PROLOGUE

Liberty

I blinked away the fog of forced unconsciousness. Bleary and groggy, I tried harder to process my surroundings in order to prepare myself for whatever came next. My head swam when I tried to sit up, and the blurred images of the room I was in didn’t register as familiar. I was used to the discombobulation by now but it never got any easier.

I laid back down and closed my eyes again to wait out the aftereffects of the sedation. They had been using more and more on me these past few solars, my tolerance for the drugs making me almost immune. Unfortunately, it meant that the typically fatal dosage they had resorted to injecting me with caused some pretty nasty side-effects when I did wake up.

My stomach rolled when I reopened my eyes, the bright light stabbing into my skull and causing a piercing headache. I squinted until I acclimated to the pain and the nausea passed.

A chilled hand encased in a thick, rubbery substance pressed against my forehead and pushed me back onto the metal slab. I was too weak still to fight back, and I wouldn’t have even if it were possible. The only result would have been me in more pain, more than likely bleeding out on the stars-damned metal table.

‘Stay down, Subject L-387. You haven’t been cleared for movement,’ a robotic voice echoed throughout the room. I still hadn’t figured out if that was the individual’s actual voice or if they were using a computer to speak to me. Either way, that voice was the one in charge.

I did as I was told, the consequences of trying to fight back too severe to even consider. After my failed escape attempt I had been their go-to subject to experiment on. At first I thought they were just trying to punish me for daring to try for my freedom, but after a while I realised they were trying to find a way to subdue me to prevent others from trying to escape as well.

They had come up with the idea of placing microchips in our brains that would enable them to control our actions fully. It removed any autonomy we had left over our own movements and possibly even our thoughts. Luckily, I hadn’t been one of those they had tested that particular implant on, because the results were not favourable. So far, anyone who had received the chip had died, not even the nanites able to repair the damage caused. More recently, however, they had managed to create a chip that didn’t destroy the body, but it did destroy the mind. In those instances the subject was discarded because without a working brain, they were merely a drain on The Program’s resources.

I had overheard all this information in my pre-conscious states. Not quite awake but no longer unconscious, I was able to glean information from the bastards as they chatted over me like I wasn’t even there. But that was nothing new. The scientists didn’t view us as people. We were nothing more than a means to an end; a project they spent their entire lives and an unfathomable fortune on.

We were property.

Which was how I’d found myself in my current predicament.

Their breeding program had hit some snags. While A and I had tried to escape together to avoid the horrors of not only bringing children into this life, but to have them torn from us to be tortured the same way we were, I hadn’t managed to make it out. To make things worse, the nanites were programmed to kill off any foreign bodies, which made insemination a challenge. Then when the nanites finally began accepting sperm they still wouldn’t accept an embryo. Then a foetus, etcetera, etcetera.

What that meant for me was I lost more babies than I could count. I never met the sperm donors, though I had a feeling they only used a single male for me. They wanted to test the combination of not only how our genetics would mix but the possibility of reproducing the effects of the implants without needing to surgically implant them in the babies. If they succeeded, then they would have successfully created an entirely new race of beings.

With the nanites, it was possible. The possibilities seemed endless from the way they gushed about them.

‘Vitals are within range,’ the scientist that pushed me down addressed someone else, letting me know there were more in the room.

‘Let’s see if the offspring will latch,’ the other voice responded, this one a female.

Offspring?

Something was suddenly placed on my chest. It wriggled about and made strange whimpering noises before it erupted into a scream. I tried to raise my arms to push it off but noticed then that they were restrained. Then someone grabbed hold of my left breast and there was a pinch of pain followed by a sucking sensation.

The wriggling creature was no longer screeching.

‘Perfect latch. Such a hungry boy,’ the female spoke up, her voice distorted into a strange, squeaky tone I’d never heard anyone use before, let alone the scientists.

I squinted down at the thing on my chest, preparing myself to see a new type of creature that was sucking the blood from my body. It wouldn’t have been the first time the scientists used animals of all sorts in their experiments. However, it was no animal on my chest, but a baby.

‘We’ll keep the child with its mother under observation until it’s weaned, then we can move it to the new location,’ the male stated.

Mother? Was that me?

I gazed down upon the tiny thing suckling on my breast and I realised it was feeding. It was an odd concept to be producing milk from my body to nourish another living being. It felt strange, too, but in a good way. Like my body was finally providing something worthwhile instead of being torn apart and reassembled in someone else’s vision.

The rest of their words suddenly hit me, and the full scope of the situation slammed down on me in full force. I didn’t know how long they’d had me unconscious, but it was long enough for them to successfully get me pregnant and then give birth. This baby was mine, I was their mother, and they were going to take them from me.

I couldn’t allow that to happen.

‘How is the other subject performing?’ the male asked.

‘Her nanites have been left for too long. It may not be possible to reprogram them to accept the sperm let alone a foetus.’

‘Well, keep trying. We need more offspring for the next stage.’

‘Shall I bring her in here? She was previously partnered with this subject, correct? Maybe keeping her more comfortable with someone she knows would be beneficial.’

‘You think the nanites are responding to her distress?’

‘It’s a possibility we are looking into. Being around this subject’s offspring may incite a desire for a baby herself. If the nanites are responding to her emotions then it is possible they will recognise this desire and allow us to inseminate.’

‘Then yes, bring her here. But keep a close eye on them. I don’t want them getting ideas about running away again. We cannot afford another blow like that.’

‘I’ll prepare her for the transfer.’

The female left the room with a click as the lock engaged automatically behind her. The male leant over me so I could see his face.

‘I’m going to remove your restraints so you can hold the offspring. If you try anything, we will remove it from your care immediately and you will face punishment. Nod if you understand.’

I nodded, eager to get my arms around my baby. The desperate need to protect them was sudden and overwhelming. I wasn’t about to start anything with the risks rebelling now posed.

The restraints fell away with a clatter, the metal banging loudly against the table. The noise disturbed my baby who began to fuss as he unlatched from my breast. With my arms now free, I cradled them against me and gently urged their head back towards my nipple. They latched back on without any further issue and the suckling started again.

I was too busy staring in awe at the sweet little thing in my arms to pay attention when the door opened again and the female returned. My baby was a boy, I noticed. I had a son. A son with a face full of wrinkles and cute chubby cheeks. His arms and legs were chunky and curled into his body, a position I imagined he must have been used to from his time inside of me.

They wheeled another table beside mine, but I refused to look away from the angelic little face of my son for even a moment. Not even when the scientists left did I look up. I couldn’t stop staring. This little boy was mine, and there was no way in any existence would I allow anyone to hurt him. The urgency to escape was greater than ever before.

I hoped and prayed that we would be able to find A; that she had managed to build a life for us outside of these cement and cinderblock walls. If we could just find her, she could help me keep my baby safe. We could raise him together, just like we’d always imagined. The two of us would become three, and there would be hope for a brighter future.

I just needed to figure a way out first…

‘L?’ a soft, scratchy voice spoke from beside me. It was familiar, filled with elation and warmth. A voice that I wondered if I’d ever hear again. The only voice that could have dragged my attention away from the beautiful baby boy in my arms.

I looked up and met the eyes of the only family I’d ever had up until now and breathed out a single syllable.

‘A?’