Concisus

by Tracy Rozzlynn

Getting Sapphire back to the base lab is the biggest problem. I don’t dare hide her in a plastic bin. After her isolation in the zoo, I doubt she would handle that as well as Caper. I cover her with a coat and try to remain in the shadows. As long as no one walks too close, we should be safe. Sapphire likes being cocooned between me and the jacket’s soft lining and starts to purr.

  We get to the lab without any issues, but when Sapphire sees the small cage I intend to place her in for the night, she tightens her grasp around me. I quickly hide the cage on the other side of the lab table and attempt to calm her, but her grasp around my ribs tightens further. I can barely breathe. Feeling dizzy, I lean against the wall and slide to a sitting position. The extra cradling of my knees does the trick. Sapphire releases me and curls up in my lap. I examine my ribs, and although none of them feel broken, I’ll definitely have some nasty bruises come tomorrow. Leaving her alone and loose in the base lab isn’t an option—she could tear the place apart and hurt herself—but bringing her back to the field lab isn’t possible, not with Wendy and Jennifer there. I take off my coat, ball it up to use as a pillow. I gently slide Sapphire off my lap and onto the floor and lie down next to her. She pouts at me, but then she chirps, climbs on top of me, and drapes over me like a blanket. I’m not comfortable, but at least I won’t have to worry about getting cold.

  The next morning when I meet Ryan outside of the field lab, every muscle in my body is sore, and my ribs hurt with each deep breath. I don’t mention the previous night’s ordeal to Ryan. I haven’t forgotten what a worrywart he can be. Besides, my discomfort is a price I’m more than willing to pay if it means getting Sapphire safely away from the base.

  Caper eagerly bounds over to us, but stops short as he catches Sapphire’s scent. He belts out a loud fisher cat like cry. I haven’t heard that bloodcurdling screech since Caper’s mother responded to him getting hit by a soldier. Sapphire leaps up and tightly wraps herself around me. I wince, and Ryan’s eyes widen.

  “It’s okay. Just give them a minute,” I assure him, even though I know there’s a good chance I’ll find myself in the middle of a meerkit fight. I coo at Sapphire and lower my face to her fur to hide the tears rolling down my cheeks. Sapphire’s grip is not as tight as it was last night, but her arms press into my fresh bruises.

  Caper walks around me and sniffs the air. Sapphire tenses, but her grasp remains the same. The moment stretches out into an eternity before Caper finally starts to chirp and coo. Sapphire immediately relaxes and drops to the ground. I slowly back away and let them complete their noisy introductions. Caper feeds his berries to Sapphire and then leads her back into the woods without claiming his marble or even giving Ryan or me a second glance. When I turn back toward Ryan, tears still stream down my face, but they’re tears of joy.

  Ryan looks worried. “Are you all right?”

  I wipe my face. “Of course I am. Sapphire’s going to be fine with Caper.”

  Ryan shakes his head. “No. That’s not what I meant. You’re hurt.”

  Crap. Overprotective Ryan is rearing his ugly head and I so don’t need a lecture right now. “Oh that. She pinched me.” I point to a random spot on my side and hope he buys my story.

  He eyes me warily, but says. “I’m heading back to the base to watch everyone discover the break out.”

  “Great. Let me know what happens.” I’m too sore to wander the base right now.

  “You’re not coming?” the suspicions back in his voice.

  “Nah. Two of us watching might attract attention, especially if Noah starts pointing fingers. Besides, if he does point fingers, you have all the guys at the field lab as an alibi.” I explain.

  Ryan gives me a shrug and cuts through the field lab to get to the base.

  Back inside the field lab, I shower and examine my bruises before I dress. A mix of angry red and deep purple bruises mottle my sides. I turn and angle myself in the mirror so I can see my back. That’s where I find the darkest hand-shaped bruises that look like a child left them. At least there’s no cleaning or fieldwork scheduled today because Elliot decided to take a personal day. Sitting and scrolling through the database is about all I’m up for today.

  Wendy and Jennifer decide to enjoy the extra day off in the recreation halls and leave Molly and me in the field lab by ourselves. I utilize the time to view camera footage. The amount of accumulated hours is daunting, but focusing on just one camera makes it a little easier to manage. I select the footage from the camera I mounted on the tall pine tree in the center of the large gassy field. The hours drone on as I forward through the recordings. I see flowers bloom and wilt, and some great thunderstorms, but I don’t see any new animals. My time isn’t completely wasted though. I enjoy seeing Talirs, a rabbit-like creature, and other familiar creatures romp through the grass, and it helps me keep my mind off of what the escaped animals are doing on the base, which might be nothing at all or wreaking havoc.

  Molly’s at the base getting lunch when Ryan returns to the field lab.

  “So, anything interesting happen on the base this morning?” I ask, unable to contain my curiosity.

  “Most of the animals remained inside of the zoo,” he explains as he sits in the chair next to me, “but the enux got out.”

  My initial disappointment immediately transforms into hope; an enux is too large to go unnoticed, and its stubby wings could never lift it over the fence.

  “It found its way into one of the dining halls. I got there as people were fleeing the hall. The enux was safely recaptured using a tranquillizer gun.” Ryan addresses my worry before I even have to ask.

  “Did they trace the enux back to the zoo?” I eagerly ask.

  “Not immediately, but the botanist they called in to contain the bird figured it out. I offered to help with the enux, so I got to follow him back to the zoo where Noah cowered outside the door, too scared to go inside and recapture anything.” His voice drips with disdain. Knowing Ryan, it has more to do with Noah’s inaction than his fright which angers me as well, but it doesn’t surprise me, considering how he responded to the electric bat escaping.

  “Noah wouldn’t have admitted that Sapphire was missing, except after all the animals were returned to their cages, a soldier pointed out the broken latch and the screwdriver in the empty cage. A search party was organized to find Sapphire and Dr. Brant was called in.” Ryan sits back in the chair and relaxes, like he’s done talking, but I want more details.

  “So is Dr. Brant closing down the zoo? What’s going to happen to the animals and what about Noah?” I prompt.

  “While she was grilling Noah, he let it slip that one of the animals hadn’t been through quarantine. Dr. Brant was livid. I don’t think the zoo will be around much longer, and Noah will be out of a job. I don’t know what will happen to the remaining animals though.” There’s a hint of regret in his last words. I guess he wanted to protect the animals from dissection as much as I did.

  “Well, hopefully she’ll decide releasing the animals with trackers is the best option.” I stand up, but the motion makes me wince.

  “I knew Sapphire hurt you this morning. Why did you lie to me?” Ryan demands.

  “I didn’t feel like dealing with a lecture about how reckless I am.” I return his steady gaze. “Besides, Sapphire didn’t hurt me this morning. She accidentally hurt me last night when she caught a glimpse of the cage in the base lab.”

  “I knew I shouldn’t have let you get her on your own. Let me see how bad it is.” He reaches for the bottom of my shirt.

  I swat his hands away. “Stop! This right here is exactly why I didn’t say anything. I’m not your concern anymore, and I shouldn’t have to deal with your overprotective reactions.”

  “I’ll always be concerned about you,” he says, “but that’s not a bad thing.” He gestures at my shirt and his voice softens. “Can I at least see how bad it is?”

  I lift my shirt and slowly turn in a circle. He softly gasps, and I brace myself for his scolding. I
nstead, his fingers gently touch my sides, reminding me of when he tended my cracked ribs. “You should get that looked at.”

  “I’m just bruised. Besides, how would I explain the handprint marks?” I pull down my shirt and turn to hide the flush in my cheeks. “The important thing is that Sapphire is finally safe and Noah won’t be collecting any more animals.”

  “Yeah,” he reluctantly agrees. “Will you be able to go to the dinner party?” he asks as he gestures at my ribs.

  Oh great, I’d forgotten about Troy and Hazel’s dinner party tonight. “I’ll be there,” I say.

  A dinner party is the last thing in the world I feel like attending right now, but I really don’t have much choice in the matter. Troy and Hazel would be hurt if I skipped out on the event, and I do sort of owe them after my drunken recovery in their house.

  Hazel’s recent ultrasound showed she’s carrying fraternal twins, a boy and a girl. Their old married housing unit was a two bedroom, so Troy put in a request to upgrade to a much larger three bedroom. Tonight’s dinner party is both a housewarming and a celebration of the twins.

  Chapter 13

  At the end of the day, wearing a dress and a happy face, I make my way to the party. I hope it’s more fun than the dinner parties my parents made me attend.

  Troy and Hazel don’t disappoint. As soon as I walk in the door, I’m offered my choice of a drink from Troy’s makeshift smoothie bar. All the furniture is pushed against the living room walls to create space for dancing and Troy hints that there might be some karaoke involved later on. Best of all, Ryan is here, alone. I’m relieved I won’t witness Kelly draping herself all over him throughout the night. Already I know the night will be much better than any of my parent’s stuffy dinner parties.

  Hazel offers a tour of the new house to me, Andi and Jake. The size difference surprises me. The new house has three bathrooms instead of one, and despite being labeled a three-bedroom, it actually has four. The extra room technically isn’t a bedroom because it lacks a closet, but its walls are lines with shelves and a couple of desks. Hazel informs me it’s a combination playroom and study area for the children.

  The one thing that really stands out on the tour are the cribs. One room has a light pink crib while the other one has a baby blue crib. Both cribs have three green globes embedded in the headboards. On closer inspection, I realize the headboards are connected to the wall.

  “Hazel what’s this?” I ask.

  She looks up from the baby clothes she’s showing Andi. “Oh, that. It’s a halo.”

  “What’s it for?” I continue to examine the circles noting how much they resemble a cluster of projection nodules, only much larger.

  Hazel looks up again, and sounds annoyed. “They take the place of the pod helmets Troy and I wear while we sleep, but the babies’ are built into their cribs, for safety reasons.”

  I’m already disturbed by the pods’ influence over my friends, but the idea of a helpless baby’s developing mind being exposed to and programmed by the pods is horrifying. I hide my reaction because I don’t want to upset Hazel just yet. Hopefully by the time she gives birth, Jeremy will have disabled the pod programming.

  “So are the children going to be taught by the halos from the time they’re born?” I can’t help but ask.

  “Oh no, it won’t teach them anything until they’re older.” Hazel’s tone sounds defensive. So much for me not upsetting her, yet she smiles and continues. “My doctor says initially it will just coordinate my sleeping time with their sleeping and feeding times. That way I won’t have two babies crying to be fed at the same time.”

  “That should make juggling twins a bit easier.” Even if what she says is true, I’m still not comfortable with the idea of manipulating infants’ sleeping patterns for it could have unintended side effects. Hazel’s defensiveness suggests she might have the same concerns. I can only imagine her reaction if she knew the pods are used for more than education and sleep modification.

  Hazel loudly announces that we’ve reached the end of the tour, so we all go downstairs to the living room where Andi starts a game of charades.

  I pull Ryan aside and drag him upstairs.

  “Have you seen anything like this before?” I demand as I point at the crib’s headboard. His eyes grow wide with understanding.

  “Yeah, I saw similar globes during quarantine—on my hospital bed. I didn’t pay much attention to it at the time.” He runs his fingers along the circles.

  I lean on the opposite end of the crib. “Hazel called it a halo, but they’re projection nodules; basically it’s a pod minus the shell.”

  Without looking up Ryan asks, “Did you have a halo during quarantine?”

  “No, I didn’t. Have you been sleeping upside down in your pod?”

  Ryan holds the side of the crib as if he needs it for support. “No, I tried the first night back, but my nightmares returned… Then you dumped me, so I figured there was no point in trying again. Why does it matter?”

  I don’t know what to say. I’m relieved, guilt ridden, and embarrassed. I never gave Ryan a chance to explain himself and I never shared my pod theory. If I had done either one I could have spared us both some heartache.

  “I remember how bad your nightmares can be, but I need you to sleep upside down in the pods, just for a week. Maybe some warm milk or sleeping pills would help with the nightmares.” I lightly bounce my fist on the edge of the crib and wait for his answer.

  “Warm milk? Seriously?” he scoffs. “Why should I try? It’s not like where really even friends you barely tolerate my presence, unless you need my help for something.”

  “You’re right,” I admit. “I haven’t been very nice to you, but that’s because I saw you with Kelly the night we returned to the base. Please, it’s important. I can explain why after you’ve slept upside down.”

  “That explains a lot.” Ryan rests a hand on my cheek. “I never meant to hurt you.”

  “I know. Just sleep upside down in the pods. We can talk about everything else later.” I close my eyes and turn my face away before tears start to form.

  We return to the party. I act as if nothing happened, but Ryan’s touch lingers on my skin, calling me back to him. Knowing the pods caused his feelings after all changes things. I push my feelings aside for now, and the first chance I get, I corner Jeremy and tell him about the halos. He walks me outside and explains that he hasn’t made any progress in reprogramming the pods. He’s located the programming software, but he’s never seen its level of encryption. He doubts he can decode it without Andi’s help, but he at least offers an alternative plan which will be difficult to pull off. He’s studied the physical connections to the pods, and he thinks we can disconnect Andi’s pod without alerting the system. Because boys aren’t allowed inside the girls’ dorm, I’ll have to disconnect the pod. Jeremy reaches into his pocket and hands me a diagram he’s made of the wiring. I can’t make heads or tails of it. He decides if he shows me the corresponding parts on a field lab pod I’ll understand. We’ll need to coordinate the disconnection for when Elliot’s team is absent. But even if I disconnect Andi’s pod correctly, we still have a major problem—getting Andi to sleep. If she complains about problems sleeping, someone might check her pod and discover our tampering. We’re both stumped for ideas and agree to focus on the wiring, and then worry about getting her to sleep.

  By the time we go back inside, dinner is being served. All of the guests can’t fit around the dining room table, so we split up into groups. Some of us wind up at the kitchen table while others settle in the living room. We spend the rest of the night talking, dancing, and listening to each other sing karaoke, some of us really, really badly. I haven’t had this much fun since before the flood.

  Getting time alone in the field lab is a difficult task. Gabriella and Jennifer are so excited to finally have their own workspace that they never leave the lab. Finally, after several days, I enlist Molly’s help. She drags them to lunch while Jeremy
walks me through disconnecting one of the spare pods in our room. There’s very little space around the head of the pods, and to see what Jeremy is doing, I have to stand right behind him, lean in and watch from over his shoulder. Our awkward positions and our close proximity soon have us both sweating. I obtain a couple of cold facecloths and hand one to Jeremy. He pauses his work just long enough to wipe the sweat from his forehead and neck, and I glimpse several raised lines on his neck that are a little shinier and lighter than the rest of his skin. Without looking, he hands me back the cloth. I toss it into the bathroom and continue to watch, but my eyes keep wandering to the skin under the collar of his shirt. The lines are now covered, but one small tendril stretches up and intermingles with the soft, short hairs on the back of his neck. The scar seems old, and if I wasn’t specifically looking for it, I would never notice it. I can’t help but wonder about its cause.

  “Whatever you do, don’t cut this wire. It’ll immediately send out an alert that the pod has malfunctioned.” I quickly refocus my attention on the blue wire in his hand. My curiosity will have to wait until later.

  As soon as he finishes, he wants me to rewire the other spare pod in the room, but I insist on taking a quick break to get a drink. He doesn’t argue. I pour us both an ice water and lean on the kitchen island across from him.

  “How’d you get the scars on your neck?” I ask, but once the words are out of my mouth, I know I’ve asked too much.

  “Oh that? It’s nothing. I got it when I was a kid.” His words tells me it’s no big deal, but his eyes refuse to meet mine while his neck and ears turn a deep shade of pink.

  Whatever happened was a big deal, it’s just not something he’s willing to share. “Well just let me know if you ever feel like talking about it.” I say and take his empty glass, leaving it in the sink with mine. Jeremy and I return to the sleeping quarter. I pick up a wrench, and start removing the outer casing.