Title: Claim Day
Chapter 60: The Source
Warda
The transmission building was as sterile as I would have expected it to be—concrete walls, yellow lighting, and the constant hum of electrical equipment. They marched us through corridors lined with metal doors and warning signs I couldn’t read properly in the dim light. The whole place smelled like ozone and machine oil.
Female soldiers were everywhere, along with women in civilian clothes who looked like they knew their way around technical equipment. They were packing boxes, moving gear, working with that same focused calm I’d seen in all the claimed women back at Echelon, or when looking in the mirror. This was a full operation, organized and efficient.
My hands were zip-tied behind my back, and every step we took deeper into this place made me more frustrated. I kept looking at Cedric, wanting to do something, anything, to protect him. But what the hell could I do? I was as helpless as the rest of them, and it was eating me alive.
They led us up some stairs and down another corridor before shoving us into what had to be the main transmission room. The space was huge, filled with banks of radio equipment that looked expensive and complicated. But someone had made it comfortable too—there was a big bed in one corner, and rugs on the floor to soften the concrete. A small kitchen area with a microwave and a coffee maker. They’d clearly been here for a while.
“Sit,” one of the soldiers barked, shoving Gabriel down onto the cold concrete floor. We all followed, kneeling in a line like prisoners about to be executed.
Gabriel opened his mouth to say something, but the soldier nearest him cracked him across the jaw with the butt of her rifle. “Shut up.”
Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth as he glared up at her, but he stayed quiet.
Gabriel, and Charlotte were now staring at the transmission equipment, and I could practically see the wheels turning in their heads. Wondering if they could make a run for it, maybe. But with all these armed women around us? We’d be dead before we took two steps.
The soldiers started searching us, pulling everything out of our pockets and patting us down thoroughly. When one of them found Charlotte’s pocket transmitter, my heart sank. She held it up like a trophy before setting it on a desk across the room with the rest of our stuff. Might as well have been on the moon for all the good it would do us now.
Voices echoed from the corridor—two men arguing about something. I couldn’t make out all the words, but one sounded cold and impatient, wanting to “conclude the experiment and leave.” The other was more sarcastic, saying something about having “plenty of time” and no reason to rush.
The voices got closer, and then two men walked into the room. The arguing stopped as soon as they saw us kneeling there.
The older one looked like he’d stepped out of some corporate boardroom—gray hair, expensive suit, eyes like chips of ice. Everything about him screamed authority and control. The younger guy was maybe forty, more casual in his dress, and he was practically bouncing on his feet when he saw us. Like a kid who’d just found a new toy to play with.
“Well, well,” the younger one said, grinning. “Look what the cat dragged in.”
The younger guy moved closer to us, his eyes bright with curiosity like we were some kind of science experiment he wanted to poke at. The older one stayed back, his face stone cold, clearly not happy about whatever was happening.
“This has gone too far, Kieran,” the older man said, his voice clipped and formal. “It’s time to wrap this up.”
The other waved him off like he was swatting a fly. “Oh, come on, Sullivan. My colleague here wanted to have you all sniped the moment you approached the perimeter,” he said with a grin that didn’t reach his eyes. “Always so careful, aren’t you? Paranoid, even. Even now when we hold the keys to everything.”
The older man looked like he wanted to strangle Mallory but kept his mouth shut.
“Where are my manners?” The young man continued, spreading his arms wide. “I’m Dr. Kieran Mallory, and this charming fellow is Dr. Sullivan Holt.”
“You shouldn’t be giving them information,” Holt snapped.
Mallory laughed, the sound harsh in the concrete room. “Why the hell does it matter? Not like they’re gonna have any opportunity to tell anyone.”
My stomach dropped, and I saw the others tense up beside me. Gabriel’s face went pale, but then something seemed to click in his head. He was staring at Holt like he was trying to remember something.
“Holt,” Gabriel mumbled, his voice barely audible. “That name sounds familiar.”
Holt didn’t react, but Gabriel kept staring at him, working through whatever was rattling around in his brain.
“You were at a seminar,” Gabriel said suddenly. “A few years ago. I remember now.” He lifted his head, meeting Holt’s cold stare. “You’re a virologist, aren’t you? Did you make the claiming virus?”
Holt’s jaw clenched, and he shot Mallory a look that could have melted steel. Time to end this, his expression said clear as day.
But Mallory just laughed again. “Too modest, my friend! Yes, he made the virus. Impressive work, don’t you think? Turned half the human race into obedient little pets.”
Holt stepped forward, ignoring Mallory’s commentary. His eyes swept over Charlotte and me, calculating and cold. Something twisted in my gut—not fear exactly, but something I couldn’t name. Like my body was waiting for something.
He turned toward me after a moment’s hesitation, his voice cutting through the air like a blade. “Tell me what you were hoping to accomplish here.”
The words came out of my mouth before I could even think about stopping them. “We were hoping to use the transmission capabilities of this base to send a counter-program to free women from the original programming, using a program developed by our teams at Echelon.”
Even as I was saying it, I realized what was happening. I was telling him everything, and I couldn’t stop myself. The idea of not obeying this man seemed completely absurd, like trying to argue with gravity. It scared the shit out of me, but at the same time, it felt right. Natural. Like this was exactly how things were supposed to be.
The others turned to stare at me, shock written all over their faces. Charlotte looked like she’d been slapped, her eyes wide as she processed what had just happened. But it was Cedric’s expression that nearly broke my heart. The hurt and confusion there made me want to crawl into a hole and die, but I couldn’t fight what was happening to me. I needed to obey Holt, even if it meant betraying the man I was meant to please.
Holt’s face darkened. “This wasn’t supposed to happen,” he said to Mallory, his voice tight with anxiety despite his controlled demeanor. “The programming should have prevented this exact scenario.”
Mallory shrugged, looking more curious than concerned. “Yeah, it’s weird as hell. We must be missing something.” He turned his attention to Charlotte, studying her like a bug under a microscope. “Tell me exactly who’s responsible for developing this counter-program.”
I watched Charlotte’s face, saw the brief flicker of conflict in her eyes before she answered. My heart started racing because I understood what was happening. They expected her to obey just like I had. She could lie, but if they asked me to confirm her story, I’d be compelled to tell them the truth.
“It was a group of scientists,” Charlotte said, trying to sound as natural as I had. “A few men, mostly claimed women…” She trailed off.
Mallory frowned, his casual demeanor slipping slightly. “That doesn’t make any goddamn sense.” He leaned closer to Charlotte, his voice taking on a commanding edge. “Claimed women can’t complete that kind of work. Tell me the truth—who was really in charge of developing this program?” His eyes flicked to Cedric and Gabriel with a mocking smile. “I’d love to meet the men who managed such a feat, especially with claimed women doing the heavy lifting.”
Charlotte did her best to look like she wasn’t hesitating, like the words were coming as naturally as mine had. “Two unclaimed women were in charge. They protected themselves from the VLF signals by shielding themselves in an MRI room at the research institute.”
Both men went still. Holt let out a low growl, while Mallory’s cocky expression faltered for the first time.
“I warned you about Echelon,” Holt said, his voice deadly quiet. “Something didn’t add up.”
Mallory snorted, but I could see the unease creeping into his posture. “Look, at least twenty different groups tried to work on countering the programming. Only three are still at it, and with mostly women working on the problem at Echelon, we had no reason to think they’d ever succeed. The program they made can’t be functional. It’s impossible.”
Holt’s eyes swept the room until they landed on the VLF transmitter sitting on the desk with our other belongings. He growled again, snatching it up and moving to a laptop. “I knew it was too risky to trust claimed women alone to protect their own programming.”
The words hit me like a punch to the gut. Women were programmed to protect their programming. I searched inside myself for any awareness of such a command, but found nothing. If it existed, it was buried so deep I couldn’t feel it, just like my natural obedience toward Holt and Mallory.
The group tensed up as Holt frowned at his screen, the VLF transmitter now plugged into a USB port. The silence stretched out, making my skin crawl with anxiety.
Mallory’s eyes kept flicking between Charlotte and me, suspicion growing in his expression. “If they actually managed to make a program that can free women, then we can’t trust these two,” he said, his casual tone taking on a harder edge.
The soldiers immediately raised their weapons, pointing them directly at Charlotte and me. My heart hammered against my ribs as I stared down the barrel of an assault rifle. Charlotte went rigid beside me, her breathing shallow and quick.
But then Holt snorted, looking at his computer screen like he’d just heard a good joke. His shoulders relaxed slightly. “They did a pretty damn good job,” he said, his formal tone carrying a hint of amusement. “It’s almost functional… almost. They made a tiny mistake in the handshake distribution. Clever sabotage, actually—hard to spot. Thank God for small favors.”
He leaned back in his chair, the tension leaving his posture. “Good thing we made sure our women would fake the intended result for a while if the handshake failed. The idiots probably thought they had the holy grail.”
The fucker! We’d left after “freeing” Elaine. Had she just been faking it? The others looked absolutely gutted.
Mallory’s cocky grin returned as he relaxed, but Holt wasn’t done. “However, they did manage to create a fairly simple but efficient unclaiming program.”
“Well, if these two bitches are unclaimed, that’s easily solved,” Mallory said with a smirk. He stepped forward and grabbed my wrist, his grip tight enough to bruise. “You’re mine now.”
Nothing happened. No surge of devotion, no sudden need to please him. I just stared at him, confused and scared.
He shrugged and moved to Charlotte, doing the same thing. “You’re mine.”
Again, nothing. Charlotte remained tense and defiant. Mallory seemed disappointed, clearly devouring her body with his eyes. “A shame. I’d have enjoyed adding you to my collection,” he snorted.
Mallory’s smirk widened as he looked between Cedric and Gabriel. “So, tell me, who do you ladies belong to?”
The compulsion to answer honestly hit me like a freight train. “I belong to Cedric,” I said, looking at him.
Charlotte glanced at me, then at Gabriel. “I belong to Gabriel,” she lied smoothly, pointing at him.
I held my breath, praying I wouldn’t be asked to confirm or deny anything that would expose Charlotte’s immunity.
Mallory scoffed and crossed his arms. “I gotta ask—why couldn’t you guys just enjoy the hot girls you got, like everyone else? Why not embrace this gift? Why come all the way here?”
He paused, actually thinking about his own question. “Actually, that is pretty fucking weird. Why here specifically? Did you seriously have the means to almost make a functioning freedom program without figuring out that this place was the Source? That you’d have no chance against us?”
Holt stood up, his cold eyes boring into me. “Tell us why you came here.”
The command hit me instantly, and I felt that same natural, undeniable urge to obey. “We originally wanted to transmit from EISCAT in Norway. We had a contact there, but a colleague, Dr. Bernard Smith, took over the institute and we had to flee. We think he wants to use the teams at Echelon to make him a modified version of the counter-program. Jim Creek was the only other place we could reach in time that could transmit VLF signals...”
Holt and Mallory exchanged anxious looks, their relaxed demeanor evaporating.
“Tell me how that Smith performed this coup,” Holt commanded. “Specifically, did he claim these two top scientists at Echelon?”
“As far as I know, he did,” I answered without hesitation. “He claimed me first during the coup, and I helped him steal the VLF transmitters he wanted to use to program Dr. Ramona Quinn and Dr. Phoebe Conrad. He told me how he intended to catch them in their sleep and do it. Our contact at EISCAT refuses to speak to us. It’s a given that Quinn and Conrad told him we weren’t to be trusted. So... Yeah, they’re claimed alright...”
Mallory stepped closer, his voice taking on that commanding edge. “Tell me what Smith did to the men at Echelon.”
“ I heard him talking about killing all the men,” I said, the words spilling out of me. “I was unclaimed and claimed again later that night and fled with the others, so I can’t confirm he actually did it. But I’m willing to bet he did.”
Both men relaxed visibly, Mallory more than Holt. A slow grin spread across Mallory’s face.
“Well, that’s it then,” he said, his casual tone returning. “No reason to worry if the entirety of Echelon’s science teams are now comprised of claimed women, including the two who almost managed to make a counter-program. Smith can’t do shit—he just doesn’t know it yet.”