Mimi asked. She was crouched now and leaning forward. “So, what happened?”
“Well, they usually take a first vote to see where everyone sits and then each of the justices speaks their peace. When they’re finished, they take a final vote. When they got to Allistair, the chief justice, who had initially voted to clear her... I don’t know... it was strange.”
Noatla cocked her head. “Go on.”
“Look, I don’t remember all of what he said, but some of it didn’t make a damn bit of sense. It was something about the red curtains or drapes or something.”
“A red veil?” Her voice emphasized the question. Noatla’s eyes were wide. Her entire demeanor changed.
“Yes, a red veil, but I don’t remember much else, and it’s almost like... well like I saw something red.”
Mimi stood up. “I’ve seen red lately too.”
Noatla said, “Where, Mimi? Tell us everything. Don’t skip anything.”
Mimi related the events when she and Shannon were nearly caught by the two sanitation workers. She told them how their thoughts just disappeared, how one of the workers had insisted that she had heard something, while the other almost seemed afraid of going their direction.
“The one afraid of going your direction, that was me,” said Noatla. “I couldn’t understand why the woman in the pair was so insistent. But you are sure you saw red?”
Mimi nodded. “I won’t forget it. It was like something red veiled my vision.” She cast her eyes downward. “This wasn’t the only time.”
Mimi told them about the night when she had scared Shannon and made her head hurt and the few other moments when she seemed almost on the verge of losing control of her emotions. Then, she spoke of her experience during her initiation and how the red shadow had passed her by.
Noatla looked almost pale. All softness had left her face, only strong ridges remained. “Mimi, why didn’t you share any of this with us before?”
Mimi thought about it. It was a good question. “Maybe because I didn’t think it related in any way to what happened to Shannon. My mind’s been so focused on her, I hardly think of anything else.”
Noatla seemed to accept this answer. In a low voice, barely above a whisper, she said, “It just can’t be.”
Fatima said, “She’s dead, Noatla.” Sisters Kayla and Yoshi echoed the sentiment.
“We never did find the body, though,” she said.
Fatima said, “No but that was two centuries ago and before the destruction of the city of Mex. Mex was where she was living, and you know it. Her madness destroyed that city.”
Mimi said, “Who are you talking about?”
Noatla looked puzzled for a moment, and then her face cleared. “It’s nothing, Mimi. It’s something to worry about another day. But Serah, what happened after the judge spoke those words?”
“Two of them changed their votes, and she was convicted 5 to 4 and put in processing immediately, which as I said, never happens unless it’s an emergency.”
“Do you think it was her, Noatla?” Leahara said.
Noatla looked thoughtful for a moment “It seems very unlikely. And anyway, she wasn’t the only one to use the Red Veil. She wasn’t the only rogue sister out there. Most cities have had a rogue sister in their order. It could be another. It could even be someone untrained we don’t know about. It can’t possibly be her, Fatima is right.”
Mimi didn’t like this. Rogue sisters? Red Veils? She spoke up. “What the hell does all that mean?”
Noatla said, “For now Mimi, let me just say that there are other women out there with our abilities. Some of them are trained and accept the Order, some of them choose to be on their own. Once in a while, a sister will leave the Order and go rogue. Usually, this means she chooses to use her abilities for selfish gain and breaks our taboos.”
“The red veil?”
“It’s when someone tries to force another human being into doing something. We aren’t sure exactly why you see red, but if enough force is used, the brain begins to hemorrhage. We think that the red tinge in vision comes from the mind trying to interpret that damage, but we aren’t sure.”
Mimi considered for a moment. “You said it was dangerous, though.”
Noatla seemed to hesitate for a moment. “Yes, it is.” Noatla stood and paced around the room. All eyes were on her. “Mimi, this isn’t something we normally tell new sisters. Normally we want you to understand your own abilities for a while before we impart this information. But if something is going on, you need to know this.”
Mimi shifted back to a sitting position. Her throat felt dry. Most of her moisture had departed through her tear ducts.
“It is possible to use the red veil without too much damage to yourself or others.”
Mimi waited. Noatla seemed to be choosing her words carefully. The surface of her mind shifted back and forth between blank canvas and a fully flushed-out landscape of knowledge.
“Once in a while, a woman joins the Order whose specialty is the red veil, who can push others into doing something they wouldn’t normally do. It is much more than the usual manipulation of emotions. It is control.”
“A long time ago, when the cities were first excavated from their bedrock, and the architects began the migration, there was a kind of accident. A woman with extraordinary abilities was born in an alcove. We don’t fully understand what happened. All we know is what this woman told us.”
“What was her name?”
Noatla hesitated for a few moments. “We don’t really like to talk about her, you see. She was the antithesis of everything we stand for. Her name was...” Noatla swallowed. Several of the sisters in the room shifted uncomfortably, but Mimi noticed that not all of them did. She had learned quickly that a few of them, like Serah, were much newer to the Order. Only a handful of the women had been around for centuries.
“Her name was Miranda. She told us that she was born in an alcove when the city took its first steps. She said that she was born because her mother was killed in the alcove, crushed by a piece of rubble. That she was stuck inside of it, which somehow still functioned despite the damage, for almost a decade.”
Fatima interrupted. “She was mad. We don’t know if she was telling the truth or not. She claimed that all of her mother’s memories were implanted into her, that somehow the alcove interpreted her mother’s DNA and hers as one entity and so it remade her, not as two people but as one. This is her claim, but she was utterly mad.”
Mimi said, “Then why did you welcome her into the Order?”
Noatla replied, “We didn’t know she was mad, at first. She hid it well.”
Kayla said, “Or maybe she wasn’t mad then. Maybe she was just a bit disturbed and, when she realized what her specialty was, that she could force people into doing things they didn’t want to do, she became hungry for power, and maybe that drove her mad.”
Noatla said, “She went rogue. She attacked us, and when she couldn’t fight all of us together, she fled to Mex. We didn’t know where she went at first and we still don’t know how she managed to get to another city but one day four-and-a-half centuries ago, when Manhatsten and Mex were in trade negotiations, the Order of the Eye from Mex attacked us and with it, their Runners attacked ours. The only thing that saved us was that one of our Runners managed to break through the battle and disable Mex’s EnViro shield. Their entire city had to shut down while Mex reset it and Manhatsten was able to flee.”
Mimi had remembered that battle. It was the one when she had discovered the power of Benadextrin.
Mimi asked, “How in the world did a Runner disable the shields?”
Noatla smiled. “Well, this is no ordinary Runner, I am sure you have heard of him.”
The only Runner Mimi had ever heard of was the one that everyone had heard of, that films on the vid screen had been made about, Runner 17.
Noatla nodded. “Yes, him. Somehow, he managed to sneak past everyone and disable the shield. No one, at least no one
I have discussed this with, quite understands how. It would require all kinds of clearance codes that Runner 17 couldn’t possibly have, that no one in our city could possibly have. But he did it, and because of him, Miranda failed.”
“Then, almost two centuries later, Mex was destroyed. No one knows why, but we suspect that Miranda had something to do with it. No one without an EnViro suit can survive for more than a few hours outside of a city, and there were no cities within a few hundred kilometers of Mex when the city collapsed. Later there were many cities, for when a city falls, the others will turn up to scavenge its resources, but it was weeks before another city came across Mex.”
Mimi said, “So this red veil was her specialty?”
“Yes, but we’ve had other sisters in the past who were able to use the red veil and other sisters who have left the Order.”
Mimi thought about the implications. She said, “If I left the Order, would I be considered rogue?”
Noatla paused for a moment. It was Serah who spoke up. “Yes, and you better believe we’d watch your every move.”
Noatla gave Serah a stern look. Then turned her eyes to Mimi. “Forgive Serah’s bluntness, but yes, any sisters who depart from our company must be monitored.”
Mimi clenched her fists. “And you just conveniently didn’t tell me this when I signed up?”
“Can you blame us for being cautious after Miranda?”
Mimi thought about it and relaxed her fists just a little. “I guess not, but I would have liked to have known that in advance.”
“Again, these are things that we do not share until you have a full understanding of your abilities and you know your sisters well. We are first and foremost watchers. We only intervene when the lives of those in the city are threatened. Can you tell us that if one of our sisters went rogue and began to hurt people, that you wouldn’t want us to stop them?”
Mimi shook her head. “Fair. So, these sisters who specialize in the red veil, are there any here now?”
Shandie said, “Me. I am the only one right now.”
Mimi regarded her carefully. She had paid little attention to the thin brown-haired and brown-eyed woman before. “Do you use it a lot?”
Shandie said, “No, almost never. I don’t like it, it’s like a drug, and after I always feel hung over. I would only use it in a dire emergency.”
Noatla said, “Shandie has been with us for almost five centuries now, she is well-trained and well-liked among her sisters. She does not have an angry or hateful bone in her body, but if she went rogue, we would still need to watch her, to be sure she didn’t do something horrible with her special talent.”
Shandie said, “I do not take any of this lightly, Mimi. I have no desire to harm someone with my abilities, but I fully expect my sisters to stop me should I do something harmful.”
Noatla said, “Mimi, it’s time we focused on the problem at hand. Even though the circumstances are strange, that does not change the fact that we must find some kind of a solution to the problem, does it.”
Vala, who had thus far remained silent, said, “But is there a solution?”
Mimi said, “There has to be. I’m not letting her go out into the Barrens to die. Not even if she is in one of those suits. I won’t sit around and do nothing.”
Serah said, “Muscle augmentation takes a solid forty-eight hours to take root. She will be boxed during that time, since the regenerative alcoves heal the damage that augmentation causes at the same time. However, they usually give Runners an extra two days in the alcoves to heal up, just in case. But again, in cases of emergencies, they would pull them after forty-eight. But there’s certainly nothing going on that would warrant it.”
“So then, we can get her out once the forty-eight hours are up,” Mimi said.
“Yes, but again, the problem is the behavior chip. It tracks everywhere she goes.”
“Is there a way to disable it?” asked Noatla.
“No. Not unless you have the clearance of that of Major Daniels, the chief of security, or maybe that loony city architect Solidsworth. They are probably the only ones in the city who could do something like that.”
“So why can’t we go and influence them to do this?”
Noatla shook her head. “Mimi, you still have much to learn. Influence only goes so far. Force, is the red veil. If the red veil is used, it could destroy the minds of both parties. This is why the red veil is forbidden. This is why Shandie would only use her powers in an emergency.”
“Doesn’t this qualify as an emergency?”
Shandie said, “Yes of course, and I would do everything in my power to help you, but the red veil is dangerous in this case.”
Mimi said, “But why?”
Fatima said, “Both are very strong minds. Strong minds do not influence easily. The red veil has its limits. Not everyone can be controlled. In some cases, the person may only be frozen in place for a little time while they muster their will to push back. If the person pushes back and the red veil is not released, both are likely to die; it is too much for both minds.”
“Can we influence them, then?” Mimi asked.
Noatla said, “These two are as Fatima said, well-established minds. Even if all of us worked together to influence them, the result may still not be what we wanted it. For example, if we pushed them to disable the behavior chip in Shannon, they may decide that they are disabling the chip because it isn’t effective and simply have a new one installed. Older and more intelligent people are extraordinarily difficult to influence, and Major John Daniels and Dr. Rigel Solidsworth are the two oldest in Manhatsten. They are so old in fact, that they helped to raise the city onto its legs.”
Mimi frowned. She felt the waves of the stormy sea of emotions. She wanted to shout, wanted to yell, but both were useless. These women were trying to help her, even if they weren’t finding a solution.
Suddenly Serah jumped up. “Shit, I think I have a solution.”
“What is it?” said Noatla.
Serah told them.
Chapter 13
The Runnercore
“YOU KNOW WHAT THIS building was before?” said Leahara.
Mimi shrugged. “No clue. Does it matter?” Her words were sharp.
Leahara winced a little and Shandie stiffened.
Mimi said, “Sorry. I’m just nervous.”
The three sisters stood just outside an ancient building long after designated dark. It looked like some kind of museum to Mimi. Pillars were etched into the crumbling concrete, and an ancient clock with an inlaid golden sun marked the apex.
“It used to be called Grand Central Terminal,” said Leahara.
“And now it’s the entrance to the Runner Docks,” said Mimi.
Shandie said, “Who told you that, Leahara?”
“Fatima. She studied ancient architecture in the scholar school.”
Mimi felt a twinge of agitation. There were people in the city barely able to survive on their income, yet some people, just because of an accident of birth, could lounge around the highest parts of the skyscrapers and read books about buildings?
Leahara said, “I know, Mimi. I don’t disagree with you. It doesn’t seem justified, does it? I just thought it was interesting that this used to be a terminal for traveling around the city. Also, you need to learn to hide your thoughts a little better.”
Mimi shrugged. “Do you think it’s clear yet?”
“We wait for Serah. Clearing out the docks is difficult. There are quite a few people down there. We're lucky that the city hasn’t needed to deploy any Runners for a few weeks. Only inspectors will be down there, and they are easier to persuade to leave. If our sisters do their job and persuade them all to leave, we shouldn’t see anyone inside while we find our way to the Runner Storage Facility.”
Mimi squirmed. There was so much that could go wrong with the plan. Serah had seemed confident she could pull it off. Mimi wasn’t sure what it meant for her and Shannon even if they succeeded, but it would b
e far better than worrying about Shannon dying on some asinine mission out in the barrens or in city combat. More than anything, she wanted to hold Shannon and tell her how sorry she was. She hoped Shannon could forgive her. Besides, everything that had happened was Mimi's fault.
Shandie said, “Does that clock still work?”
Leahara reached back into a rear pocket and pulled out a small data tablet, glancing at the time. “No, look, the hands haven’t moved at all, and we’ve been here twenty minutes.”
Mimi said, “Serah’s late.”
Shandie said, “It’s not easy to break into central security, you know. Even with Noatla and Fatima guiding her, she’s a Runner. She can’t be seen walking around in central security.”
Mimi hadn’t thought of that element. Serah was risking everything to help Shannon. Why would she do that? Shannon wasn't even part of the sisterhood.
“Leahara, why didn’t you go with her? Couldn’t you help her be less visible?”
“Fatima is proficient in stealth and Noatla didn’t want anyone from the lowers up there while they were working. She said it would be enough trouble if Serah was recognized, that more bodies meant more chances to be noticed."
Mimi said, “I thought Fatima specialized in confusion, not stealth?”
“She does, but she’s practiced at stealth too. Fatima is the oldest of us. She’s picked up quite a few skill sets over the centuries."
Shandie said, “Look, here she comes.” Serah rounded the corner and walked up to them.
“You ready?”
All three women nodded, and they walked through the double doors that led to a ground level of the station. The first area was still open to the public. During the day a few shopkeepers did business there. Most of the time, the area was the main checkpoint to enter the Runner Docks and nothing more.
No one met them in the space. The silence was interrupted only by the sounds of their feet on the ancient marble. They walked past one security checkpoint, but it was unmanned. The other sisters had done their job well.
Mimi of the Nowhere Page 11
