TRUEL1F3 (Truelife) Read online

  ALSO BY JAY KRISTOFF

  LIFEL1K3

  DEV1AT3

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  THIS IS A BORZOI BOOK PUBLISHED BY ALFRED A. KNOPF

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Text copyright © 2020 by Neverafter Pty Ltd.

  Cover art copyright © 2020 by Getty Images: 626188648: © Rost-9D/Getty Images

  Map art copyright © 2018 by Virginia Allyn

  All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York.

  Knopf, Borzoi Books, and the colophon are registered trademarks of Penguin Random House LLC.

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  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.

  ISBN 9781524714000 (trade) — ISBN 9781524714017 (lib. bdg.) — ebook ISBN 9781524714024

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  Contents

  Cover

  Also by Jay Kristoff

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Epigraph

  The Who, What and Why

  Introduction

  Map

  Chapter 3.0: Introductions

  Part 1: Genesis

  Chapter 3.1: Calamity

  Chapter 3.2: Purge

  Chapter 3.3: Pulse

  Chapter 3.4: Behemoth

  Chapter 3.5: Genome

  Chapter 3.6: Contingency

  Chapter 3.7: Singularity

  Chapter 3.8: Posse

  Chapter 3.9: Road Trip

  Part 2: Exodus

  Chapter 3.10: Decrepitude

  Chapter 3.11: Scorching

  Chapter 3.12: Megopolis

  Chapter 3.13: Damsel

  Chapter 3.14: Escapism

  Chapter 3.15: Poker Face

  Chapter 3.16: Flight

  Chapter 3.17: Reality

  Chapter 3.18: Departures

  Part 3: Lamentations

  Chapter 3.19: Myriad

  Chapter 3.20: Love

  Chapter 3.21: Wolves

  Chapter 3.22: Safe

  Chapter 3.23: Choices

  Chapter 3.24: Scars

  Chapter 3.25: Autonomy

  Chapter 3.26: Fire

  Chapter 3.27: Faithless

  Chapter 3.28: Standing

  Chapter 3.29: Sucker Punch

  Chapter 3.30: Shipwrecked

  Part 4: Revelation

  Chapter 3.31: Defiance

  Chapter 3.32: Wastelands

  Chapter 3.33: Tsunami

  Chapter 3.34: Backwash

  Chapter 3.35: Family

  Chapter 3.36: Tomorrow

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  You cannot kill

  What you did not create.

  —Corey Taylor

  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 lo
gika 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 life
likes 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.