Genesis Variant (Genesis Book 6)

by Eliza Green

  Laura frowned. Bill had only just found out and he hadn’t spoken to Stephen yet. ‘Where did you hear about it?’

  Anton and Arianna told me. Stephen switched to telepathic mode. They learned it from reading the minds of the younger Indigenes.

  Laura saw the lie manifest as a shadow behind Stephen. Something else had tipped him off. The silent communication between them felt like a tickle on her brain. Laura didn’t like using her Indigene skills, least of all telepathy. She was married to a human and she still thought of herself as one. She was about to tell Stephen to use his voice when Bill beat her to it.

  ‘Hello? Non Indigene in the room. Could you speak out loud?’

  ‘Sorry,’ said Stephen before repeating what he’d said to Laura.

  ‘Thank you.’

  Bill stood up and Laura sensed his unease at being left out of the conversation.

  ‘We don’t know why the GS are draining more power,’ said Bill, standing next to Laura. ‘I plan to send a crew out tomorrow to dismantle their cable from the main feed. If they won’t follow directions, we’ll cut off their supply.’

  Laura sensed new trepidation from Stephen. The increase in stolen power wasn’t the only reason he had come.

  ‘I think I know,’ said Stephen. ‘I was using the Nexus this evening and noticed micro tendrils drawing out from the wall and up to the ceiling. The stolen power feeds the machine inside the environ and the tendrils are drawn to something. I’d say that source of power.’

  ‘They’re stealing the Nexus’ power?’ said Laura.

  ‘That’s what I thought at first, but the Nexus has the ability to heal many users at once. The GS using it wouldn’t cause much disruption. They requested access to our caves and we said no. All they’re doing is accessing it in another way.’

  ‘So if they’re using the Nexus to heal and it’s not causing problems for your district, what’s the issue?’ said Bill.

  ‘Don’t you see the connection?’ said Stephen. ‘If they need power to attract the Nexus and recently doubled their power draw, it means what they’ve taken so far isn’t enough. The Nexus can be highly addictive for anyone who uses it. It can make you strong, powerful. And for someone who is neither, they may not stop until they’ve accessed it in its pure form, not through some makeshift environ.’

  Bill shook his head. ‘We will never grant them access to the Nexus the traditional way. Maybe the sample will be enough to satiate them.’

  But Laura saw the point Stephen made. ‘They’ll keep taking from the main feed, Bill. The more energy they use, the more the Nexus will be attracted to it. So where will they stop? Stephen’s right. We shouldn’t underestimate their plans. They may go beyond simple healing.’

  Bill paced the room. ‘Shit, I thought they’d get a little power to heal and when they were finished, they’d disconnect.’ He stopped pacing. His eyes flitted between the pair. ‘So what now?’

  ‘We start by disconnecting the power supply,’ said Laura. She turned to Stephen. ‘I’m not sure what you can do to stop them from accessing the Nexus though.’

  She’d seen the Nexus once, back when she was caught between human and Indigene and fighting for her life. Arianna had brought her there to complete her transformation and to stop further damage being done to her human body. She’d only used it that once, even though Stephen had said she could use it whenever she wanted.

  ‘The Nexus is organic and doesn’t obey the normal rules of society,’ said Stephen. ‘It is a living thing with instincts of its own. It is drawn to energy, like a moth is drawn to fire. We cannot tell it what to do.’

  ‘But Serena can,’ suggested Laura.

  Arianna had told her about Serena’s first use of the Nexus where she had controlled it and changed the way it worked.

  Stephen nodded. ‘I had thought about it. I will talk to her, and we can try, but I’m not sure if it will help.’

  ‘Okay, so we have a plan,’ said Bill.

  He prepared to see Stephen out. But when Stephen didn’t move, a sick feeling lodged in Laura’s gut. She sensed Stephen wanted to talk about more than the Nexus and the power supply.

  ‘Actually, there’s one other reason I’m here.’ He faced Laura and her heart thundered in her chest. ‘I need to ask you a favour.’

  ‘Anything.’

  She smiled but knew Stephen could sense her trepidation, the way she could sense his.

  It’s nothing bad, Laura, but I notice you fight your Indigene side. Why?

  ‘I don’t know.’ She walked to the other side of the room, for some space. ‘I don’t feel entitled to call myself one.’

  But you clearly show abilities that prove you are. And that could become more if you accepted them.

  ‘It’s not that, Stephen. I... well, it doesn’t feel right.’

  Why not? You are as much of an Indigene as Serena, said Stephen. She was human once. Now she is both, but she embraces her Indigene side. I can feel your struggle and how unhappy it makes you. You don’t want Bill to know, I understand that, but to fight it will make you sick, both mentally and physically.

  ‘It’s not as easy as that.’

  She glanced at Bill to see him staring at her. He looked away and she switched to telepathy.

  Okay, yes, I’ve been feeling out of sorts. I don’t know what I am any more. I feel human and yet I don’t. This isn’t fair to Bill. He’s my husband and I can’t talk to him about this.

  Why, because he’d tell you to do what makes you happy?

  Exactly. Laura huffed out a breath. He would tell me to become an Indigene and forget about him, because he loves me so much and he wouldn’t want to hold me back.

  So why don’t you explore your Indigene side?

  Because I’m afraid that the minute I do, it will end our relationship. That he will no longer be enough for me. Laura shook her head. I’m not ready for that.

  Stephen nodded. You can’t keep fighting it either. You need to let whatever is inside you emerge. Then you can take from there. To deny a part of you that exists is to exist only partially.

  Laura switched to her voice. ‘I know, Stephen. Give me some time.’

  ‘We don’t have time,’ he said, sounding frustrated. ‘I need you to use your ability now.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘You’re the only one who can get a read on the GS. Our abilities don’t seem to work around them. Plus, they don’t care for our kind. You can at least sense when they’re lying.’

  ‘I’ve already tried. Bill, tell him.’

  Laura looked over at him but he pretended to be interested in something on his monitor.

  When she persisted, Bill looked up and nodded. ‘She tried, Stephen. But it wasn’t enough. She should give it another go.’

  She couldn’t read her husband’s mind but the tension in his jaw told her Bill was annoyed by their silent conversation.

  ‘I’ll try again, Stephen. That’s all I can do.’

  She hoped her promise would put an end to the conversation.

  Stephen shook his head. Try harder, Laura O’Halloran. Then find your place in this world.

  He put on his hat and Bill showed him out.

  With Stephen gone, a worried Bill turned to her. ‘What was all that about?’

  ‘What?’

  ‘The silent conversation between you.’

  She sighed, hating that she kept secrets from Bill. But she didn’t know how else to do this. ‘He wants me to start using my abilities more.’

  ‘I heard that bit. I meant the part I didn’t hear.’

  ‘It was nothing, Bill.’ Laura pushed a bud in her ear and returned to the communication chatter, leaving one ear free. ‘Don’t worry; it was nothing.’

  But Bill didn’t look convinced.

  He returned to his desk and monitor. ‘Are you sure?’

  ‘Of course I am.’

  Laura faked a smile and slipped the second bud into her ear.

  22

  Bill got no sleep that
night thinking about Stephen’s visit and his and Laura’s secret conversation. His wife had been feeling lost for a while now, but he had hoped with some time she’d figure out what she wanted. The day she had agreed to become his wife had been the happiest of his life. Her acceptance had eliminated all doubts in his head about her wanting him. But last night, seeing how tense she had been while she and Stephen talked brought back all his insecurities.

  Laura slept soundly next to him in the bed. He leaned over her and tucked a strand of her blonde hair behind her ear, then pressed a soft, feathery kiss to her cheek. He loved this woman so much it hurt. It differed to the love he’d had for Isla, but was no less intense. Isla had been taken from him. Bill would not make Laura stay in a place or situation where she wasn’t comfortable.

  With just the bare amount of sleep under his belt, Bill got up a few hours later. A headache plagued him that rivalled his worst caffeine-induced migraine. He slogged to the shower and attempted to wash away his discomfort, then dressed and headed for the kitchen to get a coffee. It was his worst addiction and he couldn’t shake it.

  He slowed when he saw Laura at the replicator. She turned and gave him a smile as bright as the sun that streamed through the window. His doubts eased a little; whatever had been on her mind the night before had vanished in the morning light. He smiled back, albeit his feeling forced, and set to make some coffee.

  ‘That’s not going to sustain you. I can make some porridge. You want some?’

  Bill wrinkled his nose. ‘Nah, coffee will do me.’

  Laura shrugged. ‘Okay, but don’t blame me if you keel over from hunger later this morning.’

  Laura never skipped breakfast; she couldn’t function without food in her belly. Low blood sugar, she called it. Bill, on the other hand, regularly forgot to eat, especially when his diet of caffeine and adrenaline sustained him.

  ‘I’ve lived this long. I’ll survive.’

  She turned back to the replicator and Bill noticed her smile fade.

  He couldn’t bear the tension between them. ‘You feel okay after last night? You seem... stressed.’

  His wife nodded, concentrating on the food replicator as she punched in a code for porridge. ‘Everything’s fine, Bill. Please don’t worry. Let’s just work on a solution to stop the GS from taking more grid power.’

  Her answer didn’t satisfy him. ‘You’d tell me if something was wrong? I don’t want you to think we can’t talk about this stuff.’

  She turned and gave him a smile too wide to be natural. ‘I know, Bill. And I promise if there was something to talk about, we’d talk about it.’

  ‘Okay.’ Bill collected his mug from the coffee machine and drank the bitter liquid that matched his mood. He had a feeling this wasn’t the end of their talk. ‘I’m heading to work. You need a lift?’

  Laura carried her bowl of porridge to the table and set it down. ‘No, you go ahead. I want to check through Julia’s recordings of the communication chatter some more, see if there’s anything worth investigating.’

  Bill finished his coffee in three gulps and left her to her breakfast.

  He arrived at the office, staying only long enough to contact the head technician responsible for maintenance of the power grid. He asked him to meet him at the base station. Frank, his technician, had already been in touch with Bill about the cable when it first appeared. Until now, Bill had instructed Frank leave it alone. But today, he would go there to tell Frank to disconnect it.

  His car drove through New London and travelled along an old access road that took him beyond the city limits. Twenty-five miles from the boundary and in the opposite direction to the GS caves and District Three’s entrance stood a field of high-tech solar panels spanning an area close to two hundred square miles. Next to the field was a base station from which technicians controlled and monitored the power feed to the city. Surrounding the entire operation was a chain-link fence that Bill knew to be electrified. Similar stations to this, using molten silicone to store electricity, fed the other cities on Exilon 5.

  The car pulled up to the fenced-off entrance and Bill got out of his vehicle. He pressed his security chip to the plate by the humming gate. It brought up his photo and credentials on screen. The humming dropped away as the gate de-electrified and opened. Bill returned to his car, which drove through and parked in a bay outside the base station. There was no sign of Frank.

  Bill got out and entered the station. Just inside were a dozen wall monitors all showing data on them. On one monitor, Bill saw Frank at the location where the GS had attached their cable, a plot of land a few miles out that would remain undeveloped while the feed ran underground.

  He returned to his car and caught up to Frank at the site. Frank had hunkered down and was scanning an exposed part of the cable for the main feed where one section attached to another. A different, smaller cable was attached to the connector at a forty-five-degree angle. Frank continued to scan the cable even after Bill joined him.

  ‘What if we just yank it free?’ said Bill.

  Frank shook his head. ‘I would advise against that. I originally thought pulling it free would be enough, but if we interrupt the supply, we risk a city-wide blackout.’

  ‘So we don’t pull it free.’

  ‘I didn’t say that. I need to see how it’s connected first. That’s what the scans are for. We should take these back to the station so we can analyse them properly.’

  Bill examined the cable. It was not a natural fit for the connector, but somehow had found a way to work with it. He was no electrician, but the cable, crude in design and with exposed wires, looked dangerous.

  Frank visually inspected the connection. ‘We know it’s siphoning off the power.’ He continued to scan the connection points with his DPad. ‘But I won’t say any more at this stage.’ Frank stood up. ‘We’ll continue this back at the station.’

  They drove back separately to the base station. Inside, Bill stood next to Frank while he transferred the scans over to the main computer and screens.

  Frank cursed, shaking his head. ‘See this?’ He pointed at the infrared images of the cable and its components. ‘There are two parts to the cable. One part sits on the main feed while the other, the sub feed, mines the power back to the GS humans. The sub feed is reliant on the existence of the first part. Both must exist to work.’

  ‘So we disconnect one or the other.’

  Frank pointed at the image, specifically the part that sat on the main feed. This has somehow integrated itself into the main feed. We disconnect it, we blow the main feed. See how the ends merge with the primary cable feeding power to the city? The GS appear to have designed this intelligent cable to think it belongs there.’

  ‘So we have no choice?’

  Bill would not give in to GS demands. He had to stop them from destroying New London’s energy supplies.

  ‘We could try laser cutting it, but given how the interactive cable works, we could be cutting the main feed too.’

  ‘Let’s try that. You got cutting equipment in that truck of yours?’

  Frank frowned. ‘I do. You want to try now?’

  ‘No time like the present.’

  ☼

  They returned in separate vehicles to the location of the compromised cable. Frank pulled a machine out of the back of his truck twice the size of his chest. He set it down next to the secondary cable attached to the connector.

  He snapped on a pair of rubber gloves. ‘These will protect me from any surges, but I’d suggest you stand back.’

  Bill did. He watched from a safe distance as Frank turned on the laser-cutting machine. A red beam shone from the tapered end and made a high buzzing noise as Frank cut the cable mining the power back to the GS. Five minutes later, he turned off the machine and stood up. Bill saw he had successfully cut the cable. The pieces lay separated from each other.

  ‘That should do it, until the GS attach a new cable... what the hell?’

  Frank jumped back and Bi
ll saw the two severed ends of the cable wriggle in the dirt.

  ‘Shit!’

  The cable slithered along the ground searching for its other half. Bill lunged for the cable and yanked it back, but it squirmed against his efforts. The reconnection sent sparks dancing over his hand and up his arm. He went flying on his ass.

  ‘Stay back,’ Frank warned.

  Bill scuttled back as the cable reattached itself fully to the severed part. The insulating rubber around the cables melted and reformed to fill the cut Frank had made.

  Frank picked up the machine and attempted to cut the cable a second time. But this time, the laser barely made a dent in the rubber casing.

  Frank huffed out a breath. ‘If it wasn’t welded before, it is now.’

  ‘What the hell is it?’

  ‘It’s an organic, biomolecular, energy cable. I’ve never seen one, but I’ve read about them. It feeds on energy and won’t disconnect unless the right code, command or biowave is given.’

  ‘Can’t we just try pulling it from the actual connector?’

  ‘No, this thing is protecting itself. In the face of danger, it only strengthens its connection. If we keep attacking it, we risk the entire feed.’

  ‘So we shut down the power to the station. Cut off its access.’

  Frank scanned the connection point again. ‘That will kill power to everything, including all of your computers. You might lose everything, you might lose nothing, but you’ll be flying blind.’

  ‘Shit, so what do we do now?’

  Frank returned the laser cutter to the truck bay. He turned round and perched his fists on his hips. ‘Convince the GS to stop mining power. Or call their bluff. Threaten to shut down the grid. They might back off.’

  A frustrated Bill thanked Frank, who got into his truck and drove off. Bill returned to his vehicle and drove to the boundary line that marked the start of the GS grounds. He sat in the cabin and observed through magnification glasses the white, dome-shaped environ and the mining cable that ended at the back of it.

  When he’d said no more power, the GS hadn’t listened.