by Eliza Green
THE HAVEN
Book 3, The Breeder Files
Eliza Green
Contents
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
BOOKS BY ELIZA GREEN
BOOKS BY KATE GELLAR
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1
Anya
Anya stared at Jason, still not convinced he was really here. They walked through the town in the valley of the Ferrous Mountains that the rebels had taken over. The afternoon sun shone bright and warmed Anya’s pale skin. After so long spent underground, it breathed new life into her.
‘I didn’t know what had happened to you.’ She shook her head. ‘The last thing I remember was both of us sick in Brookfield. Then the men came.’
‘I thought you were dead, Anya.’ Her brother’s voice cracked. ‘My last memory was of you going through that machine in Arcis and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it.’ He stopped walking. ‘Did it hurt?’
Anya stopped too, frowning. ‘I don’t remember any of it. The first memory I had was waking up in a comfortable bed. It’s like the three months in Arcis never happened.’ She touched her forehead. ‘They stole my memories. I don’t have them back yet.’
Except for the one of Warren’s hands on her in a bathroom; he’d tried to take something that wasn’t on offer.
‘They said they found you with that guy, Alex,’ said Jason. ‘Did you two... I mean, did anything happen between you? Did he try something?’
His question felt too personal. They weren’t kids anymore. Sure, Anya had relied too much on him before and after their parents were murdered. But so much had happened to her since then. She may not remember, but she felt a change deep down.
‘Not in that way, and also none of your business.’
‘But we used to tell each other everything.’
‘That was then. I’m not the kid I once was.’
Jason gave her a quick hug. ‘I’m sorry for leaving you in Arcis. I thought you’d be safe.’
His apology meant nothing without her memories of that place. But despite her detachment from Arcis, their conversation unsettled her for reasons she couldn’t explain.
‘At least we’re both alive.’ She shifted the subject off her. ‘And it looks like you found friends while I was away. Mum and Dad would be proud of you.’
‘Of both of us. You’re not the brat you once were.’
She thumped him in the arm, causing him to yelp. He rubbed the spot where she had hit him. ‘I think you’ve lost some of your strength.’
She had. A week underground coupled with a mysterious, three-month absence had put a dent in her obsession with sports. She looked around at the high-fence compound, rock walls on either side. Her deceased parents came to mind. Had they ever been to this compound?
Vanessa, the librarian in Praesidium, had confirmed that Evan and Grace were rebels trying to put a stop to Praesidium’s activities. Matching, something her mother had tried to force upon her, turned out to be a fake town tradition designed to keep her out of the Breeder programme. One day, Anya hoped to learn more about the real Grace and Evan Macklin.
She glanced at the building to the front of the U-shaped compound where the trucks had been parked, serving as a medical bay. It’s where Dom had been taken. She still didn’t remember the almost man who clearly remembered her, but she wished him well, hoped his illness had cleared up. There had been a moment when she’d thought he might not make it.
Jason’s serious frown turned her stomach to butterflies. ‘There’s something I need to know.’
She nodded for him to go ahead, hating the probing questions.
‘What happened to the copy of you? I saw it materialise when you approached the portal in Arcis’ machine. Then it followed you through the same portal.’
Anya would never forget Canya. She looked away from him. ‘It was weird, meeting my exact double. She didn’t survive in the end.’
‘She was killed?’
She looked back. ‘Yeah. Turned on us, ratted us out to the guards while we were trying to escape the medical facility there.’
Jason ruffled his light brown hair. ‘Jesus, that must have been weird.’
Weird only scraped the surface of her time as a prisoner in Praesidium. Not to mention her role in their Breeder programme.
‘Uh, so how about you show me this place?’
She needed for Jason to be done with his questions. Her memories had been stolen from her, and to relive only parts of the journey unsettled her too much.
They stood near the entrance and Jason pointed out aspects of the compound. It had three main sections to it. A grey-bricked structure that looked to be a former community space, with stacks of chairs sitting outside, was now the medical bay. To the front of that was a grassy area with trucks parked in spaces large enough to accommodate them. Behind the medical bay were a series of streets that led back from it to another high fence.
They started for the road to the left of the makeshift trauma centre and Jason pointed out the town hall. Between it and the next building was a courtyard. They paused a moment and Anya spotted a stationary exercise bike and a free weights stand in the building next to it. There was even a boxing bag at the back of the room. Some soldiers in their early twenties lifted weights while others ran through training drills in the courtyard to the front of the area. She smiled as she planned her way back to fitness.
Jason was watching her closely. ‘I thought you’d like that. The tech workshop is on the other side of the exercise room. That’s my playground.’
They continued their walk as he pointed out the other sections of the compound. Anya saw it was only a small part of a bigger town. In the distance, green, corrugated sheets of metal divided the rest of the former town. To their side, several ransacked buildings stood idle and unused.
They meandered down streets, past buildings without fronts, open spaces that were being used to store things the rebels must have salvaged from other towns. On one street, Anya saw a handful of businesses, if she could call the open spaces that, trading things from clothing to general purpose items like hairbrushes and soap. There was even a barber shop.
‘I’m going to be working with the Inventor from Praesidium,’ said Jason. ‘So I can understand the Copies better. Jacob said they retain the personality traits of the Original, or human, until they’re connected.’
That declaration stopped Anya cold. ‘Are you saying my Copy was actually me, in more than just looks?’
The thought made her shiver. Could her Copy have passed as the real Anya in this world? Would Jason have noticed if Canya had turned up at the compound instead of her?
Jason nodded. ‘That’s what Jacob said.’
She looked away. Canya had acted in the most cruel and selfish way, passing back only the memory of Warren’s attack on her. Where else would she have gotten those traits but from Anya?
She looked at Jason. ‘Am I cruel? Selfish? Because that’s exactly what my Copy was like.’
&nbs
p; ‘Sometimes you were. But so was I. You’re also kind, forgiving and loyal to your friends. Alex said that if it wasn’t for you, he’d still be trapped in Praesidium. He owes you his life.’ He gripped both her arms. ‘Anya, you can be all of those bad things and still be a good person.’
She hoped so. But something more urgent than her behaviour bothered her.
Her stomach swirled with a new sickness. ‘Is Warren here? Did he make it?’
He released her arms. ‘Yeah. We found him and Jerome in Arcis. Did you want to see him?’
‘No, uh, not right now.’
She’d have to see her attacker eventually, but it would be on her terms.
The thought make her palms sweat.
2
Carissa
It took three soldiers to restrain Carissa as they marched her inside a grey-walled cell. Her mind, quiet and empty of Copy or Collective voices, frightened her. She scanned the room, desperate to see a familiar face, but found no one. The Inventor had promised to look after her. Where was he?
One soldier deposited her on a single bed with just a chair in her prison cell for company, and left. Alone and against the Inventor’s earlier warning, she searched for a connection to Praesidium; Quintus’ voice, or one of the Copies, would do. The connection that tethered her to the city, the one that grounded her... she no longer felt it. Sat on the bed, she hugged her middle as her new reality set in. The Inventor wasn’t the only one to abandon her.
At least she hadn’t been terminated. Carissa laughed bitterly at that thought. Her prison, her isolation, was far worse than any punishment Quintus could order. A sharp ache spread through her chest.
Where was the Inventor? Why had he broken his promise to her?
She jumped up from the bed and paced in the area between it and the door. The pain in her mostly organic heart eased off the more she moved. She kept moving until the Inventor’s betrayal of her didn’t hurt as much. She would never forgive him.
The door unlocked and Carissa froze. Her damp gaze found the only person who could make this better.
‘Inventor!’ She pushed her anger aside and ran over to the old, stooped man, slipping her arms around his thin waist. ‘Inventor,’ she repeated.
He returned the hug and closed the door behind him.
‘What’s happening, Inventor?’ She pulled away. ‘Why am I here? Why have I been separated from you? Have I done something wrong?’
He stroked her hair. She leaned into his gentle touch.
‘No, miss. You haven’t done anything wrong. Max and the others who run this camp, they’re just being cautious, like they were with Alex and my wolf.’
Carissa pulled back and frowned. ‘Are they comparing me to a Breeder and a beast made of metal?’
The Inventor chuckled; the sound lifted more pain from Carissa’s donated heart. ‘No, miss. You’re new, that’s all. Max doesn’t understand you like I do. I plan to change his mind about you.’
‘How?’
The Inventor motioned for her to sit on the bed. She did but kept her eyes on him, fearing that if she turned her back, he’d disappear again. But to her relief, the old man sat down beside her, showing no distress from the gun blast injury to his leg when he and Carissa had escaped Praesidium. It pleased her to see he was no longer in pain.
‘Max is wary of you, and for good reason,’ said the Inventor. ‘Nothing good has come of their interaction with the machines or Copies from Praesidium. He needs time to get to know you. I’ve assured him you’re no longer connected to the Collective. He’s carried out several scans on you, Alex and Rover and is satisfied that none of you are a threat.’
If that was the case, why was she in this room?
Carissa stood up and marched to the door. ‘Okay, then let’s get out of here.’
When the Inventor didn’t move, the pain in her chest returned.
‘Max is willing to release you, but you must promise two things.’
She nodded. ‘Anything.’
‘You must follow my rule. It’s also now Max’s main condition to your release. Never attempt to reconnect with the Collective or Presidium’s network. Your neuromorphic chip is disabled but your biogel has restorative properties. We don’t know if it can revive the link. This camp is off the grid and an anti-magnetic field in the valley helps to disrupt any signals in or out.’
Carissa crossed her fingers behind her back. ‘I wouldn’t do that, Inventor. I don’t want to be terminated.’
Starting now.
With a puff, the Inventor stood up. ‘You’ve never been disconnected before, Carissa. Right now, you probably feel like there’s a huge void in your life. That’s the missing connection. You’ll want to reconnect, just for a while. But you can’t. You hear me?’
‘I won’t. I promise.’
From this point on.
‘It won’t be easy. You’ll be tempted to try, but I promise to teach you how to live without the Collective or the Copies in your head.’
From the moment she’d started watching the last set of participants compete in Arcis, she’d wished for a simpler life, one that separated her from Quintus and the Collective. Both had the power to terminate her on a whim. During their escape from the city, Quintus had found a way to contact her offline and she still didn’t know if he could terminate her remotely. But her usefulness to the Ten had kept her alive for this long. Even with the threat that accompanied reconnection, Carissa battled against her desire to return to her old life.
She nodded. ‘I promise, Inventor. Can we leave now?’
‘Yes, we can.’ He shuffled over to the door and knocked on it. ‘We’re ready,’ he shouted, then turned to Carissa. ‘Just one more thing, miss.’
‘What?’
‘My name is Jacob, not Inventor. That’s what you’ll call me from now on. We’re no longer in the city. Think of it as your first task as a new human.’
The thought made her smile. ‘Human, like Anya and Dom?’
The Inventor nodded. ‘Exactly like them.’
‘Yes, Jacob.’
The door opened and she followed the Inventor out of the room, gripping his belt tight so he couldn’t disappear again. Two female soldiers dressed in green army gear waited in the corridor. The air outside the room chilled her more than the tunnels beneath Praesidium. She let go of the Inventor and rubbed her bare arms. One of the soldiers handed her a green fatigue jacket. She slipped it on; it swamped her thirteen-year-old frame.
‘Come on, miss,’ said the Inventor. ‘Max wants to introduce you to some people.’
She nodded, ready to follow him anywhere.
She would never be alone again.
They left the prison building, which was set at ground level, and stepped outside. The bright yellow sun stung her eyes. But she’d experienced worse pain in Praesidium, where the force field dome around the city had distorted the light and tripled the intensity of the sun’s glare. Here, at least her eyes didn’t water the second she saw daylight. A stiff breeze, created by something other than motion, skittered across her face. She had only felt the wind twice before, once when she’d crossed the barrier around Praesidium and again when she’d travelled in the back of a truck on her way to this camp.
She smiled and shielded her eyes, keeping close to Jacob as he crossed the compound surrounded by mountain rock to a courtyard with a high brick wall on the opposite side. They passed by an array of trucks, similar to the one they’d used to escape, parked around a grassy area. To the right of the yard stood a long, rectangular building. It resembled a warehouse. Nearing the entrance, Carissa saw it had an open side and what looked to be exercise equipment inside. The courtyard was enclosed on the left side by a large, two-storey house that had a hand painted sign erected outside. It read: “Town Hall”.
The Inventor led her through the courtyard and into what looked to be a makeshift dining hall. The smell of food hit her as soon as she entered the space, about a third the size of the courtyard. She could consume hum
an food, but the terminals in the Learning Centre fed her biogel body with enough energy to satiate her hunger. She looked around the space for the pods with the single wires hanging down from the ceiling, like in the upload room in the Learning Centre. But all she found were tables and benches, and food stations. Maybe they were in a different part of this building?
She followed the Inventor through the hall and entered a new corridor, passing by two rooms opposite each other packed with dozens of beds. The old man carried on and stopped outside a final room at the end of the corridor.
Maybe this was where they kept the terminals.
He opened the door and her heart sank. A central table dominated the space, covered with rolls of maps and several handheld computers. She recognised the basic tech that Praesidium had made especially for the towns. It was enough to satisfy their curiosity, enough to keep them from demanding more.
Quintus once said a happy town was a compliant town.
A dozen people stood inside the room. All eyes were on her as she entered. Some of the teenagers older than her wore the same type of green jacket as she did. None were from the group who had escaped Praesidium.
A man in his forties with a buzz cut, whom Carissa had learned earlier was Max, introduced himself properly. ‘Carissa, we understand you are a synthetic copy, and while you are a guest in this compound it would be wise not to make an enemy of me. I assume Jacob has spoken to you about your conditions of stay here?’
Carissa nodded. Her gaze flitted to where a group of six teenagers stood together. She recognised two of them: Warren and Jerome.
‘I want to introduce you to some others we rescued from Arcis. Jacob here tells me you were watching their progress?’
Carissa nodded again but her gaze fixed on Jerome. She walked over to him, much to the unease of the dark skinned boy.
She reached out to touch his face. ‘You’re just like me.’
This newborn had fooled not only the Copies but the Collective too. The biogel in a newborn and Copy’s body emitted a low frequency hum that she could hear. His sickness must have masked his biogel signature when he arrived at Essention’s hospital. The force field surrounding Arcis may have done the same thing.
