Destiny: Quantic Dreams Book 3 by Elizabeth McLaughlin (books for 20 year olds .txt) 📗

the fledgling colony. Though the journey would only take a few days, they were bringing back information that would change the course of humanity. Before the group departed, I sat down with Alan and made him practice what to relay back to Jason and Nicole.

“They’re going to kill him.” Alan opened his mouth to protest but I held up a hand. “No, Alan. I’m not assuming. I know. Eleanor practically let it slip while Eliza and I spoke with her. Now we’re going to do our absolute best to not allow that to happen but you must tell the others. Our survival inside these walls has only been allowed so that the androids can learn more about us. It was necessary for us to give them access to our tablets; there was no other way for me to get some kind of word back to the colony. In doing so, I’m sure they’ve run through every last bit and byte of data.”

“Then we’re fucked, aren’t we.” He wasn’t afraid. It was a statement of fact.

“Not yet. I have a feeling that the peace will last as long as they have Dad. Once he’s gone, I’m not sure what they’re going to do with the rest of us. We already know that there are people here willing to commit atrocities. No matter how our allies wish to forge a co-existence, I know the score. When you get back, get everyone ready. Get weapons manufacturing running if you can. Find out if they’re telling us the truth or, more likely, if they’re full of shit.”

“Jesus Fiona, you sound like we’re going to war with these machines.” He was right. No matter if they killed my father or not, or if our family made it out of the machine city alive, the androids knew that humanity had gained a foothold on the surface. This wasn’t about Gabriel. If it was, they would have shot Dad the minute they could confirm his identity. The animalistic murder of a human whose only crime was going outside went beyond simple revenge. No, these people hated us. With luck, they would leave us alone; humanity alone posed no threat to them. Short of more humans appearing from nowhere, we would face annihilation should the androids decide to wipe us out.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen, but our first duty is to those people. You know that Eliza and I would gladly lay down our lives for them, and we will do so here if necessary. Until we can return home, I’m trusting you to take our place. Talk to Jason and Nicole. Tell them everything that happened here.” There was no need to say the last part. If we don’t come back...

“Okay.” He gave me a fierce hug and turned to join the group, rapidly disappearing into the sunset.

The four of us walked back to our quarters in silence. Eliza put her arm around me and squeezed. “It’s going to be all right,” she whispered. “We’re going to get out of here. All of us.” How badly I wished she was right.

Dad behaved himself right up until the doors clicked shut. In that moment, all the anger, rage, and frustration of the entire ordeal spilled forth. He roared and charged at Eliza. As if she anticipated the move, she deftly sidestepped his attack and he skidded past. By the time he turned around Marcus moved to block his path. He scooped his arms under Dad’s armpits and threw him to the floor. Marcus planted a boot on his grandfather’s chest.

“Stay down.”

“Fuck you.” Dad spat. Marcus put more of his weight into his foot, making Dad wince.

“Stay down or I’ll put you down.” Marcus’s eyes were full of consternation. It was a horrible position to put our child in, an enforcer against his own family. Until we could get Dad under control it was a necessary evil. A stream of cursing spilled from him, expletives mixed with cries of anguish. My father was a smart man. He knew the score. He knew what had to happen. There were no other options. It was understandable that he was struggling with it.

“Let him up, Marcus.” Eliza patted him on the shoulder. “If he tries to pull that shit again, you have my full permission to knock him out.” Dad pushed himself up from the floor and stalked past Eliza, spitting at her feet.

“Do you want me to tell him what for?” I embraced her. She smelled of adrenaline and stress. I ached to protect her, but she would

“He’s being a child,” she grumbled. She was right. For all his noble gestures this behavior was beyond childish. Fear was understandable, even frustration. But outright defiance was more likely to get him killed along with the rest of us. I had to find a way to get him in line. The man had caused enough trouble as it was.

“Hey, Daddo.” I found him at his cot, busily rearranging the contents of his duffle bag. He grunted at me and didn’t look up. “You wanna talk about it?”

“That wife of yours is something else, you know that?” He zipped his bag shut and dropped it to the floor. “Treating me like a goddamn child when I’ve been through more than any of you.”

“You want to talk or you want to bitch?” I wanted to sympathize with him, I really did, but we were all tired. Yes, he had done a great service for us, but the last time I checked the man hadn’t stayed up for days on end devising a damn genetic editing program to keep a thousand people from starving to death. “I get that you’re angry, and I understand why you might be scared, but you need to get your shit together, all right?”

“I’m not scared.” Dad glared at me.

“Yeah?” I grabbed his chin with my hand and held his head steady. “You sure about that? Because you sure as shit look scared to me. I don’t know if