Breeders (Breeders #1) Page 4

  “Ready?” he asked without turning towards me. A silent nod was all I could manage at this point. The salty tears stinging my eyes were the one thing at this moment that felt real, that reminded me I was not a test subject but a human being.

  “This way,” he gestured with a nod of his head. Three corridors spanned around us. Each corridor was lit in a different colored hue. Blue, pink and yellow lights lined the corridors, creating a peaceful ambience. He picked the yellow tunnel to the right and walked down the long corridor towards a heavy metal door at the end. A large ‘Restricted Access’ sign covered the top half of the door.

  “How many times have you been here?” I asked gently.

  “More than I can count. I was born here.” The hint of sadness in his voice concerned me.

  He moved towards an alcove station to the right and scanned in. The heavy door slid across revealing a huge white room bustling with people. I moved slowly forward. A sleek, immaculately groomed woman breezed past us. “Morning, Mason.”

  “Morning, Sue,” he replied politely.

  Mason steered me through the sea of bustling Creators carrying charts and files and clipboards and monitors. “Off to see the Mother Creator?” someone nudged Mason gently. I turned to find myself staring into the most beautiful elfish face I had ever seen. “Good luck,” she whispered and hurried off.

  “What is this place?” I asked him.

  “This is the Medical Research Centre. Mouth agape, I scanned the room.

  “Are they all genetically selected?” I asked him slowly.

  “Not really, few are. These are Carers; all selected due to a variety of different skill sets. They monitor the Breeding and other Genetic programs. You will be assigned a Carer in the upcoming months if you choose to reproduce naturally,” he added.

  “There is nothing natural about this,” I whispered.

  A rectangular white desk stretched out in front of me. A large chair swiveled around to face us. In it was an elegant, immaculately presented woman I had seen on the screen earlier that morning. Long wisps of grey hair framed her aged but glowing face. She stood to greet us. “Mason, my dear boy,” she extended her hand courteously. It surprised me to hear that her hard, clipped voice did not match her elegant and warm appearance.

  “Grandmother,” Mason said, taking her hand across the desk. I lowered my eyes, but felt her scrutiny as she embraced him.

  “Mason, dear, how was your trip?”

  “Um, okay, Grandmother. Happy to be back at home.” As I, too, would be, I thought, glaring at him. He grimaced, perhaps realizing the insensitivity of his words. “Grandmother, meet Ariet Langley.” Stepping back, he pushed me forward slightly.

  We scrutinized each other whilst in the pretense of a meet and greet. “Hello, Ariet, even more beautiful in person.”

  I raised an eyebrow, glancing over at Mason. He shrugged helplessly, a look of guilt sweeping his face. “Hi,” I whispered.

  She continued to look me over. “You can call me Evelyn. How was your trip?” she asked tersely. I silently threw daggers at her. Her cold blue eyes piercing me with every question. I could see where Mason inherited that trait, although his face resembled nothing of her. His was kinder, I noticed. “Are you happy with your dwelling?”

  I said nothing. I couldn’t, I had frozen in the unnaturalness of the situation. Mason answered for me. “Yes, she has settled quite nicely in her room and has already made use of our new walk-in scanner.”

  “Don’t answer for her, Mason. I would like to hear her speak. Do you like your new dwelling, Ariet?”

  “Yes,” I whispered, a wave of defiance coating me in protection.

  “Good. I’m aware that your purpose here has been explained to you. Here is the Breeder’s manual which the Creators expect you to go over in the next two weeks. For this period, you are not to leave the area of your dwelling. After today, failure to adhere to this will result in lock down of you here, at this facility. The perimeter of your dwelling will be explained to you by Mason. Do you understand me?”

  “Yes.”

  “Lastly, you need to be scanned every day, twice a day. Mason will assist you when you need to come in for the medical after the two week period. It is absolutely essential that you do this. All of which is detailed in the manual. I need you to be very clear on this last point, Ariet. Remember what happened the last time you missed a scan?” I blinked rapidly in alarm. Mason looked between the two of us in confusion, clearly unaware of this incident on my part. “Ariet, you need to answer me. Are we clear?” I nodded slowly. The threat was unmistakable. A chill swept across my back and I knew in that instant this was a woman not to be trusted but a woman to be feared. What did that make her grandson then, my new partner? I mused fearfully.

  “We can walk around here for a bit, and you can meet some of the Carers and make a few friends, if you want. We could maybe have lunch here?” Mason trotted beside me, chatting light-heartedly.

  “I want to go home. Now,” I replied sharply.

  “Okay, we will go back to the dwelling then. You can relax and we can discuss things further over dinner.”

  I clutched the manual hard against my chest, the pages digging into me, burning me as if it was made of fire. I closed my eyes and let him guide me back down the pale yellow corridor towards the exit. We boarded the train and sat across from what appeared to be a “new” family. A mother sat nursing her newborn, the father gazing down lovingly at the offspring, his arm protectively around his mate. I looked away sharply, tears springing to my eyes. That is the path I would have chosen, now I am forced, the term Breeder floating around my head, spiraling me into the depths of despair.

  “This is our exit,” Mason whispered, gently maneuvering me out onto the platform. I just managed to keep the tears at bay, hoping the new family in front of me could not see my utter desperation. I wished that their moment was mine. The realization that it would never be buckled my knees. Tears left my eyes, flooding my face until I was doubled over in wretches, sobbing uncontrollably. Mason tried to guide me up the dark tunnel towards the stairs.

  “We are almost there, please walk for me, Ariet,” he requested patiently. One foot in front of the other, he led me slowly up the stairs. Scanning his arm, I heard the automated voice ‘Welcome, Mr. Black.’ He gently lifted my arm for me to be scanned. ‘Breeder 107, entry accepted.’ The door slid open and he walked me out into the sunlight. If I wasn’t in such despair, I might have taken note at how warm and inviting our dwelling actually was, how flowers of every color lined the pathways, how the front door glittered in a rainbow of colors, nothing like the pastel tones that I had seen in Centre Town before. All I noticed was how isolated it was, with not another human in sight. This was my new prison.

  Chapter 6

  The Breeder manual slammed down on the table beside me. “You need to read this, Ariet. You cannot mope around here forever. It’s been almost two weeks. Your medical is tomorrow, after which there is another meeting with some more of the senior members of the Creators, where they will question you about our partnership. This will happen every week for the next four weeks. You need to be aware of this. Ariet, Ariet, I’m talking to you!!!” Mason leant down to my height and roughly shook me by the shoulders. “Ariet, it is not you, or me even, that determines whether Option One or Two is chosen for conception, it is the Creators decision. You need to take a stand regarding your future!”

  Reality hit me and, for the first time in almost a week, I uttered a single word, “What?”

  He collapsed in a heap onto the chair next to me. “That’s why you need to read the manual. It’s important that you know all of this. What I told you about the two options for conception is true; it’s just that we don’t decide which it will be. The Board will meet with us on a weekly basis and assess our current compatibility. If they determine it is forced, and we have not progressed beyond our first meet, they will lock you up and force you to have in vitro fertilization, a process which could harm y
ou.”

  “What do we need to do?” I queried hesitantly.

  “We need to represent a united front. Stay after the medicals and converse with the Carers. They will also give feedback on the status, or rather their interpretation of the status, of our pairing to the Board. We eventually need to act like we are lovers. But, for the start, we need to act amicable, friends even. You need to hide your hatred of me, which is written on your face every time you look at me. I need you to know one thing: I didn’t do this to you. This is not the path I had chosen for myself. I am being forced every bit as you are.”

  “I don’t believe you!” I yelled.

  “Excuse me?” he asked.

  “You have mentioned this twice to me, and I don’t know if I believe you. Or if you are just trying to get me to submit to being a Breeder.”

  “I was in love with someone,” he whispered, looking away. “Still am, maybe, I don’t know. We were forced to end it when I found out I was a carrier for the gene. The same gene as you. I was selected and chosen for this arranged pairing just as you were. The only difference is, as a Creator, I was given two months to prepare. I had to choose a dwelling, prepare for you…”

  “Prepare for me?” I interrupted.

  “Yes, captivation of another human is mentally harmful to their well-being, not to mention being assigned Breeder status and all that goes with it.”

  “And what else, medical knowledge, in case I try to hurt myself?” I asked sarcastically.

  “No,” he looked at me strangely. “All Creators have some medical knowledge that is passed on from generation to generation. I was given additional nutritional training to maintain your health and that of the fetus if, indeed, Option Two was selected for us.”

  “And this girl, who was she?”

  “Her name was…is, Hanneth. She was a Carer at the Research Facility. She has now been moved to another research division, taken away from me to a place where I have no access. This is my life now, as it is yours. You need to accept this, no matter the hurt you feel, and move on from here. Things can either get better or get worse. The decision is yours.”

  For the first time since my arrival at Centre Town, I sat down and ate a meal with my mate. Night after night he had laid two table settings, but I had eaten in solitary, alone with my own sadness. Every evening he had prepared dinner and bought it to me, laying it down on my bed. Always with the added information that he was eating at the table, and I had the option to dine with him, should I wish to do so. Tonight’s meal was a selection of green vegetables, freshly baked bread with butter and a meat I had never tasted before, covered in a cherry glaze.

  “What is this?” I asked, gingerly stabbing it with my fork. It had a wonderful woody, grainy texture. “It’s smoked turkey breast. The Creators genetically engineered them about thirty years ago, and it’s taken twenty years to determine their safety in us eating them. It’s good, huh?” I nodded in response, my mouth full. “It’s one of the projects in our Biotechnology department. When the Great Illness devastated much of the worldwide human population, it jumped species and wiped out many of our animal food sources. When the Creators got together and formed the New World, they made a list of all the natural food sources we previously had access to. Samples were taken, where possible, and frozen until we had the technology to recreate them. Every few years, you get a new trade at the market, or in your supplies, such as beets, rice and cheese.”

  I nodded in understanding. Strawberries were a new addition during my twenty years in Quadrant Four that I had particularly taken a fancy to. My mouth watered thinking about the juiciness of them, reminding me of the small strawberry patch my mother had made for me in our vegetable garden. The thought of home immediately clouded my thoughts. My mother singing in the kitchen, my jolly father poking fun at my twin. Oh Alec, I missed him so. He was part of my soul, my other half. I wonder if he sensed I was alive, if he knew. Could I get word to him? What if he could still feel my presence and had decided to set out and find me? What harm would come to him?

  As if reading my thoughts, Mason offered me some water. “They’ll be okay, Ariet.”

  “How, how can you be so sure? Can you be sure? Because I can’t? What if they don’t believe this story of me being diseased? What if they come looking for me? It breaks my heart to think that…” Panic took over and I choked back my tears. Mason leaned across the table and gently took my hand. Turning my palm over in his, he drew circles around and around my palm, shushing me softly. Alarmed by his touch I immediately moved to yank my arm away, but the circular motion felt oddly soothing.

  After a few moments, when my breathing had slowed, he whispered, “Let’s get through tomorrow, and we can talk further, about them even, if you’d like.”

  “I have just one question?” I asked. “How could your own family tear you apart, from the one you had chosen to love, from Hanneth. Your own Grandmother even? How do you still love her and bear to be next to her and do her bidding no less?”

  “You will come to understand, Ariet. This is the way of the New World. The more you live in the Creators world, the more you will see how much our well-being is at stake. How our population is not expanding at the rate we had hoped. How we are not adapting and diversifying accordingly. The Creators primary duty is to ensure the genetic diversity of the human race and make sure that, as a species, we survive.” The humming of the buzzer signaled the end to the evening. ‘Lights out in thirty minutes. Please prepare for the resting stage.’ commanded the automated voice.

  Chapter 7

  The next morning we made our way back to the Great Tower, using the underground train tunnels. I found them quite amazing as the distance they traveled in such short time was incredible. Within a few minutes, our train slowed and stopped at Zone Three.

  “This is new, why are we stopping here?” I asked Mason.

  “This is the entrance that will take us directly through to the medical centre, it is the most rapid route.”

  “How many zones are there?” I was curious.

  “Six,” he answered. “One for each discipline required to keep us alive.” We scanned our way into a similar tunnel that I had seen two weeks before. Long corridors with many metal doors spanned before us.

  “What are through all these doors?”

  “Offices, storage. The main activities happen below, in each of the reception areas you saw the other day. The Carers have their own floor; the medical floors are eight levels below that.”

  “How many floors down does the Great Tower descend?”

  “That I cannot answer.” he said. I looked quizzically at him. We had decided last night, that no matter what, from this point on, I had to trust in what he said and he would be truthful with me. “I honestly don’t know. I’ve never been further than the fourth level of the medical wards.” He walked me up to a holding area, where a scanner extended out of the floor barring the entrance to a doorway. “We both have to scan.”

  “Please don’t leave me,” I whispered.

  “I won’t. I have to be present with you at all times. Only during your physical exams will I be asked to leave your side, but I will remain just outside the door. You are a Breeder, not a Creator. The Law states that you cannot be left to run around here on your own. Again, it’s all in the manual,” he chastised. I stuck my hand out sulkily. The scanner moved across to the side allowing both of us entry. ‘Hello, Mr. Black. Please proceed to room four with Breeder 107.’ I tensed immediately at the reminder that I was a captive, my freedom no longer my own.

  Mason’s eyes silently begged me to proceed forward and not cause a scene. About to say something to him, he tersely shook his head and motioned his eyes upwards. I hadn’t realized we were under surveillance in this medical wing. It looked as though our every move and sound was monitored. I felt even more strangled and stifled. As if I couldn’t breathe. He gestured for me to follow him. I realized now how important appearances were and wished I had taken note of the other pointers he
gave me last night. I switched the manual to the underneath of my right arm. I had insisted on bringing it with me, wanting to make sure I was not roped into any other projects or any such thing I was not aware of.

  Room four was half way down the brightly lit, but cold, sterile corridor. Entering the room, I noticed it appeared exactly as the other exam rooms had so far. A Carer stepped out from behind an examination table. “Hi. I’m Paige,” She smiled sweetly at me, extending her hand. “I’ve been assigned as your Carer for the gestation period.” I couldn’t help but smile back. It was the tiny elfish girl, who had pulled us aside on my first trip to the medical centre. “Please could you put this on and lie on the table.”

  “I’ll be right outside,” Mason whispered to me.

  Paige chatted incessantly. “Your Healer is lovely. Quite advanced in the medical sector. He comes from a long line of Healers. Aah, here he is, Dr. Weler.”

  “Hello, Ariet,” he peered down at me. Finally my name, I thought.

  “Hello,” I replied. Aware that I was being observed at every moment, I looked around slowly, as if taking in my surroundings, all the while looking for a camera. I spotted one in each corner of the room.

  “Okay. So the weekly medicals won’t differ much from what you have previously experienced. You are to please tell me if you experience any signs of ill health during the gestational period once you have conceived,” Dr. Weler instructed.

  “Fine,” I muttered. The exam continued without a hitch and was the same as I had undergone in Phase Four of my final medical in Centre Town. Paige fluttered around me, “Ariet, you can get dressed now. Mason will escort you to the next stage of the examination.”

  Mason was sitting on a white square plank jutting out of the wall just outside the examination room. “How did it go?” he asked. I shrugged my shoulders walking towards him, refusing to give him any indication that I was even remotely okay with this. Ignoring my defiance, he took me gently by the shoulder. “Right, the next stage is the briefing. Please try to behave yourself and be respectful during this meeting. Our future depends on it.” The anxiousness in his voice made me turn towards him. I was about to question it when a Guardian interrupted my thoughts.