by Julia Karr
I got a sick feeling in my gut. “People you know?”
“Yes.” He clicked off the projection, clearing his throat.
“I don’t get it. Why don’t they just send the criminals to a prison station?” Wei asked.
“Someone has to mine ocribundan, or we’d have no fuel. Without a cure, no regular people would do it. The symptoms of the Ocri virus are eventual debilitating pain and gradual loss of motor skills, followed by an excruciating death.”
“But if they could find a cure for Ocri, then anyone could go work there,” I said.
“I know it seems that simple and humane,” he said. “But the current system is much more convenient and a permanent solution for the Governing Council.”
“Do you think Dr. Silverman found a cure?” I asked.
“I doubt it,” Mr. Jenkins said. “But the thought has crossed many Resistance minds that he must have been very close to have been removed from Utar and sent to Metro. Something of a sentence for him, no doubt.”
I couldn’t help being grateful that someone as skilled as Dr. Silverman was at Metro to, hopefully, have saved Gran. Although now, the seed of the tragedy of those miners—many who didn’t deserve their exile, and none who deserved being infected with Ocri—was sown. I wouldn’t forget it.
Mr. Jenkins picked up the papers I’d given him. “Nina, unfortunately, neither Mrs. Jenkins nor I will be able to go with you to the meeting at the Bureau on Monday. Since it’s not a hearing, I’m sure you’ll be okay. In all likelihood they will merely give you further instructions as to charges against your grandfather and an anticipated trial date. But as far as the unsuitability hearing,” he said, “Mrs. Jenkins will be able to accompany you to that.”
“Can I go with her to the Bureau, Dad?” Wei asked.
Mr. Jenkins shook his head. “They’ll be making records of whoever shows up with any interest in Mr. Oberon’s case. The fewer people who are concerned with him, the safer it is for everyone.”
“I’ll be fine.” Yeah, I thought, I’ve already been there once—and nearly got arrested. Why should going back be any scarier? Right. I’d be terrified. But that was two whole days away. The way things were going in my life, anything could happen in two days.
“Dad,” Wei said. “Have you heard anything about the FeLS information that you gave to Nina’s dad?”
“As a matter of fact, there should be an announcement soon. I believe it’s important enough that it will come as an Alert.”
“Très cool! You’re the best.”
Mr. Jenkins smiled. “I try. Now, you girls go on. I’ve got work to do.”
We went back to the apartment. My apartment.
“You want to hang out?” I asked Wei.
“Of course. It’s either stay here with you or more piano. I’ve already worn my fingers to the bone today.”
Dee popped her head in my room. “Guess who I was just talking to.”
“Maddie?”
“Nuh-uh.” She beamed. “Miss Maldovar!”
“Really? School’s out until after New Year’s. What did she want?”
“I’m her assistant, remember?”
“Yes, but still . . .” This was the first time I could ever remember hearing of a teacher calling a student over break. “So?”
“She was wondering if I had any free time over the holidays to go with her to the Museum of Science and Industry. She wants to maybe set up a classroom visit in January.”
“That sounds like fun,” Wei said.
I frowned. First time I’d heard of classroom assistants doing things out of the classroom. And there was something about Miss Maldovar . . . even though I’d seen her just the one time. Her expression, maybe? No, it was the way she’d looked at me as I left Rosie’s—like she knew things about me that she shouldn’t know. Whatever. The huge smile on Dee’s face made me swallow what I wanted to say.
“Don’t be mad.” Dee bit her lip and scuffed her feet, like she used to do when she had to tell Ginne she’d done something she knew was wrong.
“What did you do?” I tried to keep the irritation out of my voice, but wasn’t successful.
“I told her, Miss Maldovar, about the writ.” Her chin quivered.
“Dee! How could you blab our family problems to someone we hardly know?” I couldn’t believe my little sister could be so stupid. We were being watched all the time, and she’s volunteering information to strangers.
“I know her really well. She’s been my teacher for over a month now.” Fire came back in her eyes. “She thought it was awful, Nina. She said if there was anything she could do, she’d be glad to.”
Uneasiness niggled at the base of my neck. That Miss Maldovar knew this about us, something indirectly related to my father, Dee’s father, made me really uncomfortable. “You can thank her, but Mrs. Jenkins is going with us to the hearing. We’ll be fine without your teacher’s help.”
“She was just being nice,” Dee said. “I don’t know why you don’t like her.”
“It’s not that I don’t like her. I just don’t think everyone needs to know our business, that’s all.”
“I guess.” She started to her room but turned back. “Hey, Maddie called earlier. Can I spend the night at her house?”
“Dee, isn’t there enough going on right now? I don’t want you taking the trans by yourself at night, and it’s nearly dark out.” I knew even as I heard the words coming out of my mouth that I sounded just like a mom.
Wei, who had been standing by quietly during our whole conversation, said, “Hey, Nina, I think everyone needs to get their mind off of things. Why don’t we go to Soma tonight? We were going to anyway, before all this stuff happened. I actually told Derek I was staying here with you tonight, but maybe we should go. It could be fun. We could surprise him; I bet Chris would drive us, and we can drop Dee off at Maddie’s.”
I started to protest, but a night with my friends seemed like exactly what I needed to keep me sane. “Sounds good.” The only thing that would make it better would be if Sal was there. Since I hadn’t heard from him after our far-too-short conversation at the hospital, I figured there’d be a molecular chance of that happening. I knew he was on NonCon biz, like my father.
Dee went to her room to gather up things for her night at Maddie’s. When I was sure she was out of earshot, I said, “I don’t make the best mother, do I?”
“I think you’re doing great,” she said. Her PAV alarm beeped. “I almost forgot! We’re supposed to meet with the Sisterhood. Do you feel up to it? If not, I’ll call and postpone.”
“No. No. I want to.” It would be something to focus on besides my upcoming appearances with B.O.S.S. and in court.
“Let’s head up to my room, we’ll call from there.”
Dee was busy talking to Maddie, paying me only enough attention to wave to me on my way upstairs.
XIII
“Before I click us all on together,” Wei said, “I need to warn you . . . Paulette Gold is one of the Sisterhood.”
“Paulette?” I bet she wanted to be in a group with me as much I did with her.
“Yeah. I couldn’t help but notice the other day when I mentioned her, you were, well . . . you didn’t seem to like her.”
“I don’t like her because I think she’s after Sal,” I said bluntly. “They’re always together, you know. I mean, I know he’s off doing something NonCon, but she’s with him. Or was. At least, she was there in the background when I called him at the hospital. I don’t trust her, I think she’s got ulterior motives.”
“You’re not wrong. I know she’s got this thing for him. But I also know that he doesn’t think of her as anything except someone who helps him out. She’s useful—with her family’s connections, she can go to all kinds of places none of the rest of us can. And since Sal is a trannie whiz, her dad sets him up as a driver or mechanic. It’s a perfect cover.”
“So what did she say when you talked to the Sisterhood about me?”
“
Uh . . . not much. Honestly, she was about as happy as you are right now. But the other girls are thrilled. Wait until you tell them what you did today, taking those meds down to the Bureau! Nina, you even freak me out with your guts. And I am not easily freaked.”
I took a deep breath and let it out. I freaked myself out sometimes. “Okay,” I said. “Let’s do it.”
She clicked on her receiver, and three panels appeared on the wall. Paulette in one. Two girls in another. And a single girl in the third.
“Hey, everyone. This is Nina Oberon.”
“Hi!” The single girl waved. “I’m Magrit. But my friends call me Mag.”
I waved back.
“Brie and Dorrie here.” A petite girl with blond, curly hair waved. Her arm was tucked around the waist of a tall, willowy girl whose deep brown skin contrasted beautifully with the paleness of the other. They sat back, an obvious couple.
“Hey,” I said.
“I’m Paulette.” Her voice was sharp as a blade. One she’d probably like to bury deep inside me, from the look she gave me. Anger shot through me, but I held it in.
She clearly knew who I was, but I didn’t know if she was aware that I knew who she was. If I wanted to be in the Sisterhood, I would need to figure out how to get along with this girl. I realized, if she was here on this call, then she wasn’t with Sal, wherever he was. So maybe Wei was right. Maybe she was just a necessary evil to endure, as Pops would say. Thinking of it that way made my “Hi, Paulette” sound a lot nicer than it would’ve otherwise.
“So,” Wei said. “When we all talked, I told them about how we met, and I gave them some background on you. How you figured out where your mother had hidden that FeLS info, and that you saved my life.” No details, she mouthed to me. “And they know that you’re Alan Oberon’s daughter.”
Paulette muttered, “I still say that doesn’t––”
Brie butted in. “Paulette, we discussed this to death already. And, Nina, you should know that it’s not because you’re Alan Oberon’s daughter that we’re inviting you to join the Sisterhood. Wei recommended you. We voted. You’re in.”
Brie, Dorrie, and Mag all nodded.
“If you want to be,” Paulette said.
“Listen,” I said, “if this is a big problem for you, I don’t have to—”
“You’re in, Nina.” Wei said firmly. “Right, Paulette?”
“Sure. Whatever.”
I refused to let Paulette’s attitude get to me. As I looked at the other girls, I saw support and welcoming smiles.
“Tell them about today,” Wei said. “Chris only gave me the bare facts, Nina. I know there’s more.”
The familiar warmth moved up my neck. Doing something in the heat of the moment, like rushing down to the Bureau with Pops’s meds, was one thing; talking about it was completely different. I drew a deep breath and told them the whole story of my trip to the Bureau. When I was done, Mag clapped.
“I can’t believe you walked into the Bureau without an appointment, and with a bag of anything, let alone unauthorized meds. You’re lucky that woman only threatened you—usually they stun first and ask questions later,” Mag said.
“Wow!” Dorrie said. “Weren’t you scared?”
“I didn’t really think about it until after I got out of there. And then I was terrified at what I’d done,” I admitted.
“You’ve got some courage going,” Brie said.
“I didn’t feel very brave,” I said.
“Well, courage is when you act even though you’re scared to death inside.”
“Foolhardy’s more like it,” Paulette muttered.
“Like you wouldn’t do something risky to save one of your family members?” Brie asked.
“In the first place, Brie, my family members wouldn’t put themselves in—”
“Paulette. Brie.” Wei’s voice had an edge I’d never heard before. “Calm down. Shut up.”
“Look,” I said. “Pops needed his medicine. It was something that had to be done. That’s all. You guys do things to help the Resistance, things that need to be done. That’s exactly what I did.”
“Well said.” Brie settled down. “Welcome to the Sisterhood, Nina.”
“Yeah, welcome,” Dorrie said.
“Definitely. Glad to have you.” Mag chimed in.
“Right.” Paulette stared straight ahead.
This wasn’t going to be hearts and flowers, not with Paulette in the group. But at least I was in. That was good.
“So is now the time to talk about, you know . . . Joan?” I asked Wei.
“Yeah. They know some of the truth about FeLS, but I haven’t filled them in on Joan’s situation. Now’s as good a time as any.”
“FeLS? There’s more than the sex-slavery crap?” Dorrie sat up. “That is the most disgusting . . . Thank goodness I’m tier three and exempt. Ha! Never thought I’d ever say that.”
Brie hooked her arm in Dorrie’s. “Someday there won’t be any tiers at all. People will be able to do whatever they want to without being held back or forced to be some way they’re not.”
Without trying to appear as if I was checking her out, I snuck a look at Dorrie. Sure enough. Unlike Brie’s ultrachic clothes, Dorrie was wearing Sale-o-rama jeans, like me. I’d kind of assumed all the Sisterhood would be upper tier, like Wei, and obviously Paulette. On closer examination, Mag was wearing mid-tier. Not Mars 9, but not Sale either. We were a mixed bunch.
“So what’s the additional info?” Paulette asked.
“You all know that Nina’s mother was murdered. She’d been spying, collecting information on FeLS, details about how they forced—sorry, ‘Chose’—tier-one and tier-two girls into training as sex slaves, and how the ones who didn’t make it through the so-called training were shipped off to Mars to ‘service’ the miners. And she was killed because someone wanted the evidence she’d been gathering about FeLS.”
Sympathetic murmurs came from everyone, even Paulette. I tried not to let it get to me. I’d spent the last few months steeling myself against the emotions surrounding Mom’s death. I scrunched my sadness deep into my gut; no way would I break down now.
“But her killer didn’t find the evidence. Nina’s mom hid it, and Nina found it.”
I flashed back to that last confrontation with Ed in the abandoned building. To finally finding the package of information my mom had lost her life to get from him . . . Wei’s voice broke through my cloudy thoughts. “Nina and I got the info to the Resistance, to her father, just a few weeks ago. Dad says we should be hearing an Alert on the Media soon.” She humphed. “Should be interesting to see how they’ll spin the fact that only a few girls entering FeLS were actually trained as diplomatic liaisons. How the rest of them were turned into toys for high-level government officials. No one, no matter if they are tier one or tier two, should ever be treated like that. I really wonder what’ll happen when the truth is out?”
Echoes of “Yeah, no kidding,” “About time,” and “That’ll set the GC back” ricocheted around the room.
“So,” Paulette said, “you still have not told us about this Joan.”
“Joan is the sister of one of my best friends,” I said. “She was chosen for FeLS. The sex training. She couldn’t take it, and when she broke, they consigned her to Mars. I don’t know how, but she was rescued. By NonCons, I think. She ended up living with a group of homeless women down by the river. I recognized her one day, and I’ve talked with her a few times. She needs to get off the street and get some care, but she can’t go to anything GC related. As far as they know, she no longer exists.”
“Why doesn’t she go to her family? And what makes her any different from hundreds of other girls just like her?” Paulette asked.
I stiffened. “Her family doesn’t know what happened to her—they think she’s still in FeLS. Do you think she can really afford to tip off the government by letting her family know where she is? Or what happened to her? And also, she’s a friend of mine. And I don
’t know and haven’t seen those ‘hundreds of other girls,’ but I have seen Joan. I know where she is, and I know she needs help. Whether or not the Sisterhood wants to be a part of that . . . well, I’m going to do something, even if I have to do it alone.” I set my jaw. That was it. One way or the other, Joan was going to get help.
“Nina, let me do some checking,” Mag said. “My older brother might know a place she can stay. There are a few safe compounds.”
“Like Rita’s?” Sal’s aunt had a place out in Easley Woods; we’d been there together to deliver a trannie that Sal and his brother, John, had modified for their aunt.
“Uh-huh. Except there are some specifically for women. Your friend isn’t the only escapee who’s messed up, and not just by FeLS. There’s so much violence against women . . .”
“I’ll talk to my uncle, too,” Brie said. “He’s pretty savvy about getting Resistance members and GC casualties to places outside the Americas, where they can’t be tracked down.”
“Don’t worry,” Dorrie said. “We’ll help. Right, everyone?”
They all looked at Paulette.
“Right. I have to go. I’m helping Mom with arrangements for our big New Year’s Eve party.” She clicked off.
A collective sigh of relief followed her exit. “Paulette can be such a pain sometimes,” Dorrie said. “Don’t get me wrong. The Sisterhood needs her, and we want her, too. She gets NonCons into places none of the rest of us can, but still . . . She can cop real attitude sometimes.”
“Yeah,” Wei said. “We all can. Hey, Nina and I are going to Soma tonight. You guys want to meet us there?” Wei asked.
Dorrie made a face. “Can’t. Family stuff for Holiday.”
“I’ll come,” Brie said.
“Me, too.” Mag nodded. “Oh, before we go. Don’t forget, we have a Rogue Radio broadcast set for later this week.”
