Two Nurses who had noticed the laughter began to make their way toward the group and all of the Boys returned their attention to the lines ahead of them. 62 and 99 faced forward as well, although instead of dropping his hands to his sides and frowning in boredom like everyone else, 99 used his palms to wipe the tears of laughter from his eyes.
The Nurses determined that the disturbance had ended and confirmed that all of the Boys were in their place. After looking through the lines with flashing blue eyes, the Nurses returned to their posts.
Once the Machines were out of earshot 99 continued to peck at 62. “Well, I don’t know what’s been happening to you. But something about you is different.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” 62 turned just enough to see 99 out of the corner of his eye. “I’m just the same as you, and everybody else around here. Bored and wishing I knew what the heck we’re learning all this junk for.”
99 shook his head. “No, you’re not. I don’t know what it is, but you change a little more every day. It’s almost like you know something. Something that no one else knows.”
“I know a bit less than the rest of you. Between the fog and my trip to the doctor, I’ve missed a fair amount of class.” 62 took a step forward. He hadn't realized that it was his turn for the shower and was surprised when he was pulled forward into the receptacle by an Aide.
“What’s a doctor?” 99 shouted in behind him.
62 was stripped of his clothes and he covered his eyes with his hands as cleaning fluid fell down over his body. He realized he had said too much.
CHAPTER 32
62 closed his eyes and fell into sleep. He imagined the classroom, the one place he knew better than anywhere else. Although his focus still wasn’t as strong as it had been with 71’s help, he was able to form the walls, floor and a single desk and hover chair. He sat down in the chair and pushed it back and forth across the floor from one end of the room to the other.
A pinhole of light, barely noticeable, gleamed down from the vast empty black above the room. 62 heard the whisper of a voice creeping through.
“62, I’m coming in.” 71’s voice cracked and echoed from far away.
“Passcode?” 62 asked calmly.
The glimmer of light dimmed as 71 stopped pushing through. The whisper repeated, “Passcode?”
“Yeah. Our tablets are passcode protected. I figured I should have one, too.” 62 tapped his feet on the floor.
“That’s a great idea, but I don’t know what it is yet.” 71’s whisper crackled and then the light shone bright again as he pushed through the block on 62’s consciousness. There was a large crackle and then 71 appeared in the classroom.
“I think the passcode should be something that you and I know, but no one else could.” 62 put his hand on the desk and closed his eyes, trying to imagine the book that 71 had shown him before. There was a small pouf of smoke that emerged, but nothing else. “I can’t make that book appear. Can you do it?”
“My abilities to create things are greatly minimized because of the block on your dreams. But, you can lend me some of your power and then I might be able to manage something. We should use a text that is more obscure than the one I showed you though; something that only those dreamers who have our best interests in mind would have access to.”
“There are more books?” 62 asked as 71 pressed a firm hand on his shoulder. Immediately, 62 could feel his energy draining through his shoulder and entering the warm center of 71’s palm. His vision dimmed as energy trickled out of his body.
“Oh, yes. There are many books. Most of them about Adaline’s humble beginnings and The Community's instructions on keeping order. But there are a few that Our Father kept purely for entertainment.” 71 closed his eyes and placed his other hand palm-up in front of him. His palm glowed and a frame the size of a book formed in the air. A cover materialized, and then stacks of pages filled the gap from front to back. Once complete, the book fell from the air into 71’s outstretched hand.
62 gasped and heaved. Sweat dripped from his brow and his hands shook. The draw of energy made him exhausted, and the area in his shoulder where it had escaped into 71 burned and ached. He doubled over with tears in his eyes and panted, trying to stop the spinning of his mind.
As 62 regained his composure, the dim light surrounding the two figures regained its vibrancy. 71 kneeled down in front of the Boy and placed the book on the desk.
“I hope you're all right. I had forgotten what a task it can be for a beginner to share energy with someone. Luckily, the book is here and I think I know just the word to use for your passcode.”
The black spine of the book was emblazoned with gold text that read, “H.G. Wells” and the front had an image of a dilapidated building printed on it. A white space on the cover held words that proclaimed, “War of the Worlds”. 71 opened the book gingerly and began slowly turning the pages.
“What does that mean?” 62 craned his head to look at the open cover of the book held in his teacher’s hands.
71 replied casually. “Oh, war is the idea that when two separate groups aren’t getting along they will automatically resort to physical altercation. It’s an archaic theory that the Defense group is always preparing for, although it's never happened. For one thing, there have never been two separate groups in all of Adaline history. It’s just us Men and our Machines.”
“What’s a world?” 62 stood up a little from his chair and tried to read the upside down words written on the pages as 71 slowly read through them.
“Well, Adaline is the world.” 71 snorted in laughter then added, “This book entertains a theory that there could be more than one world. It’s a ridiculous notion, but makes for some entertaining reading. Ah, here. ‘Chobham’ would make a wonderful passcode. I doubt there is a Man in all of Adaline who could guess it, even if he were trying.”
“What’s a Chobham?” 62 tried to read the passage above 71’s finger but couldn’t quite make out the words.
“It’s the name of a place where beings from another world land before their attack. The Men there don’t realize the danger and get vaporized.” 71 snapped the pages shut and turned the book over in his hands until it disappeared.
“Chobham.” 62 repeated again. “What if I can’t remember it?”
71 smiled. “It’s simple, Brother. Just don’t forget.”
CHAPTER 33
99 came barreling down the hall outside of the classroom, pushing Boys out of his way and shouting each time his path was blocked. 62 had successfully avoided him for several cycles. 62 was too afraid of letting any more secrets slip out accidentally. Avoiding his brother hadn’t been easy though, and his evasion tactics had finally failed.
“There you are! I've been trying to talk to you forever. But you’ve been late to class, first to leave. And have you been skipping showers or something? I haven’t seen you in the Dressing Hall, either.”
“You can’t skip showers. You have to take one to get fresh clothes and get to class.” 62’s crass response seemed to go unnoticed.
“It’s like you’re hiding out in your cube or something. Which doesn’t make any sense because it’s boring in there.” 99’s eyebrow raised in curiosity. “Isn’t it? Or have you changed your feelings about that?”
“Of course it’s boring in the cubes. There’s nothing to do in there but swallow pills and sleep.” 62 stifled a grin as he thought briefly about his dreams and how well they had been progressing within the safety of his newly blocked consciousness.
99 noticed the edges of the smirk on 62. “Right. I still don’t get it. What’s going on with you?”
“Nothing worth talking about.” 62 took the last few steps into the classroom and headed toward his desk at the back of the room. 99 followed and sat down beside him.
“So then, what was that you said about a doctor?” 99 spoke quietly enough that the other Boys in the room didn’t seem to overhear.
62 waited a moment just in case, and once it was clear none of the othe
r Boys were paying attention he whispered, “I’m not supposed to talk about that. It’s just like 71 told the class. I went for some training and it took a couple of cycles to get through. When it was done and I had a chance to get better, they let me come back to class.”
99’s eyebrows went even farther up his forehead. “Get better? Was something wrong with you? Some of the others said you caught a virus. Is that true?”
62 smacked his forehead with his hand. “No, I didn’t catch a virus. I don’t even think Boys can get viruses.”
“So what’s a doctor then?” When it was apparent that 62 wasn’t going to do any more than continue to shake his head, 99 pleaded. “Come on. I’m your best brother. I promise not to tell anyone else. You can tell me about whatever is going on with you.”
62 groaned. “Fine. The doctor is a Man who tries to fix anomalies that happen in Boys. So, if a Boy like me is doing something that he isn’t supposed to, the doctor tries to fix him. “
“You were doing something bad?” 99 was shocked. “Did you try to escape like 00?"
“No, nothing like that.” 62 tried to figure out if there was a way to explain his dreaming in a way that 99 could understand. “I was just… thinking about things I shouldn’t have been.”
99 scrunched his face, further confused by the explanation. “How could anyone know what you were thinking? That doesn’t make any sense.”
“I know it doesn’t. But that’s how it is. Sometimes they can see your thoughts. And if you aren’t thinking what you’re supposed to think, they send you for lessons with the doctor who tries to make you think right again.” The more 62 talked about the experience, the more he hoped no one could hear the conversation.
“So you’re thinking right again?” 99 looked sorrowfully into 62’s eyes.
“Yeah, sure. Right enough, anyway.” 62 grinned as convincingly as he could.
The tones in the hallway sung their song and the teacher entered the room just before the door slid closed. He did his usual short preparation at the head of the class and put a diagram up on the wall. “Are there any questions about the last few classes before we dive back into Neurosystems?”
99 raised his hand and 62 dropped his head to his desk in desperation.
“Yes, 99?” 71 looked at the Boy and then to 62, who was now covering his head with his arms and moaning.
“Why do Machines use Neurosystems?”
62 peeked up at his brother from beneath the crease of his arms, surprised that 99 hadn’t asked the teacher more about doctors and thought viewing.
“It’s quite simple, really. The Machines viewing platform is made up of cameras and screens that would normally only display in two dimensions. It’s similar to looking at something on your tablet, or viewing a lesson projected on the wall. It's flat, and has no depth. For example, in this diagram that we will be studying today, it's impossible to know if wires A, F and J are affixed above or below B, D and Y unless you are referencing a key or set of instructions that lists their position in relationship to one another.
“So for the Machines to 'see', they have been fitted with a Neurosystems network that creates a three dimensional plane in their central processing unit. This allows them to recognize each of us in our full depth. It helps them to see that our ears are located behind our eyes. It helps them to understand how long a tunnel is, and helps to identify that when we are standing in line, we are not a single Man standing in front of them, but that we are hundreds of Men in a line stacked one behind the other.”
99 nodded, jotted a note down on his tablet to save for later and thanked the teacher for the explanation. He casually glanced at 62’s stunned face and shrugged. “What?”
62 shook his head, turned on his tablet and did his best to listen to the lesson.
CHAPTER 34
“Chobham.”
It was amazing that 62 was able to hear the whisper over the pile of grinding gears that writhed and ticked against one another in his dream. He had been trying to dream up a Nurse so he could practice giving the Machines directions.
The small voice passed by his ear like a heavy breath, and he turned to see if someone was standing behind him. Instead, he found a small tear in the wall with the familiar glowing light shining through. He moved away from the table and looked at the light closely. Within the glowing ball of light he could see the faint outline of a head with its ear pressed against the other side of the rift.
“Come in.” 62 spoke the welcome directly into the light and then took a step back so there would be room for the Man’s body to pass through. 71 pressed his body through the thin crack and 62 marveled at how the teacher was able to warp and melt his body to make it thin enough to pass through the small opening.
“I’ve brought a friend.” 71 pushed his arm back through the still glimmering light up to his shoulder and winced as he tried to grasp something on the other side. He added through clenched teeth, “I hope you don’t mind.”
62 shook his head and stared intently at the hole that was stuffed full of 71’s wriggling shoulder. The Man found whatever he had been blindly searching for and pulled back hard. The teacher struggled against the narrow opening and pressed both feet against the dream-wall to use as leverage against the weight of what he was trying to pull through. 62 got behind his teacher, grasped him around the waist and helped pull with all of his might. Finally the teacher’s arm inched out of the crevice. His elbow emerged, then his wrist, and finally his hand which clasped an identical hand.
The stranger’s wrist appeared, and then his elbow, and inch by inch the rest of his body pulled through the tiny opening. Once the Man’s head emerged, both shoulders shot through the tight gap with a loud “Pop!” The rest of his body was quick to follow. The three bodies tumbled into 62’s dream; landing in a tangle of limbs.
Luckily for the three of them, falling in dreams caused no damage to their bodies and they simply untangled from one another and wiped the dust from their tunics.
Once he righted himself, 62 was surprised to recognize Doctor 2442 from level B15. His finely groomed white beard danced on his jowls as he twisted his face to and fro. The doctor tapped the side of his head with the heel of his hand and winced.
"I NEVER DO GET USED TO GETTING AROUND LIKE THAT." The doctor shouted toward 71. "MAKES MY EARS GET ALL PLUGGED UP."
71 shook his head and smiled. He walked behind his brother and rubbed behind the doctor's earlobes with his fingers in gentle circles. "There, is that better?"
"What do you know, they popped! I still learn new things every day. Thank you. I'll have to remember that trick." Doctor 42 wiggled his jaw a little more and smiled at whatever sensation the movement gave him.
62 was puzzled. "I didn't know you could bring someone into my dream."
71 jumped in surprise at the sound of 62's voice as if he had forgotten where he was. "What's that? Oh, yes. You can travel with a companion. Or a hundred companions, if you like. It's all just a matter of having enough imagination."
71 and 42 noticed the writhing gears and wires clanging and tangling with one another on the table in the center of the room.
"What sort of experiment are we conducting?" 42 asked with excitement as he examined the chaos.
"It looks as if he's been trying to build something. But what kind of 'thing' is it? Very curious." 71 poked at a sprocket that bounced sporadically.
"Perhaps a miniature feeding apparatus?" The doctor pulled at a wire and tried to follow it through the mess to find its beginning and ending connections.
"Or maybe a transportation device. Note the wheels." The teacher ran his hand over a small wheel that rolled backward and forward all on its own.
"One of those Mobiles from Automata?" 42 touched 71's arm and closed his eyes. A thick book popped into the air in front of him and plopped open onto the table. 42 didn't delay in sifting through pages filled with black and white pictures.
"Oh, yes. Certainly a Mobile from Automata. But where is the steering harne
ss?" 71 hunched over the textbook with his brother and the two mumbled together as they compared the pile of parts on the table with diagrams from the book.
"It's a Nurse." 62 approached the opposite end of the table. "Or at least, it was supposed to be."
"Oh." 42 said, eyeing the Boy.
"Dear." 71 added, looking up from the book at the flailing machine.
"I wanted to make one appear so that I could practice telling it what to do." A gear spun loose from its axle and flew up into the air, landing square in the center of 62's forehead.
"I see." Both Men spoke and stood in unison. The book vanished with a puff of smoke.
62 began to think he was doing something wrong and stumbled around trying to get the spinning gears, whirring sprockets and rotating wheels to stop. "Not that I want the Nurses to do anything for me. I mean, nothing bad or anything. I just sometimes want them to do what I say."
71 crossed his arms, tucking them under his beard. 62 gently placed both of his hands in the deep pockets of his lab coat. Both nodded, a look of suspicion knitting between their bushy brows.
"Not that I'd make them do something they weren't supposed to. Or make them let me do something I'm not supposed to." The more flustered that 62 got, the less he was able to focus on the movements of the Machine in his dream. The heap began to wriggle and wrangle against itself until the entire mass was bouncing up and down on the table.
The two Men stepped back from the table to avoid being knocked over by a string of wires and clamps that might have been a mechanical fist. Neither spoke, and the firm set of their jaws did not change.
62 felt like he was digging himself into deeper trouble with his explanation, but he wasn't able to stop babbling on. "It's like when they're there and you want them to not be there and so you tell them and then they aren't there but they're supposed to be there."
The bundle began to hiss and wheeze, steam pouring out of some unseen port. A head formed in the center of the fluctuating structure and let out a deep and haunting moan. The light above the room dimmed. The walls began to glow red-hot.
Adaline Page 14
