Page 74 of Across the Universe (Across the Universe 1)

It’s hopeless.

The man holding my ankles starts to tug at my pants.

I kick him, and I’m fairly certain that my heel connects with his teeth. He shouts, and his shout is not one of lust but of pain. But Luthe has gotten hold of his idea and starts yanking at the waist of my pants.

I open my mouth to scream, and the man holding my arms presses his mouth against mine, his tongue delving deep into me, rooting around against the soft palate of my mouth.

I bite until I taste blood. I bite even as he tries to jerk his tongue away. When he finally escapes, I spit his blood from my mouth, and scream.

“Little Fish! Amy!” Harley’s voice is panicked.

“Harley!” I scream with all my might. “HARLEY!”

And then he’s there, and he bangs his easel against the man straddling me, and his easel breaks apart, and now he’s pummeling the men with his fists. And I curl up into a ball, holding myself with myself, and choking back my tears. The Feeder men run away, but Luthe stands to fight. He and Harley circle each other like vultures circling a carcass, and I know I’m the carcass. Luthe hits first, but Harley hits harder. Luthe sprawls down, but he’s not knocked out. Harley grabs my wrist.

“Come on. Come on,” he says, yanking me up. My pants are loosened and they slip over my hip. I hold them with one hand, I hold Harley with the other, and I run and run and run, and I can hear the man’s heavy footsteps behind me, and then I don’t hear them anymore, but still I run and run and run, and I’m holding onto Harley like he’s the rope pulling me from the undertow.

42

ELDER

ORION TOLD ME THAT THE ONLY WAY TO GET AROUND ELDEST was to be sneaky. I have never had a reason to be sneaky before now.

But it’s not like I don’t know how.

As soon as the

elevator doors close, taking Amy, Harley, and Doc back to the Hospital, I turn the floppy over in my hand.

First I check the biometric scan logs. The elevator opened to Harley’s biometric scan last night, and he spent all night here on this floor. Doc was down here and back up again early in the day, just before the solar lamp turned on, and he was only here for a few minutes. But another name is logged between his name and mine.

ELDEST/ELDER, 0724 HOURS

I wasn’t down here at 7:24 a. m. That just leaves Eldest.

Now to find out where he is.

It’s a simple enough thing to do. Override the access with my thumb scan and upload the wi-com receiver locations.

I zoom in on the screen. There’s Doc, in his office. Bartie and Victria are in the Ward common room, close together. Harley’s going down the path toward the fields—from his speed, I guess he’s running. Wonder why. Amy’s not on the screen—she doesn’t have a wi-com.

“Find Eldest,” I command. One of the dots starts blinking blue.

He’s here. On this level. Past the aisles of frozens, behind the door on the far wall. Doc’s “other” lab.

The door is closed, and I’m not sure Eldest would let me in if I knocked. Orion had told me that the rules don’t apply to Eldest, that he doesn’t follow the rules. So why should I?

A sterile disinfectant smell greets me as I enter the cramped room. Rows and rows of refrigeration tubes line one side of the wall. Inside the clear tubes, I see more cryo liquid with bubbles of goo and solid masses floating inside. Although I know I should be looking for Eldest, I cannot help but get a closer look at the gelatinous material. The chunky stuff inside each of the bubbles looks like curled up, malformed beans.

“They’re embryos. ”

Eldest has found me. But he isn’t glowering at me. He actually looks a bit pleased to see me. If anything, that just puts me more on edge.

“When we land, we’ll artificially birth them. ”

“Embryos of what?” I ask. I slip the floppy into my pocket. No reason for Eldest to know I was looking for him, not when he found me first.

“Animals. You’re looking at the cat tube. Cougars, I think, maybe bob-cats. I’d have to look it up. ”