by Maguire, Ily
“Body chute? Incinerator?” The yellowish glow.
Christophe nods. He still has on his sunglasses. It’s so strange. How does he see down here?
“There’s a stairway over there. C’mon, I’ll take you back to your room.” He takes my hand, my fake hand. I know because I feel it in my shoulder as it curls around his in response. I watch it move like a real hand. Christophe doesn’t react like I would’ve expected. He doesn’t react at all.
“No. No, wait!” I shake his hand off without thinking. He stops and turns to me. “I have to get to Leland. I have a message for him.”
“A message? From whom?”
“From Jenny. About the digging. It was urgent.”
“Urgent, huh?” Christophe doesn’t move like I think he should. Quickly and in the direction of wherever Leland is.
“Yes! Very!” I am emphatic.
He pulls me back and behind a crumbling brick pillar. And then my good hand in his, he pushes through a wooden door. How did Jenny ever expect me to find my way? She must’ve known someone else would come down here. Wouldn’t she?
We’re back at a staircase. We pass the stairs and follow another tunnel. I’m all turned around.
“It’s all meant to be confusing, but I know my way,” Christophe assures me. I believe him and I trust him. I don’t know that this is a good thing. He points forward. “It’s just up ahead.”
This tunnel looks like all the rest: dark and gloomy. Damp and musty. Wet.
As we approach the part of the tunnel that forks to the left and right, a loud distressed moan travels down the length of one of them, stopping my heart. My blood running cold.
“What is that?” I ask. It doesn’t sound human, but there can’t be anything bigger than rats down here. That was no rat. It moans again.
“It’s one of the disappeared. One of The Hollow’s test subjects. It’ll pass. We’ll just wait here until it does.”
My body wouldn’t budge anyway. The moaning continues.
“He’s in pain. Can’t someone help him?”
Christophe shakes his head. “We’ll just wait until it stops.”
12
“How can you see with those sunglasses? It’s so dark in here.” My muscles twitch from the exertion. Christophe and I wait. The moaning is less intense than moments ago, but it hasn’t stopped. It’s more like crying.
“The sunglasses don’t stop me from seeing light, if that’s what you think.”
“Isn’t that the purpose of sunglasses?”
“It is, but these are actually for seeing, not blocking light. I just like them dark.”
I try to understand, but I don’t know what to say.
“These eyes don’t see,” He taps the glasses. “I’m blind.”
“Excuse me?”
“You don’t believe me.” His grin is sincere. I haven’t seen him smile yet. His teeth are perfectly straight and all the same size. They are white. A contrast to his light brown skin. I’m forgetting my initial purpose for being down here. We need to get to Leland.
“I didn’t say I didn’t believe you.”
“Without these, I can’t see anything at all.”
“But I don’t understand. How do you get around so well?”
Christophe takes off his glasses and his eyes are closed. He opens them. It takes a minute. At first I don’t notice anything until he moves in closer to my face. Even in this low light, his eyes are a color blue so light, they are almost white. And they are almost fixed, like there’s no depth to them. As he gets even closer, I can see a flash of something deep within. A memory or spark of something knowing. There is something so familiar about Christophe’s eyes.
“I can’t see without the glasses. These eyes are just for show. It’s the glasses that let me see the world around me, allowing me to interpret things.” He takes my artificial hand and places the glasses in it. I am able to feel that they are ultralight. I move it closer to my face. There is a small, flat camera on the inside center of each lens. I can see everything in front of me.
“But how does this help you see if your eyes don’t work,” I ask.
He turns his head to the side and points behind his ear. It’s dark where we stand and I almost can’t see anything. He shines his palm light on a small, circular socket.
“And the other,” he says, turning the other way. He picks up my fake hand and moves it up to his head. My fingers touch the socket and I get a little jolt of electricity. I pull my hand away.
“The sunglasses transmit a signal to these ports and they connect to an implant in my brain.”
Like my arm.
“We should go. You have to get to Leland.”
“Have you been chipped?” I ask. We move out of the shadows.
He shakes his head. “Triangular plates holding millions of electrodes attach to my visual cortex. They are connected to the terminals sticking out of my skull.”
“How did they get into your skull?” I already know the answer.
“They drilled holes of course, and then implanted the plates and ports.”
“So if your brain hasn’t been chipped, how does it work to help you see?”
“Actually, I need my brain in order for it to work properly. Each electrode touches different parts of my brain and it triggers my visual field with flashes. Since my brain has no trouble transforming the flashes into images, I haven’t had a problem figuring out what I’m looking at.”
I instinctively cover my chest with my arms.
“X-ray capabilities is one of my future tests. I don’t have it now, though.”
I let my arms fall back down to my sides. He’s cute.
“So as long as you have on the glasses, you get images transmitted to your brain through those spots behind your ears.”
“Yes, but I need the camera on the glasses to do that.”
“So right now you can’t see a thing.” I stare at the back of his head.
“Correct.”
“Then how do you know where we’re going?” I follow him. He’s quickened his pace and my legs feel strong enough for me to be able to keep up.
“I may not be able to see, but I can hear the change in air where it travels down the hall and the way sound bounces off the walls. A longer bounce and the walls are farther away. Right now the tunnel is getting narrow. He’s right. It’s amazing.
“Are we almost there? Jenny mentioned digging out. Do you have a way out?”
Christophe stops. He holds up his hand and I stand still. Footsteps come from up ahead.
“C’mon, Rose,” he takes my hand, turning in the opposite direction. “Let’s get you back to your room. You’re frozen through.”
I admit, I’m a bit chilly. My shirt is so thin that it doesn’t do much in the way of climate control. “I can’t,” I whisper. “I have to get the message to Leland—”
The footsteps get closer and I still can’t see anything.
“Shh.” Christophe puts one hand to his lips and the other to mine. They are cool and he smells like the earth.
“Hello down there!”
“Leland!” I exclaim. Christophe drops my hand.
“Hello down there! Hello hello,” Leland tries to make his voice sound like an echo and we smile. I really like Christophe’s smile.
Leland takes my hands and almost drops the new one.
“Wow!” He exclaims, looking my new arm over. I smile. In a way, proud, like I fit in.
“Where’ve you been?” Christophe asks, taking off his glasses.
“With Tithonus,” Leland answers still holding my hands.
“Jenny told me to tell you now’s the time to go. You need to finish digging.”
“I know,” Leland says. “Tithonus said the same thing. Even without his eyes, he still sees the future.”
“And the moaning?” Christophe asks.
“One of them was passing from one state to another—” Leland starts.
“Passing?” I ask.
“Dece
asing,” Leland answers. I can’t imagine. I’ve never had to. I’ve never known anyone who has passed before.
I trail behind Leland down the right tunnel toward the center of their underground space. I’m scared to see what’s going on.
Leland stops and I almost bump into him.
“So what’s the story, Leland? What did Tithonus tell you?” Christophe has stopped, too. We’re almost to the center of the underground. My heart thumps in my chest.
“The story? I didn’t hear it from Tithonus, but the gist I heard from Delia who heard from Jenny is that,” Leland takes a deep breath in. “Aegis has been discovered and raided.”
13
“What? What does that mean?” I am incredulous. Leland can’t answer fast enough. Instead he hurries down the rest of the tunnel through a doorway that leads to the center. I hadn’t noticed this before.
I can’t bring myself to look at these disconnected humans lying about. They pay me no attention, not even as I step over and around them. There are too many of them today to count.
“What about Tithonus? Where was that moaning coming from before?” I ask. The stone Tithonus was seated upon last time is unoccupied. He’s the only one who may have any answers.
“Over there,” Christophe turns his head to an indent in the wall. His glasses are back on.
Tithonus is seated on the ground, cradling a crumpled body whose head is in his lap.
“Rose. Rose. Rosamund,” Tithonus looks up at me. He lifts a hand, beckoning me over without another sound.
I leave Leland and Christophe. I can feel their gaze as I cross over to the old man. Tithonus takes my real hand and pulls me down. I pull back.
“What’s wrong with him?” I ask, afraid to get any closer to the young zombie. There are two indents on either side of his head and his face is drawn, cheeks sunken, eyes closed. His body is emaciated and frail, his shirt has been removed showing off his ribcage. His breathing is so shallow it’s almost not breathing and he exhales in tiny puffs.
Tithonus lets me go and returns his hand to the forehead of the disappeared in his lap.
“He is ill.” Tithonus states.
“Ill from what?” I ask. From the drugs? From the experiments? Is this what deceasing looks like?
“It is his time,” Tithonus tells me. “We all must pass eventually.”
Tithonus’s hand hovers above the mouth of the disappeared, then he closes it.
“He is deceased. His soul is gone.” He states. “He must be removed.”
“Is that why you’ve been brought here? To help them?” I don’t know what I should be feeling. I’m angry that people have been so disregarded, but sad, too. The body is limp as Christophe and Leland pick it up from Tithonus’s lap. Eyes still open, they are glazed over with a pasty film. Christophe, his glasses back on, closes the disappeared’s eyes and he and Leland carry it away. They lower it into something out of my line of sight.
I lean down to help Tithonus up. His body is frail. I hold his wrist and support his elbow with my new arm. It is surprisingly gentle.
“Jenny gave me a message,” I whisper to Tithonus. No one else is around. His arm coils around mine. His back is hunched over and we move slowly to the stones at the edge of the small pool.
“She said to tell Leland now is the time to get out. To dig out. Does Leland have a way out?”
Tithonus slows to a stop. His body shifts as he looks up. He turns his head down one of the dark corridors. He walks me forward, away from all of the other disappeared. They haven’t moved. Do they even know what just happened? We’ve turned toward the entranceway of one of the tunnels. One of the spokes.
“What? What’s down there?” We stand and stare. Tithonus’s head is back down. He doesn’t answer.
Finally, he speaks, “That is your way out.”
“What? Down there?” I don’t see anything other than another dark tunnel.
“It’s all set,” Leland is behind us, inhaling and exhaling with gusto, completely out of breath. He picks up where he left off. Christophe is by his side, he doesn’t seem as exhausted. “Apparently, Rose had been under surveillance for some time.”
I walk with Tithonus back to the stone seat.
“But why?” I ask. “It can’t just be about my genetic code.”
“Jenny thinks she overheard that someone inside Aegis gave the coordinates away when Rose got there.” Delia stands behind us. We all turn. She continues, “The Hollow knows Jenny was your tutor and that your father works for the Imperial Bead. The same person who gave away Aegis must have given away Jenny as well. Someone inside Aegis was from The Hollow.”
JJ and Patience.
“What does that mean? Is Jenny in danger?” I ask, helping Tithonus to a seat.
“That means Dr. Flint and Rejuvenation Industries know they are being investigated. Jenny’s one step ahead of them, but this may be our only opportunity for escape,” Delia tells us. “If they’re preoccupied with the Imperial–”
Delia stops talking. More footsteps. Dragging footsteps. They shuffle. Two more disappeared. They take a laundry bin from one of the other spokes. Naked legs of the deceased stick out of the bin. This must be the body Leland and Christophe removed. The bin is pushed slowly down the tunnel and I’m surprised that there isn’t an attendant. I’m glad for it. Someone must know by now that I’m not where I’m supposed to be.
“Dr. Flint knows how long they have before they expire. She sends others down to collect,” Delia offers.
“And then what?” I think of the morgue.
“The incinerator,” Leland says. I shiver. “If they know the Imperial Bead is onto them, then we could all be in very big trouble.”
“Why?” I ask.
“If they’re being investigated,” Leland begins. “They’ll have to get rid of us. Either private sale, they traffic us out of here, or—”
“Or what?” I try not to panic. Will I be sold?
“Or they kill us, Roz. They can’t have us discussing the true Rejuvenation Industries and what goes on here with anyone from the Imperial Bead. We all know too much. Once the parts they’ve removed make it to open market, Dr. Flint will have to defend the human testing she’s been doing all this time. Her investors will be sure to have dropped out by this point.”
“So what do we do?” I turn to Delia. She seems to have the answers. Tithonus has moved from his seat and is gone. Has Jenny come down for him? Why didn’t she tell me she was here?
“We have to get out of here,” Christophe says. “Leland, how much farther on the tunnel?”
“The tunnel down there?” I point to where Tithonus showed me.
“Yes, but how do you know—” Leland doesn’t finish. He brightens the light on his wrist and I follow him down the tunnel. A few feet in, there is a door in the wall. Hewn of wood, it is flush with the large limestones. A small latch sticks out of the center of the wall. Leland pulls on it and the door creaks open partway.
“Is that a way out?” I ask.
“It could be with a bit more work,” Leland flashes his light inside. Christophe stands far enough back and doesn’t look at us. I can’t see far because it’s still too dark, but the walls seem to have collapsed in. Two twins are digging out the sides of the tunnel, pushing dirt out of the way of beams that hold up the low ceiling in sections like an underground mine.
“Who are they? Where does it lead?” I ask.
“Archer and Alex. They’re helping dig.” Leland states. Neither of them looks back, nor do they stop digging.
“We think it used to go to the chapel, but that’s long gone.” Christophe adds. “We think it may have already been a way in and out of the hospital before The Hollow got a hold of it.”
“Once it collapsed, someone started digging. We’ve just been finishing the job,” Leland finishes, looking around him.
“How far does it go?” I try to imagine.
“It used to go all the way out, until the end caved in. We had installed some
support beams and were taking shifts digging. If there were more of us, it would go faster.”
A deafening shot rings out and a scream pierces the air. Am I hallucinating again?
“Jenny!” I cry out, though I don’t know why.
“We have to get out of here now, Leland.” Delia says.
He reaches down for an old aluminum bedpan, dented and rusted. Christophe grabs a piece of something that looks like it could’ve been attached to a wheelchair or examination table. A footrest, maybe.
“Let’s get the door the rest of the way open,” Christophe says.
“It won’t budge, it’s stuck.” Leland steps back, out of the entrance.
Leland kicks another bedpan. It clanks against the floor and other metal detritus. Sound bounces around the cavernous space.
“We can squeeze through, it’s fine,” Delia grabs Leland’s hand and pushes him through first. “How far did you have left to go?” She asks before Christophe makes her go in next.
“There isn’t any time to talk.” Christophe interrupts before Leland can answer. “My glasses will be uploaded soon, if they haven’t been already.”
“Not far,” Leland calls from inside. “The soil is soft. We saw daylight. Roz, you come through next.”
“Give me a pan, I can help dig.” I turn back as Christophe helps me through the door. I hold out my artificial arm and Christophe puts a dented desk drawer into my hand. My fingers grasp it, clutching it tight.
I follow the rest into the makeshift tunnel. Archer and Alex have gone ahead. The walls are narrow and mostly dirt and rubble. I reach up, the ceiling crumbles, too.
“Christophe?” I stop and call back. I look over my shoulder and he stands behind, still in the doorway. “You’re coming, too, aren’t you?”
He shakes his head.
“Wait, why not?” I don’t know how far up everyone is. I can’t see a thing ahead.
“They’ll know every move you make with me in tow. I’m going to go back and check on Jenny. And Tithonus.”
“Will you be careful?” I turn completely around and head back to the door. It’s still so dark.
He nods.