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  Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Copyright

  For all the other survivors: let’s prove them wrong.

  CHAPTER ONE

  Mina

  “Mom. Hey … Mom?”

  A gentle tugging on my tunic snapped me back to reality and I gazed down at the small face staring up at mine. I marveled at the wide brown eyes that seemed to always know exactly what I was thinking. Right now, it was worry that the other kids at the Origin Elementary School wouldn’t be kind to my daughter. Lulu was the product of two clones, and although we’d proven ourselves to be functioning (even valuable) members of society, people were still wary. I almost didn’t blame them.

  “Yeah, Little Owl?” I replied, addressing her by my favorite nickname for her. I looked out the window to gauge how far we were from the school, already dreading leaving her for the day. It would be the first time she’d be away from my side for an extended period of time. The speeding train flashed past the cityscape, the morning sun glinting off the mammoth buildings that stood sentinel over the city Origin. The metropolis was situated in what was once the Congo of Africa. Now it was Continent One, given that name because all life had been re-created here first.

  “You should probably stop worrying so much about what the other kids will think of me.” As usual, she was spot-on in her observations, and I mustered a brave smile for her.

  “I promise I’m not worrying all that much. I just want your first day to be fun,” I lied deftly, but it didn’t fool Lulu. She was literally a genius and trying to get anything past her was next to impossible. I reached my hand down to stroke her long black hair, identical to mine. She insisted on being my mini-twin, but she looked more like her father in all other respects. That was fine with me, because my husband was a dreamboat. My thoughts turning to Jack, I felt a little frown crease my forehead. He had been distant lately, increasingly so. I worried he was having PTSD from his time as an Eater, a genetically engineered predator that had been created to cull the current human population, but also to teach humans to toughen up and evolve at a faster rate. I didn’t need to think about that right now, although I knew the other parents would have that very thought on their minds this morning. Lulu was the daughter of two clones, one of them a former Eater, and they had raised a stink a month ago when they had found out she would be starting school with their children. But the Origin Council, knowing me and Jack well, had insisted she be treated like any other child. I sighed and picked up Lulu’s bag from the floor. The train was slowing now, and we would be approaching our platform. Below the escalators would be the city walkway and then Lulu’s new school. The dread in my belly unfurled and grew. I leaned down to kiss her forehead.

  She rolled her eyes. “Really Mom, who cares if the other kids think I’m weird? Daddy always tells me to be true to myself. Are you going to tell me he’s been lying all these years?” I snorted. She was astute. “You should always listen to what your father says, he never lies,” I attempted, hoping my voice was steady and adult sounding. But lately, I had to wonder if he was being totally honest with me. His reticence was so unlike him. He was literally the life of every party, his flashing eyes and brilliant smile winning over even the staunchest enemy. He’d been like that in every situation in our previous incarnation, too. I had to snag my thoughts away from that; thinking about my former life wasn’t on the menu today. I had to separate myself from my daughter and try not to embarrass her, or me, with a display of emotion. The other parents would be watching closely, and I had to prove we were just like them. Lulu pulled my hand, and we were out on the platform, surrounded by fast-moving passengers on their way to their lives and jobs, ignoring the fact that I felt like I was about to lose my mind with worry for my little girl. But she was skipping down the escalator, and soon we were surrounded not only by people, but the buildings that reached as far as heaven.

  “Come on, Mom, we can’t be late. We have to keep to the schedule! My teacher wants all the parents there for a brief orientation,” she called over her slender shoulder, and I quickened my own pace in response.

  I had always been a stickler for schedules in my previous life, and in this one, too, but the fact that my five-year-old daughter was a bit more of a taskmaster than I was both amused and worried me. The humidity of the fall day felt heavy in my lungs, or maybe that was just sadness that my little baby was growing up. Either way, it was going to rain today, and I wondered if my team would be able to prepare the female bonobo I had selected for examination. I’d be going out into the jungle after I left my kid, because it was the job the Origin Council had decided I should keep. Now that the Facility no longer oversaw every last detail of my research, I was free to explore more controversial methods of habituation with the indigenous species of the forests. My favorite projects were the primates.

  “Will you tell Nick, Marilyn, and Elizabeth I’ll miss them today?” My daughter chirped, stopping to adjust her backpack and smooth her tunic. She had spent almost every day of her childhood with me out in the forests, and it was there I’d found she had inherited another trait of mine: my telepathic ability with animals. It made her even more unique, and that was a concern for me. If the other kids noticed she was too different …

  “I’ll tell them, I promise. But they want you to go to school and learn all you can so that someday, you can be a scientist, too.” My team was the same I’d had before the horror of the Eaters had overtaken the city, and once that situation had been rectified, more or less, they had eventually returned to their work with me. Lulu squinted up at me, shading her eyes from the bright morning sun, and I was once again struck by how mature she was. I felt a bit better, sensing she’d be able to handle herself at school. We walked a little farther, and we were in a little crowd of other kids being led by parents, probably just as distraught as I was. I’d attended some of the parent-teacher meetings and realized I’d soon be facing yet another dreaded menace: The Super Moms. Not only were they citizens of Origin, called Originals, but they were the cream of the parental crop—or at least they thought they were.

  Lulu was holding my hand, and now she was looking a little uncertain. She’d spent hours picking out the right tunic set for her first day, obsessing about which color went best with her custom made, malleable shoes, and Jack had tried to explain to her that all the tunics more or less looked the same. That hadn’t deterred her, though. Jack had given up trying to convince her, and I’d felt pleased that my mini-twin daughter had also inherited my OCD about clothes. Now all the other small, tunic-clad bodies were milling around, some of them already clearly friends with one another. The parents were joining up in groups, too, and Lulu and I stood at the entrance of the school, our own separate island. Trying to ignore our isolation, I pointed out Lulu’s teacher to her.

  “We should go and say hello to your teacher before we have
the orientation.” Lulu was only nodding now, her eyes solemn. She got quiet when she was nervous, just like me. But once she felt more comfortable, she’d open up and be as gregarious as her father, and I hoped this would help her make friends.

  Behind me, an icy voice chimed above the din of piping voices. “Hello, Dr. Brice. This must be your daughter.” I felt a slight chill graze down my spine. Pasting a smile on my face, I turned to meet the gaze of the leader of the Super Moms, Kendra. She was married to someone with a prestigious job here in Origin, and she very clearly felt her superiority. The rest of her pack was standing behind her, all of them perfectly coiffed, their nails and teeth gleaming, not a hair out of place. The Super Moms attended every parent-teacher function, as well as chairing various boards and charities within the city, all while keeping perfect homes.

  “It must be difficult for you to get away from your job in the jungle to bring your daughter to school,” Kendra said, speaking in that flat, slightly affected accent all Originals had, and the other Super Moms smiled, their eyes remaining chilly. They reminded me of another woman I’d gone toe to toe with, the Director. And I most certainly didn’t need to be thinking of her right now. Instead, I smoothed my hair and adjusted my stance to accentuate my height, which was tall. I was pleased to see the Super Moms retreat a little bit at my stature. They were bullies, and I had to set an example for Lulu by standing up to them.

  “Well, like any parent, I want to make sure my daughter has an easy first day. It’s what any mother would do, don’t you agree?” I wasn’t about to be intimidated, but their glinting eyes told me this little encounter was far from over.

  Kendra leaned down to inspect Lulu, who stood her ground and met her eyes. I couldn’t have been prouder. “So, Lulu, what’s it like to have two parents who are … scientists?” Her innuendo was barely veiled. She was referring to the fact that we were both clones, not that I was a primatologist or that Jack was a medical doctor at a nearby clinic.

  Lulu tossed her raven mane over her shoulder, stood up straight, and answered, “I’m going to be a scientist when I grow up. Having parents who are so successful inspires me.” I tried not to smirk, but Kendra and the other Super Moms had gone quiet at my daughter’s mature response. “She’s quite … something … isn’t she, ladies?” Kendra asked her flock, and they all nodded like robots.

  Deciding I wouldn’t subject my daughter to any more scrutiny, I told them we had to be running now, it was time for orientation. I was not only proud of myself for not caving in to my usual social phobia but was just about bursting at how my daughter had handled the bigotry. Smiling once more at the stony, perfect faces of the Super Moms, I led Lulu over to her teacher and the rest of the class, who had gathered on the steps of the stone building, which reminded me of something I’d have seen in my first life. I’d lived at the end of the 21st century in Manhattan, which had largely been underwater due to climate change. My team and I, including Jack, had traveled the world trying to save as many people and species as we could. Then we’d been swept away in a tsunami, and five hundred years later, I’d been cloned back to life, as had Jack, at the behest of an alien race called the Travelers. They’d turned out to not be very benevolent, although they’d restored all of Earth’s life and vitality after it had been destroyed by nuclear war, famine, and drought. Now here I was, standing tall in a new body that was capable of amazing things, on a set of steps in front of a building that reminded me of New York City all those centuries now gone, with my daughter. Sometimes I found my lives hard to believe. I scolded myself out of my reverie and returned my attention to the young teacher now speaking to the crowd. Lulu was listening with rapt attention, totally immune to the fact I’d just time-traveled in my mind. She could only hear the thoughts of animals, I reminded myself, just like her mother … as if sensing my mind had yet again skittered elsewhere, she looked up at me and gave me the same wide grin I had come to love, the same smile as her father’s. A pang hit my midsection when I thought again of how quiet Jack had been recently. I brushed away the thought and listened to the teacher explain safety precautions and train schedules. I scanned the group and wondered if any of these kids would befriend mine. Miniature faces would turn to us, sneaking surreptitious glances, then their eyes would scoot away. My little “spawn” of two clones with checkered pasts that apparently everyone here knew about. The teacher wrapped things up, and the kids were being ushered into the building, saying good-bye to their parents. Above us, a train sped by, reminding me I really should get a move on, but here was the moment I was dreading. Saying good-bye to my daughter. Her excited face told me the only things I should be worrying about were the work out in the forests that awaited me, and maybe a thought or two about the love of my life who seemed so distracted and distant. I leaned down to kiss her forehead once more, and her wide brown eyes that were replicas of Jack’s were fixed on mine. It was clear to me that she wasn’t worried for herself. She was worried about me.

  “I’m going to call Daddy to remind him to pick you up at three,” I managed around the lump in my throat.

  “Have a good day, Mom. I promise not to do or say anything to get me into trouble.” I laughed at this and turned to go back toward the train platform. I stopped, turned back to watch my daughter enter the school, then ducked my head to hide the tear that had traveled down my cheek. I had a forest to attend to.

  CHAPTER TWO

  “Hey guys, sorry I’m late!” I called out as I clomped up the station steps and entered the familiar disarray of our little habitat.

  “Hey, Mina, it’s ok. We knew you had to take Lulu to school this morning,” chirped Marilyn, her pert face turned away from me, looking at the console and casually ordering images to flash by with her mind. My other team members were out in the field, tracking the bonobo community we had been habituating these past five years. I walked over to her, gazing out at the sea of endless green, the moisture on the leaves glistening in the patches of light that made it through the canopies. In my first life, I had been tracking some malnourished and threatened chimps in another part of the continent, the Oban Hills of Nigeria. I’d been successful in that mission, working closely with my then team member Dr. Cora Wentworth. She was to have been cloned in place of me, because she had been slightly more qualified, but ultimately they’d decided on me due to my telepathic ability. They’d found my remains, and Jack’s, which allowed them to clone us as whole people, memories still intact. “They” being the researchers at the Facility who were in charge of cloning by order of the Travelers, the alien race who had taken over the planet in the five hundred years since I’d died. Thinking of Cora again, and my time spent in the field with her, I realized I sometimes missed her. Today was one of those days. We’d be attempting to bring one of the bonobos into the station and I would begin working with her directly, hopefully teaching her sign language, which she could then teach the rest of her community. I knew Cora would have loved that. The bonobo was acclimated to us, as we’d engaged with her since birth. Nick and Elizabeth, my other team members, would be on their way back with the bonobo, if they were successful. Nick and Marilyn were a couple, living together in Origin. Elizabeth was a sort of intern to me, and although she’d remained somewhat remote after the horror of the Eaters and the Travelers, she was committed to her work.

  “So how did Lulu seem? Were the other kids nice?” Marilyn was looking at me now, fussing with a pin curl. She was always perfectly groomed, fancying herself an old-time movie star.

  “They were checking her out, obviously interested. I think they’ll be ok with her … but I worry about the parents. Some of them really objected to her going to this prestigious school with their kids …” I trailed off, frowning. I really should have called Jack after I dropped Lulu off, if only to let him know it had gone smoothly enough. But I didn’t know how he’d respond.

  Marilyn’s perky voice cut into my thoughts, saying, “Those other moms you call Super Moms, they sound like real bitches. I think y
ou should just tell them off. You are obviously way more awesome than they are and they’re jealous. Plus their husbands are fat and boring, and look at how fascinating and handsome yours is!” I laughed a little at Marilyn’s diatribe and turned my attention to the console, which scanned the forest for us. I remembered that day we were all here in this very station and we’d discovered the blood of our driver, Cayman. He’d been, well, … eaten, by an Eater, and we’d been terrified, not knowing what was going on. Now my team was one member short. At the memory of Cayman, my mind wandered to thoughts of the other group member we were missing. Luke had worked with us but had never warmed to me. In fact, he’d been my enemy, and had wanted to see me dead. I didn’t miss him, not one bit. None of us had seen him again after that fateful night I’d had my final interaction with the Director on the Travelers’ spacecraft. I shuddered at the thought, scolding myself again for thinking of that. After things settled into a new normal, with the Origin Council in charge of the city, we returned to work, a bit ragged around the edges. We were all a little paranoid something horrible might happen again.

  I directed Marilyn to scan the console over a quadrant of the forest the bonobo community often frequented when they were feeding, and there among the brush were Nick and Elizabeth, leading the little female by the hand toward the station. My heart leapt with excitement. I’d get a chance to work with her directly today, it seemed. Marilyn was quickly setting up the computer program we’d all worked together to design that would act as a game for the bonobo, but would also teach her how to sign in English.

  “I’m kind of nervous,” I admitted to Marilyn, who laughed. She and I had formed a special bond over the past several years. I considered all of my team to be dear friends.

  “You? Nervous about working with a primate? After all you accomplished in your first life?” She was incredulous, but she didn’t know how hard I’d had to work to break glass ceilings in my previous incarnation. Here in Origin, and elsewhere in the world, scientists were considered equals no matter their age or gender. In my previous life, I’d always been consumed by social awkwardness with my colleagues, and our team leader, Dr. Pashtar, had never really liked me. But then, he’d never liked anyone, I mused. I often wondered what he would think of me if he saw me now. Suddenly, the call of a big cat cut through the trees, and Marilyn jumped. No matter how often we encountered big cats out here, she always reacted in fear. That was because she’d come across an Eater in these very woods and had survived. She’d fled Origin after that incident, and I’d always been grateful she came back to work here. Nick was a big draw for her, and he had been determined to continue his work out here, no matter what. I leaned in close to watch Nick and Elizabeth approach with the juvenile female. The primate’s compact brown body ambled along with no signs of distress, and I was grateful for all the hours we’d put into habituating her. Bonobos were typically a laid-back species, unlike their chimp cousins.