 
## **Contents**

Legacy The Awakening

Copyright

1 - Joshua

2 - Cade

3 - Chloe

4 - Joshua

5 - Cade

6 - Joshua

7 - Joshua

8 - David

9 - Joshua

10 - Chloe

11 - Joshua

12 - Chloe

13 - Joshua

14 - Joshua

15 - Ashley

16 - Joshua

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About the Author

LEGACY

THE AWAKENING

Kurt Petrey
Legacy  
The Awakening

Second Edition

Kurt Petrey

Copyright © 2018 by Kurt Petrey. All rights reserved. This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, businesses, events, or locales is purely coincidental. Reproduction in whole or part of this publication without express written consent is strictly prohibited.

The author greatly appreciates you taking the time to read his work. Please consider leaving a review wherever you bought the book, or telling your friends about it, to help spread the word.

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Kurtpetrey.com
Chapter 1

Joshua

Images and colors flashed through the young man's mind in a blur, spinning as his body screamed desperately for oxygen. Opening his eyes he found himself inside of a liquid coffin, looking out through a blurry fluid splashing around him. His entire body ached for relief. The muted sounds of bellowing air passed by his ears. A thick sheet of hazy glass held him. Dim lights shined from the other side. He would have lifted his arms and shouted but his muscles were too weak. He couldn't find his voice. The liquid continued to drain as he struggled. A copper taste filled his mouth. There were muffled sounds of gears turning and alarms ringing. Then the bleary glass receded into the wall.

He convulsed, gasping for air, but something solid filled his mouth and throat, blocking his efforts. An attempt to scream produced nothing more than a weak, muffled grunt.

When his fingers went to his face they met some kind of mask instead. He gripped the cold metal and pulled, despite the resistance anchored deep within his body. He managed to channel his dwindling strength into one forceful tug. Something broke free, and a horrible slurping sound bubbled up from his stomach, which turned and wrenched, further panicking him. He pulled harder, stunned to feel whatever it was sliding through his body and up his throat. The object slithered out through his mouth and thudded to the table beside him, followed by an opaque liquid. He coughed and gasped at the sudden liberation, his lungs burning from the sensation of a full, deep inhalation. The air was sharp and cold sending a chill up and down his spine.

A loud alarm rang out nearby.

"Help!" he yelled, his voice strangled. "I need help!"

Screaming cut like a blade through his throat, but he tried again. No one responded. All he could hear was a distant humming and a steady, patterned beep.

"Is anyone there?"

The urge to throw up rolled him over and he fell solidly to the cold metallic floor, where more of the liquid in his stomach escaped.

Freezing, he opened his eyes and ran his hands over his chest, discovering with surprise that he was totally naked. He searched his mind for answers to the many questions he had but there were none. His instincts pushed him to not look inward but outward, to observe and get a grip on his surroundings. One bright light shone overhead, its rays focused on the table from which he'd fallen, but other than that, the room was dark. From what he could see, the walls appeared to be made of the same material as the floor—some kind of dark gray metal or stone. Near the table, the floor had a gradient, and pipes ran underneath.

Everything felt strange and unfamiliar, and though he racked his brain he had no clue where he was or how he'd gotten there. His heart raced with panic, his head throbbed, and blood pumped so hard through his veins he could barely hear the noise coming from outside the room.

He groaned and tried to control his limbs enough that he could sit up, then wrapped his arms around his bent legs. Very carefully, wary of the pain, he lowered his head to his knees and searched for memories. How did I get here? He couldn't find any answers, couldn't even recall his name.

"Who are you?" he asked out loud. There was no answer within him.

The table from which he'd fallen was empty now, but...

He leaned closer, squinting, unsure of what he was seeing. Something hung off the edge, and it looked a lot like a collection of metal tentacles. Glancing down at his own body, he noticed small metal circles attached to his arms, near his wrists. They looked to be about the same diameter as the tentacles. Horrified, he felt around his naked body and found more of the metal remnants, realizing as he did that the terrible things had most likely been connected to him before he'd fallen. Why did his body need them? Was something wrong with him?

Strength slowly returned, and he shifted so he could sit with his back against the table. His teeth chattered from the cold, and frozen shudders shook his body. He took a deep breath, struggling just to stay vertical, then looked around the room. A chair was nearby, to his left, so he crawled close enough that he could pull it to him. It wheeled over with an almost-silent squeak, and he put all his energy into climbing onto it.

From his new vantage point, he noticed a smaller room to his right, filled with what looked like clothing. Shivering violently, he pushed off with his feet, rolling toward the room. A glass door slid open, allowing him in. As he'd first thought, the room was filled with shirts and pants, and they all looked exactly alike. He braced himself against the wall as he slipped into some pants, his legs sore but steady. The pants fit perfectly and gave him a layer of protection from the cold air, as did the shirt.

Slightly warmer, he surveyed the room more closely. What is this place? His eyes went to the table, which he now saw looked somewhat like a bed. It was definitely medical in nature, and a variety of tubes protruded out of the wall. He rolled toward the door, pushing the chair with slow, unsure steps, and looked through the small window. A curved hallway stretched as far as he could see to the right and left, interrupted by a few doors. That made him wonder how many other people might be in this facility. Were others in the same situation as he was? He shoved on the door, but it wouldn't open. Desperate, he banged on the window, yelling as loud as his tortured throat would allow.

"Can anyone hear me? I'm trapped in here!"

There was no movement outside his door. Evidently no one could hear him.

A computer monitor stood on the desk where the chair had been, piquing his interest. Using the chair to assist his walking, he pushed toward the desk then sat, his feet cold on the floor. A small dome sat in front of the monitor, glowing red. Curious, he placed his right hand over the sphere. It immediately switched from red to white, and the alarm went silent. The monitor lit softly and words crossed the screen.

"Mind map failed due to an unknown command-line structure," he read aloud. "Executed SUB-B routine successful with errors. Data transfer unsuccessful with current specimen Joshua-147."

Specimen Joshua?

The monitor turned off then on again and started executing commands. Confused, he lifted his hand, and the sphere faded to red. He quickly put his hand back on, and the sphere glowed white. The monitor spelled out: Welcome, Joshua. How may I assist you today?

An impossible thought came to mind, and he stared at the monitor. Could his name really be Joshua? He had no emotional reaction to the name but after a long moment a hint of something was there. It was an echo of someone calling out the name Joshua.

"Am I Joshua?" he asked, the sound of his voice odd and unfamiliar—just like everything else.

"Yes, you are Joshua," a smooth, automated, female voice said. "How may I assist you today, Joshua?"

He slid his chair back and glanced around, startled by the voice. But he was alone in the small room.

He started at the sound of voices coming from the other side of the door. They were talking just outside the room, though they sounded farther away. He lifted his hand off the sphere, and the screen went black.

He stood, in control of his limbs once more and wanting to test them. Had he been injured? No, other than a lingering sense of weakness, he seemed fine.

An unfamiliar woman's face popped up in the door's window. She looked away briefly and yelled, "Another one is awake. I'll handle this one!" She peered back inside and smiled at Joshua. "I see you are dressed and ready to go, huh? Can you please unlock the door so I can help you the rest of the way?"

Joshua didn't move.

Her smile was apologetic. "I know you're confused. I'm here to help in any way that I can."

Joshua stood a little straighter. "Who are you?" he demanded. "What is this place?"

"Well, to your first question, I'm Ashley. To the second question..." She paused for a moment. "That's a harder one to answer."

Joshua regarded her, apprehensive.

She continued, "This conversation would be a lot easier if this door wasn't separating us, don't you think?"

He was pretty sure this wasn't a prison, and the fact that the locks were apparently on the inside made him feel a little more secure. Since the door was the only exit, he decided to take a chance.

"Can you take a step back from the door?" he asked.

She continued to smile as she took four steps back then leaned against the other side of the curved hallway. "Don't worry. I just want to talk."

She was wearing an identical set of clothing to his. Same shirt and pants that were gray, with a black sash sewn in across her torso. It looked better on her. She was tall with blonde hair that reached her shoulders, and she had light green eyes.

When he was convinced, he placed his hands on what he thought was the locking mechanism, but nothing happened. "I can't unlock it. It won't open."

"Place your hand on the sphere next to the lock and press it."

A half sphere was fastened to the left of the door, just like the one on the desk but unlit. As instructed, he placed his hand on it, and the sphere responded by turning white, then blue. The door slid into the wall.

Ashley kicked off the wall and took a step toward him. "There. Isn't that better? Can I come in and show you a few things that we've figured out so far? Would that be okay?"

Joshua stepped back to make room for her to pass.

"What's your name?" she asked.

He shrugged. "I think it's Joshua. That's what the voice said."

Ashley smiled again. "Okay. Let's go over a few things first. I'll tell you what we think we know, then we can talk about what you think you know. Does that sound fair?"

He nodded.

"I'm not sure I can add much from my side."

"That's all right," she assured him. "We'll get to that later. First let's talk about your room." She hesitated. "Is it okay if I call you Josh? I think I like Josh better."

"Doesn't matter to me."

Ashley walked over to the bed and held out her hand. "Come here and give me your arm."

He hesitated, then complied since he could see no other option. But when she reached toward the tentacles, he yanked his hand away.

"At night you will want to lie down like you were when you woke up," she said calmly, ignoring his reaction, "and then insert these two tendrils into each arm. This is how the system knows what to do for healing, supplying medicines and nutrients to sustain you while you are asleep." He reluctantly offered his arm when she gestured toward it, then watched closely as she snapped the tentacle on then off. "See? Like that." She pointed back to the door. "There are toilets and showers down the hall but they're not working yet."

Joshua jumped to his feet, shaking his head. "Wait. What do you mean? This is my room? You expect me to live here?" He took a step back with a feeling of disorientation. The room began to spin. "Uh, I need to..."

Before he could say another word, Ashley had grabbed the chair and slid it around and behind him. He sat down with relief. While he regained his equilibrium, Ashley walked toward the wall and pulled down a panel that converted into a chair.

"Yes," she said gently. "This is where you will live for now. We have some food and seem to have plenty of water, but there are a lot of questions that still haven't been answered. We don't even know why we're here—or where here is." She sighed, but her eyes were kind. "I know you have many questions. I still do."

Joshua stared at her, then grudgingly nodded. "Start at the beginning. Tell me what you know."

She paused as if searching where to start.

"Eight days ago the first of us woke up. Six men. After three days, twenty-four more people woke up. More wake every couple of days or so, and we don't know why. There are about fifty of us now, not counting anyone who woke up today. I just woke up four days ago. We have food sort of figured out through a hydroponics area, and we have a steady flow of water, so we are surviving. Other than that, I really don't know a lot. Honestly, no one does." She paused, watching for his reaction. Joshua was taking everything in, but he really didn't know what to say. "What are you thinking?" she asked quietly.

Fortunately, the room wasn't spinning anymore. "Right now I have a lot of questions, but I'm not sure what you can answer. A lot of this just doesn't make sense. What is waking everyone up, and why were we all asleep to begin with? Why can't I remember anything?"

Ashley extended her hands to reassure him. "I know this is difficult. Maybe we should go for a walk and let you take a look around. There will be a gathering in the main hall in a little while."

Joshua nodded. It sounded like the best place to get answers.

"Good," she said. "We should probably head over there now."

He stood up, and Ashley reached out to steady him. "Take it slow. I don't want you to get dizzy again."

Chapter 2

Cade

Cade had a bad feeling this wasn't going to work out, but he had to try. He'd woken up for what the system designated as fifteen shifts ago, and things were just starting to come together. After a full day of recovery, then most of the past four days spent getting to know the way the software worked, he'd started to understand that the system was a kind of symbiotic creation. He looked down at the sphere hanging from the wall, then finished connecting the two wires that he thought might bypass the locking mechanism to the door. If this didn't unlock it, he wasn't sure what to try next.

"Get ready to turn the power on," he said.

Ryan was getting better at understanding the power grid of the overall system, which was how they'd gained access to all these areas. Just a couple of days ago, no one had had power. Now over half the hallways and most of the rooms were accessible—all the rooms, actually, except for this one. No matter what he did, they couldn't get it open.

"I'm almost ready," Ryan replied, his muffled voice coming from underneath the desk.

Cade double-checked to make sure the wires were properly crossed, then waited for Ryan's signal. He didn't understand exactly what was going on with these spheres, but he could grasp the general idea. Each one operated differently, depending on its location. If it was by a door, the sphere would unlock it, but only if the person touching it had authorization. If it was part of a console, then someone could manipulate the console, again based on the individual's authorization.

Cade knew without a doubt that something important was inside this sealed room. Unfortunately, he had no idea how he knew it. All he could do was rely on his gut and the information he'd gathered to this point.

"Okay, I'm ready," Ryan said. "Power should be running through it now."

But the door at the end of the room stood unmoved, in spite of the changes they'd made in the sphere. Cade twisted two more wires into place. The sphere lit, but just as he was placing the sphere back into the wall, sparks flew out from under the desk, and Ryan jumped away.

"What happened?" Cade asked.

Ryan frowned at the desk, looked at Cade, then dropped his eyes to the desk again. "I'm going to try to reroute the power another way."

The room they were in was long and narrow with a door at either end. Two large displays hung from the ceiling, one over a center table and another against the wall, near the locked door where Cade stood. More consoles were attached to a dozen desks along the walls, which meant it had to have been a high-traffic room at one point. Cade suspected people had once passed through, on their way to the room which was now blocked to them. Why would someone have needed that room to be inaccessible? Why had they cut the power to it? None of the other rooms were like this. He knew because he had personally searched through all the hallways and checked everywhere. Based on his current understanding of the structure's layout, this room was unique. In most areas the rooms were logically laid out combining function with the various services required to live. A large meeting area sat at the center with halls branching off leading to the rooms people woke in with showers at various intervals creating a circle with an outer ring and an inner ring of rooms. However, this room was an anomaly. The best Cade could tell it was an offshoot of the pattern. It was the only like it and that had to have meant something.

He also remembered—though the occasional memory flashes weren't very helpful. Most of what he understood felt like random information. It didn't reveal what had happened or what he was doing. The flashes were just moments, and they passed too quickly for him to really understand. A few recollections allowed him to recognize certain things, and one had led him here, to this room. He clearly remembered placing his hand on the sphere and walking through the very same locked door that he now couldn't get through.

From what he could understand, he was the only one here who experienced flashes of memory. All the others had knowledge of their current situation, understanding the basic functions like speaking, but they remembered nothing. Not even their own names. How could so many people wake up with knowledge but no memories? Was there any way he could figure out how to gain more of both? More than once he'd wondered if he could connect back to the system, go back into the catatonic state the sleepers were in, and somehow absorb more knowledge.

Frustrated, he walked to the nearest wall and flipped down a seat, then pulled a handheld display from his pocket and started tapping on it. He looked over the power grids running through the room.

"Maybe we can pull power from the main line running through the room."

Ryan crawled out from under the desk. "Maybe. I'll see if I can tap into it from here. If I can connect it to the main line, it should turn on. Then we could walk right in."

Cade nodded, but he knew it wouldn't be that simple. The systems across the facility kept showing error warnings and insufficient power responses, indicating that very little was working properly.

He was staring at the locked door when the other door slid open behind him. Cade held in a groan, hearing Richard walk in. He didn't need this right now. Richard was a kind of self-proclaimed spokesperson for the group, trying to convince everyone that things were just fine. Every day Richard came by, bothering him for information Cade didn't have. It didn't seem to matter to Richard that he constantly interrupted whatever was going on at the time.

"You know," Richard started, "I tell everybody that things are going to work out, and I try to give them hope, but they will not listen to reason. I could really use some good news right now. They are getting restless and harder to handle."

Cade didn't respond at first. Instead, he took the display and slid it gently back into his pocket while he stood and gathered his thoughts. He wanted to be careful about the words he was about to say. He'd already made a mistake once. Richard had twisted his words, telling everyone he was close to finding answers—which was a lie. Because of that lie, they now thought he knew something but wasn't saying anything.

"I realize you are in a tough situation," Cade said, "but I can't help. I have learned more, but I don't know if it will contribute to any real answers or a way out of this place."

Richard was clearly disappointed. He lowered his head and shook it, then lifted it again with a smile. "I am confident you have the situation handled. I have come to realize that you are the perfect man for the job. Will you let me know once you figure anything out?"

Cade knew what that meant. Richard wanted to know now, because he was headed to the meeting. He would go out there and tell the rest of the people that Cade was on the verge of having all the answers—again. Anything to try to settle the momentary anger and frustration. He was setting everyone up for disappointment. Cade made a mental note to attend the meeting today. He would have to watch Richard closely, then make sure people clearly understood the state of emergency in which they were living.

The truth was that if everything stayed the same as it was right now, they didn't have long to live. Something needed to be done.

"You will be the first to know when I figure anything out," Cade lied, giving what he hoped was a genuine smile.

Richard nodded then glanced around the room. "I'll look forward to hearing from you," he said. Then he pressed his hand against the sphere and walked out the open door.

Cade had no intention of telling Richard anything. For example, he had decided not to tell him about the stash of weapons he had found. He didn't trust the way Richard misled everyone. If someone like Michael ever found out, well, it just wouldn't be good. Michael, the brute, attacked Cade almost as soon as he woke making outrageous claims. He said that Cade had ambushed and hurt him even though it was the first time they'd ever met. He was insane and Cade was quick to take actions to lock him out of as many systems and areas as possible. Until he knew whom he could trust, Cade wasn't going to tell anyone.

He pulled the display back out of his pocket and sat down. The top-right corner of the screen read Username: Cade 148 – Age: 25. Everyone here was twenty-five years old—in fact, all of them had been born on the same day. Under his age it read Access Level 1 – Administration Division. He wasn't sure how much access everyone else had, but for some reason he could get into many of the systems. After a few taps he brought up a screen indicating the time left until the facility ran out of breathable oxygen. If nothing was done in the next eight hours, they would all die. Below the error, it indicated to perform repairs on Unit-236.

He'd looked at these things repeatedly since all this had started, but he still had no answers. He stared into his reflection on the screen, his bright blue—almost white—eyes staring back at him. Why was the number 148 attached to his name? He had no idea. Ryan had 148, as did everyone else that he pulled up—except Chloe and Michael, who had the number 147.

With a few taps on the display, Cade brought up a map of the surrounding area. He faced the locked door and spotted a dot, which indicated himself. Ryan didn't appear on the screen, which was just another question he needed answered. For now he had to stop getting distracted and focus on what mattered. After all, they were trapped here. They needed to either find a way out or get this place functioning so they could survive. Preferably both.

Spreading his fingers on the screen, Cade zoomed in to get a closer look at the room in front of him. The room to his left was labeled Room 113. Curious, he approached one of the room's larger displays and slid the smaller handheld display inside a slot on the right side. The image from the smaller display immediately appeared on the larger one.

"Ryan, what is in this room?"

Ryan frowned at the image, thinking for a moment. "It's mostly storage. I found some tubes and crates filled with parts in there. Looks like the same parts used in the pod beds."

"The pod beds?"

"Yeah, you know. Where we sleep?"

Nodding, Cade tapped on the label marked Room 113. An option asking him to relabel it appeared, along with a keyboard of letters below. He typed the word Storage. When he tapped on the room they were in, it appeared as Room 110. Since he wasn't sure the purpose of this room yet, he left it as it was.

"Why don't we remember who we are?" Ryan asked quietly.

"What?" Cade replied, pulled out of his thoughts.

"We woke up with the ability to talk," Ryan said, "and we have knowledge of how some of this stuff works, but the first thing I remember is waking up. I don't understand how we got into this building or why someone would do this to us."

It was the same question everyone asked, hundreds of times every day. Cade didn't want to share his thoughts about that subject. He did have ideas of his own, but none of them made him feel any better about the situation. At this point, his thoughts were better left unsaid.

"Why didn't we wake up with our hair grown out long?" Ryan mused. "It doesn't make sense. Even our hair seems to have been maintained. Who would do that? And why?"

"I don't know."

Cade had an idea about that, too. He just didn't think he could share it. The concept that someone or something was keeping them alive and healthy was more unsettling than comforting. To Cade's way of thinking, the only reason someone would take that much care of them was if they had a future planned out. But based on what Cade could see, something obviously had gone wrong.

Again, he looked at his display, and this time he tapped on the room they were trying to get into. It came up with a label of Room 111.

"I don't know what to label you yet," he muttered, "but I intend to find out."

Ryan peered over Cade's shoulder at the display, then nodded at Room 111. "Let's give it a try. It should have power now."

At the touch of Cade's hand, the half sphere lit up, then turned red. The display flashed Access Denied.

"We need security access to get in," Cade muttered.

He had attempted many times to get security access but the system wouldn't approve his requests. The best he could get was administrative permissions at a basic level. That's how he'd originally started working with Ryan as he had level-1 technical support allowing him to view and evaluate profiles. Ryan would have to periodically activate a handheld for Cade to use as long as he didn't grip the handhelds pressure points on the side the profile would remain under Ryan.

Ryan agreed. "We need to find out how to assign roles to people."

"I don't think we can."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean it seems like the system is designed to rely on itself. It allows humans to assist, but it wasn't designed to require human interaction." Cade brought up Ryan's profile on the system, showing him that Ryan was marked Access Level 1 under the Technical Support role. "Who assigned you that role?"

Ryan stood for a moment in thought.

Cade continued, "No one, right? The system gave that to you, and I think it is because when you first woke up, you started troubleshooting problems."

"You mean..." Ryan hesitated, frowning. "Are you suggesting the system is watching us?"

It was difficult to know for sure how the system was built, but massive pathways of cabling wound through the structure, dipping under floors and running through walls. That told Cade they were trapped in an extremely complex facility. The idea that certain people had access to certain areas while others were denied indicated that it could possibly be an intelligent system, and that it was observing them to some degree.

Cade nodded. "How are the communications coming along?"

"Chloe got pulled off that when Ian found a system that she felt she could help them out with," Ryan said, shaking his head. "No one is working on that right now. I'll see if I can figure it out."

"Keep an eye on the roles, would you?" Cade said, walking to the door. "Let me know if anyone gets assigned to the security role."

"Sure."

"I'm going to check out the main hall. Come and get me if anything changes."

Chapter 3

Chloe

Chloe stared at the tool in her hand, deep in thought. She was stuck. Not only could she not finish grounding the station with this tool, she couldn't let go of it. If she did, the wire would fall back down, and it would take her forever to thread it back through the tiny hole again.

"Grab me the extender bar from over there," she said. A moment later she glanced up, surprised when the bar didn't instantly appear in her outstretched hand. "Hey, John. Can you grab me that? Over there?" She pointed at a bar with an adapter at the end of it. "I can't reach the bolt at the base, and I have to attach the ground so I don't fry it to bits."

David walked over and picked up the bar. As he handed it to her he said, "My name is David."

She didn't look up. "Oh. Sorry." Biting her bottom lip with effort, Chloe reached deep into the guts of the device then grunted. "Okay. That should just about do it."

She pulled herself up with a hop, raised a finger, and pointed toward David. "Tell me something. Why do you think we didn't know our names when we woke up, but we knew how to talk? Wouldn't you think that since we don't have memories, we wouldn't be able to string two words together?" She didn't give David the time to respond before she continued, "I don't know who I am, but I know how to fix this observation station. I don't even know why this is called an observation station, but I know how it works. We have knowledge but no experience. Why do you think that is?"

David opened his mouth to reply, but she spoke again before he could. "David, I can use your help one more time."

*****

This station sat in the middle of a circular room, looking like a cylinder that had lost its middle. Or perhaps it was two cylinders, one standing up from the floor and another hanging from the ceiling. There was an entrance on the side of the bottom cylinder, where it turned into a partial circle or a U.

Chloe frowned. "What light is showing on the display...David?"

She glanced up, wanting to make sure he'd heard her purposefully saying his name, but he didn't look up. He was bending over, studying the different displays on the other side of the station.

"It's yellow," he replied. "Do you know what that means?"

Chloe didn't, but she also didn't want him to know that she didn't, so she ignored the question.

"Okay," she said. "Let's see what happens now that she's powered up and ready for action."

Grinning, she stepped through the mouth of the U-shaped entrance and placed her hands on the two spheres near the front. She'd hoped the system would come to life with a celebration of flashing lights and wonderful mechanical sounds, but nothing happened. No lights, no sounds, and definitely no movement. Just some letters on the overhead display stating: Access Level Error. You do not have access. Chloe's shoulders slumped.

David huffed with disappointment. "Now what?"

Chloe liked to be in charge. She liked to come up with new ideas and watch them bloom into successes. She did not like to be expected to have all the answers. She pointed an accusatory finger at David. "You tell me. Do you have any ideas?"

"No, I do not," he said, his tone obviously sarcastic as he pointed a finger back at her.

Chloe frowned.

"But I was thinking," he continued, "that maybe those devices hanging in that room have something to do with it." He walked over and grabbed what looked like a kind of harness, then brought it to Chloe. "There seem to be three different kinds, but there are a lot of them here. They have to be important, right? Here. Try this on, then walk in. It looks like it goes on the shoulder like this." He placed it on her right shoulder. "Maybe you need to have it on to activate the station."

Chloe slid it off her shoulder and examined it. "Maybe, but it doesn't seem to be powered up."

She took it back to the room which was a more elongated space just wide enough to walk down the middle. On either side shoulder harnesses hung. Most were of the type that David had picked up, but two different harnesses hung in their own section, clearly made for different purposes. Near the door she spotted a series of connections, and when she pulled at one it drew out like one of the tubes from the beds. She looked over the device and her heart raced when she discovered an opening for the connector. With a flourish, she plugged the two together.

"There we go!" she exclaimed, hanging it on a hook to charge. "Now we wait and see how long it's going to take to power this little guy."

David scowled at her. "How can you be so..." He scrunched up his face, trying to come up with the appropriate word. His brow cleared as it came to him. "Happy? You act like everything is great, like we aren't all about to die. We have no idea why or how we got here, there's no way out and nothing works. How can you not be angry and miserable like everyone else?"

Chloe felt a moment of sadness for David and wanted to make him feel better. "You said it yourself. We have no control over anything here. The only thing I have control over is how I view the situation. I see it this way: something bad happened, and all we have to do in order to have our questions answered is fix the problems that are before us. Every time we resolve one more thing or turn one more device on, we get a little more information."

The device was already glowing with a solid green light, so she picked it up and unplugged it. She snapped it onto her shoulder then looked at David. "We get a little further from dying with every device we learn about, and that gets us one step closer to understanding why and how we got here." She took a deep breath. "Ready?"

When he nodded, she stepped through the small opening of the station and placed her hands on the spheres. The display said exactly the same thing: Access Level Error. You do not have access. She turned from it and stepped away, a little defeated.

David placed his hand on her shoulder then unsnapped the harness. He gave her a wry smile. "It's okay. According to you, we just learned that this device doesn't turn the station on. One step closer, right?"

The entrance swooshed open, and Ian entered. As usual, he was there to see if they'd made any progress. He wasn't convinced that this room—which he had dubbed the observation station even though Chloe preferred to think of it as the Super Station—was important. Chloe was just as convinced that he was wrong.

"Have you figured out what this thing can do yet?" Looking impressed, Ian stepped closer and placed both hands on the station coming out of the floor. "I see you have power running through it now, as well as through all the other displays. Good job! What does it do?"

Chloe moved to the display on the front of the station and tapped it a few times. "Right now it isn't doing anything," she admitted, "but it has connections and coding in its software designed to connect to millions of what it calls end points or nodes. This is obviously a very powerful tool, but I haven't been able to get it to turn on yet. It's powered, and it should work, but I can't do it. I'm pretty sure it requires someone with security access."

David took the shoulder device from Chloe. "We think this might have something to do with turning it on, but we haven't figured out how just yet."

Ian reached out and caressed Chloe's shoulder. She flinched at his touch, but he didn't seem to notice. "Well, it sounds like you've done all that you can do here for now. I would appreciate it if you looked at the problem from our end and see if we can make progress in the Control Center." He gave David a bland smile. "David, you can handle it here on your own, right?"

Whenever she was around Ian, Chloe felt small. She didn't want to go with him to the Control Center, but he was right. She might be able to help. She was determined to keep her distance from him, though. She got an odd, uncomfortable feeling when she was around him. To be completely honest with herself, Ian gave her the creeps.

The Control Center was a few rooms down the hallway from the observation station. Ian had given that space the name Control Center when he'd decided it was a major connection point for the facility, but Ian didn't know what Chloe did. She'd already figured out that the room to which they were headed was just another monitoring center, like the many other monitoring centers spread out in the facility.

The Super Station, however, was different.

Chloe walked into the Control Center and covered her ears against the blaring alarm. She hated it in here, hated the way the noise hurt her ears and gave her headaches. She couldn't hear herself think.

Ian leaned in to yell over the sound, and his closeness made her skin crawl. She could smell the sweat from his neck, and she fought the urge to tell him he was in desperate need of a shower. If only the showers worked. She sniffed under her arms, checking, but she couldn't smell anything rank on her.

"We still haven't figured out how to turn the alarms off," he bellowed.

She held her tongue and nodded. Her head was already hurting.

Ian tilted his head toward the other side of the room. "One of the guys found something that he thought you should take a look at."

He led her toward another display...and another error message. She glared at him, nonplussed, her head pounding from the noise. "That's it? What exactly do you expect me to do here? It's an error code. I don't know what it means, and there aren't any options on the display."

All she wanted to do was run outside and go to her room. It would be quiet there. She could work at her desk and make progress from there.

"No, that's not what I'm talking about," Ian said, moving the display to the side.

A small device sat behind it, all powered up, a few lights blinking on and off. Other than the blinking, it didn't seem to be doing anything at all, and it wasn't connected to anything. Chloe reached behind the display and put her hands around the device, then slowly pulled it out and carried it to the table at the center of the room.

Trying to ignore the noise, Chloe leaned in and peered closely at the device. It was oval in shape and, strangely, it wasn't made of the same material as everything else she'd encountered. Instead, it was covered with a hard, organic surface. A smaller device was attached on top. While she was intrigued, something about the thing made her uncomfortable.

She tried to talk louder than the blaring alarms when she turned back at Ian. "I don't know what this is, but I don't have a good feeling about it."

A man she didn't recognize came up from behind and tapped Ian on the shoulder. "People are getting aggressive," he said quietly. "We need to tell them something, or they'll start getting physical again."

Two days earlier, a small fight had broken out after Ian and Michael disagreed on priorities. Then Michael had lost his access to the hallways. He had to stay in the main area with everyone else now. It was better that way. Michael scared her more than Ian did. She still wasn't sure who'd pulled that off. Ian clearly had little understanding of the software side of the system, so it couldn't have been him. Cade, maybe?

Ian sighed, resigned. "Okay. I'll head out there in a moment. I don't know what I'm going to tell them, though. Can't Richard keep them settled?" The man shook his head, and Ian leaned back toward Chloe. "Can you keep working on this? We need to figure out what it is and why it's here."

She rubbed her head and nodded. "Okay. I'll do my best."

Chapter 4

Joshua

Joshua's legs throbbed after the hundred-foot walk from his room toward the meeting place. He hoped they wouldn't have to go much farther. Ashley was helping a little, but she had a small frame and seemed a little fragile herself.

"So," he said, looking around, "everyone here woke up just like I did?"

Ashley nodded, and he grimaced, remembering the awful awakening. He took another couple steps then stopped to rest, his legs burning. He leaned against the curved wall, and Ashley stopped beside him.

"I'm having trouble with this, Ashley," he said. "You're telling me that everyone I'm about to meet was asleep nine days ago?"

It felt more like a statement than a question, but Ashley answered with a nod. "Chances are you're not going to get much information here, either. Just a lot of arguing."

After a moment, they started walking again, and the noise from the meeting area grew louder. Joshua's legs gave out, and he stumbled, but Ashley caught him.

"A little slower, Josh. Remember, you just woke up, and you are still really weak. I know what that's like. I was there, too. You can't push it, so let's slow down, okay?" She sighed. "Actually, it might be better if we went back to your room. I can tell you later how the meeting goes."

"No!" he cried, and he immediately regretted his sharp tone. She didn't deserve that. "No," he tried again. "I really feel that it's important to see this for myself. I have a lot of questions, and I need to talk to someone who can give me answers."

He saw a flash of pity in her eyes, but it was kindly meant. "Okay. When you're ready, we'll continue."

Joshua nodded then straightened. "I'm ready."

It seemed like it took them another hour to get to the meeting. They smelled it before they saw it. The salty stink of sweat and eight days of filth and fear billowed into the hallway. When they stepped into the space, Joshua finally realized what Ashley was saying. At first he'd thought it was a small area, but once he reached the entrance it opened up into a much, much larger room. It was wide at the floor and curved up to a smooth, flat roof, and it reminded Joshua of the top of a sphere. It must have been fifty feet tall at the center and twice that in diameter, but it felt smaller due to the crowd of shouting, angry people.

"Give us something!" one man yelled over the noise. "We can all hear the alarm still going off!"

Someone else shouted, "What is the problem? Hasn't anyone made any progress?"

"Why aren't you telling us anything?" a woman cried.

Joshua leaned against a wall for support and listened. Ashley pointed at a man waving his hands in the center of the crowd. He appeared to be the target of all the yelling.

"That's Richard," she informed him. "He's in charge."

He didn't look like he was in charge of anything, from what Joshua saw.

Richard raised his hands and motioned for everyone to be quiet, but it took the crowd a while to settle. Even then, they were still so loud it was hard to hear his response. To hear better, Joshua started walking farther into the crowd. Ashley tugged on him, trying to keep him on the outskirts, but he pulled away.

"I can't hear what he's saying."

It felt like more than fifty people in the room, and he had to push through a few tight spaces, but Joshua was finally able to break through. His legs were killing him, but he was determined to find out what was going on. When he glanced back, he saw Ashley still stuck on the other side of a tightly packed group of people, looking his way. It didn't matter. He could do this without her. He pushed in, making his way along the wall, getting closer to an open area where he would be able to lean against the wall and give his body a much-needed rest.

Something slammed into Joshua from behind, shoving him forward. When he recovered his balance, he turned to see what had hit him. A small, skinny man lay on the ground, obviously too small to have pushed him that hard. Trying to ignore the pain in his own body, Joshua bent down and extended his hand.

The fallen man pulled back in fear, looking at something above Joshua. Joshua turned to see what inspired so much fear.

A very large man glared down at Joshua with rage in his red face. He must have been at least six inches taller than Joshua and a good foot wider at the shoulders. Joshua stared back for a moment, turned, then grabbed the skinny guy's hand and pulled him up to his feet.

The man took a step closer. The veins in his neck were bulging. He was furious and out of his mind, from what Joshua could tell. If it came to a fight, Joshua wouldn't have a chance.

"What did he do to you?"

With a monumental effort, Joshua stood strong—even though his legs were certainly going to collapse at any second. He didn't move away from the man, nor did he give any indication that he was going to back down. The smaller man pulled on his arm as if to escape.

Joshua stepped up to the looming beast of a man. "Listen, I don't know much, but I can see you're angry. A lot of people are angry. I know there are a lot of questions, and no one seems to know what is really going on, but that doesn't give you the right to be pushing people around."

The big man's nostrils flared. His cheeks flushed, and his fists clenched at his sides. He was obviously looking for a fight, some way to release his anger. Joshua would have to neutralize this situation quickly.

The crowd surged forward when a door opened, putting three or four people between them.

"Let's go now," he said, motioning toward the skinny guy. "We need to put more space between him and us."

The smaller man said nothing, but he followed Joshua across the crowd to the wall, where Joshua was finally able to sit on a crate.

"Thanks," the small man said. "I'm Ethan." He jerked his chin toward the big, angry man who was now shouting at Richard. "That's Michael. You should stay away from him—especially now that you stood up to him. He's going to want to make an example of you."

Clearly, this guy was going to have to be dealt with. That attitude didn't belong anywhere, much less in a confined space. "Hasn't anyone stood up to him before?"

Ethan shrugged.

The door opened again, and a man strode through the crowd, accompanied by two Michael-sized men. The way this new man carried himself, he seemed to know what he was doing. He definitely seemed to be more in charge than Richard.

"That's Ian," Ethan said.

The people around Ian gave way, allowing him to walk straight to the center of the room. He passed Richard, hardly acknowledging the man's presence. He climbed on a table, raised his hands and motioned for everyone to listen. The crowd hushed.

"We have been working nonstop, trying to figure out what's going on. The truth is that we have information, but as of yet we still have no real answers." He glanced down at a small display and tapped on it, then continued, "On the bright side, we've established a workflow to better deliver the food, so meals should be prepared more regularly."

"Why don't you tell us the truth?" Michael roared. "Tell us you've wasted yet more time with nothing to show for it!"

A few people around Michael nodded, but their eyes were on Ian.

Ian raised his hands again. "I know we haven't made much progress, and that isn't what you want to hear. I cannot change the fact that we have some challenges, but we're going to need to work together to solve this problem. If anyone here knows anything, or if you think you can help, please talk to Richard. Yes, this is going to take some time, and I'm asking for more patience. We will figure this out, but right now we just don't have much new information to share. I will update everyone as soon as I know more."

With that, he stepped down and started making his way back to the door. The crowd erupted in more angry cries and questions, but Ian didn't stop. For a few more harried moments, Richard tried to settle them down, but he failed miserably. He eventually gave up and walked away.

Ethan's quiet voice softly chanted, "We're all going to die! We're all going to die!"

Disturbed by his words, Joshua watched the retreating Ian. So he was the one with the brains. As Ian pushed closer to the door near Joshua, he passed a short man tapping away at a small screen. The man looked up and stared at Ian for a moment, and Joshua got a glimpse of blue eyes so light they almost looked white.

A man from the crowd tapped the sphere next to the door, but the light turned red, meaning the door was locked. Joshua watched as Ian placed his own hand on the sphere, turning the light green. The door slid open, and the denied man tried to follow them through, but he was immediately identified by an announcement that rang through the surrounding area.

"Unauthorized personnel! Unauthorized personnel!" it blared, repeating itself until someone grabbed the man and threw him back into the crowd.

Not everyone has access to all areas, Joshua noted as he edged forward. That made sense. Ashley wasn't able to come into his room. He had to allow her in. What made Ian different from everyone else? Joshua had the sudden urge to try for himself, to rush through and see what was happening behind the door. The door started to close, and Joshua braced himself then pushed forward through the opening. He hadn't planned for it to slide so quickly, and the door seemed about to close on him. To his utter surprise, it paused in the next moment, then let him step through. The alarm didn't go off.

Chapter 5

Cade

Cade leaned against the wall and closed his eyes, thinking how foolish all these people were, arguing and fighting. And what was with Ian? The man was acting like he was in charge, like he knew what was going on. If only he knew how disastrous this situation was! If he ever found out, Ian would be balled up in a corner somewhere, crying like it was the last day of his life. Then again, depending on how the next eight hours went, that very well might be true.

He looked up when someone yelled, then watched Richard wave his hands, trying to get anyone to listen to him. Richard thought he was the man in charge. Why? Well, that had been Ian's doing, and Cade had to give him credit for that. Ian hadn't wanted everyone to go to him with their questions or complaints, so he'd suggested they go to Richard.

The bigger question was why Ian would have been the man to go to in the first place. Was it because he'd woken up first?

Ryan was walking through the crowd toward him, grinning. He held up his display unit, showing Cade a picture. "The system found someone!"

The noisy crowd made it difficult to hear. Cade glanced at his own display and viewed the picture up close. He did a search by security access level and saw the name Joshua-147, with Access Level 1.

Joshua-147, Cade thought. Another one. Now there are three of them. "That will have to do."

"I also learned something new about the system," Ryan said, leaning in closer. "When it decides to assign someone an access level, it documents the reason why." He tapped on Joshua's name then on an event link, which showed Joshua being hit by a guy from behind. They both watched as he stood up to Michael and protected Ethan.

"Fascinating," Cade said. "It's like it can interpret our actions then use them to decide who is the best fit for specific purposes."

This news was disturbing. It meant the system wasn't just watching them and recording actions but it was far more intelligent than Cade had previously estimated. He was going to have to rethink his plans. "We need Joshua."

Chapter 6

Joshua

The door slid shut behind him, leaving Joshua in a long hallway, its curved walls and ceiling forming a sort of tunnel which led to the right. Everything here seemed to be made of slopes and curves, he'd noticed.

Ian and his guards hadn't spotted him yet, so he followed them as silently as he could, though his labored footsteps echoed against the walls. Eventually his legs threatened to give out entirely, and he was relieved when the men finally entered a room. He paused to catch his breath, then almost choked on a strange chemical stench. Something about the room felt dirty, though he could see no reason why it would be that way.

He looked up and saw a label above the door, but he couldn't make out any meaning to the writing. It was more like symbols than letters: four characters with a series of dots. Curious, he stepped in front of the door, which opened and released a cacophony of noise. Ignoring the alarms, he walked into the room and stared in awe at dozens of screens. A display on the far side of the room was blinking red, in sync with the loud, buzzing sound. A group of people were gathered around another screen with a flashing red light over it. His wandering gaze stopped on a monitor near the entrance. A half sphere was beside the door, and Joshua placed his hand on it.

The screen typed out: Welcome Joshua. How may I assist you today?

A button hovered beneath the question on the screen, so Joshua touched it. Information appeared instantly before him, and he leaned in to read it. At the top right of the screen it stated his name, followed by the number 147 and his "permission class," which read: Class Level 1. Beneath that it gave his age. I'm twenty-five years old? he thought. Interesting. The center of the screen was occupied by a series of buttons, one of which read: Alarms. After clicking on it, he was presented with two more buttons: Off and Lights Only. The On button was grayed out, so he chose Lights Only.

The sudden silence of the room was a physical relief. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at each other. Then their eyes went to Joshua.

"What did you just do?" Ian demanded, walking toward him. "How did you get in here? And how did you turn the alarm off?"

Joshua frowned slightly, unsure if he'd just done something wrong. He pointed at the screen. "I logged into the system, chose Alarms here, then Lights Only. It looks like I can turn the alarm lights off too, if you want."

"No," Ian said, grinning now. "Let's leave them on. They're useful. The noise, though...well, that's been driving us crazy. Thank you!" He held out a hand. "I'm Ian."

"I'm Joshua."

"Joshua, can I ask you to please come here and sit with Chloe?"

A woman popped her head out from a nearby desk. "What?"

"Like you," Ian said, "she has to change some settings. Can you two work together and see what you can come up with?"

As he spoke, Chloe bounced toward them, her smile huge.

"Thank you so much," Chloe said, "for turning that excruciatingly painful and obnoxious alarm off." She offered her hand. "I'm Chloe."

Somewhere in Joshua's mind, he saw a flash of memory, an image of the woman standing before him, though she looked somewhat different—older, maybe. And certainly dressed differently. The moment was over as quickly as it had come, and he blinked a few times, trying to hold onto the vision. Maybe this was part of the recovery process. Or maybe his mind was just playing tricks on him.

"And you are?" Chloe asked.

"Oh, sorry. I'm Joshua."

At least he seemed to be in the right place for answers now. And suddenly people were looking at him differently, as if he'd done something important. Would he work with her?

Ian chuckled. "I'm with Chloe. Thanks for shutting that thing off. It'll be a lot easier to think now that it's quiet in here." He glanced again at Joshua's name and numbers on the display. "Since you clearly have the right access level, I might as well give you the rundown. Maybe something you see or do will show us a little more about what's going on around here. Let's start with you telling me what you know, then we'll go from there."

Joshua gestured toward a chair. "Do you mind if I sit? My legs are about to give way."

"Please do."

He sighed with relief as he sat. "Well," he said, "I just woke up, and I've learned people have been waking up for eight days now. All I know is there are some problems here, and a lot of angry, confused people. I almost got beat up by one guy."

"Was it Michael?" Ian suggested.

"Yeah, that's what I was told. What's wrong with that guy? Why hasn't someone dealt with him?"

Ian looked pained. "Michael is a problem, but he's one of many. We just haven't been able to deal with it yet. There's a lot to do here, and we are still learning about what this place is. I was telling the truth when I told everyone that we just don't know much. But in time, and if we all work together, I'm sure we can figure more out. Maybe we'll even find a way out." He forced a smile. "Sounds like you have a good grip on things so far. I'm hoping that the more people wake up, the better the possibility that someone will come up with answers. Like you today, coming in and turning off the alarm when none of us could do that."

"What does that mean?"

He shrugged. "The system wants what it wants. Someone is bound to figure out what's going on eventually. Until then, we'll do the best we can. It sure would be nice to bring some order to the chaos, though."

"Maybe he can turn on the Super Station!" Chloe exclaimed, her eyes dancing and her fingers linked together under her chin. She looked almost like an excited little girl, not a grown woman. Joshua couldn't help returning her grin. He liked her. She was the first one he'd met here who had both positive energy and an optimistic attitude. He wasn't sure if that made her a little crazy, but something about her was comforting.

"You up for a walk yet?" Ian asked.

As much as Joshua wanted to sit, he knew he had to get busy if he was going to figure this out. "Sure."

"Good. Let's take a walk and I'll show you a few things we figured out today."

Joshua got to his feet, feeling better after the short rest. He smiled at Chloe again. "Okay. Let's go see this Super Station."

Ian scowled at her. "It's not—"

"What?" she asked. Then she rolled her eyes. "Oh, whatever. Ian doesn't like the name. He wants me to just call it the—" she spoke sarcastically, "—observation station, but I call it the Super Station." She shrugged. "I like the name. Don't worry, Ian. I'll show Joshua the Super Station. You can have him after I'm done with him."

Chapter 7

Joshua

The label over the Super Station door was just as cryptic as the one over the other door: another alien set of symbols and dashes.

"Hey, David," Chloe said, addressing a man who was working on a small device. The door slid closed behind them. "Any progress on the harness?"

David didn't look up. "No," he said, half to himself, "but I think I might have an idea. I need to bring it to my room, though. In fact, I'll head there now and see if I can make some progress."

He left without even looking at them.

"Here we are," Chloe said, indicating the work area and a device set in the center of the room.

This is all so familiar, Joshua thought, grasping desperately for clues. He'd been here before; he knew what to do. With no lead from Chloe, he stepped up to the entrance of the device.

Chloe watched him. "The best we can tell is this system connects to all other systems. I think it might be the core system for the dome."

Joshua paused. "Dome? Why do you think this place is a dome?"

"Well, it makes sense, doesn't it?" she asked. "The way the tunnels are lined, and the paths they take. The way the levels are designed. We have limited information, but it seems that we are on level one of a seven-level structure. What I do know for sure is that levels two through seven go down, and each level down has a larger area. Here. Come see."

She pulled up a display and showed Joshua the information. He had trouble following everything it said, but he did understand the basic logic. He turned back to the device and stepped into it.

The cylindrical desk didn't offer much to look at. There was one display at the top near the ceiling, and two orbs like the one in his room stood at waist height in front of him. They were full spheres, but only half of them were showing above the surface of the desk. He stepped up to the spheres and started to place both hands on them, then hesitated. When he glanced at Chloe, her eyes were wide with excitement. She nodded, encouraging him, so he turned back and touched one.

The sphere felt a little softer than the one in his room, with more give. A strange, oily sensation was left on his fingers, but when he looked at them there was nothing there. Whatever it was, the substance didn't collect on his skin. Determined now, he placed his right hand fully on a sphere, then put his left hand on the other. At his touch, they both lit up in a light green, then turned blue. The display up top flashed on and read: Access Granted.

The entrance closed instantly behind him, and the lights around the device dimmed. A holographic image appeared.

"Welcome, Joshua. How may we assist you today?"

We, Joshua thought. "Chloe, can you see this? Can you see all the displays hovering here? I can't make any sense of them, can you?"

She didn't answer.

"Chloe?"

She didn't say a word. Joshua realized he couldn't hear any sound at all. He lifted his hands from the spheres and turned, stunned to discover the room was no longer there. No displays, and no Chloe. The room had been replaced with what looked like either an interface or a black background.

There had to be a reason for this. This was his opportunity to learn as much as he could about this device. It still felt familiar, but he couldn't figure out why.

"All right," he said. "Let's see what we have here."

Hanging in the air directly in front of him was a menu of words, offering more options than he'd seen in the Control Center's display. On his right, a series of alarms were going off. Following instinct, he lifted his hand and pointed at an alarm. Just as he was about to place his finger on the text floating in the air, more data concerning the alarm displayed. The new message flashed red, indicating an error which posed Imminent Danger. A list of options blinked red below, informing him that:

  1. Repair bots unavailable
  2. Medi-bots unavailable
  3. Model U51 bots unavailable

One option was still available. Its message was displayed in green, saying it was set to execute. Human Intervention Required – Wake-Up Initialized.

He stared at the words, needing to make sense of them. Could it be that this error was the reason they had all been woken up? The more he thought about it, the more he became convinced that he was right. The system couldn't fix itself, so it needed humans to step in.

"How can I help?" Joshua asked.

"You must resolve error V2541," the system informed him.

That didn't help. He tried again. "What do we have to do?"

"You must resolve error V2541," the system repeated.

Joshua shook his head, then thought for a moment. He needed to rephrase his question. "What is error V2541?"

The system dutifully displayed a bunch of data, but it scrolled so quickly in front of him he couldn't keep up. He caught flashes of code and descriptions but none of it made sense. If he didn't ask the right question in the right way, he would never figure out what needed to get fixed or where to go to fix it.

"Show me error V2541 one line at a time."

The system did as it was told. He read: Error V2541 - Damage Detected.

Joshua spread his hands a foot apart. "Can you show me this much data at a time?"

The system complied, and Joshua read every line, learning that most of the system had been damaged. Fortunately, it wasn't in a state that had immediately threatened their lives.

"Okay," he said. "Next section."

The system refreshed the data with a new set. The next page informed him that power levels were decreasing. Joshua was getting frustrated.

"What is the imminent danger that needs to get addressed concerning error V2541 right now?"

The system scrolled for a while longer, then stopped. Joshua paused, forcing himself to read the next section over a few times. The language was highly technical and he was having trouble concentrating. In large letters, the description of the error stated: Life support status is at fifteen percent – Refinery shutdown due to unknown circumstances. Atmospheric scrubbers are offline due to insufficient material in storage. It continued by explaining that if the refinery was not put back into production, all maintenance systems would be terminated in six hours, resulting in uninhabitable conditions for humans. Within eight hours, all life would be terminated for recycling.

Joshua stared at the display, blank with panic. Then he took a deep breath and let it out slowly. I have to stay calm and think straight. Suddenly his labored breathing made more sense.

"Why is the refinery distribution not functioning properly?"

The voice replied, "There is a problem in the distribution chain. Unit-236 of the refinery division has caused a complete halt to the refinery process." Joshua was surprised by the voice. The Super Station must have been designed with many features the other interfaces didn't have. Data rolled out in the air before him. "Priority is to restore conversion process at all cost. Current human life a secondary factor."

While the cold reality of that last sentence was jarring, Joshua wasn't overly surprised. This was simply a computer following programming. It held no intrinsic value for life.

"How can I find Unit-236?"

A three-dimensional display appeared to his left, showing the facility. One dot indicated his current position, then another dot appeared, indicating the last known location of Unit-236. It appeared to be about a foot down and another foot across diagonally. When he placed both hands around the map, it responded to the movement. He pulled closer, and the map moved with him. He quickly learned how to manipulate the map so he could view it from different angles, but he couldn't figure out how to show the tunnels and rooms he needed to take to reach Unit-236.

"How do I enable the map to show me how to get to Unit-236?"

The display to his right disappeared and was replaced by two buttons. One said Activate Shoulder Harness. The other said Apply Human Interaction. Considering how little the humans had accomplished so far, Joshua decided to tap the air where it read Activate Shoulder Harness.

Chapter 8

David

David was beyond frustrated. No matter what he did, he couldn't get the harness to work. Not only did he want to solve the puzzle, he wanted to impress Chloe.

He placed one hand on the sphere. "How does this device work?" he asked out loud.

The room's automated voice replied, "I'm sorry, but I am not designed with any knowledge of this device. Is there anything else I can help you with?"

David ignored the voice and went back to looking the device over, trying to visually split it into its base components, of which he could see three: a clamp and strap that attached to the shoulder and around the torso, a central processing unit in its center that interfaced with the display, and a movable arm. He could clearly make out a number of holes and sensors, which he assumed must be data collection agents. The device looked like it might be capable of doing many things, but he couldn't even figure out how to turn it on. There were no switches or buttons in sight.

Maybe it was voice activated. "Turn on," he said.

The voice in the room came back. "I do not turn off. Is there something I can help you with?"

David rolled his eyes to the ceiling. "Do not respond to my voice for the next twenty minutes. I'm talking to myself, okay?"

The system didn't reply, and David was briefly annoyed that it didn't say it was going to turn off. Then he reminded himself it was just software. It didn't understand what he wanted, only what he said.

"Okay?" he asked again. He paused. "Okay." He nodded, satisfied, then got to his feet and lifted up the central processing unit. "Device in my hands," he said loudly. "Turn on!"

Nothing happened. "On!"

Nothing happened.

He shook it, then wondered if maybe it needed to be attached to the harness to be activated. He quickly placed it on his shoulder and fastened the strap under his right arm. The harness sensed where it was on his body and clamped down, making him flinch. The display was folded and pointing backward, but that was the only way the clamp could work, so he left it.

Since he couldn't move it physically, he tried the voice command again. "On!"

No change. He slumped, feeling useless. Chloe was probably figuring everything out all by herself, and he was an idiot. Then he thought about how she'd hate hearing him be so negative. He needed to start thinking positive like she did. He hopped up and tried his best Chloe impression, whining out a high-pitched, "Okay, little guy. Let's work together."

The device just sat there, unmoving. "Come on. Let's get you turned on, little guy. What do you need? Some loving?" He reached over and patted it as if he was patting his own shoulder. "Come on. You can do it, little guy."

Suddenly, two lights turned on. The display rotated sideways and flipped over in front of his right eye. A man showed up on the screen.

"Who are you?" David asked, stunned.

The man looked just as confused as David felt. "I'm Joshua," he said. "Who are you?"

Chapter 9

Joshua

It took a little while to get the hang of it, but Joshua was finally able to activate six of the harnesses once they were charged, plus one more of the dual ones for Chloe. That one looked like it had a few more options. Joshua knew he would need as much help as he could get, so he asked Chloe to give him a hand. He made her promise to stay close to him in case anything went wrong. Video displays of all seven devices streamed before him, and he had highlighted Ian's. Jabbing his finger in the air toward the communication button, he asked, "Ian? Can you hear me?"

"Yeah, I hear you. Where do we go from here?"

Joshua had finally managed to convince Ian and the others that they had to find Unit-236 in order to figure out why the refinery wasn't operational and ultimately get life support working again. The unit was a type of robot according to the system. Time was counting down fast, and with fewer than four hours left, he didn't even know if they could do it. He wouldn't know until they learned more about what was going on down there.

After learning the options of what the system referred to as the extension interface, which connected to the harnesses and allowed for live communication and observation, Joshua named each video feed after the person wearing the harness. When that was done, he placed his finger into the airspace where Chloe's display was, then dragged it over to Ian's display and waved it over Chloe's communication button.

"Chloe, I think I figured out how to let you see through another person's feed. Can you see Ian's display?" Joshua asked.

She gasped. "Oh, wow! This is amazing! It's like I'm standing right there. I can even hear what he hears. I wonder what else it can do. I bet it can—"

"Chloe!" Joshua interrupted. "We don't have time."

A long silence. "Yes, I can see Ian's display."

Above all the displays a timer indicated that in three hours and forty minutes, the facility would no longer be able to sustain life. According to the system, Ian and the crew would need to go all the way down to the bottom level to find Unit-236. That was seven floors down, counting the one they were presently on, just as Chloe had guessed earlier. To make matters worse, all the access points to the lower levels so far were filled with debris from whatever had happened before they'd woken up. Six men had gone ahead, checking for ways to get down to the lower levels, but so far there was no clear way down. Every time the men walked down a corridor, the map updated and showed more of the structure, so Joshua kept panning through whatever floor plans the system allowed him to see. Unfortunately, he was only able to see the plan on their level. That meant he could zoom out to see where the robot was, but he didn't have a clear path to get to it. Whenever he tried to go to certain areas or levels of the floor plan, the system gave him an insufficient information – sensors not responding alert.

"I think I found a way down."

The border of the display vibrated slightly, indicating which person was talking. The name over the display this time read Nikolai. Joshua passed his hand over the display and dragged Nikolai's name to his center, forcing the other displays out of the way. When he tapped the air where the display was, it doubled in size, letting him see what Nikolai saw. The video stream showed him walking up to an access panel he'd managed to loosen revealing a ladder attached to the side of a tunnel reaching down into darkness. When Nikolai looked down, the Super Station overlaid telemetry data showing debris at the bottom, but this was still the best way down they'd found yet.

Joshua waved at the comm button of the viewer. "Don't go down there yet. Wait for..." Joshua checked the map to see who was nearby. "Wait for Simmons to get there. He's almost done checking his area."

Disregarding the order, Nikolai started to climb down the ladder.

"Nikolai!" Joshua yelled. "Don't go down there yet. What if you get into trouble?"

"What if?" Nikolai snapped, continuing down the ladder. "No way I'm waiting for anyone. We need to get to the robot right now. We're running out of time."

Once Nikolai reached the bottom, the feed started to flicker slightly. He pushed a large piece of metal to the side then stepped out of the darkened tunnel into what looked like a hall. But just as he stepped through, his feed stopped and his dot disappeared from the display.

"Ian," Joshua said, pushing Ian's name to the center of his view. "Nikolai went down the access panel before Simmons could get there. Has anyone found another way down?"

Chloe spoke up. "Since they've investigated the entire floor, I've been able to remap the area. Let me see if I can send you the new data." A small bubble appeared with a data request over Chloe's display, and Joshua approved it. The three-dimensional map to Joshua's left was suddenly overlain with Chloe's data, showing all the access panels as well as a more defined catalog of the destruction throughout their level.

"Joshua," Ian said. "Are you seeing this?

Joshua looked through Ian's feed. "What are we looking at?"

"Do you see how this part of the structure fell this way but over here it fell that way? Also, see this area?" He walked to the center of an open room where the floor was scorched. "I could be wrong, but it looks like something exploded here. This is the second place I've found like this."

"Do you think this is an immediate danger?" Joshua asked.

The display shook left to right. "No, but I can tell you something is really...off here."

"Okay. We'll come back to it later." Joshua's eyes passed over all the movement on his display, and he noticed the dot connected to Simmons was approaching the last place he'd seen Nikolai. "Can you head toward Simmons and Nikolai? It looks like Nikolai might have found a way down."

He selected a button that read Broadcast, then addressed the entire group. "Simmons is getting close to the access panel. Let's see how far it goes. Chloe, do you have any idea why I can't see Nikolai's display?"

"No. We should be able to see through his display. Maybe he turned it off somehow, or it's damaged? I'll see if I can work that out for you."

"Thanks, Chloe," Joshua said. "Simmons, wait for the rest of the guys to reach you before you step through the opening down there. Let me know if you can see Nikolai at all when you get there."

"Okay," Simmons replied.

Joshua watched the other five dots draw closer to the access panel, then Simmons finally reached it and looked down. He started down the ladder, getting closer to the bottom floor. His signal degraded as he went, as if it was weakening the farther he was from the others. Once he reached the bottom, he looked around, showing everyone what he was seeing. The opening at the bottom level was mostly caved in, but it was big enough that he could barely crawl through.

"Simmons, don't step through that opening. Wait for Ian and the other guys to reach you. They should be at the access panel soon."

The display dot crept closer to the opening, and Joshua imagined Simmons poking his head through. Just as he did, the video stream stopped.

"Ian, it looks like Simmons went through the opening just like Nikolai," Joshua said. "You need to hurry up and get to them." Ian's display sped up as he ran, and he reached the access panel just as another man named Robbie got there. They both started climbing down the ladder.

"Simmons! Can you hear me?" Ian shouted. "I'm coming down. Hold up!"

The only sound coming through Ian's display was the tapping of feet and hands on the ladder rungs. Just as they reached the bottom level, Simmons' video display started streaming again. He was sitting a little past the opening, looking around.

"Hey, I'm here, still waiting for you. I heard a noise and thought it might be Nikolai, but when I called out to him he didn't answer."

A moment later, two more shoulder harnesses reached the access panel and started climbing down. Ian reached Simmons at the opening.

"I'm going to step through and take a look around the corner," Simmons said.

"I'm coming with you," Ian told him. Then he turned to Robbie. "You stay here and wait for the rest of the guys, okay?"

Robbie remained where he was, and Ian's feed showed him stepping out and looking around the corner. In that moment, Nikolai's video stream turned on.

"Nikolai!" Joshua exclaimed. "Are you okay? Talk to me."

Nikolai wasn't moving. From his stream, it looked like he was lying on his side. The video showed the floor and some crumpled rock.

Joshua tapped on the display again. "Can you hear me? Nod your head if you can hear me."

The display did not move at all, and Joshua didn't hear a sound. He listened hard, but he felt weak, helpless. He had to move on, get Ian and his crew to the robot in time so he could save the lives of everyone, both awake and sleeping.

A faint sound came through Nikolai's display, but he still didn't move. A second later, Joshua heard a louder noise, much closer than before. It came from Nikolai's immediate left. A cloud of dust passed in front of the display, lifting up from the dirty floor. Joshua looked for Simmons and Ian, but they were nowhere near Nikolai.

That meant someone else was there.

Joshua switched to Ian's display and spoke quietly. "Listen, Ian. You need to be careful down there. Wait for the other guys to get there before you explore further."

"What's happening?"

"Someone else is down there. I think someone hurt Nikolai." Joshua watched through Ian's display as Ian lifted a hand to stop Simmons from moving forward. Simmons stopped immediately and turned to face Ian. "Hold on a moment," Ian said. "Joshua saw something. We need to wait for the other guys."

Soon the men were all entering the opening at the bottom of the ladder. In the second the last guy stepped through, all the video feeds turned off. Panicked, Joshua swiped through each of the feeds, trying to reconnect—with no success.

"Ian! Simmons! Are you there? Can anyone hear me?"

Chloe's video feed was the only one still working. She was coming out of the area where the shoulder harnesses were being held.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

Chloe's breath sounded labored, and from the map he could see she was running toward the access panel. "I think I know why the video feeds just cut out," she told him. "Can you please activate these two harnesses?"

"Don't go, Chloe. There's something else down there."

"We have to get to that robot," she reminded him. "We all die if we don't. I have to do this."

She reached the opening to the access panel, where she left one harness then climbed down the ladder. Once she reached the bottom, everyone's feeds turned back on again. She hung the second harness on one of the bottom rungs of the ladder, facing the opening, and Joshua began to understand that she'd figured out there was some sort of connection between the devices. The signal wasn't able to reach all the way up to the top level unless there was a device available to transfer the data through the opening.

She turned and stepped into the bottom level. His mouth opened when he realized what she was doing.

"No, Chloe. Don't go there," he begged. "Come back up here. It's dangerous down there."

She ignored Joshua's plea and kept going.

Chapter 10

Chloe

When Chloe stepped into the stone hallway, she felt like she'd entered a completely new environment. The only thing that was similar to the top level was the floor. Her footsteps echoed through the strangely shaped cavernous area. The walls and ceiling weren't smooth and made of metal but rough with bulges extruding randomly.

"Hello?"

She kept her voice low, unsure if she wanted to get an answer or not. She'd seen Nikolai's display, pulled up his vitals, and she'd seen the truth: he no longer had a heartbeat. She couldn't hear anyone else, and for the first time she realized she could be the only one alive down there. The other men that came before her could have been killed too. Stupid, she thought. What am I doing? She pulled up her handheld display and requested Joshua send her the map and streams. After a moment the map downloaded.

She studied the map, finding out where the guys were relative to Nikolai. Fortunately, they were not going in his direction. Fixing their position, she began to walk toward them. The next room she entered looked like it might be a shortcut to where everyone was.

"Joshua," she whispered, "do you know where the refinery is? Have we located the robot yet?"

Joshua didn't reply for a moment. "Chloe," he said, "you really need to come back. Something very dangerous is down there. I think it killed Nikolai."

Chloe was so tired of people telling her what she could or couldn't do. "Look," she said, "I'm down here, and I'm not planning to go back up until I know we are going to live. You're just going to have to face that, okay?"

There was a long pause. "Okay." Another long pause. "Wait a minute while I coordinate with everyone."

Either Joshua was angry with her, or he was busy working with Ian, because she didn't hear from him for a while. As she waited for him to get back to her, she started walking toward Nikolai but she stopped when she discovered another set of options on her harness. Curious, she reached over and activated the second part of the harness, which prompted her handheld device to start beeping. She synced the two devices, then saw she could select streams on her own, without Joshua's approval. She selected Nikolai's feed and was rewarded not only with his screen appearing on the glass in front of her eye, but with a light shining in front of her. This was odd, because she hadn't executed a light mode. It did help her see, though.

She had just started to walk toward Nikolai when his feed began to move. She froze, then switched her communications to Nikolai's feed.

"Nikolai, is that you? Are you alive?"

There was no response, but his feed moved again. As she watched, he moved in what seemed like an odd direction, as if he was crawling backward with his head facing upward. She wondered if his sensors could be damaged, then gasped when she figured it out. Nikolai wasn't crawling, he was being dragged.

She tapped Joshua's name on the display. "Joshua, are you seeing Nikolai's feed?"

"Yeah. I've told everyone else to back away. Whatever is down there has Nikolai, and until we learn more about whatever it is, we need to get out."

Chloe understood, and obviously she had no desire to end up like Nikolai, but she also knew time was running out. They had to get the refinery up and running right now or it would be over. The way she saw it, she had two choices: stay down here and maybe die from whatever had killed Nikolai, or go back up and definitely die from the polluted air or whatever it was the system had deemed to be unlivable for humans.

"Tell me," she said. "Where's the machine located?"

Joshua took a long second before he replied. "I don't know. All the system says is that it's at the refinery near Collection Shaft Three. I'm working on getting definitions of each of the rooms and what their purposes are, but I haven't been able to figure anything more than that."

She fought the urge to think of Nikolai's body being dragged through the rubble to some unknown destination. She had no time for that. She needed to get to the machine, fix whatever problem was there, then get out of this place in one piece.

She turned her head, and the light illuminated the area before her, making her immediately aware of two things. First, the feed of Nikolai being dragged had started at the moment her light had turned on. Second, the light could possibly get her killed. What if Nikolai's attacker wasn't alone? What if there was more than just one? She immediately spun so she faced a wall, making sure the light didn't shine down the hallway. Now she knew why the light was shining: to project Nikolai's feed onto the wall in front of her so her vision wouldn't be blocked by the display in front of her eye. But now that she stood so close to the wall, she couldn't see anything down the hallway.

After fiddling with the options on the harness, she disabled the light. Everything went dark, and she stood still, waiting for her eyes to adjust to the difference. Then she heard a tapping sound, even louder than her thundering heartbeat. She couldn't tell the direction from the way everything echoed. It seemed to be coming from behind her. Intrigued and terrified, she pulled up the map and saw an opening ahead. She started walking, but the map wouldn't get updated until she reached it. Hopefully it was a way to the refinery, but if it wasn't, at least she could hide there while whatever was making that sound went away. Maybe she wouldn't be noticed.

On the other hand, maybe she was a fool for coming down here and thinking she could save everyone.

She stopped moving and held her breath, but she could still hear the tapping. It wasn't too far away, but it wasn't getting louder. Sounded like it might even be going in another direction. Relieved, she let out a long, silent breath and got back on track, thinking about what Joshua had said about the machine labeled Unit-236. He'd said it was near the collection shaft in the refinery. That meant she needed to get a clear idea of the boundaries of this level. As she walked closer to the opening, she pulled up the map again and studied it. Based on the data already collected, she was able to make out that the level was probably a large cross with a curving hallway connecting the ends to make a circle. In the center there was a room, which she assumed was the refinery. The extensions from that room were most likely the shafts. The ladder that they had climbed down ended in one of those shafts.

She stepped through the opening and discovered it wasn't a room after all, but another long hallway. The map updated, showing the hallway connected one extension to the other, making a smaller circle within the larger circle. If Chloe could get to the large room in the center, she might find out which shaft was Collection Shaft Three. The center room logically would be the refinery.

The tapping sound came from the main hallway, so she didn't want to go that way. Instead, she decided to go down this shaft and turn toward the refinery from the next extension over. She climbed in carefully. This shaft was filled with broken rock, and it didn't have the same lit floor. All she had was the light from her suit. It took a while for her to get to the next extension. She stumbled and scratched herself on the sharp rocks, which slowed her down. Once she arrived, she turned left and headed toward the refinery, but she was confronted by more rubble. This time it was piled all the way to the ceiling, suggesting the shaft had collapsed at some point. She wasn't about to turn around and go back, so with no other options, she started to climb the hill, pulling away the rocks at the top to see if she could get through.

Chapter 11

Joshua

Joshua's entire body shook with exhaustion. When had he become so weak? He desperately needed rest. If only someone else could make this station work. If only he could sleep—just for a moment. But that was out of the question. According to the time left on the display, if they didn't get Unit-236 online fast, they'd all be dead in less than three hours.

Chloe's dot had disappeared once she'd stepped into the secondary shaft, and he hadn't heard from her since. He selected her name from the display that read No Signal.

"Chloe, can you hear me? Say something!" he demanded, haunted by thoughts of her lying dead somewhere. "Come on, Chloe. Give me something. Say something!"

Chloe didn't respond, and Joshua felt a sinking feeling in his heart. Maybe her device was malfunctioning, he tried to convince himself. Or maybe she was just in a bad area, like before. Maybe one of the harnesses was out of reach, so it wouldn't connect to hers and get the data to him. Yes. That has to be it. Anything to push away the idea of her being dead. Like Nikolai.

He switched the feed to Ian. "Ian, you need to head toward Chloe. I haven't heard from her in a while, and I think she's in trouble. Head toward the center of the level where you are, and take a right. From what I can tell, if you go fifty feet into the shaft then take a right, you'll find her. That's where she was headed when I lost her feed."

"Okay."

Joshua watched the men walk through the shaft into the large circular room at the center. Through Ian's visor he could tell this was the refinery. At its center, the dome must have been a hundred feet tall, with a column reaching all the way up from the stone floor. Machinery was all around the area. The lighting was dim, making it difficult to identify all the structures, but through their visors Joshua could clearly see four shafts.

"Check each shaft and see if you can find Unit-236," he said, starting to get excited.

Ian nodded then motioned to the others, telling them to check each of the shafts. Then he headed toward the shaft where Joshua had said Chloe should be.

"Can you hear her?" Joshua asked, afraid of the answer. "Is she saying anything?"

Ian shook his head, and once he reached the shaft they both realized why. It was filled with fallen rock. The shaft must have caved in.

"Wait," Ian said. "I think I can hear her on the other side." He moved to the mountain of rubble and started pulling away some of the rocks. "Yeah! She's here."

Silent alarms began to blink over Joshua's head above the video streams.

Life support failing.

Joshua thought for a second that he was having a panic attack then realized it was probably due to the deteriorating atmosphere. The air was getting thick making it difficult to breathe and he was getting lightheaded. He returned to the video feed. The guys had run over to help. Joshua wished he could be there but he'd be no help. He was struggling just to stand up. The only way he could help would be to stay awake and focused. He had to concentrate on what was going on down there. Focus, Joshua. Focus. He started chanting in his head, repeating it over and over, but he could feel his consciousness slipping. Stay awake just a little longer. Come on, Joshua. Focus.

But it wasn't enough. Moments later, he surrendered to the darkness.

Chapter 12

Chloe

A large rock shifted under Chloe's foot, causing her to drop another rock. It tumbled twenty feet to the floor of the shaft, and the noise it made echoed through the hallway. When it finally stopped echoing, she paused to listen but didn't hear anything. Not even the clicking sound from before. Eventually she turned back to moving the rocks, but she needed to be more careful. She did not want to see whatever was making that sound. It was difficult to breathe, and she wondered to herself if it was because of the dust in the area or if it was the oxygen reaching critical levels.

She doubled her efforts, needing to make a hole big enough that she could get through to the other side and find Unit-236. After that, she'd have to figure out how to fix the problem. She glanced down at her display: less than three hours left.

She froze, hearing something, but the sound didn't come again. She went back to aggressively pulling at the rocks.

"Chloe! Is that you?"

"Ian!" She almost laughed at the familiar sound of Ian's voice, muffled by the rocks. "Yes! I'm here. Help!"

She could hear them pulling at rocks, grunting with the effort. She kept working, though her fingers were tired and bruised from the sharp edges of the stones.

"Chloe, step back," Ian said. "We're going to pull a larger rock, which should open up an area. Take a few steps back."

She climbed halfway down the hill then waited.

Chloe closed her eyes for a moment. Knuckles firmly gripping the nearby stone in case she had to react to any falling rock that tumbled from above as Ian worked. Then her eyes flew open yet she remained deathly still. She heard the faintest echo of a noise. A noise that somehow didn't belong. A faint but solid clicking. The sound of metal striking rock and another sound. Something she couldn't make out. She strained to grasp the noise again as if by focusing her mind she could breach the veil of silence she found herself in. Not moving, not breathing, she listened. And heard the noises again. Click, click. Click, click. Whatever it was, it was large and swiftly approaching.

Then she stopped breathing when she heard a definite clicking or grinding sound coming from deep within the darkness. It was swiftly approaching. She knelt behind a large stone and tried to hide, wishing she could disappear into it when a loud crash came from above her. Stones tumbled past, and a light from the other side shined through the shaft.

She stared, incredulous, as a huge, human-like robot stepped out of the shaft she'd walked through earlier. It must have been following her. The machine was larger than any man in both height and width, but it still bore the shape of a human. Its metallic head turned smoothly toward her, scanning, shining a red beam over the rocks. She ducked her head behind the large stone.

The beam of light played over the rocks. After it passed her, she peeked around the stone to see what the robot was doing. As it scanned to the right, the beam revealed another machine, sitting on a set of tracks which led through the fallen stone. It looked like it was powered off. On the side of this one, a large, scratched-up number read 236. She'd found it. This was what they needed to get online. But how could she lead the robot away without getting killed in the process?

As if following some silent command, the hulking robot turned away and started to walk down the hallway. She sighed in relief.

"Chloe! The hole is big enough now! Come back up!" Ian shouted.

The robot turned instantly and ran toward her. Terrified, she climbed up the hill as fast as she could. In an instant the robot was at the base of the hill. It leaped halfway up just as she reached the opening. Ian's arm stretched toward her.

"Pull me! It's coming after me!" she screamed.

She glanced back in time to see the machine leap again, but when it landed on the loose rocks, it slipped and tumbled back to the bottom. Rocks crashed on top of it, but Chloe wasn't fooled. Those rocks wouldn't hold it long. Ian yanked her, and Chloe struggled to get her footing. She saw Ian's eyes widen when he saw the robot, free from the rocks and steadily climbing back to the top. Just as he pulled her through, a long metallic arm snaked into the hole, barely missing Chloe's legs.

"What is that thing?" Ian asked.

"That's what killed Nikolai," Chloe puffed, out of breath. "Ian, I think I figured out what we have to do. We need to open the tunnel. That's where Unit-236 is."

Ian shook his head violently. "But that thing is over there!"

A loud pounding noise came from the other side, and the top half of the rocks pushed forward. Another pounding from the robot sent more rocks falling down. The thing would break through soon.

"What are we going to do?" one of the men cried.

Ian looked around, then grabbed a large piece of metal off the floor. At first Chloe wasn't sure he could handle something that big, but he seemed fine. She was impressed.

"We're going to stop it!" he shouted. She wondered if he was just plain crazy. He planned to fight it? Really?

The other men collected what tools or objects they thought they might be able to use to defend themselves, but Chloe knew the truth. There was no way they were going to win a fight against that thing. Chloe looked around at all the machines, hoping something would come to her. Then she saw it: a piece of machinery designed to pick up material. She ran to it and climbed up a ladder to the cockpit. The seat was large, but she was able to reach all the handles if she stretched. She noticed a slot about eye level that looked like it connected to a handheld. It was eye level. She slid her handheld into the slot and it responded by turning itself on. Various beeps responded in quick successions.

The men turned at the unexpected sound and stared at her.

"Chloe? What are you doing?" Simmons asked.

"I have no idea!" she replied, frantically reading the display.

She hit a button that read Initialization Phase, and in that second it became operational. As Chloe tried to figure out the machine's controls, the robot leaped through the top of the pile and landed near Ian. With one swipe of its arm it threw Ian into the air, and he crumpled to the ground fifteen feet away. Chloe stared desperately at the cockpit area of her machine, wishing she knew what she was doing. Then she pulled a lever and the machine moved forward a few feet. The robot was rushing toward Ian. The other men ran for cover while Chloe yanked at another lever, dropping a large collection bucket downward that was twice the width of the robot with dozens of thick claws at its opening. She pulled a third lever to swing it toward their attacker. It crashed into it with a resounding thud. She quickly maneuvered the arm until it hovered directly over the robot once more, then forced it down as hard as it could go. The weight of the impact smashed the robot into the ground. It laid there unmoving. Ian stepped up to take a closure look, but leaped back when she lifted the bucket and dropped it again anyway.

Simmons stepped up to the shattered robot to take a closer look. He turned to the others and said, "I think it's—"

Chloe rammed the arm down again, using all its force and smashing the robot into the ground a few more inches. She pulled the arm up one more time and smashed it with all its force.

"—dead!" Simmons finished.

Chloe tapped on the communication button on her handheld and smiled. "I just wanted to make sure."

Chapter 13

Joshua

Joshua awoke to the quiet sounds of someone working nearby. When he opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was Ashley, sitting in the chair with a plate of food on the desk. Everything came back to him all at once: Chloe, the men, Unit-236...and the time limit. He leaped up, and a fresh new wave of pain shot through his body.

"I passed out!" he cried. "What happened? What's going on? Are they okay? What about Unit-236? Did they figure out the problem?"

Ashley helped Joshua to his feet. "Everything is okay. Chloe found Unit-236 and they were able to bring it back online."

Relieved, he leaned against the bed, trying to settle his mind, but his heart raced and his breath was labored. Ashley took his hand, and he noticed one of the tubes was attached to him.

"Let's get you disconnected so you can eat," she suggested.

He pulled the tube away then massaged the area around the connector in his arm. "It's going to take me a while to get used to the idea of connecting to those tubes."

Ashley shook her head. "They give you medicine and regulate your sleep so you wake up feeling refreshed. How do you feel? Physically, I mean."

Joshua thought about it, slowly scanning through his body. "I feel..." He rolled his shoulders back, shook his legs and arms. "Good. Yeah, I feel much better, actually. How long have I been asleep?"

"Almost eighteen hours." She guided Joshua to a chair near the food. "Your food is already a little cold."

"Tell me what's going on. What did I miss? How are things out there?" He swallowed a large bite full of yellow mush that tasted surprisingly good and reached for another. He hadn't realized he was so hungry.

"Things are better, but they really haven't changed much. We still don't know a lot, and the people here need someone who can lead them. Someone willing to push people to do what's right." She looked at Joshua expectantly. "You know, stand up to people like Michael and stuff."

"Nope," he said, shaking his head. "No way I'm going to even try to lead. That is definitely not for me. I'm sure Richard is doing fine."

"Well, it's something you should think about. Since you saved our lives, everyone seems to be talking about you."

He put his spoon down. "About me? That's crazy. What did I do? Ian and those guys saved us. I was quite safe up here, while they were down there, endangering their lives." He dropped his gaze to the table. "I certainly didn't save Nikolai's life."

"If it weren't for you, we wouldn't have known what the problem was or where to find it. You were the only one who could have saved us."

It didn't really matter how she put it, Joshua couldn't bring himself to see it her way. He decided to change the subject. "How is it that you seem to know everything that goes on around here?"

She shrugged. "I talk to people. I like to connect. And most people..." She paused for a moment, then continued, her voice decidedly cool. "Most of them seem to want to talk to me."

He knew she was talking about him, about the way he wasn't falling for her like everyone else apparently did, but he didn't want to talk. All he wanted was to think and get a better feel for how things were going. Somehow, it felt like getting the refinery up and running was only the beginning of what would be a long, tough process.

"And," she continued, her lips curving into a playful smile. "I usually find a way to get the information I desire...one way or another."

Her face. The way she looked in that moment gave him a flash of a memory. Ashley's face came clearly to him, but she looked different. They were in a different place, too. In his memory, they stood close together, holding hands...then he leaned in and kissed her. He recalled the tender feel of her lips on his.

But that was it.

"Hey, what's wrong?" she said. "Are you feeling okay?"

He looked at her a moment, wondering, wishing he could share the memory, but she'd never believe him. Plus, saying it out loud would definitely change the way she viewed him.

"Yeah, actually, I'm feeling good," he said. "Just thinking about something."

He was searching for something more to say when Simmons knocked. Joshua got up and tapped on the sphere so the door slid open.

"Ian wanted me to check and see if you were awake. How are you feeling?" Simmons asked.

Joshua nodded, "Fine."

"Good. They want to have a meeting about what they learned, and they thought you should be there."

"Sure." Joshua turned to Ashley. "Would you like to join us?"

****

The three of them stepped into the Control Center, enjoying the unfamiliar quiet of the room. Now that Joshua had shut down the loud alarms and the blinking lights were off, it was nice and peaceful. Almost...normal, whatever that might mean in this place. Inside, Ian was standing near Chloe, his hand on her shoulder. They were studying an object sitting on the large desk at the center of the room. Two men Joshua didn't recognize stood along the other side of the table. Simmons walked over and stood next to them.

Everyone was smiling and relaxed—the mood was very different from how it had been the first time Joshua had snuck in. Ian spotted him in the doorway and gestured for him to come over.

"Come in," he said, smiling. He was holding his arm close to his body, like it was injured. He was also limping. "Thanks to you, things are really coming together."

Joshua nodded. "Happy to help." He walked over to Chloe, who beamed at him. "Are you okay?" he asked. Her arms and hands were dark with cuts and bruises, but it was good to see her warm smile.

"Oh, I'm fine. That robot couldn't handle me," she said, her cheeks reddening.

"I wish I could have been there to help," he said.

"Sentinel," Ryan said.

"What?" Chloe asked.

"They robots are called sentinels, or sents." Ryan pulled up some data on his handheld, revealing an information sheet on a robot enforcer class S-49. "This model was made for military purposes, and more specifically the infantry division."

Ryan tapped on the S-49 title, revealing the text sent. – 49 out of 100.

"There are a hundred of those out there?" Chloe asked. "A hundred sents?"

No one had an answer so the silence lingered for a moment.

"Ah. Well, look at my new toy." She led him to the table and pointed at a large metal lump. He leaned in, then jumped back when he realized what it was: the head of a sent. It was larger than an average human head. "This is what killed Nikolai."

He stared at her. "Why would you bring the head up here?"

"I want to know why it was programmed to kill," she explained. "The data storage unit is in its head."

Intrigued, Joshua put his hands on the sentinel's skull. It was made of a strange, smooth metal. Wires hung out of its dented neck. Another device sat near it on the table.

"What's that?"

"We don't know," Ian said, limping over. "We found it in the corner of the room. We haven't seen anything like it anywhere else."

A gelatinous substance almost entirely covered the unit. A smaller device with a blinking light sat on top of it.

Ian leaned closer to Joshua. "What do you make of it?"

"I don't know."

Ian gestured toward a wall display showing a fully lit, dome-like room. It was like the meeting area but much larger. Machinery moved, transferring material from the shafts to other machines. "Chloe was able to connect us with a feed down to the bottom level," Ian explained.

Joshua drew closer, wanting to get a better look at the refinery. He pointed at a pile of metal on the ground, just to the side of the shaft opening. "What's that?"

"That's Chloe's handiwork. She smashed that thing to nothing and saved our lives in the process," Ian said.

Chloe blushed again and shrugged. "I had to do something. It was going to kill us. It almost killed Ian."

Joshua was impressed. For such a small woman, she sure had a lot of courage. And intelligence.

"Do you think that's the only one down there?" he asked.

Ian looked back at the video feed. "Yeah. We went back down to get Nikolai once we knew clearing the shaft was going to get everything working. After Unit-236 got out the shaft and delivered its payload, everything started coming to life. We didn't go through the entire level, but we didn't run across any other sents, either. The video feed shows that the only movement is from the robots bringing in material from the mine shafts." He nodded, looking satisfied. "I think we got what was causing all our issues."

"There are still a lot of questions, though," Chloe said. "Like why aren't there any exits? Where are we? Why are we here? Where did the food come from?"

Ian raised his hands. "Okay, okay. You're right. But for now at least certain death has been dealt with. Can we agree on that?"

Chloe nodded, smiling. "I'd love to know why we can't remember anything, though."

Should he tell them about the memories he'd had of Ashley and Chloe? Let them know he had flashes of memory once in a while? Probably not. It's not like a memory of kissing Ashley or of Chloe being older was going to help anyone. For now, he'd keep that to himself. But he was curious. Did anyone else have memories? It didn't sound like it. If he really was the only one, what did that mean?

"Where is Nikolai's body?" he asked.

Ian lowered his head slightly. "We brought him to one of the rooms toward the far side of this hallway. No one comes down here because of lack of access, so we thought it would be better."

Joshua turned from the display feed of the refinery and faced the group. But before he could say anything, Ashley spoke up. "The way I see it, we seem to have more questions now than we did before. We need to do something soon, give people direction and purpose, because the group is getting ugly. It won't be long before they start killing each other and us. We need to make this a community rather than segregated groups fending for themselves."

Ian opened his mouth, but Ashley raised a hand. "Don't tell me to talk to Richard, and don't say he is handling things, because he isn't. You might not believe it, but this is a real problem. It's just as important as the one you just solved, and it needs to get handled."

Her level of confrontation surprised Joshua. He hadn't known she had that in her. Everyone else seemed shocked as well, because no one said a word.

She stepped toward the center of the group. "I think we should tell everyone what has happened. Tell them exactly what we are facing, and let everyone vote on who will become the leader. They need a way to express themselves."

"That makes sense," Joshua said. "Now that the immediate danger has been dealt with, we should think about organizing a sort of structured community. That way everyone can be given tasks and know how to contribute."

A loud grunt came from near the door, and everyone turned. "That's really nice. But while you're playing around with who is in charge, I want to know where all the bodies are."

Ian's upper lip curled, as if the air had suddenly filled with a stench. "Cade. What are you doing here? Why aren't you off dealing with whatever it is you've been dealing with while we've been saving everyone's lives?"

Cade laughed. "Saving everyone's lives, huh? You people have no clue what happened here. The place is falling apart. We are lucky we're still alive."

"And you do have a clue?" Ian asked.

"I think so," Cade said, taking a slow step forward. "I have a better idea than you do."

"Then what do you think happened?" Chloe asked.

Cade approached the device sitting on the desk next to the sent head, then walked to the display. After he selected a few options, the facility's updated map came up, and Joshua could see how the building had the shape of a dome. Chloe had been right about that, except to Joshua's way of thinking, it was more like the skeleton of a dome. Tunnels and shafts connected the outer surface to a middle cylinder, and large rooms similar to the one in which they now stood were attached to the shafts. To Joshua, it didn't look like one large facility, but many smaller buildings connected in a dome-like structure. What surrounded it? Dirt? Stone, like at the bottom level?

"We still don't know what's between us and the bottom level," Cade said, "but we know we're either dealing with a pyramid shape or a dome shape. I went over the data from the bottom level, and based on what we've learned about this level, it would seem that at some point..." Cade paused, then tapped a few buttons on the screen.

"Some point what?" Ian snapped.

There was obviously no love lost between these two. Joshua wondered why they seemed to hate each other so much.

"At some point someone tried to destroy the entire facility," Cade replied coolly.

Ian folded his arms. "You don't know that. That is impossible to know."

Cade didn't even look at him. Instead, he switched the display to a different image, the one Ian had pointed out before. Once again, they saw the place where part of the wall had been destroyed.

"Do you see how this point right here—" Cade said, stepping closer to the display and indicating the center of the image, where there was no debris, "—is clear, how everything has been pushed away from that point?"

His finger mimicked the motion the debris would have taken, showing where it started from. Joshua agreed that it did look like everything had originated from a center point.

Cade kept staring at the image. "It makes sense to me that there was a bomb here. See how everything is pushed away from that point? That was where a massive amount of energy had been stored, and an event was triggered which released that energy, sending everything away." He walked up to the capsule. "I wouldn't be surprised if this is one of those energy sources, but it didn't go off."

Everyone stepped away from the device. "I seriously doubt it's going to go off," Cade assured them. "If it didn't go off when the others went off, or when it was moved, then it's not going off now." He turned toward Ian. "So where are the bodies?"

"Why do you keep asking that?" Ian demanded.

"Because someone had to have placed these objects at their locations. And I say someone, because I seriously doubt a sentinel was programmed to destroy this place."

"But what about the sent that almost killed me? It had to have been programmed to do that," Ian said.

Cade studied the sent's head. "But that was a tool made for a specific purpose. I'm sure it's possible to design a sentinel to destroy a facility, but what would be the point? More importantly, that would mean there was a programmer who decided to destroy everything. Things don't just come into existence out of nothing. Sure, we had to stop this thing, but there's still a person behind this. Someone decided to kill us all."

"Hold up," Joshua said. "Are you suggesting we aren't alone? Or are you saying that one of us did this? Because no one currently awake did this. Ian was the first to wake up, and everything had been destroyed at that point. So I think it has to be someone else."

Cade interjected, "Not necessarily. Maybe they were awake before Ian was, and we just don't know that. We need to create a list of people who have woken up, then match them with their room. That way we can profile every person awake and find out if someone among us doesn't belong."

No one spoke for a moment. Ian stared at them both, incredulous. "Are you joking? You really think someone decided to kill us then hide among us?"

Cade shrugged. "I'm just saying it's a possibility. Maybe the individual or individuals found a way out. The point is, we don't know anything. We don't have enough information, and that's why we need to explore all possibilities."

"You can explore all you want," Ian snapped. "We're going to focus on surviving."

Chloe stepped up to the desk and looked around the room, meeting everyone's eyes. "I agree with Ian. We need to be thinking about things like where the food comes from, or what we'll do once we run out."

"Won't the beds sustain us?" Joshua wondered out loud. "They kept us alive while we were asleep. Won't they continue to do so?"

"Obviously not," Cade replied. "We are all still using the beds when we sleep, and we still get hungry through the day. Perhaps if we found a way to put ourselves back into the hibernating state it might be possible, but I wouldn't advise that at this particular moment. Not even if we knew how to achieve it.

If Ashley was annoyed that Cade had hijacked the conversation, she didn't show it. "I know we have a lot of problems that need to be dealt with. Yes, these are questions that need answers, but I do not see that they are immediate dangers. Am I right?"

No one spoke up.

"Okay, then. I'm going to establish a small group of people who will work on making sure everyone has an outlet to express themselves. That should help with all the frustration around here." She seemed to ponder for a long moment before turning to face him. "Joshua, can you walk with me?"

He was caught off guard by the request, but from the look of people around him, the conversation had apparently concluded. He'd just started walking toward the door when Cade reached out and grabbed his arm.

"Seeing that you seem to be the only individual with security access, I would appreciate it if you could come see me." He glanced at Ashley then back to Joshua. "When it's convenient, of course."

Joshua was impressed by the respect Ashley commanded around here. No one wanted to confront her, not even Cade.

"Okay. I'll come find you."

Cade nodded. "Thanks."

Chapter 14

Joshua

As they walked toward the main hall, Joshua was struck again by the feelings of kissing Ashley. She felt familiar but he couldn't fully understand why.

"Do you agree that the most important issue right now is the people?" she asked, disturbing his thoughts.

Joshua shrugged. "I think it's a problem, but I can't say it's the most important issue. Personally, I think getting out of here is the most important task. Just because we haven't found a way out yet doesn't mean there isn't one. There seem to be multiple floors to check. Before yesterday I would have sent everyone searching for a way out, but now..." He shot her a weary grin. "Well, if there are sents programmed to kill us, then it's pretty obvious we need to stick together. We do need to be out there looking. We just have to be careful."

Ashley nodded. "So, it isn't safe for people to help search, and they shouldn't be sitting around doing nothing. What's the alternative?"

Joshua thought about that, realizing she was right. Everyone needed a purpose, and it did seem like they were stuck here—at least for the time being. "I agree. They need tasks, and there are plenty of things that can be done around here. We need to start getting more people involved. But how do we do that?"

She didn't reply. They walked in silence until they reached the door to the main hall. She pressed her hand on the sphere and the door slid open. As they entered she looked over at him.

"I want to show you something," she said.

They walked through the main hall, where a few people sat at tables, talking. Most of the others seemed to be in the hallways or in their rooms. They didn't seem as angry as the crowd from yesterday, and he thought perhaps that was because the alarms had stopped. Maybe they understood something was being done, which would be a relief. The stress of the unknown had gotten to them.

Good for them, he thought, but he knew too much. And the more he knew, the more he realized he needed to know. There were simply too many unknown factors, too many things that didn't add up.

They entered through another extension of the main room. It was similar to the bottom level, with a room at the center and shafts or hallways branching out. She led him into a large room holding racks of food. Each rack was topped with lights of different colors. The sweet smell of fruit was strong.

"This room is filled with fresh food," she explained. "A portion of it is starting to go bad, but we are processing as much as we can into meals that will be preserved. I imagine it won't be long before all the food is ruined, though. As much as I appreciate the fact that there's so much food, I'm bothered by the lack of indication of where it came from. It's just here. We come in here, pick up what we want, and eat, usually with no regard to how long it's gonna last." She sighed. "And since we don't know where it came from, chances are we won't be able to get any more. No matter what we do, Joshua, we won't last very long once the food is gone. Hydroponics can only take us so far. We need to find a place that will allow for large scale production. So far we've found nothing."

"All the more reason to pull together and find a way out," he replied.

"True, but the crowd mentality scares me. If we don't establish some kind of rules about how the group should behave, I fear people will do a lot worse than just shove each other around. The human mind can only take a certain amount of stress. Food, water, and managing our waste are all extremely important things that need to get dealt with, but our minds are by far the most important factors. We need to encourage a sense of unity, or we will fall apart."

She headed toward the back of the room, and he followed, picking up an apple as he passed. He took a bite then stared at it, wondering once again what was going on. How did he know that what he was holding was an apple? The more he spoke with these people, the more he started to believe that although he had some knowledge and a few memories, compared to people like Chloe, he didn't have much knowledge.

"I understand," he assured her, "and I'll back anybody that you think can get the job done."

Ashley smiled expectantly, and he raised his hands. "As long as it isn't me. I told you. I'm not able to do what you need. I'll help out any way I can, but I am not the man for this."

She nodded, but he thought she looked a little sad. He took another bite of the apple then remembered he needed to see Cade.

"Do you know where I can find Cade?"

Ashley sighed, and this time he had no doubt she was unhappy. But what else could he do? He was no leader. He would only disappoint her.

On the other hand, clearly she was right about this priority, and he understood her frustration. They needed someone to take charge.

In that moment he remembered how surprised Ethan had been when he'd stood up to Michael. No one else had done that, just him. Maybe he could help. He let out a long breath, knowing he would regret what he was about to say.

"Look, Ashley, I'm not saying I am willing to lead these people, but I do agree that someone needs to step up. If no one else does, I will."

Ashley's face lit. She leaped toward him, kissed him on the cheek, then hugged him tight.

*****

It took Joshua a few minutes to find the area where Cade was working, and even after he found the right room he didn't find Cade himself. Cade's room felt somewhat similar to the Control Center, but it had a few different types of displays and devices. A guy Joshua hadn't seen before was leaning over a device, holding a light and tool that gave off a humming sound.

Joshua raised his voice. "Hi! Do you know where I can find Cade?"

The guy clearly didn't hear him, didn't realize he was even there. Joshua walked closer and tapped him on his shoulder. The man started, then swung around to face Joshua.

"Oh, hello," he said.

They stood silently for a moment, staring awkwardly at each other.

"So, I'm looking for Cade," Joshua said.

"Right. Cade is probably down the hallway toward the end. Just keep walking until you can't go any farther. You can't miss him."

The guy was right. Cade was standing back and watching a group of men who were working on the wall where the hallway ended. After a closer look, Joshua saw they were unbolting some panels. He walked up to Cade and stopped beside him, arms crossed.

"What do you think is on the other side?"

Cade did not respond at first. When one of the guys announced that they were about to take off one of the main panels, Cade turned to Joshua. "We are about to find out." He walked closer to the action, evidently in charge. "Take it nice and slow, everyone."

The panel seemed stuck. It required a few hits with a large bar, but after repeated attempts the panel shifted slightly and they were able to pull it down. What Joshua saw behind the panel was just a wall of stone. Nothing more. The knowledge hurt deep in his gut, because he had the overwhelming feeling there was no way out. They were trapped here. They would die within a metal coffin, surrounded by stone.

Cade took a few steps back and stared at the stone wall. "Well, there you go." He turned to Joshua. "I need access to a room. Come with me."

The door slid open to the room where Joshua had just been, and Cade and Joshua walked over to the man in the middle of the room. He was still hovering over the device.

Cade tapped the man's shoulder. "Ryan. Power the door one more time for me."

The man straightened, walked over to the door opposite Joshua, then crawled underneath a desk. He removed a panel and reached into the wall. In that moment, the display on the desk went out and the sphere to the right of the door glowed blue.

"Joshua, would you be kind enough to place your hand on the sphere?" Cade asked.

"Sure." Joshua walked to the door. "What do you think is on the other side?"

A slight smile played over Cade's face, and his white-blue eyes laughed. "There's really only one way to find out."

Joshua wasn't about to go in unprepared. He looked around, then grabbed a large pipe from a collection of tools nearby. When he carried it back to the door, Cade lifted an inquiring eyebrow.

"In case there are sents on the other side."

Cade shifted his body as if to attack then nodded his agreement.

Joshua stepped in front of the sphere and placed his hand on it. The display above read Joshua – 147, Security Access Level 1. Access Granted, and he lifted the pipe into a swinging position. The Control Center's familiar beeping sound came to life for a moment, then all was quiet. The door slid open, and Joshua breathed in a slight chemical smell as it revealed a darkened room. He paused to give his eyes time to adjust before stepping inside.

The walls were bare, with no access panels. The ceiling looked different, and when his vision adapted he could see it was made of a different material. The only thing in the entire room was a large metallic column in the center. With no danger in sight, Joshua lowered the pipe and leaned it against the wall near the door.

Cade walked in behind him then touched the central column. He walked around it, studying it from all angles. "Ryan," he said, "go get Chloe. She needs to see this." Ryan turned to leave, but Cade stopped him. He pointed at the column. "And ask her to bring the device with these symbols on it."

Joshua was confused. "Why do you want Chloe to see an empty room?"

Ryan leaned in, studied the column, then left. Curious, Joshua bent down and noticed the markings were split in two by lines that were into it structure, as if it were made of tightly connected slices.

"What do you think it is?" Joshua asked.

Another long pause, then Cade spoke calmly. "I believe this is the key. I think I recognize this column." He hesitated, then quietly said, "I think I remember it."

Joshua's eyes widened. "You have memories?"

Cade's face went bright red with embarrassment, and Joshua realized he hadn't meant to reveal that little secret. It was like Joshua's memories of Ashley. Cade was hesitant, too, most likely worried about the same things that Joshua worried about. It was comforting to know that he wasn't the only one with memories—though the content was very different.

"I meant to say that I think I know what this is," Cade muttered.

Joshua was just working up the nerve to tell Cade that he also had some memories when Chloe walked in.

"Wow," she exclaimed. "What is this place? Oh! What's that?"

Joshua shrugged, marveling at her constant good mood. "I opened the door and this column was inside."

"Good. You brought that device," Cade said.

Chloe lifted a device in the shape of a disk, and they all looked at it. "I never could figure out what this was, or what it did."

Cade stretched out a hand. "May I?"

Chloe gave the device to Cade and inspected the column, seeming just as confused as Joshua felt. They watched, curious, as Cade walked to the back side of the column and stopped beside an indention the size of the sphere. It was just a little higher than eye level at the center of one of the slices. Frowning, he studied the characters on the disk, then the ones on the wall. After twisting it a few times, he moved closer to the column. Suddenly it left his hands and slammed into indention. The device was like a key fitting into a lock.

"It must be magnetized," Cade said.

They all watched as the disk shifted in place then stopped. A brilliant white light illuminated the room. The letters on the column flashed in sync with those on the disk, and then the pieces of the column began to shift and twist until they extended at least four feet from the center, revealing a new column unlike anything else they had yet encountered. It was filled with glass-like layers and seemed to be powered down.

Looking shocked, Chloe stepped into the inner circle and started examining the device, focusing on the center toward the back.

Chloe turned to Ryan. "Ronald, go get a data cable and a heat gun."

The three men exchanged a glance, saying nothing. Chloe was notorious for not getting names correct. As Ryan left, Chloe reached down and pulled some smaller panels from the floor. She stepped out of the circle, and her eyes went to a specific spot in the corner of the room where Joshua noticed a small panel that could be removed.

"We need to follow this cable," she said. "It seems to be headed in that direction." She walked toward the wall then stooped to open a panel on the floor. "Yep, this is it. Just like what happened at the Super Station. Someone has cut or burned through the cable."

No one questioned the fact that Chloe had just said, "someone."

A moment later, Ryan returned with the cable and gun and handed them to Chloe. She pulled a knife from her pocket then started working on the cables under the floor.

"Do you ever wonder why there are no exits?" Cade asked. Joshua glanced at him, thrown off by the blunt question, but Cade continued, "There aren't any doors on the perimeter. In fact, there are no doors at all."

"We haven't been through the entire facility yet," Joshua reasoned. "We'll find an exit. There has to be one, right?"

The room was silent except for Chloe's snipping and banging, but Joshua was sure everyone could hear the sudden frantic beat of his heart. There had to be a way out of this place. We could just start digging through the stone, he thought desperately, though he knew the idea was ridiculous. How long would an endeavor like that take? The food wouldn't last forever—and if more people woke up, it would disappear even more quickly. Why was this happening? Why would someone put them all in here then keep them trapped? Was it some twisted way of committing mass murder? Trapped. No exit. Sweat beaded on his forehead, and his palms were slick. He had the sudden desire to run. To search for a way out.

Chloe's cheerful voice brought him back from what was quickly escalating into a full-out panic attack. "All done!" she chirped. "Now let's see what this big guy can do."

She stood up and walked to the center, back to the unpowered device. After poking around randomly, she connected the data cable from one point to another then reached down and pressed a series of buttons. The entire device turned on. She stepped back and watched in amazement with the rest of them as the layers of glass came alive, shimmering with lights. Joshua could hear air being pushed through it all.

Chloe leaned toward Ryan. "Can you work on getting power to the rest of this room?"

Ryan nodded and started looking around.

Joshua walked up to Chloe, and they both watched the sparkling device. "How is it that you know how to do all this stuff?" he asked.

"You don't know how?" Chloe asked, sounding genuinely surprised.

Joshua shook his head.

"Huh," she said as she left to help Ryan. "That's strange."

Chapter 15

Ashley

Most of those who didn't have access to the sensitive areas of the facility were sitting around the meeting hall, talking and worrying as usual. But lately Ashley sensed a different energy about them. Maybe even a sense of hope—and that worried her. Richard had chosen to manipulate the updates, making everything seem better than it actually was, and that meant if their sense of optimism wasn't handled properly, it could backfire. What he should have been doing was giving them purpose. Assigning them tasks. She wanted so badly to find a way for them to contribute, knowing that getting them focused on surviving would help the group both overall and individually. To her, a clear division was forming between those with heightened access and those without, and she wondered if she could do anything to help bring them together.

She walked through the meeting hall and sat next to a few girls who were talking, hoping to gain some insight into what they were thinking. The women didn't seem to notice her there, or if they did, they didn't object. Their conversation continued uninterrupted.

One of the women said softly, "Michael was telling a few of the guys that he thinks they can find a way out. They say we can't trust Richard or Ian, and Cade has no clue what's going on."

Ashley knew Michael well. Just hearing his name was upsetting. He had caused nothing but trouble since he'd woken up.

"What do you mean they think they can find a way out?" Ashley demanded. "That's absolutely not true. They can't even leave the area without alarms going off, and I've seen through those doors. Michael's wrong."

The woman shrugged. "I don't know. That's just what I heard him say. He thinks he knows a way out."

Could it be true? Could he have discovered something no one else had found? She needed to speak with Michael, see what was up. If there was any basis to this, she'd have to see what was up if he would be willing to talk to someone about what he was discovering. No matter how angry and disruptive he was, if he knew something that might help, he needed to be given the opportunity.

He likely wouldn't share what he knew with her, though. He viewed her as one of the people on the "other side." The ones who had access. He'd had access at one time, but his status had been revoked after he and Ian had gotten into a fight. After that, Ashley had heard him say that he thought Cade had something to do with blocking him, saying Cade knew how to deny people access to parts of the building that could help them. He said Cade was keeping them locked in and knew more than he was telling.

All indications suggested that Michael was the type who would want to take things into his own hands. He was a problem waiting to happen, but she didn't know exactly how to handle him. She decided to talk to Richard about the problem. She wanted to try to work with him to neutralize the situation before it turned into something unmanageable.

When she got to his room, Richard was at his desk with the door open.

"Can I come in?" Ashley asked.

Richard waved her in, his eyes on the screen in front of him, his hand on the sphere. "Did you know Cade found a strange new device?" His voice was hushed with excitement. "It looks like it could be the key to figuring all this out."

Ashley blinked, completely surprised. "No, I didn't know that. What did they find?"

"I don't know," he said, "but it looks important. Look."

Ashley stepped up to his screen to watch the video feed, surprised to discover he had access like this. She couldn't help wondering what other feeds he was monitoring. On the screen she saw Joshua standing next to Cade, both men watching Chloe work on an unfamiliar device. The thing was giving off a mostly blue hue, but other colors flashed on it as well. To Ashley, it didn't look more important than any other device, but she didn't mention that.

"Did you go check it out yet? What do they think it will tell us?" Ashley asked.

Richard wasn't even blinking. "No, but I am certain it will tell us exactly how to get out of this place. That has got to be it, and just in time. They need something to focus on."

She frowned at him, concerned. The video stream showed most of the room, and the device appeared to be the only thing there, so it was safe to assume it had some important role to play in the facility. Beyond that, there was no way Richard could know what information it might provide. From what she could see, there was no direct evidence to suggest this device would benefit them at all, let alone be the key to their freedom. It could just as easily be the waste-management system—which would be nice, but certainly wouldn't help them get out. Was Richard basing all his excitement on the video stream? If so, then he was more out of touch than she'd thought.

"Yes," he muttered to himself. "It has to be the way out of here."

More than ever, Ashley needed to talk Richard into allowing a smooth transition of leadership from him to Joshua, but that wouldn't be easy. Judging by what she'd learned about Richard over the past few days, he would never stop acting like he was the leader. The problem was, the attitude of the entire group was being guided in the wrong direction—even if it seemed positive at the surface level—and she needed to find a way to prove that, if it wasn't too late already. Richard didn't understand at all the harm he was doing. She had to choose her words carefully.

"You've been doing a good job here, Richard, and I can feel that we are getting close to learning more about what's going on, but we need to keep things in the proper perspective. Please don't tell the group anything until after you know for sure what that device is."

Richard flashed the smile she had grown to know well. It was the smile of a martyr, a smile that said if only you carried the weight of all this stress you would understand. "Things are looking up," he said, getting to his feet. His eyes sparkled, bright with a kind of feverish excitement. "We've stopped the immediate dangers, and we just found a device that will tell us everything we need to know. It's up to me to let them all know the great news. I've already asked for a meeting."

She obviously wasn't making any progress here. They walked together to the meeting hall. Once there she looked around for Michael. Fortunately he was nowhere to be seen. If he missed Richard's impending announcement, that might delay the confrontation she knew was coming. In the meantime, maybe the others would discover something that truly would give everyone something to look forward to.

As usual, the group in the meeting hall was loud, and people kept asking the same questions.

One guy stood up, his face tight with anger and frustration. "You've asked us all here so let's dispense with the preamble and go straight to what we all want to know. What are they doing to find a way out of this place?"

Richard moved to the front of the room, still wearing that annoying smile that looked both confident and a little off...or maybe fake, which was worse. "I've called this meeting for a specific reason," he said, looking around. "Some of you may have already heard that we recently identified an immediate threat to our lives, and through working together we were able to resolve that issue. With that out of the way, we are now able to investigate farther into the facility, and—"

"I've had enough!" a man shouted over the murmuring crowd. "Tell us the truth! Do you know a way out or not?"

This was usually the point when Richard lowered his head and looked self-conscious, like he was hoping they'd stop asking impossible questions. Instead, today his head was high, and his chest out.

"I assure you that everything that can be done is being done. I can now tell you all that we have found a crucial lead to learning why we are in this particular set of circumstances, and you can be confident that nothing is being overlooked."

The man threw up his hands. "This is useless." He turned and left the room.

On the way out, he passed Michael, who was just arriving. Michael made everyone around him feel inferior, and he always seemed angry. That anger was the reason no one wanted to work with him—except for the other men like him. She'd identified a half dozen other men who were dealing with the same psychological challenges Michael displayed. Not for the first time, she wondered if the system could be giving them something in their sleep. She reminded herself to look into that possibility.

Richard was still talking to the group, making promises about how all the problems would soon be resolved, when Michael walked up to him. He stood very close to Richard then leaned in and spoke softly—almost too softly for her to hear.

"They say Cade knows what's going on, Richard. They say you know more than you're telling us. Tell me what's going on, or I'm going to beat it out of you."

This was not going well. A couple of large men had positioned themselves behind Richard, and when Michael stepped closer, Richard stepped back into one of the guys—who then pushed him toward Michael.

"Hey, stop that!" a voice said from behind Ashley.

Michael turned and surveyed the crowd, eyes narrowed. "Tell me. What has he or any of them," he said, pointing toward the locked doors, "done to get us out of here? We've been forced to rely on them, because for some arbitrary reason they gained access to those levels while we didn't."

Ashley crossed her arms, disgusted. The man lied. Everyone knew he'd had access at first then lost it.

A man slightly smaller than Michael and topped with bright red hair stepped forward. "We don't know why they have access and we were denied. The only thing certain is that we're all trapped here." He helped Richard step out of Michael's way. "They haven't given us reason to think that they are not trying their best, though." He placed one hand on Michael's shoulder. "The thing is, we all want to help. We all feel helpless, but getting angry and shoving him around is not the right way to handle this."

Michael's expression was cold and calculated. With no warning, he punched the man hard then pushed him into the group, sending the crowd into a fury.

Feeling totally helpless, Ashley stepped back, away from the crowd so she wouldn't be pulled in. This was the tipping point, exactly what she'd feared would happen, and there was nothing she could do to stop it. She needed to get help. She needed Joshua. When she looked back to Richard, she saw Michael had pushed him against the wall and lifted him off his feet. He was shouting at Richard, who looked absolutely terrified. Richard's eyes were shut tight, his face full of fear. He held his hands up, trying to push Michael away, but he was useless against Michael's bulky size.

"Where is Cade?" Michael bellowed.

Richard pointed to the door to their left, and Ashley's mouth dropped open. He'd sent them the wrong way! In one quick motion, Michael grabbed Richard's wrist, twisted it, then sent him hurtling toward the door. Before Richard could regain his balance, Michael grabbed his hand and placed it firmly on the sphere. The door slid open, but as soon as they stepped through, the alarms went off throughout the meeting hall.

"Unauthorized Personnel! Unauthorized Personnel!" a voice announced.

A woman screamed, snapping Ashley back to the moment. Two men had just stepped back to avoid a fight that had broken out between two women, who had tumbled to the floor and were rolling over each other, punching and scratching. The two men pulled them apart, but as soon as they were freed, they attacked each other again.

One man turned to Ashley. "What are we going to do?"

Ashley didn't know what to say, but she did know what to do. "Follow me."

She had to warn the others about what was happening. It was only a matter of time before Michael realized Richard had lied to him. At least Richard had bought her a little of that time.

Chapter 16

Joshua

"Okay, the device is now connected, and power is running to the room. Everything should be working properly," Ryan said.

The air was electric with excitement Joshua had not experienced since he'd awoken. For the first time, it actually felt like they might find a way out of this place. They might just survive. Chloe stood in front of the large display and tapped through a series of features, then stopped on an option to Activate Legacy.

Joshua pointed at something that caught his eye. "Activate Legacy? What does that mean?"

Chloe looked to Joshua, then decisively back at the screen and tapped the button. All the screens and lights in the room went dark, except for the small lights at the doorway and along the floor panels near the walls. It was almost impossible to see. Then the lights flicked back on, and all screens simultaneously read Now Loading.

Chloe faced the group. "I think Legacy might be the system which manages the facility. Something might have happened to cause it to go into a dormant stage, which is the reason nothing seemed to be functional."

"That makes some sense," Cade said, leaning against the wall. "If this system is managing everything, it might be able to tell us how or why the power was cut off from it. But if that's true then what's been giving us access to the various levels of the system that was operating?" The question was left unanswered.

He walked over to a display and swiped, replacing the Now Loading screen with a new one. He selected a Show Details section, which revealed some code. He moved to a larger display overhead and pushed his handheld display into an available slot. Without a word, he tapped through a few options and stopped at some code that looked identical to the lines on the other display.

Joshua stepped closer to get a better look. He could see they looked similar, but something was different, though he couldn't say what. "What are we looking at?"

Cade glared at him, and Joshua started to understand why Ian didn't like Cade. From what Joshua could see, Cade was an obnoxious person with few redeeming qualities.

"There seem to be two distinct languages here," Cade said, studying the code. "Two distinct command-line structures as well. They are so deeply integrated it's almost impossible to see a clear separation."

Chloe walked up to the display. "Two languages?"

The rest of the screens still read Now Loading, the words dimming then brightening every few seconds as the system worked. Chloe reached toward a nearby display and started looking through the code, comparing it to what Cade was showing.

"There is a definite difference here," she said, "but why?"

Joshua was getting even more confused. "Is that really so important? So what if the code is different?"

"You don't understand," Chloe said patiently. She was no longer smiling. "It looks like the code coming from Legacy does not contain any of the secondary language. This means that if Legacy is the system that manages everything, and the code being loaded is clearly different from what's been running, then at some point the code was changed. After that point, everything crashed, which caused our current set of circumstances. If all we're seeing is true, one thing seems to be clear. Someone altered the code."

More proof that someone else was behind all this. But of course someone was behind this. Someone had to have built the facility and put them here. But who, and why? It was frustrating to be faced with such hard-to-answer questions.

Chloe continued, "Legacy's code will help us begin to understand the secondary code. That should tell us more about what it's trying to do, and why it's there." She took a deep, shaky breath. "Hopefully, enabling Legacy will not make things worse."

"Okay," Joshua replied. "Well, we'll just have to deal with whatever happens when Legacy finishes turning on."

The device in the room made little grunts as it loaded itself, and Chloe and Cade stood in front of the screens, talking about the code, hypothesizing about what Legacy might be able to do. Joshua had trouble following most of their conversation, but it seemed to him that Legacy had a real chance of providing answers.

Suddenly Legacy began whirring with a steady amount of noise, and the lights flashed faster, making the room dance with color.

"It finished loading!" Chloe shouted.

The large display over the desk at the center of the room was filled with information, and Cade and Chloe scrolled through it all, commenting as they went. Joshua only caught a little of what was being displayed, like Refinery within a subset of divisions of titles. He also caught Medical Department and Planetary Engineering. He was reading a title labeled Astrophysical Observations and Discovery when Cade noticed something else.

Pulling up the menu selections, Cade scrolled down a little over halfway then tapped on the title labeled External Sensory Data Points. A series of options were available, and he chose the first one. As a result, a long list of collection times and dates displayed, and each one explained what was picked up and at what times.

They all stared at the information, dumbfounded. This was it. This was the information they had been seeking.

Chloe frowned. "There seems to be another system called I.R.I.S. that manages all of Legacy. From what this says, Legacy is an intelligent data-storage system." She gave a whistle, sounding impressed. "Wow. The amount of data stored within Legacy is enormous."

"Planet unable to sustain life!" Ryan exclaimed suddenly from a nearby display.

"What? Where did you find that?" Cade asked. He tapped a few options then brought up the same information Ryan was looking at. As he'd said, the data indicated that the planet they were on was unable to sustain any form of life.

"Insufficient material available." Ryan read out loud.

"What is this place?" Chloe asked.

No one answered. Joshua was starting to put it together, though. He felt worse than he had before when he'd wondered if someone had trapped them there. He didn't want to face what it all meant.

"Is there anything we can do?" he asked.

Cade tapped on another option then paused. All the color in his face drained. "Not from what this is saying. It's only stating that there isn't enough material for environmental changes to occur."

"No," Ryan said. "No way. This is impossible. There is no way the planet is in this state." He was breathing hard, sweat rolling down his brow. "This data can't be right."

"I'm afraid it is," Cade replied quietly. He turned back to his display and scrolled all the way up. "I think I know what's going on."

He tapped on Legacy: Purpose and Mission then tapped again. Another set of selections came up, and Cade chose the first option under the Overview of Project Legacy. It was labeled Introduction from the Founder. He was just about to select the Play button when Ashley rushed in with two men.

"They have Richard!" she cried, out of breath. She placed a hand against the wall and bent over, trying to breathe.

"What do you mean?" Joshua asked. "Who has Richard?"

"Michael and a couple guys took Richard, and they are looking for Cade. They're convinced that Cade knows something," she managed.

"So?" Chloe said. "We'll just tell them what we found, then say we are doing everything we can."

Joshua remembered Michael and the fury in his expression. From what he could see, Michael wasn't a rational man. He was going to keep on fighting until he got what he was looking for. In this case, Joshua didn't even think he was looking for information. No, this rebellion was just a way to release his anger. Like Ashley, Joshua was afraid this would get physical—if it hadn't already.

Ashley continued, "Michael started a fight, then he took Richard so he could gain access to the other areas. It's only a matter of time before he finds us, and when he does I don't think he will be wanting to just talk."

"I think you're right," Joshua said. He addressed the two men standing next to Ashley. "Go look out for them, and tell us when they're headed our way." They nodded and stepped outside. "Chloe, can you lock these doors somehow, to prevent Richard from opening them? We need to find a way to lock the room down so they can't get in."

Chloe shook her head. "I don't know of a way. Access is managed by the system, and we've been unable to manage access levels."

"But now that Legacy has been restored, shouldn't we be in charge?"

Chloe stared down at a display and started going through the options. "I don't know. I'll see what I can find."

"Okay," he said, pacing. "They'll be here soon. If we can't lock them out, we'll have to stall them until they cool down and let us explain what's going on. We just need to get them to stop long enough so they can listen to what we have to say."

Ashley nodded. "I agree. They're angry, and until something shocks them out of it, they aren't going to listen to us."

Joshua considered his options. These hallways and rooms weren't designed to stop anyone from physically barging through the doors, and there was little to nothing he could use to bar the door since the tables and desks were all bolted to the floors or attached to the walls.

"What other rooms are through this hallway?" he asked. "Maybe we can find something in another room to block the door."

Cade shook his head. "You've seen everything. There are only two other rooms attached to this hallway, and you saw the ending. There probably isn't enough time to do it even if you could."

One of the two men returned, his expression tight. "They're coming. The alarm sounded when they came in from the main hall."

Joshua didn't want anyone to get hurt, but the situation was bad. He needed to neutralize it before it got out of hand. When the second man returned, Joshua walked to the back room, picked up the pipe he'd planned to use on the sents, then walked back without a word. Ashley and Chloe huddled together at one side of the room with the two men they'd sent out as scouts, and Ryan, Cade, and Joshua waited closer to the door.

Cade's eyes went to the pipe in Joshua's hands, then slid away. No words were necessary. There was only one thing to do if Michael wasn't willing to listen. Taking a cue from Joshua, Ryan picked up a display and held it as if he was about to swing it against someone, though his hands shook. Cade moved behind them, and Joshua had just enough time to realize what a coward Cade was.

The door slid open, and Richard tumbled in. He was bruised and bleeding, his right cheek swollen. He crashed to the ground, moaning that he was sorry, that he hadn't meant to show them the way. He seemed disoriented and confused. A group of men stormed in, followed by a large crowd who had to stay out in the hallway due to the tightness of the room.

Michael stood in front with rage in his eyes. "Cade! Where are you?"

Joshua raised one hand and stepped up, hoping to resolve this issue peacefully but keeping the pipe in a firm grip at his side in case he needed it. Michael saw him coming. He grabbed Joshua's hand, twisted it, then threw him backward. Joshua pivoted to stabilize himself, then grabbed the pipe with both hands, knowing he was going to have to swing hard to bring Michael down. As he turned back to face the big man, a loud popping sound rang through the room and Michael was suddenly on his knees. Cade stood to the side, pointing something toward Michael. In the next moment, Michael fell face forward onto the floor next to Richard, shuddered, then stopped moving.

The entire room fell silent. Joshua stared at Cade, positive Michael was dead. "What did you do?"

"Where did you get that?" Chloe asked.

Someone knelt, flipped Michael over, and placed a hand on his neck. He looked up and reported, "He's alive."

One of the guys who had stormed in with Michael stepped forward, apparently deciding to finish what Michael had started. Cade lifted the device toward the man but stopped when Chloe stepped between them.

"Stop! Just stop!" she shouted. The noise died down a bit and she spoke again. "We are not hiding anything. In fact, we've just found something. Please be patient and look over here." The guy took a threatening step closer to Cade, and she placed a hand on his chest. "You need to see this. Everyone needs to see this."

When she had everyone's attention, she clicked on the Initialize button for a video Cade had queued up. The screen displayed a logo with two infinity signs intertwined together and circling but never separating at their center. The logo disappeared then revealed a woman sitting comfortably on a chair.

"Hello. My name is Dr. Katherine Witaford, and I founded the organization in charge of Project Legacy. Our organization is a collection of all Earth's nations united together to ensure the continuity of the human species."

Muffled gasps whispered through the crowd.

"Through overpopulation and loss of resources, we were no longer able to continue our existence on Earth. To ensure our continued existence, we pulled together what was left and invested everything into becoming a multi-planet species. Through the latest advancements in technology, you have been given the optimal chance of success. With the help of I.R.I.S. and the various Strong A.I. systems both within the facility and within the independent androids, you will find that all your immediate needs have been met. Once you step out onto the newly terraformed planet, you will discover an established community waiting for you to populate it.

"Project Legacy is here to help you every step of the way," she continued, smiling fondly. "With genetic modifications to reflect the brightest humans we've been able to study, you've been given every thinkable advantage. Legacy is equipped with the ability to train you and defend you at all costs against any dangers. Although our mind-mapping technology will develop the inclinations within you to adapt to any situation, it is up to you to embrace them. Allow Legacy to guide you as you transition."

She paused, looking both proud and sad. "Welcome to what we've given you," she said. "Remember, it isn't about a project. You are our Legacy. You are our only hope to continue the species. Once again, welcome to your new home."

The video closed, and Cade sat, placing the device on the table. "The planet can't be converted and we're trapped down here," he said quietly. "What happened?"

No one spoke for what seemed like an eternity. Then Chloe's soft voice filled the room.

"So," she said. "This is our home."

WANT MORE?

The Legacy continues in book two - Water. If you want to know what happens next ... Legacy: Water The story goes even deeper as the world of Legacy is further explored as the series continues in book two. You'll find out that Michael has his reasons for being angry, that Chloe is a vital role to play in discovering the truth of why they are trapped and meet more characters that will help bring the group together as they delve deeper into the mysteries of Project Legacy.

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Legacy - The Awakening. Second Edition.

LEGACY SERIES

BOOK ONE: THE AWAKENING

BOOK TWO: WATER

BOOK THREE: ACT OF FUTILITY

ABOUT THE AUTHOR   
Kurt Petrey was born and raised in southern Louisiana. The son of two teachers that instilled in him the understanding that if you want something in life you often have to work hard to achieve it. Starting early in his life he delved deep into technology and has dedicated his life to understanding the nature of technical issues. If he isn't working on technical issues he's spending his time writing books or wood working. Kurt lives near Lafayette, La where he spends most of his time getting into trouble and the rest of his time trying to get out.

EMAIL: KURTPETREY@HOTMAIL.COM

TWITTER: TWITTER.COM/KURTPETREY

FACEBOOK: FACEBOOK.COM/KURTPETREY
