Anand’s heart constricted. The presence of the guards would ruin all their plans.
Dr. S gave the man a condescending smile, though Anand could see a pulse beating nervously in her throat. “Because I appreciate the sense of duty that led to that remark, I will not take offense at your supposition that I am incapable of protecting myself. But I’ve been outside many times before. In fact, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that I’m as much at home there as I am inside Futuredome. As for the object falling into the wrong hands, rest assured that I will do everything I can to prevent it.”
Anand saw the guard’s eyebrows draw together and wondered if the guard was aware of the double meaning behind her words. But before he could respond, Dr. S activated the hover van and backed smoothly out of the parking area.
10
WHATS REMEMBERED
Anand had given a relieved sigh upon exiting the lab, but when the van approached the guard booth at the gates of Futuredome, where searchlights crisscrossed the dark of the artificial night, he grew nervous once again. Surely the plethora of machines at the gate would detect both the conch and the mirror. He cursed his stupidity. He should have asked Dr. S to drop them off near the wall in a deserted spot. With the help of the mirror, they could have passed through the wall and waited until she doubled back to pick them up. Now they were going to get caught, and all that he had worked so hard to achieve would be lost.
Conch, he called anxiously. Maybe you should disguise yourself and the mirror. Or lay a spell on the guards so they don’t notice anything strange when the machines start going crazy.
There you go again, getting worked up over small things, the conch replied. Wait and watch.
At the gate, Dr. S repeated her story about the volatile object that needed to be removed to the dump, but now she added one more detail. Subjecting the object to rays from the search machines would probably cause it to blow up.
“If you intend to try such a risky procedure,” she said, “I can’t stop you. However, since this van, which is a property of the lab, is rather valuable, I’d rather you didn’t jeopardize it—or myself and my assistants. Here’s the sealed bucket with the object inside. You can carry it to the machine yourself. But wait until we back up a good distance. And if the machine gets damaged in the process, I want a written statement from you clarifying that I had advised against such an action.”
The guard in charge, a young man with a fanatic’s gleam in his eye, paused, weighing his options. Anand was afraid that in spite of Dr. S’s warnings he would choose to pass the bucket through the machine. Then it would be a matter of minutes before he found out that the bucket contained nothing but water. But after a long moment the man nodded.
“Very well, Dr. S,” he said. “I’ll go by your expert advice. But I must follow procedure and report this entire incident to the Security Council before I allow you to leave the dome.”
Dr. S gave a nonchalant nod, but Anand could see that same pulse beating at her neck. He guessed that if the council received the guard’s message, they would order Dr. S to wait until someone came down to check on her highly irregular behavior.
The guard typed into something that looked like a small electric keypad. He punched a key several times, and then shook his head.
“Strange!” he said. “I can’t seem to send the message. Something must be wrong with my Insta-communicator. And headquarters gave it to me just last month!”
“I’m afraid I can’t wait around for you to fix your deficient equipment.” Dr. S spoke with haughty impatience. “Every moment increases our risk.”
The last statement was certainly true, Anand thought, though not in the way the guard understood it!
Dr. S revved the motor. “Open the gate,” she said in a voice that was used to instant obedience. “Otherwise I’m the one who’ll be sending a message to the Security Council about how you endangered the entire population of Futuredome.”
Apologizing, the guard rushed to do as she ordered, and they were through.
* * *
The white van hurtled along the skyway, moving faster than normal. Glancing over at Dr. S, Anand saw that her fingers were gripping the controls so tightly that her knuckles were white. “I didn’t think we would make it out,” she said. “How lucky we were that the guard’s communicator didn’t work! Usually the gate guards get the best, most updated equipment.”
Somehow, Anand didn’t think it was mere luck. He sent a tendril of inquiry toward the conch and felt its aura of satisfaction.
“The conch helped you,” he informed Dr. S.
She was so surprised that she turned to stare at him, causing the van to wobble dangerously. “It can do that?”
“It can do a lot more,” Anand said proudly. “If there’s time later, I’ll tell you of the many ways in which it has saved my life. Meanwhile, you might want to say a word of thanks. Objects of power appreciate politeness.”
“Sorry!” Dr. S said, abashed. “I don’t know much about these things.” Her uncertain smile made her look younger and less severe. “Thank you, Conch. And you too, Mirror.” She caressed the backpack lying beside her. “You gave me back something I thought I’d lost forever!”
Anand was curious as to what that was, but he did not wish to probe. From her tone, it seemed to be something private.
“I never thought I’d be this happy breathing brown air,” Nisha said from behind her mask. “I take it that our destination isn’t the Hazardous Dump. So where exactly are we going?”
Dr. S was silent. Then she said, “Into the past.”
The white van took an exit off the skyway. Peering out into the muddy gloom, Anand noted with a start that they were deep in the slums. Around him, the shattered windows of derelict buildings looked like empty eye sockets.
Dr. S took the mirror out and consulted it again. Then she maneuvered her van closer to a building and turned off the engine. She jumped down lightly.
“I have to find something,” she said. “I recommend you remain in the car. I’ll turn on the security system. You’ll be quite safe.”
“You want to leave us out here alone?” Nisha said, staring at the dark ruins. “You must be joking!”
Once again, Anand caught a movement, quick and slippery, out of the corner of his eye, near a pile of rubble. Someone was watching them.
“We’ll come with you,” he said firmly.
Dr. S shrugged. “As you wish.” From her backpack, she took out a cylinder and shook it. It began to glow. Stepping confidently into the narrow circle of light it projected, she strode toward the doorway of a skeletal structure that seemed as though it would collapse any moment. Anand and Nisha hastened to follow, stumbling over cracks in what had, long ago, been a sidewalk. What could Dr. S, a powerful scientist with a brilliant career, expect to find here, amidst piles of garbage?
All of a sudden, several figures materialized out of the darkness and surrounded Dr. S. Their silhouettes were lanky and their bodysuits torn in places, and in their hands they carried scavenged makeshift weapons—metal rods, legs from broken chairs, a handlebar from an old bicycle.
“What trouble are you making, science woman?” their leader demanded.
Anand and Nisha exchanged surprised glances. The voice was that of a teenage girl.
“Get away, white devil!” cried another figure, holding up a rod. He, too, sounded young. “We don’t want you people here.”
But a third one said, “Best if she don’t go back and report on us. Let’s grab her mask. She won’t last long without it—and then we’ll get a new bodysuit, plus whatever’s in her pack.” He motioned to the darkness, and a score of young people who had been camouflaged by it advanced menacingly upon Dr. S.
Anand’s heart constricted with fear, but he forced himself to walk forward and stand beside the scientist. No matter what she had done, he could not stand by and watch her getting beaten up—or worse. He sent out a call to the conch, but it was strangely silent. He remembered the rule govern
ing objects of power: They could not interfere in human affairs if there was a chance that the humans might be able to solve their own problem. But Nisha stepped up and stood by his side, her hands belligerently fisted.
The leader glared at them. “All this time we were feeling sorry for you, thinking you were her slaves. We were planning to set you free. Now it looks like we’re going to get three bodysuits and three masks!”
If Dr. S was frightened, she didn’t show it. “I’m searching for someone—people used to know her as Grandma Lila. Does she still live in Ganga Terrace?”
The leader peered suspiciously into her face. “How’d you know the name of that building? Except for a few old-timers, no one calls it that anymore, not since the guards came and tore it down years ago.”
“I used to live there.”
Dr. S’s answer startled Anand even more than it did the gang leader. The pristine Dr. S had grown up here, in the slums of Kol? He had assumed that all scientists were born inside the domes.
“How do I know you’re not lying?” the leader demanded.
“There were five Terrace buildings,” Dr. S said. “They were named after rivers that used to flow through this continent a long time back. I had friends in Kaveri and Jamuna, though I’ve forgotten what the others were called.”
“I don’t know Grandma Lila,” the leader said, her voice friendlier now. “But I can take you to Grandma Maya. She’s one of the old-timers, too, and she lives close by.” She ordered some of her companions to accompany them while the rest patrolled the area. Then she stared at Anand and Nisha. “If word gets out that people still live here, the city leaders will torch this entire place. To clear it of vermin, that’s how they put it on the Pod. Can your assistants be trusted?”
“I would trust them with my life,” Dr. S replied.
As he made his way unsteadily through the dark, Anand’s whole body tingled with warmth at her reply.
* * *
The building the girl led them to could hardly be dignified by that name, though Anand could see that it had once been a large and prosperous apartment complex. Portions had collapsed, and the walls that still stood, with their brick and mortar exposed, were clearly unsafe. It reminded him of the ruins of Nawab Najib’s palace—except this was worse. There, the breeze had blown freely through the rubble, and the fallen roofs had been replaced by the starry sky. The wild creatures that inhabited the ruins lived, for the most part, in harmony with each other, all their needs met by the forest. But here he could hear the ominous skittering of claws in the dark, while the stench of urine assaulted his nostrils in spite of his mask. Down tunneled corridors, voices were raised in angry argument, and unfriendly faces watched them. Anand knew it was only their guide’s stern gestures that held them back from falling upon Dr. S and her company and taking whatever they had. And how could Anand blame them? He noticed that the bodysuits of his escorts were tattered and too small, so that their bony wrists protruded from their sleeves. The tubes of their breathing masks were repaired with old tape, unraveling in places.
They approached the end of a corridor, dank and smelling of rot.
“Come,” said their guide. She pushed aside a moldy, patched curtain and ushered them through what seemed like a hole. When Anand’s eyes grew used to the gloom, he saw a bundle of rags on the floor. No, it was an old woman! Her chest made a whistling sound as she breathed laboriously.
The guide knelt and lit the stub of a candle. The care with which she performed this action made Anand realize what a precious commodity the lump of wax was.
“Grandma Maya!” The guide shook the woman gently. “Wake up! I’ve brought someone to see you.”
“I’m tired of seeing people, young Ishani!” the woman said with a querulous cough. “I’d like to see some food instead—some real food, not the mush you folks have been feeding me the last hundred years! I want sweets like my mother used to make—curds thickened with jaggery, and red pantuas dipped in syrup.”
“As I’ve told you, if I find some, you’ll be the first to have it!” Ishani replied. “Now, here’s a lady come to ask about the olden days that you love to go on and on about!”
The old woman peered at Dr. S. “But she’s dressed like the white devils, Ishani,” she said anxiously. “I don’t think I should talk to her. She’ll have me taken away to the Outlands.”
“She’s all right, Grandma,” Ishani assured her. “She used to live here a long time ago, in Ganga Terrace.”
“Don’t be afraid.” Dr. S spoke gently. “I just want to ask you about some people.” She sat cross-legged on the floor, unmindful of the dirt, and rummaged in her pack. “I don’t have the sweets you mentioned, but I do believe I have a bar of chocolate somewhere.”
“I remember chocolate!” the old woman said. Her eyes shone greedily in the candlelight as she snatched the small bar Dr. S held out. “The first chocolates came from across the ocean. Then factories in Kol learned to make it. But then the factories were shut down, all except one, and only the white devils could have chocolate. Do you know, if you keep chocolate in your mouth long enough, it melts all over your tongue?”
Ishani and her companions watched the bar avidly. Anand could tell they longed to taste this almost-mythical substance. His own stomach growled with hunger.
“I wish I’d brought more,” Dr. S said regretfully. “There’s a whole boxful, sitting in my office. But I never thought—”
With shaking fingers, Grandma Maya unwrapped the bar. Anand thought she would pop it into her mouth, but she started breaking it up into miniscule pieces. She was going to share it with the young people around her, even though it meant she wouldn’t get more than a tiny sliver herself.
“Wait!” Nisha said. She reached into her own pocket and took out the two bars she’d taken from Dr. S’s office. Silently, she handed them to the old woman, who chuckled gleefully as she divided up the spoils. A smile broke out on Nisha’s face as she watched the slum dwellers eat the chocolate. Anand found that—hungry though he was—he, too, was smiling.
“I haven’t had chocolate in years!” Ishani said.
“I’ve never had it!” one of the younger boys remarked.
“Grandma Maya,” Dr. S said, “I’m sorry to rush you, but I don’t have much time. Did you know Grandma Lila and her family?”
The old woman nodded, licking the last bit of chocolate from her fingers.
“Lila and I and some of the other women used to make quilts together. These buildings were nicer then, in spite of the air starting to go brown. The magicians used to come by once in a while, secretly. They liked our quilts, and asked us to put good luck designs on for them. For payment they’d put a freshening spell on our windows so the air that blew through them wouldn’t hurt our lungs.”
“A freshening spell!” Anand whispered to Nisha. “That’s why the magicians didn’t need to wear masks inside the House of Fine Spirits.”
“What happened to Lila?” Dr. S asked, her voice urgent.
Grandma Maya continued as though she hadn’t heard her.
“One day the white devils came. They weren’t interested in our goods. It was our children they watched. They gave them fancy treats that we couldn’t afford—potato chips and ice cream and even chocolate—and offered them new clothes if they would take a test. The ones that did really well on the test, the white devils took them away. How could we protest? They promised us the children would have a better life with them. Lila had a granddaughter, I forget her name. Mita or Asita—something like that. She was her only family. Her parents had died in one of the epidemics, but her grandma cared for her as best she could. Well, the devils got really excited when they saw her test results. They took the girl, promising Lila they’d bring her back any time she wanted to visit, but she never did return. She must have gotten used to all the good food and nice clothes.”
Dr. S looked down at the ground. After a moment she said, “What happened to Lila? Was she sad?”
“Well, sh
e wasn’t around much longer herself,” Grandma Maya said. “All the families whose children had been picked—the devils came back one day and took them all. Said the kids were sad without them, so they were going to have them live together inside the big dome they’d just built. But they didn’t. One of the men managed to get back and tell us what happened. The scientists drove them far into the Outlands and took away their masks and suits and left them there. Most of them died in a day or so, from the bad air. The man who came back survived because he had picked up a few air-freshening techniques from the magicians, but he, too, died soon after. What did he have to live for?”
Dr. S had a tortured look on her face. “Oh, Grandma Maya, I didn’t know any of this.”
“The next time the white devils came to get more children,” Grandma Maya continued, “our people put up a big fight. But the devils had those tubeguns. When they pointed them at you, it was like a million needles going through your bones. They had other machines that sent out an invisible force strong enough to bring down entire buildings. They destroyed the Terraces and killed most of the men. We had to run away and hide. We’re still hiding—”
“They told us they’d taken our families to a better life in the Outer Lands,” Dr. S whispered. “They said they had settled them in a new colony. When we finished our training, they said they’d take us to visit them. But then—I don’t know what they did to us—we forgot, all of us. Futuredome became our whole world. The scientists became our families. What we were doing, to keep the domes going, seemed so important. We believed what they told us—that we were saving the world.” Her voice grew stronger. “But now I know the truth. Now I see why Dr. X refused to give me permission to explore the Outer Lands. They were liars and murderers, and we children were their accomplices.”
The old woman peered into Dr. S’s face. “Who are you?”
Looking into her sorrowful eyes, Anand knew the answer before he heard it.
“My name is Sumita,” Dr. S replied. “I’m Lila’s granddaughter. But until a few hours ago, I didn’t remember it.”
Shadowland Page 11
