Earth-Ground (Genetically Altered Humans, #2) Read online

  EARTH-

  GROUND

  A XENO SAPIENS NOVEL

  Rena Marks

  Earth-Ground

  A Xeno Sapiens Novel

  Rena Marks

  When futuristic Earth finds alien DNA and creates a new species of hybrids in hidden labs, Dr. Robyn Saraven helps the “creatures” escape. She uses her connections to establish their own city on Earth-Ground, where they can learn, grow, and avoid the corruption and greed that created them.

  But peace doesn’t come easy. The new beings have memories that rise to the surface, along with the unknown traits of their ancestors. All the while, Earth watches and leaks information to the press.

  Unfortunately, some secrets are best left unknown.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Epilogue

  Alien Stolen

  Abducted

  Space Babies

  Artificial Intelligence

  Stargazer Series

  The Hunter

  Also by Rena Marks

  Chapter One

  Legend had it, long, long ago, Earth had blue skies. Blue. Incongruous.

  But even knowing so, the idea sent a wisp of longing through Dr. Robyn Saraven for a simpler time. The blue would have been beautiful—peaceful and serene, bringing in a sense of calm whenever one gazed out at the horizon. The modern world was anything but.

  Now, the same skies were painted with spectacular purple, yellow, and red strokes, bold stripes of dark gray clouds contrasting in prominent zig-zag patterns, vibrant even while visible through the dimmer globe encasing the entire tropical island.

  Strange world. While the skies grew more alive with jewel tones over the centuries—an unglamorous fact was that it was due to the chemical pollution from the Great Terran war—the people of Earth grew muted, their once-distinct races blending into common features. Once in a while, a “throwback” would occur, and a child would be born different. Dark skinned. Perhaps a redhead. But not often. For the most part, everyone looked the same and related to everyone else.

  Except for now. Now there was a new species joining them. A species completely different from anything they’d ever known before. A breed of people made in a laboratory, blending DNA from various alien life forms with a common denominator. Human.

  It made the new species, deemed Xeno Sapiens, humanoid compared to whatever form their ancestors had been. But they carried characteristics from that alien race their DNA was borrowed from. And as time wore on, several were growing into uncharted traits from those unknown ancestors.

  The man standing next to her was gorgeously built, thick muscles barely contained by the thin material of the scrubs they all wore. Steele was hers; she’d loved him from the day he’d been awakened in the lab. On her other side, just as protective, Beast stood in a tense stance. His golden blond dreadlocks matched the golden striped skin, contrasted with black as dark as the night sky. Next to him stood Sunny, her overall skin brightly matching the golden tones of Beast, but without the contrasting black. As the spacecraft floated closer, Sunny stepped in toward Beast, her fingers unconsciously seeking his.

  Comfort.

  The Xeno Sapiens were terrified of the outside world, and she couldn’t blame them.

  Like she had once before, Robyn had to lift the shields encasing the small island like an invisible bubble long enough to allow a familiar spacecraft to enter. Fortunately, this was the last time. The shields would be permanently disabled an hour from now, and curious humans would swarm the facilities to search for any artifacts or information left behind by the Xeno Sapiens. But Robyn, also known as the infamous computer hacker, Eve, didn’t want anyone else to have access to what she had created, and the government would jealously covet the enormous power of her dome shields. However, they were hers, fashioned during the time period when she had ultra-strength and intelligence from a touch of Zetan DNA. Even she was amazed at the creation she’d accomplished while under the influence. So she would destroy them.

  Dr. Amanda Becker and Renegade had been among the first crew that left on a spacecraft for the small parcel of neutral land located on Earth-Ground named Xenia. The rest of the Xeno Sapiens, including the seven teenagers, were on her team.

  As the spacecraft hovered closer to land, several people gasped. She couldn’t imagine what it was like through their eyes, having never even seen land or sun before two weeks ago. Now they were seeing spacecraft and flying across the world to live.

  Normally, only peons lived on the actual ground of Earth. They were about to change that with all the reporters and buzz about a new species of people created. It had developed a new interest for “Earth-Ground” dwellers. A sort of fanatic fan base. But with all things, the fan base was diluted by the hate-mongers—the ignorant ones who believed the Xeno Sapiens were unnatural and should be put to death like rabid dogs.

  One by one, the Xeno Sapiens boarded the vessel, some filled with excitement, some quiet and reserved. There was no trepidation because everyone understood it was necessary to move to a permanent place—a place with higher protection. The security detail on the spacecraft was highly trusted, a team with a company started by Dr. Amanda Becker’s own brother, Jason Becker. He was ex-military and not exactly as shocked as the rest of the world to discover the experiments the Global Government had covered up. It was his idea that the passage to Xenia would be split into more than one trip, so if anything went down, it wouldn’t cause all of the Xeno Sapiens to be destroyed.

  Robyn slipped her hand into Steele’s for the journey up the small ramp. His hands were much larger than hers and four fingered. He always held her carefully, aware of her delicate nature compared to his strength. He was a strange silver color with large eyes that were completely jet black, swirling pools of ink. His irises, pupils, even the sclera of his eye were all the same shade, enabling him enhanced vision in the dark when he needed it. All he had to do was control his pupil size. His hair was thick and glossy, a burst of blue-black she loved to run her fingers through. He was massive, standing six five to her five foot, three inches. Even bigger was his physique. All the Xeno Sapiens were prone to larger muscle mass; it was how they’d been genetically engineered. She hated to think of why, and several of the people were beginning to remember the horrors they’d gone through. Slavery was just one reason they’d been bred to have more muscle tone.

  Steele was her Xeno Sapien, she’d loved him since the first day she saw him. Being his doctor, she tried to keep it professional but failed. She loved him harder from the first day they’d killed him—a horrifying episode months ago—even though his personality had changed upon revival. Now, he was a mix of the two, fighting hard against the aggressive tendencies they’d programmed the computer chip in his head to follow.

  She took one last look around the island. She had no qualms about any “hidden” files, records, or samples. They’d combed every inch of the island. But people were already making money off the concept of hunting for lost evidence in the new museum that would be resurrected once they left the land that had been auctioned and sold to pay the debts of Crested Utilitarian Labs.

  The first couple to load the craft was the sec
ond Xeno Sapien closest to her heart, Beast. He had been her charge along with Steele, and they’d developed a fast friendship. Beast walked with Sunny, leading the teens with their fearless strength.

  From where he waited at the bottom of the ramp, Jason nodded at her, his eyes scanning the deserted island. His tension was belied by the small tic in the side of his lean cheek that she noticed throbbing as she and Steele moved up the ramp. He always prepared for abnormalities. But all was safe.

  Jason waited for them to board, running his fingers through his short, military style hair. His hair was brown with sun-kissed streaks of light blond. Darker stubble lined his jaw where she noticed he gritted it against the tension held tightly in check. As soon as they entered the doorway, there was a small walkway lit by dim, glowing paint leading them to the center of the circular room. They took their place in the round spacecraft, standing with the others against a circle of backboards erected in the center that would automatically strap them into place, facing each other in a circle. Naturally, the other Xeno Sapiens looked uncomfortable as they held still.

  The backboards reminded them too much of the boards they were strapped to inside the underground laboratory.

  Robyn attempted to ease their minds. “Long ago, people used to fly by what was called airplanes. An ancient and huge vehicle that operated with engines. It took forever to get across the world, hours and hours. Think of all the damage constant sitting in cramped quarters did to your body, especially with those altitudes.”

  “Tell us a story, Robyn.” The youngest set of the Xeno Sapiens were more like teenagers and needed to be taught maturity the old-fashioned way. Her storytelling helped with some of that.

  “Earth, known as Terra to other galaxies, is not yet allowed to travel space according to Galaxy Council Control. We need to advance within us as a species. We were well on the way, or at least we thought we were, but began to fight among ourselves. Other beings intervened—what we call the Galaxy Council Control—when we were about to blow up the planet in the Great Terran War. Instead, we only destroyed most of our own civilization. A new government arose, comprised of all the governments combined. It is called the Global Government.

  “Above Earth-Ground, there are nine floating cities, their names based on the Greek alphabet. Alpha One, Beta Two, Gamma Three, Delta Four, Epsilon Five, Zeta Six, Eta Seven, Theta Eight, and Iota Nine.”

  “Dr. Amanda comes from Iota Nine!” Lily—the most delicate Xeno Sapien of them all—spoke with excitement, her green hair fluttering. It was extremely fine and reached down to her shoulders. She normally tied it in a bun on top of her head, but because it was so soft, it escaped its confines like cotton candy.

  “She does. Along with her brother Jason.” She motioned with her head toward the doors where Jason had strapped himself in.

  He gave a two-fingered salute.

  “He talks a little different from Dr. Amanda,” Lily shared, her eyes wide and wary on the large man.

  Robyn laughed. “Each of the floating cities has developed their own accent. But Jason travels a lot. Being military, he had to visit Earth-Ground along with all the other cities. He lost some of the song he sings.”

  Jason’s deep voice rumbled. “You make it sound like we’re birds. We’re about to take off, so everyone remember this. Breathe. As a reminder, the lights flash in tune with the breaths you should be taking, in and out. You’ll be fine as long as you pace your breathing to the flashing lights.”

  “Dr. Amanda sounds like a bird,” Lily mumbled, her eyes flashing beneath the lashes she lowered at Jason. “She sings when she speaks.” The small teenaged woman sounded grumpy with Jason.

  Jason looked taken aback as if no woman—ever—didn’t automatically agree with him in a besotted tone. And it could be no one ever did. Jason wasn’t exactly lacking in the looks department. None of the Becker children did.

  “You’re going to be trouble, aren’t you?” he teased Lily.

  Around her, some of the younger set groaned. “She is. She really is,” Mellow said.

  Robyn caught Steele’s eyes. When it was discovered that some of the Xeno Sapiens were awoken before maturity and were the equivalent of human teenagers, it was the subject of discussion to protect them and allow them to mature naturally as opposed to advancing their minds to maturity. Everyone knew they would be better able to protect themselves with full mental capacity. But it was agreed to not advance them mentally with downloads. To allow their bodies time to catch up. If they had been downloaded, their memory pathways would have opened and they would be able to remember their treatment from before. No one wanted that hell for their others.

  “I love your accent, Mr. Becker,” Lily said. “I should like to hear the rest of the singing birds from the other floating cities. I myself was a caged bird, you know.” She spoke with the dramatic tone teenagers sometimes did.

  “I know,” Jason said softly. “And I’ll show you the other cities one day, Miss Lilliputian.” His teasing voice returned to the lilting tones of his roots.

  A familiar feeling of sheer dread hit squarely in the pit of Robyn’s stomach at the thought of one of them heading out of the confines that would keep them safe. Just like before in the laboratory whenever she realized they were out of plans and it was time for the scientists to implement a new phase or experiment on the Xeno Sapiens. Her hand tightened on Steele’s. He glanced over at her, his thumb caressing her hand comfortingly. He knew the exact cause of her panic and reminded her they were safe.

  “But we’ll have to cover up that atrocious hair,” Jason said, his dark eyes dancing with merriment.

  “Oh!” Lily shook her head at him, and what had remained of the bun on top her head fell apart, long strands of green shades dancing airily around her face.

  A hum started and pressure felt like it was being sucked out of the spacecraft. The lights began to slowly flash, and even now, after all this time, Robyn realized she still held her breath. She released it on a loud exhale, showing the Xeno Sapiens how to breathe. They began to mimic her.

  Only Lily looked panicked, her large eyes blinking excessively in her terror. From the doorway, Jason swore and unstrapped himself. Gravity was already changed for the flight, and he had to bounce with large steps across the room. Once he reached her, he moved behind her backboard and wrapped his large arms around it, and her.

  One of his hands stroked her forearm.

  “Breathe, little one,” he whispered into her ear. “Breathe with me. In...swoosh. Out. Blow it all out, that’s it. Another deep breath in...just like that. You’re doing fine, Lily. You’re in control of your own air. No one can take your breath away.”

  But Robyn saw the flash in Lily’s eyes. Steele turned to her, and his black eyes glittered. “She had a memory,” he said. “They used to suffocate her to see how much she could take.”

  Sweet Lord. Would they ever escape the horrors?

  She felt helpless as Lily struggled with breath. She was so thankful Amanda’s brother was there, whispering to her, and holding her. Keeping the poor child sane.

  When the spacecraft landed—a ride of fifteen minutes that felt longer—Jason unbuckled Lily and picked her up, cuddling her petite frame against him. He touched a small communicator and someone else came from another area of the spacecraft, taking his position by the front door to peer out before they descended. The new man grabbed a laser rifle from inside a locker within the wall. With a few button pushes, the ramp they’d used earlier to board lowered.

  They could hear noises outside as soon as the spacecraft opened.

  “Hear that, Lily? Those are military guards. They’re making sure no one gets too close to you guys as you descend and head into Xenia. We couldn’t land inside the gates because it’s a no-fly zone. That’s a good thing, the heavens above will protect you all. And on the ground, we’ll do it. Soldiers are around the gates at all times, keeping curious eyes away,” Jason said.

  “What can we expect down there?” Mellow’
s voice quivered as she asked while Lily just cuddled into Jason’s chest, for once quiet.

  “There will be media present. Everyone will try to get pictures and videos of us as we head toward the gates of Xenia. Once on the property, we have neutrality. It’s considered a safe zone for us, thanks to Robyn’s bargaining with the government,” Steele said.

  “It makes anyone who trespasses onto the property subject to our own laws. We could cook and eat an intruder, and it would be perfectly legal.” Robyn shrugged.

  “Not that we would,” Steele assured the horrified faces around him, with a smile at Robyn. “No one ever seems to remember to take what you say with a grain of salt.”

  She grinned at him as they released their seat belts. “They’re young. They’ll learn. Let’s have Jason and Lily go first, and we’ll wrap up the end of the procession. Everyone else, line up in the middle, please. Pairs. It’ll go quicker.”

  As the giant door to the craft slid open silently, bright sunlight filtered in, leaving several Xeno Sapiens blinking.

  “Close your eyes, cupcake,” Jason whispered to Lily. “It’s bright outside.”

  “Robyn, are the suns brighter here?” Beast asked. He and Sunny were the couple right in front of them.

  “Yes, but Earth only has one sun. Remember I had a bio-dome shield covering the island? It filtered out some sunlight. Not to mention, we had a lot of trees for shade. Now, however, we’re full out exposed. Ready, everyone?”

  There were a few nods. “Good. Don’t be shocked by what anyone says. There might be some who are nasty and call us names. Don’t worry about it. Keep your chins tucked low and let the rest of the world get outraged for us. Concentrate on looking like the victims that we are. Most importantly, much as you’d like to—never, ever engage. Don’t growl and get aggressive. It’ll inspire fear, and most people will equate their fear to hatred. That’s the start of prejudice.”

  The group of people slowly descended, jaws set in a grim line. Outside, chatter started as people yelled out.