Mine Read Online Free PDF Page B

the floor. Twisting around, he looked for Leah and saw that she too had been knocked from her feet and had her palms against her ears.
    He tried to yell that they needed to get outside, but he couldn’t even hear himself over the hum.
    He stretched as far as he could and tapped her elbow with his foot. When she looked at him, eyes squinting in pain, he nodded toward the hole and then struggled onto his knees and elbows to crawl out.
    That was as far as he got before a pulse of energy shot through every cell in his body and turned his entire world white.

E LEVEN
     
    The Reclaimer
     
     
    T HE DECISION OF who should serve her on the outside was an easy one. Data from previous events indicated those farthest from the beam’s epicenter stood the least chance of being permanently damaged. True to form, brain scans of the three chosen revealed this to be the case. As for those who had been closer, she had other uses for them.
    Requirements satisfied, she moved on to stage two.
    The fact that she had three subjects pleased her. If one were lost in the preparation phase, it would not endanger the project. And if all three made it through, then her timetable could be moved up.
    Though the creatures were primitive compared to the Originators, their minds did contain some complexity so the procedure would take a delicate touch.
    One by one she worked through the three, adjusting their minds to suit her needs, creating pathways that never would have existed on their own, and adding the bits of code that would fine-tune the subjects and build the bridges of communication.
    From previous tests, she knew there would be a high probability of side effects due to her tinkering, the transferences of traits possessed by her creators via the embedded code. But none of that mattered. It was the data that was important. Nothing else.
    When she finished the last of the procedures, she noted in her logs that all three subjects continued to be viable. She then assigned each creature the tasks most suitable for it, and sent the trio back into the world.
    Soon the information would flow.

T WELVE
     
    Joel
     
     
    J OEL GRADUALLY BECAME awareof the sun. From its angle, it was probably a couple of hours either side of noon. He noted the paved road to his right, and the dirt shoulder below him. He wasn’t lying on it, or sitting, or even standing still.
    He was walking. One foot in front of the other, in front of the other, in front of the other.
    Sounds followed him. Footsteps. One set…no, two.
    He looked over his shoulder and saw Leah and Mike trailing him, their faces expressionless. Somewhere deep inside, he knew something wasn’t right, but it was another minute before the fog encasing his mind pulled away enough for him to order his feet to stop.
    “Joel?” Leah said uncertainly.
    He turned and saw she had also “woken.” Mike, however, appeared to still be in a trance.
    Joel grabbed his friend’s shoulders as Mike started to walk past him. “Whoa. Are you okay?”
    While Mike’s feet stopped moving, he made no indication he’d heard anything.
    “What’s going on?” Leah asked. “Where are we?”
    “I…I don’t know.”
    “How did we get here?”
    “I don’t know that, either.”
    What was the last thing he remembered?
    The woods . They had gone on a…on a…secret night hike. He and Leah and Mike…and…and…
    He looked around again. “Where are the others?”
    Leah scrunched her nose. “What others?”
    When he tried to answer, he couldn’t remember their names. “The others . There were others with us, weren’t there?”
    “With us where?”
    “We went on a hike. Dooley…”
    That’s right, Dooley. He was one of the others. Whatever Joel was going to say about him, though, was instantly forgotten when a deep, elongated whisper filled his mind.
    Learn. Transmit. Mine.
    He twisted around, looking for whoever had spoken, but no one was there except the three of them.
    “Did you hear that?”
    “Hear what?”