The Assumption Code

by Melodee Elliott

  She grimaced. Ferli had obviously lost faith in her as a spokeswoman. She would need to buck up and get real. Rivner was the consummate professional and more visible than Margi had ever been.

  She emerged from her closet in an emerald green dress with dusty pink heels with a gold tip. Margi loved Rivner’s closet and made note to model each of the outfits during some off time. For now, she read the script and rehearsed while putting on makeup and styling her hair. She breathed deeply and came to the main living space. Ferli stood inside the door leading to the landing pad where the driver perched by a hover car’s passenger door.

  “One of Stavon’s,” Margi said, looking upon the cinnamon jewel-toned car.

  “Yes,” Ferli commented. “He specifically requested it for you today.”

  Margi’s heart leapt in her chest. The events of the previous night came into focus. She once again felt light-headed with the rush of adrenaline. Such would be a life with Stavon.

  She walked outside with Ferli and was ushered into her seat. She rubbed her hand across the charcoal-hued leather-like covering and discovered it to have a butter-soft texture. She strapped herself in.

  As soon as the driver took his position, they swooped from the sky. Once they entered the stream of traffic, she stretched her long legs in front of her. Ferli would know who was in charge in this household.

  They landed and she was escorted to the building.

  “You ready?” Ferli asked.

  “For the tour? Yes.” Margi felt patronized.

  “Come this way.” Ferli hastened down the corridor.

  She followed, rehearsing the script in her head.

  Ferli stopped. “Okay, I see you have your speaker.” She glanced at the communicator. She was glad she remembered it at the last minute. Stavon would have disapproved had she not. “Good. I’ll find you when you’re done.”

  “No need.”

  “I do as I’m told,” she replied drab voiced and walked away.

  Margi brushed off the drama and looked around to get her bearings. Beyond a glass wall was a small group of people gazing around like tourists. That was her target. She entered the room. “Welcome to DanuVitro,” she said with delight.

  Their eyes lit in awe. She introduced herself and took each of them by the hand, letting them present themselves to her. She took note of each of their names and what questions they had for her and hoped she could answer them by the tour’s end.

  A man approached to give each a brochure and a map. Margi took one for herself and directed the group to follow her.

  She stopped at their first station and let them watch the same video she had seen in recovery. She took the time to review the map and plan their next stage. After the video, they took a tram along the wide corridors of DanuVitro and passed by Tolman’s mobile hologram as people gathered around to play with the creatures.

  Margi’s clients asked to stop the tram to see it. One member of the group stepped into an animal’s field of play. It rolled and frolicked about him until he danced out of the field, then it waited him out. Margi found herself giggling along with the other spectators and thought of the genius that was Tolman. Yet he hadn’t intended this structure to be in DanuVitro. Curious, as this mobile was a perfect sentiment to the spirit of play. One that was upheld by DanuVitro.

  She herded her clan of clients to the tram and continued on their way. They entered a large and barren room. She had each of them look into an eye scanner and select an avatar.

  With the press of a button, their avatars appeared before them. Margi was startled to have one appear for herself, a young man dressed in a business suit whose persona reminded her suspiciously of Stavon. Every time she moved, the avatar followed along.

  Some of the clients danced with their avatars, others peered into their eyes, reluctant to move. Margi and her avatar stood watch over them as they explored.

  “Project yourself into your avatar. Do you see what he sees? DanuVitro allows you to experience yourself from another point of view. The Great Adventure is self-awareness.”

  Margi cut the event short of them growing accustomed to their alter egos. She knew to keep them wanting.

  With a push of a button they were gone. The change in mood was palpable with loss.

  “They await you on Meno.” Margi quickly filled their void. “This way.” She invited them back to the tram.

  The woman sitting next to her spoke first. “Where do they get the actual avatars?”

  “They have them on Meno,” she replied.

  “So you pick the avatar you want before you go?” asked another.

  “Yes.” Margi hoped she told the truth. The video indicated as much, she surmised. She had no script for that portion of the program.

  “It’s not an actual person?” the woman countered.

  “It’s an actual person. An avatar,” Margi responded.

  “Oh.” The woman looked confused. “They’re not participants?”

  Margi locked her gaze on the woman while mentally processing the question. She remembered Tolman’s tour of Kalgare and his warning words of how a person is never the person he assumes. Her heart beat faster.

  “What happens if you die on Meno?” the man next to her asked.

  Margi shifted her attention to him. “You come back to Danu.” She knew that answer from Rivner’s diary logs. “And here we are.” She pointed to a room, thankful to turn their attention to her scripted tour. She, however, was wholeheartedly off script in her thoughts.

  They filed one by one into the room. Again, holograms of scientists were busy at work with test tubes and machines.

  “Our scientists isolate your Path before you go to Meno. Your Path is your energy that links to who you are. The assumption code maps to your Path, allowing us to track your progress and the length of your stay on Meno.”

  She had read the script beforehand but actually saying it made her hot with hate. She walked into another section of the room. “When you are ready to return to Danu, you can return to your original body or to a clone we will prepare to the age of your specifications.”

  She touched a graphic on the console and a hologram identical to each person appeared before them. “Do you see the meter to the right side of your image?”

  Some nodded.

  “Good. Raise and lower it,” she said. She watched the others manipulate their images’ ages.

  Margi demonstrated with her own image and saw it reverse in age, bringing her memories from Earth. The breakout report that launched her career, her first car, an award at school, playing on the monkey bars. She quickly raised the bar to reflect her current age. She swallowed hard and returned her attention to the others.

  They each raised and lowered the bar.

  “There I am,” one said to a family member. “That’s when I got a beard. I liked that.”

  “You can return to the age of your choosing, and now with our advancements in technology, we can modify one undesirable physical feature of your choosing,” she said, disguising her disappointment that threatened to encroach on the demonstration.

  She held the script near the console and touched a button it referenced. One by one, the images disappeared.

  “Never fear, DanuVitro now has your desired age logged when you wish to proceed.”

  “Come.” She ushered them back to the client waiting room.

  The man who had passed out brochures flanked Margi once inside. She read his nametag and addressed the group.

  “I hope I have answered all of your questions. Our helpful team will now capture your Path and sign you up for your Great Adventure.” She shook their hands, waved, and exited the room.

  She was satisfied with her performance and looked forward to what awaited her.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Margi retreated back to the mobile sculpture where a café anchored the many shop venues. She sat with her food and relished the break. The map was still gripped in her hand. She unfolded it to plot every station she had visited thu
s far, the public ones for the client group, the areas she had found herself in recovery from Meno, and the place that Ferli had taken her to greet the participants. Participants. The tour didn’t cover that portion. Then again, the clients, as the room name suggested, might want the details of where the hired help originated. She feared they were hired help in unfathomable circumstances.

  One section of the map was grayed out and labeled Operations. It was near where Ferli had taken her to greet the participants. Made sense. She suddenly remembered that Loz had requested her presence for another follow-up examination. The exam would be next to the operations area. She set out to meet him.

  She rose to the higher levels in a secured lift. On the floor she selected, corridors narrowed with each doorway she passed through, indicating more intimate spaces, not even meant for the general staff. Soon, she came upon a room number she recognized in her notes. A man sat in the corner.

  “I hope I didn’t keep you waiting,” she said.

  “You’re fine.”

  Margi had grown accustomed to looking for nametags by this time. He had none. This was not Loz. “Your name?” she asked and realized that he’d most likely expect her to know.

  “Stavon’s staff,” he replied. “Thank you for coming.”

  The man held up a wand device and paused. “I should explain. I asked you here for a follow-up upon your Great Adventure.”

  “I already had one,” she countered.

  “Yes. I was there.”

  Her memory of the day came into focus. He had given her first exam with Loz and Stavon present. She remembered a nametag that he did not currently have. She couldn’t recall the name on it.

  “I am going to scan your body with this wand. Can you stand here for me?” He led her to a cushioned pad.

  “What are you looking for?” she asked as she took off her shoes.

  “This wand reads energy wave signatures for any anomalies that may occur upon your return.”

  “Did something happen?”

  “Not that I’m aware of.” He began scanning her body with the wand.

  An image projected from a nearby machine. Various shades of orange, red, green, and blue took shape. One color flashed bright red as he scanned an area of her head.

  Margi stiffened.

  “Nothing to worry about. Your brain is active. We like that around here.” He smiled and glanced at her with a glint of congeniality.

  She couldn’t resist smiling back at him.

  “Looks good.” He replaced the wand in its holder and took a small disc from the machine before powering down the contraption. She saw him slip the object inside his pocket before turning to face her.

  “How do you feel?”

  “My feet hurt,” she quipped, cognizant of the evaluation that was about to take place.

  “Do you have any questions you’d like me to answer for you?”

  She felt an invitation to ask the un-askable. She could no more ask this man a question than she could Stavon himself. She collected her senses.

  “Is that why you brought me here?” She gave him a taste of what a New York reporter was made of.

  “This session is for your benefit,” he offered.

  She sat silent for a moment, scanning his gaze for some intention. She saw the earnestness in him. She wanted to ask him, truly she did, but a reporter knew to only ask questions whose answers she already knew in a moment like this. All other efforts resided in intel.

  “I thank you, then. And Stavon thanks you for taking care of me,” she replied. “Is there anything else you want from me?”

  “Not today. I am here if you should need me.”

  Again, his words were cryptic, and could hide the biggest trap that had been laid for her yet.

  “Thank you, again.” She nodded and left the room.

  She walked quickly down the hallway and glanced into another passage leading deeper into the operations area. No one headed in that direction, which was suspicious to her. She peered into a viewer that extended from a console mounted next to it. A red beam flashed before her eyes. The door opened beside her.

  Once inside, she briskly paced the length of the corridor, trying to tiptoe in her high heels. She saw nothing but another door, that wouldn’t open. The space inside was apparently restricted. Again, she peered into the console viewer to scan her eye’s iris and the door opened.

  The hallway was aglow with backlit marble, resembling the clients’ corridor in the propaganda video. Technicians and other scientists went about their business. She ventured into one alcove that opened to a larger room. The space looked empty. Then, the hum of motorized mechanisms sounded from high above. Slabs coasted down from the ceiling.

  A technician entered the room. He kindly acknowledged her presence before he began to inspect the slabs. As she was about to slip out, a man entered dressed in science lab garb.

  “Rivner. We weren’t expecting you,” he said.

  She glanced at his nametag. “Varl. Yes, I do like to look in on operations from time to time.”

  “Come this way,” he offered.

  Margi and the scientist stood at the edge of the room and out of the way of the technician. The man leaned to her and spoke softly. “The process we’re doing today pertains to our enhancement services since they’re using the cloning service. All the prep work has already been done.” He stood taller. “You have never returned as a clone have you?”

  “No, I’m good with what I have,” she replied, remembering Stavon chiding her, or Rivner rather, for always returning to her original body.

  A door on the other side of the room opened. Another technician entered, followed by two other people donned in gold-colored uniforms. One was an older woman; another man shuffled into the room.

  The technicians directed them to lie on a slab. The woman climbed atop hers without delay. The man approached his with a limp.

  The technicians relayed data between them as they checked off procedural items that displayed into the space.

  Another woman slowly walked into the room. Her posture was notably withdrawn as she went to the only slab not already taken.

  “That one is so young.” She motioned her head to the woman taking her position atop a slab, sitting on it as it buoyed with the others. Her face was ashen, and dark circles shadowed her eyes.

  “Her market is our hopeful future for DanuVitro. She has a heart defect. Giving her a Great Adventure is the only way we can separate her from her body through the time stream and return her to a clone. Thankfully, Holan has now perfected the clone enhancements. She will be defect free and a testament to DanuVitro’s ability to manage wellbeing.” Varl’s jaw clenched. “We need him to finish his participant market sourcing,” he added.

  Margi’s stomach forced acid into her throat.

  A technician came to the young woman. “Your name?”

  “Pessa,” she said.

  The technician scanned a wand across her wristband, then looked at his tablet. He recited her corresponding data to the other technician. “Pessa. Assumption Code: 6Y8G-072. Participant: Nad, Number 8394.”

  “Nad?” Pessa asked. “He has a name?”

  The technician took hold of a device and swiped his thumb across the base. Her code’s characters lit at the side. He turned to her. “Yes” and walked off.

  The scientist turned to Margi. “Nerves. She’s young. It’s best to not coddle them. Quick is best. She’ll have a Great Adventure and return renewed.”

  Margi swallowed hard, in part to ease the acid back down her esophagus. “No participant code.”

  He laughed. “Why would there be? Our technicians can’t enter the time stream with the participants to monitor it.” He sobered. “Unless you know something I don’t.”

  “Never,” she joked to mask her own confusion and denial.

  “Has Holan found a way to harvest their Paths too?”

  “Not yet,” she replied with what she hoped was the correct answer and subdued her breathing.


  A voice carried over a communicator. “Participants aboard shuttle, confirmed.”

  Margi understood the word shuttle. Participants were in fact being taken to Meno as she’d surmised all along.

  Another technician looked to the clients. “You may lie back now. Your Great Adventure is moments away.”

  The clients lay down on the slabs. As they did, the technician lowered a net of wires over each of their heads, and the devices hovered above. Margi watched as the clients closed their eyes and faded into what looked like a deep sleep.

  The voice gave a countdown. “Launch zero.” A pinging noise rang from the communicator as an image of a spherical space shuttle displayed in the air. The viewer telescoped onto the blur of sky. She stepped forward, compelled by a foreboding curiosity.

  The devices over the clients’ heads pulsed a myriad of colors through the wires.

  “Reaching Path point,” the voice said before counting down again.

  On the count of zero the shuttle vanished.

  Each of the devices began to glow. A dome of light formed atop of what looked to be encased in a barrier shield.

  “Confirm Path points,” the technician said.

  “Confirming,” the voice said. A moment passed and the voice rattled off each of their names and numbers. Nad, Number 8394, Path point confirmed was uttered.

  The display grew dark. The technicians went over to the first client, examined the body and aura of light, and advanced to the next one.

  Margi forced her legs to carry her to the clients as they rested on their slabs.

  “Of course, we keep them suspended until their clones are ready.

  Margi recalled Rivner’s Great Adventure as Baq and how her clone was not yet ready before her untimely return to Danu. She approached one of the auras and the device that supported it. She suddenly thought of how her body on Earth was without an aura to keep it safe and worked to stifle her panic. Possibly the orb was such a device. She’d never considered herself a person who could murder another and yet if she could kill Dr. Howard, she would and vowed to do so at that moment.

  She peered down at the body and realized that it was Pessa, the girl with an imperfect heart. She lay there peacefully, somewhere between living and dead, with her spirit trapped in the aura hovering above her body, yet living through an avatar on Meno.