“I’m really sorry,” she said. “I don’t understand why anyone’s calling me when I’ve got my dataview set to …”
She tapped the dataview to answer the call, and I heard my father’s urgent voice. “Wesley’s parents have just arrived at our apartment. Yesterday, Wesley didn’t show up for his weekly visit home. They’ve tried calling him a dozen times since then, but couldn’t get a response, so they went to his room on Teen Level first thing this morning. The other teens on Wesley’s corridor said they hadn’t seen him for a couple of days, so Wesley’s parents went to Gregas’s room to see if he knew where his friend had gone.”
My father paused before adding in a harsh voice. “The teens on Gregas’s corridor say that he’s gone missing too.”
“I knew something dreadful had happened to Gregas.” My mother looked pleadingly at me. “Amber, we need to find your brother right away. Can you get your unit staff to help us?”
“Of course, we’ll …” I glanced helplessly at Lucas.
“Amber and I will go back to our unit at once and organize a search,” said Lucas.
Buzz gave my mother a reassuring smile. “Please try not to worry about Gregas. I’ll go to your apartment with you, and make sure you’re kept fully informed about the search.”
My mother shook her head. “I’m not going back home. I have to go to Amber’s unit and help her find Gregas.”
Chapter Fourteen
It had been awkward trying to reassure my mother about Gregas’s failure to return her calls when I knew he was under sedation in my unit’s holding cells. Now she knew that Gregas and Wesley had been missing from Teen Level for a couple of days, and was expecting us to launch a full-scale search for them, the trip back to my unit was far more than just awkward.
When we reached the express belt, my mother had another frantic dataview conversation with my father. Finally, she put her dataview away, turned to face me, and announced that my father had explained to Wesley’s parents that I ran a Security Unit and would be organizing a search for the boys. They’d decided that all three of them should come to my unit to help as well.
I rubbed my forehead. This situation was getting completely out of control. I didn’t know what I could say that wouldn’t either be an outright lie or create huge problems, so I pulled a desperate face at Lucas. He gave me a reassuring smile before speaking to my mother.
“Once we’re back at the unit, Amber and I will be busy organizing the search. While we’re doing that, we’ll need you and the other parents to wait in one of the community rooms with my deputy, Emili.”
“We want to help you find the boys,” said my mother.
“You will be helping us find the boys,” said Lucas, in the professionally calm tones of his Tactical Commander voice. “You’ll be telling Emili everything you know about Gregas and Wesley’s favourite places, interests, and the sort of things they do together. She’ll pass that information to our Liaison and Tactical teams to help guide the search.”
“Oh.” My mother nodded. “Yes, that does make sense. You need to know where to start searching.”
“You can trust our unit to deal with this situation,” said Lucas. “It may take a few hours, even a day, but I guarantee that we’ll find Gregas and Wesley.”
The tones of the Tactical Commander voice were designed to build confidence in a team heading out to deal with unpredictable, lethal situations. It was obviously working on my mother too, because she gave a sigh of relief.
“Thank you, Lucas. I’d no idea you could be so … dependable.”
“I know you’ve been seeing the worst side of me,” said Lucas ruefully. “I find family situations a struggle because I haven’t had any contact with my own family since I was thirteen.”
“Thirteen!” My mother looked appalled. “I knew that you’d lost contact with your family, but I assumed that happened when you came out of Lottery as Level 1. I didn’t think you’d have deliberately turned your back on your parents, but level gaps can be difficult.”
She shook her head sadly. “Amber’s father lost touch with his parents because they were Level 14 and thought a Level 27 Lottery result was terribly disappointing. We’ve always promised each other that we’d never abandon our children, however low they were rated by Lottery. We never expected to have the situation we’re in with Amber, where she’s so much higher level than us.”
“You never need to worry about that level gap,” I said quickly. “It doesn’t matter to me.”
“There was no level gap at all in my case,” said Lucas. “My parents were both Level 1, but I was an unwanted duty child. My father left when I was six years old, and my mother wanted him to take custody of me, but he refused.”
I hadn’t heard the phrase “duty child” before, and was tempted to read Lucas’s mind to find out what it meant, but I daren’t risk reading minds in front of my mother.
“A month later, the Hive celebrated the New Year festival,” Lucas continued. “It was clear that my mother didn’t want me living with her any longer, so I went searching for my father. I hoped that it being the festival for families would somehow change things, and make him want to take care of me. I found him just as the New Year was coming, but he just shoved me away.”
Lucas hesitated. “Amber thought I should explain what happened back then, so you’ll understand this time of year awakens bad memories for me. I apologize if I act oddly at any point.”
“You mustn’t worry about that,” said my mother sympathetically. “Was that the last time you saw your father?”
“Yes,” said Lucas. “I lived with my mother after that, but she broke off all contact as soon as I went to Teen Level.”
“That must have been a dreadful time for you,” said my mother. “It’s hard enough coping with the transition to Teen Level, without being dumped by your family as well.”
Lucas shrugged. “My mother breaking off contact didn’t help the situation, but I’d probably have been a social disaster anyway. I was too different and too bright to fit in with the other teens on my corridor, and the combination of being so young and from Level 1 made things worse. My birthday is on the last day of Carnival, so I arrived on Teen Level at the minimum possible age.”
He paused. “I need to send some messages now.”
“Of course,” said my mother.
Lucas worked on his dataview in silence until it was time for us to leave the express belt and take one of the dedicated lifts up to our unit. When the lift doors opened, I saw Emili and Nicole were there waiting for us. Emili hurried forward to smile at my mother.
“I’m Emili. Can you please come with me to one of our community rooms?”
“What about my husband and Wesley’s parents?” My mother looked anxiously back at the lifts.
“Our unit will be notified when they’re arriving,” said Nicole. “Someone will meet the lift and bring them to join us.”
Emili led my mother off down the corridor. I waited until they were out of sight before turning to Lucas.
“We need to go down to the holding cells right away. I have to read Wesley’s mind, and if necessary Gregas’s mind too.”
“We’ll want Megan and Buzz to come with us,” said Lucas.
“We’ll all come,” said Adika.
“I don’t need a crowd of bodyguards to go down to my own holding cells,” I objected.
“We’ll all come,” repeated Adika firmly. “Remember that Tobias is in one of those holding cells.”
I gave a resigned groan of acceptance. We went back into the lift, down two levels, and then Megan led the way along the corridor.
“We’ve got Gregas and Wesley in separate holding cells,” she said. “The hypnotics are currently set so they’ll only hear and respond to certain voices, including mine.”
“I’m planning to read Wesley’s mind first,” I said. “I’m hoping that will tell us enough that I won’t need to read my brother’s mind at all.”
Megan nodded, stopped by a d
oor, and looked pointedly at Adika. “Bodyguards should wait outside.”
He frowned.
“I’ve known Wesley for years,” I said. “He’s never shown the slightest tendency to violence, and given he’s under hypnotics …”
Adika gave a grudging grunt of acceptance.
Megan led Lucas, Buzz, and me into a white-walled room where a boy was lying on a couch. His eyes were closed, he had two metal blobs attached to his forehead, and a wheeled stand holding a flashing technical display was positioned next to him.
It was at least a year since I’d last seen Wesley, so he looked a little older and taller than I remembered. He still had the same hairstyle though, with the over-large wave of hair combed across the top of his head.
“Wesley, I want you to think about what happened when you went into the air vents,” said Megan. “There’s no need for you to be afraid. You’re in a perfectly safe place with me, just thinking through past events.”
Wesley’s eyes didn’t open, but there was a flicker of movement under his eyelids as if he was dreaming.
I sat down on a nearby chair, closed my own eyes, and reached out with my telepathic sense. I halted at the verge of Wesley’s mind, because there was something unusual about it. Minds normally had fixed unique features, but this one kept drifting from one shape and texture to another.
I hovered there for a moment longer, pretending I was studying these oddities but really having a fit of cowardice. If I didn’t see enough in Wesley’s thoughts, or saw too much of the wrong thing, then I’d have to carry on and read my brother’s thoughts too.
Delaying was only making me more nervous. I abruptly plunged into a mind that startled me by being filled with vivid images. A heroic young man, his handsome looks only spoiled by the fact he had Wesley’s hairstyle, was issuing orders to two younger boys.
“… so we’ll take off the cover of an air vent inspection hatch, go inside, and head through the vent system to reach the main maintenance crawl ways.”
The others saluted and chorused in unison. “Yes, Colonel Wesley. Brilliant plan, Colonel Wesley. We’ll all get enough points to be promoted!”
Despite my nerves, I couldn’t help giving a choke of laughter. “Wesley is either dreaming or fantasizing. He’s picturing himself as being much older and the Colonel in charge of an adoring game group. He’s going to take two boys through the air vents to reach the maintenance crawl ways, and they’ll all get enough points to be promoted.”
“That sounds like it’s a fantasy based on the real events,” said Lucas. “Wesley’s made himself the group leader. He must have increased the leader’s rank too. I can’t believe a Colonel would burden himself with two novice players. What’s happening now?”
“The three of them have gone through an air vent inspection hatch,” I reported. “There’s automatic lighting in there, and they’re crawling past side turnings and ladders. All the images are incredibly vivid, Wesley can hear the clattering sound as they move through the air vents, feel the air blowing through his hair when he goes past a fan, and there’s the coldness of maintenance mesh under his hands and knees.”
I paused. “Typically fantasies, even those based on reality, are far more blurry than this. I’d believe this whole thing was real if it wasn’t for the ludicrous compliments and Wesley being a Colonel.”
“Perhaps Wesley will have a future creating bookettes,” said Lucas.
“If he does, he’ll have to work on his continuity,” I said. “Weirdly, everyone’s talking as if Wesley’s bravely leading the way through the air vents, but it was one of the younger boys who took off the air vent cover and is now in first place in the group. Wesley is behind him.”
“That’s a remnant from Wesley’s memory of the real events,” said Lucas. “His fantasy version has him as the Colonel in charge of the group, but he’s still crawling along in second place because that’s where he was when it actually happened.”
“Something is changing,” I said anxiously. “The other two boys have stopped giving Wesley compliments. All the emotional overtones of the fantasy are shifting too. There was a glorious air of adventure about it, but now it’s turned ominous. Oh, there’s someone ahead of them in the crawl way. That must be the wild bee!”
“If things get too stressful for you, Amber, you must leave Wesley’s mind immediately,” said Buzz. “You can always take a break and try again later.”
“I can’t see any details of the wild bee,” I said. “The younger boy is in front of Wesley and is blocking his view, so I’ve just got a glimpse of a distant dark shape against the automatic lighting. The wild bee must have seen the game group, because Wesley can hear a strange male voice shouting. I can’t tell what the voice is saying because there are too many distorting echoes.”
I gave a shocked squeak. “The fantasy effect just cut out entirely. The young boy in the lead has changed to be a lot older, probably sixteen. Wesley’s become his real fourteen-year-old self.”
“You’re seeing the original memory sequence now,” said Lucas. “Do you have any clues to the identity of the group leader?”
“No. Wesley is just thinking of him as the Captain.”
“How stressful is this for you, Amber?” asked Buzz.
“Wesley is feeling waves of fear from the memories,” I said, “but they keep being driven away by an odd tranquil haze.”
“That’s the hypnotics sheltering Wesley from his fear,” said Lucas.
I wasn’t going to admit that the tranquil haze helping Wesley wasn’t helping me. If the others knew I was feeling both the fear Wesley had originally experienced during these events, and my own fear of what I might discover had happened to my brother, then they might stop me doing this.
“The wild bee is coming towards them. He’s carrying something. It looks like a hammer. The group leader calls out some orders and starts climbing a ladder. Wesley is following him up the ladder now. He can hear clanging from their feet on the ladder, and he’s gasping for breath as he keeps reaching for the next rung and dragging himself upwards. He’s reached another horizontal air vent now.”
I shook my head. “No, actually I’m wrong. This doesn’t look like an ordinary air vent, but one of the larger maintenance crawl ways. The group leader is waiting in the entrance to the maintenance crawl way. Wesley can’t work out how to climb across to join him, so the leader grabs him and tugs him into the crawl way.”
I could hear my own voice rising in panic, and feel my stomach churning. “Wesley’s looking down the ladder for Gregas, but he isn’t there! Gregas isn’t there!”
There was the warmth of Lucas’s arms going around me, and his voice whispering in my ear. “You’re safe, Amber. Gregas is safe too.”
I moistened my lips and spoke again. “The group leader is moving off down the crawl way. He’s yelling at Wesley to follow him, but Wesley’s staying by the ladder. He doesn’t know what to do. He doesn’t want to run away and leave Gregas behind, but he’s too scared to go back down the ladder to look for him.”
“I think you’ve learned everything you can from Wesley,” said Lucas. “Leave his thoughts now, Amber.”
I pulled back into my own head and opened my eyes. “I’m going to have to read Gregas’s mind,” I said grimly.
Chapter Fifteen
Megan murmured some soothing words to Wesley, and then we all rejoined the bodyguards in the corridor.
“You don’t have to read Gregas’s mind, Amber,” said Megan. “You’ve seen enough to make it clear we’ll need to reset Wesley’s memories, so we’ll have to do the same for your brother.”
“It isn’t at all clear that we’ll need to reset Wesley’s memories,” I said. “All that he and the Captain saw was a man carrying a hammer in a maintenance crawl way. They only ran away from him because they were afraid of being caught trespassing. If we tell them the man was a maintenance worker using a hammer to do some repair work, then they’ll believe us.”
“That’s true,�
�� said Buzz, “but what you saw in Wesley’s mind suggests that Gregas had a greater interaction with the wild bee. It would be deeply troubling, perhaps even dangerous, for you to share your brother’s experience of a traumatic event. Is it really worth taking so large a risk to save his memory of the last couple of days?”
“Our memories are an integral part of our personalities,” I said. “I can’t let Gregas’s memories be tampered with unless I’m absolutely sure it’s necessary. Besides, the next time Gregas and Wesley meet their group leader, he’s bound to mention the wild bee and ask if they got away safely.”
“Gregas and Wesley aren’t likely to meet the Captain again,” said Megan. “We can reset their minds to soon after they entered the air vents, and then tell them they went trespassing in a maintenance area and had a serious fall that caused head injuries and memory loss. They won’t want to play Blue Upway again after that.”
“We can’t assume that,” I said. “Having a serious accident would be enough to prevent any teen with basic common sense from playing Blue Upway again, but neither my brother nor Wesley has any common sense at all.”
Megan developed the thoughtful expression of someone remembering their own time on Teen Level. “And even the most sensible teens can be influenced into doing foolish things. You’re right that we have to assume Wesley and Gregas will meet the Captain again. That means we’ll need to locate the Captain and remove his memory of the encounter too.”
“You’re suggesting doing all this to save me from the stress of reading Gregas’s mind,” I said, “but there’s a big flaw in your logic. If I don’t read Gregas’s thoughts, and you remove the memories of what happened from everyone involved, it will only make me suffer worse and never-ending stress. Lucas must surely have worked that out.”
Borderline (Hive Mind Book 4) Page 15