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    Unfinished
    Unfinished
    Unfinished
    Ebook89 pages1 hour

    Unfinished

    By Kendra C. Highley

    ()

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    About this ebook

    In a world where genetically-engineered humans serve as slave labor to “real” humans, ten-year-old Quinn is an anomaly. Designed with superior intelligence and physical attributes, he lives and trains at Maren DeGaul’s lakeside mansion, being readied for some mysterious purpose as dictated by Precipice Corporation. Despite the comfortable surroundings, Quinn is frequently pushed to his limits by his human guardians, often learning lessons in pain and loneliness.

    That all changes the day they introduce him to a new artificial, one who is both his equal and his soul-mate. But when Maren decides the new artificial is flawed and should be decommissioned, it’s up to Quinn to find a way to save his only friend.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherKendra C. Highley
    Release dateDec 20, 2014
    ISBN9781311711489
    Unfinished
    Author

    Kendra C. Highley

    Kendra C. Highley lives in north Texas with her husband and two children. She also serves as staff to two self-important and high-powered cats. This, according to the cats, is her most important job. She believes chocolate is a basic human right, running a 10k is harder than it sounds, and that everyone should learn to drive a stickshift. She loves monsters, vacations, baking and listening to bad electronica. If she's not writing, she's reading. If she's not writing or reading, she's likely a little cranky.

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      Book preview

      Unfinished - Kendra C. Highley

      UNFINISHED

      By: Kendra C. Highley

      Copyright © 2014 by Kendra C. Highley. All rights reserved.

      First Edition: December 2014

      Editors: Shelley Holloway and Cassandra Marshall

      Cover Design: Streetlight Graphics, http://www.streetlightgraphics.com/

      LISCENSE NOTES

      All rights reserved. This eBook is licensed for the personal enjoyment of the original purchaser only. This eBook may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this eBook and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      DISCLAIMER

      The characters and events portrayed in this book are a work of fiction or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

      TABLE OF CONTENTS

      Part One

      Part Two

      Part Three

      Epilogue

      UNSTRUNG Sneak Peek

      Other Books by Kendra C. Highley

      Part One

      Ten Years Ago

      Quinn watched the monitor. Its camera was trained on the prep room where the new K700 prototype was under development. She was only the second model in this line, and the first female.

      His match.

      His heart fluttered with excitement. Miss Maren had told him the little girl was going to be his friend. Created specifically to keep him company and learn with him. After spending most of his time in the company of adults—both human and artificial—he could hardly wait to meet her.

      Lexa. That would be her name.

      She was still pale, her hair almost as white as her skin, just like the day before and the day before that. He wondered when she would change colors, and what color she would be, but Doc Mendal had said not to pry, so he didn’t ask. He’d learned that if he asked the wrong questions—or too many in a row—that his curiosity would cause trouble. And pain.

      The girl stared blankly into space, but he could tell she was afraid by the way her knuckles whitened as she clutched her blanket. Or the way her right eyelid twitched every so often. Being scared was a good sign—it meant she was turning into a person.

      He immediately flushed, feeling bad. He didn’t want her to be scared, and it wasn’t nice to be glad about it. He remembered the prep room. He remembered the fear. No, it wasn’t nice to be glad.

      Dr. Martine cocked his head. Quinn, what’s Lexa thinking? Any guesses?

      She’s…wondering where she is, and why she’s here, he said after a moment. Even though he was watching her over the feed, he could read her mannerisms easily, which was strange. But if Lexa had been made to be his best friend, maybe that was why he could tell how she felt.

      He watched her a moment longer, registering how her chest rose and fell more quickly as the fear turned into panic and grief. She thinks something’s wrong with her. Quinn turned to Dr. Martine. Please, we need to let her out.

      We can’t. You know that. No cross-contamination until imprinting is complete. Dr. Martine tapped his stylus against his data pad. But maybe we could let you in? What do you think? You want to try?

      Quinn’s heart leapt. He tried hard to keep the eagerness out of his voice when he said, Oh, yes. I think she might talk to me.

      Well, then, let’s—

      The door at the back of the observation lab swooshed open and a pair of high heels clicked toward them. Quinn rounded his shoulders to sink a little shorter. I’m not a threat. I’m not a threat. I’m invisible.

      Cool fingers tipped with long, pointed fingernails, brushed the back of his neck. A welt rose up on the sensitive skin below his hairline where they scratched. He held very still.

      Invisible. Not a threat.

      Hello, dear, Miss Maren said, releasing Quinn to give Dr. Martine a kiss on the cheek. He didn’t look too happy about it, even though Miss Maren was supposedly his girlfriend. Any progress?

      Um… He shot a look at the girl behind the glass. Well, we were thinking about exposing her to some stimuli to see if she’s ready for advanced configuration. Namely, I thought I’d send Quinn in. She’d be less likely to see him as a threat, given her programming.

      Quinn balled his fists around the hem of his T-shirt. Please. Please don’t say no.

      Miss Maren pinned him with her eyes. Calculating. That was the vocabulary word he’d use. It meant shrewd. Which sounded a lot like shrew. Which meant mean, screechy lady.

      He bit the inside of his cheek to keep from smiling. It wouldn’t be a real smile anyway, he reasoned. It would be a nervous I’m-not-hiding-anything smile, and a vaguely disinterested look was required if he hoped to get what he wanted.

      Because that’s what Miss Maren was good at. She found out what he wanted, then took it away.

      After a long, long, long stare, she finally nodded. A short visit, perhaps. Five minutes.

      Five minutes? That was all? The look on her face, though. She wanted him to argue. If he argued, she could tell him no.

      I can be in and out in four, if that’s better, he said.

      Her eyes widened and she nodded in approval. Very well.

      Dr. Martine gave him a pat on the back and opened the door to the clean room. Full measures. No contamination.

      Right, no touching. Doc Mendal had told him her immune system was still developing and his germs could hurt her. Inside the clean room, which was just a little hall between the observation lab and her prep room, he pulled a white jumpsuit out of the cubby. It covered him from his neck to his toes and had a hood attached to the back to cover his head. The suit crackled every time he moved. It was polymer based and felt like a trash bag.

      By now, the little girl was hugging herself and rocking back and forth on her white bed. Quinn hurried to don a pair of latex gloves. She would be better if she could just meet him. He knew it. She needed a friend; that would fix everything.

      He gave a thumbs up to Dr. Martine, and the airlocks opened with a clank.

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