Dark Humanity

by Gwynn White

  When the wall doesn't stop moving, she shimmies to the side, meaning to slip through sideways, but of course she's met with another hard surface.

  She pushes back on the wall before it crushes her torso. Though her arms are strong, she was not built to withstand this sort of pressure—she calculated it's about thirty tonnes a second. She's about to be pulverized, crushed into silver dust.

  She keeps resisting the wall though it's managed to push into her face.

  She finds herself defeated, and the last thought in her mind is one of hope—that Sidney manages to get out of here. Because she won't be able to help her again—she's failed in protecting her from these twins, and now she will be trapped in here forever so the re-emergence won't happen.

  The last thing she hears is the cackling twin, somewhere in front of her, behind the cold cement wall. She's singing something through the wall, and Petra recognizes it as the song of the Allendians, the one they sing every morning in every school before their day starts, their national anthem. Though the words are muffled, she can tell the twin's changed them somewhat. They don't resemble anything the Allendians have sang all this time. If anything, they're rude, almost nonsensical in the way the words mock the original song. The twin sings louder and louder, but Petra misses the last of it as she loses consciousness and accepts that she is about to die.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Sidney

  Sidney hears a hissing before she opens her eyes and her heart trots in panic as she remembers the snake that bit her before all this happened. She opens her eyes, rubs them vigorously, and looks around her. Back in the same room she'd woken up in, what was it, yesterday? She doesn't know, she can't tell how long she's been out.

  Still, there's a pause and then the hissing starts up again. She looks to the window, where she thinks it's coming from.

  Seeing neither one of the twins around, she throws the blanket off and moves to the window as fast as she can, despite still feeling faint from whatever—that chemical was.

  The window’s ajar, and she peeks out to see the raider hissing in her direction, from a few meters within the trees.

  If he's trying to scare her with the hissing noise, he's succeeded. Still she waves in the air, meaning to cut off the sound. He waves back, urging her to come out. But how? This window is several feet off the ground, too far for her to make a jump for it without breaking something. She can't afford to break anything—she's always been more careful than most other kids, her nayne would say. But then, Nayne also always said she was grateful for it. Sidney's carefulness was the reason she'd never broken a thing in her life, the only reason they'd never had to worry about seeing doctors at a time when most doctors were frozen somewhere, waiting for the re-emergence.

  So she watches the raider warily, not knowing how to get out of this house, but realizing it's really her only option. The way out the bedroom door will lead to wherever the twins are. Who knows where Petra is right now, who knows what she's up to, to lock the twins in here.

  So—out the window it is.

  She looks around her, eyeing the sheets and blankets. Maybe she could fashion a long enough rope out of it? She guesses it will still be too far a drop for her.

  Then she sees her discarded knapsack on the ground beside the bed and pulls it over her shoulder quickly, before she leans over the window sill to look around on the outside. She fingers the ledge ahead, its concrete texture smooth against her palm. The wall outside the house is made of stone and brick—or at least it's made to look like it. She's not really sure. She could try to clamber down the side, the wall looks rough enough that she could find nooks and crannies to hold on to as she climbs down. She's done enough climbing over the years to feel confident she could do it.

  Then the raider whistles a harsh whistle, just once, enough to catch her attention. She looks up in time to see him shake his head as if to say, "No, that's a horrible idea."

  But what option does she have at this point? Heading anywhere in the house will only lead her to one of those bizarre twins, wouldn't it? There is no other choice. So she shrugs back at the raider and moves to throw her left leg over the edge of the window.

  The man makes that sharp whistle again but she ignores him this time. There's no time like the present, she tells herself.

  She straddles the sill for a moment, then pulls her other leg over as she leans forward to hold on to the other side of the window.

  Then she takes her time to find a nook large enough to hold the tip of one shoe, and lowers herself down the side of the house.

  The way down doesn't take as long as she expects and when the raider says, "You can jump now," she doesn't hesitate. She lets go of the wall and braces herself to land on the ground below.

  "What in the world happened to you in there?" he says as he looks back up at the window. "And where's Petra?"

  "I didn't see her," Sidney says as she looks up as well. "But someone put some smelly cloth over me before I could grab my bag and—"

  "That darned bag--" the raider says. "You about got yourself killed, girl, over that bag. Why?"

  She doesn't answer right away. She doesn't know this raider—why should she tell him anything about her possessions or desires. Still, he waits for an answer. So she goes with, "It's the only thing I’ve ever had since I was little. It keeps me safe. I have everything I need in this world in it."

  He nods as if in understanding, and when he doesn't insist, she says, "Petra must still be in the house but I didn't hear anything. Where do you think she is? Why is she taking so long?"

  "I'm not sure," he says as he runs a hand through his hair. "But I don't think it's an answer we'd like. Those twins were—strange."

  It sounds like he was about to say something else, but she doesn't push him on it. She gets what he means. They were more than just 'strange' she reckons. She knows she'd rather just head out of here but she's compelled to wait for Petra.

  "I just don't understand why she's taking so long. Did she tell you how long it would be?"

  "No," he says as he stares back at the window again. "But I have a feeling she should be done by now. What does your gut tell you?"

  Those were Nayne's types of words, she thinks. That's strange, that a raider would talk like her nayne did. Then she realizes, she doesn’t even know his name, this raider that reminds her of her nayne’s words. “Who are you anyway?” she utters, though the words came out ruder than she intended. “I mean what’s your name?”

  “Henry,” he says, “and it’s nice to meet you too, Sidney.” He puts a dirty hand out to her.

  She grabs his hand grudgingly, shakes it once and drops it.

  Her gut tells her to run away from the house, but then something else tells her maybe Petra's in trouble. Why does she feel inclined to help the bot, when it would kill her without hesitation if its scanners were working? Still, she doesn't ignore the need to find out if the bot is okay, if she's still in the house or not. Sidney doesn’t believe Petra would take off without her, though she's not entirely sure why.

  "My gut tells me she's still in there," Sidney says, pointing back at the house. "But I don't know where or why. I don't really want to go back in there."

  "Neither do I," Henry agrees. "How about we take a walk around it, see if there's another way in but the door. Maybe we can sneak in—"

  His voice has changed somewhat, and Sidney suspects it's probably because he's not convinced of his own words.

  Still, she follows him around the right side of the house where a large plant of sorts climbs up the brick, past the roof twenty meters above them. She eyes the raider's back suspiciously, remembering she doesn't trust him. As long as he has his back to her and not the other way around, she's not too worried.

  As they walk around another corner not a minute later, it's clear there's no other way into the brick home. No way but the front door, through which Sidney never intends to walk again.

  When they turn the corner, she wonders what'll happen now. Wi
th Petra gone, she has no interest in staying with this raider. So she pauses though he keeps walking ahead, muttering about structures and walls. She turns her head to look around, wonders if she could make it through the trees without him on her shadow. She's a fast runner when she wants to be, and today might just be the day she wants to be.

  Then she holds her breath when she hears a sound—a distinct whimper from their right. The raider heard it too as he turns and moves swiftly to the right, away from the house and its massive green vines.

  When his breath hitches, Sidney finally twists around him to see what he's looking at.

  On the ground, naked with what looks like a sheen of sweat on her, Petra curls into herself as though she's cold. It's a balmy twenty five degrees Celsius though—the same temperature year in and year out in all of the Blue Dome.

  Still whimpering, she holds her arms around her bare legs and stares up at them without a hint of recognition in her eyes.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Petra

  All she remembers is a wall closing in on her, then—nothing. Memories from before the wall flash every now and then, but for the most part, her mind is blank.

  So the man and girl staring down at her as though they know her is bemusing. Who are they? What do they want? Did they have something to do with the wall she was stuck in?

  "What happened to you?" The man shrugs off his dirty brown overcoat and places it gently around her naked shoulders. His hand touches her shoulder slightly and she shivers and moves away from him.

  She doesn't really know what happened to her, but says, "I was stuck between moving walls. They wouldn't stop—" She remembers a sensation of being squeezed, intense pressure in her nerve endings that translated to pain—nothing like she’d ever experienced before.

  The little girl takes a sharp breath in and her eyes grow wide. The bot, suddenly remembering her own name is Petra, looks at the child up and down, trying to remember a name for her. Nothing comes at first.

  She's never seen a girl like this before. She's five feet tall, slight, with an airy look around her like she's about to take flight at any moment. Her hair is a mass of dark brown strands, thick and scraggly, some of it sticking to her face like it has its own sense of gravity.

  She’s dressed in ripped jeans that are too big, she's rolled the hem up and keeps it around her waist with a makeshift belt made of a—scarf. She wears mismatched shoes—one a ripped blue, the other reddish brown, two different sized loafers with multi-colored laces that she's clearly colored herself.

  "What—" Petra says, as she starts to recognize her, but still can't place the name. "Who are you?"

  The girl steps back for a moment, then approaches her like she's an injured animal. She puts one hand out with the palm facing up, then says, "Don't you remember me, Petra?"

  Well, one thing she knows—the girl knows her name. But she still can't remember the girl's or the man's names. The memories flicker in the back of her mind, trying to fight their way to the forefront.

  She knows it will take a few minutes.

  In the meantime, another memory reminds her they shouldn't stay in this place any longer. "We need to go," she says as she jumps to her feet and pulls the coat around her as the man turns around.

  She does up the few remaining buttons on the worn outfit, aware that it's not the right size, nor the usual type of gear she'd wear.

  Memories fight to come to her again, but the first one, the most important, tells her they need to run. And now.

  "We need to go. Now!" she repeats as she grabs the girl's hand and runs towards the edge of the forest. She has no idea where it leads, and doesn't much care as long as it leads far away from here.

  The man runs behind them, and they don't come to a stop until they're back on a terrain that Petra recognizes somewhat.

  She stops and looks back as the man and girl—Henry and Sidney, she remembers, both huff and try to catch their breaths while they lean on their knees. They look so alike in that position, Petra wonders if they're related.

  "Sidney," she says as the girl looks up. "Your name is Sidney. You're Henry. I remember—"

  "What made you forget in the first place?" Sidney asks as she takes in another deep breath. "And why were you naked? How did you get out of there?"

  She can't answer—she doesn't know.

  Henry says, "I think I might know. I’ve seen bots like you before—but—"

  When he doesn't continue, Sidney huffs out loud again.

  "Well, can we get out of here, I don't want to bump into those twins again. Can we get as far away from them as possible, please?"

  Petra and Henry both nod and they walk towards the south, to the vault where Petra now remembers they were heading.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Sidney

  Sidney eyes Petra walking under Henry's dirty brown coat and still wonders what happened to her. And why doesn't Henry say anything about how she could have gotten out of there?

  As they walk, she also notices that there are several other changes but she didn't really have the chance to take a closer look at Petra until now. The bot's hair was short when she'd first seen her. Like a boy-cut short hairstyle, and it was dark—mostly chocolate brown but nearly black in some places.

  Now, it's a lighter brown, like Sidney's eyes, and it reaches the middle of her back.

  "How come your hair's long now?" Sidney asks as she stares up at her. "And your eyes are a different color too."

  She remembers thinking what pretty blue eyes Petra had, but now they look down at her, all silvery gray with hints of green. So many changes—and she still doesn't remember how she got out of that place.

  Petra looks down, clasping a handful of her hair. She watches Sidney curiously, then says, "I think these are things I can change easily. In another—programming, I was a host—of sorts. Watch—"

  Then, looking down again, as if she's not sure she can do it, she watches as her hair shrinks away from her hand.

  Sidney stops walking at the same moment Henry does. They both stare at Petra as her long brown hair retracts until, not a minute later, it's all of four inches long like it was when they'd first met her.

  "Wha—" Sidney says. "Where did it all go?" She reaches up to touch Petra's head gingerly, but there's no slot or anything to indicate how the hair disappeared.

  "It's inside," Petra says as she points at her brain—or where her brain should be.

  Sidney's eyes grow even wider as she realizes what Petra's said and pictures a wad of hair sitting inside the bot's head, maybe some inside her neck given that there was so much of it.

  Then Petra's eyes change from silver to green to amber to blue again.

  "Woah—" Sidney says as she steps even closer. "Can you make them pink? Purple? Oh oh! Lime green!"

  As she utters the words, Petra's eyes change to the corresponding color.

  "That is so cool!" Sidney laughs as she claps her hands and jumps on her feet. For the first time since Petra and Henry have met Sidney, she looks exactly as a girl of ten should, all toothy grins and giggles, a spark of happiness in her eyes that seemed to have long since disappeared.

  When Henry doesn't react though, Sidney frowns at him. "Don't you think that's cool?" she says.

  He nods, his eyes still on Petra, but he doesn't utter a word. Sidney wonders again what he's not saying.

  Then Petra abruptly throws off Henry's coat and she's stark naked again.

  Some old-style Allendian music emanates from somewhere within her and she sways and dances to it as it grows louder. She lifts her hands up to the air and continues to sway as the other two stare.

  "What—are you doing?" Henry finally says as he moves to pick up the jacket. He tries to place it back over Petra's shoulders but she shrugs it off again to continue dancing.

  When Sidney sees that the bot's not about to let up anytime soon, she plops herself on the ground to watch the dance. Nayne used to dance some times, when the rains weren't so ba
d. She loved it—she said it "energized" her. So Sidney wonders if that's what's happening now, with Petra. If she's just getting "energized".

  Henry moves over to the side but keeps his eyes off the bot, as if he's ashamed of her nakedness or something, which Sidney doesn't understand because she thinks Petra's beautiful right now, her pale arms in the air, the sun's rays warming her up.

  The music is beautiful—slow and melancholy, it makes tears fight to the surface of Sidney's eyes and she wipes at them. She doesn't know why she'd be sad.

  The dance looks like it's finally slowing and when Petra's arms come down to her sides, Sidney stands back to her feet, wondering if the bot's ready to keep walking.

  Instead, she begins to twirl on the spot. The music has stopped, but Petra hums in its stead.

  This is a new thing, Sidney thinks. She's not acting at all like her usual Petra-self. Though Sidney hasn't known her long, she knows this is not something the old Petra would have done.

  "Something's wrong with her," Henry states, confirming what Sidney's thinking. "Something's broken on the inside."

  Petra continues to spin, then she sings, "You and I, we're both the same, for don't you know from dust we came?"

  And she sings the same words over and over again until the look on Henry's face tells Sidney this is serious. She doesn't know what to do other than wait it out. She doesn't know what the words mean either. She's not made of dust. "Skin and bones and liquid." That's what Nayne said. "Mostly skin and bones these days," because they were hungry a lot.

  "You and I, we're both the same, for don't you know from dust we came?" Petra sings as she twirls on the spot.