The Hive Engineers

by Emilia Zeeland

  IT TOOK NATALIA A FEW minutes to get on board with Yalena’s plan. Not that she voiced her discontent. She instead sat on the glossy floor, silent. Yalena was about to break her out of it when the girl finally moved.

  More energetically than expected, Natalia stood up. “Fine, but I’m not going along with any of that product business. You need to keep them away from me.”

  “Agreed.”

  Perhaps it was foolhardy, but the more Yalena thought this over, the more she trusted herself. That was the downside of cultivating a brainwashed workforce—they could work for anyone, as Felix was soon going to find out.

  At last, Yalena and Natalia walked out of the room in silence.

  “Is everything all right?” one of the Veronica clones asked.

  Yalena wet her cracked lips before letting out an uncertain, “Yes.” Natalia’s look of indignation, only clumsily disguised, made her add, “The plan wasn’t for these models to get into PD stage yet. We have other things to work on beforehand.” She knew she had to be more specific. Precise. In control. “Put this production on hold. And we won’t need any PD for my assistant either.” She directed their attention to Natalia with a slight movement of her chin. “Is that clear?”

  To her credit, Natalia didn’t flinch at the word ‘assistant’.

  All three of Veronica’s faces looked at her with a stoic, unreadable expression, before one of them broke the silence. “Should we verify with the central team first?”

  “I am the central team,” Yalena cut her off. “We got here early to probe your defenses. The plans will follow soon, but we need to re-prioritize for now.” Then, once she realized that sounded weak, she corrected herself. “Is that clear?”

  “Clear,” sounded from all sides.

  “Good.” Yalena carefully veiled her relief. “Now, show us to the common areas.”

  Trying not to second-guess the terminology she was making up as she went along, Yalena allowed them a second to reassemble and point her to a corridor in the back. With Natalia so close behind her that she could hear her uneven breathing, Yalena walked in the advised direction.

  She was itching to ask about Alec, but she knew that would blow her cover. If this visit had been planned, she would be the one to know where he was. Attracting any attention to his escape would only lead to more questions. Despite what she’d asked of Alec before the crash, Yalena now wished he had ignored her orders and gone back through the wormhole to the near worlds.

  She had all the ammunition they needed now. If he had gone to Nova Fia, he’d be in more danger than any of them.

  The clones took Yalena and Natalia to a room that resembled a school cafeteria—metal tables and benches and a conveyor belt with silvery plates. When Yalena picked one up, she frowned at its contents—a white piece of protein from a food processor. She and Natalia took a seat with a group of the Veronica doubles, but it was hard to pick out the first few Yalena had met from the ones who joined later.

  More clones flooded the room, quickly took their lunch, and were on their way. Yalena stopped herself from asking how many lived in this place. She’d have to find that out another way.

  She grimly poked the protein slice with her fork. It was porcelain pale and, by the looks of it, completely tasteless. It was even worse upon first bite—like a plastic mushroom. The Fians hadn’t gone to any trouble to provide their clones with flavorings. Yalena never thought she’d miss the artificially flavored similar servings the Unifier canteen provided. Opposite her, Natalia cringed in disgust.

  Then, in a split second, flares bathed the room in crimson light. Yalena jumped to her feet, a siren blaring in her ears.

  “What’s happening?” she asked before she could help herself.

  “An air space breach,” one of the clones answered. “An unscheduled visit by the masters or another surprise drill like the one you came for.”

  Yalena swallowed the stale flavor left in her mouth by the protein steak. She whirled around to meet Natalia’s dark expression—a mirror of her own.

  She didn’t have to even mouth the name to know they feared the same thing—that he had ignored orders and come back for them.

  Alec.

  Chapter 9. Team Natlena

  The army of Veronica clones mobilized at once. They marched out of the room in an organized fashion that left Yalena and Natalia scrambling to keep up.

  “Your boyfriend is so thick,” Natalia whispered to Yalena, wide-eyed. “He’s going to get himself killed and ruin our strategy.”

  Yalena fought a growl in her throat. “Our strategy? You’ve been on board for less than five minutes.”

  Natalia raised her eyebrows at her as they reached a heavy metallic set of double doors. “Doesn’t make a damn difference now, does it?”

  Trying to compose herself and take charge, Yalena walked in as soon as the doors slid open. She stopped in the middle of the round room, at least half of which had windows to the outside, allowing for a hundred-and-eighty-degree view. An air control center. “What do we have on the vehicle?”

  A Veronica double turned in her chair from the long table. “It’s out of our weapons’ range as of now. It must be a party of masters sent to prep us for the next phase.”

  Yalena bit the inside of her cheek. They didn’t have the tech to tell a Fian ship from the Chameleon.

  Natalia clicked her tongue. The wild look in her dark eyes said, “That’s not good.”

  But Yalena still held out hope that it could be Alec, and simultaneously dreaded how she’d have to explain his reappearance.

  “You didn’t mention another team was expected,” a different Veronica said, confusing Yalena.

  She’d never be able to tell if she’d already spoken to that clone before. It was so hard to keep it in mind, but even though she knew nothing about how clones behaved, Yalena truly doubted they all thought and acted exactly the same. There had to be subtle differences. If she had more time with them, she could find a weak link, someone rebellious to instill the idea of upheaval into.

  Instead, she left herself open, easily tangled up in her lies, and it weakened her. She wasn’t sure how long she could keep up the charade.

  “Audio connection request from their side,” a clone in the far right interjected.

  “Patch me through.” Yalena reached out a hand to take the headset from the nearest Veronica. “And secure the line. This is confidential.”

  There was no way to tell if they’d bought it. Their faces were fixed in the same blank expression that was starting to really bother Yalena. Felix had taken the fire, the spark out of possibly the bravest woman in the near worlds’ history. She mentally added it to the list of reasons she despised him, as she positioned the old-fashioned headset on her head. Instead of a single, sleek earpiece, it was a fluffy ear-warmer style headset that pressed against her ears uncomfortably.

  After a sizzle of static, a voice came over the comms. “Production tower one, this is Master Robin with a crew of three, coming to prep phase two. Open hangar doors for reception.”

  Each second was marked by the tick of an imaginary old clock echoing inside Yalena’s head. She couldn’t let them land. They’d turn the entire army on her and Natalia. They’d surely take her to Felix. And Natalia and Dave would end up as nothing but DNA to feed the clone production line.

  Still, the order was hard to force out, even though she’d never met the Fians aboard that ship. Even if they were a merciless enemy, devoid of morals.

  “Production tower one, do you copy?”

  Yalena clicked the off button on the clunky headset. “It’s time to show us what you’ve got,” she said to the clone closest to her, whose eyes grew wide. “It’s another drill. Take that ship down.”

  Natalia gaped at her with more dramatic flair than Yalena needed at that moment, but none of the clones seemed to notice. They shared confused looks. Apparently Yalena’s leadership style wasn’t living up to the master logic the Fians had drilled into their soldiers.
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  “Now, soldier,” Yalena barked. She balled her hands into fists to keep them from betraying her with their trembling.

  As one, the clones focused on the screens in front of them.

  “The ship is headed for the visitor landing spot.”

  “In range for weapons,” another Veronica copy said. “Taking aim. Do I follow through?”

  “On my command.” Yalena’s breathing grew uneven. She had no reason to stall. The choice had already been made and it was the only choice, but a voice inside her head screamed for her to rethink. To find a better way.

  “Target is locked.” The clone sounded urgent.

  Yalena’s heart boomed. In those last seconds, a part of her backed out, but it was too late. “Fire.”

  A flare shot from the control tower. The smoke the warhead left behind dissipated fast into the blue sky above the blinding-white ice.

  “Something is odd,” another Veronica said. “They’re veering off course for the landing patch, but they’re preparing for landing.”

  Another one counted in Veronica’s voice, “Impact at T minus three, two, one.”

  Yalena heard the boom echo through the quiet space outside. The clones all fell silent and turned to her. She only realized she was meant to praise them, when Natalia elbowed her a little too hard in the ribs.

  “Good demonstration of a fast response,” Yalena said. There was a squeaky note in her voice, which she had to clear her throat to get rid of. My assistant and I will head to check out the crash site to evaluate the success of this exercise.”

  The both of them hurried to exit the control tower.

  “Smooth,” Natalia whispered, but Yalena’s stomach tangled into a tight ball.

  With every order she gave, the impostor syndrome grew stronger. She was more and more sure she’d get found out. And if that army of Veronicas were to attack her and Natalia, they’d have no chance of getting out. Not to mention that deep down, Yalena also doubted she’d be able to fight anyone wearing Veronica’s face. She’d freeze.

  As if to feed her self-doubt further, the clones helped Yalena and Natalia gear up in complete silence. Ruminations twisted and turned inside Yalena’s mind. She started a mental to-do list to reign it all in.

  Check for cameras.

  Disconnect the radio.

  Check if distress signal was sent to Nova Fia.

  Check for survivors.

  She curled her fingers into fists at the thought. The odd energy the whole place buzzed with kept her alert and moving, though. The clones led Yalena and Natalia out to the nearest hoverbike hangar. It only hosted about a dozen bikes. Natalia jumped on one and Yalena slid into the backseat.

  “Let’s hope I remember how Dave got this thing started,” Natalia murmured more to herself than to Yalena.

  “Shall we send any products with you for support?” A clone asked Yalena before the hangar doors lifted.

  “No need,” she cut her off. “We’ll be in touch.”

  The engine roared and after a weak start, Natalia adjusted her grip and stepped on the gas. Speeding away into freedom didn’t feel liberating, though, and Yalena’s weariness grew.

  “If the ship crashed, then they’re probably all dead.” Natalia bravely attempted to sound casual. “And even if anyone survived, they wouldn’t know it was us who shot them down.” She hesitated for only a heartbeat. “Can’t we just run away?”

  The frown on Yalena’s face twitched. “On what? Look at the clones—they have no spacecrafts. Only hoverbikes. The Fians are keeping them isolated here.”

  Natalia murmured with irritation, “Then, what’s the plan, boss? We’ll need to get out of here eventually.”

  “Or send a message to Eric,” Yalena said. “Let’s see what we can salvage from the crash site.”

  The smoke rising from the fallen spacecraft was easy to spot for miles. It stood out like a stain against the pristine, white surface. Once they neared, an irregular circle of ashes marred the ice. Not a single piece of debris looked bigger than a tablet. From the explosion site, a faint gray trail led down the slope.

  Yalena gasped. “They ejected the entire corpus, look.” She pointed to the dish that had come to a halt in a rocky area.

  “Smart bastards,” Natalia said. “We shot down nothing but their cargo.”

  “Looks like they couldn’t steer with just the corpus though. They still crashed.” Yalena scanned the area from their bird’s-eye view. No one seemed to have made it out of the corpus. “Get us down to the surface.”

  Natalia’s landing was on the bumpy end of the scale, but Yalena didn’t comment on it. Instinct told her to keep quiet. Even the crunching sound their boots made against the hardened snow stirred panic inside her.

  By the look of it, the corpus hadn’t suffered too much from the headfirst slide into the rocks. Yalena circled it to get to the viewing area. She peeked sideways carefully, before allowing herself to come into full view. From that position she could see the two pilots, still in their seats, heads tilted to the side. Knocked out. Or worse.

  “Psst, Yalena.”

  Natalia’s whisper made her jump in place. “Quiet.”

  In spite of her irritated outburst, Yalena took a few steps back and whirled around, but Natalia wasn’t there anymore. With her back jolted stiff, Yalena circled to the other side of the corpus. Natalia stood by the door that had been jarred halfway open to the side, just enough to let one person squeeze through. But Natalia wasn’t preoccupied with the door. Her eyes were glued to the powdery white snow at her feet.

  Drops of dark, plum-colored blood stained the ground. Footsteps showed up at irregular intervals, like the wounded had struggled to walk.

  “We need to follow him,” Yalena said. “He must have known it wasn’t safe to stay here.”

  Natalia looked up from the trail that seemed to lead behind the rocks the corpus had crashed into. “I’m not going after him.”

  Yalena wasn’t in the mood to argue. She carefully sneaked one foot inside the corpus, then the other, sliding in sideways. The three Fians still inside hadn’t moved an inch since that peek she’d stolen through the viewing area.

  She concentrated on the vibe. “I can’t feel them.”

  “That’s because they’re dead, genius,” Natalia rumbled from outside.

  Yalena studied the corpus. “What if they’re just knocked out cold?”

  “Won’t your vibe still detect their presence?”

  “No idea.”

  “Well, get your bony finger to their throats.”

  Yalena took a deep breath. She’d never done this, not even when she’d studied first aid back on the Moon. She’d never touched a dead body.

  But she didn’t have to.

  One of the wall monitors showed a mock-up of the corpus and the four chairs. Three glowed in red and one must have been grayed out when the Fian had stood from his place.

  Yalena couldn’t stay in there any longer, so she squeezed back through the door.

  “They’re dead.” She tried to sound matter-of-fact, but seeing the bodies had made that harder. She’d given the order, yet if she hadn’t, she would have been the one lying dead now. They would have taken her and Natalia out as soon as they’d realized who they were. And, one day soon, an army of clones was going to rain down on Earth. It was her duty to stop it.

  “He shouldn’t be hard to track with the vibe and his injuries,” Yalena said.

  Natalia cleared her throat theatrically. “I don’t think you heard me the first time. I’m not going after him.”

  Yalena fought a growl starting to rumble deep in her lungs. “He could radio back that something went wrong. We need to stop him.”

  Natalia dug with her heel into the ice, not making a dent. “Then let’s take the hoverbike and shoot at him from above.”

  Yalena’s eyes traveled to the jagged, rocky landscape that spread for miles. “He’d find cover. We need to go on foot, so we can follow the blood trail.”

 
“And apprehend him with what?” Natalia asked tersely. Even though Yalena couldn’t see her face through the visor, the image of those unforgiving dark eyes flashed in her mind. “We’ve got no weapons but the hoverbike laser guns. We don’t even have one of Alec’s metallic gloves to pack a punch. He’d make quick work of the both of us.”

  “We’ll have to think of something on the way,” Yalena said. When Natalia didn’t move, she added, “C’mon. We’re team Natlena.”

  Natalia choked out a snort. “Fine. But only because you put my name first.”

  Yalena rolled her eyes. “Yatalia doesn’t have much of a ring to it.”

  Chapter 10. A Broken Link

  The girls tested the range on the hoverbike laser guns again. It was confined to a radius of a couple of feet around the machine. The charge quickly dropped beyond that point. Regardless, team Natlena packed them at the side of their boots, if only because heading out into the unwelcoming landscape completely unequipped bordered on the insane.

  Yalena didn’t trust her feet on the slippery ice. She’d never been to a place on Earth covered in ice. Even in the mountains she’d never seen snow, only cold rainy winters.

  They walked in silence, maneuvering between the stalagmite-shaped rocks reaching barely above their heads in height, but enough to hide the Fian. Yalena focused her vibe to help their search, even though the footsteps in the snow were easy to track, not to mention the occasional deep purple blot marking the way forward. The horror version of a bread crumb.

  The rocks towered higher the farther they went. Yalena’s body grew tenser with every step she took on the uneven icy surface, trying to keep her balance, but it wasn’t the terrain that bothered her the most.

  “Still nothing,” she said.

  Natalia’s heavy breathing sounded on the comms—a private channel Yalena had asked the clones to set up for the two of them. “Based on the position of the suns, we have about three hours before dark—to find him and get back.”