Deus: The Eurynome Code, Book Six

by Gorman, K.

  She gave him a broad smile as she held the package with the plumeria cutting out to him. “Here. It’s supposed to be the same color that was in your old office.”

  “Oh,” he said, taking it from her and frowning down at its contents. “How nice.”

  How nice.

  He didn’t care at all.

  That was fine. She hadn’t expected him to. The gift of plumeria was just her going through the motions.

  She wondered if he knew that.

  Still, it was something that connected her to him, which indicated more thought on her part.

  “Eva,” he began, his tone different. Deeper. More serious.

  She frowned. “Did something happen?”

  “Yes. I need a Cradle base.”

  His words slammed into her like blood into a heart. Adrenaline surged. For a second, a dull roar hit her ears, her breath stalling in her throat.

  She knew exactly what he meant. Currently, the only bases that existed were herself—Program Chaos—and her son, Program Tartarus.

  Gaia hadn’t even begun production yet.

  He wants my son.

  “How about another clone?” she asked, plastering a smile on her lips and making sure it would reach her eyes. “That worked last time. My genes are good.”

  “Yes, yes. That would work. Thank you, Eva.” He nodded once, then ducked his head down with a frown like he did when he was thinking. “Nine-month timeline? Could we cut it to six?”

  “Nine is required for full development,” she told him. “Otherwise, you risk…abnormalities.”

  What’s his hurry?

  “Ah. I see. Yes, thank you. Please start that.”

  “And the others?” she asked. “Will you check up on them?”

  He nodded. “Yes. I will be around for the next four months, proceeding with Quaternary stage.”

  She frowned. “Already? I didn’t think we had that permission.”

  “They’ll change their minds. Who’s in Tertiary now?”

  She had to think for a moment. “Karin and Nomiki, Programs Eos and Enyo, and Brennan, Program Arawn. Both Nomiki and Brennan are up for Quaternary.”

  “Good. Please prepare them for the process.”

  When he walked away, she frowned at his back.

  The Eurynome Project prepared its subjects for connection to a hive mind, plugging their individual archetypes together to form a whole. The years leading up had been a race to keep their systems alive and in check with their changing bodies, awaken their archetypes enough to display anomalies, and supplement their minds. Tertiary phase had begun the process of connection. Quaternary was supposed to complete it.

  She’d read it all before, understood the process.

  But something in his manner unsettled her.

  Why does he need a new Cradle base?

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Karin unholstered her blaster, turned off its safety, and followed Layla straight down the courtyard and into the first buildings. The place had a flowing, open plan. Though designed to allow the outside’s large amount of natural light to flow in and illuminate most places, there were regular alcoves with small crystals that she suspected lit up during the nighttime, along with ornate, archaic-looking torches attached to the walls at the entrance to some of the larger rooms, and especially along the outside.

  They passed from inside to outside, jogging through a small open-air garden with beautiful, kept lawns, hedges, and statuary filling the area, and a little pond of koi fish with a small, gurgling water feature in the middle. Stone columns and balustrades led up to a second and third floor, their balconies wide and empty, clothed in a mixture of dusky, rose-pink marble and carved white balustrades with decorative supports. The statuary continued as they moved through a marble archway and into a large hall, its ceiling at least three stories tall and decorated with even more statues.

  Except, here, it began to get odd.

  Instead of just straight statuary highlighted in the alcoves, as one might expect to find in a regular temple, gallery, or museum, these statues had been elevated. Below, a series of lifepods acted as their plinths.

  About half of them were dormant, their glasses dark and the liquid inside on a simple stasis bubble.

  But some were active.

  Her gaze snagged on the first lit statue, that of the goddess Nike. Below her, the tank was active and occupied, the small, naked body of a brown-skinned girl curled partway into a fetal position, her dark hair flowing free and bobbing in the water.

  Tiny bubbles clung to her skin, and her eyes fluttered under their lids, as if she were deep in REM. She wore a breathing mask over her nose and mouth, and a nanoinjector crown bit into her skull like a metallic clawed foot, attached to a cable that led to the top of the tank.

  The cable continued up the back wall of the alcove, heading to the ceiling. Following them up, she saw that the other pods did the same, and all linked together in a trunk that led up the hallway, its cables like the roots of a tree.

  Or nerves.

  Sasha’s grand-scale, mythological version of the Cradle?

  Her lip curled, gaze wandering over the rest of the active pods as she slowed to a walk behind Layla. When she came to the third and fourth, however, she frowned.

  Every person in the tanks looked the same.

  Same brown skin. Same frizzy, flowing black hair. Same height and build, though a few were more muscled than others.

  What the…

  “She used herself as a base and made clones from her own genetic material,” Layla said, reading her expression. “She didn’t do everyone, as she was planning to simply steal the ones she had already worked on, but there are enough to give her a boost and fill in the gaps for a completed Cradle.”

  “Would it work?” Karin asked.

  “Yes.”

  Fuck. They had to get those kids out of here.

  She picked up another jog and led the way to the next hallway, electing to ignore the life pods. There, the rose-pink marble shifted to a tan tone. More columns and decorative arches met her sight, along with marble floors that gleamed. At the far end of the hallway, a distant balcony overlooked a patch of blue sky tinged with a wisp of cloud.

  They must have come far enough to see above one of the ridges.

  They continued on.

  A distinct sense of familiarity began to echo through her mind as she slipped into the next hall and continued on. It felt as though she’d been here before. Walked these halls. She kept catching snatches of buried memory, herself in a pale, floor-length dress that draped from her shoulders and hips, pausing at one of the columns, looking down past the edge of a pool. Light seemed to catch in her skin, giving off a slight glow that jarred against the backdrop.

  That’s part of the programming, Tia informed her. Dream therapy, a form of brainwashing with virtual reality. See? Look―

  A different memory pushed in, and suddenly, she was in a different body and skin. Black hair framed her face and ran down her shoulder in a slender braid. Thin, willowy fingers reached out over the water, watching the fish slide beneath its dark surface. In her mind, the scales of the universe balanced in harmony, darkness and stars reflected in her eyes. When she stepped, the ends of her flight feathers occasionally brushed the backs of her calves.

  Wait, she thought, her attention snapping to that detail. You have wings?

  Eurynome has wings, yes. The dream model was an early prototype. She was often depicted with wings in art, and associated with birds. And eggs.

  And the snake? Karin asked, her mind flashing back to both the myth and the Eurynome Project’s specific logo. Ophion, her husband?

  Yes, Bernard got creative with that. Turned it into an ouroboros. I suppose it’s fitting, given that he’s still apparently alive.

  Actually, they didn’t know that. So far, they knew that Elliot had been alive two years ago. They had no confirmation about Bernard, except for a mention of him on Mars over fifteen years ago.

&nbs
p; Also, there was always an egg.

  The vision of herself as Tia-Eurynome jumped back into her head, this time focusing on an egg floating above the small pond, and the muscly ripples of the snake that circled in the water below it.

  Karin shook her head, freeing her mind from the image, and let her eyebrows inch upward. Quite the fans of symbolism, aren’t they?

  That, and exceptionally beautiful women.

  Tia’s tone had an edge that she suspected the woman hadn’t meant to convey.

  Layla paused at an archway, taking a moment to look, her frizzy hair catching the light, then turned to the left. They entered another garden and another set of statue alcoves. More and more life pods appeared, and she was beginning to recognize a few of the gods and goddesses above them. They passed Artemis, with her bow and deer, the statue taken directly from one of the historical depictions she’d seen in holos, as well as Apollo, her brother. Leto, their mother, came next, draped in a shawl and with her face turned longingly and demurely toward where the twins stood strong. Both Apollo and Artemis’ tanks were dormant, but Leto’s had another Sasha clone in it, curled over herself with her hair floating like a dark sea.

  Then, around the next corner, came Helios and Selene.

  And Eos.

  When she read the name, she stopped. And stared.

  Inside, something clicked.

  Her tank was empty, waiting, the water inside dark and dormant. For a split instant, her mind felt the shock of liquid inside, the floating sensation of being suspended, the connection of the Cradle, the way her body felt so loose, and her mind connected.

  It felt like it was waiting.

  And, above, was her statue.

  The girl depicted was young, perhaps seventeen―the same age she’d been when she’d escaped. Though smoothed by the statue’s perfection, and the vibrance of youth, something she’d only had sparingly between the sickness of her treatments, the girl did look like a near-sister to her, especially when she imagined Nomiki’s features on her. She wore a loose, flowing robe, with bare feet and bare arms, a pitcher of water pouring light that glowed in the air. Flowers were loosely braided into her long hair, which hung in a small updo that fell down her back. And, on her back…

  Well, she thought. I guess I have wings, too.

  Perhaps they hadn’t made it into her brainwashing dream modeling.

  “Karin? What are yo―Oh.” Layla had gone several meters up before realizing that she had stopped, then figured out why.

  She came back and stopped next to her, looking up at the statue. “You completed your Program, didn’t you?”

  “I completed the Eurynome Program.”

  “Yes, you did, but you completed Eos at the same time. That’s why you’re feeling what you’re feeling. It’s like coming home, isn’t it?”

  Karin looked around at the hall, taking in its gleaming marble, the gold inlays and trim below the vaulted ceilings, the way the natural light played up the corridor. The sound of gurgling water came from around the corner, along with the slow, cool sigh of the wind.

  The place looked utterly foreign. Garish. Opulent. So unlike anywhere she’d ever been.

  And yet, it did feel familiar.

  She closed her eyes, feeling the space pull at her. There was light at the end of her senses, vibrant and flowing, just out of reach.

  If she went into the tank, she could touch it.

  Ignore that. It’s just the programming messing with you.

  Layla slipped her smaller hand into Karin’s gloved one, gripped her fingers, and pulled her along.

  “Come on. She’s this way.”

  She gave her head a shake and forced herself to refocus. Ahead, the hallway bisected another. Light flickered and pulsed from the right, and another gurgling splash echoed up.

  Then, something shifted. Layla slowed and her back tensed, making her profile taller. Then, she stopped, her attention fixed on the right-hand archway.

  The whisper click of claws came from around the corner, and the shadow of something big loomed into view from the next hallway.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  The Sentinel had a strong, sturdy appearance. About the size and shape of a racehorse, it had a thick, arched neck and a head that looked vaguely reptilian. Its legs had the bone structure of a gazelle, but the muscles of a lizard―they were vertical now, but she’d seen their double-joints rotate for it to scale a sheer wall―and ended in four clawed toes. A fifth toe on the forelegs had developed into an entirely separate appendage, folding back on the creature’s leg like a bat’s wing and wielding a scythe-like blade that glistened in the light from the other room. Its shining black skin looked like it had been cut from a clutch of obsidian glass.

  It strode partway into the hallway and paused. Its head swung their way.

  Karin pulled on her power.

  Light erupted from her skin. The Sentinel snarled, lunged.

  Something shifted inside her.

  The next thing she knew, she was falling.

  Blackness consumed her. The marble hit her knees. Her suit screamed. For one solid second, her mind disconnected, wiping out.

  When her vision came back, splotches of black mist were rising from her body and collecting into a humanoid shape in front of her.

  Her Shadow strode forward.

  The Sentinel skittered to a stop, its claws scratching on the floor. The air flexed around them, a fluctuation of energy that crawled up her skin.

  She gasped as the last of the Shadow rose from her, pulling like oil through her skin, and gaped as it faced off with the Sentinel.

  So that’s where it went.

  She took a staggered breath. Layla stood by the side, her wide eyes slowly resolving into a hesitant, cautious calculation.

  “Join us, cousin.” The Shadow lifted its arm, holding out a hand.

  The Sentinel skittered back as if burned. Large, loud breaths puffed from its chest, the nose holes on its snout flaring. Its mouth gaped open, then closed. The muscles of its cheek rippled as it chewed.

  Then, with a burst of speed, it streaked away. Down the hall and out of sight past the next corner.

  Her Shadow turned slowly.

  “Karin, are you okay?”

  She blinked. The Shadow was turning and striding back toward her. A jolt of adrenaline had her on her feet a second later, standing tall and ready to face it.

  Though, that was seeming…unnecessary?

  She closed her slackened jaw. “Have you been inside me…this whole time?”

  The Shadow ignored her. Instead, its attention had wandered to the side, either very fixated on the piece of carved wall next to them or focused on something further off that she couldn’t see.

  She suspected the latter.

  “I can feel her,” the Shadow said. “You’ve done well, little one. You can be welcome in our world any time.”

  “Thank you,” said Layla. “We really appreciate the freedom.”

  “Let us go to her,” the Shadow said. “We won’t be free until she is taken care of. Her son, too, but he is a lesser inconvenience. We can live with him.”

  Karin’s jaw opened, but she had the wits to keep her mouth closed this time. And she managed to stay still as the Shadow came toward her. Its hand reached out, touching her mind through her skull, and the rest of it stepped into her skin and settled, just as if it had put on a coat.

  What the fuck?

  Whatever. It had scared the Sentinel off. That was…useful. And it had also invited it to join, which could be badass.

  She wouldn’t mind an army of Sentinels behind her. It could go with the other army she had now.

  She glanced over to Layla. “Any idea what that was about?”

  The girl shrugged. “It’s working as a leader for its people. Which means it’s helping us, I think.”

  Right.

  Karin gave herself a little shake and moved forward. “Let’s just find Sasha and get on with this.”

  It didn’t t
ake long. Either the palatial temple really wasn’t as big as she thought―a possibility, given Sasha’s ability to tamper with dimensional reality―or Layla really did know where she was going.

  They found Sasha around the far side of the building, addressing a small child who was backing away from her, his steps quick and shallow, half-stumbling, hands clutched up to his mouth in fear.

  He couldn’t have been more than seven years old.

  And Sasha…Sasha looked older.

  Which made sense, given Tylanus’ age progression. Though only a month had passed for Karin since they’d last met, it had likely been ten years for Sasha, maybe more.

  Beside her, Layla’s expression hardened, attention narrowing on the boy.

  Tia rose up in her mind.

  That her?

  Why, you know any other maniacal scientists running around this place?

  Other than myself? No. I was merely thinking of all the clones she has. If she controlled time, she could have a second self running around, helping her with the programming.

  Karin’s lip curled in disgust. She strode forward, edging around the border of another pool and passing several other tanks and statues. “Hey, Dr. Sasha! Why don’t you pick on someone your own size?”

  She was surprised the doctor hadn’t noticed her yet. She wasn’t precisely subtle in her neck to heel silver armor. And Sasha had been immediately aware of them when they’d entered her last pocket dimension.

  But then, she had been focused on the child.

  Technically, this isn’t her dimension. It’s Tylanus’.

  Good. She’d take the advantage, however small it might be.

  The doctor jerked upright when she called, her head snapping in Karin’s direction.

  The look of anger turned quickly to shock. “Karin?”

  The doctor paused, confusion entering her features. Karin watched her expression change. Already, the room was sharpening, the adrenaline slipping into her blood, her body preparing for a fight.

  “Yes,” she said. “It’s me.”

  The doctor frowned. “What…what are you doing here?”