by Kelli Kimble
He looked away. “I’m sure Ray will fill you in.”
I glanced at the corner of the hallway, where I knew the woman was stationed, just out of my sight. There was a shadow against the wall. A man.
“Ray?” I called.
The shadow moved, and he emerged around the corner.
I took a step out of the cell. Leo’s words about the cell being for my own safety, as well as his, drifted through my head. Was I safe outside of the cell? But, it didn’t matter. Ray would take me to Elliot, and everything would be fine.
I grabbed his arm and smiled up at him. “I’m so glad to see you,” I said.
He nodded and clasped my arm in return. But, I could see he was wrapped in a layer of sadness. “Come on,” he said. “I’ll show you to your room.”
I followed him. We went past the woman, who was seated at a small, metal table. She gave a small smile as we went by but didn’t look up.
Ray led the way through a series of hallways. We didn’t encounter many people, but those we did encounter greeted Ray with sympathetic eyes and looked at me with curiosity. Ray didn’t introduce me to anyone and kept moving.
“What’s going on?” I said.
“I’m taking you to your room,” he said.
I took hold of his hand and forced him to stop. “Not that. Why did Leo let me out?”
He laughed. It was a short, bitter sound. “You’re on a first name basis with the president, eh?”
“I don’t know what else to call him. That’s what he said his name was.”
“You’re right. That’s his name.” He removed my hand from his and kept walking.
“But—what’s going on?” I said. I ran after him, feeling like a fool.
His face hardened, and he glanced at me. “Please, just let me show you your room. I don’t want to do this here.”
“Okay,” I said. Worry rumbled in my heart. Was Ray all right? Was Elliot?
We went up some stairs and through more nondescript halls. I hoped that I wouldn’t have to find my way anywhere on my own. We passed a large room with tables and chairs, where people were eating. A few people watched us walk by.
“That’s the commissary, if you’re hungry later.” He pointed in as we passed.
We turned right down a hallway, and then left down a second hallway, and finally, he stopped at the fourth door on the right. He waved a small, oval object that looked like a flat egg in front of the doorknob. There was an audible click, and he turned the handle.
“This is your room,” he said. He held the door open for me and guided me inside. He closed the door and held out the oval object, dropping it into my hand. “This is your key fob. I checked, and it’s the only one tuned to this door. So, don’t lose it.”
“Okay,” I said. I looked around the room. It was simple but comfortable. The floor was made of the same grey cement as everywhere else, but the walls were light blue, rather than bare. A table with two chairs stood at one end of the room, and at the other end, a pad like the one I’d slept on in my cell was on a raised platform. A neat pile of blankets and pillows were on it. A metal cabinet stood in the corner.
There was no other door, though. And unlike my cell, where a chamber pot in the corner took care of my biological needs, there did not seem to be any facilities.
“Where might I bathe? And address my waste?” I asked. A flush crept up my cheeks.
“This room shares a bathroom with several others. Out in the hall, turn left, and it’s the door at the end of the hall.”
I nodded. I wanted to ask what was going on again, but his reaction from earlier told me I needed to let him bring it up first.
He went to the sleeping pad and unfolded the blankets. He covered the pad in a layer of thin, cotton fabric, much finer than any I had ever seen before. It tucked under the edges of the pad neatly. He covered it with another layer of cotton, and then the blanket. He placed the pillow inside a cotton bag, and after plumping it, placed it at the head of the pad. “The cabinet there has a few changes of clothes for you. I’ll show you where the laundry is after you’ve gotten better acquainted with the layout. I know the halls can be confusing. There should be enough to last you a few days.”
“Okay,” I said.
“Any questions?”
Yes, I thought. Some big ones. But, I shook my head.
He approached the door. “I’ll see you around.”
Panic overtook me. He was going to leave me alone without telling me anything. “Ray?” I said. My voice sounded thin and warbled.
He paused at the door and looked back at me. “Yes?”
It struck me, then. His sadness was about Genesee. “Did they find her? The search parties?”
He swallowed, and his Adam’s apple bumped up and down. He nodded.
I took a step towards him, but he shifted his arm in front of his body to deflect me. I stopped. “Is she all right, then?”
“She’s dead. Felines.”
I gasped. “I’m sorry, Ray. How terrible.”
Emotions played across his face, but in the end, it settled on anger. “Why should I care? Everyone keeps acting like this. She was just some woman I knew.”
“Oh,” I said. “It didn’t seem that way, not to Elliot.”
“Elliot is an idiot. He shouldn’t have brought you here. Nothing good is going to come of any of this. She died for nothing.”
Before I could respond, he left the room, slamming the door behind him. I flinched at the sound.
Maybe he was right, but I didn’t have the luxury of turning things back to the way they were. I had to keep my thoughts clear, and my eyes open. And the first step to that was feeling human again. I collected fresh clothing from the cabinet in my room and went to the bathroom. I cleaned up and dressed myself.
Now, I just had to find Elliot and figure out what was going on.
Chapter 8
After I got lost the third time, I learned a trick: follow a pattern, and then, carefully document each pattern as I found it.
Though I remembered I only had to turn left outside my door, right at the hallway, and left at the second turn to get to the room where they served food, I also learned I could get there if I took a series of six left-hand turns, as long as I always turned at a dead-end or the second hallway. I discovered a meeting hall (two lefts, two rights, one left), a classroom (one left, three rights—and full of students when I encountered it), and the laundry (three rights, two lefts, one right).
Every time I ventured out, I got a little braver. People still looked at me with curious stares, but nobody ever spoke to me, unless I addressed them first. Then, they answered my questions courteously and scuttled away as soon as politeness allowed it.
I asked each person who would speak to me if they knew Ray. Everyone did, but when pressed for his location, they would become vague; they’d seen him yesterday in the commissary or that morning at the laundry. If I asked where his room was, I was given directions that led nowhere.
Eight days passed. The people seemed to stare at me less, and I didn’t get lost anymore. I decided when I got up on the ninth day that I was going to try and find my way to another level. I remembered that Ray had brought me up some stairs, and it was time I found them and followed them somewhere else.
I went to the commissary and downed a mug of spyro. It was still horrible, but I could drink it now without gagging. I was leaving when I ran into Leo.
“Fiona. I see you’re feeling at home,” he said.
“I wouldn’t say that.”
“What a pity. What can I do to help?”
“Where can I find Ray? And Elliot?”
He nodded. “I see the time has come for us to have a chat.” He steered me from the commissary and down the hall. “We’ll go to my office, then, shall we?”
“All right,” I agreed. I paid careful attention to the route he took to get there so that I could document it later. We passed the stairs, and I filed that away in my head, too.
We came
to a large, wooden door. It seemed out of place, since everything else was made of metal or cement. He swung it open, and we entered a large, high-ceilinged chamber. There was a desk near the door, and a woman was sitting at it. She bowed her head as we passed. It appeared to be more out of fear than respect, and I stared at her as we walked by. Ornate but tired-looking chairs lined the long, narrow room on either side.
At the far end of the hall, he opened another door and held it for me. I went through and stopped short. The room was stifling in comparison to the room we’d just left. A large wooden desk dominated the center. Leo closed the door and walked around the desk to stand behind it. “Shall we sit?”
He indicated a straight-backed chair in front of the desk, while he sat in a large, cushioned chair behind it. The chair nearly engulfed him, it was so large.
I noticed that, as he leaned forward over the desk, the surface was so highly polished that I could see up his nose in the reflection. I stifled the urge to giggle.
“So. You want to stay here. For an education?”
“That was our original hope,” I said. “I didn’t realize until recently how little about the world I actually know.”
“And what is it you offer us in return?”
I opened my mouth to respond but could think of no reason that was not self-serving.
“I see you now understand my point of view,” he said. He steepled his fingers under his chin. “We will be bearing all the risk with no benefit. What would be the point in that?”
“You said before that I could offer you my outdoor experience.”
He shrugged. “And you rightly pointed out that we have people who know enough.”
I sat motionlessly in the chair. What could I say that would change his mind?
“You can see my predicament, I presume?”
“Yes,” I said.
“Good. Then, you will be receptive to my suggestion.”
A warning bell went off in my head. I shifted in the chair. “Maybe.”
“Ah, caution. A trait I admire in a person of power. A person like yourself.”
“I would hardly call myself a person of power.”
“But, I would. And my opinion is what’s important at the moment, don’t you agree? If I don’t want to let you stay, if I don’t want to help you learn, if I don’t want to protect you—then why are we here, talking?”
I nodded. He was right. He held all the power in this situation. “Why don’t you just tell me what you want, Leo?”
He smiled. “That’s my girl. I knew you had it in you.”
I didn’t want to know what he thought I had in me. I scowled and turned to look at a large, square block on the wall that was decorated with a harsh display of other, colored blocks.
“Do you like it?” he asked. He indicated the square. “The painting, I mean. It was painted before the winter, by a famous artist. Piet Mondrian. The forefathers were lucky enough to save this one. Not much art from then exists.”
“Art?”
“Yes, of course. That’s something you aren’t experienced in. Art is a construct of expression. We have a few artists here in the mountain. Nobody as talented as Piet, though.”
I looked back at him. “Are you going to answer me?”
He coughed. “You’ve asked about Elliot. Would you like to see him?”
“Yes,” I said, his agenda forgotten for the moment. “Where is he?”
“I will take you to him.” He paused and slid his eyes over me. “When we’re done here.”
“Okay. Are we done?”
“What I want is for our two groups to merge. I believe that you are the key to that desire. I think you have influence with the queen, and if you are her successor, then, of course, you also have ultimate influence over your group.”
“But, I’m not her successor,” I said. “I haven’t produced an heir.”
He waved his hand dismissively. “We can take care of that. It’s the least of my worries.”
“It’s the greatest of mine,” I said.
“Yes, well. You aren’t seeing the big picture, and you don’t know the scientific capabilities we have here in the colony. So, you’ll excuse me if I don’t share your concerns.”
I didn’t answer. His attitude was starting to grind on me. I mentally shook myself and forced my mind to refocus. I needed to keep the conversation moving forward if I was going to get what I wanted. “All right. If you want me to agree to your terms, then you must convince me to dismiss my greatest worry. How do you intend to take care of it?”
He licked his lips, and then stood up and came around the desk. “Very well. Let us go for a walk.” He grasped my upper arm as if I were a misbehaving child. I resisted the urge to jerk away and allowed him to lead me from the room.
In the outer chamber, the woman was still sitting behind her desk. She pretended that she was not paying attention to us as he marched me past her desk, but I could see her studying me from the corner of her eye.
We left the office area, and he took me back to the stairs. We climbed up, passing several doors. He began to pant heavily.
“Are you all right?” I asked. It seemed to be a huge exertion for him.
He stopped and released my arm. Reaching into his pocket, he withdrew a folded square of linen and blotted at his forehead with it. The fabric had small flowers embroidered along the edge. He noticed me studying it. “It was my grandmother’s,” he said as he tucked it back inside his pocket. “She made it herself. Said she found it calming, though it seems a bit useless to spend so much time prettying something that one uses to wipe their nose.”
“But, you’ve treasured it all this time. How is that useless?”
He took a deep breath and began climbing the stairs again. “Up we go,” he said, not bothering to answer my question.
I fell into step behind him. Thankfully, we only passed one more door. I wasn’t sure he could have made it much farther.
We exited the stairs to a hallway like all of the others—grey cement floors with white block walls. There were a few people in the hall, wearing white coats over their clothing. They strode around with purpose, some of them holding rectangles of clear plastic.
“This floor is where most of the laboratories and research facilities are inside the mountain. These men and women are busy, making use of the pre-winter knowledge to extend our position in the world.”
He turned left, and I followed. Many of the rooms had large windows looking in on them, and I saw an array of things that made no sense. There was a smell in the air like rotten eggs. We went to the end of the hall, and he indicated a door.
“Here is where your concerns will be assuaged,” he said. “Before we go in, I should like to warn you that it might seem like a foreign concept. Just try to keep an open mind.”
He opened the door and held it for me. I passed in and looked around. Four large tanks of fluid sat on tables at the back of the room. Bubbles foamed up each tank, obscuring what was inside. There were three people working in the room.
“Mr. President, hello,” gushed one of the workers as she recognized the visitor. “Is there something we can do for you, Sir?” She wiped her hands on a towel and approached us. She was wearing a clear shield over her eyes, and she removed it; I’d assume out of respect for Leo.
“Hello, Chevrolet. How are you today?” He held his hand out and they grasped each other’s forearms. He didn’t wait for her to answer. “This is Fiona. She is visiting us, and I wanted her to see your lab.”
Chevrolet turned her attention to me. “Ah,” she said. “And what is the basis of your interest?” She tipped her head in question.
“Um—Leo tells me it will ease my fears,” I said.
Her eyes narrowed when I said the president’s name. “I’m sorry. Where are you visiting from?”
Leo caught her by the arm and led her deeper into the room, towards the tanks. I followed behind them, though I wasn’t sure whether he wanted me to or not.
“Fiona is curious about the birthing process,” he said smoothly to her as he released her arm. “Can you explain it?”
“Of course,” she indicated the tanks. “These are the current crop. We try to stagger harvesting so that we can almost always accommodate a new request. So, this first tank here will be ready in just a few more weeks.”
“May I have a closer look?” I didn’t understand what she meant. What was in the tanks that they meant to be harvesting?
She nodded and moved next to me so that we were both looking down into the murky water. In the gloom of the room, I couldn’t see anything.
“This one is quite active. Unusual, really. Here, watch.” She picked up a small rod that was on the table in front of the tank and dipped the tip into the water. The rod jerked in her hand, as if of its own accord. “See there? She grabbed onto it.”
Chevrolet twisted her wrist, and the rod emerged from the water. A tiny hand was clamped onto it.
I gasped and stepped back. Chevrolet looked at me. “Don’t worry; I didn’t hurt her,” she said. She withdrew the rod and turned to look at me, smiling.
I shook my head. “Of course not,” I said. I turned to Leo. “I’ve seen enough.”
He nodded. “Yes, I believe you have.” He thanked Chevrolet, and we left the room. A rushing sound was filling my ears, and I had to lean over to catch my breath as we entered the hallway.
“Tell me,” I said, heaving in another deep breath. “Tell me that isn’t what I thought it was.”
“You know I can’t do that,” he said. “Your eyes saw the truth.”
I couldn’t seem to catch my breath. Now, it was I who sounded like I was about to die.
“You’re upset,” he said, closing the lab door. He patted me on the back and waited for me to settle down.
“You’re growing babies in there—human beings—as if they were no better than a cob of corn.”
“Don’t be silly. Corn is biological material. Babies are biological material. You and I. . .” He pointed at each of us. “We’re all nothing more than that.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Were you born this way? From a tank?”
He laughed and started guiding me down the hall. “Oh, no. There are traditionalists among us, and my parents chose that route. Everyone chooses their own path now.”
