8

THE BREACH

THE RAVAGED SECTORS of Neospes are even worse than I imagined. The food sector has been demolished and the defense sector stripped of weapons. It’s a miracle that Aurela managed to save any at all, or that the dome hasn’t been structurally compromised. As it stands, the outer dome is intact, which means that we can resecure the perimeter and salvage what’s left of the two damaged sectors.

Most of the citizens of Neospes are hidden away in their homes. An occasional pair of curious eyes peeks out from behind closed windows. The people are scared, and rightly so. This is not the bustling community it was the last time I was here.

“Did you locate the breach?” I ask Sauer, my mother’s right-hand man.

“Yes. It’s been fortified. And we’ve separated the sectors within the dome until we can decontaminate the area.”

“Contamination?” My eyes narrow.

“Residual gases. We lost twenty more men after the attack before we realized that the Reptiles had left behind some kind of acid contagion.”

“That’s inventive,” I comment.

“Tell me about it. It’s nothing we’ve ever seen before.”

I follow Sauer, my mind racing. The pieces aren’t adding up and I can’t help feeling I’m missing something right in front of me. “Show me where the Reptiles infiltrated Four.”

I follow Sauer past the line of soldiers standing between the food sector and the defense sector. I frown wondering why the guards are so heavily armed, and Sauer explains: “We’ve done a Reptile sweep, but we keep finding them. Some are as small as beetles. They’re spies.” Sauer sighs when he sees my expression. “It’s only a hunch. I know you’ve talked to Aurela and the other sector leaders. I just don’t think it’s a coincidence that our two most critical sectors were attacked simultaneously. It was a tactical move.” He runs a hand through his Artok-blond hair and shakes his head. “I’ve planned enough of them to know.”

“I’m listening.” Sauer’s speculations make sense. But his theories on Reptile behavior aren’t in line with how the creatures have been known to act. They scrounge for parts. They don’t attack in collaborative, tactical waves, and they don’t act as spies.

“Riven, they knew exactly where to attack.” He eyes me, letting his meaning sink in. “As if they’ d been informed where to go. Then—this is the worst part—they didn’t take anything. They torched both sectors, destroying everything. It wasn’t a raid. It was an assault. A coordinated assault meant to weaken us where it would hurt most.”

“But how, and by whom?”

“Someone who wants to see the dome destroyed… to see Neospes destroyed.” Sauer pauses. “At first, I thought it was Danton, but he couldn’t do this from the Otherworld.”

“Maybe they’re simply getting more aggressive. They are artificial intelligence, after all, and those were the same machines that started the Tech War. The dome is like a candy store full of goodies.”

“What’s a candy store?”

“A place in the Otherworld where you can buy sweets,” I begin, then shake my head. “Never mind. The city is like a feeding trough for the Reptiles.”

Sauer shoots me a doubtful look. “I know what you’re suggesting but, at best, these are drifters, Riv. Strays. They’re nothing like the advanced machines from the War. Something or someone’s leading them now. Hang on one second.”

Sauer stops to talk to a soldier, while I continue toward the towering metal barrier now separating the two sectors. The guard nearest the opening to the quarantined Sector Five eyes me and moves to block my way. A heavy protective mask obscures his face.

“No entry to civilians without a pass.”

“Stand down, soldier,” I say.

“I have orders not to let anyone through. The gases inside are toxic. And you need a pass.”

“General Riven doesn’t require a security pass,” Sauer says, catching up to us. The soldier’s eyes widen behind his mask and he steps aside. My reputation hasn’t faded one bit. Sauer nods at me, punches in a code, and bends forward for a retina scan. The door slides open as he dons a clear, face-hugging mask.

“What about her mask?” the guard stammers, unsure whether he should address me again.

“We’ll take it from here,” Sauer says as the sliding panel closes behind us.

In mute horror, I stare at the devastated area of the sector. Black ash covers most of the ground between half-collapsed buildings. All of the human casualties have been removed and disposed of, but layers of dried blood cake the ground. Oozing black puddles of tar and the noxious odor rising from them make me wince. Definitely poisonous, and definitely lethal to humans. It’s a wonder that anyone was able to survive.

My hands resting firmly on the hilts of my blades, I follow Sauer between two still-smoking warehouses. Inside one of the buildings, movement catches my eye. It’s probably a trick of the light.

“Over here,” Sauer says. “And be alert. Some of these things are still alive.”

Maybe it wasn’t a trick of the light. The hairs on the back of my neck stand in warning as I slide my ninjatas out and hold them flush against my thighs. Something skitters in the shadows of the building and my breath catches before I realize it’s only a rodent.

I catch up to Sauer, the feeling of being watched fading the farther I get from the building. He’s standing near the far side of the dome. I recognize the location, of course.

Cale and I used to dare each other to go outside the dome as kids, knowing we’ d get into trouble if we were ever caught. Leaving the safety zone had been illicit and thrilling. It had been our secret spot, a tunnel in the bedrock carved by a long-dried underground stream when Neospes had fresh running water. I stare at the old access hole, now filled with titanium, as the memories rush back.

It was the first time I’ d seen a Reptile. Cale had just turned eleven. Thinking himself braver than ever, he’ d dared me to accompany him on an early morning adventure beyond the dome. As much as I hadn’t wanted to go, he was my responsibility.

“Come on, Cale. This is far enough. We need to get back.” We’ d turned around only to see a horse standing between our secret exit and us. Only, it wasn’t a horse.

“What is that?” Cale had whispered.

“Cale, get behind me.”

“No way.” He’ d stamped his foot. “I want to see.”

Steam had blown from the creature’s distended nostrils, and then it had charged.

I remember the rotting smell and the chunks of flesh hanging off its wired frame. It was also the first Reptile I’ d ever killed.

Cale became obsessed with Reptiles after that. He would lure and catch smaller ones, keeping them in cages. He studied the creatures, torturing them—ripping them apart and piecing them back together. I’ d always thought his morbid fascination was odd, but, in hindsight, it was understandable. After all, he was a clone with a failing body, searching for a way to reconstruct himself.

But Cale is dead. He’ d died months ago in the Outers. And anyone could have found this passageway—even a Reptile.

“We filled it in once we discovered where the breach in the dome was,” Sauer is saying. “It must have been here for years.”

“Looks like it,” I say. “Is it secure?”

“It is now.”

I’m not sure why I don’t tell Sauer about Cale. I should have reported the information immediately, but he was the king’s son and I was bound by his orders. Maybe this whole attack could have been avoided if I had said something.

I clear my throat. “I knew about it.”

Sauer’s gaze meets mine sharply. “What?”

“Cale and I used to sneak out here when we were kids. I’ d forgotten it even existed until now.”

“And you didn’t think to say anything?” Sauer snaps.

“I was a child,” I respond in an even tone. “And bound by the command of a prince. Did you ever find Cale’s body after he was exiled?” It’s a rhetorical question—no bodies are ever found in the Outers.

He shakes his head. “You think that he was alive and tried to come back?” Sauer asks. “And maybe one of them followed him?” Sauer’s eyes widen. “Come to think of it, there were reports of missing supplies, but we thought they’ d just been miscounted. Maybe it was him.”

“Could have been,” I agree, and gesture at the ash-covered earth around us. “But then, where is he? Nothing human could have survived the blast or the residual toxins.”

“Then they killed him?”

“Maybe.”

It makes an incongruous, though logical, sort of sense. A group of pack-hunting Reptiles could have easily followed a starving man back to the dome. I think of the human arms on the Reptile I’ d fought in the Outers and suppress a shudder. Could they have been Cale’s? And, if so, where had the rest of him gone?

“Come on. We should let Aurela know,” Sauer says. “Perhaps she’ll have a different theory.”

We make our way back, each caught up in our own thoughts, when the sensation of being watched again makes the hairs rise on the back of my neck—it’s the same building as before. Stupid rodent’s probably still scrabbling around in there. I peer into the shadows, exhaling in a wild rush as I’m greeted by silence. I’m being paranoid. But as I step forward, an animal roughly the shape of a dog leaps from the darkness at my head. I react instinctually, blocking it with my right forearm, and skewering it in the same motion with my left. Two of its paws drop to the ground as its limp body slides off the serrated edge of my blade. Sauer races back to my side.

“Reptile.” I watch as it tries to crawl back to the shadows of the dilapidated building on its severed legs. I stall Sauer’s hand as he lifts his knife to kill the thing.

“But it’s not dead.”

“I have an idea, one you’re probably not going to like.” I sever the head from the body with a quick stroke of my ninjata and heft the remaining part on the blade’s tip.

“What are you doing?” Sauer asks, his tone incredulous.

“We’re taking it with us.”

“No. We’re not.”

“Sauer, I don’t want to pull rank on you, but I will if I have to. This is the only way for us to figure out what these things want.”

Understanding dawns in his eyes. “You can’t possibly mean to tap in remotely to that thing’s brain. Aurela won’t allow it.”

“Aurela can’t stop me. If this turns out to be a calculated breach, as you suspect, they’ll attack again, and we need to be prepared. At the very least, if we’re lucky, these things would have only been following a food source.”

“And, if not?”

I grimace. “Then grab a shovel because we’ll be in deep shit.”

Sauer and I make our way back to Sector Two. Soldiers give us a wide berth, eyeing the twitching skull on the end of my sword with a mixture of fear and disgust. Luckily, the Reptiles weren’t able to breach my father’s old lab, which would have made what I’m planning to do much more difficult.

Sauer and I enter the elevator to the underground bunker. He glances at me. “I don’t have clearance,” he says. I frown at him, surprised. “Aurela thought it would be best… because of Shae,” he explains.

The sound of her name makes my stomach clench, but it’s nothing compared to the naked pain slashing across Sauer’s face. He and Shae had been in love, and he, too, had seen her as a soulless Vector. Understanding courses through me. This lab is where my father would have made Vector-Shae. I take a deep breath, find Sauer’s hand, and squeeze hard. The biometric scanner passes over my entire body before the green light in the elevator panel clicks. I select the lowest level and the elevator descends smoothly.

Neither of us speaks until the elevator stops and the doors open. “This way,” I tell him, realizing that it’s the first time he’s been down here. Sauer peers beyond the glassed-in corridor, taking in the rows and rows of decontaminated human bodies—decommissioned Vectors—awaiting robotic programming.

My father is busy in front of a giant screen rebuilding the code that he’ll download into each Vector’s operating system. My mother is overseeing his work. She’ll read through every line of code to make sure that he hasn’t built in anything unexpected. She’s right to do so. I don’t trust the man as far as I can throw him. But he’s all we have.

Clear cylinders of nanobes are lined up in neat rows in an adjoining room. For now, they aren’t online, but they will be once the programming code has been initiated. Staring at the translucent bodies of the hosts, I feel a weird sensation. I used to think that I was one of them, but, of course, I am so much more. They’re dead. I’m alive. They’re preprogrammed robots. I’m making my own choices. I once hated what I am, but I’ve come to realize that being a cyborg has its advantages.

Like what I’m about to do.

I walk into the lab without knocking, effecting a frown from my father. I stare him down before tossing the Reptile’s oozing skull on his table.

“Brought you a present,” I say with a grin.

“It’s a Reptile. So what?”

“I want you to hardwire it into me.”

“Riven, no.” My mother storms into the glass office, slamming the door shut behind her. “It’s too risky.”

My father smiles and leans back in his chair. “Such a great family reunion. I have to say, I’ve waited for this moment for so long.”

“Shut up, Danton,” my mother says in a low, fierce snarl. His eyes widen and his mouth snaps shut in surprise. He’s seeing my mother in a whole new light—I don’t think he likes being bossed around.

Aurela turns to me. “No,” she repeats.

With a brief glance in my father’s direction, I recap what Sauer and I discovered earlier. “We need to know for sure whether they’re following a directive or whether the whole thing was just chance. This is the only way.”

“The Reptiles are nothing but common vultures,” Danton says. “Of course it’s not under a directive.”

I shoot him down with an icy glare. “Remember Dorn?”

His eyes narrow, but we both remember the soldier that infiltrated Neospes years before, looking totally human. Turns out that he’ d been a machine on the inside, with secret orders no one could decipher. Of course, I hadn’t known what I’ d been then.

“Just plug me in.” I exchange another look with my mother, warning her not to go anywhere, not while my father’s poking around in my head.

He rises and walks over to the severed head. Red robotic eyes roll around in the skull’s sockets. Turning it over, he digs a scalpel into the top of the creature’s metal-hinged spine, wrenching out a square drive. It’s covered in decaying gray ichor. I watch as he cleans the drive and removes a paper-thin device the size of a watch battery. Frowning, he places it on a disk reader. Gibberish comes up on the corresponding screen.

“Do it,” I tell him, sitting on his desk and leaning forward.

I wince as he cuts a swatch of skin above the nape of my neck, and peels back the flesh from the base of my skull. He connects a long cable from the reader to me and I blink as my brain starts to process the information being relayed from the Reptile’s core. Most of it I don’t understand—a rush of indecipherable data flooding in all at once. Frustrated, I rip the connector from the back of my neck, my nanobes rushing forward to suture my skin back into place. Then, I hop off the desk.

“Did you get anything?” Aurela asks.

“Nothing so far,” I say with a frustrated sigh. “It’s unreadable.” I turn to my father as something occurs to me. “If it’s encrypted data, can we decode it?”

“Probably.”

“How long will it take?”

“A couple hours.”

“You have one,” I tell him. “We need to find out for sure whether we even need to activate an entire Vector army.”

“And what do you want me to do with all of these,” Danton asks, gesturing to the neatly lined-up bodies ready for reanimation.

“We need to find out what’s on that drive. If we launch a counterstrike against the Reptiles, we could lose a lot of these anyway.”

“Isn’t that the point?” Danton asks. “They’re disposable. Inconsequential.”

The cavalier way he is speaking makes something inside of me snap. It’s exactly how he’ d thought about Shae when he made her into one of them. She was something to be used and then discarded. “They weren’t inconsequential when you tried to use them to take over the monarchy,” I shoot back.

“What’s the matter, Riven? Sounds like you care about the Vectors after all.”

My mother draws me aside, as if sensing my impending outburst. “Are you sure waiting is wise?” she asks quietly. “We’re down thousands of men. The Vectors are our last hope to defend the city walls. Without them, we have nothing. And the sooner we get them to destroy the Reptiles in the Outers, the better… the safer we will be.”

“It’s your call,” I say. “But we’re launching a counterattack in anticipation of something that could turn out to be an anomaly. We could end up wasting valuable resources. Instead of sending the Vectors out to take out Reptiles, they should be used to clean up Sectors Four and Five. We should use them to rebuild, at least until we have proof.”

“Maybe you’re—” My mother’s sentence is interrupted by bright amber flashing lights going off along the walls. I meet her eyes just as Sauer bursts into the room.

“Perimeter alert,” he says grimly.

“Which sectors?” I say, bringing up a hologram of the dome in the middle of the table. Sauer moves the grid around, centering on the alarms.

His face tightens. “All of them.”

“Looks like you’re going to get all the proof you need,” my father says.

Sauer pulls up a real-time video feed off the security devices on the west quadrant and another on the opposite side. Color drains from his face.

“Are those—?” Aurela’s voice trails off in horrified silence.

“Reptiles,” Sauer whispers. “An army of them.”

I connect wirelessly to the cameras stationed around the dome, confirming what Sauer is seeing on screen. The Reptiles are back, this time en masse. And they’ve surrounded the entire city.