Free Unchanged by Jessica Brody

bored. You would think I could handle such a small responsibility. You would think I could embrace my part—maybe even enjoy it—the way Kaelen seems to do so effortlessly.
    I paint on my best smile, the one I’ve been rehearsing for the past year, waiting for the day when it won’t feel rehearsed. Apparently today is not that day. With the drive digging into my toes, I feel more like a fraud than ever.
    â€œYes. I’ll be right down. Just give me a minute?”
    â€œOf course.” He slips back out the door and it seals shut behind him.
    I roll up my Slate and place it in a small travel pouch that Crest has hung on my bedpost. It’s filled with superfood snacks for the road. I swing the strap over my shoulder, take one final look around my bedroom, and head out the door.
    In the hallway, I pause at the gold DigiPlaque on the wall and watch as it completes a rotation through the history of the Genesis Project.
    Sequence: D / Recombination: W – October 25, 2113
    Sequence: D / Recombination: X – December 19, 2113
    Sequence: D / Recombination: Y – March 19, 2114
    Sequence: D / Recombination: Z – April 23, 2114
    One hundred and four failed DNA sequences until mine was a success.
    Sequence: E / Recombination: A – June 27, 2114
    The day I was “born.”
    As far as I know, the giant artificial womb where I gestated is still sitting untouched, collecting dust in Rio’s old lab in the Medical Sector. No one goes in there anymore. The door has been locked for over a year. There were a few times, after I returned to the compound, when I was intrigued by the thought of returning to the lab where Rio spent so many long, sleepless nights trying to bring me to life, but my fingerprints and retinas would never open the door. Eventually I gave up.
    I often stand here in this hallway, watching the revolving text of the DigiPlaque and wondering what happened to all those other failed attempts. Why didn’t they work? What was so special about S:E/R:A?
    Why me ?
    Then I wonder if any of the other sequences would have been better suited for this role. Would S:D/R:E have been a traitor like me, too? Would S:A/R:U have been as big a disappointment to the Objective? Or would she have been brave and obedient like Dr. A wanted her to be?
    The DigiPlaque holds the final date for thirty seconds before starting over again with Sequence: A / Recombination: A. I let myself drift away and continue down the stairs, where Crest and Kaelen are waiting for me.
    Crest looks me over and I expect her to tell me to go back upstairs and try again. Surely I’ve done something wrong. Put my shoes on the wrong feet. Mistaken a neck hole for a sleeve. But she purses her lips and says, “Perfect.”
    Kaelen kisses my temple, right next to my hairline, and I suddenly panic, thinking he’s going to come away with dirt on his lips. “Perfect,” he echoes softly into my ear.
    Right now, it feels like the most inaccurate word in the English language.
    Kaelen, Crest, and I board the first hovercopter. Dr. A is already seated in the front row. He gives me an approving nod. Apparently the bodysuit is going over well. Kaelen sits next to him and I take the row behind them with Crest. Director Raze sits in the front seat, next to the pilot. The role of pilot is pretty obsolete. The hovercopters can fly themselves, but someone has to be there to make sure nothing goes wrong.
    I find it amusing that with all this technology Diotech has developed, we still need human beings to supervise.
    Outside my window people have gathered to send us off. Scientists, lab assistants, and children. They wave and cheer as the hovercopter lifts off the ground. A crop of blue hair catches my eye. Klo Raze—the boy I saw on the Rec Field yesterday—stares back at me with an unsettling intensity.
    He’s the only one not waving.
    Our ascent into the sky is smooth and fast. I watch through my window as