‘Okay, let’s go.’
Anya and Dom followed Sheila, Imogen and Thomas as they took three sets of stairs down to the third level. At the bottom, they exited into a white corridor. Anya squinted beneath the harsh, overhead lights. She’d forgotten how bright this place could get. Her medic had brought her down here once, when she was trying to convince her that having a baby by force was a good thing.
Anya followed the sound of soft voices up ahead. They met up with the others in an open area, set before the door leading to the Nurturing Centre viewing corridor.
Carissa walked up to a different, plain wall that had a slight shimmer to it. She glanced down at her wrist.
‘It needs a Copy’s chip to open it.’
The soldiers shoved the guard forward. With a grunt, he waved his wrist in front of the wall. A part of it transformed into a door, showing a new corridor that appeared to give them access to the area behind the rooms and the viewing corridor. Vanessa helped June inside, followed closely by Carissa and Jacob.
Dom ordered the remainder to watch his ex-guard before following them. Anya entered the new corridor, keeping back. This was Carissa and Jacob’s show now. She had no idea what this equipment did or how it worked.
She entered a room—one of three—that she’d only seen from one side: through the viewing corridor. Her chest tightened suddenly. Her incarceration, her forced connection with Alex... it was still raw. She needed to find Alex and Jerome, to free them both—if they were here at all.
Their rescue would have to wait. Right now, June needed help.
Anya stood back while Vanessa helped June sit on a gurney in the middle of the room. A machine containing seven vials made of clear glass stood off to the side. Each vial contained an amber liquid.
Jacob stroked the front of the machine.
‘Do you know how to use this?’ he asked Carissa.
She walked up to it and frowned. Anya wondered if Carissa was accessing the files she’d grabbed before disconnecting from the city.
‘This machine accelerates growth.’ She shook her head at Jacob. ‘We can’t use this on the foetus while it’s still in June. They use this machine to grow the babies once they’re out the host’s womb.’
The truth made Anya shiver. It could so easily have been her. She had seen the other two rooms from the side of the viewing corridor. They’d held children of varying ages. Had they been products of that growth machine?
A hand on her back startled her. ‘Are you okay?’
Dom was looking down at her. His brown eyes settled her nerves and she nodded. ‘Just remembering.’
He flicked his eyes up to Carissa. ‘So, where do we take her?’
‘The Harvesting room on the first floor has surgical equipment,’ she said.
June’s eyes widened. ‘Harvesting? Surgical?’
Dom nodded. ‘I can vouch for that.’
‘Anything that can take the baby out?’ asked Vanessa.
Dom’s lips thinned. ‘More than there should be.’
Vanessa helped June to stand. ‘I’m sorry, we need to move you again.’
June nodded, but Anya saw she was in huge discomfort. And also that her belly was growing in size again.
As they left the room, Jacob said to Dom, ‘We’re going to need you to come with us. You’ve been there before.’
Dom jerked a nod and followed. But when Anya didn’t move, he stopped. ‘Are you coming?’
‘I want to see if I can find Alex and Jerome.’
Dom smiled. ‘Of course. Be careful.’
He bent down and grazed her lips with the softest kiss.
‘I will,’ she whispered.
8
Carissa
Where was Quintus? Or the rest of the Collective? Carissa had felt a slight tingle in her head, where her neuromorphic chip was, when she’d passed the first of the tag stations. Quintus had told her she couldn’t break her ties to the Collective, that she belonged to the Ten always.
She followed Vanessa and June to the lift. Now wasn’t the right time to check if the ten voices were still active inside the Great Hall.
But soon. Because she had to know.
Jacob encouraged her on with a gentle nudge and she picked up her speed. Ahead, the soldiers steered along the Copy guard, known to Carissa as 148-C. His clones were gone. That they existed at all meant the replication machine technology must still be working. And that the city might have sizeable power reserves.
Carissa almost touched the NMC connection disc that used to allow her to hear the Collective. It made her nervous to attempt connection now. If the Collective was still online, it could use the connection to kill her.
The Inventor’s hand on her back startled her. She jerked her finger away and looked up at him.
‘Is something the matter, miss?’
His eyes were pale and warm. She hated that he could see right through her moods.
‘No, nothing.’
She resumed her walk, keeping her pace even, keen to keep her distance from 148-C, who kept glancing back at her. Her memory banks held a report on this Copy. He’d been reported to Quintus for bullying Dom while he’d been prisoner.
‘It must be strange to be back in the city, miss,’ the Inventor said. She snapped her attention to him. He was looking around. ‘I must admit it feels strange to be back myself, even though we haven’t been gone that long.’
Carissa had become so used to seeing the Inventor in the city she sometimes forgot that he’d been a prisoner here. In her own way, Carissa had been one too. She was a child of the city, destined to live out her days here. Cared for by the Collective. Shaped and moulded by Quintus.
But never loved by him.
Carissa hugged herself as she walked, injecting pace into her step and passing the others. She wanted to
