Ashlyn Chronicles 1: 2287 A.D. Read Online Free PDF Page A

came to mind. “Gena, do the archives have any information on a company called, The Children of Destiny Foundation?”
    “The Children of Destiny Foundation. Raising families is your business. Making them is ours! All genetic designs guaranteed in writing. Eighteen-year payment plans available. A proud member of the Downtown Denver Better Business Bureau,” answered Gena. “It appears that they were a genetics catalog ordering outlet for couples who had trouble conceiving. The address matches that of your current location.”
    “Gena, where did you get that information from?” inquired Steven.
    “Google,” responded Gena.
    “I should’ve known.”
    “Sir, where did you hear of the Children of Destiny Foundation?” asked Stratton. “I swear. It’s like you suddenly became clairvoyant.”
    “I don’t know,” said Steven shaking his head. His eyes tightened. “There’s something about this building. The door—the logo. I’ve seen them before.”
    Just then, the sky lit up with brilliance as another flash of black lightning erupted. A long, intimidating clap of thunder followed it fifteen seconds later. All of their vibration sensors spiked in wild arcs. “Gena, when did the last supercell pass over this area?”
    “Five years and three months ago,” came Gena’s instant reply to Steven’s question.
    “So, what are the odds of us receiving a distress signal at the exact same time that the storm is arriving?” asked Tomlinson.
    “The kid’s got a point,” said Stratton.
    “Agreed, but it’s not like we had a choice.” Inwardly correcting himself, It’s not like I had a choice.
    Hurrying the team, Steven continued his instructions. “Let’s pick up the pace. We don’t want to be here when the storm hits.”
    “I’d like to be home in time for dinner,” said Moore.
    As Steven’s hand neared the door’s polished-steel handle, they all heard a loud click . The team pointed their weapons at the door. Steven hesitated briefly, waiting to see if the door was going to open. It didn’t. In trying the handle, he found that it turned easily, but still, the door held fast. With a braced stance, he put his weight behind it and rammed his shoulder into it. To a sharp cracking sound, the door opened a tiny bit before it again jammed tight. From the thin slit, a cloud of fog escaped that was quickly devoured by the hot air outside.
    “Gena, increase servo assist to 10 percent for 5 seconds.” Recoiling, he rammed the door, hard. The door blasted open, scraping away a thick layer of hardened frost on the floor. I wasn’t expecting that!
    Crouching to get through the doorway, Steven took a few steps inside. A few of the team followed, crowding around him. Looking about the room, he saw that it was entirely covered in frost. The retina-locked light atop his helmet refracted off the ice, forming a thousand prismatic pinpoints of light.
    Subconsciously, Steven placed his hand on the wall of ice nearest him. Likewise, in response, he could feel the presence reaching out to him—closer and more powerful than before.
    Tomlinson had only taken a few steps before he spotted two frost-covered bodies huddled behind a desk in the far left corner of the room. “Sir, we have two people over here!” Kneeling before them, Tomlinson softly wiped the snow away from the nearest victim’s face. “Sir, it’s a woman—and—she still has her skin, if you want to call it that.” The woman’s head was tipped to the side, resting on the shoulder of the person beside her. Tomlinson then wiped away the frost from the second person. “It’s a man, probably her husband.”
    “Two dead people in a freezer,” said Hitch. “That’s not something you see every day.”
    Steven’s attention fell upon the ceiling vent, where the frost was thickest. “The ventilation system is piping in the cold air.” He then queried Gena for the room’s temperature.
    “External temperature is minus 64.2 degrees Fahrenheit and