by Kelli Kimble
“Now?”
“Before our groups split—when everyone lived inside—all babies were born from the tanks. It was a necessity to keep the population from expanding or contracting too quickly. Limited resources, you see.”
“That isn’t the case anymore,” I said. “You have access to whatever you need outside.”
“Yes. And let me just point out that it’s the goal of the colony to grow outside the mountain. We have hopes of resurrecting what we once were.”
I stayed silent. I didn’t want to know about his future plans. I just wanted to go back to my room.
“I can see you need some time to think about our potential arrangement. But before you decide, I have one more thing I’d like to show you.”
“You haven’t really explained our potential arrangement,” I said.
“Oh,” he said, surprised. “I thought it obvious. I’m proposing a union. You and I shall marry and produce a child. We can be traditional about that, of course, but it sounds like you’ve tried that without luck, so. . .” He trailed off.
“You thought I’d agree to let you cook up a baby for me in your lab tank?”
“‘Cook up a baby’. What a barbaric way to put it.”
“Well, I think it’s wrong. You’re depriving the baby of its mother.”
“It seems to me I’d be doing the opposite.” He held onto my arm and stopped, forcing me to stop, as well. “What is a woman who is never a mother?” He shook me as he continued. “I’m giving you the opportunity to have that. To produce an heir, to not be a slave, to unite our groups. And you would let the tanks be an obstacle to that?”
I stared at him, my mouth hanging open.
His eyes snapped, as if I’d pinched him, and he released my arm, brushing my sleeve gently into place before dropping his hand to his side. “I apologize, Fiona. I didn’t mean to handle you so. I was going to show you something else, but upon further reflection, I think it shall wait until tomorrow. I’ll escort you back to your room if you’d like.”
“I think I can manage to find my way,” I said. I wanted to get away from him.
We came to the stairwell, and he stopped. “As you wish. I’ll come to speak with you tomorrow, all right?”
I nodded without looking back at him and went down the stairs. When the first staircase ended, and I turned to the next one, I looked back up, but he was no longer in the doorway.
◆◆◆
Retracing my steps to the commissary, I saw Ray in the hallway. His face looked pinched and harried. He did not see me—or, he pretended not to see me. I stepped right into his path so that he had no choice but to acknowledge me.
“Fiona,” he said. “How are you?”
“Hello, Ray. It’s funny; nobody will tell me where to find you when I ask.”
“No? That is funny.” He jammed his hands into his pants pockets. “I really would like to stay and talk, but I have some things I need to do.”
“Please. I could use your help,” I said.
He looked away. “I wouldn’t be any help to you. Not now.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I really need to go.”
“Can we meet for dinner? Tonight? Please?”
He blew out a long, slow breath. “Fine. Meet in the commissary at six?”
I smiled. “I’ll see you then.”
He was already walking away, waving over his shoulder without looking back. I watched him go and wondered why he was in such a hurry. I went back to my room and mapped out what I’d learned of the floor plan.
At five, I could stand to wait no longer, and I went to the commissary. At dinner, real food was often served, and I avoided all things green. I loaded up my plate with as much meat and starch as the workers would allow and found an empty table off in the corner. The food was bland but closer to home than the spyro, and I chewed it slowly as I watched the crowd.
Nobody asked to sit with me, even when the room grew crowded. Normally, I would feel the prick of exclusion as I often had in the village, but today, I needed to be alone. At least, until Ray arrived.
He finally came, and I signaled him. He saw me and nodded, then went to collect his dinner. Soon, he sat down at the table. “Fiona,” he said. He did not mince words and began to eat.
“Remember when we first met, and you and Elliot made fun of the way I ate?” I asked.
He looked up from his food. “Sorry,” he said. “I’m a little nervous.”
“About what?”
“This.”
“I don’t know why. I’m hardly anything to get nervous about.”
“Not you, I mean—I’m nervous to answer your questions.”
“Oh,” I said, surprised. “But, I only want to know where Elliot is.”
“I’m not allowed to tell you that.” He shoveled a huge bite of potatoes into his mouth.
“But why?”
He studied his plate. “That’s why I’m nervous.”
“Oh.” I fiddled with the eating utensils. We didn’t use them outside, at least not beyond a wooden scoop. They still felt awkward in my grip. “Then, why did you agree to meet me?”
“I knew I had to tell you at least that.” He studied a point on the wall above my head. “Did you know we’re related?” he asked.
I laughed. “No. How could that possibly be?” A tiny kernel of hope that he might be of the first family sprouted in me. If he was part of the first family, then I wasn’t the last remaining heir.
“The woman you call the queen mother, the founder of your village. You descend from her. But, she was pregnant before she took on that role. That baby’s father rebuilt the colony here. I’m descended from him.”
My heart sank a bit. But still, he was a relative. It was more than I’d had a moment ago. “Do you have other family that I’d be related to, as well?”
“Yes. But, I don’t think you’d want to meet them. They don’t appreciate the president’s plan.”
Disappointment washed over me. It must have shown on my face. He reached across the table and touched my arm. “Things will change,” he said. “When everything falls into place, people will be more willing to accept it.”
“What things?”
“Didn’t he tell you? He said he had.”
“He wants me to have a baby with him, to unite our two groups. I’ve never heard something so ridiculous.”
“What’s so ridiculous about it? It seems to me like it would work. Historically, royal houses did things like that all the time. And you did it. Isn’t that why you were chosen? Because someone wanted to produce the royal offspring with you?”
“We have totally different civilizations. A baby isn’t going to change that.”
“No, maybe not right away,” he conceded. “But, something that brings us together on common ground—that could go a long way.”
“You really believe it could have an impact?”
He nodded as he scraped the last bit of food from his plate. “I do.”
I sat back in my chair and closed my eyes. It would be nice to talk to the queen, to hear what she thought of such a plan. Could I bridge the gap? Could I unite humanity into a single, happy group? “When did you talk to him? Leo?”
“Just after I ran into you in the hall earlier. I couldn’t talk because, I was late to meet him.”
“But, I was with him. Just before that. How could he have met you?”
“He’s the president. He can keep people waiting if it suits him. Maybe he didn’t think he was going to have to spend as much time with you as he did.”
I thought back to our meeting. Leo had ended our discussion by saying he had things to see to. “Did he put you up to this? Telling me that you think I should do it?”
“No,” he said. His voice was flat.
“And you can’t tell me anything about Elliot? Where he is? Whether he’s alive? How he’s doing?”
He flinched as I said it. “I’m sorry, Fiona. I want to tell you. But, I can’t.�
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“Can’t or won’t?”
He shook his head but didn’t answer.
“Your family doesn’t like the plan,” I pointed out. “Why would anyone else in here like it? In nearly two weeks, nobody has spoken to me, unless I spoke first. And then, it was all they could do to get away from me. How is this plan going to be accepted by all these people?”
“It won’t. Not at first. The council will get behind it, though. They know what the stakes are. They know the endgame. The others will fall in line after the council gives it a blessing.”
I stood and collected all my dishes. “I’m glad you agreed to talk,” I said through clenched teeth. “But, I think you’re only making this choice more difficult.”
He watched me in silence as I arranged everything on my tray, then he stood to face me. “The morning I first met you—I just wanted you to know. Before you woke up, Elliot told me he believed in you. That you could make the life of the people in your village better. It’s why he chose you. And what he said about you is why I did what I did. I hope you’ll understand that.”
He picked up his tray and walked away.
Chapter 9
I woke to a single, sharp knock on my door the next morning. I threw the covers back and had my feet on the floor before I remembered how cold the cement was on my bare feet. I sat back into the bed and started searching for the stockings I’d stripped off in my sleep. But, the knock repeated, and I gave up.
I opened the door and found Leo standing there. He was holding a tray of breakfast foods. “Might I come in?” he asked. His voice was calm and polite, his smile pleasant, though not entirely believable.
“All right,” I said, backing up to allow him to pass.
He glided in and set the tray on the table. “I took the liberty of providing breakfast. I thought we could chat a bit. Maybe get to know one another.” He motioned towards one of the other chairs as he sat down. “Won’t you join me?”
I sat across from him and watched as he set dishes and utensils out for us, and then parceled out the food. He’d brought scrambled eggs, spyro, slices of meat, melon, and oatmeal.
“Thank you,” I said.
I watched as he picked up a piece of linen and set it in his lap, and I did the same, though I didn’t know what it was for.
“You’re welcome.” He picked up his fork and began eating his eggs. “I know what I proposed to you yesterday came as something of a surprise to you. But when I woke this morning, it became clear to me that I have to work on easing your mind. I can’t just expect you to leave all that you know behind and join with me, a total stranger.”
I nodded. It struck me then that he was quite intelligent, and I needed to be careful what I said. I couldn’t give him any more ammunition than he already had.
“I thought we could share with one another. I’d like to know more about you. About where you’re from. What it was like. What you’re like.”
“That’s kind of broad,” I said. “Maybe start with a specific question.”
“Okay. Where did you live in your village, growing up? With the queen?”
“No. The children all live in communal huts after they’re weened. The hut I lived in when I was a toddler had five other girls. By the time I was of age for the choosing, only one of those girls was still alive. I’m sure you understand that in the village, not many young people live into adulthood. That is why we have the choosing and why it’s so important.”
He nodded but didn’t comment. I didn’t want to say anything more. From his expression, he didn’t understand, even though I’d just told him why. I looked down at my oatmeal and stirred it with the metal scoop-utensil he’d given me.
“You don’t have to feel bad,” he finally said. “About the choosing.”
“I don’t,” I said. “The choosing is how our population stays steady. Without it, we wouldn’t have enough children to survive.”
“I know that’s what they’ve told you, what you believe.”
I pointed my scoop at him. “If you can be callous enough to grow babies in a tank, then I don’t think you have room to judge.”
He raised his hands in defeat and smiled. “Point taken. Tell me about life in your village. The girls in your hut, were you close with them? Like sisters?”
“No. Not really.”
“But didn’t you spend all your time with them? How could you not be close?”
“I didn’t spend any time with them. The royal heir doesn’t get to have a childhood. I spent all my time with the queen or her ladies, learning about the village and what my role would be when it was time.”
“What sort of things did you learn?”
“I observed the queen, holding her daily mediations. I learned what every role in the village was and how it contributed.”
“The other girls. They were jealous?”
“I don’t know. Maybe.”
“It sounds like this lack of friendship was hard for you. You were isolated, alone. You had no playmates at all?”
I thought back to living in the hut. The other girls were all fine. We’d gotten along. But as they died off, I became less interested in them. They were only the backdrop. It was the women in the hut, the caretakers, whom I bonded with.
One in particular stuck in my memory. Her name was Star. My first memories were of her bathing me in the pond, brushing my hair, soothing me when I’d scraped a knee. I was maybe seven or eight when she was abruptly moved to another hut. A caretaker I’d had later on told me that the queen shuffled them whenever I grew too attached to someone. And further, the caretakers didn’t like being ripped from their own cherished wards to suit the queen’s whims. After that, I resisted growing close to those who cared for me, afraid of having them pulled from my grasp.
“The future queen isn’t really someone that the other children want to play with,” I finally said.
“It sounds very lonesome.”
“How did you become president?” I asked.
“When I was a lad, my father introduced me to the colony president. He was kind to me. I think he saw something of himself in me. He mentored me, much the way your mother mentored you. He brought me to council meetings as a page. He introduced me to all the members. He formed a junior council of young people and recommended me for it. The council members were all familiar with me—thanks to him—and I was accepted.
“The junior council didn’t do much of anything impactful. It was our job to try and get the other young people involved in the colony. The adults felt that my generation was detached, that we didn’t want to participate. Once I got a taste of being on that council, I knew I would not be happy with anything, short of being president myself.”
I studied him. His clothes were a little different from most of the other people. He wore a shirt of stiff cotton that buttoned down the front, instead of the softer, pullover tunic. He was wearing a ring on his right ring finger. It had a large, square, purple stone in it, and the band was intricately carved.
“I see you’ve noticed my ring. It’s been passed down through many generations in my family. It belonged to one of the original colony members.” He drew it from his finger and passed it across the table. “Would you like to see it closer?”
I waited until he released the ring and pulled his hand away. It felt heavier than I thought it would when I picked it up. It was warm from his hand. The inside of the band was worn completely smooth. “So, it was an easy step, going from this junior council to the presidency,” I said, putting the ring down.
“Oh, no. I spent many years working very hard to get to this point.” He laughed. “My first two council elections, I lost. I had so much to learn. But the president, he believed in me. He never let me give up.”
“It must have been nice to have such a supporter.” I pushed the ring back across the table. “The ring is quite beautiful,” I said.
“It will be passed down to my children,” he said. He leveled his gaze at me, and I realized he was trying
to imply they might be my children, as well. I looked away. “I’ve only been president here for two years. The president is something like your queen, you know. They don’t have a term limit, like the council. Once elected, the position is yours, until you die or are unable to perform the function anymore.”
“Your mentor is dead, then.”
“Oh, yes. And I miss him dearly. Whenever I have to make a major decision, I spend a lot of time thinking about what he would have done.”
“How did he die?”
“He was old and frail.” He waved his hand as if the cause were obvious.
“Did you kill him?”
He flinched. “Why on Earth would you think such a thing? No, I didn’t kill him. He was like a father to me.”
I leaned back in my chair. “It happened in the village once. The heir killed the queen so that she could take the queen’s place.”
“Would you kill your mother to take her place?”
“Of course not.”
“Well, neither would I.”
I ignored that. I crossed my arms and stared at him. “Where’s Elliot?”
“Elliot. He’s such a sticking point for you. And I don’t understand why; you barely even knew him.”
“He killed a man for me. Whether I know him or not, I should at least be concerned for his welfare.”
Leo sighed and stood from the table. “I can see we aren’t going to make progress until your mind is set at ease. I’ll take you to him now.”
I started collecting the dishes, but he took my arm and pulled me towards the door. “I’ll send someone to see to that. Let’s go.”
“But, I’m not dressed,” I said. “Just wait for me out here. I’ll be out in a moment.”
He pressed his lips into a thin line. He wasn’t the sort of person who liked to wait. Or maybe, he was the sort of person who didn’t want to be questioned. Maybe both.
I extracted my arm from his grip and directed him out to the hall. I closed the door and quickly dressed. Then, I went out into the hall. “I just need a moment to wash up,” I said moving, down the hall towards the bathroom. He frowned, and I hid my smile behind my hand.
