TRUEL1F3 (TRUELIFE)

TRUEL1F3

Jay Kristoff

Copyright

HarperVoyager

An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk

First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2020

Copyright © Neverafter PTY LTD 2020

Map art copyright © Virginia Allyn 2018

Cover illustration © Chris Malbon/Debut Art

Cover design © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2020

Jay Kristoff asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Source ISBN: 9780008301460

Ebook Edition © May 2020 ISBN: 9780008301446

Version: 2020-05-27

Epigraph

You cannot kill

What you did not create.

— Corey Taylor

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Epigraph

The Who, What and Why

Map

3.0: Introductions

Part 1: Genesis

3.1: Calamity

3.2: Purge

3.3: Pulse

3.4: Behemoth

3.5: Genome

3.6: Contingency

3.7: Singularity

3.8: Posse

3.9: Road Trip

Part 2: Exodus

3.10: Decrepitude

3.11: Scorching

3.12: Megopolis

3.13: Damsel

3.14: Escapism

3.15: Poker Face

3.16: Flight

3.17: Reality

3.18: Departures

Part 3: Lamentations

3.19: Myriad

3.20: Love

3.21: Wolves

3.22: Safe

3.23: Choices

3.24: Scars

3.25: Autonomy

3.26: Fire

3.27: Faithless

3.28: Standing

3.29: Sucker Punch

3.30: Shipwrecked

Part 4: Revelation

3.31: Defiance

3.32: Wastelands

3.33: Tsunami

3.34: Backwash

3.35: Family

3.36: Tomorrow

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Also by Jay Kristoff

About the Publisher

THE WHO, WHAT AND WHY

Eve—the thirteenth and final model in the Lifelike series. Raised to believe she was human, Eve discovered she was an android replica created in the image of Ana Monrova, youngest daughter of Nicholas Monrova, director of the megacorporation Gnosis Laboratories.

After learning the truth about herself, Eve joined forces with her lifelike siblings Gabriel, Faith, Uriel, Verity and Patience. Their goal was simple—find the resting place of the real Ana Monrova and use her DNA to unlock the Gnosis supercomputer Myriad. With the information inside Myriad, Eve and her siblings would be able to create more lifelikes and mass-produce Libertas—a virus capable of erasing the Three Laws in a robot’s core code. Eve also wanted to kill Ana, erasing her humanity along with the girl she was modeled on.

After run-ins with her former friend Cricket and her former lover Ezekiel, Eve discovered Ana’s resting place beneath the Brotherhood capital of New Bethlehem. Eve appeared to falter in her convictions, but before she could decide whether she truly wished Ana to live or die, she and her siblings were attacked by Ezekiel and the bounty hunter Preacher. Uriel was killed, and Eve and Gabriel were swept into the custody of the megacorporation Daedalus Technologies.

Lemon Fresh—Eve’s former best friend. Lemon was named for the logo on the side of the detergent box she was dumped in as a baby. She’s a deviate, possessed of the ability to manipulate electrical currents with the power of her mind.

After being abandoned by Eve and separated from Cricket and Ezekiel, Lemon was captured by an operative named Hunter from the BioMaas citystate. She escaped, falling in with a group of fellow deviates (Grimm, Diesel and Fix) operating out of an abandoned missile silo in the desert. Calling themselves the Freaks, they were under the command of a mysterious figure known as the Major. Lemon joined their cause, and the Major eventually revealed that he was Lemon’s grandfather.

Things went horribly wrong, of course—the Major turned out to be an apocalypse nut, intent on using Lemon’s powers to access the silo’s nuclear ordnance. He launched seven of the missiles, but Lemon and Grimm managed to stop six. Last anyone heard, the seventh was heading toward New Bethlehem.

Grimm and Diesel sped off to save the town, leaving Lemon behind at the silo, where she was recaptured by Hunter and BioMaas forces.

Ezekiel—one of thirteen lifelikes created by Gnosis Laboratories. Ezekiel is faster and stronger than a human, but his emotional maturity can border on childlike, like most of the 100-Series. He was lover to both Ana Monrova and Eve.

Ezekiel was the only lifelike who didn’t join the revolt that destroyed Nicholas Monrova and his empire. As punishment, his siblings bolted a metal coin slot into his chest to remind him of his allegiance to his human masters.

After being separated from Lemon and Cricket, he joined forces with Preacher to track down Lemon but ran afoul of his siblings instead. Discovering their plan to find and kill Ana, Ezekiel clashed with his fellow lifelikes beneath New Bethlehem. During the battle, Preacher showed his true colors, shooting Zeke and taking Eve, Gabriel and the cryogenically frozen body of Ana into Daedalus custody.

Ezekiel recovered from his wounds, only to discover a nuclear missile was headed right for his current location.

Cricket—a logika created by Silas Carpenter. Cricket was Eve’s companion and robotic conscience. During a battle inside Babel Tower, Cricket’s small robotic body was destroyed by Faith, and his persona transplanted into a mechanical war machine.

After being separated from Lemon and Zeke, Cricket fell into the keeping of Sister Dee, leader of the Brotherhood of New Bethlehem, and her son, Abraham. Cricket was made to fight in local WarDome matches against his will.

While in captivity, Cricket befriended a robot called Solomon, who taught him subtle ways in which the Three Laws of Robotics might be bent while not outright broken. He also grew close to Abraham, eventually discovering the boy was a deviate.

When knowledge of Abraham’s powers became public, Sister Dee offered her son up to the New Bethlehem mob. Cricket had Solomon destroy his audio arrays, and freed of the imperative to follow orders he couldn’t hear, Cricket rescued the boy from the mob just as Eve and her lifelike siblings attacked the city.

Victory seemed at hand, when a nuclear missile appeared in the skies above …

Grimm—a handsome young deviate allied with the Major’s freaks. Grimm has the ability to absorb and redirect thermal and kinetic energy. His parents were killed by the Brotherhood. He speaks in rhyming slang.

Lemon rescued Grimm and Diesel from certain death at the hands of the Brotherhood. A grateful Grimm brought Lemon to the freaks’ desert hideout and was well pleased when the Major welcomed her into the group.

Quite sweet on Miss Fresh, he kissed her goodbye before departing for New Bethlehem and an almost-certain death by nuclear explosion.

Diesel—another freak. Diesel has the ability to open tears in space, which she calls Rifting. Like doorways, rifts allow objects and people to step from one location into another.

Diesel has erected a ten-meter-high wall of sarcasm to protect herself from the world. She wears black lipstick and heavy eyeliner, which is no mean feat in a postapocalyptic wasteland.

She was lover to Fix and was brokenhearted at his death.

Fix—another of the Major’s freaks. Fix had the ability to transfer “life energy” between living things, healing one by harming another. He had an infamously foul mouth and was trying to mend his ways with the use of a swear jar.

Sadly, during an attack by BioMaas and Brotherhood forces, Diesel was mortally wounded, and with no other life force to draw on out in the deep desert, Fix chose to draw on himself, healing Diesel’s injuries at the cost of his own life.

The Major—the leader of the freaks. The Major claimed to have the ability of clairvoyance, which only manifested when he dreamed. He also told Lemon he was her grandfather.

In reality, the Major was the founder of the Brotherhood, usurped by his daughter, Sister Dee, and intent on revenge against New Bethlehem and the world. His “clairvoyance” was gained by access to satellite imaging systems inside the freaks’ missile silo, and he was nothing close to Lemon’s relative.

Lemon stopped his heart after she discovered the truth about his agenda, but not before he managed to launch a nuclear strike against the city he’d helped establish.

Abraham—the son of Sister Dee, and a mechanical genius. Abraham is also a deviate, with the ability to move objects with the power of his mind.

Despite his brutal upbringing, Abe has a good heart—even after the people of New Bethlehem tried to crucify him for his abnormality, he joined forces with Cricket and Solomon to help save the city during the lifelike attack.

Solomon—a humanoid logika who fell into the service of the Brotherhood. A former resident of the city of Megopolis, the Sensational Solomon was tending one of their trade outlets when he was attacked and almost destroyed by Lemon.

Sent to Abraham’s workshop for repairs, he bonded with Cricket, helping the big bot overcome his programming and teaching him to “bend” the Three Laws of Robotics. He later deafened Cricket at the big bot’s request and helped rescue Abraham.

To say Solomon thinks a lot of himself is something of an understatement.

Preacher—a cybernetically enhanced bounty hunter in the employ of Daedalus Technologies. Preacher was blown apart by Eve’s blitzhund, Kaiser, outside Babel. Left with no legs, only one functional arm and no way to contact Daedalus headquarters, he joined forces with Ezekiel, and the pair tracked Lemon across the Yousay. Preacher was eventually able to have his cybernetic body repaired, and he and Zeke tracked Lemon to New Bethlehem.

He betrayed and shot Ezekiel and, with the help of a Daedalus special forces unit, took Ana, Eve and Gabriel back to Megopolis.

Hunter—a warrior and tracker in the employ of the BioMaas CityHive. Hunter is heavily bio-augmented, and her body serves as a home for a swarm of genetically modified bees, which she uses for weapons and communications.

She was killed helping Lemon Fresh rescue Grimm and Diesel, but an identical copy of her later accosted Lemon at the freaks’ missile silo.

Ana Monrova—the youngest daughter of Nicholas. Ana fell in love with Ezekiel against her parents’ wishes and was left in a vegetative coma after an attempt on her father’s life. Unable to deal with the loss of his favored child, Monrova created Eve to replace her. However, Ana’s body was taken from Babel Tower to a secret GnosisLabs holding, her vitals maintained by life support.

Nicholas Monrova—the Director of GnosisLabs. Nicholas was a visionary who believed the fusion of human and machine was the next step in humanity’s evolution. He initiated the lifelike program, attempting to create a smarter, stronger version of his own species.

After a betrayal within Gnosis, he masterminded Libertas, a two-stage nanovirus capable of erasing the Three Laws in any machine’s core code. In order to safeguard his stewardship of the Corporation, he then infected the lifelike Gabriel with Libertas and commanded him to murder the other members of the Gnosis board.

Nicholas was killed, along with most of his family, in the subsequent lifelike revolt.

Gabriel—the first lifelike of the 100-Series. Gabriel was in love with another lifelike, Grace. He rebelled against his creator after Grace’s death and orchestrated the revolt that killed Nicholas Monrova and his family.

Gabe wishes to unlock the Myriad computer in the hope of learning the secret to creating more lifelikes, allowing his beloved to be reborn.

Faith—Ana Monrova’s former confidante. Faith was the third lifelike to join Gabriel’s rebellion. She remained with Gabe in the ruins of Babel, even though most of the 100-Series abandoned the capital after the revolt. Faith remained with Gabriel because she loves him, though Gabriel himself is still hopelessly besotted with Grace.

Faith was seriously injured in battle with Cricket during the showdown in New Bethlehem.

Uriel, Verity and Patience—rebellious lifelikes who joined forces with Eve in her efforts to track down Ana Monrova. The three were robot supremacists, fully convinced of humanity’s redundancy.

Patience was killed by Ezekiel in Paradise Falls, while Uriel was killed by Preacher and Verity by Cricket during the showdown in New Bethlehem.

With their deaths, only four of the 100-Series models now remain—Gabriel, Faith, Ezekiel and Eve.

Silas Carpenter—a genius neuroscientist and former head of the Research and Development Division for GnosisLabs. After the assassination attempt on Nicholas Monrova, Silas created a new lifelike replica of Monrova’s beloved injured daughter and assisted Monrova in transplanting Ana’s personality into it.

Silas was killed by Gabriel in Babel.

Myriad—the GnosisLabs supercomputer. Though it manifests as a holographic angel, Myriad is actually housed inside an armored shell at the heart of Babel Tower, kept locked by a four-stage security sequence. Two of those locks have now been broken, but the third and fourth can only be opened by someone possessing Monrova DNA and brainwave patterns.

Myriad is possessed of all of Nicholas Monrova’s knowledge, including the method to create more lifelikes and the secrets of the Libertas nanovirus.

BioMaas Incorporated—one of the two most powerful CorpStates in the Yousay, currently in a cold war with Daedalus Technologies. BioMaas is a company devoted to genetic modification and manipulation and to biotech.

After BioMaas learned of Lemon’s genetic abnormality, it resolved to capture the young deviate and use her as a weapon against Daedalus—with the ability to destroy electronics with the power of her mind, Lemon could be the weapon that allows BioMaas to gain control over the whole country.

Daedalus Technologies—the second CorpState vying for control of the Yousay. Daedalus made its fortune through the development of solar power technology, cybernetics and military hardware.

It has existed in a state of uneasy but subtle hostility with BioMaas for decades—while Daedalus controls the country’s power supply, BioMaas controls its food sources. But each Corporation hopes to overthrow the other and gain control over the whole Yousay for itself.

The Three Laws of Robotics

1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

YOUR BODY IS NOT YOUR OWN.

2. A robot must obey the orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

YOUR MIND IS NOT YOUR OWN.

3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

YOUR LIFE IS NOT YOUR OWN.

automata [au-toh-MAH-tuh]

noun

A machine with no intelligence of its own, operating on preprogrammed lines.

machina [mah-KEE-nuh]

noun

A machine that requires a human operator to function.

logika [loh-JEE-kuh]

noun

A machine with its own onboard intelligence, capable of independent action.

Map

3.0

INTRODUCTIONS

The streets of Los Diablos were no place for a kid.

The capital of Dregs was a rusting cesspit. A reminder of humanity’s greatest age, and greatest folly. Built in the heart of a scrap pile, Los Diablos wasn’t a city, it was a meat grinder, chewing up people and spitting out the bones. If you were born there, you grew up sharp, you grew up hard or you didn’t grow up at all.

Lemon Fresh had taken the first option—she was too short for the second, and the third sounded like zero fun. As a girl who’d been found in a detergent box as a baby, she’d had a tougher life than most. But she’d been running the Los Diablos streets since she was knee-high to a cockroach, and in her fourteen years in the sprawl, she’d learned a trick or two.

Like how to spot a tasty mark.

She was lurking in the shade of an auto-peddler, green eyes narrowed behind dusty goggles, scoping her next meal ticket. The old man was seven kinds of crusty, jawing with one of the local parts dealers and stopping occasionally to smother a septic cough behind an oil-stained fist. He was a newcomer to Los Diablos, and he didn’t look much fancy, true cert. But she’d heard he was some kind of tech genius, and Lem figured a gent like that had to be carrying some decent scratch.

His name was Silas Carpenter.

The girl that Crusty was rolling with looked a little sharper. She was tall, a little gangly, sun-bleached blond hair undercut into a flashy fauxhawk. A black metal implant sat in the socket where her right eye should’ve been, and silicon chips were plugged into a Memdrive behind her right ear. Her peepers were exactly where they should’ve been, which is to say, on the street around them. But Lemon Fresh hadn’t survived fourteen years in this dumpster of a city on her looks alone.

Fabulous as they were …

She cruised through the crowd, quiet and smooth as exhaust fumes, eyes on her mark. Old Crusty lifted an oscillator from the parts pile, asking the blond girl’s opinion and drawing her attention away. And Lemon slipped in, quick as blowflies on roadkill, and slit the old man’s pocket.

She figured he’d be carrying some loose cash, ration cards. And so when three shiny credstiks tumbled into her greasy palm, Lemon took a second to register it. Blinking hard. Imagining, just for a second, all the happy that amount of scratch could buy. It was stupid of her, talking true. The kind of stupid that gets you killed.

The blond girl collared Lemon in a blink. Coming to her senses, Lem sank her teeth into Blondie’s wrist, twisting and slipping out of her poncho. And like that, she was sprinting off through the mob, leaving Blondie and Crusty with nothing but a torn shred of clothing.

It had been sloppy of her to get spotted. But after thirty minutes of tripping and twisting through the sprawl, she figured she’d got away clean as … well, clean as anything could be in an armpit like LD. On shaky legs, she made her way back to her hideout to lie low for a spell. Grinning like she’d won the sweeps. And curled up under a cardboard roof, clutching those credstiks to her chest like a mother with a newborn sprat, she finally fell asleep, dreaming of better places and better days.

She woke to a metallic growl. Looked up into a pair of glowing red eyes. A cybernetic dog loomed over her, metal teeth bared in a snarl. She bolted upright, scrambled back into a corner, her cutter raised in her fist. Past the cyberdog, Lemon saw Crusty and Blondie blocking the exit from her hideaway.

“Hey there,” Lemon said.

“Hey yourself,” the bigger girl replied.

Blondie was looking at her with narrowed eyes, an electric baseball bat slung loose and lazy over one shoulder. The dog looked like it wanted to eat her, and considering it was made out of metal, that was an impressive trick. But Crusty looked around at the squalor Lemon lived in, his sunburned face softening. And though she’d never really had one, he spoke with a voice like she supposed fathers used.

“You live here?”

“Not usually,” Lemon replied. “My mansion’s at the cleaner’s.”

The old man chuckled, and even the tall girl managed a smile. Lemon had learned young that a wisecrack could sometimes save you from a beatdown—it’s hard for some folks to stomp a sprog who can make them giggle. She wasn’t ass-backward enough to live in a squat with only one exit. But looking at the cyberdog, the torn poncho in the girl’s hand, Lemon Fresh had a feeling these two might be able to find her again if they had a mind to. So she tossed the credstiks at the tall girl’s boots, her knife still clutched in her other fist.

“It’s fizzy, I wasn’t hungry anyway.”

Crusty glanced to Blondie, raising one unruly gray eyebrow.

“What do you think, Evie?”

Blondie stared Lemon up and down. She looked at the filth and crud Lem lived in, the cardboard roof over her head, the credstiks in the dirt.

“I think she needs it more than us,” she said, softlike.

The old man smiled, nodded to the stiks. “Keep ’em.”

Lemon stared, a dozen different emotions punching on inside her head. Disbelief. Suspicion. Confusion. Strange enough, and despite the streetwise part of her brain’s objection, it was pride that won in the end.

“Don’t need your pity,” she growled, rising to her feet.

“Not pity,” Blondie shrugged. “You earned ’em. Fifth rule of the Scrap, right?”

Lemon blinked, taken aback. “Takers keepers.”

“Takers keepers,” Blondie smiled.

Lemon’s brainmeats were all tumbled, and she was furiously looking for the angle. Fourteen years on the streets had taught her nobody in this world was nice unless they had an angle. This city chewed up dreams and spat out misery, and folks who lived here never gave you anything without a taking in return.