Evolution (15 page)

“What do you mean?” Logan asks, uneasy.

“They need my blood,” I say. “My antibodies and DNA. Whatever it is in my genetic code that allows me to break free of their mind-control serum could protect the army from the Mardenites. The aliens have chemical weapons—poison bombs. They hit my squadron with them while I was on the Surface. It crippled most of our soldiers and led to their capture. Beechy and Sandy and Uma were taken.”

There's a sharp intake of breath from Logan.

I continue: “The poison hardly affected me at all. The Developers think my blood can be used to synthesize antibodies for the toxin, which they can administer to everyone else to make them resistant. The Mardenites hit the Surface city with the poison too and it affected all the soldiers stationed there. If we send any more troops to the Surface without a defense against the poison, they're going to end up captured or killed before they even have a chance of fighting.”

Silence lingers as Logan takes in all this information. “The Developers told you all this,” he says slowly.

“Yes,” I say. “And I saw it for myself. I saw how the poison affected the others while I was on the Surface. Lieutenant Dean and Darren and Skylar are still sick from it.”

“But the Developers said they need your blood to protect everyone, so you're giving it to them. Just like that, without any proof that's really what they'll use it for.”

I nod. There's a rock in my throat.

“After all the times they've lied to you?” Logan's voice is losing its steadiness. “All the times they've tortured you and threatened you and made you do things against your will?”

I shake my head. “It's not that simple, Logan. This isn't about what they've done. It's about the people I can save if my blood works the way it should. And after what I went through on the Surface … I don't think the Developers are lying about it.”

“What if you're wrong?” The tremor in Logan's voice isn't out of anger; it's out of fear.

The truth is, I'm terrified I am wrong. I'm terrified I've put myself in a position where I'm giving the Developers everything they want, and they'll use it to control me again. “It doesn't matter. I need to keep you and the rest of our friends safe. Working with the Developers is the best way I can do that right now.”

A moment of silence passes. I can sense Logan still struggling to come to terms with the situation. “What are they giving you in return?”

“They've agreed to pardon me for my past crimes, and they've promised not to subdue me again, or hurt you anymore. They're also going to pardon any Alliance rebels that agree to help them. They're going to help me rescue Beechy, Sandy, and everyone else who was taken at the earliest opportunity. And once they've created a resistance serum for their soldiers, they're going to put an attack plan into motion that doesn't involve sacrificing the child workers in the Surface city. We might have a real chance of saving them.”

Logan looks me straight in the eye. “You know Charlie might not keep his word.”

I remember how Charlie looked amused at my requests, how he gripped my hand too hard when he shook it after we made the deal. “I know,” I say in a small voice. “And I don't know if helping him will be enough to win the war and get Beechy and the other prisoners home safe. This serum is only the first step. But it's something only I can do, and it could give us a much better chance of surviving the war. That's the best I can hope for right now.”

“I understand.” Logan takes a long, shaky breath and gives me a tight smile. “If you think it's the right move, you should do it,” he says, but he still looks troubled. “I'm just worried about you, Clem. I don't want you to get hurt trying to save me or anyone else.”

I hear the cell door slide open behind me. The guard's come back. My twenty minutes are up.

Before I stand up, I reach for Logan's hand and squeeze it. “You don't have to worry about me. The Developers can't subdue me anymore; I've broken free of all their serums. They need me to cooperate with them in order for this to work. So I have the power this time, at least for right now. I'll make sure I keep it.”

Logan squeezes my hand back. “I hope you're right,” he says.

*   *   *

In the health ward, I'm led to a pre-operation room. It's bare, with only an examination table and a blue light in the ceiling. I blink and for a moment I feel like I'm back in Karum prison, about to be put under by the cruel doctors. I remember their cold hands and sharp needles, and panic twists my stomach. But I quickly control it.

This will be different. Commander Charlie promised.

A nurse helps me out of my clothes and peels the old bandages, crusted with dried blood, from my shoulder. She replaces them with a fresh pair, and also replaces the gauze inside my left ear. Afterward, she sends me into the steam-clean shower in the attached bathroom for a full-body sanitation. The steam is a special kind that won't mess up the gauze.

I linger in the shower longer than I need to, letting the warm steam wash away the lingering feeling of cold from all those hours we spent in the freezing weather of the mountains. My weariness is catching up with me again, making my eyelids heavy. I've been shot, gassed with poison, and attacked by Sam all in the last twelve hours, and I've only had an hour or so of sleep. Hopefully I can rest after I'm through with the Mod tests.

The nurse calls into the bathroom to make sure I'm okay. I take that as my cue to finish up. Stepping out of the steam-clean, I move to stand in front of the bathroom mirror while I dry off with a towel. My short, stringy curls are their normal reddish-orange color again, now that all the bleach I used as a disguise for the Alliance has washed out of my hair. I'm glad to look more like myself again. But I'll be happier once my hair grows longer, the way it used to be.

The bruises Sam gave me on my neck and shoulders are a horrible shade of black-and-blue. He really meant to kill me when he attacked me—and he almost did. It'll be a miracle if he doesn't try again when he wakes up. But that's something I'm not going to worry about until the time comes.

Until then, I need to make sure the bruises stay hidden under my clothes, so they won't raise questions from people like Commander Charlie. Right now he believes I lost the syringes of control serum during the Mardenite attack. If he finds out I lied, I don't know what he'll do.

I return to the pre-op room and the nurse helps me change into a hospital gown, a thin slip of fabric that barely feels like clothing. As she finishes tying up the back, there's a knock on the door.

“Come in.”

Another nurse walks into the room, a young woman with long, shiny blond hair and creamy skin. She's Ariadne, my old friend from Extraction training who was transferred to the Core from the Surface work camp, same as me. Her bright, shining smile doesn't match the eerie blankness of her eyes. Ever since she received her first monthly injection of control serum, Ariadne has been more bot than human being.

“It's good to see you again, Clementine,” she says brightly.

We saw each other yesterday morning, before I left for the Surface. She was the nurse who oversaw my second injection of the serum. Commander Charlie planted her in that room to remind me he has people under his control I care about, people he could toss aside without a care if I make one wrong move. No doubt that's why she was assigned to be my nurse again today.

“I can take over, June,” Ariadne says to the nurse.

June nods and heads for the door. “I'll be back as soon as we're ready.”

Ariadne walks over to one of the counters and opens a drawer.

“Did Commander Charlie send you?” I ask.

“No, Dr. Jeb did,” she says, removing various medical instruments from the drawer. She sets them on a tray. “He's the doctor who will be overseeing your tests. I'll be assisting him, as part of my medical training.”

She looks so pleased with herself, I force my mouth to smile back. “I'm glad you'll be there.”

Ariadne snaps on gloves. “If you'll take a seat on the bed, I'll do your preliminary checkup.”

I sit down on the examination table, and Ariadne walks over with a stethoscope. I notice the circles under her eyes are darker than yesterday. There's more slowness in her movements. Maybe she also didn't get much sleep.

“How are you feeling?” she asks, before I can ask her the same question.

“Been better,” I say, wincing as she presses the stethoscope to my chest. I still need another dosage of pain medicine. I adjust my position on the table so my ribs won't hurt as much.

One of my gown sleeves slips down a little from the movement. I quickly push the sleeve back up, but not before Ariadne notices the bruises on my neck.

She freezes, her eyes widening. She pushes down my sleeve and takes in all the markings Sam gave me. “Who did this to you?”

I hesitate. But why can't I tell her what happened, as long as I leave out the part about the serum? She needs to know he's dangerous. Sam tried to seduce her after she received her first monthly injection, and she didn't stop him.

“It was Sam,” I say, fixing my sleeve again. “He attacked me on the Surface, after we'd escaped the Mardenites.”

“Mardenites?” Ariadne repeats, her brows furrowing at the word. “What do you mean? I didn't know you had to escape anything on the Surface.”

It takes a second for me to process her confusion. I frown. She doesn't know about the alien invasion. What other story would the Developers have told her about the reason behind these Mod tests?

“Don't you know the planet is under attack?” I ask.

Ariadne stares at me for a long moment. Then she lets out a peal of laughter. “I don't know what you're talking about, Clementine.” She presses the stethoscope to my chest again. “If you can take a deep breath for me, please.”

“But, Ariadne—”

“Inhale and exhale. Don't speak.”

I grind my teeth together in frustration, but do as she says. I can't believe she's completely clueless. Does
anyone
in the Core know there's an invasion going on? If Ariadne was fed some lie, I bet all the other citizens were too. Maybe Commander Charlie and the others don't want to cause a panic, but it's not their right to keep something so big a secret. Everyone is in danger, and they deserve to know.

When Ariadne finishes listening to my heart, I speak before she can do anything else: “Ariadne, listen to me. The whole planet is under invasion. There are creatures attacking the Surface.”

She pauses. Worry flashes through her eyes. “Creatures?”

“Aliens. They have ships and guns and bombs, and they've captured our people. Beechy and Sandy were taken prisoner on one of their battle stations. The aliens are going to take control of the Surface, and then they'll come for the rest of us underground. Even the Core won't be safe anymore.”

Ariadne shakes her head, taking a step backward. “No, you're wrong. The Developers will keep us safe. They'll protect us if anyone threatens our home.”

“Look at me,” I say, pointing to the bruises on my neck and the bandage on my arm. “I was attacked, and they didn't protect me.”

“You must've done something wrong, then. You must've disobeyed them. They always protect people, as long as they remain loyal citizens.” She's spitting words out of her mouth because she's subdued, but there's no way she actually believes them. The real Ariadne has to be somewhere underneath, still able to hear what I'm saying even if she can't tell me she agrees.

“Ariadne, please.” I stand up from the table. “You have to listen to me—”

There's another knock on the door. Ariadne turns away from me as June comes back in, this time with a third nurse. They're pushing a gurney between them.

“Dr. Jeb is ready for you, Clementine,” June says, smiling sweetly.

It's time for my tests to begin.

“Climb onto the gurney and we'll take you to the operation room,” Ariadne says. She starts toward the counter to put the stethoscope away.

I grab her arm to stop her. “Wait.”

“What?” she snaps.

I don't care if she's annoyed. I have to try to reach her while I still can. “I just want you to know … if you're still in there, I see you. I know you're trapped. I'm going to help you break free.”

Ariadne roughly pulls her arm away. “I don't know what you mean. Now, you need to come with us quietly and cooperatively,” she says in a forceful voice. “Or I'll call for a guard. Do you understand?”

I press my lips together. “Yes.”

“Good.”

Even if she can hear me, she's buried too deep. She'd need a strong dosage of an energy injection to snap her free of the serum's control, the kind I used to free our friend, Oliver, before he died. But I doubt an energy injection would be easy to get my hands on.

And even if I freed Ariadne, the Developers would just subdue her with another injection.

When she turns away again, I let her go.

 

16

The operation room has a blue bulb in the ceiling, a metal operating table, and a medi-bot—a rectangular bot nearly the size of a person—that's holding a tray of metal instruments in its arms. Through a wall of glass on the far side of the room, I can see Commander Charlie talking to the doctor who must be overseeing my tests.

Now the nervousness kicks in about what I've gotten myself into. What if these operations aren't simple, like they told me they'd be? Surely uncomplicated procedures wouldn't require a surgical room like this.

But whatever happens next, I can't go back on my word. Refusing to go through with the Mod tests means the Developers will kill all the child workers in the Surface city. I can't let that happen.