The Beyond: Dystopian Survival Fiction (The Breeder Files Book 4), Eliza Green [amazing books to read TXT] 📗

Anya walked around the room, unsure what to make of this place. ‘Is this your living room?’

‘These are my private quarters.’

That’s when Anya noticed a level above them, accessible by a set of stairs. Underneath it was a kitchen made of sleek, black granite.

‘Where do you sleep?’

Agatha pointed upstairs and lifted her glass. ‘Here’s to new beginnings.’

Anya and Dom clinked their glasses. Anya took a small sip of the wine, trying not to grimace at its bitter flavours. She’d had wine once, when the controllers of the medical facility had brought it to her and Alex—one of many aphrodisiacs to get them to breed.

The thought of new beginnings made her hands sweat. She walked over to the three sofas and set her glass down on the glass coffee table in the middle.

‘Hungry?’ Agatha asked. ‘I’ve replicated a few things. I wasn’t sure what you liked.’

Anya folded her arms. ‘Actually, I’d rather know what’s waiting for us out there.’

She nodded at the blackened windows.

Dom moved closer to her and set his glass down beside hers. She could see the same question in his eyes, except he was being more polite than she was.

Agatha abandoned her glass and walked over to the window. She keyed a code into a control panel and the tint on the windows reduced. Coloured lights twinkled in the distance but the dark hadn’t lifted outside.

She keyed in another code and the door slid open to reveal a balcony. Cool air rushed in and made Anya shiver. But despite the cold, she walked outside. Ahead of her was an array of tall towers, each with a sprinkling of lights. The hum of life drifted up from below. A lone road surrounded the compound. They were up high, as though the Beyond had been built into the side of a mountain.

‘What is this place?’

Agatha slid in beside her. ‘New San Francisco.’

‘Like the poster on your wall?’

‘Sort of. For the last hundred years, this city has been part of the Colonies. The west colony to be precise.’

Dom came to Anya’s other side. She looked up at him. His wide-eyed expression told her he was both shocked at and in awe of the view.

‘What’s down there?’ he asked.

‘Life. Both human and synthetic.’

Dom shook his head, as if he hadn’t heard her correctly. ‘I don’t understand. You have Copies living in your city? And you had a problem with ours?’

Agatha nodded. ‘They’re a vital commodity and help the four colonies thrive. Unlike your Copies.’

Anya’s stomach swirled. She stepped back from the edge as a wave of vertigo hit her. She hit the sliding door.

Dom grabbed her. ‘Are you okay?’

She swallowed and blinked. ‘This is not what I was expecting.’

‘What were you expecting?’ asked Agatha.

‘Destruction. A city in ruins. A reason for the existence of the Region.’

‘There was a good reason.’

‘To keep one of your rogue sentient programs contained is not a good enough reason.’

‘It was the only way we could fool Quintus, if we gave him a city to command.’ She clasped her hands together. ‘Maybe we should have some dinner and talk about it.’

Anya walked forward, eager to get off the balcony. They returned to the living room and sat down. On the table were a bowl of spaghetti carbonara and a bowl of bread. She was starving, but the knot in her stomach refused to let her enjoy it.

Agatha helped herself. Dom scooped food onto his plate and, when Anya didn’t move, he dished out a portion for her.

She stared at Agatha. ‘I think you need to start from the beginning.’

Agatha chewed and swallowed her mouthful. ‘The Region was to keep Quintus under control. It was supposed to be a short-term arrangement, but our sensors monitoring the situation stopped working. Maybe Quintus disabled them somehow, but without eyes there, we couldn’t assess the situation properly. And we certainly couldn’t open the door and risk him getting out.’

‘How did we end up in there?’

‘There are thousands of people in the Region—families mostly. We needed Quintus to think he was living in the real world and not trapped inside a program, which was our fallback option if this didn’t work. The families entered willingly, but part of the agreement was that they would not retain memories of this place. We couldn’t risk Quintus learning about this place from them.

‘We held a consultation with representatives as to how the Region should operate. They voted for self-sustaining towns and a city with medical equipment, should the need arise to use it. So we designed the Region around an existing military testing base, which you knew as Praesidium. That was part of the agreement to enter: full consultation.’

‘And why did they volunteer?’ Anya said with a shake of her head. ‘Why would they leave this behind if they didn’t have to?’

Agatha smiled. ‘The people who volunteered were in low-paying jobs and looking for a fresh start. Some with specific skills were promised a good pay-out to enter—the rest were promised better work after this was over. The Region was a second chance for them. All entrants had their memories of this city repressed and received a new set of a life lived in the Region. Many were also trained in specific skills prior to entry—farming, engineering, hunting skills—that would make their time there more believable. Everyone received training of some kind, to make the towns sustainable and everything run smoothly.’

Anya clasped her hands together. No, twisted them was more like it. ‘Are you saying my family was poor before we went in there? Dom’s family?’

Agatha nodded. ‘Dom’s, yes, but your family entered for a different reason.’

‘What?’

‘To help someone close to you. This isn’t the first time we’ve met, Anya. And I’m not surprised to find you in the group that found