Genesis (28 page)

“I’m fine,” she avoided his eyes, “let’s just go.” She started running again, ignoring the pain in her chest.

On their left, narrow windows cast irregular strips of pale sunlight on the floor like stepping stones, and behind them came the sound of heavy footsteps. The corridor was so long that if anyone came behind them, they’d be exposed.

Pip stopped abruptly. “Here.” He crouched down in front of a ventilation grate and pulled a pocketknife from his pants. He flicked open the blade and tried to prise the grate away from the wall.

“In there?” Breath coming in gasps, Rosie checked the opening. It was barely wide enough to crawl through.

“We’ve got to hide, it’s the only way,” Pip said. But when he glanced at her she realised he knew that she was in too bad shape for them to get away. The worst part was he was right. She was already exhausted. She crouched beside him and pushed her fingers into the grille and pulled as hard as she could as he worked the knife. Her arm muscles shook and ached, but she kept pulling. There was a soft screech of metal and a rivet popped out of the corner and onto the floor.

“Pull harder.”

“I can’t.” Her words were a whispered sob, but right now she didn’t care. Pip pocketed his knife and shoved his fingers into the gap and they heaved together. The other top rivet popped and suddenly they were holding the top of the grille open, the shaft behind exposed.

Rosie went feet first into the narrow opening, shuffling like a caterpillar. It was dusty and smelled sour, but it was wider than she’d thought. Pip slid in beside her and together they grabbed the grille and pulled it back up just in time.

Seconds later, one of the guards walked past. He was talking into a com but too quietly for them to hear.

They lay facing each other, squeezed into the shaft – Pip half on top of her. He had one arm over her head, holding the grille, while the other held it at the bottom. His left leg was hooked over her hip and she could feel his heart beating against her. His skin smelled faintly of dust and sweat.

The guard seemed to take forever to walk down the corridor. Rosie couldn’t see him, but she could hear him, his com occasionally emitting static. Rosie prayed he wouldn’t notice the tips of their fingers holding the grille in place.

“Not here,” the guard said clearly into his com, and Rosie had the urge to fling the grille away and burst out of the vent.

Pip felt her tension and his leg tightened on her hip. She glanced up at him. He shook his head. No.

Pip’s breath was brushing the skin on her neck and she was acutely conscious of how close he was. She tried to distract herself by putting her mind back to the problem of getting out. She thought about the diary codes she’d memorised. The door that had been alarmed, could it have been one of the labs? Or maybe a way into the labs with the Genesis information they needed. It could be worth a try.

After what seemed like forever, Pip finally whispered okay and, with a muffled groan, she let go of the grille. He lowered it outside and she shuffled inelegantly out headfirst, dragging herself past him until she flopped out onto the floor.

He slid out after her, pushing the grille in place and turned back the way the guard had gone. “This way,” he said.

“Pip, wait.” She gripped his forearm.

“What?”

“That door with the alarm – where does it go?”

“The lower levels, why?” The sun was setting and shadow slanted across his face.

“Is there a way to get to the labs we need through there? One of the codes Riley gave me might open it.”

He looked at her for a moment, his expression unreadable. “Maybe,” he said.

Frustration filled her. “You work for Helios,” she said. “Don’t you know your way around?”

“Not all of it.” He was tense, almost angry. “I was going to go another way but – okay, it did look kind of familiar.” He glanced the way the guards had gone. “But we gotta be quick.”

They ran back to the door and Rosie tried punching in one of the codes.

Nothing happened: no alarm went off though, no lights flashed, but the door remained shut.

“How many have you got?” Pip whispered.

“Seven more. But will going through them all set off the alarm?”

“Shouldn’t. That alarm’s only to stop the kids here getting in.”

“Okay.” Rosie began punching in the numbers of more codes.

Six codes later the door was still shut.

“We’re running out of time,” Pip said.

“I know. Last one.” Rosie punched in the last code. “6-54-03-Omega.”

The door slid open to reveal a dim hallway. The floor was pale blue concrete, the walls a dusty white, and tubular lighting illuminated the narrow space. It dropped away from them on a steady angle to a set of steps, the floor disappearing into darkness.

From far off a soft sound like a distant wail reached them then dissipated. Rosie looked at Pip, but he was staring past her with a strange expression on his face.

“Pip?”

“Come on.” He pushed past her.

With a cold scared feeling in her stomach, Rosie followed, the door sweeping shut behind them.

As soon as the door shut, all the lights went out.

Rosie froze. “Pip?” She stretched her hands out and shuffled sideways, hoping to find the wall.

She couldn’t see a thing. The darkness pressed over her as heavy as lead, as thick as blood. “Pip?” she called again, annoyed at the barely veiled panic in her tone. When was she going to get over this?

“I’m here.” His voice was ahead of her.

“Where?”

“Here.” His hand bumped against her shoulder.

She resisted the urge to grab onto him. “Do you have a torch or anything?”

“No.”

She fought to control her escalating fear. Just breathe, Rosie. Breathe, she told herself.

“Hey, are you scared of the dark?”

“No!”

“You sure? You sound funny.” Was he enjoying this? Her irritation returned.

“I’m okay. It was just a surprise, that’s all.” She pulled away from his hand, but not so far that she couldn’t sense his presence.

Then she remembered she’d put one of the pod’s illuminating sticks in her pocket. She shoved her hands into the side pockets of her jeans and, with an intense surge of relief, felt the slim glo-tube under her fingertips.

She twisted the top. A soft yellow glow formed and Pip squinted in the sudden light.

“Lucky,” he said. “How long will it last?”

“Maybe an hour or two.”

“Great. Let’s go then.”

Gripping the tube like a lifeline, Rosie held the light aloft and led them towards the stairwell.

It went down three short flights. On the second landing they passed a door that had been welded shut. On the door were the remains of a name: G-5. Rosie wondered if there were unused labs behind it.

“Hey.” She played the light over the edge of the door. “This door’s been sealed – the metal’s all melted.”

“Rosie, come on.” Pip was two steps further down.

She ignored him. “Do you think this has anything to do with what happened to Riley’s parents?”

“No.”

“How do you know?”

He paused then said quietly, “I was here.”

Rosie turned to him. “But that was ten years ago.” Had he been working for Helios since he was eight?

“Yeah, I know.” He was strangely still and in his expression she saw reluctance, or guilt, or something else. Shame? “I was born here, Rosie,” he said. “I grew up here.”

Suddenly, things made more sense. Why he seemed different to other Ferals, why he’d been so loyal to Helios. He was born into it. She took a step backwards.

He watched her move and a bitterness twisted his face.

“I knew you’d think that,” he said.

“I didn’t say anything.”

“You didn’t have to.” He slouched back against the stair railing.

“Well, what am I supposed to think?”

“I don’t know. But I’m not one of them any more, Rosie. It’s different now”

“Is it?” Despite everything, she wanted to believe him. “Are your parents really dead?” she said. “Or did you lie about that as well?”

“I didn’t lie,” he answered fiercely and his voice echoed through the stairwell. “Yuang killed them. He used them as test subjects, just like I don’t know how many others. Kids I knew, people–” He stopped his chest working as he tried to control his breath.

“So why did you keep working for him?” Rosie asked.

“You think I knew?” His eyes widened in disbelief. “I had no idea. I thought I was helping. I’ve known Yuang since I was a kid. He took care of me after my parents–” He took in a sharp breath. He gripped the handrail as if he was going to rip it from the wall. When he spoke again his voice was quieter but tightly controlled. “He told me we were finding a cure for the MalX, Rosie. I didn’t know then that Helios was killing people to find a cure.” His gaze was intense. “Do you think I would have done all those things if I’d known?”

Rosie couldn’t reply. She was shaken by the pain she saw in his eyes, the anger. Not at her but at a man who had lied to him, who’d taken his parents.

“I saved your life, Rosie, and I’m trying to save your family and stop him now. Isn’t that enough?”

His gaze was pleading and almost desperate. But she didn’t have an answer. She wasn’t sure what to think. “I don’t know,” she said, trying to be honest, but it wasn’t what he wanted.

Disappointment filled his eyes and he exhaled and looked down as he said quietly, “Right.”

She felt terrible, but really what did he expect? “So what was this?” She gestured at the door.

He paused then said, “It was living quarters, where some of the Ferals they brought up from Earth stayed. They sealed it after the Shore lab blew up.”

“What happened to everyone?” Rosie said, but Pip turned away.

“They said they’d been sent back to Earth. Come on, we gotta keep going.”

Rosie followed him, a sick feeling in her gut. From his tone it was clear he didn’t believe they’d gone back to Earth and she didn’t either. But did that mean she could trust him? What would she do if she found out everything she had believed as a kid was a lie?

At the bottom of the stairs was a door with an ordinary handle, no security keypad. Pip put his ear to it and, at her enquiring look, shook his head. “Nothing.”

He opened the door a crack and they both peered through.

On the other side was a long, brightly lit hallway intersected by six doors and two more hallways a few metres apart.

“Which way?” Rosie whispered.

He hesitated. “I think it’s the second hallway.”

They crept along the right wall.

It was very quiet and smelled sharply of cleaning fluid, as if someone had only recently mopped. She turned the glo-tube off and shoved it back into her pocket.

They neared the first door and Rosie thought she heard a soft moan. She froze. Pip had heard it too. Jerking his chin towards the door, he made a dipping and sliding motion with his hand.

There was a square window in the top of the door and he was telling her to duck underneath it. But what if someone in there needed help? She shook her head and mouthed at him, “Let’s just take a look.”

He frowned and shook his head violently, motioning her to follow him.

Screw that, Rosie thought and peeked through the bottom half of the window as she passed.

The room was deceptively long, much longer than she’d thought it would be; she could barely see the end. Lines of beds filled it, most of them with the humped shape of a person lying on top. Tubes protruded from their arms, running to square machines that hung from the roof above each bed. Moving among them were the buzzing forms of medibots, checking the machines, like farmers checking rows of crops. One of the metallic heads turned and unblinking red lights beamed at her.

Rosie stared, transfixed and shocked.

“Rosie!” Pip dragged her away. “Those robots have a direct link to the surveillance.”

“What?”

“Don’t you get it?” Pip said. “He’ll have seen us now. Run!” He pushed her up the hall.

She ran. They passed a second door and the view of what was inside burned on her retina like the aftermath of a flash. More bodies, more tubes and the unblinking red lights of the medibots.

They sprinted around a corner and down another hallway. This one had doors only on the left side. Pip was a few metres ahead when a door opened right in front of him and a medibot glided out. It extended a metallic arm and unleashed a charge of electricity into him.

“Pip!” Rosie shouted.

He jolted and seemed to just hang in the air, quivering as the charge ripped through him.

Rosie kept running and slammed into him as hard as she could, knocking him away, but the electricity conducted back into her and she screamed in pain as they fell to the floor. Her muscles spasmed and for a second she couldn’t breathe. Fighting it, Rosie rolled to her knees. Pip lay beside her, groaning, his eyes closed.

“Pip!” She shook his arm. “Pip, get up!” She could taste blood and behind them, the medibot was whirling and turning back towards them. Beyond it two more emerged steadily from doors at the end of the hall.

“Pip, they’re coming!” Rosie pulled at him but he only groaned. The medibot that had zapped him moved towards her, its red eye-lights steady and arm extended.

She let go of his arm and looked desperately for a weapon, but there was nothing. She tried to remember her robotics studies. The bots were built for working, chores … The panel at the back. She ran at it, dodging the arm at the last minute and skipping behind. The medibot was not much taller than her, even hovering, and she leaped onto it, using the narrow flare at the base for a foothold. She hooked an arm around its metal head and pulled off the maintenance panel, then grabbed a handful of wires and yanked as hard as she could. The bot’s hum increased to a high-pitched wail and it skewed sideways, its hover functions disabled. It crashed to the floor and Rosie leaped clear as it landed.

Not stopping to watch, she ran back to Pip. “Get up!” she shouted, trying to lift him. The two other bots were advancing now and there was no way she could take on them both. They’d be downloaded with enough power to light a small town if they didn’t move. “Pip!”