. Where am I? She couldn’t move properly; something was holding her wrists and ankles down. She felt too hot, but cold as well and she ached – all over. She squeezed her eyes open and shut, trying to clear her vision.

  There was a sound, like a thumping bass, a dull monotony repeating, repeating. The sound became clearer, the pitch rising – a tenor, a soprano, a machine beeping. Something touched her arm. She rolled her head and saw Pip beside her.

  It all came rushing back. She was in the Enclave and she had the MalX. She could feel it now. It was why she was so hot, so cold. It was why she ached. And Pip had given it to her. She sucked in a breath to scream and he covered her mouth with his hand.

  “Don’t,” he whispered. “They’ll hear.”

  He was trying to kill her faster. She struggled to get his hand off, clarity returning. He wasn’t applying much force so she twisted her head and bit his finger.

  “Ow!” He yanked his hand away.

  “Get away from me!” she shouted. Except it wasn’t a shout; it was more like a squawk, her throat was so dry.

  “Sh!” He jumped on the cot on top of her and pinned her shoulders back against the bed with one arm. “I’m curing you, Rosie, so if you want to live, stop moving.”

  He had a needle in his other hand attached to a bag of red liquid. Furious, she flinched as the needle went in. “What are you putting into me?”

  “My blood.”

  “What?” She stopped struggling.

  “I am the cure, Rosie.” He glanced at her, then back at her arm. “It’s one thing Yuang didn’t lie about – I double-checked myself. Now hold still. This is a special regulator needle that’s going to pump some blood into you from this.” He showed her the small bag full of red liquid next to his knee. “It shouldn’t take too long and if you keep quiet, no one should hear. I’ve deactivated the surveillance.”

  She looked from him to the bag and back again. “Why are you doing this?”

  “I wasn’t going to let you die.” His arm was still firmly across her shoulders and she was acutely aware his face was only centimetres from her own. He frowned and brushed a thumb lightly across her cheekbone near the bruise on her temple. “Grunts know how to hit, don’t they?”

  The heat in her skin seemed to spread suddenly all over and her heart rate spiked making the machine beep faster. “Get off.”

  “You sure?” He glanced at the machine.

  “Get. Off.” She spoke through gritted teeth.

  Pip smiled slightly and got off. He began undoing the straps holding her down.

  She sat up as soon as he untied her and immediately fell back as a bout of dizziness rushed in. Pinpoints of light danced in her vision.

  “I told you not to move. You okay?” There was concern in his voice.

  “I’m fine,” she managed to whisper, even though she thought she might actually pass out.

  “You need some water.” He produced a canister from somewhere. “Here.” He slipped a hand under her neck and held her up enough so she could drink. She sipped at the drinking tube, annoyed that he had to help her. Water had never tasted so good and the dizziness gradually abated.

  “You still feel hot,” he said.

  “Really, I wonder why?” She pushed the empty canister away. “Let go.” She put an elbow underneath herself and propped herself up a bit. She was beginning to feel better, the aches in her limbs subsiding. If it was because of his blood, it was acting fast.

  “Do you have enough for them?” She looked at the bubble and her dad and her aunt so still and silent within it.

  “No time.” He checked the nearly empty blood bag. “We have to get out of here. The vision I made for the surveillance won’t fool them forever.”

  “I’m not leaving Dad and Aunt Essie here to die.” Rosie sat up and swung her legs off the bed.

  “You can’t help them right now,” he said. “Don’t you remember why you came to Mars in the first place?”

  “You’re not seriously asking me that?” Her outrage at what he’d done was coming back, now she was beginning to feel better.

  “Yuang has to be stopped first,” he said. “Before
anything else.”

  “So you’re switching sides, just like that?

  “It’s finished.” He pinched the tube to the blood bag and yanked the needle from her arm.

  “Ow!” She folded her hand up to her shoulder.

  “Listen.” Pip shoved the bag and syringe into a side pocket of his pants. “The only way you can help them, is by helping me stop Yuang. Besides, even if we did have the time to get my blood into them, we’d never get them out of here. There are grunts all over – you’ve got no idea how secure this place is. We’ve only got about eight hours until this whole place is nothing but a big hole in the ground, Rosie. Yuang has already started deciding who gets to go and who stays. And guess who’s on the list to stay?”

  She felt cold. Her family and hundreds of others.

  “The only way to save them,” Pip pointed to her aunt and dad, “and anyone else, is to get the info Riley is after and unlock the labs before Yuang pushes the button.”

  “Yes, but I don’t have the code key any more, remember – you stole it!”

  “And I can get it back but we have to go now.” He reached out a hand to pull her off the cot.

  “Don’t.” She gave him a warning look and slid off on her own. “Why should I trust you? It’s your fault my aunt’s lying there.”

  “I just saved your life!”

  “Oh, did you? And how do–” She stopped as she heard the thud of boots outside in the corridor.

  Pip went very still and she saw fear in his eyes and wondered if it was an act or real. The sound of the footsteps receded but they both remained tense, staring at each other.

  She wasn’t sure what to do. She didn’t want to trust him but there didn’t seem to be much choice. Pip knew his way around the Enclave, maybe knew where the labs were. God only knew where Riley was and she couldn’t wait for him. She went to the bubble of pyloglass and stared at her aunt and dad lying so still inside. “You can’t go in there, Rosie,” Pip said.

  “I know.” She cut him a fierce look. “But I can’t just leave them here.”

  “I promise we’ll come back – if we can.”

  Promise. How much were his promises worth?

  “Rosie …” He jerked a thumb urgently at the door.

  If only she didn’t have these feelings about him. They messed with her judgement – he messed with her judgement. Stupid as it was, she wanted to believe him. And she was out of options.

  With a last look at her dad and aunt, she followed him out the door.

  The corridors were strangely empty and they met no one as they ventured deeper into the complex.

  “Where is everybody?” she whispered.

  “This section doesn’t get used by many people. Only the scientists and subjects.”

  The Ferals being tested on, thought Rosie, sickened. “Which way is it?”

  “Down this–” He stopped. “Someone’s coming.”

  He grabbed her arm and they raced back the way they’d come. Rosie spied a narrow door. “Here.” She reached for the metal doorhandle.

  “No!” Pip tried to stop her and too late, she saw the security keypad on the wall. A high-pitched alarm split the air. He dragged her away.

  Behind them came the sound of men calling and a door slamming. How could she have been so stupid? Heart racing, Rosie followed Pip back down the corridors, past the room she’d been in. He ran fast and she struggled to keep up. “Wait.” He paused in front of a door and punched in a code with shaking fingers. The door opened but instead of going through it, he kept jogging along the corridor.

  “What did you do that for?” She could barely speak and felt scarily weak, her legs unsteady. Sweat already covered her forehead. “The doors retain memory of who opened them,” he said. “Hopefully the grunts will believe we went that way. Buy us some time.” He peered closer at her. “You okay?”

  “I’m fine,” she avoided his eyes, “let’s just go.” She started running again, ignoring the pain in her chest.

  On their left, narrow windows cast irregular strips of pale sunlight on the floor like stepping stones, and behind them came the sound of heavy footsteps. The corridor was so long that if anyone came behind them, they’d be exposed.

  Pip stopped abruptly. “Here.” He crouched down in front of a ventilation grate and pulled a pocketknife from his pants. He flicked open the blade and tried to prise the grate away from the wall.

  “In there?” Breath coming in gasps, Rosie checked the opening. It was barely wide enough to crawl through.

  “We’ve got to hide, it’s the only way,” Pip said. But when he glanced at her she realised he knew that she was in too bad shape for them to get away. The worst part was he was right. She was already exhausted. She crouched beside him and pushed her fingers into the grille and pulled as hard as she could as he worked the knife. Her arm muscles shook and ached, but she kept pulling. There was a soft screech of metal and a rivet popped out of the corner and onto the floor.

  “Pull harder.”

  “I can’t.” Her words were a whispered sob, but right now she didn’t care. Pip pocketed his knife and shoved his fingers into the gap and they heaved together. The other top rivet popped and suddenly they were holding the top of the grille open, the shaft behind exposed.

  Rosie went feet first into the narrow opening, shuffling like a caterpillar. It was dusty and smelled sour, but it was wider than she’d thought. Pip slid in beside her and together they grabbed the grille and pulled it back up just in time.

  Seconds later, one of the guards walked past. He was talking into a com but too quietly for them to hear.

  They lay facing each other, squeezed into the shaft – Pip half on top of her. He had one arm over her head, holding the grille, while the other held it at the bottom. His left leg was hooked over her hip and she could feel his heart beating against her. His skin smelled faintly of dust and sweat.

  The guard seemed to take forever to walk down the corridor. Rosie couldn’t see him, but she could hear him, his com occasionally emitting static. Rosie prayed he wouldn’t notice the tips of their fingers holding the grille in place.

  “Not here,” the guard said clearly into his com, and Rosie had the urge to fling the grille away and burst out of the vent.

  Pip felt her tension and his leg tightened on her hip. She glanced up at him. He shook his head. No.

  Pip’s breath was brushing the skin on her neck and she was acutely conscious of how close he was. She tried to distract herself by putting her mind back to the problem of getting out. She thought about the diary codes she’d memorised. The door that had been alarmed, could it have been one of the labs? Or maybe a way into the labs with the Genesis information they needed. It could be worth a try.

  After what seemed like forever, Pip finally whispered okay and, with a muffled groan, she let go of the grille. He lowered it outside and she shuffled inelegantly out headfirst, dragging herself past him until she flopped out onto the floor.

  He slid out after her, pushing the grille in place and turned back the way the guard had gone. “This way,” he said.

  “Pip, wait.” She gripped his forearm.

  “What?”

  “That door with the alarm – where does it go?”

  “The lower levels, why?” The sun was setting and shadow slanted across his face.

  “Is there a way to get to the labs we need through there? One of the codes Riley gave me might open it.”

  He looked at her for a moment, his expression unreadable. “Maybe,” he said.

  Frustration filled her. “You work for Helios,” she said. “Don’t you know your way around?”

  “Not all of it.” He was tense, almost angry. “I was going to go another way but – okay, it did look kind of familiar.” He glanced the way the guards had gone. “But we gotta be quick.”

  They ran back to the door and Rosie tried punching in one of the codes.

  Nothing happened: no alarm went off though, no lights flashed, but the door remained
shut.

  “How many have you got?” Pip whispered.

  “Seven more. But will going through them all set off the alarm?”

  “Shouldn’t. That alarm’s only to stop the kids here getting in.”

  “Okay.” Rosie began punching in the numbers of more codes.

  Six codes later the door was still shut.

  “We’re running out of time,” Pip said.

  “I know. Last one.” Rosie punched in the last code. “6-54-03-Omega.”

  The door slid open to reveal a dim hallway. The floor was pale blue concrete, the walls a dusty white, and tubular lighting illuminated the narrow space. It dropped away from them on a steady angle to a set of steps, the floor disappearing into darkness.

  From far off a soft sound like a distant wail reached them then dissipated. Rosie looked at Pip, but he was staring past her with a strange expression on his face.

  “Pip?”

  “Come on.” He pushed past her.

  With a cold scared feeling in her stomach, Rosie followed, the door sweeping shut behind them.

  CHAPTER 36

  As soon as the door shut, all the lights went out.

  Rosie froze. “Pip?” She stretched her hands out and shuffled sideways, hoping to find the wall.

  She couldn’t see a thing. The darkness pressed over her as heavy as lead, as thick as blood. “Pip?” she called again, annoyed at the barely veiled panic in her tone. When was she going to get over this?

  “I’m here.” His voice was ahead of her.

  “Where?”

  “Here.” His hand bumped against her shoulder.

  She resisted the urge to grab onto him. “Do you have a torch or anything?”

  “No.”

  She fought to control her escalating fear. Just breathe, Rosie. Breathe, she told herself.

  “Hey, are you scared of the dark?”

  “No!”

  “You sure? You sound funny.” Was he enjoying this? Her irritation returned.

  “I’m okay. It was just a surprise, that’s all.” She pulled away from his hand, but not so far that she couldn’t sense his presence.