Undiscovered

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  Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Notice

  1: Freedom

  2: Games

  3: Next

  4: Girl

  5: Promises

  6: Return

  7: Protection

  8: Testing

  9: Departure

  10: Peace

  11: Convincing

  12: Escape

  13: Capabilities

  14: Cut

  15: Help

  16: Kissed

  17: Protocol

  18: Enough

  Copyright

  1: Freedom

  The light from the hovercopter was blinding, blazing across the darkened desert sky like a meteor. For anyone else it meant the end. For me, it only meant another challenge.

  I shielded my eyes and gazed up into the silent sharp blades, a sly smile snaking its way across my lips.

  “Good luck catching me,” I murmured as I stepped out of the lab.

  Chances were the pilot and his crew were new recruits. Sent on some kind of stupid training operation to catch the compound hooligans. They’d never send actual resources after me. That would be a waste. No, they’d turn me into a coaching method. A harmless mission that they could use to tick off another mark on their school curriculum.

  But I knew this compound better than most of the seasoned agents here. Which meant the odds these amateurs could apprehend me were slim at best.

  Of course, my cohorts had already surrendered. Pretty typical. They could always be counted on to cave at the first sign of trouble. Which was why I never actually gave them any real responsibilities.

  Which was why the box was in my hands right now.

  The others—Klo, Rustin, and Xaria—were just decoys. They wanted to participate because they thought it sounded “fun.” An amusing distraction from the mundane life of the compound. So I gave them a task. I let them dress up and feel important. Then I sent them out to be captured so I could make my getaway.

  I knew nothing bad would happen to them. A slap on the wrist from Director Raze and an absentminded reprimanding from their distracted parents and that would be it.

  A feeble punishment for a couple of kids just messing around.

  Having “fun.”

  I didn’t do this for fun. My motives were much more complicated than that.

  “Don’t move!” the agent-in-training’s voice blasted through the digital projection system into the night. “Stay right where you are.”

  I had to laugh. It was a pathetic attempt to come off as menacing. Not to mention how cheesy the words themselves were. They really needed to get a better training script.

  The hovercopter made its quiet descent, wobbling slightly as it approached the ground and the pilot fought to keep it level. I could now see his face through the window, his jaw pinched tight in concentration as he steered the car-sized craft unsteadily to the earth.

  The rear door popped open and three agents-in-training jumped out, wielding Modifiers and Mutation Lasers.

  Ooh, big boys with their big weapons.

  I smiled affably as though I was happy to see them. And I was.

  Happy to see them fail.

  Pretending to surrender, I set the uncovered box on the ground and placed my hands above my head, flashing them my best “oh darn, you got me!” look. Meanwhile, with the tip of my foot, I gently tipped the box onto its side. The thirty miniature rabbits (each no bigger than a mouse) scurried onto the desert floor, scattering in all directions.

  Free.

  I felt the swell of satisfaction rise in my chest. The taste of victory was sweet on my tongue.

  But the bitterness of knowing that it wouldn’t last wasn’t far behind. It followed me around like a stalker.

  The agents were instantly distracted by the horde of genetically modified rabbits, scampering to freedom, each carrying a terminal disease that Diotech had inflicted upon them. No doubt the creatures would be dead before the sun came up, their poisoned blood eating away at them from the inside. But at least they wouldn’t have to live out their last few hours in a cage, with scientists probing them and stuffing them full of chemicals.

  I took advantage of the agents’ distraction and ran, heading south, toward the nearest entrance to the air ducts. I stole a quick glance behind me to see the first agent raising his weapon and taking aim at my head.

  I cringed, knowing from experience that being shot in the head by a Diotech-issued Energy Mutation Laser was not a pleasant experience. The guy clearly hadn’t been taught that the best way to take someone down is to aim for the feet.

  Even on the lowest setting, a Mutie could render a woolly mammoth immobile.

  Idiot.

  I ducked and rolled as I felt the air above my head vibrate and wave, the molecules temporarily stunned by the shot.

  Seeing the ventilation duct in front of me, cut into the exterior wall of lab 5, I struggled to my feet and ran. I managed to remove the grate, stuff myself inside and secure it back into place before the four agents came barreling around the corner.

  I sat still and held my breath as I listened to their heavy footsteps pound past me. I knew from their direction and the way they organized into a single file line that they were heading into the alleyway between labs 4 and 5.

  Good. They would end up in the gardens. Searching for me behind landscaped hedges, trees, and large boulders would keep them busy for a while. I turned and began to crawl through the duct, popping out on the other side of the building. From here, it was only a short run to the Residential Sector.

  I knew by the time the agents made it back to their base and reported what had happened, I’d be safe in my bed. I’d probably read about the breach on the compound news feed tomorrow morning.

  Or maybe not.

  These people weren’t big fans of reporting on their failures.

  Most likely, they’d lie.

  After a close call in the Medical Sector last night, a would-be intruder was apprehended, the breach contained, and the stolen contents of lab 2 safely returned.

  Only I would know it was a lie.

  Well, me and the scientists of lab 2, of course. Who would return tomorrow morning to find their precious bunnies gone.

  Even the pilot and the agents-in-training would most likely not remember this tomorrow. A quick trip to the Memory Coders and this mission would be recollected as a grand success.

  The apartment was empty when I arrived. Not that I was surprised by this. I hadn’t seen my mother in weeks. She stopped caring she had a son about the time she was tasked with her latest research project—whatever that was. I had yet to be able to hack into any details.

  Which meant it was a C9.

  The highest clearance level there is.

  The mini rabbits I saved tonight were a measly C3.

  They miniaturized them so they could infect more at a lower cost.

  That’s Diotech for you. Heartless, but economical.

  As I lumbered down the hall, I stopped at the doorway to my mother’s bedroom and stared inside, taking in her unmade bed and the plate of half-eaten moldy cheese on her nightstand that had started to turn into a science experiment of its own. I had to clench my teeth and dig my nails into the sides of my legs to keep from punching through the wall.

  I retreated to my room and closed the door behind me, even though there was no point. I basically lived alone and had all the privacy in the world.
<
br />   I could have had sex in every room in this apartment and no one would know.

  That is, if I actually had someone to have sex with.

  And Xaria didn’t count. Just because she was one of only two girls living on this compound who was my age didn’t mean I automatically had feelings for her. No matter how metallic Klo and Rustin insisted she was.

  If she was so attractive, why didn’t they just glitch her?

  As I lay down in bed, I thought about the rabbits running free through the desert landscape. No longer caged. No longer the property of Diotech.

  I had hoped the act of releasing them would make me feel something. I don’t know what. Something different from the way I felt every day—resentful, neglected, trapped.

  But once again, I was disappointed.

  Once again, I fell asleep angry.

  2: Games

  The knock on the apartment door the next morning came earlier than I expected. And it wasn’t Director Raze’s face on the other side as I would have assumed, but rather Dr. Havin Rio’s. I rolled my eyes and let him in. Dr. Rio and my mother had gotten close since my father left. Too close for my liking. If he thought that sharing a breakfast table a handful of times entitled him to play father figure, he was sorely mistaken. The one benefit of my mother sleeping in her lab every night was that I rarely had to see this cretin.

  “Lyzender,” he said stiffly, giving me a nod.

  “Havin,” I said, matching his rigidity.

  He didn’t seem to like that.

  He was dressed in his usual white lab coat, his flaming red hair slicked into place with too much SynthoGel. He didn’t sit down. He just stood awkwardly in the entryway, looking like a desert lizard caught in a hovercopter beam.

  “Your mother has gotten some disturbing reports from Director Raze.”

  I raised my eyebrows. “Has she?”

  He ignored my blatant sarcasm. “She has. And—”

  “And she sent you to deal with me.”

  He blinked in seeming surprise. It was the most expression I’d ever gotten out of this guy.

  “Where are the rabbits?” he asked point-blank, apparently opting not to have a heart-to-heart. That much I could at least be grateful for.

  I didn’t really expect to get away with it. I knew Klo, Rustin, and Xaria would rat me out. If not by squealing, then through their memories alone.

  But anonymity wasn’t my goal. It never has been.

  I walked into the kitchen and dispensed a cup of juice from the distributor. “I set them free.” I told him.

  I saw his shoulders sag.

  “This has got to stop, Lyzender.”

  I sipped my juice. “I disagree.”

  I could see the frustration fighting its way to his features. He did an impressive job at holding it back. “Last week it was a hundred gallons of enhanced biofuel from the Energy Sector, the week before that it was two million nanocams from the Communications Sector.”

  “No one deserves to be locked in a cage,” I explained, flashing him a smile. “Even nanocams.”

  “Do you realize how much time and how many resources you have destroyed?”

  I sat down at the kitchen table and sighed dramatically. “Oh, probably countless.”

  “This isn’t a game, Lyzender.” His voice was stern now, almost enough to shock me. “These projects have the ability to cure diseases, save ecosystems, improve air quality.”

  “And make Diotech billions of dollars,” I pointed out. “Guess I should sell my stock.”

  He stormed at me, his nostrils flaring, but stopped himself just short of my chair. I watched him battle to keep his usual stoic façade. When he finally collected himself, he said, “I understand you’re angry. I understand you’re frustrated about being here. But until you’re eighteen, there’s absolutely nothing you can do about it. So I suggest you find another way to expend your reckless energy.”

  “Or what?” I challenged. “You’ll tell Dr. Alixter about me and send me to the Memory Coders?” His mouth flopped open, and I let out a scornful laugh. “That’s right. I know how things work around here. I know what happens when people see what they’re not supposed to see. In fact, I’m surprised you guys haven’t shipped me off to a boarding school in Europe with a whole new life implanted in my brain. The memory of a mother who actually gives a flux about me would be nice. If you’re taking requests.”

  Rio shook his head, looking saddened. “Believe it or not, your mother cares about you.”

  I twisted my mouth to the side, pretending to contemplate. “Hmm. I’ll take not.”

  “Try to stay out of trouble, Lyzender. You’re treading on dangerous ground. You don’t want to upset the wrong people around here.”

  I offered him a one-finger salute. “Will do, sir.”

  As he turned to leave, he didn’t notice when I slipped the microcapsule into the pocket of his lab coat.

  3: Next

  “And then the hovercopter blasted into the sky, like a meteor! I thought it was going to suck me up in one of its MagnoBeams! Four agents—huge guys with razor-sharp teeth—came barreling out of the back, lasers at the ready. One tried to spazz me off my feet, but I ducked and rolled just in time. And then a booming voice echoed across the desert—”

  A loud throat clear interrupted my narrative and I looked up to see Mrs. Gleist looming above me, her arms crossed tightly over her chest, her foot tapping.

  “Yes?” I prompted her, causing the twelve children gathered at my feet in the commissary to giggle into their hands.

  “Are you poisoning my students’ minds with your lies again, Mr. Luman?”

  “No,” I replied with a straight face, turning to wink at the kids. “I’m poisoning their minds with the truth.”

  Another round of snickers. Mrs. Gleist clearly did not appreciate my comeback (few authority figures do around this place). She shot me a venomous look and turned to the children. “Students! Lunchtime is over. Back to the classroom.”

  There was a cacophony of groans and gripes as the dozen primary school kids rose to their feet and followed begrudgingly behind their teacher. I turned and started walking over to the table where my friends had gathered, but stopped when I felt a small tug on my pant leg.

  I peered down into the face of a five-year-old girl, her blue eyes wide and curious. I crouched to bring my ear close to her mouth. “What did the loud booming voice say?” she asked me, glancing nervously at her disappearing class.

  I smiled. “That’s for you to figure out. Tomorrow I want you to come back here and tell me what you think happened next.”

  She bit her lip pensively and then, without another word, scurried after her classmates.

  “New Freedom Fighters mission,” Klo said as soon as I slid into the seat across from him. I eyed the pile of food on his plate, enough to feed ten of Raze’s agents. I didn’t know where he put it all. The guy barely weighed a hundred pounds.

  “My dad said they’re working on developing insect bots in the Aggie Sector. They serve the same purpose as natural insects but without the annoying bug bites and stuff.”

  I yawned, pretending to be bored. “Sure. And maybe I could ask one of those primary schoolers back there to help me break in.”

  He frowned, looking disappointed.

  “I don’t give a flux about insect bots. I’m tired of going after C3s. They’re not even a challenge anymore.”

  “My mom has C9 clearance in the memory labs,” Xaria put in, scooting way too close to me on the bench. I wanted to ask her to move over so I could wield my fork and knife without knocking into her. But I also didn’t want to hurt her feelings.

  Rustin claimed she was into me. And maybe he was right. But I had bigger things to deal with right now.

  “What are we going to set free?” I asked rhetorically. “A bunch of memories?”

  I pulled my DigiSlate from my bag, unrolled it, and laid it on the table.

  “Here’s where we’re going next,” I asserted,
swiping across the screen until I reached the map of the compound. A small green dot blinked rapidly toward the bottom left side of the diagram.

  “What’s that?” Rustin asked.

  Xaria scooted in and tilted her head toward me. She was so close now, I could feel her dark black curls tickling the sides of my face. I leaned back to steer clear of them.

  “That’s Dr. Havin Rio,” I explained, pointing at the blinking indicator. It was in the middle of a massive black sea of open space, far away from the rest of the compound buildings. “I slipped a tracking capsule into his lab coat this morning.”

  “Where is he?” Klo asked, taking a giant bite out of his burger. I could never get used to the taste of the synthetic meat on the compound. Which was why I usually stuck to vegetables and rice.

  “It looks like he’s outside the compound gates,” Xaria put in. I could feel her bare leg brush against mine and I recoiled. The injury on her face made me instantly feel guilty. Maybe I should just kiss her and get it over with. If I did it really badly—like sloppy with a lot of tongue—she might lose interest.

  “He’s not outside the compound,” I told them with authority.

  They looked at me, and I indicated the map. I zoomed in and scrolled down. “See?” I pointed at a thin marker on the bottom of the screen. “That’s the southeast gate. He’s still inside the walls.”

  “That gate is out of commission,” Xaria said.

  I smiled. “Exactly.”

  Klo went back to his burger, looking disinterested. “So it’s probably where they test the bioweaps. So what?”

  “So, I didn’t know people could just walk around where they’re testing biological weapons.”

  “Maybe he’s wearing a bio-haz suit,” Rustin said.

  “Maybe there’s something there they don’t want us to know about.”

  They all turned to look at me. Xaria’s face was inches from mine, making me antsy.

  “What are you getting at?” Rustin’s forehead was lined with worry.

  “I’m saying, I want to go.”

  Rustin instantly shook his head. “Did you get spazzed last night by those Mutie Lasers? If they are testing bio-weaps there, I’m not going anywhere near it. I don’t need to grow a third arm.”