by Ramona Finn
“Where’s Mother?” I asked, sitting down next to him. Looking over his shoulder, I could see he was logged into her account, trying to cover for the fact that she was missing her shift again.
“Resting,” he said absentmindedly as he repaired one of the bugs in the code that measured waste from the Hydros.
I watched his fingers fly over the keyboard at speeds I could barely aspire to. He had the benefit of being ambidextrous—able to use both hands equally rather than having a dominant hand. He’d acquired the skill after a pipe accident had taken two fingers from his right hand. I’d been only six when it happened, but I vividly remembered him returning from Medical with his hand covered in bloody bandages, and sitting down at his temporary terminal to work. He hadn’t even gotten a full day off. For nights after that, he’d worked long after Mother and I were in bed, swearing at himself every time he missed a key. He’d stayed up late like that every night until coding without his missing fingers had become second nature. It had been an effort that kept us from starving since my mom had already fallen ill.
Suddenly, his hands stopped, and he turned in his seat to face me. I knew he had more work to do, and I felt guilty taking up his time. “Dinner is still on the table, so why don’t you sit and eat before she wakes up?”
I nodded, and went to sit down at the small iron table in the corner of our living space. It was just large enough to seat the three of us. It seemed larger every night my mother remained missing from the table. A plate of greens sat waiting for me. I tried to hide my disappointment. I’d hoped for at least a little grown meat, but times were tough. I knew my dad had been bartering with one of the farmer families to supplement what little food he could put on the table, so I never complained. I ate in silence, taking note of the fact that my plate was the only one on the table.
“You ate before I got home, right?” I asked, even though I knew he’d lie if he hadn’t.
“Mhmm,” he replied, not looking up from the work he’d resumed.
I sighed. No use arguing with him over it. Still, when he wasn’t looking, I set some of my food aside in the fridge for later. Just in case, I thought. Maybe he’d eat it if he thought I’d gotten enough. I washed my dish in silence before tiptoeing to my mother’s room. There, I listened at the door, afraid to knock in case she was sleeping.
“Come in, Ty,” my mother called from the other side. Somehow, she always knew when I was lingering. I opened the door, bracing myself for what I was about to see. In her youth, my mother had been a beautiful woman, but the Cough had stripped her of youth and beauty until all that was left was the frail skeleton that lay on the bed before me.
The lights were dimmed in her room, partially because her condition caused headaches and partially so that she wouldn’t have to watch herself deteriorate in the reflection of the steel walls that surrounded her. The walls gave the illusion of cleanliness, providing a barrier between us and the damp earth, but beneath the shining surface, we both knew a colony of black mold invaded the air with its spores.
“Come, sit,” my mother said, patting the bed beside her weakly. I obliged, albeit reluctantly. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to spend time with her—quite the opposite, really. It was just that facing her mortality became harder with each day.
“I have something… for you,” she wheezed, drawing in shallow breaths between utterances. She turned her right hand over and opened it. Nestled within her wiry palm was the necklace she and my father had made during their betrothal, as was the custom. It was made of brightly colored strands of woven cloth, which my mother had scavenged from the abandoned halls of the Geos. From the cloth hung a pendant of orange quartz which seemed to glow in the low light of the room. My father had hoarded his yen for ages to pay for the stone, which my mother had worn proudly on their wedding day.
She took my hand in hers, pressing the coveted necklace into my palm. “I remember when Tyler and I…” She paused to clear her throat as she blinked back tears. Crying would just trigger the Cough. She took a deep breath and started again. “I’ve been waiting…” she began, struggling against the illness that filled her lungs, “until you found a partner—”
A coughing fit stopped her mid-sentence. I hated when this happened. It always made me feel so helpless. And yet, there was nothing I could do but be by her side, rubbing her back gently as the Cough shook her fragile frame. I reached across her to the bedside table where a glass of water sat. When the coughing had finally subsided, I handed her the water, which she sipped cautiously before clearing her throat. “I thought this... might be a better time.”
The blood drained out of my face as the impact of her words reached my heart. This wasn’t a better time. She was worried that she was running out of time. That she’d die before seeing my wedding. She was supposed to be there at my someday wedding, not wasting away in a bed years before I’d even considered settling down.
Before I could protest, she closed my fingers around the necklace and laid back on the bed, her eyes drifting closed. She’d worn herself out. I watched her chest rise and fall, trying to reassure myself that she still had time before I finally kissed her forehead and tiptoed out the door.
I eased the door to her room shut, careful to hold the doorknob still to avoid the clicking sound it would otherwise make. I didn’t want to chance waking her.
“How is she?” my dad asked, not even looking up from Mother’s terminal.
“She talked more than usual,” I offered, not wanting to tell him the full truth. That she was preparing herself—all of us—for the end. I slid the necklace into the pocket of my coat and made a silent vow: I would save my mother, no matter what it took.
I made my way back to the refrigeration system, retrieving my dinner’s leftovers. “I’m going out,” I said.
“Shuttle won’t run again till morning,” my father reminded me.
“That’s okay, I don’t need it.” For a moment, I considered telling him everything. That there was someone else who could help us. That, if I found this healer, I wouldn’t have to hack my way into the Acceptance. I looked at the fine lines on his face, too clearly illuminated by the terminal’s green glow.
No. I couldn’t burden him any further. “I might be late,” I warned him. “Past curfew.”
He looked at me, raising an eyebrow. “If you get caught—”
“I know.”
He pressed his lips together until they formed a thin line.
“I’ll be careful, promise.” I didn’t wait for his response before slipping out the door.
Chapter Eight
Being out past curfew was an automatic strike. I had a while before I had to worry about it, but that didn’t mean I wanted to idle. I walked down the halls of living spaces at a calculated pace. Fast enough to get me where I was going quickly, but not so fast as to raise suspicion if I ran into anyone else on the way.
Although, chances were, if I was going to run into anyone on the way to the roped-off parts of the Geos, then they’d be up to no good also. My thoughts spiraled into anxiety as I got closer to my destination. The upper areas of the Geos had been abandoned before I was born. They’d been built when the Virus first broke out. Farrow Corp, in a rush to get as many people to safety as possible, had cut corners on things like air circulation, forcing us to abandon the area as we’d moved deeper underground.
I guessed they’d never expected us to live underground this long.
But one man’s forbidden space is another man’s ideal. It didn’t take too long for the Rejs to take over parts of the abandoned tunnels. Rejs lived outside of Farrow’s control. Lawless rejects who would kill you as soon as look at you. Running into one was definitely something I wanted to avoid.
I turned a corner and hit a dead-end. The elevator shaft had been locked off long ago, with a dirty, crooked “Out of Order” sign hung from its steel doors. I bit my lip. Nari hadn’t told me the elevators were no longer functional when she’d given me directions just before sending me o
n my way. Even if I could hack into the system and get them running without sounding an alarm, I wasn’t sure I wanted to risk being stuck in a steel cage if it malfunctioned. Or, worse, if the cable snapped. I shuddered.
No, there had to be another way. What had Nari said to do next?
Dammit, I’d stopped listening to her once she’d gotten to the part about the elevator. Great job, Ty! I chastised myself.
I felt around the elevator door for signs of anything that might help. My finger brushed against something smooth and cold. Glass? I pressed, and a screen lit up. A terminal!
The screen blinked green and black in front of me: Login.
I couldn’t use my own credentials without getting caught. I’d have to use something they’d assume had been stolen. My stomach tied itself in knots as I typed in “Lia Coder.” When prompted, I typed my mother’s assigned password, which I’d memorized from watching my dad log on to her terminal, and waited with baited breath.
Login Accepted. I breathed out a sigh of relief.
Now, to get to work.
I opened the system records for the old tunnels. I saw that they’d been locked down for over twenty years, but there were regular maintenance checks. That meant the elevators were operational, but someone had gone to a lot of trouble to make sure they didn’t seem that way. In fact, even most coders would have had trouble decoding the right sequence to get them up and running again. Good thing I wasn’t most coders.
It only took me three tries before the elevator lights sprang to life. A ding announced the arrival of the lift. I steeled myself against my own fear and input the code for the upper levels before slipping under the “Out of Order” sign and pushing the button to open the elevator doors.
If the outside looked run down, the interior appeared to be anything but. Stepping inside the elevator (and crossing my fingers that it wouldn’t be the last thing I would do), I noticed the inside was brightly lit, more so than any other area of the Geos. The floor was carpeted, too—a practice that had been abandoned once we’d realized how much moisture the Geos retained. It smelled a bit of mildew, but looked freshly cleaned rather than moldy, as I’d have expected it to be.
The lift lurched up, taking my stomach along with it. I clenched my jaw and held to the metal rail along the edge of the steel death-trap, sure I’d hacked my way to my own death when another ding caught my attention. The elevator came to a halt, tossing my stomach one more time for good measure.
I couldn’t get out of the dang thing fast enough. In fact, I almost tripped over my own feet trying. I fell forward, barely catching myself before I slammed into the concrete. The sound echoed and I pulled myself upright immediately, my head darting around to make sure the ruckus hadn’t alerted anyone.
Seeing no one, I blinked as my eyes adjusted to the light. Suddenly, the lighting in the elevator seemed less like luxury and more like a security system. Then, just as my eyes adjusted to the brighter lighting, I plummeted into darkness. The perfect trap.
Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who thought so. Before I could get my barings, something slammed into me. No, not something. Someone. Together, we fell to the ground. The impact stole the breath from my lungs, and for a moment I lay stunned.
“Hah! Told you I could get her!” The voice of the girl who’d pummelled me rang loudly in my ear as she tugged at my coat, rifling through my pockets.
“Stop! Get off! I don’t have anything!” I yelled, but it was no use. She was relentless.
“Holding out on us, eh?” she asked as she pulled the box of leftover greens from my bag. She tossed it to her friend, who had moved to pin me down with her foot planted firmly on my collar bone.
“Fine! Take it! Just leave me alone!” My hand moved to my right pocket, where Mother’s necklace sat, temporarily safe. Losing food was bad enough. I wasn’t going to let them take this, too.
Rookie mistake. Even as I’d moved to protect what was most precious, I’d tipped the thieves off.
“What else ya got there?” Thief One smirked, reaching for my pocket. That was her second mistake. Her first had been underestimating me. Before she could get her grubby hands on my mother’s necklace, I grabbed her friend’s ankle and twisted as hard as I could as I shoved it for good measure. She toppled to the ground, taking her friend sideways with her as I rolled out from under them.
They didn’t stay down for long. “Oh, must be worth something if she wants to keep it that bad.”
I couldn’t make out which one had said it, but I wasn’t waiting around to find out. I scrambled up and bolted as fast as I could away from the elevator. My lungs burned as I pulled in breath after breath of icy air. They weren’t used to this much activity. Energy was luxury in the Geos, and no one ran for recreation anymore—only training.
One of the girls dove to the ground behind me, wrapping her arms around my legs as she did. When I hit the ground for the second time, the shock of the impact made the air rush out of my lungs. As I tried desperately to catch my breath and break free of her hold, her friend pressed her knee into my back, forcing me against the concrete floor until I couldn’t breathe.
“Stop,” I whispered, trying to gather enough air into my lungs to call for help even though I knew it was useless. My vision started to blur, and I was sure this was the end. How could I have been so stupid? Sneaking off to a forbidden area all alone. It would take hours before anyone knew I was missing, and days before they declared me dead. They’d probably never find my body.
Just before I lost consciousness, the pressure was released. I heard the sound of boots squeaking on the polished concrete as the girls ran off the way we’d come. The stale, damp air of the Geos had never felt so refreshing, and I sat up as a coughing fit overtook me.
“Bunch of ragtags,” a gruff voice caught me off-guard, causing me to jump. “Don’t belong here. Neither do you.”
I looked up at my rescuer. By the way he moved, I guessed he was near the same age as my father, so still on the younger side. He limped some when he walked, but the way he held himself made it clear that he was not someone to be trifled with. Still, even by Geos standards he came off as haggard, and was dressed in clothing stained by colors that didn’t exist in the Geos, not without engineering. He reached a hand out to help me up and, reluctantly, I took it.
He pulled me to my feet with little effort, despite his apparent injury. As he pulled away, his pant leg slipped, making the brace around his ankle visible for just a split second.
“I was looking for someone. Someone who knows about medicine?” I nodded at his brace and he pulled at the leg of his pants defensively. “I think it’s you, maybe.”
“No one comes here looking for me,” he harrumphed. “Not unless they’re looking for trouble. Best if you be on your way.” He waved me off and turned to go.
“No, wait!” I felt the sting of desperate tears forming at the corners of my eyes. “I’ve risked so much to be here.”
He didn’t even look over his shoulder. “I said, GIT!”
I couldn’t help myself; his tone made me jump. I clenched my fists, digging my nails into my palms to calm my racing heart. This was my last chance. “But Nari sent me.”
The man stopped in his tracks. Slowly, he turned to face me, his eyes guarded. “What did you say?”
I swallowed the lump in my throat. “Nari sent me.” My voice had cracked on her name, but the way he stopped in his tracks let me know that he’d heard me.
“Why would she do that?” He turned to face me with a raised eyebrow.
“Because I need help.” The tears that had been forming in the corners of my eyes spilled over onto my cheeks, and his face softened.
“Alright, child.” He held his hand out, motioning for me to come closer. “Show me what you brought to trade.”
The momentary relief I’d felt was shattered. Trade? I didn’t have anything left to trade. Not anything that someone like him would want, at least.
“I had something, but…” I lo
oked over my shoulder in the direction that the ragtags, as he’d called them, had run. “They took it,” I groaned in frustration.
He sighed heavily.
“Please,” I pleaded. “It’s my mom. She’s sick. She has the Cough.”
I couldn’t tell if his expression was more sad or exasperated.
“I’m a coder,” I rushed on. “Maybe I could hack the system and get you food vouchers?” It was a risky offer, but all I had to give. Vouchers were heavily moderated, and distributing extras would flag in the system, but I was desperate.
He waved me off. “Gah, I’ve got no use for your vouchers. Those only work in the Geos.”
I bit my lip. There was one other thing I could offer, but it might be even riskier. “What if I could bring you food? Greens?”
This piqued his interest. He raised an eyebrow. “Go on, I’m listening.”
“I could get more and be back in a few days.”
“What about meat? Can you get me some meat, too?”
“I can try. Please let me try.”
He harrumphed again and chewed his lips as he contemplated me quietly. “Two days... But only because Nari sent you.” He pointed past me, in the direction the ragtags had run. “If any of those hooligans give you any trouble again, you tell them you’re here to see Wallace and they’ll leave you be.”
I nodded awkwardly. “Thank you.” But he had already turned his back to me, and only waved dismissively.
Chapter Nine
I barely made it back to my quarters before curfew. Dad was still at the terminal, finishing up Mother’s work for the day. “Cutting it close, Ty.”
