by Katrina Cope
The redhead laughed menacingly at Eva’s failure. “What did I tell you? I’m Scarlet.”
“How is this possible? Is it really you?”
The girl nodded.
Eva ran her hands through Scarlet’s holographic body. She was fascinated. “Who programmed you this way? Was it Niles? No, no, it would have been Robert. Yes, that’s it! I bet he put you up to scare me.”
Scarlet shook her head. “Oh, Eva. How could you not know me by now? You are my favorite goody-two-shoes, whom I love to annoy even though you don’t do anything wrong to me.”
“Oh, gee, thanks!” Sarcasm reeked from her voice. “And why am I the receiver of such pleasure?”
“Because you are so obnoxiously good and your reactions are priceless.”
Eva wanted so badly to wipe the smile off Scarlet’s face. “If only I could turn you off.” A smile spread across her face as a thought crossed her mind. “Actually, I could, but it would be unfortunate. So don’t push me too far, or the Sanctum will have a blackout.”
“Ooo. Checkmate!” Scarlet said, sounding unconcerned. “I know that won’t last for long.” Changing the subject, she continued, “I’m only showing you myself in this form as a favor to Jayden.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Well, he was tired of keeping this information from you.”
“What? He knew about you?”
When Scarlet nodded, Eva snapped, “Why, that little—”
“No, no. It wasn’t his fault,” Scarlet said. “He was keeping a promise to a friend.”
“And what am I? Besides, you’re an AI, not a person.”
Scarlet looked hurt. “You really are nasty. Actually, after several conversations, Jayden saw me as a friend.”
“After several conversations?” Eva’s voice rose in disgust. “Just wait till I give him an earful.” She walked off, stomping straight through Scarlet.
Scarlet disappeared then reformed in front of Eva again. The image was so real that Eva balked then groaned in frustration when her mind registered it was Scarlet again. “Leave me alone!”
“Don’t be mad at Jayden. He wanted me to tell you a long time ago. He doesn’t like keeping secrets from his friends.”
Hearing that, Eva softened.
Scarlet continued, “He thought perhaps you, Robert, and Aaron would be able to help decipher the lip-reading.”
“What on earth are you talking about?” Frustration and annoyance screamed through Eva’s every word.
“Well, I have some insight into peculiar happenings that have been going on around here, but I’m having trouble saying them.”
“I have never seen you have trouble saying anything, Scarlet. Just open your mouth, and the words will come out.” Eva rolled her eyes.
Scarlet shook her head. “If only it were that simple.”
“Show me what you mean, Scarlet.”
“All right, I’m going to tell you now.” She continued to speak, trying to give Eva the secret information. Silence filled the air as her mouth moved, but her voice was absent. She finished by sighing and slumping her shoulders in discouragement.
“Okay, I see now. I can’t work out the words at the moment, but maybe you should call in when all of us are together, and then we’ll try to work it out.”
Scarlet’s face brightened. “Sounds like a plan. Sleep well!” She disappeared.
“Ah, bye!” Eva spoke to the air, annoyed at Scarlet’s lack of people skills, then continued back to her room to try to get some sleep.
~~~~~
LIAM’S MOM, RENEE, dropped Dryden, Hayley, and Liam at Ernest State College. They stood outside the car in front of the school grounds. “Do you need any help taking your bags in?” she asked, looking reluctant to leave her son so soon.
“No thanks, Mom. We’ll be fine from here,” he said, trying to sound reassuring.
“Okay, then.” Sadness washed across her face. “Make sure you stay in contact.”
“Yes, Mom,” Liam dutifully agreed, tired of going through the same rigmarole every time he was dropped off at school. He knew it was only because his mom cared, so he played along to keep her happy. He waved goodbye, and the three students headed up to the rooms.
“Meet you in the admin building in fifteen,” Hayley said.
The boys nodded in agreement as they parted ways.
“I’m so excited!” If it hadn’t been uncool, Liam would have skipped to his room with excitement.
“Me too,” Dryden said. “I wonder what we’ll be doing?”
“I don’t know! But just watching will be exciting. We’re going to help catch the shooter.”
When Liam and Dryden reached their room, they unpacked quickly then made their way to the administration building.
Hayley stood in the center of the main area. She folded her arms and tapped her feet. “What took you so long?”
“We had to unpack,” Liam said.
“You could have done that later, genius.”
The boys gave each other a look, wondering why they didn’t think of that.
She uncrossed her arms and headed toward the door of the locked garden. “I want to get down there and find out what they’re doing.”
She started keying in the code to open the door. The boys caught up with her and followed her into the room.
“Hey, wait up!”
Liam turned to see Brendan jogging to catch up with them.
“Glad you could make it.” Pleasantness was absent from Hayley’s voice as she addressed Brendan.
“The pleasure is all mine.” He did a mock bow to her. “Good to see that the holidays have cheered you up.”
She chuckled and gave him a light punch in the arm. “You’re not so bad. It’s these two I’m annoyed with for taking so long.” She pointed with her head to Liam and Dryden while she shook her hand as though in pain, massaging it lightly. “I was a little tough on you last term. Man, your arm’s hard.” Hayley glanced at it for a better look. “Have you been working out or something?” He avoided her hand inconspicuously as it reached out to grab his arm to feel it.
“Just practicing Tae Kwon Do. Good to know you’re going to be back to normal this term.” Brendan sounded relieved. He smirked. “Apology accepted.”
“I didn’t apologize!”
“I know. But that was the closest I’ll probably ever get from you.”
“You got that right!”
The chair for the downward ride resurfaced as they entered the garden.
“Some senior students went into the room just before you finally turned up,” she said as they stared at the reappearing chair.
They took a seat, and Liam pressed the button to take them down past the dark tunnels to the hidden labs below. Despite Hayley’s previous annoyances with the boys, the excitement passed through them rapidly as the corridor of the underground area was exposed to them once again. In the first stretch, several chairs were set up in the middle for a meeting. It reminded Liam of the night they were caught down there and had their little discussion with Dr. Ernest.
Several older students were sitting, waiting for Dr. Ernest to arrive. A look of confusion passed over several of their faces when the four younger students entered the area.
“What are you doing here?” A tall, thin girl who looked to be around seventeen stood and addressed them. She wore dark-blue jeans with a white lab coat over the top, her blond hair was tied back into a bun away from her face, and glasses rested on the bridge of her nose. Agreement rippled through the other senior students in the area.
“We’re part of this group,” Liam said.
“Juniors aren’t supposed to be in here,” a plump, dark-haired boy who was sitting not far from her blurted out.
“We have been invited by Dr. Ernest.” Hayley tilted her chin up slightly.
“I doubt that.” The first girl shook her head. “You need to leave.”
Dr. Ernest hadn’t arrived yet to support their claim. Liam stood firm
. “No. We’re not going anywhere. We have traveled a long way to be part of this.”
A louder murmur started through the group. “What is all the commotion?” Liam turned to find William behind them.
“These junior students seem to think that they are allowed to be down here,” the girl said as she put her hands on her hips.
As William shrugged on his lab coat, he looked at the four students, and Liam swallowed hard. So far, they had only been down there with Dr. Ernest. He went through everything with them, but no one else. He braced himself, waiting for the words that William was going to use to kick them out.
“Yeah, that’s right.” William sounded indifferent.
Liam looked at William in confusion, wondered if he’d heard him correctly.
“They’ve recently been added to our group of underground students,” William said as he buttoned his coat.
The faces before them looked stunned. “But they are only juniors. We had to go through stringent tests to be told about any of this, let alone allowed access to see it all,” complained the outspoken girl.
“That’s true, and it was hard to get down here,” William agreed. “But they were smart enough to find the underground. They even broke into it.”
A gasp rang throughout the room.
“So I think they have proven their intelligence,” he said shrewdly. “Besides, Dr. Ernest has told me all about their approved entry.”
Liam breathed a sigh of relief and walked forward with William and the other three to take a seat to wait for Dr. Ernest. Dr. Ernest arrived by the time they were seated.
“Good day, students!” His pearly smile was such a contrast to his dark skin. He slid his lab coat on while he addressed them further. “Thank you all for rushing here even though you are on your holidays.”
“We’re keen to help,” Brendan said.
Dr. Ernest gazed in the direction of the voice. “Ah, yes. Our new recruits,” he said when he saw the four juniors standing together. “Welcome. In case you aren’t aware, Prime Minister Richard Baskins has been shot.” He paused, and a group of nodding heads greeted him. “We believe that this is a work of terrorism.”
~~~~~
BRENDAN DID HIS best to look straight ahead at Dr. Ernest and nowhere else as thoughts of Shelly and the simulator flickered across his mind. Even though he was in no way responsible, flashes of guilt passed over him. He was probably keener than any of the other students to find out who was behind the shooting and in control of Shelly when it occurred.
“We are going to start extreme investigations into the shooting. We need to get to the bottom of this before they hit again in our beloved country,” Dr. Ernest said. “Now, we don’t have any surrogates free to go incognito, but—”
Aaron’s mind wandered when Dr. Ernest said no surrogates were free. His head raced, considering the possibilities of where surrogates could have been placed from the school and what they might be spying on. He had been under the impression before that they only had incomplete surrogates, not finished and operating ones.
By the time he refocused on the current position of his surrogate, Brendan, the group was already splitting in different directions, all of them looking busy as they headed off to their normal operating labs. He was pleased to see that his three friends were still next to him, waiting for instructions.
~~~~~
WHEN THE OTHER underground students left the room, William and Dr. Ernest approached them separately.
Dr. Ernest had an expression of remorse on his face. “Ah. My newest students of the underground.”
Liam’s shoulders slumped forward in frustration. The words hadn’t even come out of the good doctor’s mouth yet, but he already knew from the tone that he was in for a disappointment.
“I am so glad you could make it,” the doctor said.
“But—” Liam continued for him.
“I didn’t expect to see you here.”
“What?” Hayley’s voice escalated. “I mean, what do you mean?” she asked more pleasantly. “We were asked to come.”
“Yes, yes. No doubt you were. Your name is on the secret list of underground students, but it was not intended for you to be called back to help with this.”
“Why not?” Brendan asked.
“As eager as you are to help, and I do appreciate this, you have not had enough training to be of any help at this stage.”
“Give us any job, and we will be happy to do it,” Liam almost pleaded.
Dr. Ernest smiled at him sincerely, although his face remained set. “That, I am certain, is true.”
“There’s just too much involved for a job like this,” William said, backing up Dr. Ernest. “Besides, you’re so new that not even the other underground students have met you or knew you are part of the group before today.”
“Maybe next time we have such an emergency, you will have had more training,” the doctor said encouragingly. But his body language made it clear that he remained firm in his position. “Thank you so much for making an effort to come. I will make a note of your keenness to help.”
“What are we supposed to do now?” Brendan asked.
“I would hate to have your parents come and pick you up again after such a long drive to drop you off, so I will get the receptionist to call you a cab, on the school’s charge, to take you back to your homes. Why don’t you go and grab your things and wait in the admin until the cab comes.” He left the students to the fixed phone to call the receptionist.
“Oh, great!” Liam kicked the ground. “Gemma is going to have a field day with this.”
“I can’t believe he won’t even let us stay to watch and learn or at least organize the coffee,” Hayley said. “Not that I’m into that sort of thing.” She flicked her curly red hair out of her face. “But I would do it to stay around and get involved.”
“I can’t believe we came all this way to be sent home again.” Dryden dragged his feet as they walked. “I hate long drives at the best of times.”
- Chapter Eighteen -
Not-So-Urgent Urgency
Aaron tore off all of his surrogate gear. He had been hoping to find out more from the underground of Ernest State College, but this didn’t happen. He set all the gear down and turned the equipment off. It had been early in the morning, before classes, when Avando had called for his help with the surrogate. Because of the timing, he was in the normal video tech room. Jayden and Robert must have arrived when he was hooked up to the surrogate. They were sitting in the next room in front of the computer, chatting quietly while Robert watched his ladybeetle spy cam with a headphone over one ear.
Aaron walked over to them, and Jayden turned to him. “Hey. You’re off quickly. How’d it go?”
Aaron shook his head slowly. “We’re not going to find out much there. Brendan and his friends have been kicked out of the underground while the investigations are going on. Either they’re guilty, and they’re hiding it from us, or they really do find the juniors a hindrance. Which reminds me…” He stopped and bent forward, pinching and twisting Robert and Jayden on the arms.
“Ow!” they both said at once, rubbing the spots Aaron had pinched.
“What was that for?” Robert massaged the fleshy part of his arm, which was now starting to show a large red welt.
“Dr. Ernest mentioned there not being enough surrogates to have any free.”
“Okay, but that still doesn’t answer why you pinched us.” Jayden pulled up his sleeve to look at his own welt on his skinny arm.
“Well, that’s to make sure that you’re real.”
“So I’m gathering by the obvious red marks on our arms that we passed.” Jayden clopped him on the back of the head in retaliation.
“Ow! Yes.” Aaron rubbed the spot.
The door to the computer room opened, and Eva stomped in. Her face was blank, hair disheveled, and her eyes were distant and sunken. In her hands, she carried a mug of hot, dark liquid.
Robert chuckled. “Whoa, Eva! You
’ve got to stop watching the zombie movies.”
Her eyes slowly moved up from the floor to focus on Robert then tightened in a threatening glare. She stopped, took a sip from her mug, then continued walking slightly more lightly than before.
“Looking good there, Eva!” Jayden said with sarcasm.
Aaron stepped forward and pinched her free arm hard. Her eyes came to life instantly as a fist landed on Aaron’s arm in retaliation.
That time, it was Aaron’s turn to rub his arm. “Ow!”
“What was that for, bright spark?” she snapped. “You’re lucky I didn’t throw this coffee on you.”
“Coffee?” Aaron looked inside the cup. “Wow, it must have been a bad morning. Sorry, man. I was just checking you were real.”
“Well, of course I’m real, dipstick! What’s been getting into your head?”
“Aaron’s just gotten off the surrogate for Ernest State College,” Jayden said. “Dr. Ernest mentioned that there aren’t enough surrogates free to do more investigating, so Aaron is testing us to see if we’re real.”
She took another sip from her coffee while he was explaining. Her eyes became sharper with every sip. “It’s good to check, but hmmm… Checking us, your closest friends? I can see why you’re the active one in this operation.” Taking another sip of coffee, she moved to her computer chair and sat down.
“Well actually, it’s not a bad idea.” Jayden defended him, only to be greeted with a hand in his face forming the stop signal. He slumped against the back of his chair.
“Why are we extra chirpy today, dear Eva?” Robert smiled at her, tilting his head to the side in exaggerated sweetness.
She took another sip from her coffee. “Hmmm, let me see.” There was acidity in her tone. “Well, not only was I lying awake stressing over Shelly and what she’s done, wondering who was controlling her, I also found out about a so-called friend who’s been keeping secrets from the ones he calls his best friends.” She glared directly at Jayden.
