Calvin laughs. “You think she’s in the underground city?”
Lucas relaxes. “I doubt anyone’s gone to look for her there.”
Calvin sits back up, concerned but curious. “You’ll die,” he says. “Everyone who has tried to pass through the Iron Eye has split apart.”
“If the option is death or extinction, I don’t really have much of a choice,” Lucas says. “I have to try.”
He nods. “Once you make your way past the city, there’s no coming back. Everyone’s gone mad. Alphas are looking for a way to remove some steam. I’m about two days away from a full on mutiny,” he says. “Stay far away from here.”
“Got it. We’ll lie low,” Lucas says.
There’s one more thing. “I’ve ordered my alphas to give you some weapons. I’ve also thrown in a GPS unit and landscape analysis bot. You’ll need them. Weather is terrible out there. Snow as far as the eye can see.”
Lucas nods. “Thanks.”
Before Lucas can step out of the room, Calvin gets one last word in. “Each time we make a genetic copy, the code deteriorates. We should have never tried.”
Lucas pauses.
“Like a picture of a picture of a picture,” Lucas whispers.
“It doesn’t matter how right you get it. You can’t replicate the first,” he says. “Not all the way.”
Lucas nods and heads out.
They walk outside of the building, dropping through the old southern crossing. “I told you I can handle this,” Aiden says.
They cut through a small street that runs between some buildings and old shops that sit vacant and destroyed. Another turn leads them into an alleyway, a place that somehow feels safer than being out in the open.
“You walked in there without keeping me in the know,” Lucas says.
“I had a score to settle. You would have never come with me if I told you the truth,” he says. “Not to mention, he gave us some useful tech.”
It’s true, but that’s not what pisses Lucas off. “What’s with all this extinction talk? What the fuck is he going on about?” Lucas asks.
Aiden shuts his mouth and swallows. “You can’t reason with anyone anymore. Lots of tribes are talking about the end,” he says, hesitating. “They’ve been hearing things.”
Lucas’ eyes grow intense. “What things?” Lucas asks.
Aiden scratches his head. “That it’s over. That universal extinction is real, and that Cassian was the one to code it into her.”
“You believe them?” Lucas’ eyes grow with the same intensity as Calvin. “You believe that the end is coming?”
“Relax,” Aiden says.
“Tell me.”
A breath of hesitation. “No,” he says, working up the courage to speak. “No, I don’t think the end is coming. I think they’re all a bunch of lunatics. Every one of them.”
“But there was that thing you said yesterday. You said you thought Rae was responsible for the detonation,” Lucas says.
“I didn’t say--”
“What did you mean?” Lucas asks.
Aiden twists Lucas’ arm and lowers his voice. “I meant don’t go around talking about her in front of anyone. It’s not safe in these parts. Fuck, man. It’s not safe anywhere.”
Lucas shoves off of him. “Right. “Cause I give a damn about safety.”