by Eric Warren
“No, sir.”
“I don’t suppose you know where she is, do you?” he asked, turning to Arista. She remained silent. McCulluh exhaled loudly. “Look, this is going to be a lot harder on everyone until you start cooperating. I know you’re tired, you’ve been gone a long time but we need to chat first. I get it, I’ve been up sixteen hours myself.”
Arista’s brow furrowed. What was he asking her? He knew who she was, right? There weren’t two human Arista Barnes’s out there, were there?
She walked over and sat on the couch.
“That’s a start, at least.” He turned his chair to face her. The area behind his desk, she could clearly see it now the desk no longer blocked her, was clean and devoid of anything out of place. No hidden areas for weapons or even filing cabinets. McCulluh was a neat-freak. She felt a pang of longing to have something in common with another human but shut it down. They were the enemy.
“Let’s try it again. Do you have any information on Forsythia? Do you even know who I’m talking about?”
If she told him she didn’t know who Sy was he’d think she was lying. Considering Sy herself had told Arista she’d been in contact with McCulluh. But when had been the last time? Was it before Sy revealed her true nature? Or after?
“The last time I heard from her she was preparing to enter a Gate. I didn’t see or hear from her again,” Arista said.
McCulluh regarded her. “Did she say why or where she was going?”
“She was searching for me, I assume.” Arista pulled the canvas bag tighter around her. If necessary, she could pull a drive out and threaten them with it.
“Very well. Anything else?”
Arista shook her head.
McCulluh took a deep breath. He seemed more agitated now; in fact, she could see sweat beads on his forehead. Something was wrong. She should be able to read his life signs. The Device should be picking them up. But she wasn’t getting anything from the machine in her head. Not her own vitals, not a GLS, nothing. How long had it been off? And why?
Her heart raced. They’d done it. They’d turned it off…but when? She’d gotten some readings as soon as they came through the Gate. But then…ever since she’d been discovered…it hadn’t given her anything. That officer must have done it when he disabled her refractor.
“Okay. Do you have anything to report? You’ve been gone a long time,” McCulluh said.
“Report? About what?” she asked, confused.
McCulluh had a pained look on his face, then his hand shot to his temple. “Damn. That’s right. You’re the one with memory loss.” He turned back to his desk, pulling up a holographic display. “Well, fuck.” He glanced back over his shoulder at her. “Do you have any intact memories before the age of eight?”
He knew about her memory loss? Had he known her before she left? He looked to be in about his late forties or maybe early fifties, so it was certainly possible. It only now occurred to Arista he was the oldest person she’d ever met. Unless…unless she’d known him too.
She didn’t know what to do…lie and say she had her memories and subject herself to questions she couldn’t answer, or possibly erase what little goodwill she’d garnered by accident by telling the truth.
She did the only thing she could think of: she didn’t say a word.
McCulluh sighed and turned back to the officer. “Did she tell you anything else? Anything important?”
“No, sir. She inquired as to where I was taking her. And I caught her speaking to Abrams in hushed tones. But I couldn’t make it out.”
McCulluh frowned, his lips disappearing under the bushiness of his beard and moustache. “Here’s what we’re going to do. We need to re-familiarize you with this place. Because right now it seems to me like you don’t trust me and that’s giving me more heartburn than I’m comfortable with.” He tapped something on his desk which beeped. “Still full memory loss, I’m bringing her to you.”
“Understood,” a female voice replied.
He tapped the desk again and rose. “Let’s go, follow me.”
Shit. She’d just lost what little leverage she’d had. She should have said something. That’s what indecision got her, a big fat nothing. McCulluh was right, she didn’t trust him. Or anyone else in this place. Why should she? But maybe she should have pretended like she did, to curry more favor. After all, they were all humans, why not pretend like she was happy to be here? To be out of the machine world? Now that she’d been discovered, it was the best plan she could hope for.
“I’m sorry,” Arista said, standing as well. “I’m a little disoriented. This is all sudden for me.”
McCulluh regarded her. “Finally some response. Then this will be good for you. We’ll be following Hudson here.”
Hudson nodded, then turned and the automatic sliding doors opened for him. When they emerged into the hallway Arista was relieved to see no trace of Frees. She’d been afraid he might have hung around after being dismissed, but hopefully he was beginning the search. She wondered if she could keep a secure comm with him in this place. Their technology already seemed more advanced than anything else she’d seen so it might not be advisable. There was a good chance they could break into her personal comm system.
McCulluh came up beside her as they followed Hudson down a separate hallway than the one she’d come from.
“Arista Barnes, volunteer subject seventeen,” McCulluh said.
“Volunteer subject?” She hadn’t meant to ask out loud, but Sy had told her something similar. Suddenly she wanted to do nothing but talk.
McCulluh sighed again. “This is going to be a long recovery. They won’t want to just go in and spark your memories, they’ll want to try and coax it out of you. Get you to remember on your own, which is a complete waste of time.” He seemed to be talking to himself more than her. “But I’m not in charge of research so I’ll be handing you off. Once you get everything back then we’ll talk again.”
That didn’t sound good. Did they have the technology to help her remember her life before? But going in and sparking seemed invasive. Perhaps it was better they didn’t do that after all.
They continued down the wide hallway until the paneling and floor turned to a light gray while the ceiling remained white. Every twenty feet or so there was a small groove that ran around the perimeter of the hallway from the floor to both walls to the ceiling. Her first thought was some kind of security system and she would bet anything those strips were a type of magnetic field that could contain someone. Now the Device was no longer feeding her information she found she missed it.
Up on the left were a row of giant windows; the first she’d seen since arriving. Hopefully she’d at least get an idea of where they were. As they reached the windows she had to work to keep her jaw from dropping.
Beyond was a gigantic cavern, like nothing she’d ever seen before, carved out of the inside of what had to be a massive mountain. At least fifty feet below her the ground resembled an old airport; with different alcoves cut out of the cavern walls themselves for small ships, none of which she recognized. The floor itself was either paved or concrete, she couldn’t tell, and marked with all the signs of a runway. People buzzed around like bees, taking supplies back and forth, checking on each of the ships, performing maintenance. Above them the ceiling of the cave was another fifty or sixty feet up, she couldn’t quite tell; and giant stalactites jutted down, like massive blades. It was like she was inside a butcher’s block.
Arista couldn’t comprehend how the humans had built something so massive. Sure, they’d been here for ninety years but to displace that much rock and stone and not have the structure collapse on them? The amount of manpower and time it must have taken was like nothing else she’d ever seen. Clearly these humans had a technology far beyond anything she’d conceived of until this point. This very structure proved it.
“Oh yes. That’s the airport,” McCulluh said. “Bring back any memories?” He didn’t slow in stride, only continued along as if
he didn’t care if Arista answered him or not.
“Maybe,” she said.
“Don’t lie, it doesn’t help your situation,” McCulluh added. “If you don’t remember it, just say so.”
“I don’t remember it.”
He set his jaw. “That’s better. We’re almost there.”
The hallway curved around to the right and split off in a T-junction. Directly in front of them sat another door identical to McCulluh’s. Hudson tapped the small panel beside the door and it slid open.
Inside sat two women. One behind another desk, however this one was much sleeker and more modern than McCulluh’s desk. It looked like a futuristic spaceship. The woman behind it was square-shouldered, with shoulder-length brown hair sleeker than any hair Arista had ever seen. It was like a solid silk sheet. The other woman wore large-rimmed black glasses almost too large for her dark brown eyes and dark red hair that had been tied into a messy bun on the top of her head. A smattering of freckles played across the bridge of her nose, despite the fact she had to be in her late forties. And yet, she had a youthful appearance about her, one Arista couldn’t pin down. The freckled woman’s eyes appraised Arista then slid down to her arm, or, more what was left of her arm. She wanted to try and hide it behind her back, from the glare the woman gave her it was as if she’d never seen anything so horrible in her life.
“Here,” McCulluh said. “We’re still trying to find Forsythia. Other than her…injury she is otherwise unharmed.”
The woman behind the desk stood, her palms flat on the surface before her. “Thank you. Come in, Arista.” It was the woman she’d heard in McCulluh’s office.
McCulluh huffed and left while Hudson remained stationed at the door.
“You must be exhausted,” the woman said. Arista tried to keep her attention on her, but the other woman wouldn’t stop looking at Arista’s arm.
“You want to take a picture?” Arista snapped, raising the stump up and down as if it were waving.
The woman turned away, adjusting her glasses.
“Please excuse Jessika,” the other woman said. “Sy told us about the loss of your hand. We didn’t realize the damage was more…severe.” She held out a hand as McCulluh had done. “My name is Echo. I am the freely-elected leader of the human race. The last time I saw you I was still quite young myself, having just been recently instated.”
Arista begrudgingly took her hand. She had to make a better impression than she had with McCulluh. “I knew you?” she asked.
“So, it’s true. You don’t remember. That’s no matter,” Echo said, releasing her hand and indicating for her to sit. “This is Jessika, one of the heads of our research division. I don’t suppose you remember her either?”
Arista shook her head. She didn’t even want to look Jessika in the eye; she was too afraid the woman was still sneaking glances at her arm. Hadn’t they ever seen an amputee before? She realized she’d been looking forward to this moment her entire life: sitting among humans. But now it was here she wanted to be somewhere else. How quickly things could change.
“That’s not a problem,” Echo said. “You look tired and famished so why don’t we do this later. When you’re feeling better?”
How much better could she feel? It was only going to get worse; the hotel room the Cadre had forced her in flashed through her mind. Perhaps she should have appreciated the luxury of it at the time. Whatever the humans had planned for her, it had to be worse.
“Hudson?” Echo called, and the man stepped forward. “Please take Arista to her quarters.”
Quarters. She almost laughed. That was a nice way of putting it.
“We’ll talk again later,” Echo said and excused them. Arista braced herself for the other shoe to fall.
Twelve
“Here we are,” Hudson said, directing her to an unmarked door along a nondescript hallway. This one was marked with red accents on the walls, and it had taken some time getting here from where she’d been with Echo. She hadn’t seen any more windows and hadn’t wanted to engage Hudson in conversation. Amazingly they hadn’t taken the bag from her yet. Did they just not know there were highly volatile explosives inside or did they not care? If they could create containment fields anywhere in the compound, maybe it didn’t matter if she could detonate them. Maybe her entire plan had been too naïve.
“When you’re feeling better let me know,” Hudson said. “Either I or someone else will be stationed right outside.”
Arista furrowed her brow. “What kind of prison is this?”
Hudson made a tiny move with his head, indicating confusion. “Prison? No, ma’am. These are your personal quarters.” He moved to the side. “Please place your hand here.” He indicated to the small pad beside the door. Arista did, and the door slid open.
“Wait, so you’re not throwing me in jail?”
“Why would we do that?” Hudson asked, his eyebrows drawing together. He indicated the room beyond. “Inside you should find everything you’ll need. Feel free to take your time. I will be out here if you need anything.”
It had to be a trap. She looked inside the doorway and it seemed like a normal room inside. But she couldn’t be sure. What if it was a holographic mirage? What if they wanted her to cross of her own free will? To prove they had some kind of influence over her?
No. That didn’t make sense even to her. Whatever they were doing, they were making a good show of it. She might as well indulge them, at least until she heard from Frees. She hoped he was hurrying, there was no telling how much time Trymian and the others had before they were overwhelmed.
She took one last look at Hudson then stepped over the threshold. The door slid closed behind her, sealing all the ambient sounds of the colony along with it. The room itself was sparse but seemed comfortable enough. To her left was a bed against the same wall as the door she’d just come through, and on the other side of it a closet with what looked like clothes inside already. Had they made a wardrobe for her?
In front of that sat a small desk built into the wall of the room with a plush chair and even an interface terminal. To her right stood a small table, and what resembled a kitchen, she could make out various appliances, but they looked nothing like the ones she was familiar with. They were all sleeker, more modern. It’s what she imagined appliances fifty or a hundred years in the future might look like. She almost smacked her head. Of course, that’s exactly what they were. The humans weren’t stuck in 2051 like all the machines were; they had continued to evolve and innovate. So it would make complete sense everything they had was much more advanced. They had created the Gates after all. She walked over and touched the door to the refrigerator, it slid out of sight, curving around and into a barely-visible slit along the side of the appliance. Inside was row after row of items, some in containers and others like the fruits and vegetables sitting on the shelves. Arista grabbed the first thing she recognized—an apple—and bit into it.
An explosion of flavor. Unlike anything she’d ever tasted before. The apple was juicy and yet firm, the perfect consistency. It wasn’t often she found apples in the wild but half the time they were already starting to go soft. This was one of the freshest fruits she’d ever tasted. She finished it off easily then reached for something else, finding she was famished. When was the last time she’d eaten? Those Japanese fruits? And it had been a month since she’d used her nutrient shots Mom developed for her. She’d managed to get some of the nutrients she needed from what she was eating but she could tell it wasn’t enough. She had too high of a reliance on fruits and vegetables. Not enough balance with everything else.
The container was full of rice that had been flavored with some spices she didn’t recognize. She took a bite and realized it would be better warmed up. Where was the microwave in this place?
As she moved away from the refrigerator the door automatically closed again, sealing the food back up. If this was a prison, it was a nice one. Did the humans eat like this all the time? Plenty of food and
none of it tasting like motor oil. She hadn’t even considered they’d have things to eat here.
Beside the refrigerator sat a device she didn’t recognize. It looked like a hot plate or maybe the top of a glass range, but she couldn’t place it. There didn’t appear to be a microwave anywhere. She tapped the flat surface, because that’s all it was, just a flat—maybe granite—surface elevated above the counter by two or three inches. And as soon as she tapped it a display appeared below, as if projected from the plate itself. It had two primary options, heat and cool. She tapped heat and it prompted her to place what she wanted heated on the plate. She laid the container of rice on top, wondering if it would melt it and hit start.
Heat emanated from the device, but she couldn’t determine from where. Five seconds later a bell somewhere dinged and she realized the rice was giving off steam.
“Ha!” she exclaimed. She gingerly picked up the container to find it was still room temperature and opened the first drawer below the heating device, finding the silverware. The knives caught her eye. They obviously weren’t worried about her attacking anyone. But what was really going on here? None of this made sense. Sy had been contracted to find her and bring her back, after she’d destroyed the other Cadre members. Is that what they thought happened? That it was she, and not Sy, who had killed Hogo-sha, taking down one-third of the Cadre? They weren’t treating her like a prisoner. More like an honored guest. Could she risk opening a comm to Frees?
As she shoved the rice into her mouth she almost lost all desire to do anything but eat. She’d never tasted anything so amazing in her life. There were so many flavors she couldn’t even recognize them all, but she caught hints of basil, oregano, and a hot chili flavor.
She finished the container easily and dropped it into the sink. Hold up. Pace yourself. It isn’t going anywhere.
Arista took a deep breath, relishing the taste still on her tongue. If she ate too much at once she’d vomit; her system wasn’t used to all this richness and flavor. She’d need to take it slow.
