Breed of Envy (The Breed Chronicles, #02) (6 page)

Using her ID, Doc swiped it across the card reader and unlocked the room. The doors opened and lights turned on one by one. She gestured me inside. “It’s a big machine,” she said. “And it looks a lot scarier than it really is.”

In the middle of the room was a tall, narrow cylindrical tube. “Good thing I’m not claustrophobic,” I said under my breath, hoping I wasn’t about to make a liar out of myself. I’d never really had to test the theory.
Until now.

The machine was big, like she said, but I wasn’t sure I believed her line about it not being as scary as it looked, ‘cause the thing looked monstrous. The tube was clear, so I could see inside, and what I was seeing didn’t make me feel any better. At least a dozen wires hung down from the top, in different colors, with electrodes attached to them.

Doc walked across the room, to a console that had more lights and buttons than this place had rooms. Above the console, there was a tall, wide glass screen. I could see a keyboard but no monitors.

“Just give me a few minutes to set up,” she said, busy at work doing…stuff. She swiped her ID across something. When one of the red lights on the console blinked green, she slid her tablet into a slot and started pressing more buttons.

A soft hum filled the room and lights started to flash. I spun around, found the flashing lights coming from inside the tube. The electrodes dropped lower and swayed side to side.

“Is that thing a scanner or some kind of non-moving, seizure-inducing roller coaster?”

Doc looked up and smirked. “I’m just adjusting it to your height.”

When the tube separated into five parts, I jumped back. My eyes went wide. “Uh, Doc. Is this thing going to scan me or kill me?”

Doc smiled. “Scan only. I’m reserving kill-mode for Linc.”

“Ha ha, very funny.” I gulped. I was pretty sure she was joking about kill-mode, but Doc really hated Linc’s what’s-up-Doc jokes and I wouldn’t put it past her—or this place—to have a machine with a kill-mode.

“Relax, Jade.” She walked over to the scanner and pointed. “All you have to do is stand there for a few minutes. The scanner will make some sound and lights will flash as it scans you. The only pain involved will be when it draws your blood samples.”

“When ‘it’ draws my blood?” Having Doc draw it was bad enough, but now she wanted to give the task to a
machine
?

“The scanner is multi-functional. The electrodes will track your breathing, heart rate, oxygen levels, temperature, and brain waves. The light beams will scan your body. Think of it as a complete body x-ray, level by level: skin, muscle, tissue, veins, and bone. If I insert an IV, it’ll also run a DNA comparison and test for basic illnesses. If you get sick, odds are the scanner will pick up on it before you start to feel it.” She looked at the scanner fondly, like she was in awe of it. “It doesn’t do anything we can’t do ourselves, but the scanner requires less blood and less time for the doctors and scientists to run the results.”

“This is supposed to make it sound less scary?”

Instead of responding to my question, she tilted her head to the side. “If we would have had this last Phase, we could have avoided the whole—”

“The whole I’m-dying, not-dying thing?”

She looked away briefly. “Yes. There wouldn’t have been any doubt about what was happening to you.”

“Where was this thing last Phase then?” I muttered.

“Believe me—it’s been on my wish list. Actually, it’s probably been on every doctor and scientist wish list since they did an article about the scanner in some medical journals. Dr. Hamilton told me the CGE has been waiting to get the funding for one for years. There aren’t that many of them at all, because they’re so expensive—”

“How expensive are they?”

“From what Dr. Hamilton said, about eight million.”

Eight million. For one machine. “How many billions did Greene get?”

“I didn’t ask and he didn’t tell. When he mentioned we were getting the All-Scan, I lost all thought.”

I eyed Doc. “Want me to give you two some time alone?”

“Nice try.” She walked back to the console, hit a few more buttons.

Eight million
, I thought again. That was enough to buy a country almost. Well, maybe. But that was a lot of money. What happened if I broke it? What if I looked at it wrong and something shattered or fell off? It’d take me a hundred lifetimes to pay that back. Heck, it’d take me and any kids I might have a hundred lifetimes to pay it back.

“Are you sure I should go in there? I don’t want to break something.”

Doc snickered but didn’t look up from the console. “Don’t worry. They’re sturdy.”

I turned back and faced the scanner while Doc worked. Sturdy. Ha.

During our summer break, Linc had made me watch movies he’d rented from the video archives. The movies had been about machines that took over the world in the future and a small group of people who were trying to stop it in the past. We had a ton of automated machines, and sometimes I thought they were taking over, but if machines actually
did
take over the world, I was sure the All-Scan would be the cause.

“Okay, we’re about ready here.”

I looked over my shoulder. “If the machines take over the world, I’m blaming you.”

She crinkled her nose. “What?”

“Never mind.” I walked over to her. “I still don’t know why you sent Linc away. You could have tortured him, too,” I added hastily, trying to make it sound like that was why I’d wanted him around. It was probably pointless, though. I was pretty sure everyone knew I liked having company for the medical stuff.

“There’s one last thing…”

“What?” I glared. “If you tell me I have to get naked or something, I might hurt you. And then run away. Ask Peter, I’m really good at it.” If anyone would know, it’d be him, since I ran from him the first day I met him. The day I’d met Greene and he’d offered me the chance to come here.

“No,” she said carefully, “not naked. But you do need to wear a special gown.”

“Tell me you’re joking.” That wasn’t her I’m-joking face, though it was hard to tell it apart from her I’m-serious face. “Crap.”

“Sorry, afraid so.” She reached down for something and walked out from behind the console. She handed me the gown.

I unfolded it and frowned. It felt weird. Almost plasticy but silky at the same time.

“The material is designed to be ignored by the scanner, so it’s either this or you will need to be naked to get the best results. The better the baseline scan, the quicker the future scans will be and the less time you’ll have to spend here.”

“Less time is definitely better, but I still think you’re upping your levels of torture here.”

Doc didn’t respond, only pointed to a door behind her.

Scowling, and muttering some not-nice words under my breath, I went to the room. It was the size of a small closet—smaller than mine—and changing inside was problematic. I ended up hitting my elbows three different times.

“Are you okay in there?” I heard Doc shout.

I said something else not-nice, this time loud enough for her to hear.

She laughed. “Just hurry up. You can’t hide in there forever.”

I shoved the door open and stormed out. “That room is too dangerous to hide in.”

Doc just rolled her eyes. “Go on.” She pointed to the scanner.

I glared and walked over to it. It was even scarier up close and personal. It stood probably seven feet high and six feet wide. I stepped up onto a small round base of glass tiles. They were cold against my bare feet and lit up as I moved.

“In the middle, Jade.”

I stood in the middle. The tiles beneath me glowed purple now in the same shape of my feet.

Doc came over and attached the electrodes to me. She put some on my chest, just slightly below my collarbone, and at my temples. I probably looked like an under-dressed alien. Maybe Linc not being here was a good thing after all—he’d never let me live the look down.

Doc came into the tube. “I’m just going to put the IV in.” I didn’t say anything, just let her work. If I didn’t watch her, I could pretend I didn’t know what she was doing. Otherwise, I would’ve stared at it until my head spun. When she was done, she went back to the console and pressed more buttons. “It’s going to close around you, so don’t panic.” As she spoke, the doors pulled in and circled around me until I had no escape.

I closed my eyes, but I could still see the flash of lights and hear the buzz and hum of the scanner.

“You might feel some heat from the scan. It’s normal.” There was a pause. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.”

“Well, you need to keep your eyes open, at least until the face scan is completed.”

I reopened my eyes and waited. I could tell the scanner thing was moving, because my head heated. A second later, a dull red light moved over my eyes. It wasn’t as bright as I’d expected it to be.

“Okay, you can close them again.”

Instead of re-closing them, I watched the lights move down my body. Once they reached the bottom, they made their way back up, slower this time, until they reached the top and stopped moving. They did this about a dozen more times, moving a little slower each time. When they reached the top of my head the last round, the machine stopped buzzing.

“You’re done,” Doc said as she released me from the Terminator Tube. She unplugged the electrodes, removed the IV.

“Where’d the blood go anyway?”

She pointed behind me, to a small shelf-like thing attached to the scanner. There were mini containers (almost like miniature vials) with blood in them. “This thing would be a vampires dream.”

Doc laughed. “Probably. Now, out you go,” she said, gesturing me to move. “I need to get the results and clean the tube. I’ll see you next Friday.”

I waved bye and ran before she could stop me for…anything. Before I reached the door, I stopped and stole a quick look over my shoulder. Doc was sitting down at the console again with a smile on her face as she pressed buttons. A holographic image appeared in front of her and her smile widened. (Because of the angle, I couldn’t see what she was seeing, and after a split second, I decided that was probably for the best.) Another hologram popped up, this one text. I watched her sigh. She looked like she was in heaven.

Shaking my head, I made my escape.

Yup. That scanner was going to be the downfall of humans, because any machine that made Doc smile that much had to mean the end of the world.

*~*~*

As promised, Linc helped me study later that night. Unfortunately, when he’d offered, I didn’t take into account the fact we’d only had two classes, so he basically volunteered to throw me around for two hours. Payback would be mine, eventually.

Wednesday meant Weapons class. Like the others, we just did a basic review of what we’d gone over last Phase. When Mr. Elliot mentioned staffs, Linc shook his head and glared at Tasha. But Mr. Elliot eased his fears when he told him he wouldn’t be Tasha’s partner because someone else had already volunteered—Chris Stevens again (which only further proved my he-likes-her theory)—so he’d be safe from Tasha. Probably. (The teachers apparently gossiped like the rest of us, so they all knew about the Linc-Tasha-staff thing. Who knew?)

Demonology (which was just weird on a Thursday instead of Monday) was pretty much the same as usual. We started with a two-hour review, then read the first chapter in class. Because I was actually studying with the class this time, instead of playing catch up, I actually got to see Mr. Sheldon use the blackboard some more. It turned out some of the upgrades included the blackboards, because now it had voice commands. If activated, anytime Mr. Sheldon spoke, whatever he said would appear on the screen. I was impressed—Linc thought it was cheating and made Mr. Sheldon’s job too easy.

At the end of the class, Mr. Sheldon gave me a list of assignments, saying he figured I was—or would be—ahead sooner or later and would need something to do. I told Linc, and apparently sounded too pleased about it, because he frowned and called me a nerd again.

That Friday was the first one in five months that I hadn’t had an appointment with Doc, but since Linc always went with me to mine (except for the scanner one, which I was still slightly bitter about), I went with him to his. Doc didn’t use the Terminator Tube on him, didn’t try to torture him or even pretend to, so it made his appointment less fun for me.

On the weekend, Linc, Tasha and I all studied together, which basically meant Phase Two was exactly like Phase One, except the pace was a lot slower. Though, with the scanner thing and other appointments I would soon have, it was going to be a lot more torturey.

By week two, I still hadn’t decided if the slower pace was a good thing or a bad thing. Good, in a way, because it meant I hadn’t gotten into trouble and thus talked myself into finishing in a crazy time frame that left me no time but to study, sleep, and eat (when remembered/reminded). And then it was bad in a way because I wasn’t sure how to handle my Demonology class. It was, again, my easiest class, and if I got too far ahead, I’d end up bored out of my skull.

We were only into the second Demonology class of the Phase and I was already a few chapters (okay, four and half) ahead. And either our new tablets alerted Mr. Sheldon whenever we finished a chapter, or he had some way to check, because each time I finished one during class, he’d look up, smile, and shake his head at me.

Or maybe he was just psychic. (I was really hoping that
wasn’t
the case, but around the CGE, you could never be too sure.)

When I finished the fifth-ahead chapter, I tried to move on to the sixth. I pressed the button and nothing happened. I closed the text, reopened it, and tried again. This time a message popped up.
Please see your instructor to continue.
I snorted to myself. I was not going to see my instructor.

Sighing, I set the tablet down and, careful to make it look casual, glanced up. Mr. Sheldon wasn’t watching me this time. Good. If the tablet wasn’t going to let me work anymore, then that was fine. Linc’d kill me if he knew how far ahead I was already (though he probably suspected, and if he didn’t, he was getting seriously slow).