“Severin?”
The clone forcefully shook her head. “No. He was an older man, a preacher. I only met him one time,” she said. “Here, there is more to show you.”
Killian didn’t betray a frown or a smile. He didn’t react at all, but in that moment, he knew Virgil must have had a lot on his mind during the reformation of the new world. While he was behind a cell door, there were people working to usurp current powers. He was thankful for the help, but it also made him realize how pointless it all was. The system seemed endless, and all he wanted was to escape and find peace with his woman and fellow breeders.
He just wanted a fucking life.
The clone pointed at the rows and stopped at one in particular. “What is this place?” Killian asked.
“This place stores the history of the world. Some of the clones were given the task of documenting everything. As much as Severin wants to confuse and play games, he can’t help but keep things contained. After all, what would a world be without his story? Everything we know about the past has been stored here,” she said. “Welcome to our little ark.”
&nbs
p; “I don’t care about the world’s history. It’s all the same. Rape, death, and endless violence. It all seems so tragic now. Worthless too. I just want my woman, my pack, and some fuckin’ peace,” he said.
The woman was just like Rae from the side. Her pouty, begging lips, her sad eyes, the roundness of her ass as she stood up straight… he left to save her life, again, but he would have been lying if he said he wasn’t thinking about her every second. This was only making things harder.
“Tragic? Maybe,” she said. “But tragedy is necessary. You must learn to adapt, adopt, and learn as all great men do.”
“I just want to be with her. I no longer wish to move astray,” he said.
She reached forward and grabbed a small computer chip. Carrying it carefully between her fingers, she walked slowly to what Killian thought of as the artificial womb, the chamber in which Severin forced her to sink.
“This is the central computer,” she said, showing him some wiring that went into the side of a small box. “It connects into the pod above.”
Again, he placed his hand over the glass and breathed deeply. He didn’t know how to feel about this place. “Severin nearly drowned her here,” he said. “What does it do?”
“We’ve tried to understand it. On some nights, it will light and warm the room with red luminescence. I have seen it turn blue, even,” she said. “Whatever it does, it can’t be good.”
Killian tapped on the glass but anxiously stepped back. “What happens if I get into it?”
“You’ll hear things,” she muttered, eyes suddenly watering to the brim. “Voices. Screams. Sometimes, the light tapping of lips against a woodwind instrument flows from somewhere on the other side…”
This unsettled Killian more than most things. “The other side?”
“I’m sorry,” she apologized. “I can’t tell you anything more. I have spent countless nights wondering what it means. All I know is that it’s not meant for us. It was found… During the raids, it was dug up by the officers of his village. Severin shot them, doused their bodies with gasoline, and stored the mysterious object. Ruby is convinced it is merely a torture device, but I am not so confident as to provide an answer.”
“What is this world I have woken up inside?” Killian said to himself.
“In any case, you have been the one to disrupt many of his plans. Some congratulations are in order,” she said.
“You shouldn’t congratulate people when they didn’t plan on anything spectacular,” he replied. “If anything, you should be thanking the leaders of the New Republic. I saw the way the public gawked at Rae on those screens. She captivated them. Severin won.”
“The New Republic is a farce. They never had any plans to lead. They knew the task was to guide the world into phase three, and they used Rae and your pack as characters in a play. Don’t you see? It’s all a drama, and Severin is your puppet master,” she said. “You have the chance to make it right. They adore her. She can be their new leader.”
He knelt and ran his hands across the coarse wiring. Tough, yet malleable. He wondered how much information could be stored within one inch of cable. He had heard the stories of the old world, of how it used to be with computerization, automation, and communication. It all led to dead ends and a vast echo chamber of depression and vitriol.
But the possibilities for the future were endless, and despite mankind’s near-extinctions, they had found ways to develop unique and worthy technology. For all of Cassian and Severin’s faults, they were innovators. They simply chose the wrong paths to take.
“Phase three?” Killian asked. “A silent coup? Is that your big plan? Listen, honey, I know you’re excited about this, but I have no plans to take control of the reins. As soon as I take my woman, I’m getting us the fuck out of this place. Shit, maybe we can build a small cabin up north somewhere. Somewhere safe. Somewhere far.”
“You’ll need more than a cabin. There’s more to your story, and we have to act fast, so let’s continue,” the clone said as she reached behind the set of cables to pull out a dusty tablet. As she tapped on the outer edge, it fizzled brightly before illuminating the whole area as a hologram. Now, Killian’s eyes focused on the three-dimensional map of the world. It was so much bigger than he had ever imagined.
The clone frowned. Finally, she placed the computer chip into the side of the tablet and waited for the words to flash: Subject EC21.
“Just open your eyes,” she said. “It’s all here. You have been surveilled, heavily. All of your old files have been pulled and categorized. They know everything about you.”
Killian nearly rolled his eyes. What did he care if they knew about his pathetic life? He was done running around like a chicken with his head cut off, done fighting awful men, and done talking to the nearly identical clones of the woman he loved so much. Of course, when he saw his face appear on the glass, he nearly fell over backward.