The Beyond: Dystopian Survival Fiction (The Breeder Files Book 4) by Eliza Green (most popular novels TXT) 📗

Jerome or Alex, and that he hijacked it.’ She pushed past 118-C on the chair. ‘We have to open the door to the Beyond, now!’

The Inventor pulled her back. ‘Don’t work yourself up, miss. We can’t reach it, not while the Copies occupy the Great Hall.’

Carissa stared at 118-C, who was busy looking at nothing. She’d thought she’d have at least one solution.

Carissa shoved her shoulder. ‘How do we get past the Copies in the Great Hall without disabling them?’

118-C lifted her gaze. ‘I don’t know.’

Anger swelled in her chest. She marched to the exit, but didn’t leave. Quintus was her problem. He had contacted her while she was in the camp. Maybe if she’d spoken up earlier, Julius wouldn’t have had time to communicate from the camp back to the Collective. Maybe Max and Jason would still be alive and Alex and Jerome wouldn’t have been kidnapped.

She stood by the entrance, looking out into the dark corridor that smelled of damp, and rested her head on the cool rock.

A hand on her back spun her around.

The Inventor leaned over her. ‘What is it, miss?’

She looked up at him, her eyes wide. ‘It’s all my fault.’

‘Why do you say that?’

‘If it wasn’t for me, you all could have exited into the Beyond.’

The Inventor shook his head. ‘If it wasn’t for you, we wouldn’t have made it that far, or we’d still be stuck down there with no way to get past the Copies.’

‘Quintus contacted me. He wanted me to help him.’ She sniffed. Biogel leaked out of her nose and eyes; she wiped it away with the back of her hand. ‘I made it possible for him to escape.’

The old man shook her shoulder. ‘No, miss. Even if Alex and Jerome hadn’t been taken, it sounds like Quintus would have inserted the behaviour modification in someone else—someone we may have rescued and brought with us anyway.’

She looked up at him. ‘Really?’

‘Yes, really.’ He straightened up and looked back at the others. ‘We still need to figure out how to get past the door that leads into the Beyond. If we can’t, it won’t matter if we disable the Copies or not.’

Thomas cleared his throat, catching everyone’s attention. ‘If the force field on the door is similar to the one that surrounded this city, I might be able to use the Atomiser to punch a hole in the field. Max used it to get inside Arcis. I’m assuming the energy and composition is the same.’

Vanessa said, ‘You think it’s possible?’

Thomas nodded to 118-C. ‘If she’s still connected, she may have access to the security files and the frequency the field uses.’

118-C said, ‘Of course. I’ll help whatever way I can.’

At least they had a partial plan.

‘But that still doesn’t solve our problem with the guards in the Great Hall,’ said Charlie. ‘Carissa said the hack wouldn’t work a second time.’

Carissa twisted her hands together. She flicked her gaze towards 118-C. ‘I have another idea, one that will ensure the Collective or Quintus can never return to this city.’ All eyes settled on Carissa, except for 118-C’s. ‘We can disable the Copies permanently.’

‘Is that even possible?’ asked Charlie.

Carissa nodded. ‘An electromagnetic pulse. It will kill all connections. It’s built into our security protocol in case we’re ever taken over. A blast of energy will shut everything down, including the network.’

An angry Charlie stepped forward. ‘Why didn’t you say anything before? We’ve been stuck down here without a plan.’

118-C said, ‘Because it kills the Copies, too.’ She glanced at Carissa. ‘All of us.’

27

Carissa

‘Hold on, let’s talk about this for a moment.’ The Inventor fanned his hands. ‘How do we disable the Copies without hurting Carissa or 118-C?’

Carissa’s pulse pounded in her throat. ‘We don’t.’

The old man strode to the other side of the room. She heard Rover whining through the hole in the retractable roof. He must have heard the raised voices.

The Inventor turned and walked back, fists on hips. ‘No, this isn’t happening.’ He looked at Thomas. ‘Can’t we try the hack again? All we need is for them to be disorientated long enough for us to slip past.’

118-C’s next answer turned the biogel in Carissa’s veins to ice. ‘My system sensed the hack. There’s already a patch in place for the breach. It wouldn’t work a second time.’

Carissa clutched to thin hope, but there was only one permanent solution. ‘The EMP is the only option left, Jacob.’

The Inventor bent down to her. ‘I hear you, miss, but it’s not the human way to sacrifice others to save ourselves.’

That was the opposite of what Quintus had taught her: sacrifice was sometimes necessary.

She stared into his pale blue eyes. ‘You’re not sacrificing me; I’m volunteering. Anya went first through the machine on the ninth floor of Arcis to save Jason and Max. Max gave his life to save others. Warren tried to save Jason.’

The Inventor’s lips thinned. ‘I don’t want you to die, miss.’

She managed a smile, despite the wobble in her lower lip. ‘I need to do this. Quintus used me to get to you. I need to make this right.’

‘It wasn’t your fault.’

‘I know.’ She wiped her expression clean and looked at 118-C. ‘Are you in or out?’

The Copy, who once would have had superiority over her, nodded. ‘In.’

Carissa looked at the others: Vanessa, who had always been kind to her; Thomas, who spoke to her like they were equals; Charlie, who had protected Anya and was a friend to Dom and Sheila. She would miss them all.

‘Okay, we need to find something that will deliver an EMP blast, and a place to receive it.’

Thomas pointed up through the gaping hole. ‘The tag machines—they’re connected to the network. We could deliver a surge to the