Still holding the dress in her hands, Evalene looked over at Olive. She found her friend draping a glamourous costume over herself. It gleamed in the sunlight, a million sequins shimmering and dancing, making it hard for Evalene to gaze directly at her. “How do I look?” Olive said, striking a pose.
Evalene laughed. “Like you’re a techie,” she said, grinning as she comprehended why they were here. Olive began to pull the costume on over her regular clothes, while Evalene sifted through the fabric near her, looking for something similar.
The men dropped in behind her, one at a time, reaching back over the side to pull Noble up last. Evalene was busily holding up each item to study it before discarding them behind her. She paused when she found a dress that changed color as she lifted it. In awe, she twisted the material around in the light, finding that each angle brought out a different flash of beauty.
It was perfect.
She pulled it over her head in excitement, layering the thin material over her clothes, turning to show Olive, but finding herself looking for Jeremiah instead. He glanced over just then, as if he sensed her eyes on him, and his brows rose in appreciation. He moved closer, waiting until Sol stepped away, following Noble, before he whispered, “You look beautiful.”
“Thank you,” she said. “So do you.” Then she blushed and bit her lip. He hadn’t put on any new clothes yet. He just grinned.
While he searched for a shirt, Evalene read the words on the other side of the dumpster along the side, above the brightly colored clothes: Out of date.
Noble wobbled across the stacks of clothes in flashy neon-blue attire. “Such a waste,” he said to her, nodding to the words. “If it’s not in fashion, it’s garbage.”
But Sol shrugged as he came to stand next to him. He was dressed completely in black, in something that would have almost passed for a pirate’s garb, except it was sprinkled with glitter from head to toe. “Their loss, our gain.”
“I agree,” Jeremiah said from behind Evalene, and she turned to face him. “We’ll take what we can get.” His new disguise created the impression of plated silver armor, despite the soft texture of the fabric, which clung to him snugly.
Compared to the crowds out there covered in tech and bedazzled from head to toe, their outfits were poor camouflage. But they would do.
“Pearl had a shimmery white dress last time,” Noble grinned widely at the memory. “She looked like an angel.” Evalene wished she could imagine it, but as hard as she tried, the image of her mother was fuzzy.
“She said she was going to keep it for a special occasion, but we have yet to find out what that might be,” Noble joked. But his grin collapsed like a flat tire at the thought of the future, sobering the rest of them.
“We should get going,” Evalene said, feeling the anxiety like a physical weight. She jumped out of the dumpster.
Landing on the pavement, they all turned to Noble for direction. But instead, Noble gestured to Olive. “Where’s that bio-computer place you wanted to go?”
33
Evalene
OLIVE HAD TO RETRACE their steps to the city’s entrance to remember the way to the BiComp building. After a couple false starts, she led them to a tall, blue skyscraper. The top of it touched the clouds. Evalene peered up at the surrounding skyscrapers, in awe of their height.
Rounding the corner, they found a side door marked LMP. Olive knocked. Evalene and the others stood on the sidewalk around the corner, so that Olive appeared to be alone. Watching the crowds go by, they stayed alert.
People walked past them in a daze, absorbed by their tech, without pause or even a second glance.
The top half of the LMP door opened. Evalene and the others pretended to hold a conversation, but she watched Olive out of the corner of her eye.
A blond man with flawless, unwrinkled skin leaned on the bottom half of the door, holding out a clear thin tablet. He used his finger to make notes on the screen. “Last minute purchasing,” he droned, not breaking his gaze from the tablet once, “What’s your order number?”
“Um,” Olive’s eyes darted to the group and back to the man in panic. She hadn’t written it down. Clearing her throat, she imitated his bored tone of voice. “They didn’t give me the number; I’m just getting them for my boss. Should be under the name Pearl?”
He grunted, swiping his finger across the clear screen a few times, sending gadgets and words flying across it, stopping on a new page. “Pearl,” he repeated. “Five individual BiComps, 21.0. Prepaid. Wait here.”
Moving away from the doorway, he shuffled around out of sight for a long minute, before returning with five small boxes. “Do you want a bag for your purchase?” he intoned.
Olive shook her head. “No,” she added, when he didn’t bother to look up. “Thank you.” The moment she accepted the boxes, the employee closed the door with a bang.
“Prepaid, huh?” Evalene grinned as Olive jogged up to them and passed around the boxes. “Nice job!”
They moved into the alleyway, so they could open the boxes in the shadows. “This is the smallest BiComp option I could find,” Olive told them, as they each pulled out thick rings made out of a shimmery dark metal just like the Archland wall. “They’re a phone, a computer, a camera, a health coach, a radio, a clock, and a bunch more stuff—I didn’t have time to read it all, but they can do basically everything!”
Evalene slipped hers onto her ring finger, but it was too loose. Moving it to her middle finger, it felt snug, but fit. She played with the edges, turning it around on her finger, looking for an on-switch or something to indicate how to use it, but she couldn’t pinpoint how to turn it on. The metal ring was completely smooth. They turned to Olive for an explanation.
But Olive squinted at her ring as well, uncertain. “I wish I’d had time to read the instructions,” she muttered to herself as she held the ring up to her face.
Noble swung his hand around, frowning. “I’ve seen older models, but it’s not responding the way they did…” When Evalene glanced at him, he hastened to add, “Our spies are always trying to get an idea of the tech here.”
Evalene tried lifting the ring toward her face from different angles. Nothing.
Sol stood studying the traffic around them, and at first Evalene thought he wasn’t trying until she realized he was watching the Archland natives for clues. He brought his closed fist up toward his face as if flexing. Lights winked on across his skin, creating a rectangle screen full of buttons all across his bare wrist and forearm. Evalene and the others stepped closer to him to see it.
Olive reached out to touch one of the buttons and the BiComp ring began playing a repetitive chime as if she’d accidentally started a call or a program. When she pressed the button again, the sound stopped. Sol’s muscles flexed as she played with the tech, essentially stroking his arm. “Sorry!” She blushed deep red. “I’ll try mine.” She struggled to turn her’s on, unsuccessfully.
“Like this.” Sol showed her how he’d raised his fist, distracting her from her embarrassment. Olive copied him, fascinated by the lights that appeared on her skin. She twisted her arm around in curiosity to see if the BiComp wrapped around her whole forearm or just the underside.
But when she flipped her arm back over, the little screen was gone. Frowning, she swung her hand around a few times in different directions trying to get it back. “It’s a little touchy,” Sol encouraged her, bringing his back up with ease.
Evalene gave it a shot. She made a fist and pulled it toward her face. Her wrist lit up. Multiple boxes and foreign images all created an orderly path down her arm on the screen. She knew it wasn’t actually touching her skin, yet somehow it tickled.
Jeremiah mimicked a phone call, awkwardly holding his forearm up to his ear. “Hello? Could I speak to Evie, please?” She giggled in response, and he mock tilted his head as if listening. “Yes, hi. This is probably the weirdest invention I’ve ever seen. What do you think?” They laughed together.
Olive ro
lled her eyes. “Actually, it’s extremely advanced,” she informed him, all business, as she studied the different buttons displayed across her skin. “In fact, it can’t possibly all be new. Which makes me wonder how many other innovations they might be hiding from the rest of the world?” She scowled at the device, dropping her hand and bringing it back up, testing the on and off function.
As they stood there, playing with their new tech, one of the circular pod cars on the street ahead of them lit up with a bright floodlight trained directly on them where they stood in the shadows, and sirens split the air. Evalene’s stomach dropped. The strange vehicle revved its engines and took off with flashing lights, zipping right past them down the street without a second glance at their little group.
Evalene blew out a puff of air. Dressed in their stolen Archland clothing and Bio-tech, their disguises were officially working.
The victory felt short-lived, however, since Pearl could disappear from the world at any moment.
34
Jeremiah
JEREMIAH STUDIED THE ZOMBIE-LIKE state of the general public on the streets in front of them. Approaching a stranger and trying to talk to them face to face in this environment would draw attention. “Any chance we can figure out where Pearl is without talking to anyone?” he turned to ask Olive.
She shook her head. “I’m not even sure where to begin.” She played with her BiComp ring, but dropped it to her side, coming up empty. “I need something to go on, something I can search—a name, a direction… anything really.”
Turning to Noble, Jeremiah asked, “Did you have a contact when you came through here?”
Noble was quick to shake his head. “Unfortunately, no. No, I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay,” Jeremiah reassured him. “We can find someone to ask. We just need to figure out these rings first so we blend in.”
“I don’t know about that.” Sol shrugged. “I think we can fake it.”
“I agree,” Evie said, “Just keep it in front of your face and press buttons.
“But who do we talk to?” Olive chimed in. All five of them swung around to face the street they’d come from, where Archland natives passed in both directions, a constant stream of traffic.
Swiveling to face the other end of the alleyway, only a couple people were in Jeremiah’s line of vision. “Let’s aim for someone who’s alone,” he said, setting off in the direction of the quieter street. “That way, if anyone decides to sound the alarm, at least we’ll have a good chance of getting away.”
When they stepped out into the street, Jeremiah was disappointed to find at least a dozen people within eyesight. But they were in a time crunch. It would have to do.
“How about that street vendor?” he asked everyone in a hushed tone, pointing discreetly toward a woman on the left, selling glittery cases with an animated sign demonstrating how the cases fit on different tech. Shops lined the street, and even more above them in skyways.
“I’ll do it,” Evie stepped forward.
Jeremiah knew this was not the time, but he wanted to kiss her. He’d never met anyone as brave as her. Later, he promised himself.
Out loud, all he said was, “I’ll go with you.” And to the others, “Stay close, in case we need to run.”
He refrained from taking Evie’s hand as they walked toward the woman. Instead, he pulled up his BiComp as if in mid-use, pressing buttons at random. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Evie copy him. Keeping his head down, imitating the way everyone else was focused on their tech, Jeremiah found it surprisingly difficult to walk in a straight line without tripping.
The saleswoman lounged on a stool next to her small shop. She wore her hair in a sharp, pointed bun that matched the sharp angles of her shoulder pads designed to look like small wings. Her outfit included a thick collar around her neck, but the rest of her clothing was extremely revealing. Jeremiah kept his eyes on his wrist tech, letting Evie do the talking.
“Excuse me,” Evie said to the vendor as soon as they were close, “Could you point me in the direction the slaves are sold?” Straightforward and brief. Just what he would’ve done.
Yet even though he kept his gaze lowered, Jeremiah could see the woman recoil out of the corner of his eye.
“What kind of bio-haters are you?” the vendor snapped in a deep voice. Jeremiah dropped the pretense of using his tech, preparing to run if necessary. He watched the woman’s brown eyes with swirls of purple makeup accents for any sign that she was about to sound the alarm. Her nose wrinkled at them in disgust. “I can’t believe there are still people who use that disrespectful language for the heavy.”
“I wasn’t saying they were… large…” Evie tiptoed around the conversation, unsure what was upsetting the woman.
The vendor exhaled loudly. “Not heavy, HEV.” She said the exact same word twice. But then she rolled her eyes and spelled it out. “As in, H. E. V.”
Jeremiah frowned slightly. They used an acronym to avoid saying slaves? Did they not like how close it was to the truth?
“Ah, of course,” Evie was quick to react with a nod and a roll of her eyes as if it wasn’t a big deal. “I apologize, that was rude of me, I wasn’t thinking. Um… we’re here to work with the HEV, and we’re a little lost.”
The woman’s purple lips twisted in disapproval. “Here to work with the HEV?” she asked. Just when Jeremiah was about to speak up, say they meant something else, she finally nodded. “Ah. I get it. You’re here for the HEV sensitivity training. Well you better get your act together now; they won’t tolerate that kind of disrespectful behavior in the BioLabs.”
Evie ducked her head as if suitably ashamed, mumbling, “Yes ma’am, of course, you’re right. Could you point us in the direction of the… BioLabs?” Jeremiah dipped his head to stare at his arm once more, choosing to scroll back and forth between the screens on the little computer this time, to mix it up. They had a name for Olive to search. That was a good start.
The woman drawled a list of directions in a deep voice, and Evie thanked her, backing away quickly under the vendor’s stare. Jeremiah took her elbow and guided her away from their friends further down the street. “Let’s walk around that corner,” he said. “We don’t want her to see us backtrack.” Before she could ask about the rest of the group, he added, “They’ll catch up to us.”
Sure enough, Olive, Sol, and Noble were quick to dart down the street after them, rounding the corner only a minute later.
“Yeah, she called the authorities,” Noble hissed, speed-walking past them. Jeremiah exchanged glances with the others, and they picked up their pace to catch up to Noble.
As soon as he rounded the corner, Noble took off in a run. He only ran half a block, before he turned down another side street. They ran after him into the alley, finding it full of clothing strung along lines, effectively hiding them from sight.
“Let’s just sit tight for a few minutes to be safe,” Noble said, barely winded. Jeremiah and the others nodded, out of breath. He hated following blindly. He hadn’t seen the woman call anyone, but Noble seemed to know his way around this strange city.
“What did they say?” Olive whispered to him and Evie.
“They’re at a building called ‘BioLabs,’” he told her. “12 blocks down ‘Bio Lane, which I think we were just on.’” While they passed the time, hiding from any searching eyes, Jeremiah and Evie described the vendor’s reaction to the word slaves.
“H.E.V.?” Olive repeated the term, as they stepped back out onto the street, peering to the left and right before taking off in the direction of the BioLabs. She swung her arm to pull up the bio-computer in a way that was quickly becoming familiar to all of them. “Hmm… heavy, heavy…” she mumbled to herself, almost running into a pole as she strode along the sidewalk looking down. Sol gently reached out to guide her around it. He held onto her elbow, directing her, as they all leaned closer, trying to catch a glimpse of the screen on her wrist. “Sorry,” she mumbled as they walked, “it’s t
aking me a minute to adjust to this…” Sol led her around a grate.
“Found it!” Olive exclaimed, reading aloud from the screen, “H.E.V. stands for Human Experimentation Volunteer. Ha! They seriously think these people are volunteers?”
Jeremiah and Evie exchanged a worried look. Without saying anything, everyone picked up their pace. Jeremiah earnestly hoped they would find their very un-willing volunteer while there was still time.
35
Evalene
THE BIOLAB BUILDING COVERED three city blocks. It was the largest structure they’d seen since their arrival, and the peak of its tower disappeared into the clouds. Evalene’s neck ached just staring at the halfway point.
Her stomach growled, but she ignored it, bringing her gaze to the front steps of the building, which led to dozens of revolving doors. Was there any chance they could just waltz right in?
They stood in a pedestrian-only square. Vendors sold a million different items at their booths along the sides. People milled about, snapping pictures, playing with their tech. A fountain in the middle of the square gushed water from five different levels, the sun shone brightly, and a cheerful star pattern repeated along the cobblestone. Everything about the happy scene conflicting with the evil they knew was in the building ahead.
Noble seemed to grow more and more nervous as they approached. “There are cameras everywhere,” he whispered to them. “Intel says they’re always watching. We need to be careful.”
“I have an idea,” Olive said, fiddling with her BiComp ring. An image of her feet flashed up on the screen on her wrist. As she moved her hand, the camera followed. She snapped a picture of Sol’s face as he searched for the cameras Noble had described. “Very nice,” she showed him the candid photo and his brows rose.
Pearl's Number: The Number Series Page 23
