Spirits of the Earth: The Complete Series: (A Post-Apocalyptic Series Box Set: Books 1-3) by Milo Fowler (paper ebook reader .TXT) 📕

They cannot reproduce. The devastation they wrought upon this continent was not limited to our lands. Airborne toxins spread across the globe, rendering them sterile. Even now as they hide, sealed off within the walls of their great city, they know they are doomed.” He drops his hands to his sides. “Willard hopes to use these children—”

“How many are there?” someone pipes up, and others follow suit.

“Why are they in those chambers?”

“What did Eden do to them?”

Luther holds up his hands, and the outspoken members of the audience simmer down. “We do not have an exact count, not yet. But Mr. Tucker has told us...there are more than a dozen.” Audible gasps course through the assembly. Samson shifts for the first time, his metallic legs scraping against the rock beneath him. Daiyna clenches her jaw, the muscle twitching as her fierce gaze burns at Luther. “If these two are any indication of the others’ condition, then we must assume they all are healthy and nearly ready to enter our world. The question is, however, which world will they be born into?” Luther pauses, and silence holds the moment. “They have never breathed our air, and as far as we know, the spirits cannot pass through steel and plexicon barriers. Like Willard and his men, deep in the bowels of Eden, these young ones are as human as we once were.” Luther glances at his fingers, where Perch tore out his claws one by one with a pair of pliers. “Ungifted.”

Murmurs ripple through the audience.

“But their genes are yours,” a pensive voice speaks up, belonging to a grey-haired woman standing in the back of the assembly. “Your DNA was changed by the dust of the earth. By the spirits, that is.” She glances at Luther as she corrects herself, changing her phrasing to align with his belief system. “Your offspring will have inherited those mutated genes.”

She sounds like a scientist. How many different Sectors does this remnant represent?

“It is my belief that the spirits bless us with our gifts only once we have breathed the air. The dust, as you say. That was how the abilities appeared in my Sector, when we came up out of the bunker, and I have heard a similar origin story from virtually every one of you. Willard and his men avoided these physiological changes by remaining hidden deep underground. They have never breathed our air on the surface.” Luther pauses. “We do not know whether these children will eventually exhibit our gifts—or mutations. I’m sure that is how the United World scientists would view them. Willard has offered these children—our children—to the UW in exchange for safe passage off this quarantined continent. He has promised the UW that the children are not infected. That’s his term for our gifts from the spirits: infection.”

“Always thought of it as a handy little curse, myself,” I mutter under my breath.

Samson nudges me with a heavy mechatronic elbow to keep quiet.

“These children are exactly what the UW needs to survive. So they have sent a team to meet with Willard to discuss terms and to see for themselves if the children are as healthy as Willard says. Unfortunately, the daemons found the UW representatives first, and then Cain’s warriors came upon them. A little worse for wear, as would be expected, the four remaining members of the UW team are now on their way here. Two of them have already been exposed to the dust of the earth. It will not be long before they begin to exhibit their gifts from the spirits. As for the other two, their protective suits remain intact.”

“Are we going to set them free?” Quiet laughter follows the heckler’s remark.

Luther almost smiles. “It will be their choice, of course, whether they decide to join us. Perhaps seeing what becomes of their comrades will change their minds. They have nothing to fear—not from us, and not from their gifts.”

“What about Cain’s warriors?” someone else speaks up, starting another onslaught of questions.

“Why are they here?”

“Where are they now?”

Luther nods. “While Cain’s people and ours have never resorted to violence against one another, the same cannot be said for their interaction with the UW team. I don’t know all of the details, but I can tell you that Cain desires to repay them for attacking his people.”

“Bullcrap,” Samson rumbles. Similar murmurs sweep through the audience.

“He sees their encroachment on this land as an act of war,” Luther continues. “And he has come to believe it is in our mutual interest to join forces, in case we cannot convince the UW team to hear us out regarding the children. Cain’s people are staying in a separate chamber of the Homeplace, well-fed and well-supervised. Cain himself is on the way with the remainder of his warriors, and they should arrive this afternoon.”

Luther approaches the incubation canisters. Standing between them, he rests one hand on each. “The UW doctor will test them when he arrives. If they are one hundred percent human, uninfected, their genes clear of any mutation, then he will contact his people off-shore. If, however, these two display any trace of genetic abnormality, it will be a sure sign that the others in Eden may not be what Willard is advertising. “

“Will he kill them?” someone asks, her voice echoing in the cavern.

Luther’s eyes are as somber as ever. “I would put nothing past him. Arthur Willard is a man devoid of conscience. But rest assured, we will go to Eden. We will take what is ours, every single child. This is why it’s in our best interest to combine forces.”

“Down with Eden!” Numerous members of the audience take up the shout, raising their fists.

I’m glad I’m invisible.

One of the multitude steps forward. “We have heard you, Luther. We respect you, and we know you have nothing but love in your heart for us. Now hear what we have to say.”

The formality makes me wonder if this is standard procedure in the Homeplace when a dissenter wants