Pearl's Number: The Number Series

by Bethany Atazadeh

  Subdued by the restraints, the woman continued to beg and plead, weeping uncontrollably, to the point that Pearl couldn’t understand most of what she was saying, except for one word that rang out clear as day: “Please… please… please…”

  The door shut and Pearl rushed up to it as it closed, putting her nose right up to the glass in an effort to see the hall outside. But the guards and the girl disappeared from her view.

  She whirled round to face Moira and the other women left behind. “Where are they taking her?”

  “Surgery.” Moira shrugged as she laid back down, returning to her original task of staring at the bunk above. “It’s the whole reason we’re here. Why thousands of people are here.”

  “How exactly does the surgery help?” Pearl asked, forehead wrinkling, thinking of the woman who’d been taken. She’d been a little thin, but otherwise she’d looked perfectly healthy.

  “Help? Ha!” Moira scoffed at the word. “Saving people is for their own. For Archland natives. We go to surgery so they can cause problems. Heart attacks. Brain damage. Simple amputations.” The sarcasm over the word ‘simple’ dripped from Moira’s voice. “I heard they’re even working on inflicting various forms of cancer. Because who better to experiment on with wildly risky techniques than on patients who no one cares if they live or die?”

  “Do they succeed at least?” Pearl’s voice sounded like she was begging Moira for even a sliver of hope. “Do they save some?”

  “Hmmph.” Moira shook her head. “That’s a loaded question. Maybe they’ll prevent a heart attack, or even cure a form of cancer, but that doesn’t mean squat for us. Someone else will be saved with the knowledge in the future, sure. But if you survive one experiment, you get placed in another. Simple as that. No one is saved here. Everyone dies eventually. The only real question is how much will they prolong our agony.”

  Cold fear pressed down on Pearl like a physical weight, enveloping her until she shivered. Before this, the BioLabs were a far-off place where evil things happened to unfortunates. Pearl had joined up with the radicals because she believed in their cause—in stopping the BioGrading and all the experiments. Especially stopping the slave trade.

  But even with all the intel they’d gathered over the years, it had never felt real to Pearl the way it did now. Why hadn’t they tried harder? They should’ve dropped everything, done whatever was necessary!

  If she got out of here, Pearl vowed she wouldn’t rest until she ended these people. In the back of her mind, a little voice whispered, if, if, if…

  32

  Evalene

  THEY LEFT THE BUS parked discreetly off the road, where the foliage would hide it from anyone driving by. Like Old York, the Archland territory also had a wall. But unlike the simple stone of Old York’s structure, this fortress stretched nearly twice as tall and the metal surface gleamed wickedly in the sunlight, intimidating even in the distance.

  The road toward the wall was paved but vacant. Noble kept them on the sides, ears pricked for the sound of an engine, ready to leap into the bushes and hide if a slaving convoy came along. But none did.

  They walked the last stretch at a brisk pace. There was an urgency to their mission now, knowing that at any moment, Pearl might be killed and they would lose their last chance at finding her. Evalene couldn’t allow herself to dwell on the possibility. Not after everything they’d been through to get here. She wanted to storm the gates and run inside, but her newfound knowledge of the territory held her back.

  Even from a quarter mile away, the wall around the tech territory rose above the tree line. The wall was one of the world’s most powerful artificial intelligences, according to Noble. Archland hadn’t posted any human sentries on it in decades. There was simply no need. Millions of tiny cameras constantly monitored the surrounding woods for any human activity, sending an alert at the sign of anything suspicious. That was their first hurdle.

  Noble had driven them off track into mountain country, wasting a precious hour of their journey, for this very reason. Emptying the entire kitchen bus of food and cooking items from top to bottom, Noble dragged the only valuables they had to offer up to a rough-looking mountain man. He’d returned to the bus with a variety of smelly animal skins and some foreign coins.

  As they slunk up to the wall wearing the skins, the gray metal shimmered in the light. “Stay low to the ground,” Noble had cautioned them for the millionth time when they were still a half mile out. “Don’t say anything from now on, until we shut off the alarms.” As they’d left the bus, he’d described the various ways the wall would attack at the first sign of an intruder. Hence the animal skins and silence.

  Feeling stiff with worry, Evalene had asked, “How are we supposed to get past the wall, if it’s that dangerous?”

  Noble reached dirty fingers into the back of his mouth, pulling out what at first looked like one of his back molars. “This is a flash drive,” he told them. “It was designed specifically for hacking into the wall’s mainframe.” Everyone peered closer at the tooth-shaped computer chip, as Noble pressed on the top of it and the tiniest bit of tech popped out. “Without this, it would take days to hack the wall, the technology is so advanced. It took my friend Justice weeks to put it together, after a full month of analysis.” Justice, Noble… Seguro Falls had a thing for epic names.

  “You know how to use it?” Olive asked, examining the flash drive. Her face scrunched up in a mix between fascinated and grossed out.

  When Noble didn’t say anything right away, Evalene’s anxiety kicked in. “Not exactly,” he admitted. “I don’t have a lot of training in tech. It’s not one of my strengths… But Justice said he set it up to be fairly automatic…”

  “Well, fortunately, hacking is one of my strengths,” Olive told him, stretching her mouth in a forced smile. “Let me take care of that part. I can get us in.”

  Noble hesitated, fingers curling around the tiny computer chip in his palm. But when the others nodded their faith in Olive, he held it out to her.

  “Are you sure?” Evalene had whispered once they’d moved out, walking next to Olive through the underbrush.

  “Nope.” Olive grimaced. “This tech is way more advanced than what I’m used to, even on Hofyn.”

  “Great…” Evalene muttered.

  “Yeah,” Olive answered. She didn’t say anything further. No cheerful remarks, or hopeful comments. Evalene found herself missing the usual annoying optimism.

  Now they were crawling up to the wall in their animal skins. The metallic exterior stretched out ahead of them, smooth from top to bottom, without any windows, or even the hint of a crack or chip in the façade, much less a computer for Olive to hack.

  They tilted their heads to look up at the sheer magnitude of it. In the shadows, the warmth of the sun didn’t reach them and Evalene shivered even beneath the animal skins.

  Olive’s face was distraught as her eyes searched the wall unsuccessfully for some sign of tech. Evalene noticed Sol’s hand rest briefly on her arm in comfort. But Noble continued to crawl toward the wall, not slowing.

  Despite what he’d told them about not worrying about any human guards, Evalene found herself peering up at the top, just in case. They came within a few feet of the wall and Noble turned, leading them along the exterior. Distracted, Evalene didn’t watch where she placed her hands and knees. A twig snapped underneath her palm.

  A tiny device popped out of the wall instantly, just a few feet ahead. They froze. The tiny surveillance camera swung from side to side, scanning the surrounding forest, searching for movement, specifically the human variety. Evalene sunk low to the ground, hiding her face.

  Seconds ticked by. The sound of the camera whirred above their heads, still searching, but she repressed the urge to look up, praying no one would move.

  It felt like an hour had passed in what was likely only a minute, before Evalene realized she didn’t hear the machine anymore. She risked a peek. The wall stretched out before them, smoot
h and unbroken, as if the camera had never existed.

  Staying low and silent, they moved forward. Noble poked at the wall with a stick. Evalene’s forehead wrinkled at the strange sight before she remembered: heat sensors. He couldn’t touch it without setting off alarms. As he crawled along on his hands and knees, dragging the stick along the shimmery metal surface, he looked ridiculous.

  They slunk carefully after him. Evalene glanced at Jeremiah in unspoken question. What was Noble doing? Jeremiah shrugged.

  Turning back to watch Noble, Evalene began to think they’d put their faith in the wrong person, when the stick hit a piece of metal that sunk inwards on impact, like a soft pillow instead of firm metal. Noble swung around and waved them forward. He pressed a finger to his lips in reminder. The wall wasn’t deactivated yet.

  They circled around Noble on their knees. He dug into the soft portion of the wall with the stick. Evalene held back a gasp as a whole sheet of metal slid away, revealing a good-sized screen and keyboard nestled inside. The computer blinked on, awaiting a command.

  Noble turned to Olive, brows raised in question. Holding the tiny flash drive, she flapped her hands for him to get out of the way, scuttling forward to take his place. Evalene could tell from Olive’s clenched jaw that she was nervous, but she didn’t hesitate. She reached out from where she knelt on the ground, struggling to reach the keyboard without standing and setting off the alarms at that height. Feeling along the keyboard, she inserted the flash drive.

  The computer whirred to life. Multiple screens flashed open, and a cursor blinked in question, ready for Olive’s commands. She read quickly, and tapped enter.

  Nothing happened.

  Olive frowned, scanning it, mouthing incoherent words to herself. She typed another command, and another, no luck. Evalene found herself unable to swallow. What if Olive couldn’t get them in?

  They could do nothing but wait.

  Olive tapped one more button. Her face lit up. A flurry of the keys and she grinned in triumph, pulling back from the keyboard to face them.

  The glare coming off the wall lessened. It was almost imperceptible.

  “You did it,” Noble said into the tense silence. His whisper felt like a yell in Evalene’s ears. But he must have been right, because the wall didn’t react. Noble stood, tossing his animal skin covering into the brush. Still the wall didn’t respond.

  “Wow,” Olive breathed, standing as well. The others followed suit and everyone pulled the smelly animal pelts off, tossing them into the woods. Olive turned back to the keyboard. “The system is so complicated… And I never would’ve even guessed it was here…” she slowly typed a command, testing it. Then another.

  “It took us weeks of surveillance to figure it out,” Noble replied. “Our best tech worked on it. Hopefully you’ll be able to find the commands that’ll open the front gate.”

  But Olive wasn’t really listening anymore. “Mmmhmm,” she mumbled to herself, typing faster, growing familiar with the tech. “Ahh. That makes sense…” She was lost in her own little world. “Okay, good news,” she murmured after a few moments, as her fingers continued to fly across the keyboard. “It’s advanced, but the basics are the same. I should be able to get us in.”

  Sol braced himself where he stood next to her, as if expecting the wall to open at any moment.

  “Not yet,” Olive said, waving an arm distractedly in his direction, never breaking eye contact from the screen. “I’m going to see if I can get some info first.”

  While they stood watching her type, Jeremiah shuffled a little closer and bumped Evalene’s shoulder gently, nodding to her hands and raising his brows in silent question. She realized she was chewing on her fingernails and pulled her hand away from her mouth, crossing her arms to hold them firmly in place. She pressed her lips together in an anxious smile.

  “We’ll need some tech once we’re inside, if we’re going to find Pearl quickly,” Olive said, her fingers moving even faster before she jabbed one at the screen. “This is perfect!” The screen held a variety of objects that looked almost like jewelry, and when Olive touched the ring on one side, it zoomed in on that object. Evalene glanced at the others again, but their faces were as blank as hers. They let Olive work, trusting her to do what she knew best.

  “Looks like we’ll need to pick them up at a place called BiComp Incorporated…” Olive finished whatever she was doing with the ring and pulled up a map of what Evalene assumed must be Archland. Her jaw dropped at the image.

  Beyond the wall, the city was designed like a complicated 3-D puzzle, with thousands upon thousands of buildings overlapping each other in a way she’d never seen before. The streets seemed to run over and through some buildings just as often as they ran around them. The enormous city was never-ending, stretching for miles and miles across the screen without change.

  Olive touched the map near the wall where they stood, drawing a brief line across it. “It looks like it’s not that far. Only a couple blocks… I think…”

  Evalene understood her uncertainty. She wasn’t sure where one block started and another began. But it did look close. “We need to get to my mother as soon as possible,” she said, even though they all knew it already. “I don’t know if we have time to waste…”

  But Olive shook her head. “Don’t worry,” she said without looking away from the screen, “This will help us find Pearl faster.” Evalene bit her lip as they stood listening to the sound of Olive’s fingers on the keys.

  She glanced up to find Jeremiah staring at her. He smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. This time it was her turn to nudge him until the corners of his eyes crinkled and she was rewarded with a genuine smile. If they made it out of this alive, she owed him so much.

  “There,” Olive said after a few more moments. “I’ve got them packing up a little present for us as we speak. Five BiComp upgrades for a small company who tossed their old ones because ‘they’ll only use the best’.” She scrunched up her face imitating an arrogant, entitled business owner, grinning at them over her shoulder, blushing noticeably when Sol smiled back.

  “But we don’t have BioGrades,” Noble protested from the side, concerned. “They won’t work on us. I’m sure we could find Pearl without them.” Sweat dripped down his forehead and he kept glancing at the gate, anxious to get going.

  “Oh, they will,” Olive told him, grinning proudly at her discovery. “All they need is a heartbeat. No surgery required, I checked!”

  Before he could argue, she tapped out a final command to the computer and the wall flickered to their left by the road. A split second later, a massive section opened like a gate, folding inward, creating an entrance so large that three bus-sized vehicles could’ve driven through at once. “Let’s go!” Olive chirped, sounding more like her old self again. She pulled the flash drive out and let the computer vanish back into the wall, as she walked toward the Archland entrance.

  Evalene stood rooted in place. Her eyes grew wide as she took in the scene unfolding before them. The map hadn’t lied. This city was a chaotic, organized mess. It looked like a crowded market back home, but bigger, fancier, taller. Buildings took on every possible shape, curving around and even over each other.

  So many moving shapes registered in front of her, her eyes didn’t know what to take in first. In the sky, a train raced along a thick cable overhead, while on the roads she was startled to find strange circular pods that looked like hamster wheels moving along the streets—and there were people inside! The passengers in the strange cars sat stationary within the pod cars, working busily, not even looking up as the machine drove on autopilot.

  Crowds of people moved in all directions, entering and exiting buildings, moving into pod cars, making the sidewalks ripple and flow like waves. All of them were fixated on their technology.

  When Jeremiah nudged her forward, Evalene joined the rest of them, walking through the gate into Archland. They stuck out like sore thumbs. The people here wore clothes that flashed
and dazzled, with holograms and tech built into them. Evalene glanced down at her simple shirt, dull in comparison. Shoulders hunched in anxiety, she expected someone to point at them any moment, yelling, ‘Those people don’t belong.’ But no one did.

  As their little group melted into the crowds, a man brushed past her close enough to bump her elbow. If he’d glanced up for even one second, he would’ve registered the wrongness of the five of them immediately. But his gaze was on a screen two inches from his face, glazing over as he touched a hand to his ear, and adjusted whatever he was watching. He didn’t even apologize, sweeping past as if he hadn’t seen her. Evalene let out the breath she’d been holding.

  But the tightness in her chest wouldn’t completely go away. There were thousands of people in this city. All it would take was one person to notice them.

  “This way,” Noble hissed, waving for them to follow him down an alley to the side, where foot traffic slowed. He led them from memory of his last mission here, weaving down a side street, and then another, stopping in an alley, in the shadows of a dumpster the size of their bus.

  The dumpster loomed over them, too tall for Evalene to see inside. Noble waited for an approaching pod car to spin past them before waving Olive up to him and holding out his hands like a step stool, as if to lift her up to the garbage bin. She wrinkled her nose at him, casting a disgusted glance at the dumpster. “Are we hiding? Do I have to?”

  “Just trust me,” Noble said. Olive huffed loudly in annoyance as she stepped into his palms and let him hoist her over the edge.

  She squealed from inside, and it echoed out to them as if from a distance. But it wasn’t the shriek of disgust like Evalene expected. Another whoop floated out to them from inside the mysterious bin. Evalene frowned. It almost sounded like Olive was excited. When Noble held out his hands to lift the next person, Evalene stepped forward.

  With one quick boost from him, she flew up and over the edge, falling onto something soft. She rolled away to make room for whoever came next. What had she landed on? She forced herself to look down, fearing the worst, but instead of garbage, she found piles and piles of fabric. Reaching out, she grabbed the nearest material and lifted it up to find it was a dress. They were lying in a huge pile of clothes.