On the day of my medical, Mason and I walked nervously down the corridor. Paige led me to the medical room whilst Mason waited outside. The Healer performed his examination, but half way through he asked Paige to go and get the UST machine. I had never seen one before and the look of it scared me. “Lay still, Ariet,” he commanded. This might hurt a little. I winced as I felt it in my stomach which lasted for a few minutes. “Thank you, Ariet. You may get changed now.”
Mason sat impatiently for me whilst Dr. Weler and the Healer who examined me before flipped on the plasma. “Ariet, Mason,” Dr. Weler looked at both of us. “You have successfully conceived.” Turning the plasma to face us, I gawked in disbelief. You are three weeks pregnant.”
“What?” Mason gasped. “How could this happen so quickly?”
“Well, considering that we set it up that coitus took place in Ariet’s fertile window, the chances of conceiving were high. The UST we performed shows the presence of a fertilized embryo. Congratulations, the first stage of the Breeding Program was successful.”
Mason and I sat in shock on the journey back to our dwelling. We didn’t even stay for the lunch and our usual meet and greet with the Carers after my medical. Paige came in after Dr. Weler and the Healer left, fluttering about us in excitement, giving me all sorts of nutrients in little jars to take. I barely remember her instructions. Both Mason and I couldn’t eat that night. We just sat silently, side by side on the deck watching the stars.
Mason was the first to speak, “Well, Ariet. We did it. We are going to be parents.”
“Parents of a scientific experiment,” I replied sarcastically, but my hand instinctively went to my belly.
“You must know that we will be watched even more closely now. Our conversations will be monitored. You need to make sure to take the nutrients they gave you and eat at all the designated times. The Healers can detect if you are not, or have not been, abiding by their rules with your daily urine scans.”
I nodded in agreement. Fear, now, was all I felt. “What if,” I whispered, “what if he, she, is not what they want?”
“We can’t think of that now, Ariet. We just need to do everything by the book and hope that the project has been successful. We’ll get through this, together.” He took my hand and rubbed my palm, slowly. We sat there, the two of us for the longest time, side by side.
The next morning at breakfast, Mason hovered over me, making sure I had swallowed the nutrients and had a good selection of fresh food around me. Bumping into me every time I tried to have a sip of water or reach for some food, I jumped, “Are you going to be like this the whole nine months?” I snapped. “It is very irritating.”
He slumped in his chair, like a scolded child. “I’m just helping.”
“Yes, well, it’s day one since we heard the news, and you are not helping, you are hovering.” He rolled his eyes, which curled my lips into an upward grin, despite myself. “So, what is on the plate for us today? More tests?”
“I’m not sure. I don’t know much more about the Breeding Program than you do now. Maybe we should look at the manual?” he suggested. “Be as ready and prepared as we can be?”
“I think that’s a great idea,” I responded somewhat positively. The mood shifted slightly into a more optimistic light, and we sat side by side on the couch, almost comfortable with each other. Paging through the manual, we highlighted what we thought were the most important points, the gravity of the situation weighing heavily on us.
“So, for the next few weeks we can expect our routine daily testing as per normal, and then the weekly medical, which will include scans of the fetus. Your progress will be monitored, and should any issue be detected in your daily testing, you will be confined to the medical ward for further testing.”
“Great, what if I’m just having an off day?” I joked.
“There are no off days here, Ariet,” he warned seriously.
“I know,” I whispered.
He continued to read aloud, “At two months the gender of the fetus will be determined although, for the purposes of this breeding project, that does not affect the genetic outcome. At three months, a sample of the fetal material will be genetically screened to determine if the fetus is a homozygous carrier of the required gene.” He snapped the book shut. “I don’t want to read anymore. We have some idea of what will happen from this point onward. Let’s just get to the three month genetic determination and take it from there.”
Chapter 11
“Right, Ariet, this shouldn’t hurt a bit,” Dr. Weler flicked a long needle before me. “We are just going to push this through your belly and down into the baby to get the sample we need.” I squeezed my eyes shut and held onto the edge of the examination table. The numbing cream they had rubbed around the testing site prevented me from feeling any pain but didn’t stop me from feeling fear. Fear of the unknown. Of not knowing what would happen to us and my son. I could hear Mason pacing nervously outside the room. After a few minutes, the Healer addressed me. “Okay, Ariet. You can get dressed and join Mason.”
Paige, always by my side, gave my hand an affectionate squeeze. We had grown close over the last few weeks. She had been visiting daily, bringing new variations of nutrients and instructions from the Medical Centre, plus treats from the market, which I loved. “Paige,” I whispered, “Please let me know what you can find out about the baby’s genetic profile,” I begged. She held a single finger to her lips and shook her head cautiously, warning me to be quiet. Stepping out of the room, Mason grabbed my hand and walked me slowly out of the examination room into the Carers’ waiting room. “I want to go home,” I whispered. He nodded and continued to guide me through the waiting area and onto the platform.
Once at home, I tried to calm my nerves with tea. “How long did they say it would take?”
“That’s the fourth time you have asked me, and the answer is still the same. I don’t know,” Mason replied patiently. “Dr. Weler said they would be in touch, and we would know the baby’s fate when it was time.”
I cringed as I repeated what he said out loud. “All we can do is wait then?” I asked.
He sat beside me. “Yes, I guess we have no other choice.”
On the third day of waiting, we were summoned back to the Medical Center. Dr. Weler had us sit before him at his desk. “We have had the preliminary results back. There is little evidence to prove that the fetus is homologous for the gene. But, we cannot determine that conclusively as the sample was compromised by a mishap in the laboratory.”
“What kind of mishap?” I asked, clenching my knuckles so tightly they had turned white.
“Your sample had been left under the UV sterilization light accidently. UV light degrades genetic material,” he explained. “The Carer in question has been dealt with accordingly. We do not tolerate any ‘accidents’ in the Breeding Project. With that said, we will need to take another sample, as before. You will need to come in two days from now. Please make sure you have eaten a full breakfast and have done your morning scan. We will need those results as part of the new analysis. The same as before, Ariet, nothing new yet,” He stood up. “Oh, and before I forget, a new Carer has been assigned to you. Eden.”
“What happened to Paige?” I asked anxiously.
“As I said, Ariet, we do not tolerate mistakes of any kind in the Breeding Project. Paige has been dealt with accordingly.” I inhaled sharply. Mason squeezed my hand tightly, warning me to hush.
“If that’s all,” Mason got up impatiently. “We would like to get home now.” Without looking up, Dr. Weler gestured us out with a flick of his hand.
Pacing our living room, I questioned Mason frantically. “We need to find Paige. Find out what happened. There is still a chance that the baby could be homologous.”
“No, Ariet. I could read it on Dr. Weler’s face. I doubt that what happened with Paige was an accident.” Mason set about putting a long wool coat over him, with thick boots.
“Where are you going? Are
you going to find Paige?” I asked frantically, concerned for the well-being of my only friend.
“No, I need to speak to Thor. Stay here. I mean it, Ariet.” With that he disappeared to the bottom of our garden into a small alcove I had not noticed before. Why didn’t he take the train? I wondered.
Mason returned a few hours later, appearing suddenly at the kitchen door. He gestured silently down the path to the edge of the garden to where he had disappeared earlier. “What’s down there? Where have you been?” I whispered, stumbling after him.
“With Thor. I used a pathway that interconnects the dwellings. We discovered it when we were children playing in the grounds.”
“Why?” I asked, afraid of the answer.
“I wanted to see what he could find out about what happened to Paige.”
“And…?”
“And, it’s bad.”
“What?” I screeched.
“Shhh…” he clasped a hand over my mouth, pointing above, “…they can hear us, there are satellites above us.” I looked at him confused. “Thor is going to sneak into the Medical Centre and find out exactly what happened to Paige. All I know right now is that they have taken away her Carer privileges and her access is severely restricted.”
“Is she hurt?”
“I’m not sure, Ariet. But what I’m more concerned about is if the incident in the medical testing facility was actually an accident.”
Inhaling sharply, I started to realize. “Paige could have been protecting us.”
“Yes and no. This could also be a completely random event,” he answered, as if thinking out loud. Poor Paige, my eyes welled up. She had been so good to me in the last few weeks. Feeling weak and nauseous, the effects of early gestation combined with nerves, I raced back towards the house to relieve myself.
I slept restlessly that night, waiting for the feedback from Thor about Paige. I could hear Mason pacing nervously outside my room. I had one more day until the repeat testing was scheduled, which was also contributing to my anxiousness. At exactly 1.45 in the afternoon, Mason excused himself and dashed off down the path. An hour later he returned with an ashen look on his face. I was already at the bottom of the garden waiting for him. “It was no accident, Ariet. Paige deliberately sabotaged the tests. Which means…which means that she was trying to protect us. The baby doesn’t carry the gene.” I felt my legs crumble beneath me. Mason caught me before I hit the grass, and we both collapsed onto the soft grass beneath us. Placing my hands instinctively around my tiny bump, I closed my eyes.
“According to the manual, it means he is to be terminated,” he said quietly whilst holding me tightly.
“We can’t let this happen, Mason,” I begged. “Can’t you speak to your Grandmother, plead with her.”
“It won’t work, Ariet, she wrote the manual. After all, she scheduled the termination of her own daughter,” he said bitterly.
“Why did your parents have to be terminated?” I asked fearful of the answer.
“They wouldn’t give me up to the program,” Mason whispered in such sadness.
“What do we do? I don’t want our baby to die.”
Placing his hands over mine on my belly, he leaned his forehead against mine. “I’ll find a way to protect us, Ariet. I promise. I won’t let anything happen to you two.”
“We don’t have long, Mason. The retesting is tomorrow and then it’s two more days until the results are given. Even then, I’m sure the Elders already suspect the answer. We have to run. We have to get out of here. Go back to Quadrant Four. My parents will help us.”
“The Creators will find us, Ariet. The devices in our wrists are also trackers. They can track us anywhere.”
Thor appeared later that afternoon, his usual demeanor overtaken with something darker. “I’ve come for supper,” he announced at the front door.
“Hello,” I greeted him cautiously.
Mason motioned us towards the bottom of the garden. Under the protection of the trees, Thor was the first to speak, “I found Paige. I spoke to her. She has been scheduled for termination.” He paused to let that sink in for a few minutes. “When looking for her termination date, I found your name listed, with the fetus Ariet, as the carrier. I’m sorry. I wasn’t able to find out why you have been scheduled as well. They already know what they need to from the original testing. This second round of testing is just to get you back to the lab where they will drug you and send you for termination.”
“How do we get out of this?” Mason squeezed Thor’s arms tightly. “There must be something we can do, Thor. I cannot let them exterminate my partner and unborn child, help me please.” The desperation in his voice sent shivers down my spine. We stood in silence for a few minutes, each trying to grasp the severity of our situation. Tears streamed down my face.
“There is a way…maybe,” We both looked at him sharply. “One of the underground tunnels connects the New World to the Old World.
“How long has this been in existence?” Mason looked as though he wanted to strangle his childhood friend. “For always. It was created by the Elders as a method of dumping any ill or undesirable humans to the outside of the Four Quadrants. No one knows how long the tunnel is or where it goes. All I know is that it is heavily patrolled.”
“How long have you known about this, Thor?” Mason growled.
“Only for a few months, since I went on the roster system to guard it. From what I can gather, it hasn’t been used for at least ten years, but is maintained routinely.”
“Can you get us to the tunnel?”
“No, Mason. It’s too risky. They can track your every movement. Also, the location of the tunnel itself is risky.”
“Where is it?” Mason demanded. Thor said nothing. Mason grabbed him pulling him by the scruff of his collar.
“Don’t fight me, Mason,” Thor cautioned. “We both know who will win this.” Mason reluctantly let go, smoothing his uniform, the evidence of Thor’s strength apparent. “It’s below the Medical Center, Mason. It’s off the old train lines which used to run underground in the city. The door is sealed shut and is only opened by scanning one of the recruited engineers who work in the Great Tower. We will never be able to pull this off.”
“We can,” I whispered. They both looked at me curiously. “The drug that Jules gave me, Haze. If we could somehow give it to the Guardian or engineer, it could work.”
“That’s brilliant, Ariet. How do we get our hands on more of it, Thor? We need a vial of it.”
“I can’t, Mason, it will put Jules at risk.”
“Please, Thor, you know what they have taken from us, from you and Jules, and now from Ariet and me. We have to end this. Find a way to survive.” A knowing glance passed between them.
Feeling tired and overwhelmed, I walked over to a garden chair and sat down, just out of hearing distance of the two of them. Their conversation went on for two more hours. A bear hug between them with a courteous nod in my direction signaled the end of the discussion. Mason trudged towards me, sheer exhaustion and terror enveloping him.
“It’s been planned,” he said softly. “Tomorrow we escape. Thor can get us to the tunnel, but you need to follow my very instruction to the detail. Do you understand?”
“Yes. Thank you, Mason, I know how hard this must be for you.”
“Don’t thank me just yet. But we definitely owe Jules and Thor. They are both putting their lives at risk for us.”
I nodded compassionately. “How will it work, tomorrow?”
“Because of my memory, I know the Great Tower like the back of my hand. It will be an asset when descending down the levels. I cannot tell you the exact nature of the plans, for fear they get wind of our escape and question you. The less you know the better. All you need to know for now is that the testing will go on as scheduled tomorrow. When necessary, I will tell you the next stage of the plan. For now, pack a bag with a change of clothing and something warm. We don’t know what it’s like on the outside.” He paused
and let out a low sigh. “Maybe we shouldn’t do this, Ariet. You will be alone, no medical attention, nothing. How will you survive?”
“At least we’ll be free, Mason. Anything is better than being held captive and being forced to take place in a science project. We will find a way to make this work. For the sake of our child.”
Chapter 12
We shared a bed together for the first time since the night copulation was scheduled. Mason enveloped me and held me protectively all night long. The next morning we went about our routine as normal. The train ride to the Medical Centre was the first time we spoke. “Go to your medical,” he whispered. “I’ll be waiting outside as normal. When Dr. Weler is not looking, your Carer will hand you a needle with Haze in it. You need to find a way to inject it into the Healer’s neck when he is not looking. You only get one shot at this, okay?”
“Yes,” I whispered.
The train came to a halt. We scanned our way into the Medical Centre, waving hello to the Carers as per normal. The newly assigned Carer, Eden, greeted me at the entrance of the testing facility. She eyed Mason nervously. He nodded in response. Placing a hand gently in the small of my back, Eden escorted me down the corridor. Without looking at me, and with a forced smile fixed in place, she whispered through clenched teeth, “I’m Paige’s cousin.” The door opened before I could respond, and I came face to face with Dr. Weler looking significantly less pleasant than normal.
“Please get changed, Ariet, we need to repeat the testing from last week, same procedures, you understand.” I nodded. Eden placed a robe gently in my hands. Unfolding it to get changed, I noticed a long metal cylindrical object in the middle of it. Lying gently on the table I clasped and unclasped the syringe in my sweaty hand, unsure if I could go through with this, but knowing what was riding on this. After a few minutes, Dr. Weler came in, “Ready?” he asked. I nodded silently, trying not to show how stressed I was. “Your urine levels this morning indicated some abnormalities, Ariet. Anything you want to tell me?”
Breeders (Breeders #1) Page 7
