CENTER 82 (RATION)

by Christina J Thompson

  “Get up!” Andreas screamed, jerking the prod away from his skin. Ayn fought to breathe as his heartbeat skipped out of rhythm, and she raised the prod again. “I know you can understand me, dammit, now get up!”

  She thrust the prod forward a second time; his teeth clenched as his skin burned with electricity, and he could sense his eyes bulging from his skull. Then, somewhere in the midst of the agonizing sizzling that crackled in his ears, he thought he could hear someone pounding on the door. Andreas released the prod just as the door flew open.

  “Are you okay?” a woman gasped. “I heard a scream!”

  “I said I didn’t want anyone to bother me!” Andreas shouted. “Get out!”

  “Is there a problem with the ration? You’re using a prod―”

  “I said, GET OUT!”

  The woman ducked her head and hurried out of the room, and Ayn tried to focus past the flashing stars that had filled his vision. He saw Andreas prepare to jab him again, and it took everything in his power not to grab her by the throat.

  This time, to his utter relief, nothing happened.

  “Dammit!”

  Ayn’s head throbbed with heat as he watched her throw the prod across the room; he was lucky, she must have chosen one that wasn’t fully charged. She grabbed his arm a moment later, pulling him out of the chair and shoving him towards the restraint platform. He lay down, his naked body trembling with spasms as she tightened the straps and opened the door to leave.

  Andreas glared down at the ration as she rolled the cart up the access ramp towards her lab, her blood boiling with frustration. It knew, she was sure now, but she was no closer to having real proof to put before the board. She fumed under her breath; she had been anticipating a score that would show evidence of low-level intelligence, not something this extreme. No one would believe her, not even if they saw it with their own eyes. They would just accuse her of tampering with the results somehow.

  Andreas reached her lab’s side entrance and threw the door open, kicking the restraint platform into the middle of the room and storming towards her desk. It was already almost noon—she only had twenty hours to go. Her gaze fell on the file folder sitting at the very top of the stacks of notes piled on her desk, and she pursed her lips as she reached for it.

  “Amber Ordell,” she mused bitterly, skimming over the first page. Something about Ordell still bothered her, and she couldn’t shake the nagging feeling that the girl knew more than she was willing to say.

  Andreas rubbed her temples as she contemplated. Everything she had been doing stemmed from two facts: the ration seeking help for its keeper, and the evidence of its emotional response. She cocked her head, tapping her fingers on the surface of her desk. Perhaps she had been going about this the wrong way, perhaps she had been ignoring what was right under her nose.

  She pushed her chair back, preparing to head for the door, when she saw one of the assistants for a neighboring lab pass by the window that looked out into the hallway. She darted across the room and pressed the intercom button.

  “Pamela!”

  The lab assistant jumped in surprise, clutching her hand to her chest for a moment before chuckling and stepping close to the window.

  “Yes?”

  “It’s Dr. Andreas, I need you to do something for me. Go get Amber Ordell, she’s in unit 2493, inhabitant number 487. I need to speak with her immediately, use Noah’s code to get in when you get here. 0-5-6-4.”

  “Yes, doctor.”

  Pamela hurried away, and Andreas turned on her heel, eyeing the ration where it lay strapped to its platform in the middle of the room.

  “I’m going to get to the bottom of this,” she whispered, stepping closer. “Somehow, some way, I’m going to figure this out.”

  Ayn felt another wave of tremors ripple through his muscles, but this time, it wasn’t just the after-effects of the prod’s shock. There was a chill in Andreas’ voice that pierced through his heart and seeped into his bones, and he counted his breaths, staring at her out of the corner of his eye as she raised the platform he was strapped to and turned him to face the lab’s main door. She positioned a chair in front of him, then dragged a small cart of drawers into place beside it.

  Barely an hour had passed when Ayn saw movement through the entry room’s window; Amber walked in, and he watched Andreas stand up and head towards the door. His heart began racing.

  Andreas smiled warmly as she stepped out into the entry room.

  “Thank you, Pamela, you can go,” she said, waving to dismiss the woman. Pamela nodded, closing the door behind her as she left, and Andreas extended her hand.

  “Hello, Amber. How are you today?”

  “I’m fine.”

  Andreas studied her; she looked nervous.

  “Good to hear,” she said, crossing her arms. “I’m sure you’re wondering why I’ve called you here.”

  Amber gulped. She didn’t like the look on Andreas’ face, and she did her best to avoid the woman’s questioning gaze.

  “Are we starting my hormone program?” she asked, her voice sticking in her throat.

  Andreas shook her head.

  “Not yet. I brought you here because of another matter.”

  Fear rose up in Amber’s stomach. She hoped the woman hadn’t learned anything more about the weight check.

  “Is everything okay?”

  “No, actually, it isn’t,” Andreas answered, and Amber’s heart skipped a beat. “Do you understand what I do here at this facility?”

  Amber nodded.

  “You…you said that you’re in charge of the researcher breeding program.”

  “Yes, that’s correct, but there’s more to it than just that. I review all of the research and testing that goes into the development of ration strains and researchers.”

  Andreas paused, her eyes narrowing coldly.

  “This also means that when there’s a problem within either of those programs, it’s my job to eliminate it.”

  Amber’s mind flashed back to the people she had seen in recycling, and she couldn’t hide the terror in her voice.

  “Is there something wrong with my tests?”

  “No, Amber. I’ve discovered a problem with a different project I’m working on, and I think it’s something you might be interested in. Come with me.”

  Amber’s heart thumped in her chest as she followed the woman towards the lab’s main door. She knew now what lay on the other side, and her stomach turned with dread as Andreas tapped the keypad to unlock it.

  Ayn fought to stay calm as Andreas walked in, Amber following close behind.

  “I believe you are familiar with my test subject,” Andreas said, motioning Amber towards the raised platform.

  Amber sighed with relief at the sight of Ayn; he was still alive. She tried to force a shocked expression.

  “I…I thought it was harvested!”

  Andreas raised a brow; the girl didn’t seem as surprised as her words tried to convey.

  “No, Ms. Ordell,” she said. “At least not yet.”

  “Why is it here?” Amber managed to ask, carefully maintaining an even tone. Her eyes locked with Ayn’s, and she could see the worry in his gaze.

  “As you know, this ration is defective,” Andreas answered, stepping towards a small set of drawers. “It seems that it doesn’t respond to the supplements the way it should, and I brought it here to find out why.”

  Amber shifted uncomfortably, her mind racing as she tried to think of what she should say. She opened her mouth, preparing to answer, when Andreas nodded towards a chair sitting in front of the restraint platform.

  “Go ahead and have a seat, Ms. Ordell.”

  Amber quickly obeyed, watching as Andreas withdrew a small vial and a syringe from the top drawer.

  “As I said, I’ve been trying to determine the cause of this ration’s defect,” Andreas continued as she began to fill the syringe with green fluid. “The r
est of the scientists at this facility need proof of my work if I want to continue, but so far, I haven’t been able to provide them with any.”

  Amber barely heard a word, her eyes focused on the syringe.

  “What’s that?” she asked, her voice strained as she pointed.

  Andreas chuckled dismissively.

  “Oh, this? It’s just a resolution dose, we use it to terminate test subjects when a project has failed.”

  “Terminate?”

  “Yes. It’s a lethal substance, Amber, it kills them.”

  Ayn clenched his teeth; he could see Amber panicking, and he begged her not to give in.

  She doesn’t know anything! he screamed in his mind. She won’t do it, Amber, just hold on!

  “Unfortunately, my project has failed,” Andreas sighed, shaking her head as she set the vial down. “I have no use for this test subject anymore.”

  Ayn braced himself as she took a step closer to him, then she suddenly spun on her heel and lunged in the opposite direction. He heard Amber shriek; in the blink of an eye, Andreas had jabbed the needle into her arm. Panic scorched through his entire being in the span of a single heartbeat, and surging at its heels was a cold wrath that filled his mouth with the taste of blood.

  “STOP!”

  Amber’s heart shattered at the sound of Ayn’s voice, and she let out a quiet whimper as tears filled her eyes.

  Andreas’ mouth dropped open as she stared in wide-eyed shock.

  “You can talk!” she gasped.

  Ayn roared with anger, his body shaking as he strained against the straps that held him.

  “I’ll kill you if you hurt her, Andreas!”

  Amber could hear the leather restraints creaking as they stretched; the rivets began to pop, and Andreas instantly let go of the syringe. Amber tore it from her arm and ran to Ayn’s side, huddling next to him as the woman stumbled across the room and snatched two prods out of the cabinet.

  Ayn’s chest heaved; his green eyes blazed with a wild fury, and for a moment, Amber couldn’t help feeling a twinge of fear at the sight of his seething glare.

  “I will give you no reason to use those, Andreas!” he growled. “Just don’t hurt her!”

  Andreas’ hands trembled as she held the prods in front of her. This was more than she ever could have hoped for. She nodded slowly, gulping as she pointed at a storage room off to the side of the lab.

  “She’s staying here,” Andreas announced, her voice cracking. “I won’t hurt her, but she’s staying here.”

  Amber’s stomach sank as her eyes grew wide with terror.

  “No, Ayn! We have to go―”

  “It’s too early,” he whispered, shaking his head. “We’ll never make it.”

  “But―”

  “Just trust me,” he said, his face relaxing as he gave her a reassuring smile. “Do what she says for right now, Amber. It’s going to be okay.”

  “Move,” Andreas commanded. “Over there, into the storage room.”

  Ayn nodded for her to go, and Amber clenched her teeth against the sob that was trying to escape her lips. She stood on her tiptoes to kiss him, placing her hand on his cheek.

  “I love you, Ayn,” she choked out. “We’re going to get out of this.”

  Ayn watched Andreas push Amber into the room and lock it, then she turned to look at him. She slowly sat down, the prods still clutched tightly in her hands, and she cocked her head.

  “Ayn. That’s what you call yourself?”

  He met her gaze, his chin tilted defiantly as he studied her for a long moment, then he took a deep breath and nodded.

  “Yes.”

  †‡†

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  Ayn watched Andreas reach for another blank notebook, eyeing her as she opened the cover. She had filled three of them in the past ten hours, but so far, she hadn’t realized that he was leading her around in circles with his answers to her questions.

  His gaze drifted towards the prods; they were lying on the corner of her desk just out of her reach, evidence that she was giving in to the false sense of security he was trying to create by his willingness to talk. She seemed to be growing more and more at ease with each passing minute, and he glanced at the clock as she poised her pen on the first page. It was almost time.

  “How long have you been aware of your surroundings?” Andreas asked.

  “As long as I can remember,” Ayn replied. He slowly flexed his arms, testing the restraint straps that held him to the platform. They weren’t designed for a ration like him―most of the test subjects were smaller than he was and they were usually fully drugged.

  “And how long is that?”

  “Since before I was moved out of the incubation chamber. I remember the day I was placed in a full-sized slot.”

  Her eyes grew wide.

  “You remember that?”

  He nodded.

  “It was June 9th, timestamp 09:27:57. I heard the researchers notating it when they removed me from incubation.”

  Andreas picked up the folder that was sitting on the floor beside her, quickly flipping through the pages, then her mouth dropped open.

  “That…that’s correct,” she breathed. “How could you understand them? When were you exposed to language?”

  Ayn scoffed.

  “From the moment I was first created. The incubation chambers are above the researcher training unit, and the sacks we’re grown in are filled with liquid. Sound waves travel.”

  She shook her head in disbelief.

  “You’re telling me that you learned all of this just by listening to the auditory training program?”

  “Isn’t that how you learned?” he countered, rolling his eyes. “I mean, that’s the whole purpose of an auditory training program.”

  “Yes, but for us, the initial language and speech development section included actual interaction to form context. How did you learn that?”

  He shrugged.

  “I just did. I don’t know exactly when the sounds started making sense, but I know that I could fully understand by the time I left incubation.”

  “You would have had the mental equivalence of a one-year-old child!”

  “Obviously not.”

  “This is amazing,” Andreas whispered, her pen flying across the page as she continued writing. “Are there more like you?”

  “I spent a lot of time with researchers, not with other rations,” Ayn told her, glancing at the clock again. He took a deep breath. “I can tell you that David believed that I wasn’t the only one, though.”

  Her pen stopped moving.

  “What do you know of David?” she asked quietly. Her voice had grown suddenly tense, and Ayn smiled to himself. She had taken the bait.

  “Everything. I spent almost a year in his lab.”

  “Does that mean you…you heard the details of what he was working on?”

  He nodded, mentally preparing himself.

  “And I was there when Noah erased the results from Project Nine.”

  Andreas’ face went pale with shock as her notebook fell from her lap.

  “Noah was involved?”

  “He overheard you and David talking about the project,” Ayn told her, lowering his voice. “It was about a week before the report was made—July 21st, late in the evening. David gave you copies of his work because you said you didn’t believe he could possibly be right.”

  She stood to her feet and moved closer to the platform, her eyes narrowing.

  “I remember that day. Noah wasn’t there.”

  “Yes, he was. You and David were in the office next to the lab, and Noah was standing outside the door beside my cage while you talked.”

  “How did he get in?” she demanded, her voice shaking as her face darkened with anger.

  “He had the code to the lab,” Ayn answered. “I’m not completely sure, but I think he got it from someone on the board.”


  He flexed his arms again. She was well within reach.

  “What makes you say that?” Andreas asked. She took another step towards him, and Ayn reacted instantly.

  He tore free of the wrist restraints in the blink of an eye; he snatched hold of her hair and jerked her towards him, spinning her around and locking his arms across her body. His hand clamped over her mouth to keep her from screaming as he wrenched at the straps that bound his chest and ankles, ripping the flimsy rivets out of the platform and falling to the ground. She writhed against his grip, her voice muffled by his hand, and he could feel her trying to bite him. Ayn ignored the pain, dragging her towards the storage room where Amber was trapped.

  “Amber! You have to open the door!”

  “I don’t know how!” Amber’s voice called back.

  “The code is 2-7-4-8!”

  Four quiet beeps sounded; the door flew open, and he saw Amber’s eyes grow wide as she took in the sight.

  “What are you doing?” she cried, clapping her hands to her mouth in shock.

  “I need to knock her out,” Ayn said, his tone calm. “There’s a cabinet on the―”

  His voice died abruptly as Andreas thrashed against his hold on her.

  “Stop moving, I don’t want to hurt you!” he hissed into the woman’s ear. She went limp a moment later, and he focused his attention on Amber. “There’s a cabinet on the wall over there, you’re looking for a vial that says ‘sedation compound’.”

  Amber ran to the cabinet and hurriedly dug through the shelves; she found the right vial within moments, and she darted back to Ayn’s side.

  “Hold it up,” he said. “Show her the label.”

  Amber obeyed, holding the vial up in front of Andreas’ eyes.

  “I’m not going to kill you,” Ayn told the woman. “See? It’s not a resolution dose, I’m just going to knock you out long enough for us to get a head start. Amber, get a syringe from the top drawer of the cart.”

  “I still have to get your things from my room,” Amber called out as she grabbed a syringe. “I found what you―”

  “Not now,” he interrupted, cautioning her with a glance. “Wait until she’s out. Fill the syringe to the line that says one and a half and bring it here, then go grab one of the medication drips—the clear bags filled with fluid—from the storage room. There should be some packets with tubing in the same drawer.”