Hatchlings (ePub)

A young woman arrives at an intersection in downtown Auckland, New Zealand with no memory of who she is or where she came from. Her only contact is via a mobile phone where a mysterious male voice, Dion gives her a name of Cora Watts and guides her to a bank across the intersection where she is expected and has a bank account in her new name. There is also an apartment for her where everything is provided including a new car.

Late that night another young woman finds herself at a suburban bus stop. Her only memory is that she is known as 92765.4 and a text message directs her to an apartment across town where 92765.2 lives. However, it is after midnight and the last bus has gone. She accepts a ride from a couple of youths who attack her. She finds she has powers that electrocutes them before escaping and finds her way to the apartment.

Cora awakens in early morning hours to a knock. She finds the distressed woman and helps to bathe her wounds. The new woman talks about Batch 92765 with her name being just an added digit of .4. Apparently, Cora is .2 from the same batch of five women, all called an even digit after the batch number. 92765.4 becomes Bree Watts.

The mystery deepens when Cora and Bree have simultaneous dreams about being on a spaceship with a line of women. They are taken into a room with three other women from the batch 92765 to have their DNA and personalities saved for future generations. An explosion occurs and they both awaken. Apparently they are hatchlings, humans born as adults with artificial memories of an earlier life.

Cora realises that like Bree she may forget the dream and other facts so the pair begin handwritten notes to record everything they have learned. Her theory that computer records could be altered or deleted appears to be true.

Later, Cora's mobile rings and a female voice says she needs help. It is .8 who becomes Kate. She is lost in bush country with only a mobile and an emergency survival kit in her hands. Dion calls on the mobile and directs Cora and Bree to a remote bush area west of the city. They rescue Kate who becomes part of their family and with the help from the strange Dion, the three begin their lives together.

Meanwhile, Doctor Westley Lindwood at a secret satellite station five hundred kilometres south of Auckland, uses new equipment to trace a spacecraft coming from outside the solar system. He knows that an alien ship has arrived but decides to follow up his findings personally rather than reporting it to his superiors. This decision directly involves the lives of Cora, Bree and Kate's and his own in more ways than one, with dangerous outcomes.

Cora, Bree and Kate with help from Westley try to find out about their ancestors and the reasons they were brought to life as hatchlings. Also where are the other two from their batch?

Their findings lead them through a time-space continuum on a voyage of discovery. Are there other worlds of humans out there or are they are the only survivors from a destroyed civilisation?

*