The Society

by A I Knowles

  Once the door is closed and locked, I let my heavy backpack fall to the floor with a thump. It clatters as the plastic lamp hits the tile. Stepping over to the long counter which holds the double sinks, I stare at my reflection and touch my lips where El kissed me. I don’t look any better than the rest of the rebels, with my hair so coated in concrete dust that I look as if I’ve aged 30 years. There’s a bruise on my cheek I don’t remember getting. The shallow gash on my arm from the rebar is crusted with old blood. With my hair in a ponytail, the red rope of the wound on my neck stands out in sharp relief. In the recent chaos, I’ve nearly forgotten about it, and I feel my heart sink a little as I realize I’ve been walking around with my mangled skin exposed to everyone around me.

  He still kissed me. He sees me broken and he still wants to kiss me. This is such a far cry from how the Society teaches us to think. They want us to believe that only beauty has value, and ugliness cannot be tolerated. They make us think we will never be wanted or appreciated unless we are as beautiful as everyone else.

  I’m ugly, and he still wants me. My hand moves from my lips to the dark red of the puckered scar. Lily almost killed me, but I’m alive. She maimed me, but I’m still wanted. So basically I resent her for things which aren’t even true. Regret floods through me at this thought. On some level, I think I’d been terrified that her actions would make me a pariah, cause me to endure a life of solitude and isolation. Instead, she’s a woman who’s spent over a decade searching for me, despite great risk to herself, and in the process made a single mistake. A mistake that appears to have little consequence beside the lingering pain when I turn my head.

  My thoughts refuse to settle into any kind of peace, but staring at myself in the mirror won’t help anything. I strip off the dirt-laden clothes and kick the pile into a corner. On an impulse, I choose to try the tub. I’ve never taken an actual bath before, and the thought of being surrounded by hot water is too irresistible to deny.

  Hot water roars from the tap, and I spend several moments scrubbing off the more obvious dirt before I allow the tub to fill. As I lay back against the red porcelain, I relentlessly squash the guilt which tries to catch my attention. One bath won’t change anything. It’s not like I can go to work until Nate gets home, anyway.

  I brace my elbows on the side of the tub to stop from sliding down. The point of one elbow hits a silver button and a deafening rumble issues from the tub. I shriek and jump up, an action which results in me tripping and slipping. The resulting fall ends with me landing on the elevated bit at the tub’s back end, smashing my ribs on it with enough force to take my breath away.

  “Alyss! Are you okay?” El pounds on the door as I fight to catch my breath. “Alyss. Alyss, answer me, or I’m coming in.”

  When I gasp in my next breath, I slam my hand on the button to stop the rumbling and the frothing of the water, then manage to croak out a response. “I’m fine.”

  “What happened?”

  I lower myself back into the water, grimacing at the pain in my ribs. “Nothing.”

  El’s voice is muffled by the door. “That didn’t sound like nothing.”

  “The bathtub attacked me. I’m fine.”

  He chuckles. “Okay. Try not to kill yourself before Nate even gets back.” His footsteps recede from the door, and I exhale in a rush as I lean my head back and stare at the ceiling.

  My ribs ache too much for me to enjoy my bath, so I allow the water to drain and step out onto the golden rug. A moment later, the smaller of the two clothing piles adorns me. The style of the blouse reminds me a little too much of the ones we had to wear in the Compound, but at least they gave me pants. I’ve become a little attached to the idea of not constantly being bogged down by a couple pounds of gray skirt.

  The motion of putting the shirt on makes pain stab through my ribs and I clutch at my side. I survived Society drones only to half-kill myself taking a bath. The irony doesn’t escape me.

  El is sitting on one of the sofas when I emerge from the bathroom with one arm cradling my ribs and the other holding my backpack. He tosses his book aside and jumps up with concern written on his face. “What’s wrong?”

  “I just had an argument with the bathtub. I’m fine.”

  His raised eyebrow indicates his disbelief, but he lets it go. “If you say so.”

  “Yes, I do.” Just wanting to find a spot to set down my backpack and lay down for a moment, I head for one of the bedroom doors. I drop the pack as soon as I step into the dark room and close the door behind me, then I sigh and lean back against the wooden surface.

  When my eyes adjust enough to see in the dim light which creeps in around the curtains, I shake my head. This room is just as ornate as the other two, with the same thick carpet and heavy curtains, as well as a giant four-poster bed and oversized dressers.

  All at once, the half-day of walking and hiding from drones catches up with me. I stumble to the bed, the top of which is as high as my waist, and collapse onto it. Sleep claims me as soon as my head hits the red-and-gold embroidered bedspread.

  I startle awake when someone knocks on the door, and open my eyes to a room even dimmer than it was before.

  Chapter 17: The Tower

  When I pull the door open, El is standing there in clothes which are the same white and grey as mine, but in a more masculine style. He squints at me as I blink at him.

  “You do know there’s a light in here, right?”

  “What?” The thought hadn’t occurred to me, not that it mattered earlier. I’m so used to rooms which have motion-sensing lights, or situations like the rebel base’s little cubicles of fence where the light goes off at a certain time.

  El reaches in past me and feels around on the wall next to the door frame. Behind me, a bulb on the ceiling overhead clicks on, flooding the room with light. He flips the switch again, and darkness resumes its hold on the room. “Just when I think we’ve got you trained…”

  “Whatever.”

  He obviously doesn’t take my irritation to heart, because he grins at me. “Anyway, Nate’s back. We’re going to have dinner with him, then get started with a tour.”

  Dinner? HAs don’t eat. “El?”

  “Hmm?”

  “Why does Nate have that huge kitchen when he’s the only one who lives here?”

  “He’s not.” El winks at me and turns away. I follow, feeling like my confusion never ends now that I’m out of the Compound.

  El takes me out of the suite and down the hall to the kitchen. In contrast to its desertion earlier, now a set of androids work with a bountiful array of food. They look much like male versions of the Nandroids, and wear white coats and hats on their skinny bodies. Past the counters and the appliances, a light illuminates a room with a vaulted ceiling, which holds a table long enough to seat twenty people. Each chair is made of dark wood with its tall back elaborately carved into the shape of leaves and vines. El leads me through the room, which is packed full of enticing aromas, and toward the table. Nate sits on one end. He has exchanged his white suit for an outfit very similar to ours. As we get closer, he smiles and rises from his seat.

  “El, Alyss. Welcome. I do hope you’ll both join me for dinner.”

  The young man in front of me shakes Nate’s offered hand, and the two of them take their seats, Nate on the end and El next to him. I take the chair on El’s other side, having no desire to be too close to the android with his brilliant eyes and his mannerisms that are disturbingly human. Interacting with HAs was one thing when I thought they actually had human minds inside them. Now...now it makes my skin crawl. I don’t know how El can stand it, let alone treat Nate in such a friendly manner.

  As soon as we sit down on the plush cushions, Nate claps his hands. I jump as a plate appears in front of me, held by an android hand. The android must have been standing right behind me, though I have no idea how it walked up without me hearing. The plate has what looks like an inverted metal bowl on top of it, with a knob sticking out of the
apex. The hand pulls the bowl away, and my stomach immediately grumbles as the delectable scents waft to me on a rising column of steam. I’m reminded of how long it’s been since I had a decent meal, or even any food at all.

  I look up to see Nate smiling at us. It makes me shiver a little bit. What if he really was the one behind the bombing on the rebel building? What if we’ve come here just to be poisoned and die along with the others who are trapped beneath the rubble?

  Despite my misgivings, as I watch El pick up the creamy pasta on his fork and twirl it around, my hunger overwhelms my suspicion. I pick up my fork and try to emulate El’s smooth maneuver, but it takes me several tries before I manage to bring any food to my mouth.

  Nate sits with his hands clasped over his stomach and watches us with that ever-present smile on his face. As I struggle with the unfamiliar, but delicious food, I surreptitiously watch his face and pick up on more detail. His upper lip is covered with a thin mustache, which looks odd in comparison to his bald head. His face is thin, though not as gaunt as El’s, and his jaw is stronger than I’d expect for such otherwise delicate features. Next to him, El looks positively rough, and I’ve spent most of the last week considering my friend as someone altogether pleasant to look at. I feel like we two are little, drab sparrows next to a gorgeous eagle. Even though we wear the same clothing, he somehow manages to look so much more refined and polished. Is that how I would look, if I had stayed in the Compound and become an HA? Would I exchange my normal human body for one of queenly, near-supernatural beauty?

  You wouldn’t, because you’d be dead. My inner voice chides me and directs my attention back to the food.

  “Lily has spoken very fondly of you,” Nate remarks after El and I have made it about halfway through our plates of pasta, salad, and bread.

  I look up at him in surprise. “Really?”

  He nods. “She has spent these last years obsessed with finding you. I have never seen her happier than the days after she first saw you again.”

  Guilt squeezes at my stomach and I lay my fork down. Nate’s eyes settle on my scar. “She deeply regrets what happened, you know. We had never heard of such a thing as an implant imploding. They have been considered completely safe for many years. Its malfunction was unprecedented.”

  “Safe.” I pick at the bright green leaves on my plate. “Is having our every thought and body function recorded so it can be used against us if we ever do anything ‘not normal’...is that safe?”

  “Perhaps not. But those who originally created the implants had the best of intentions.”

  I shrug, and repeat a phrase I’ve heard several times among the rebels. “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.”

  El chokes on his spaghetti, and shoots me a glare, but Nate just chuckles. “Indeed.”

  “I’m glad she found me. If she hadn’t, I’d be going to my death without knowing it.” This seems more charitable, at least. And it’s true. Without my mother, I’d still be headed for a death I thought to be a rebirth. “She saved my life.”

  Nate’s eyes focus on the table. “Indeed she did.”

  It hits me what I’m saying. I’m talking to someone...something...that is dead. This android has been programmed to act like the real Nate, but in reality, Nate is long dead. “I’m sorry, that was insensitive.”

  The HA smiles a sad little smile as he stares at nothing in particular. “It was not insensitive. I know my nature. I am not delusioned into thinking I am something more than circuits and electrical impulses.” He raises his head and his eyes meet mine. “But then again, are humans any different? You are still made of shells and electricity, only organic, rather than constructed.”

  El watches my face as I stare at Nate with my mouth open. That’s not right. That’s silly. We’re people. He’s just a computer. It’s not the same thing.

  As if he recognizes my discomfort, Nate raises a hand. “I apologize. I usually save these conversations for later, once people have gotten a chance to interact with me more.”

  More confused than ever, I return my attention to my plate. When El and I finish our food, which is some of the best I’ve ever tasted, Nate rises from the table and leads us into a hallway which opens onto the dining room. El is silent as we walk, but Nate is magnanimous. He points out rooms and their functions, tells me of his staff, names each of the rebels who has made a home here while they work with him.

  We walk down the hallway until it ends in a set of stairs, and he leads us up the massive flight. I can’t help thinking that, no matter how hard I try, I can’t detect any sign Nate is anything other than a human being with rather unusual eyes.

  Upstairs, we walk another hall which is lined with many doors. At the end is a door which is wider and heavier than the others, and has an electronic keypad next to the frame. El meets my eyes as the HA enters a passcode, but stays silent. The door opens upon another staircase which ascends in a tight spiral. Up we go, our feet echoing on the metal treads.

  When we emerge into the room at the top of the staircase, it takes a moment for my eyes to process the mass of technology which fills it. Screens of varying sizes and types fill the walls, and people in rolling chairs sit at regular intervals around the room like spokes on a wheel. From here, I can’t tell if they are human or android. They all have headsets and type on their holographic keyboards.

  This room is different from either the suite with the books, or the shiny and minimal decor of the rest of the house. The floor here is dark gray and what little I can see of the walls is a similar color. There are no windows except for a large skylight in the ceiling, which admits a single beam of light. This light falls on a metal table which stands in the very center of the room and highlights the many papers strewn on the surface.

  Nate steps forward and beckons for me and El to follow. When I reach the table, I find several rather crude maps of what looks like a Compound. I look between the two men who stand next to me. “What is this?”

  El pulls a piece of paper toward me while Nate leans on his hands on the other side of the table. “This is the best we could do. All of the Compounds are slightly different, though they all have the same basic shape of the circle surrounding the square exercise yard. We think we can find a way to rescue the rest of the girls from your Compound if we can just get an accurate sense of the interior. Neesha is a nice girl, but she has absolutely no sense of space or direction.

  I nod. This sounds about right for Neesha. She’s a sweet, kind girl...but not always the brightest. “So, you want me to draw you another map?”

  Nate straightens and waves his hand at one of the people in the chairs, who rolls the piece of furniture over to us without ever standing up. The man reminds me a bit of Lakasha with her dark skin and eyes. So, not a HA. He’s human.

  “Dell, can you explain to Alyss why we brought her here to help us build the map?”

  “Ah.” Dell tucks a stylus behind his ear and kicks the floor to make his chair roll back over to his desk, where he picks up a small black box and brings it back to the metal table. El and Nate move papers aside, which allows Dell to set the device down. He presses a button on the side, and a crude three-dimensional rendering of a Compound appears in the air above it. “We will be using these, along with reality-augment visors, to create holographic overlays that will allow us to see not only the building layout, but also any potential traps, in real-time.”

  I blink at him. El chuckles. “Plain speak, Dell. She’s a Society kid.”

  “Sorry.” Dell returns to his desk, still not leaving his chair, and brings back a silver-colored visor. “Reality-augment visors allow us to overlay our rendering, our picture, with the real building. If we can build one that’s accurate, our people can see a map that moves with them so they always know where they are. If there are security measures you can give us locations for, these can be added as well.”

  He hands me the device, and I turn it over in my hands in awe. “You’re really going back for them?” I look up
at El with an unexpected longing filling me. “Really?”

  El nods. “Really.”

  I think back to that night in the hallway when he’d confessed to me that nine out of ten rescue missions ended in failure. “Have you ever tried this before?”

  “No.” This time it’s Nate that answers. “Lily has spent five years attempting to hack into Compound systems. Your mother is the most brilliant hacker I’ve ever seen, and I was around when Dr. Shenshaw was still alive. He was the one who got the glory, but Lily truly was his ‘better half,’ as they say. When she realized she was never going to access a Compound mainframe for long enough to make a difference, she decided to try a different approach.”

  Why is El staring at Nate as if he just kicked a puppy? I frown at him, but his attention is fixed on the HA, who doesn’t seem to notice. Maybe it’s another one of those euphemisms El doesn’t want me picking up.