Shifting Power

by Dacia M Arnold

  “Like labor pains?”

  “No. Like phantom pains from where someone attacked me. And this.” Valerie showed Hyka the yellowing bruises on her wrists.

  “What’s that?”

  “I had a dream Lucas attacked me, and I woke up with these. August did attack me! He made me think it was a dream so that everyone would think I’m crazy. He also caused the indoor tornado to get back at me, and now he’s gone!”

  “Hmm.”

  “Don’t look so impressed,” Valerie shot at her friend. She turned and led the way to Dr. Dominguez’s office. “He knows this could kill me. The serious question is: how am I even still pregnant?” Valerie searched Hyka’s face for an answer. She needed someone to make sense of her accusations. “Why would he leave me? He picked a fight with the Council and abandoned me without so much as a message.”

  Hyka let out a considerable groan. “I knew this was an awful plan.”

  “What? What does that mean? Has he done something? Are you keeping secrets from me, too?”

  “Are you listening to yourself? This is the reason no one wanted to mention anything to you. It’s not safe to communicate in the open. I’ll take you to visit Monica, and maybe she’ll give you a Xanax since you’re so close to a hysterical breakdown. We’ll talk in the in-processing room. It’s the only place we can lock out all remote monitoring for privacy.”

  “That’s it! The in-processing room mutes the gene back to its passive state. What if we develop a suite in the hotel with the same technology? I could have a normal pregnancy like before the Awakening. Then the baby would be protected even without August.”

  “We’ve considered that, but the upgrade would take too much time. Also, the region’s power would be diminished to the city. We require both of your abilities active to run power throughout the region.”

  “So, what about the electricity now with August gone?”

  “Generators? Solar and wind power are still functioning for now. He’ll be back before they’re depleted.”

  The train arrived at the medical section and jerked to a stop. Hyka hit a support beam hard with her shoulder, but Valerie braced herself. The rising nausea made her regret the sudden end to their train ride. Valerie wasted no time in reaching the clinic doors.

  “Monica, August left. We need contingency provisions set up in the hotel as soon as possible.” Valerie gave no time for Monica to respond. “How is the communication with the local hospital? I’ll leave myself to get them if I have to.”

  The physician grinned at her. Listening to herself, Valerie sounded absurd. She was overreacting like any other pregnant mother.

  “Everything is en route as we speak. Our relationship with the outlying hospitals has progressed as more of the General Population have moved back into the city. Otherwise, Conductors have little use of the hospital and the supplies requested. They were overjoyed to accommodate my request.”

  “I asked you before to hold off, but would you and Courtney be willing to move your living quarters to the main hotel? Immediately?”

  “Madam DiaZem, whatever you request of me, you know it is my pleasure. Hyka, could you give Courtney a heads up? With help, we can be moved by dinner. Why don’t you sit down a minute, Valerie? Let me look at your vitals and do a quick glance at the little lady to relieve your stress.”

  Valerie agreed, and while Monica prepped the Doppler, her internal war raged. A sense of relief came from the thought of miscarriage. She would be free. Her body and mind would be free of the torture the child caused her every moment of the day. But she knew those feelings were wrong. She was Scott’s daughter. Her daughter. Valerie would fight herself to the death to protect her children. She would win the fight against her mind and her body. She would keep her children alive at all costs, and the longer she knew August was elsewhere, the more nervous she became.

  Her weight had not fluctuated from the day before. Her blood pressure was superb. The baby’s heartbeat regular. Then Monica pushed a few knobs on the ultrasound machine. The screen sputtered, and a red battery flashed across the screen. The doctor pulled the cart away from the wall to find the plug connected to the socket. She wiggled the cord and pushed the power button again. Nothing.

  “This has been going on a lot lately. Like something is sucking the power from the batteries.”

  Valerie focused her energy to make the ultrasound operational, but the disturbance blocked her ability, just like the lamp in her room and the overhead light in the hotel lobby. She studied Hyka, who popped a piece of gum and shrugged.

  “I believe there’s another ultrasound machine at the medical station in the old in-processing area. We’re headed there anyway. I can check her,” Hyka offered.

  Monica looked at Valerie for approval. Hyka was not a physician, but with the medical experience she did have, and herself being a nurse, Valerie was comfortable with Hyka doing the exam.

  “Everything looks and sounds excellent. If you’re okay with Hyka doing the scan, I have complete confidence in her expertise, but if you find anything unexpected, come back. Also return if you’re experiencing more pain. In the meantime, maybe map out your birth plan. Consider who will be in the room with you, if you’d like music playing, or certain essential oils around.”

  “Hyka will be the only person allowed in the room if anyone.”

  “Water birth? Conventional? I arranged for everything we’d need either way. I recommend a water delivery, which is a magnificent experience. You can even bring her into the world yourself. I am only present in case you need me.”

  “I’ve avoided every thought on the matter, but I can try to have a solid plan by our next appointment. And Monica, the blood work we took in the beginning? She is a DiaZem, isn’t she? She carries the gene, right?”

  “Yes. By all the studies done, the gene in your daughter's DNA is prominent. Do you want me to run it again?”

  “No, I don’t understand how. . . never mind. As long as you say everything is okay.” Valerie gave a halfhearted smile.

  After the Awakening, the Denver International Airport initially served as a collection place for individuals with the Conductor gene. The in-processing room allowed Conductors to travel through a sequence of stations without disturbing the required electricity to establish complete accountability of the process. Under Valerie’s command, the research team transformed the enormous auditorium-sized room into a workshop to develop and test technologies that would benefit their unique capabilities and way of life. She renamed the area the Technology Testing Center, or TTC.

  Valerie hated the TTC. Even when the scientists and engineers requested her presence for brief experiments, being in the area was smothering; it felt like she would suffocate or die from exposure if she lingered too long. The lengthy passage from the platform to the auditorium allowed her to prepare for the sensation of imminent doom. There was one significant perk to Valerie visiting the TTC, significant enough to make her sometimes look forward to her time within. While her DiaZem genes and her daughter’s identical DiaZem genes were muted, Valerie experienced every unpleasant maternal symptom from nausea and heartburn, to round ligament pain and backaches. All the typical symptoms of pregnancy her genetics denied her. Valerie was willing to experience every discomfort, because she was also capable of loving the baby girl growing in her womb. Her aversion to the child washed away, and in dull moments within the walls of the TTC, Valerie could catch herself daydreaming about who her daughter would grow up to be in the way most expecting mothers do. Well worth the sunken claustrophobia the room’s technology caused. This didn’t stop her from taking a large preparatory breath when they reached the door.

  Hyka pressed her badge to the black box on the wall. Nothing happened. She clutched the doorknob. Locked. She tested her badge again.

  “This is getting annoying. Care to try?” Hyka asked Valerie with a slight bow of inferiority.

  The electrical panel governing the door-latching mechanism was inaccessible. Valerie saw the con
nections and the power tracing the conducive wires on any other occasion, but on this occasion, she was blind to the circuits controlling the door—it was a blank area impenetrable to her power.

  “Maybe we should switch to old-school key and bolt locks until we figure out where the power surges are coming from,” Valerie said. “Maybe the Council has figured out how to infiltrate our Facility and control everything remotely.”

  “We’ll talk more inside,” Hyka said to Valerie before yelling to no one: “Open the damn door!” She pressed a finger to her ear, “This is getting old, real quick. You guys in there haven’t discovered a bypass yet? Well then, send someone down here with a key, now!”

  “Maybe August knows the Council has broken into our systems and just won’t tell me. It would explain his outburst, but not why he would leave without even telling me.” Valerie thought for a moment. “Oh my goodness, Hyka! What if there is another DiaZem in the Facility! He left, knowing someone was coming for me! He probably let them right in the front door. We need to run. But I can’t run. What do I do?”

  “You calm the hell down. I am seriously about to tell you what’s going on as soon as someone opens this damn door.”

  The women lingered in the corridor for fifteen minutes in silence; all the while Valerie’s heart pounded out of her chest. Continuing to rant would frustrate Hyka, but waiting one more minute to find out how much she and everyone else was keeping from her was torture. The two sat in plain white chairs facing a three dimensional mural of paper airplanes. August normally sat in the seat she occupied. During DiaZem testing, which required Valerie to be inside the TTC, August insisted on being close by in case anything went wrong. He would be in there with her if the Facility did not require one of them to continue functioning the transformers running power to the region. Tapping her foot, she kept her mind active by counting the tiles on the floor and examining the painting to the right of the mural. Soon, she heard the jingling of keys as the guard approached to grant them entry to the TTC.

  “Hector,” Valerie said with a smile when she recognized the young man. In the initial days of the Facility, just after she arrived, the head of security promoted Hector to the control room after he saved the life of a young girl in the living area. “I’m pleased to see you remained on staff with us.”

  “My pleasure, Madam DiaZem.” Hector's cheeks blushed with a shy grin. During the Awakening, he was visiting his adopted family while on military leave. Just after his promotion, he learned the only family he knew perished in the Denver Massacre. Though Valerie was not fond of many hired by the previous administration, Hector showed bravery and integrity early on. She imagined these values were evident in him even before his Conductor gene was activated.

  The young man fumbled through the many keys on his tether before finding the right one. When he opened the door, the air from the hallway sucked in like the room held its breath. Valerie thanked and dismissed him to his regular station in the control room.

  Despite the empty place stretching out like a school auditorium, their footsteps did not reverberate. Technology coated the walls and every electrical piece of equipment which protected the power from residual effects of their muted genes. Valerie had no control over what worked and what did not. She did, however, expect the sudden and whole weight of her womb followed by a wave of nausea when she passed over the threshold. She swayed as if stepping onto a small boat.

  “Whoa now, have a seat, I’ll bring you some water.” Hyka shut the door and rolled a chair to her.

  “I hate being pregnant. The first time, I hated all the horrible pregnancy symptoms. This one I hate because I have none. I never forgot what it was like to give birth to Caleb like everybody tells you. I recall every single pain that kid put me through.”

  Hyka handed her a paper cup.

  “Now, I can’t breathe with this baby in my rib cage, but I can feel that she’s okay and I’m okay. This room gives me hope we can have a normal relationship.”

  “It’s Lucas,” Hyka said without preamble. “Your tornado was a poltergeist of your psycho ex-boyfriend.”

  Valerie snapped out of her maternal daydream. She sat up straight, eyebrows raised, and looked around the room for the man.

  “Remember in the pool, I told you about superstitions?”

  Valerie nodded; dread grew in her chest and up her throat. Why would they keep such a thing from her? Valerie wrapped her arms around herself, remembering Jarrett's violating advances.

  “Before the Awakening, most thought when a person’s body dies, their soul or energy transfers to some sort of beyond: heaven or hell, limbo, or reincarnation. Yada, yada, yada.”

  “Out with it, Hyka, Jesus!”

  “When a DiaZem passes away, their body dies, but their energy changes form. So, like a ghost, but worse because it’s Jarrett.”

  “I’m sorry. What is Jarret?”

  “The lights flickering, the bruises on your arm…”

  “Scott talking to Caleb is Lucas Jarrett? You let this go on without telling me? What if he hurt my son?”

  “After that first incident with your door slamming, they started tracking him. His energy follows you everywhere. Anything we said to you outside this room would have tipped him off that we’re onto him. We didn’t want him to retaliate before containing his energy. So we kept the spook under wraps and made-believe with Caleb. You not assuming the worst made things easier, too. That is until you did assume the worst. You were about to risk your life because you thought the Council infiltrated the Facility. You’re not the most rational person when left to your own devices.”

  “And a ghost is a rational explanation? That’s a disgusting trick, even for you. Why won’t he just die? He tried to hurt us.”

  “Safety—”

  “I don’t give a shit about safety, Hyka.” Valerie soaked in the knowledge. In the pool, she was terrified the ghost was Scott. Knowing ghosts were real, but not her husband, was like losing him all over again. Her feelings were genuine, being in the room that muted her magnetic charge and involuntary aversion to her daughter. She wiped her hands down her face, flipped a switch within her heart, remembering Hyka’s advice concerning August. Scott was gone, every bit of him. She needed to move on. Her DiaZem partner was the safest distraction from her grief. “Lucas was the reason August was bleeding then?”

  “Yes.”

  “Which would also explain why he was in such a mood and picked a fight with the Council. He wanted to protect me. What about the call from Jacqui?”

  "Jacqui called to relay intelligence leaked to her while the Council was occupied with the conference. Your power footprint here in the Facility dwarfs their eastern region. She suggested another DiaZem might be living within the Facility unbeknownst to us. With August’s experience, he would have noticed the physical presence of another male DiaZem and insisted you would immediately be aware of another female. The baby, combined with your and August's energies, would reach farther than just the two of you, but with the strange outages, August suspected Jarrett to be the cause.

  “And he left to test the theory.”

  “He stopped in Kansas City to check in on you before heading to Chicago. He’s on his way back now. The research team confirmed the footprint shrunk but is still larger than the eastern region."

  "So, Lucas' energy is keeping my pregnancy viable while August is away."

  "This also means the eastern region still only has two DiaZem."

  “Screw the eastern region.” Valerie pulled her knees up and gently hugged them to herself. “A part of me wants to hide in here, and most of me is so sick of everyone else. The threats, the reliance. I’ve been a passenger all this time. To the point you all feel like you have to protect me from myself.”

  Hyka threw her hands up in superfluous defense. “Not my call, but, again, the way you react to everything, we agreed not to bring it up until we had to. As long as you and Caleb were safer not knowing, I kept my mouth shut. But Jarrett’s getting stronger.
He tried to kill August the night before. It was terrible, Val. The dude spent all morning trying to heal before the conference without drawing your energy. Those bruises you woke up with are what crossed the line for me.”

  “Why would Jarrett talk to Caleb? What a monster. You could’ve brought me to this room as soon as you found out and told me.” Valerie touched the unblemished skin on her wrists, remembering the trauma earlier in the morning. “Why did he attack August? I shouldn’t have been such a jerk.”

  “When August moved into the suite, he went through a lot of blueprints, new technology Dr. Warner developed for the Facility. Well, a few nights ago, August noticed things in his suite moving from the place he had put them. Not like a housekeeping kind of moving, but the same area of a shelf kept getting knocked over. After the third night of this happening, he looked closer and found a small compartment with additional blueprints. They seemed like a huge deal, but, for the same reason we didn’t tell you about Jarrett, we were told not to mention them to you. They have to do with his trip to Chicago.”

  “If all this started just a few days ago, I wonder what sparked the attacks in my room. Is something hidden in there as well?”

  “You’re hidden in there, doofus.”

  Valerie gave an exaggerated glare. “How do we keep Jarrett from Caleb? I know he’ll hurt my son to get back at me. He knows tomorrow is his birthday.”

  “We’re doing what we can, Val.”

  “What is ‘what we can’?”

  “I don’t understand all the science behind it, but they’re trying to make a contraption to trap the ghost. The next step is called ‘reactance’ and is some complicated formula with math and angles or something. Basically, it’s an equation to cancel out electrical power. In theory, reactance is how they kill a DiaZem ghost.”

  “And live ones too, huh?” Valerie thought having the answer would be comforting, but if her team could figure out the formula, so could others.