Pandora Jones: Deception

by Barry Jonsberg

  Pan had hoped the dark would make the ascent up the steps less scary, but if anything her fear of heights was sharpened by the lack of visibility. She kept as far to the left as she could, trailing the fingers of her hand against the cliff face. The absence of any visual cues made it seem as if she was making no progress at all, that she would be climbing forever. But then, with no warning, they were at the top and on the short path leading to the Infirmary’s front doors. Stretching behind them lay the unseen expanse of the Garden. Jen pressed her mouth close to Pan’s ear.

  ‘We need to scout around,’ she said. ‘Make sure there are no unpleasant surprises.’

  Pan felt more nervous than she had anticipated, worse even than when she had crossed the wall. She had been to the Infirmary dozens of times, so why was there a tingling in her blood that warned of danger? She followed Jen over to the French windows that gave admittance to the ward. There was a red glow within, coming from the far corner of the room but, although Pan pressed her face up against the glass, she could see nothing inside. Probably a machine of some kind, thought Pan, possibly connected to the new student, the one with a gunshot wound to his chest. Did that explain Dr Morgan sleeping at the Infirmary? Maybe when there was someone on the ward it was necessary for a medic to be on site in case of an emergency. Pan couldn’t shake the notion that there was more to the story.

  Their exploration didn’t take long because there was little to explore. The Infirmary itself presented only one face to the world, the remainder of the building nestled against the mountain. As far as Pan could judge, there couldn’t be more than a dozen rooms in the entire building. At least when they broke in they wouldn’t have a labyrinth to investigate. The only problem would be working out where Dr Morgan was sleeping. Pan had never seen any sign of a bedroom, so they would have to be extremely careful which doors they opened.

  ‘Ready?’ whispered Jen after they had paced the front of the building and found nothing unusual.

  ‘No,’ Pan whispered. ‘But I don’t think I’m ever going to be ready, so we might as well go now. You said the front doors were locked. How are we getting in?’

  Jen fished around in her pocket and held out something in her hand. ‘With these,’ she said. ‘Lock picks.’

  ‘Lock picks?’

  ‘I made them in metalwork, while everyone else was fashioning horseshoes or some shit. Nothing like as good as the ones I had back in Sydney, but they should do the trick.’

  ‘And you can use them?’

  ‘Hey, girlfriend,’ said Jen. ‘There wasn’t a lock I couldn’t pick back then.’

  ‘You were a criminal?’

  Jen sighed. ‘This isn’t the time or place for my life story, Pandora, but yeah. A couple of six-month stretches in juvie, okay? Breaking and entering. That’s where I first learned martial arts. They had these programs. You know, to get us interested in something so we wouldn’t go back to a life of crime. Most of the stuff was shit, but martial arts – it was the business. And, it did stop me. Eventually. The adrenaline rush was the same as I used to get when I was breaking into some place. Anyway, enough. Let’s do this.’

  Jen inserted the lock picks into the keyhole and pressed her ear against the door. Pan glanced around nervously. After a minute or two, Jen stood and flexed her fingers.

  ‘I’m rusty,’ she whispered. ‘This shouldn’t be taking so long.’

  Pan didn’t answer and Jen sighed and bent to her task again. She muttered to herself. Finally, she stood and nodded to Pan. ‘Party time,’ she whispered, pushing down the handle.

  Jen opened the door very carefully and Pan realised she was holding her breath as she listened for the creak or whine of a hinge. Nothing. Once the gap was sufficient for them to enter, the girls slid inside. They stood for a full minute, listening. Somewhere in the distance there was a ticking sound, but it was faint and clearly mechanical. A wall clock maybe. Jen touched Pan’s arm and nodded towards the bend in the corridor. Pan gave a thumbs up and they moved forward.

  They had only crept a couple of metres when two things happened, almost simultaneously. Firstly, the corridor was flooded with a harsh light that caused the girls to instinctively cower. The second was the discordant blare of an alarm, piercing and insistent. For five seconds they were both paralysed under the white glare.

  Then Jen shuddered. ‘Oh shit,’ she said. ‘Run, Pandora.’

  They raced back out the front doors and onto the path leading to the steps. The whole area was illuminated by the light from the Infirmary. Pan glanced back and saw other lights coming on and the hint of shadows moving in front of the lights. She didn’t wait to find out who it was. Jen was already ahead of her, taking the first of the steps leading down to The School. Pan followed. After five or six steps they were plunged into darkness once more, the light blocked by the bulk of the cliff. Pan ran as quickly as she dared down the steep steps, her heart hammering and her breath catching in her throat. The wail of the alarm was still unnaturally loud. There was no way of telling whether they were being pursued, but they ran as if they had someone close on their heels.

  When they reached the bottom, Pan stumbled, expecting another step, but found none. Her knee scraped against a rock and she felt a jabbing pain, but ignored it, got to her feet and kept running. They were still deep in the shadow of the cliff, so the lights above them did not penetrate, but Pan could just see the figure of Jen ahead. She ran as hard as she could to catch up and was grateful for the punishing fitness regime she had subjected herself to. She slowed and glanced back and saw the fluttering of two flame torches, like exotic fireflies in the night, fanning out from the cliff. She sprinted again.

  When they got to the dormitory they pushed through the door and dived into their respective beds. Their entrance was violent and noisy and a couple of girls gasped. Someone called out, but Pan ignored her and pulled the rough blanket up to her neck. There was a throbbing pain in her knee, but she ignored that as well.

  ‘Pan. What the hell is going on?’ The voice was Wei-Lin’s. Pan could just make out her shape as she sat up in the bunk opposite her.

  ‘I can’t explain now, Wei-Lin,’ Pan replied.

  ‘But—’

  The door to the dormitory opened and a flame torch spilled light over the first few bunks. The silhouette of a tall figure was outlined in the doorway. The lamp-holder moved into the dorm and along the rows of bunks towards the end where Pan lay.

  ‘Hey,’ Wei-Lin yelled out. ‘What are you doing? Get out.’

  The lamp-holder turned towards the sound and Pan could see it was the tall student, the member of the Student Representative Council, who had been at her first disciplinary meeting when she and Nate were caught after crossing the wall. What was his name? She couldn’t remember. Maybe she’d never known. But she did remember the size of the guy and how he looked like a bouncer. And that he was scared. Interesting. What was he doing at the Infirmary? She had seen the lamps pursuing them and they had obviously come down the steps and that meant the boy was already up there. So Dr Morgan wasn’t the only resident in the Infirmary at night. There were so many implications and things she needed to think through, but now clearly wasn’t the time.

  ‘Everybody up!’ said the boy, ‘Girls from this dorm were roaming The School’s grounds.’ His voice was slow and flat.

  ‘So what?’ came Sam’s voice, hard with indignation. ‘There’s no law against that. And this is a girls’ dorm. You have no right to be in here.’

  ‘I was ordered to search this dorm. Now, all of you, out of bed and line up,’ said the boy.

  Wei-Lin got out of bed. She was dressed in her daytime fatigues. She often didn’t change for bed because they had no sleepwear to change into. She walked up to the boy and put her hands on her hips, her slight figure down-lit by the lamp. She tilted her head to make eye contact. She was absurdly tiny against his looming bulk.

  ‘In your dreams, pal,’ she said. ‘What are you, some kind of pervert? You have no right to ord
er us out of bed in the middle of the night.’

  The boy took a step back under the ferocity of her gaze. Wei-Lin took a step forward. ‘Leave immediately, or I’ll lodge a charge of sexual harassment with School Council first thing in the morning. Trust me, everyone – students as well as staff – will know how you came barging in here trying to get a glimpse of undressed girls.’

  ‘But . . .’ The boy’s voice was still slow, but there was a distinct tone of defensiveness in it.

  ‘Get out!’ Wei-Lin repeated.

  ‘Pervert.’

  ‘Creep.’

  ‘Get the hell out!’

  The boy took another couple of steps backwards, his head snapping from one side to another as the calls came at him from all directions.

  Wei-Lin stalked his every step, driving him towards the door. The boy glanced around the dormitory one last time, the confusion on his face highlighted by the torch he was carrying. Then he turned and bolted out of the door. Wei-Lin slammed it behind him.

  She strode back to Pan’s bed and sat at its end.

  ‘I think I deserve an explanation, Pan,’ she said. Her voice was soft, but determined.

  Pan agreed, but where would she start? All the events leading up to this point . . . they were complicated. Any explanation would involve such a stretch of credibility that she didn’t think she could go through with it. Certainly not now.

  ‘We went for a run, Wei-Lin,’ said Jen. ‘You know how Pan’s been focusing on her fitness. Well, neither of us could sleep, so we went for a run. That creep spotted us and followed. I can’t believe he tracked us back here and actually came into our dorm.’

  ‘So why did he?’ asked Wei-Lin. There was no mistaking the suspicion in her voice.

  ‘Who knows?’ Jen replied. ‘Maybe you were right. Maybe he is some kind of pervert. Who knows what might have happened if he’d caught us outside.’

  ‘You’d have broken his arms, Jen,’ said Wei-Lin. ‘And that’s all true, is it, Pan?’

  ‘Yes,’ said Pan. She really didn’t want to lie to Wei-Lin, and she was grateful for the dark since she could feel the blood burning on her cheeks. Wei-Lin had always been open and supportive. She was a friend, for God’s sake. But Jen was also a friend and a decision seemed to have been made, an unspoken pact to protect each other. For all that, Pan felt guilty.

  Wei-Lin didn’t say anything for a long time. Then she simply went back to her bed. Pan could just make out the sight of her pulling the blanket over herself.

  ‘We are a team,’ said Wei-Lin, but her voice was so quiet it was almost as if she was talking to herself.

  Pan tried to sleep after that, but it eluded her.

  ‘I’ve got another plan,’ said Jen as Pan struggled to lift a large rock from the rough track and place it on the perimeter. Pan put it down and wiped at her brow with a sleeve. It was early, but the work was making her hot and sweaty. She dusted her hands and sat on the rock she’d just moved.

  ‘Why shouldn’t we tell Wei-Lin?’ said Pan. ‘I feel bad about lying to her. And not just her, but the others too. Sanjit, Sam and Karl. I mean, come on, Jen. What Wei-Lin said last night was true. We are a team and we need to trust each other.’

  Jen sat on another rock next to Pan and took a swig of water from her canteen.

  ‘You’ve changed your mind quickly, Pandora,’ she said as she screwed the cap back on the canteen. ‘Whatever happened to your “I can’t trust anyone” mentality that you were going on about before we went under the wall?’

  ‘Yeah, but now I’m actively lying about what we’re doing. That’s the difference.’

  ‘Hey, listen. You want to tell everyone, that’s your call,’ said Jen. ‘And I’m not saying we shouldn’t tell them, it’s just that at the moment it’s kinda hard to be convincing about all this. Think about it, Pandora. What have you got? Just your feelings about The School, a glimpse of people watching television in the village. A wild story about being drugged with a truth serum and a weird implant between your shoulder blades that could be anything and quite possibly was in there before you arrived in this place.’

  ‘What about the alarm on the Infirmary?’

  ‘What about it? They didn’t even hear it.’

  ‘But they’d believe us if we told them we’d heard it.’

  ‘Probably.’ Jen locked her fingers together and gazed at the dusty ground. ‘But there’s nothing suspicious in that. What would The School say? “Oh, yeah, that security system. That must’ve been the military before we took over this place. Thought we’d keep it on with a backup generator. Stop any students who might be after drugs.” Get real, Pandora. We don’t have any solid evidence. And until we do, I reckon it’s in our interests and the interests of our group to keep quiet for the time being. Find something first, then tell them.’

  Pan thought this through and was forced to concede Jen had a point.

  ‘So what do you suggest then?’ she said finally.

  ‘We go back to the Infirmary. Tonight.’

  ‘Isn’t that a bit soon? I mean, they’ll be on heightened security.’

  ‘Maybe, but that’s my point. The last thing they’ll be expecting is another attempt straight away. Come on, Pandora.’

  Pan stood and looked wearily at yet another rock. Perhaps for physical activity from now on she could find something that at least offered more variety. Cleaning out the septic tanks couldn’t be worse than this. Then she thought about it and decided it almost certainly was.

  ‘So what’s your plan?’ she asked.

  Jen told her. It sounded like there would still be plenty to go wrong, but Pan figured that she’d come too far now to back out. They talked over a few details and then returned to the rocks. Pan’s back was aching and she was hot and thirsty. My body will thank me in time, she thought.

  Chapter 10

  Dr Morgan was pleased, mainly, Pan suspected, because she’d done better than normal on the card-guessing exercise. Pan was starting to believe she could probably get the cards right a hundred percent of the time, and while she continued to feed in the occasional deliberate mistake, she had decided to show some improvement to see how he reacted.

  After half an hour, Dr Morgan turned the card-shuffling machine off and sat back.

  ‘How did I do, Doc?’ asked Pan.

  ‘Remarkable, my dear,’ said Dr Morgan. ‘Quite remarkable. I have no doubt you possess a genuine and highly developed psychic gift. What’s more, I also believe that our sessions are honing your skills. Today, you scored far beyond anything attributable to chance. I feel positively inspired.’

  Pan smiled. ‘What happened to your worries about feedback interfering with results?’

  ‘I’ve decided to take another tack,’ said Dr Morgan. ‘What happens to your performance when you do get feedback? It’s an interesting question.’

  ‘But one you haven’t tested,’ Pan pointed out.

  ‘That’s changing now,’ said Dr Morgan. ‘I’ve come up with an experiment.’

  He stood, picked up the shuffling machine and walked over to a small cupboard on the back wall. He placed the machine on a shelf and then took out a stack of plastic cups nestling within each other. He brought them back to the table, plucked a cup from the stack and handed it to Pan.

  ‘I painted them black,’ said Dr Morgan. ‘It’s possible you might detect a shape through white plastic. So, the experiment goes like this. I place twenty of these cups on the table, thus.’ He put the cups upside down in four rows of five. ‘You leave the room and I will place an object under one of these cups. When you return, your task will be to identify which cup hides the object.’

  Pan cocked her head at the rows of cups.

  ‘Hate to say this, Doc,’ she said, ‘but what if I detect that one of the cups has moved?’

  Dr Morgan laughed. ‘I’ve already thought of that. When you come back in I will have altered the position of all the cups, thus eliminating any visual cues.’

  Pan nodded. ‘Wil
l you let me know what the object is?’

  ‘I’ll do better than that, my dear. I’ll let you touch the object before you leave the room.’ He took a polished pebble from his pocket and handed it across the table. ‘You said your gift might be related to touch. So hold that, roll it around in your hands. Then, when you return, you might pick up its . . . aura, or whatever we might like to call it. Sounds interesting?’

  ‘Sounds different, at least,’ she said.

  Pan closed her eyes and focused on the pebble in her palm. It was cold and smooth against her skin. She tried to see if any feeling was associated with it, but there was nothing. At the back of Pan’s mind was the experience of the mysterious man with glasses. She felt sure he was the one who’d inserted the tracking chip between her shoulder blades. His handling of the device as he implanted it into her body must have forged some kind of link that had allowed her, albeit briefly, to inhabit his mind and see through his eyes. Now she wondered if the same might apply to Dr Morgan. She held the pebble in her fist and tried to feel if there was a connection, something that might allow her to get inside the doctor’s head. If it had been a set of keys or something personal, then maybe she’d have more luck. But this was a stone he may well have picked at random. Then again, the tracking device was certainly not a personal item for the man with glasses, so the possibility still existed.

  After a minute or so she opened her eyes. She handed the pebble back to Dr Morgan.

  ‘Okay,’ she said. ‘Good to go.’

  Dr Morgan escorted her to the door and shut it firmly behind her when she was outside. After a couple of minutes, it opened and he beckoned her back in.

  ‘This will take a while, won’t it?’ said Pan. ‘If we have to go through this every time, it’s going to take forever.’

  ‘Well,’ said Dr Morgan, ‘we might not have forever, but we do have time. So. Here are your choices.’

  Dr Morgan had spread the cups out, so they no longer formed any kind of pattern. Twenty black cups, all identical, distributed randomly. Pan was curious herself. Could she apply her ability to find something in this particular situation or did it not work like that? There was only one way to find out.