by S. L. Baum
“Yes. I’ve just been notified of the same,” Cimarron said with a nod. “The rest will be shipped back for us in the next delivery truck that has been given permission to travel.”
Gill turned a corner and I looked out the front window. Guest Accommodations was ahead on the right. “How long will we have?”
“You can spend five minutes up there,” Gill said as he slowed the vehicle. “Not a minute more. So pack only what you can’t live without. It may be a week or so before you see the rest of your belongings again. Just a small travel bag, ladies. I’ve been told not to have anything in the storage compartment. The scanner inside the trunk will notify the workers at the checkpoints if anything is amiss.” Gill came to a stop. “Time starts now.”
I didn’t wait for him to circle around and open the door for me. I’d pushed it open the moment he said the word now. I wanted to make sure I had all those memory pills packed with me for my return to One.
“Bluebell, slow down,” Cimarron called after me, but followed behind at a quick pace that nearly matched my own.
It was a mad dash to the door of our suite. When we headed out that morning, so I could give my speech, we each carried only a small bag and our official tablets. We were both anxious to get our necessary items packed into a travel bag.
“Five minutes,” Cimarron reminded me.
“I’ll be quick,” I assured her.
“As will I. I’ll meet you back at the door.”
I nodded my head in agreement.
As soon as I was in my room I knew that I wanted my personal tablet, so I could try once again to contact my friends; it was the first thing I grabbed. My next stop was the bathroom. I found what was left of the memory pills and placed them in the bag as well; I’d previously given half of them to Gill while Cimarron was drugged into sleep on our ride over to Three. After the pills, I went straight to the closet. There was a shirt folded neatly in one of the drawers, and if I’d had to leave it behind I would have been heartbroken. There was no way I was going to entrust its safety to the random person that would be assigned to pack up my belongings. If that shirt was misplaced, well… I didn’t want to think about it. It was silly really, to care so much about a shirt, but I did. It was the shirt that I’d worn in the park that day with Thorn; the day that I realized he was going to be someone important to me.
I picked it up, held it to my face, and inhaled. A pointless action, because the shirt smelled of cleaner and a bit like the bag that all my belongings had been packed in. But I wished it smelled like him. I wanted to be near him. I wanted to wrap my arms around him, put my face into the crease of his neck, and inhale the comforting smell of Thorn.
“You are so pathetic,” I mumbled to myself and then threw the shirt into my travel bag on top of my tablet and the memory pills. I plopped the bag on the bed and went around the room, collecting more items. I shoved in a few additional articles of clothing – a simple dress, something to sleep in, some comfortable loungewear, undergarments, and another pair of shoes. Then I made sure to grab the small hygiene kit, in case we were forced to stay in Two for any length of time. I had no desire to do so, but I knew the possibility existed.
“Blue, are you ready?” Cimarron called out.
I zipped the bag shut and then slung it over my shoulder. “Yes. I’m coming now.”
When we exited Guest Accommodations, Gill was standing at the side of the vehicle with his travel bag in hand. He placed his bag on the front passenger seat and then gestured to the door that was open and waiting for us. After Cimarron and I were inside, with our own bags beside us, he closed both side doors and went around the front. “It will be dark by the time we arrive in Two,” Gill informed us as soon as he was back behind the wheel. “We will have to wait for word from The Council before we proceed to the next checkpoint.”
“We understand, Gilbert. Don’t we, Bluebell?” She nudged me.
“Yes. I just hope there isn’t a delay.”
“Be prepared to journey somewhat slower than last time,” Gilbert warned. “With travel at a standstill, and a strict curfew in place, I expect that we will be stopped more than once along the way.”
Cimarron grimaced. “I expect you are right. But I’m going to assume that the clearance we received after your scan earlier today will remain in place. Even if we are stopped, it should only be for a short period of time.”
He started the engine with a push of a button. “From your lips to The Council’s ears.”
“Do you have enough Awake for the journey?” I asked Gill.
He turned to look back at me. “I do. Don’t worry, Bluebell. I will deliver you safely home.”
I smiled at him. “I trust you, Gill. I trust you with my life.”
“Yes, Gilbert. We both do,” Cimarron added with a yawn.
I shook my head at her. “You really aren’t sleeping much, are you?”
“Not enough,” Cimarron admitted.
“Get some rest, both of you,” Gill ordered as he pulled away from Guest Accommodations. “With all communication down, other than to and from The Council that is, there isn’t much else to do anyway.”
“He’s right,” I sighed. “I’ll admit, I could use the sleep, I barely got any last night.”
Cimarron yawned again. “I guess we both could.”
I slouched back into the seat, closed my eyes, and concentrated on the hum of the tires below me. I must have fallen asleep before we reached the first checkpoint, because I had no memories of passing through the big metal doors or being in the lift as we descended into the tunnel. But what surprised me more was the fact that I wasn’t woken up for a body scan before we entered the tunnel. When I finally opened my eyes, I discovered that we were indeed in the tunnel. Cimarron slept beside me. She snored softly, mumbling incoherent words in her slumber.
“Where are we?” I asked Gill. “Why didn’t they scan us?”
“Oh, you are awake. A: we are about an hour away from Two. And B: Cimarron was right,” he said, while holding up his hand. “My magic fingers have given us total clearance.”
“I wish we could talk,” I whispered. “She is alive.”
Gill’s eyes widened, but he shook his head and pointed over his shoulder to Cimarron. He was right. I knew she could wake at any moment. She hadn’t been drugged, so there was no way to guarantee my secrets would go unheard. The risk was too great. I’d have to find another time.
“How was your nap?”
“Very refreshing,” I smiled. “Any word from The Council? Do we get to drive straight through?”
“Afraid not, Blue. They don’t want the tunnels occupied in the middle of the night. I doubt there will be much travel after sundown, by anyone not in an official vehicle, for a while. The stamp on the side of this vehicle is the only reason you are moving between Concords right now, and it will be quite dark when we exit the tunnel. It’s Guest Accommodations for us.”
“Just for the night?”
“As far as I know, yes. I’m sure she will have a message waiting for her when she wakes up. Mine came scrawling across the screen a few minutes ago.” He tapped at the rectangular screen in the middle of the console. It could flash news messages, display detailed maps, and be used as a normal tablet when the vehicle was not in use. It was connected straight to Concord’s main information hub.
“I really hope it is just for the night. I want to get home.”
“I know you do. I know.”
Cimarron stirred beside me. She closed her mouth and her eyes squeezed even tighter together. “I think we woke her up,” I whispered. “I guess we should have been talking a little more quietly.”
She shook her head, her eyes still closed. “No it’s fine,” she said slowly. “If you are awake, I should be awake too.” She sluggishly slit open her eyes and then straightened herself in the seat. Her eyes opened a bit wider, squeezed shut, and then opened up again as she tried to focus on the road ahead of us. “We are still in the tunnel.”
&nb
sp; “Less than an hour from Two,” I supplied.
“I think I heard you say Guest Accommodations. Unless that was part of the dream I was having.”
“That part wasn’t a dream,” Gill confirmed. “We are to stay the night in Two, but will be able to resume travel in the morning.”
“That suits me fine,” Cimarron said with a yawn as she stretched her arms above her head. Her hands brushed up against the roof of the vehicle. “A proper meal and a warm bed sound perfect, right about now. This isn’t the most comfortable place to nap.”
“You could lie down across the seat,” I suggested.
“I’d rather not. Plus, I’m sure that Gilbert would appreciate the chance to rest up, as well.”
“I’m accustomed to long days of travel, but I will freely admit that a bed, of most any sort, is a more attractive alternative to driving through the night,” he said.
I sighed. “Since it isn’t likely that Snap Travel will spontaneously come into being, I wish there was a faster way to get from one place to another. Like those flying transports they had in the past. I saw a picture of one in a historical text file at school. What were they called?”
“Air-something,” Cimarron said with a wave of her hand.
What was it? I remember reading it in the file. The word was stuck in my brain but couldn’t make its way out of my mouth, “Air… air…”
“Airplane,” Gill supplied the answer. “Great metal boxes that could be filled with people and sent great distances in a short amount of time.”
“That’s right. I wish we had one of those. What happened to them?”
Cimarron settled back into the seat and reached for her tablet. “Something about the fuel.”
Gill nodded his head. “The antiquated fuel was part of it, the easy target for violence against the travelers was another part. They usually carried a great number of people, but now Citizens do not travel in great numbers, so it became an unnecessary and uneconomical means of transportation.”
“It sounds like a bus, flying in the sky.”
“Even larger than that, Blue.” Gill tapped at the steering wheel as he drove. “An airplane could carry hundreds of people inside of it.”
“There was no need for so many people to go such distances,” Cimarron scoffed. “Concord rid us of that wasteful contraption. I heard that there were innumerable crashes, which obviously would result in too many lives lost. So, if you think about it, The Council has saved many lives by doing away with them.”
A loud ping sounded from inside my travel bag and I twitched with excitement. The vehicle went silent as I fished through the bag to find my mini tablet. I knew it was my mini from the tone that rang out. My mini gave off a high pitched ping, while my personal tablet, the one my father gave me after exiting Training Tech, sounded more like a tweet, almost like that of a bird. My official tablet had a persistent lower pitched beep that came in the pattern of two short and then two long sounds. I always knew which tablet to retrieve by the sound that it made.
My heartbeat had quickened the moment I heard that ping. I hoped it meant that communications had resumed and I would be able to contact Thorn. But once my mini was in my hand, all hope of that was crushed. The tablet still had the message, ALL NONESSENTIAL COMMUNICATION HAS BEEN SUSPENDED, scrolling across the screen, but there was a single text message icon in the corner. I pressed my finger on the icon and the message opened.
Your mother and I are so glad to hear of your safety. You looked well in your video message to the Citizens. We eagerly await your homecoming.
I looked up to find Cimarron staring at me while Gill was glancing back in the rear mirror. “A message from my father,” I informed them.
Cimarron’s face lit up. “How nice that he was able to get a message through. My husband will not be able to contact me. You are such a lucky young woman.”
“He said I looked well in the video message from Three. After the fire and the panic of the crowd, I can’t believe they aired that?”
“With some careful editing, I’m sure that it was quite a moving message. It was a perfect speech, up until the moment that object fell from the sky.”
I shrugged. “I suppose.”
“Video editing is a wonderful thing. I’m sure the video team made a proper and compelling piece to show to the Citizens.” Cimarron scrolled through the messages in her inbox as she spoke. “Listen to this,” she said as she clicked on one. “Please inform Bluebell that her performance was precisely what was needed,” Cimarron read. “She has explained to the Citizens of Concord the need for heightened security and reassured them of their continued safety.”
“Glad I could help,” I mumbled.
Cimarron continued reading, either ignoring or missing my sarcasm. “Our scientists are testing the remains of the anomaly, and none of you are to worry about the unfortunate situation Bluebell found herself in earlier today. It was most likely a burning ember, from a nearby power plant, that escaped containment. We’ve taken all precautions to ensure that further incidents will not happen again and you are all perfectly safe from harm. There is no need to worry.” She looked up at me as she finished reading the message. “See, Bluebell, it was probably nothing at all. A mishap at the power plant. The contents of those shafts are under extremely high pressure. If an ember did escape, I’ve been assured it would travel quite far.”
“An ember?” I repeated in disbelief.
“Precisely. It very well could have sailed across the sky and landed on the podium. Don’t you agree, Gilbert?”
“The Council knows best,” he replied.
“Yes. Yes, it does.”
“Umm hmm,” I murmured my agreement. “I think I’ll read a story until we clear the tunnel.”
Cimarron turned her eyes back to her tablet. “You do love to read,” she said and clicked on something on her screen. “Which is good, because I have some more messages to go through.”
I looked up and locked eyes with Gill in the mirror. He winked at me. My mouth twisted into a half-smile before I looked down at my mini and opened the library. I decided on a selection of nature poetry, because I wasn’t in the mood to read a predictable story with a Praise-be-to-Concord lesson at the end of it. It felt like I should be plotting a way to make myself available to any further attempts at contact by my mother… or decide how I was going to make my father remember her… or figure out what The Council was really doing with any Citizens who became ill… and then there were the whole Banished and Cast-outs. It was too overwhelming to deal with while I was stuck in a vehicle with no one to bounce ideas off.
So I read.
I didn’t even look up when we cleared the tunnel and arrived in Two. It wasn’t until Gill parked in front of Guest Accommodations that I removed my eyes from the small screen of my mini and returned the tablet to my travel bag. Cimarron had the door open by the time Gill rounded the vehicle, but she waited for him to extend a hand before she stepped out. She waited on the curb while he leaned into the back and took my travel bag. I scooted toward him and he whispered in my ear. “I’ll find a way for us to be alone once we are back in One.”
“It’s necessary,” I whispered in response and then took his hand to step out into the inky black night. Gill gently squeezed my fingers and then handed my bag to me.
“It’s quite dark,” Cimarron noted. “I wonder if the street lights have been dimmed.”
“There are no vehicle headlights,” Gill noted and then looked up at the night sky. “And the moon is not out tonight.”
“I suppose it must be aware of the curfew,” I joked. “Stay hidden, Moon, the Peace Keepers are out.”
Cimarron frowned at me and then took a step toward the entrance. “We should get to our rooms. The Council has cleared us for a morning departure. Gilbert, thank you for delivering us safely to Two. We will see you after breakfast.”
“You are welcome. Just doing my job. Sleep well, ladies.”
I followed Cimarron as she continued thr
ough the door. “Thanks, Gill. Goodnight,” I called back over my shoulder.
We entered the elevator that would take us up to the suite, and as the doors closed I leaned against the wall and rocked back on my heels. “You should be more serious,” Cimarron scolded, as soon as we were completely alone.
“I’m serious. Believe me. But sometimes it is necessary to find a way to smile in a stressful situation. The last thirty hours or so have been somewhat overwhelming. If I can’t make a joke in private, among friends, then I am going to crack, Cimarron. Do you want me to crack?”
“I want you to be a strong, serious ambassador. You will not crack.” Her face fell into a hard line as she looked at me.
“I think you are just as stressed out as I am,” I told her as the elevator door opened up again. “So we should just go to our separate rooms and… and…”
“And get a good night’s rest,” Cimarron finished. “Bluebell, your attitude is worrisome. I think the stress of our situation is beginning to affect you. Maybe, when we get back to One, you should see a Behavior Monitor.”
I sucked in a deep breath and then slowly blew out the air. I was only aware of one person who’d been assigned to see a Behavior Monitor. Her name was Dew, and I was in Training Tech with her. When we were both in Year Six, sometime after one particular Visitation Day, Dew started acting out. It began after her father loudly expressed his deep disappointment at her marks in class. Dew fled the room with tears in her eyes and soon after that public humiliation, whenever she got a bad grade, she would lash out at someone else.
One time, she ripped a handful of my hair right out of my head. She claimed that she’d tripped and reached out to steady herself; that she had just grabbed onto whatever she could, to stop herself from falling. And even though she said that she never meant to hurt me, I never quite believed her. Another time, Dew knocked Lily to the ground, which caused Lily’s knee to be cut open. Again, Dew said she’d tripped. When she knocked into Rosebud in the shower one evening, a Trainer suggested that Dew should be sent to Medical, so some tests could be run to see if something was wrong with her nervous system. No definite answer could be concluded from the tests and, for a while things seemed to get better. But after she very obviously kicked a Guardian in the shin, she was sent away for behavior monitoring and we didn’t see her again for over a week.