“You're so pretty, Evelyn,” he said.
“Um, thanks Matthew.” She walked towards him, getting an idea. “Matthew, do you want to do something for me?”
“Sure, yeah. Yeah, sure.”
“Okay, I need you to make yourself throw up.”
He immediately burst out laughing. “Be serious Evelyn!”
“I am. Dead serious. Please, Matthew, put your finger down your throat and throw up.”
He frowned at her now. “Why?”
“The mushrooms we ate, they're making you guys trip out. You need to get them out of your stomachs. Please!” She turned to the others. “All of you, please.”
“Yeah … yeah actually I do feel a little weird. Kind of … floaty,” Matthew looked at her now in horror. “Is it going to go away?”
“God, I hope so.”
He nodded, removing his helmet and pulling his arm from the sleeve of his protective suit. Then he rammed his finger into the back of his mouth and doubled over, coughing and gagging. Evelyn turned away.
“Holy shit,” Kenji said, wide-eyed. “Bob gave us drugs!”
“Yeah,” Evelyn rounded on Bob. “Bob, did you know this would happen?”
“No!” He shook his head vehemently. “I did not knowing. Only it happens sometimes. Most of the mushrooms they are just tasty snackings!”
“Bob! We can't take risks like that!”
By now the others, finally realizing that something was wrong, were also trying to make themselves throw up. Evelyn was about to do the same when it occurred to her that she felt perfectly normal. She had only eaten one of the mushrooms … She must have gotten lucky and had a non-psychedelic one.
While the others spluttered on bile and wiped at acid-induced tears, she walked a few paces away, thinking about what they were about to do. It was risky enough without them being spaced out on mushrooms. They should wait for the effects to wear off … but there wasn't time. The Mind had given her until nightfall, and by her estimation it was now around midday, though in the tunnel it was impossible to tell for sure. They would have to keep going.
“Are you feeling any better?” she asked the others. Who seemed to have sobered up slightly.
“I still feel pretty light-headed,” Matthew admitted, “but I'll be fine. You guys okay?”
Kenji and Clove nodded, looking pale.
“I'm just hungry now,” Kenji said, glancing at his puddle of vomit. “That was my breakfast. My iguana breakfast.” He frowned, as if surprised to recall he had eaten a lizard.
“Well, has there ever been a time you weren’t hungry?” Evelyn said. Then more seriously, “No more mushrooms, okay?”
“Yeah yeah, I know.”
Evelyn turned to the others. “Shall we go? Brenner's waiting.”
They set off once more, a strange mood hanging over them now – except for Bob, who walked with a light skip in his step. He had not emptied his stomach, but the effects of the mushrooms seemed less severe on him. Evelyn wondered how many times he had eaten the funky fungi.
They walked in silence, Evelyn sensing the others were still feeling a little wacky from the mushrooms and trying not to show it, and after what felt like an hour but could have been thirty minutes they came to another open space, which Evelyn supposed had once been a train station.
“This is the place where we will getting out,” Bob said, pinching a runaway glow worm between his grubby fingers and dropping it back into his leaf-cone.
He lifted himself up on the platform, turning to help the others up, then led them up an ancient escalator that was slippery with cave mold. The glass siding was shattered in places and the steps wobbled.
“Oh no,” Kenji said, as they reached a row of turnstiles. “How ever are we going to get through without our tickets?”
As usual, no one laughed.
He hung his head. “Man, you guys are a tough crowd.”
They clambered over the turnstiles and walked past a series of automatic ticket dispensers which, like everything else, were covered in a layer of slimy mold. It was still pitch dark, and Evelyn realized she had lost at least half of her worms on the journey.
“Are we almost–”
Her question was cut off by Clove screeching as the darkness around them erupted in a cacophony that sounded like the fabric of reality being torn asunder.
“Get down!” Evelyn called, dropping to the floor as something leathery brushed lightly against face.
“What's happening?” Clove shrieked.
“I think it’s bats,” Evelyn answered. She remembered a documentary she had seen about the flying mammals and their affinity for caves.
“These flappers are always doing this flapping when I do coming here,” Bob reassured them. “Don't worrying, they do not biting. Come, we can going now.”
Resisting the urge to stay down, Evelyn rose slowly. She could feel the wind from the wings of the creatures all around her, and see their blurry forms as they sped by, but amazingly none touched her, aside from the lightest brushing of wings every now and then. “Come on guys, we need to keep going.”
Gingerly, the others stood up, and seeing that the bats appeared uninterested in them, they followed Bob as he led them through the darkness to a broad flight of stairs. Halfway up, Evelyn saw light ahead, filtering through leaves.
They reached the top and pushed their way out of the cave, emerging from a thicket of dense shrubbery that grew at the top of the stairs. As they stood blinking in the comparatively bright light of the forest, Evelyn looked around for evidence of the subway entrance. She found none. The rubble of whatever structure must surely once have stood here had long ago disintegrated into dust, and the ground was entirely covered by loam and new plant growth. Only if she stooped below the bushes could she see the dark entrance to the forgotten subway.
How long had this forest been here, she wondered. How long ago had this subway been abandoned? What else was hidden beneath the roots of the trees? These were questions she knew she would probably never know the answer to, and she could only wonder what other mysteries Janus was keeping from them.
She turned to the others. “Well. I guess this is where we part ways.”
Kenji squinted up through the trees at the sun. “Looks like another three or four hours until the sun goes down. How much farther is this place we're going, Bob?”
“Not far. We will be there before the sun does going down.”
“I still don't like this, in case any of you were wondering,” Matthew said.
“We weren't.” Evelyn said, perhaps a little harshly. “Are you still bent on coming with me?”
“More bent than a politician.”
“I think the word is crooked,” Evelyn pointed out.
“Same definition.” Matthew turned to Bob. “So we just keep going towards the mountain until we see this Tall Hut you keep talking about?”
“Yes. You could seeing it from here already, if there were being no trees.”
“How come we never saw it before? I mean, we could see right to the mountain from the shuttle,” Clove asked.
“It is very difficult to seeing. Like looking at water. You probably did looking at it but not seeing it,” Bob explained rather cryptically.
“Okay, we're wasting time.” Evelyn said. She gave Clove and Kenji each a worried look. “Be careful. Stay with Bob.”
To her surprise, Clove stepped forward and hugged her tightly. “You're the ones who need to be careful.” She looked at Matthew, including him.
“We will be.” Evelyn gently pushed Clove away, not wanting to make a big deal out of the fact that they were parting ways. She didn't want it to feel like they weren't going to see each other again. “See you soon.”
“Good luck, guys,” Kenji said, as she and Matthew turned towards the mountain, which loomed not far away.
Mathew walked beside her, glancing at her every now and then. She wouldn't admit it, but she was grateful he'd insisted on coming with her. Her stomach churned
with an anxious fear for what she was walking towards, but his reassuring presence helped. She looked over at him, meeting his eyes for a moment before he averted them awkwardly.
Matthew didn't know it yet, but he'd only be coming with her as far as the edge of the Colony. Evelyn planned to enter the Tall Hut alone. The Mind wanted her, and she suspected it had no intention of letting her walk out of there. If their plan failed, she didn't want to risk Matthew's life as well. She wasn't sure how, but she was prepared to use force to keep him from following her.
“So, bit of a crazy last ten thousand years, huh?” Matthew said.
“Yeah. Crazy.”
“What do you think you would have done, back on Earth? If you hadn't come here, I mean.”
“What, with my life?”
“Yeah.”
“I don't know. I'd never really thought about it. You?”
“Really? I thought about it loads.”
“And?”
He laughed. “I also have no idea. My dad wanted me to study mechatronics, like he did, but I wasn't really interested in that.”
“What were you interested in?”
“I always loved music...”
“You played an instrument?” She frowned at him.
“You seem surprised.”
“Well, yeah. I dunno, I just didn't figure you for the type.”
“What type?”
“You know, the teenage rocker type.”
“Who said I was a rocker?”
“Okay, what did you play?”
“The violin.”
“Wow. Okay, I'm impressed. Were you good?”
“I was, actually. I had even thought about pursuing it professionally, but my dad quickly burst that bubble.”
“Parents and their expectations, ey?” She wasn't sure what had made her say it. It just seemed like something people said. Now that she thought about it, she couldn't clearly remember her parents. Only her mother, at a beach. Or had that been a dream?
“Yeah, tell me about it. Hey, look!”
She snapped back to reality and followed Matthew's finger through a break in the trees in front of them. The peak of the mountain rose up before them. She guessed it was at least two-and-a-half thousand feet. But she realized that was not what he was pointing at. Something shimmered in the air just beside the mountain. As her eyes focused on the object she understood what Bob had meant about the Tall Hut being difficult to see. The building rose halfway as high as the mountain itself, and yet it was nearly invisible. Its walls were cloaked in some kind of reflective paneling that allowed it to almost vanish on the skyline. She wondered if the effect was intentional.
“I guess that's where we're headed.” Matthew said. “Looks like another few miles.”
Evelyn glanced up at the sun, now at a forty-five degree position. “We'd better keep moving, then.”
“Yeah.”
They pressed on, both of them silent now, as they sweated inside their protective suits. It was tough going, constantly ducking beneath creepers and pushing through dense undergrowth, but they made steady progress, and within another hour the forest began thinning out. They were approaching the edge of the Colony, Evelyn could sense it.
She stopped, looking at Matthew guiltily.
“What?” he asked, smiling curiously.
“You need to wait here.”
“Huh? Why?”
“We don't know what's going to happen in there ...”
“Yeah, which is why I'm coming with you. We’ve already discussed this.”
“I was afraid you'd say that.” She stepped in close to him, and heard him catch his breath.
He was watching her lips. “Evelyn …” he breathed.
“I'm sorry, Matthew.”
“For wha–?”
Her hand shot out like a striking cobra, jabbing a finger into the pressure point between his collar bone and neck. His eyes dropped shut, the beginning of surprise on his face as he slumped into her waiting arms. She lowered him gently to the ground, propping his back against a tree. “I'm sorry,” she said again, though she knew he couldn't hear her. Then she rose, staring at her hands. How had she done that? She'd known exactly where to strike him … an image of the human anatomy popped into her head, something she'd read once …
Whatever, it didn't matter. Matthew was safe now. By the time he came to she would either have returned with Brenner, or … she didn't want to think about the ‘or’. Drawing a deep breath, she turned and took a step towards the Colony.
Four figures with shaved heads dressed in identical gray outfits stepped from the trees before her, holding blasters.
“Hello, Evelyn,” they all said at exactly the same time. “I'm so glad you came.”
19
Evelyn forced herself to keep her eyes forward and not glance back to where Matthew lay.
“You didn't give me much choice: I had to come.”
“Oh, I gave you a choice. I just knew you'd make the right one.”
Evelyn blinked. None of the Taken had opened their mouths, and it took her a second to realize that this time the voice had come from inside her head.
“Get out!” She snapped angrily. “I'm here, so take me to Brenner.”
“Very well,” chorused the Taken. “Put this on.” One of them tossed her a bundle, which she caught.
Unfolding it, Evelyn realized it was one of the gray outfits they wore.
“You must think I'm an idiot. I'm not taking off my suit. It’s the only thing keeping me safe from you.”
The Taken raised their weapons again and spoke in perfect synchronization, “Put it on, or I'll put it on for you.”
After a moment's thought Evelyn decided that now she really didn't have a choice, and besides, if the Taken came any closer to her they would probably see Matthew. Keeping her lips pursed, she tugged off her helmet and stepped from her protective suit, turning defiantly towards the them. She was expecting the Black Mist to come for her, and take over her mind, but the Taken just stared at her blankly.
“I don't suppose I could ask for a little privacy?”
“Be my guest,” the Taken said in unison. They turned around.
Evelyn glanced around, certain there must be others watching her from the bushes. She saw nothing. She contemplated making a run for it, but what would be the point? She had to get inside the Tall Hut. The Mind was going to have the drop on her anyway, so she might as well play it cool for now. Hurriedly, she pulled off her tracksuit and donned the gray outfit that was not that dissimilar.
“Okay, now take me to her.”
“One last thing ...” The Taken turned around and one of held up a small device that Evelyn realized was a battery-operated buzz-cutter.
“You're joking.”
“I'm afraid I need to disguise you as one of my Taken so as not to upset the peace of this Colony, Evelyn.”
Evelyn shook her head. “Whatever, just do it.” She stepped gamely forward, holding her fists clenched, and grit her teeth while the electric hum of the sheers vibrated against her skull and locks of her brown hair fell to the ground around her feet.
“All done. Now come.” Two of the Taken began walking towards the Tall Hut, rising high above them. The other two waited for her to pass.
As she walked after them, Evelyn covertly glanced back to where Matthew lay. She could just see the top of his helmet above the shrubbery. The Taken had not noticed him.
She followed the two who were leading the way, running a curious hand over the velvety stubble on her head, and was surprised to feel a patch near the base of her skull where there was no hair at all, not even stubble. It was only about the size of her thumb nail, but still she was surprised she'd never noticed it before.
After a few yards they left the forest behind completely and she found herself walking down a kind of dirt lane between two fields full of several different kinds of vegetables. People worked in the fields, though they only glanced at the group of gray-suited figures briefly. Eve
lyn watched one man of middle-age, dressed in tattered rags, digging a trench. He glanced up as she passed, and for a second she met his eyes before he turned away submissively. There was such a look of defeat in them, of sheer hopelessness, that for a while after Evelyn couldn't get the man's eyes out of her mind.
Then they reached the other side of the fields and entered the Colony. It appeared just as it had done in her dream: an assortment of wattle-and-daub huts with grass roofs. One or two children poked their heads from doorways as the group passed, but they quickly scurried out of sight in fear. And then they reached the base of the Tall Hut.
Evelyn had to tilt her head back to look up at it. The building was easier to see from up close, though its shimmering heights seemed to vanish into the clouds above. At the base of the building, which was surprisingly narrow considering its height, a door whirred open. Nowhere else in the Colony had she seen signs of electricity or any kind of technology, but as she followed the Taken through the door, and it shut itself behind them, she found herself inside a small, electrically-lit room that she soon realized was an elevator. Her stomach gave a little lurch as it began the ascent, and a few seconds later it slowed to a halt. She wondered how high they had traveled.
The doors opened into a dark room. The room was filled with small towers, like computer servers, linked by wires and covered in blinking lights. In the center of the room, Brenner stood, watching her.
Her hair had also been shaved off, and she wore one of the gray outfits of the Taken, but it was her eyes that struck Evelyn. Instead of the bright purple retinal enhancements she remembered, Brenner's eyes were now pitch black.
“No ...” she stepped from the elevator towards her. “What have you done to her?”
“Nothing,” the Mind replied through Brenner's mouth. “This just seemed more civilized than keeping her in chains, don't you think?”
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