by A I Knowles
I nearly jump out of my skin when a furious pounding sound from outside the cubicle. The door hisses open, revealing the headmistress and two male HAs grouped just beyond it.
Chapter 3:
I jump up so quickly that my chair skids back and tips over to clatter onto the floor. “Headmistress, I…”
Fury is written across the woman’s face as she steps inside the room, followed closely by the two HAs. She’s dressed in her customary pure white jacket and pencil skirt which only highlights the paleness of her skin and hair. Her eyes blaze violet and her lips are cherry-red on an otherwise colorless face.
“What happened?” She places her hands on her hips and glares at me as if I’m the source of the trouble. The two men behind her, who are dressed in the navy coveralls of security officers, file into the room and take up spots on either side of the irate headmistress.
“I...I don’t know...the screen…” unable to articulate the scenario in any way that won’t incriminate me, especially since I never told anyone about the voice in the corridor, I wave my hand at the wall of math problems.
“Our systems show an attack, concentrated specifically on this room. What did you see?”
“Just a...a picture…”
Her voice rises in pitch and volume. “Of what?”
“The...the Compound...it was just the Compound…”
The pale woman’s stare makes it abundantly clear she doesn’t believe me. “Don’t lie to me, Alyss. Nobody would hack our systems just to show you a picture of the Compound.”
When angry tears prick behind my eyes, I let them come. They’ll help my credibility. “That’s all, I swear! It was a picture of the compound, and then it went right back to...this.” I wave at the screen again.
The headmistress presses her lips together in a thin line. She obviously doesn’t believe me. “Come with me.”
Terror settles into my stomach as the two male HAs step forward and grasp my arms. This feels far too much like my nightmare, and the sensation makes me panicky. “Where...where are we going?”
She sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose. “Alyss, for once, just stop talking and do as you’re told.”
With a motion to the men to follow, she spins on her 2-inch heel and walks out of the room. I am half-pushed, half-guided to follow.
My heart is in my throat as the two HAs direct me down the corridor in the wake of the headmistress. We stride along the echoing hall until we reach the dining room, then turn left toward the arch that leads to the administrative rooms. I balk as we pass beneath the arch, but our momentum prevents me from stopping. One of the men adjusts his grip on my arm, and I whimper in pain.
“Headmistress, where are we going?” I can’t stop the whine that enters my voice. I have sudden visions of myself strapped to a metal table beneath a swinging lightbulb while HAs in white suits and masks hover over me, metal implements in their hands. Please don’t let me get reprogrammed. I didn’t do anything wrong. This isn’t my fault. I don’t want to die. The thought stops me in my tracks, and for a moment I cease struggling, which causes one of the security guards to look at me with suspicion in his eyes.
Could I really die? Why is death always a possibility that hovers on the very edge of my mind, but never fully seems real? Is this life really that precarious? There are no answers for me as I’m forcefully directed down the echoing corridor toward the white door set into the far end. All white and gray. I life a colorless life without even a mirror to show me who I am. Maybe death never seems far away because this life isn’t really living.
When we reach the door, the headmistress stands aside while the two men usher me through. The room is round, with a soaring ceiling that reminds me of the mess hall. On the far end stands a set of double doors. I can’t help gasping as I realize there is sunlight spilling in through the glass. This window doesn’t look into the exercise room, so it much open on the exterior of the Compound. It’s too blinding for me to see any detail beyond the concrete just outside. All this time...we’ve been so close to the outside world, and I never knew. Somehow I’ve always thought of the Compound as separated from the rest of the world. These walls seemed impenetrable, but really we’re only a few feet away from the same world I heard about in school.
I don’t have time to register much else before I’m turned to the right, to where a frosted door stands in one wall. I’m pushed inside when the door opens, then the two guards step back as the headmistress joins me inside the room. This one is much smaller, with decor so alien and colorful it seems garish. I squint against the sunlight that floods in through a window in the opposite wall and intensifies the colors in the furniture. Another window...colors...so different from the life I’ve led and it’s only a few steps away from where I’ve been this whole time.
As I stand there and wait for my eyes to adjust, the headmistress walks around the desk and sits in a black rolling chair, then motions for me to sit opposite her. I lower myself into a chair upholstered in navy cloth with a frame that shines like chrome. The desk is a deep brown with hints of red. The floor-to-ceiling shelves, which fill every bit of wall space, are the same color.
I’ve seen this in school. Wood. This is what trees look like when they’re cut apart and polished. For a brief moment I glance around, trying to understand the objects that surround me. Only five mature trees left in the world, and here she is with an office completely filled with wooden furniture. I don’t know if it’s ironic or wasteful. The things on the shelves must be books, but they look ancient. The covers are faded and fraying and completely non-uniform in color. They range from white to gray, and every earth tone in between. Even the carpet beneath my feet is intensely colored in a blue that’s several shades brighter and more saturated than the chair. Behind the desk, a huge window takes up most of the far wall, though it’s obscured by blinds and I can’t see outside.
“Well?”
I tear my eyes away from the overwhelming surroundings, and focus on the pale face of the compound leader, who looks even more ghost-like now that she’s surrounded by so many colors. Only her eyes and lips stand out. Her intense purple irises bore into my very soul. “I don’t know, headmistress. I really don’t. It just...happened.”
“Did anyone speak to you? Did you see anything else? Any other images?”
Swallowing hard, I shake my head and hope she doesn’t see me tremble. I fold my hands in my lap, twisting them in the heavy folds of my skirt, and clasp them together to stop their shaking. “No, just the picture.”
“Hmm.” She steeples her fingers and taps her lips. I hardly dare to breathe as I watch her, terror a ball of ice in my stomach as I wonder whether she’ll believe me. Finally she lowers her hands and leans back, crossing her arms. “It seems it’s time for me to explain some things to you, Alyss.”
This is not what I was expecting her to say. I gape at her. “Um, okay…”
“In your schooling, there are a few aspects of The Society we’ve failed to cover.” Is she really going to confirm what the voice said? “We’ve led you to believe that we are a community which is always at peace, in harmony with each other. Sadly, it’s not always so. There are factions...pockets of resistance to our way of life. People who believe it is somehow blasphemous against nature to place human minds in android bodies.”
The voice didn’t say anything about that. Going against nature is one thing...killing people is another.
She glances at me as if she senses I don’t agree with her. “Our beliefs are not without controversy, Alyss. And some of the more outspoken of these factions do more than talk...they attack The Society in insidious and harmful ways.” She sighs and swivels in her chair to gaze toward the window. “I’m sorry we haven’t told you about them before, but we thought...well, we hoped you’d never have to deal with them. We thought by the time your generation was grown, all of those who try to bring The Society down would have moved on and no longer trouble us. Sadly, though they are only a small minority of citizens,
they are quite outspoken and vicious. Many have even resorted to killing those in android bodies to make a point.”
The fear in my stomach has turned to a queasy sort of confusion. Could she be right? Could the pale woman in front of me be the one telling the truth, while the disembodied voice showing me the picture of the Compound was just some insane radical with a terrorist agenda? The headmistress has given me a semi-plausible explanation for what’s been happening, and my mind is thrown into even greater turmoil.
“Alyss?”
Realizing this is at least the third time she’s called me, I snap my gaze up to hers. “I...I’m sorry, headmistress.”
She shakes her head and smiles at me. Her demeanor is so different from a few moments ago, when I was forcibly dragged from my cubicle, that it adds to the spinning sensation in my head. As if she’s read my mind, she continues. “I apologize for the method of your removal from the school room. We had no way of knowing if the rebel was still listening.” She gestured around the office. “Here, you are safe.” She leans forward and puts her elbows on the shining wood surface of the desk. “There are no cameras or screens to be hacked. They can’t get to you here, Alyss.”
I suppress a sigh of relief. She’s misinterpreted my fear. I’m not in trouble, and I’m not about to be hauled off for reprogramming. They were just trying to protect me. “It’s alright. Thank you for telling me.”
“Of course.” She smiles again. “We want you to look forward to the Process, not dread it. I promise the rebels won’t be able to access you again. We’ll make sure of it. We’ll do whatever it takes to keep you girls safe.”
“Thank you.” I nod, even though unease runs through me at her last words. The Process. That thing which is supposedly for my own good, but nobody ever asked me if it’s what I want. Embedding isn’t supposed to be mandatory...but it’s been abundantly clear over the past few years that we really have no say in the matter. We are never asked if it’s what we want, simply told it’s what will happen. “Thank you for explaining to me, headmistress.”
She nods, then fixes me with a glance. “Please, Alyss, tell us if any rebel tries to contact you again. We believe we have fixed the vulnerability in our firewalls, but the rebels are wily and determined. We can’t be sure they won’t strike again.”
“I will.” I say the expected words, even though I have no confidence in their truth. I don’t know if I’ll tell her. While disturbing, the contact with people from the outside world, people who have the same reservations about embedding as I do, is an exhilarating feeling. It’s so infrequent that we are given any opportunity or ability to break a rule. Whether or not the voice was telling the truth, my adolescent heart thrills at the ability to fight the intensely-regimented nature of my life. I have a secret...one even the all-reaching Society cannot see.
***
I lay on my bed in the dark and stare up at the black blur of the ceiling. The only light is the wan moonlight which steals in through the tree’s branches and into my room. I tilt my head back and can just barely see the blackness of branches and leaves outlined against the pale light of the moon.
Sighing, I sit up. It’s past midnight, but sleep still evades me. My mind whirls with thoughts that are both disturbing and exhilarating. Grabbing the blanket from the foot of the bed, I move to the window ledge.
Someone is lying to me. Either the Society, or the woman who claims to be my mother. They can’t both be right. The Society has raised me since I was a baby. Isolated me, taught me what they want me to know. They kept me alive. But there’s this voice...the voice that claims to be my mother...the mother I’ve always been told was dead…
None of us have parents here. We’ve all been told we’re orphans. I don’t understand how I’ve never before bothered to wonder why, and how, and what the circumstances were behind my coming here.
Then again, free thought isn’t exactly encouraged here. We’re taught how to read, and to write book reports and essays. We’re taught loyalty to the Society. They give us bits and pieces of our history, of the land Uhssa, a place once divided into fifty separate, smaller countries.
I lean my head against the glass and watch as leaves spiral to the ground, barely visible in the dark. Cold creeps in around the edges of the window, biting at my exposed skin and turning the surface to fog when my breath hits it.
I don’t even know how big the Society is. As this thought runs through my head, I realize it’s true. Does the Society encompass all of Uhssa, or only one of the smaller countries? I’ve seen maps of the world, most of its vast lands marked as desolate and uninhabitable. I’ve been shown the general area in which the Society exists, but even our great culture isn’t marked on any of the maps I’ve seen.
“Alyss.”
Jumping, I glance around. No. Go away. “I don’t want to talk to you,” I mutter. “You almost got me reprogrammed.”
“Alyss, I have to talk to you. I’ve disabled the live feed of your implant. It’s showing a continuous loop of normal vital signs. I can’t disable the cameras and microphones, though, they noticed my presence last time I tried. Alyss, go in the bathroom and turn the shower on. Then we can talk.”
Irritation flares in me. I still feel crazy every time I hear this voice, especially since I can’t figure out how I’m hearing it but the cameras don’t. Not knowing what else to do, I jump up and toss the blanket on my bed, then walk into the bathroom and turn the tap on full-blast. Lowering the toilet lid, I sit on it and draw my knees up to my chest. “Fine. Talk.”
“First, close the door. Surely they don’t have cameras in your bathrooms, right?”
I shrug. “No idea. Wouldn’t put it past them.” But I obediently get up and press the button on the wall. The door slides shut with a snick. I return to my position perched on top of the toilet. “What do you want? How are you even talking to me?”
The voice sighs, as if I’m the one being difficult. “The same way they do for announcements. Through your implant.”
“How?” I put my fingers over the inch-long little rod that resides under the skin beneath my right ear. They give us announcements over our implants? I’ve always heard them over the announcement speakers...right?
“Nevermind that for now. Alyss, I have no idea how long it will be until they notice my presence. Please, just listen.”
“I’m listening.” Really, what choice do I have?
She sounds satisfied. “Good. I’m sorry if I got you in trouble, but your life is at stake. I’ve already lost you once…”
“That’s the thing.” I interrupt her before she can repeat the bit about being my mother. “I’ve been told my whole life that my parents are dead. I’ve never heard anything about my mother or my father. One of you is lying.”
“I know.” I was expecting her to be offended or to argue, so this sad acceptance takes me off guard. “Alyss, I’m so sorry. I’ve spent fourteen years trying to find you. Ever since the Society took you from me, I’ve never stopped looking.”
“How do I know you’re not just one of those...rebels...the headmistress told me about?”
She laughs, but there’s no humor in it. “That’s exactly what I am, honey. A rebel. I’m in rebellion against the idea that it’s okay to commit genocide as long as your citizens don’t know it’s happening.”
“I find that hard to believe. I don’t agree with everything they do...”
“That’s because it’s unthinkable. But it’s true. Haven’t you ever wondered…”
“Yes.” The sound comes out before I can stop it, interrupting her again. When she falls silent, I am compelled to repeat myself. “Yes, I have. But surely…surely someone else would know...would stop it…” I can’t seem to formulate full sentences. The idea is just too disturbing.
“Alyss, over ninety percent of the Society are androids. If anyone knew, they’re long dead. You, and the girls with you, along with the children in the other Compounds, you are the last generation before all that’s left of humanity i
n Society-controlled lands is us, the rebels. Once all of you are grown up, they’ll turn their energy to eradicating the rest of us.”
My body goes cold at the thought, despite the humid warmth filling the bathroom and the wisps of steam hanging in the air. A world free of humans, with only androids? I can’t imagine such a thing. “What do you want from me?”
Her voice pleads with me. Desperation is threaded through every syllable. “I want you to survive. I want you to escape, and come join us.”
“But how? It’s not like I can just walk out through the front door!”
She’s silent for so long I begin to wonder if she’s gone. Just as I push myself to my feet and reach into the shower to turn it off, she responds. “No, but if we play this right, we can get you out.”
I shake the water off of my arm and sit back down. The thought of going outside the complex is simultaneously thrilling and terrifying. “Tell me.” Can’t hurt to hear the plan, right? Doesn’t mean I have to go along with it.
