00 stood as tall and wide as possible, doing what little he could to block the view of his friends from the disinterested people chatting madly around them. 62 dropped the book from his shirt into Mattie’s hands and she shoved it in the open hole, quietly closing the vent over it. Then, the trio stood up, huddling together and looking as innocent as possible before weaving their way back through the crowd toward the doors.
The crowd pushed with them in a wave of bodies, everyone ready to reclaim their seat to find out what the elders’ decision would be. Mattie, 00, and 62 linked arms and pushed forward together, back to the steps at the edge of the stage. They wanted to make sure that Blue could find them in the crowd if he needed them. No sooner had they removed their masks and gotten settled than the lady seated at the end of the aisle turned to Mattie.
“I hope they let your friend go,” she offered. “I can’t imagine how heartbroken you are over this whole thing.”
Mattie’s brow wrinkled and her eyes filled with confusion. 62 stomped on her foot. “Yeah, it would be horrible, since you love him so much.”
Mattie came alive with a start. “Oh! Yes, my beloved Blue. I’d wanted something special for my birthday and he was trying to surprise me by making me something.”
“He was making you something for your birthday?” The Woman put her hand over her heart and sighed. “Oh, honey, that’s so sweet. But what would he make you out of garbage?”
“A necklace,” Mattie gushed. “He was trying to wind the cables into a necklace for me and I wanted it to sparkle. He was going to hang shards of a solar panel from it so it would shine like our love.”
Mattie pouted. The people in earshot of the conversation swooned. 62 and 00 looked at one another with confused disgust. The odd exchange was interrupted by Temperance coming back onstage and the whole room gasping in anticipation.
“Thank you for your patience,” Temperance announced in a voice that was less than thankful. “After reviewing the facts of this case, the elders have found that Blue is guilty of removing Hanford property without permission.” There was a burst of angry cries from the audience. Temperance shook her head and raised her hand. “However,” she shouted, “as we have not ever enforced this law over items in the disposal yard, we have decided to be lenient in his punishment.”
“How lenient?” someone in the crowd shouted.
“We’ve decided to ban Blue from volunteering for refuse duty. Instead, since he has shown such a desire to fix things, we are assigning him to work in maintenance services for one year.” Temperance hammered her fist on the podium twice and left the stage.
The crowd fizzled, deciding the punishment to be fair in light of the circumstances. The lady who’d spoken to Mattie before the announcement hugged her tight, knocking 00 and 62 aside as she did. The Woman cried, gushing that she was so happy Mattie would be reunited with her love. Then she rushed away to tell her friends about the story of the two lovebirds and their entanglement with the law. As the romantic tale was passed around, more people came over to congratulate Mattie on finding a partner with such a tender heart.
The crowd began to disperse and the congratulations faded as the theater started to empty. 62 looked at his two companions. “Now what?” he asked.
“We wait for him to be released,” Mattie said, taking a seat. “They won’t keep him too long, I’d guess.”
62 and 00 settled into chairs on either side of Mattie and they waited. The last stragglers of the mob wandered into the dim light of evening and left them alone in the theater. It wasn’t long before Blue came in through a side door, escorted by an elder.
Mattie jumped up, cheeks flushed, and ran to Blue. She wrapped her arms around him and kissed his cheek. “Oh, my Blue! My Blue! My love. I’m glad you’re here!”
Blue batted her away. “We’re done with that now, ain’t we? I’m loose again, you don’t gotta act all gushy about it. Besides, Auntie knows it was all a fake.”
Mattie stopped, stunned. She looked from him to the elder and back. “But, we’re in love. That’s – that’s part of the thing.”
The elder pushed her unruly hair away from her face, revealing the face of the one Elder who’d been on Blue’s side. “It’s okay, hun. He told me it was just a game to get the crowd riled up.”
“He did?” Mattie sputtered. She frowned, then wiped her mouth on the back of her hand and stomped her foot in frustration. “Well, I’m glad for that!”
62 and 00 laughed. They offered the elder known as Auntie a seat and she obliged, groaning as she lowered herself onto the worn wooden chair. Once she got herself settled, she looked up at the four youngsters around her. “Now then, it sounds like you all have been very busy.”
Everyone looked at one another nervously. 62’s voice cracked when he asked, “It does?”
“Yes, it does. Blue tells me that you were friends with the doctor in Adaline who told us when to rescue people.”
62 nodded. “He changed my chip so I wouldn’t be taken out of Adaline. It worked, for a while.”
Auntie frowned. “They always find you in the end, don’t they? Well, most of the other elders aren’t thrilled that you male lot exist, as I’m sure you’re aware. But I think that your doctor and others like him are a credit to your species and helped us a great deal. I want to return the favor by helping you.”
Mattie’s glare threw daggers at Blue. “I’ve been trying to figure out a way to get a meeting with Hanford’s elders for weeks. You’ve been friends with one this whole time and didn’t think to mention it?”
Blue shrugged his shoulders. “Guess not. But she’s here now. And she wants to help us build the bot. You could thank me instead of yelling.”
Mattie rolled her eyes. “You think I should thank you for letting me freak out? You’re impossible.”
62 cleared his throat. “So, Auntie, you said you want to help us?”
The creases in the ancient face shifted, lifting cheeks and weaving lips into a smile. “I do. Unofficially, of course. Now, tell me your plan to build it, and I’ll see what I can do to make sure you get away with it.”
CHAPTER 35
AUNTIE LED THE WAY through the darkening evening, the four kids falling into step just behind her. The round shape of her cloaked figure bobbed and weaved unsteadily, the sound of her uneven steps being broken by the thump of her cane. They passed between buildings and up a long drive to a small dwelling on a low hill. The door swung open with a long creak to reveal a dark and cluttered room. Auntie reached down onto a low table near the door and lit several candles there, casting a shifting orange light around the room.
“Mind your step,” her voice croaked. She lifted two of the candles off the table and carried them forward between mounds of things; boxes, stacks of books, and bits of refuse. The four friends followed her in, careful to keep to the narrow path that trailed toward the center of the room.
“You don’t have electricity in here?” 00 asked as he unmasked himself and peered at the shadows dancing between the piles.
Auntie kept moving forward as if she hadn’t heard. The group entered the center of the cluttered building and she set her two candles on level stacks of books. She busied herself moving piles of papers off boxes, shifting a large metal framework gently off of a chair onto the floor, and retrieving a pair of short, overturned stools from between nearby stacks. “Have a seat,” she mumbled, gesturing to the boxes and stools. She worked her tired body between the metal rack and the velvety upholstered chair, then lowered herself down slowly until she melted into the fabric.
While Mattie, 00, and 62 each chose a seat, Blue wandered behind a tall chest of drawers and returned with a glass of water. He moved toward Auntie, scanning the piles around him. As he passed one of the piles, his arm darted into the mess. He pulled gently, gingerly, making sure nothing toppled over until a wide, flat board appeared in his hand. He set the board down on the top of the metal frame at Auntie’s feet and then set the glass of water down onto the impr
ovised table.
“Thank you,” Auntie muttered as Blue found his own seat. She sipped at the water, licked her lips and then looked at the shadowy faces of the children surrounding her.
“What is this place?” 00 asked warily.
“It’s my home,” replied Auntie.
“It’s kind of a dump,” blurted Mattie. She slapped her hand against her mouth in embarrassment at what she’d said. Auntie chuckled.
“I’m sure to the untrained eye it does look like a garbage heap.” Auntie looked around slowly, peering at her belongings. She turned back and winked at Mattie. “It makes it a lot easier to keep treasures when they’re hidden under old maps and bits of worn out books.” Everyone looked at the piles nearest to them now, looking for treasure. It all still looked like junk.
“So,” Auntie said, bringing the attention back to her. “Tell me about this bot you’ve been building.”
“It’s not much now. We found some old computers and –” 00 started to say.
Mattie reached over and punched him in the leg. “Shut up. Don’t say anything yet.” She looked at Auntie warily. “Why do you want to help us?”
Auntie’s smile was a tapestry of wrinkles, deepened by the dim light of the candles. Her grin went wide and her eyes seemed to shrink beneath her brow and rising cheeks. She leaned over the edge of her chair and pulled a tattered book from somewhere down below. “I thought you’d never ask.
“Long ago, when your mother was studying the history of Hanford, we explored the library together.” She paused, letting a look of shock rest on Mattie’s face. “Oh, yes. I knew your mother. In fact, we were dear friends. As we looked through the oldest of the books, mostly maps of the original site and pamphlets on being good citizens, mind you, we came across this book. Well, that’s not exactly right. Your mother found it hidden in a box of scientific manuals. A great big textbook had its center pages cut out, turning it into sort of a secret a little box. This book was hidden inside.”
“A book inside a book?” Mattie asked. “Why’d anyone do something like that?”
Auntie laid the small book in her lap and patted the cover. “Because this book isn’t like any of the other books we’ve ever found. Its pages are handwritten by the mother of our people. A Woman by the name of Anna Joliot-Curie. This is her diary. It holds the true history of this place. A history not found in any other book about Hanford.
“I stole this diary from your mother before she destroyed it. I’ve read it a hundred times, trying to understand where we come from, and how Anna Joliot-Curie would have us behave in the face of great adversity. She is very clear on her stance when it comes to the males housed in Adaline.” Auntie let loose a great sigh. “Very clear.”
“That’s why you want to help us?” 00 chirped. “Anna would have wanted you to?”
Auntie shook her head. “No. She wouldn’t have. She’d have us leave you to your own devices in hopes that you’d suffer a catastrophe and become extinct.” Auntie looked at Mattie for a long moment. “Your mother read every history book she could find in the library to discover why there was so much hate toward Adaline. There weren’t many texts that referenced the Adaline site at all. A half dozen maybe, most to do with its construction. When she read this book, however, she understood the great threat that our seemingly benign beginnings posed.”
“I — I don’t understand,” Mattie stammered. “What threat?”
“Your mother.” Auntie sighed again. The breath was heavy with the weight of the world. It carried with it a tenderness and quiet frustration that was understood even in the ears of the young listeners. She began again. “Your mother saw weakness in our division. She wanted to cleanse our minds of the idea that Women were the only ones worth saving, which is why she burned all of the books she could find that supported the idea of keeping our species separate. She understood Anna’s weakness and jealousy, even when I was too blind and stubborn to understand. When I told the others what she’d done, we forced her to volunteer when the Oosa came. But now, I wish things had been different.”
62 eyed the worn leather cover. Its binding had slackened over time and loose pages peeked out of the edges. “I don’t get it. If Anna didn’t like Adaline, and if you sent Mattie’s mom to the Oosa for what she did, why are you helping us now?”
“Because Anna was wrong.” The words hung in the air. Auntie sank down low against the seat back, resting her head against the soft upholstery. “I’ve read Anna’s words over and over again. Memorized them. Took on her anger and spite as my own. I carried the mantle of Anna’s hate for many years. I was helping Mattie’s mother to learn the history of our people because I wanted to prove to her that our division was natural. It wasn’t until she returned from the Oosa that I understood how wrong I’d been.”
Tears trickled down the paths of wrinkles in Auntie’s cheeks. “Back then, we knew of Adaline. We knew what it was and that Men lived there. Every so often, one of us would get curious and make the journey to see it. But it wasn’t until Mattie’s mother found the original blueprints that anyone tried to enter the beastly place. She was the first one to go down and disable the furnaces. She was the first one to bring back a discarded infant.” Auntie pointed a finger at Blue. “You.”
Blue’s eyes went wide. He thrust a thumb into his chest. “Me?”
Auntie nodded. “You were a messy little thing. Wouldn’t shut up. To this day, I don’t know how she got you all the way here without Adaline tracking her. Other than, I suppose, they were just happy to get your wailing little face out of there. But yes, you were the first.”
“But there are grown Men here,” 62 puzzled. “Blue’s just a kid.”
“Yes, well. There are Men who were born here. Not many, but some. Gifts from the Oosa, or our tax to pay for the freedom to stay living, whichever way you like to see it. The rest of them are rescues following in Blue’s footsteps, as it were.”
“Parker said he’s only been here three years,” 62 offered. “He was an adult when he was rescued.”
00 frowned. “But Mattie’s mom died. Who did the rescues then?”
“The people she saved continued bringing Adaline’s castoffs here. After discovering this place, they couldn’t very well leave their brothers down in their hole, could they?” Auntie looked at 62 and winked. “A familiar sentiment, isn’t it?”
“Refugees saving more refugees,” 00 muttered. He looked up at Auntie. “But if the people here hate us, why do they keep letting us go back?”
“Oh, they’ve stopped allowing it before, just like the citizens are trying to stop it from continuing now. But some determined young Man always finds a way to get them started again.”
“Do you think anyone’s going to fight to go back now?” 62 asked.
Auntie raised an eyebrow. Her lips slid into a sly smile. “I have an idea of someone who might.
CHAPTER 36
AUNTIE TOLD ANNA’S story until the night was black and the bodies of her audience were heavy with sleep. She flipped through the pages casually, keeping her place as the history of their lineage unfolded, but she had indeed read Anna’s words so often that she recited most of it from memory.
She said that long ago, in the time before Adaline, the days before Curie, and before the boundaries of Hanford were fully erect, Anna Joliot-Curie’s grandmother, a Woman named Marie, had been party to a team of scientists who’d discovered a new element. Radium. This new element was revolutionary, setting the stage for a great many inventions, improvements, and technological wonders. Advances in healthcare and energy generation were built upon the work that Anna’s matron had catalogued. Anna saw the limitless potential that Marie’s discovery had brought.
Anna was born to Marie’s daughter, Irene. Anna was an illegitimate child, a product of a love affair with a professor who Irene met while working with her mother. To cover the scandal, Anna was raised in secret by a Nurse and a Nanny.
“In fact,” Auntie mentioned, “Anna credited her seclusion
for her brilliance. Her childhood rearing deeply influenced her plans for the child development programs in both Adaline, and Curie.”
The journal told that when Anna’s mother received word of her exceptional studies, Irene and her husband (an archaic title stemming from a contract between people of different genders in the days before Hanford) had been ecstatic. At the urging of her family, and as a way to escape the shame of birth, Anna Joliot-Curie decided to carry on the scientific torch of her grandmother. Anna thrust herself into the new age of nuclear sciences where a new radioactive element, plutonium, had emerged.
During Anna’s tenure as a lab technician, a great war materialized. The power of Marie Curie’s legacy was to be harnessed into a weapon designed to decimate large swaths of land and life. While Anna agreed that such a weapon was necessary in the face of a great evil, she knew that if the weapon reached the hands of an enemy, they’d have the power to use it against her own people. She, along with several other scientists in her league, came up with a plan to employ in the face of such an attack. The state of humanity, as it was then known, would never survive such a weapon as radioactive energy would provide. And so, with great effort, Anna and her peers formed a secret society whose mission was to create a human who could be at home underground. Strong, intelligent, compliant, and designed to survive a world devastated by the effects of radiation.
As Hanford was being erected to produce a weapon powerful enough for the world’s destruction, Adaline was built to create a species of human strong enough to survive it. Dug into the hills beyond the town’s borders in secret, Anna was delighted to be one of only a handful of people to even know it existed. She went to work, developing the program that would create a new humanity. A uniform humanity. A perfect humanity.
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