Anomaly

by Krista McGee

  “A computer program?”

  “Dr. Loudin spends a lot of time in his laboratory.” Berk shakes his head. “A lot of time. He doesn’t really say much about what he is doing. I’ve just heard bits of conversation from some of the younger Scientists like me. He doesn’t allow anyone in to see what he is doing. But we hear hints every now and then, when he gets stuck on something and needs to ask advice from one of the other Scientists. When I was working with the cube, I heard Dr. Williams mention that Loudin was close to completing his project.”

  “But it can’t be this.” I can barely speak. “You have to be mistaken. You said yourself you only heard hints of it. You’ve never seen it, right? Never been in his laboratory?”

  “No, but Dr. Williams confirmed what I’ve heard—that Dr. Loudin is working on a complex simulation, one that would engage the whole mind. It would transport the person so she wouldn’t even know she was in a simulation.”

  “No.” Progress couldn’t be just a computer program. I would know. I would be able to tell.

  “I’m so sorry, Thalli.” Berk finally looks at me. I look away. The pain in his eyes is too much. I cannot believe what he is saying. I won’t believe it.

  “Isn’t it possible that Dr. Loudin knows about the community aboveground and just doesn’t want to tell you? Maybe he is making you think he is creating this so when people like me come back from it, you’ll just think it isn’t real.”

  “Why would he do that?”

  “Why would he create a virtual reality?” I argue. “What is the point of going to all that work?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Isn’t it possible that the air above isn’t toxic?” I twist my hands in my lap. “Isn’t there a chance that people could survive aboveground?”

  Berk closes his eyes. “That’s what the Scientists are discussing now.”

  “So it is possible?”

  “We don’t know, Thalli.” Berk’s voice is loud. I know he isn’t upset with me, but he is upset. “That’s why they are testing. To see if the air is less toxic. But no one even knows that yet. And even if it is less toxic, people can’t live there right now. We are just hoping we can use more of the atmosphere from there quicker.”

  “Why?”

  “We are running out of some of the necessary ingredients to allow for continued growth here. If something isn’t done soon, we will have to eliminate people.”

  “Eliminate?”

  “There isn’t enough oxygen to sustain all of us.” Berk frowns. “Not unless the Scientists can uncover a new formula using what we already have.”

  “So why would Dr. Loudin be working on this mind experimentation when that is going on?”

  “He started it years ago. It was originally intended as a learning module. Rather than reading about history, you experience it. Scientific testing could be completed without using up resources here. It is brilliant.”

  “But Progress doesn’t do any of that. In fact, they live without adhering to many of the rules here. They don’t even always agree with the Scientists.”

  “That is strange.”

  “Maybe it’s real, Berk.” Hope begins to surface. “Why would Dr. Loudin go to all the trouble to create a place like that, when it has no value? Why, especially if he is just going to annihilate me, would he waste his time on it?”

  “I don’t know. He has to test on someone.”

  “But if you are right, those tests would be academic.” I am growing more confident.

  Berk stands. “Then let’s conduct an experiment on our own.”

  “What kind of experiment?”

  “Play along with the Assistants, the Scientists, everyone. Try to return to Progress.”

  “All right.”

  “When you’re there, take something with you.” Berk is speaking quietly. “Something small. Put it in your pocket.”

  “But I always change clothes before returning—so no one sees the dirt.”

  Berk looks at me. I know what he is thinking. But I refuse to believe Progress isn’t real. I will prove it to him.

  “Keep it in your hand, then. Or on you. Maybe you can take something that will stick to your skin.”

  “All right.”

  “But be subtle about it,” Berk says. “If they are watching and know what you are doing, this won’t work.”

  I nod.

  “If it is there when you are back in your room, then we’ll know it’s real.”

  The wall screen flickers to life and Berk rushes me out the door. He points to my medical chamber and disappears down the hallway. I lie down and close my eyes. But I cannot sleep. I keep replaying our conversation, hoping that Berk is wrong. That Progress is real. That I am being prepared for a long life aboveground.

  Because the alternative is too horrible to even consider.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  You haven’t eaten.” The Assistant is back in my room. I can’t tell her that I don’t want to eat because my world has just been turned upside down. “You must finish this to be released.”

  I sit up. I will eat.

  I swallow the bread and fruit, barely tasting it. I keep thinking about Progress. And Berk and Stone. I am so confused. It is a strange feeling. But I am also feeling something else. Something new. I can’t define it. Knowing I am the only one who can uncover whether or not Progress is real is frightening and exciting at the same time. I will do this. I will bring something back, and I will prove that Progress is not a cerebral simulation concocted by Dr. Loudin. And then . . . what?

  Will I finish my testing, as Dr. Loudin said, and live above? Leave Berk?

  But what if Berk is right, that Progress isn’t real? That I am going to be annihilated?

  I close my eyes and lean back on my pillow. Life was much easier when my biggest difficulty was trying to complete a lesson on my learning pad.

  “Time to go.” The Assistant comes. Not the one who has been in my medical chamber, but the one who comes to take me to the isolation chamber. I try not to smile. I am going to Progress.

  Same hallway, same door, same pink room, same white chair. And then . . .

  “Stone?” I can’t believe he has come down here. “I thought you never came below.”

  Stone reaches me in three huge steps, kneels by my chair, and cups my face with his hands. “I couldn’t wait to see you. I was so afraid you had changed your mind and weren’t coming back.”

  I want to tell him about my conversations with John and Berk. But I can’t. I don’t want Stone to know about Berk. Not yet. And if there is the possibility that he isn’t real, that he is just a technical construct, then everything I tell him goes straight to Dr. Loudin. I don’t want to take that chance.

  “Thalli?”

  I shake myself from my thoughts. “I’m sorry. It is good to see you.”

  Stone stands. “Something has changed.”

  “No.” My heart beats faster. I must be careful not to be so obvious. “I have just been a little sick.”

  Stone kneels again, his eyes searching mine. “Are you all right?”

  I place my hand on his face. I feel the stubble on his cheek, see imperfections on his nose. He has to be real. “I am fine now. Don’t you ever get sick up there?”

  “Of course. But I didn’t think that was allowed down here.”

  I think of Rhen. “It isn’t, normally. Not in the pods. And I wasn’t ill, just feeling a little strange.”

  “Too much popcorn?” Stone laughs and I know the subject has been successfully navigated.

  “Perhaps.” I stand and Stone walks behind me, out the door and into the hall. “I don’t feel much like sliding today. Could we just go out the way we come in?”

  Stone’s face registers something like shock. “But you love sliding.”

  “I know, but I just don’t feel like it right now.”

  “Oh, all right.” Stone steps in front of me. “It’s this way.”

  We go down two levels and walk through the w
ashing room, where my clothes for the return are laid out.

  “Who does this?” I point to the clothes.

  “What?” Stone is opening the door that leads outside.

  “Who puts clothes out for me?”

  “My mother.”

  “Oh,” I say. “Why?”

  “That is her job.” Stone smiles. “One of them, anyway.”

  “And what are her other jobs?” I want to know more about life here, life with mothers and fathers and children.

  “Why don’t I take you to see her and you can find out for yourself?”

  We walk into the town, past Stone’s pod to a large building. It has many rooms. April is in one of the last rooms. She is sitting at a machine. It looks somewhat familiar.

  “This is the textile department.” Stone smiles and April looks up from the machine.

  I am amazed again at how similar April and Stone look. The same dark hair and dark eyes. Their olive skin isn’t identical, but it is obvious they are related. The idea of it still seems so primitive. Strange.

  “You make clothes.” I realize the machine is an older version of what we have back in the pods. Bhor is responsible for making our uniforms. But those are white, plain. April is making colorful clothes. She is combining different fabrics. I look around the room and see her creations hanging on racks. What would Bhor think of this? Would he enjoy working with all of these colors? Would his brown eyes light up at all of this fabric? Longing for my friends at Pod C clogs my throat.

  “What is this?” I need to think about something else. I touch what looks like a long shirt that gets fuller at the bottom. The top part is made of a bright-green fabric. It reminds me of Berk’s eyes. The bottom has several fabrics, with many different colors in each. It is lovely.

  “This is a dress,” April says. “Would you like to try it on?”

  I look at Stone.

  “Go ahead.” He takes the dress down and walks me to a small room where I can change.

  I slip the dress over my head. It doesn’t feel like the material we have below. It is coarser. And when it is finally on, it comes only to my knees. I have never walked out in public without wearing pants. I am a little embarrassed to be doing so now.

  “Is everything all right?” April calls out.

  “Yes.” I am still frozen in place.

  “Then come out.” Stone laughs. “I want to see it.”

  I open the door and step out, the air feeling strange against my bare legs.

  April claps and pulls me into a hug. “You look beautiful. Come see.”

  She leads me to a tall mirror mounted on the wall. She removes the elastic from my hair and it falls to my shoulders, thick and wavy. I see so much more of myself than I am used to seeing. I cannot stop looking.

  “You are a wonderful Clothing Specialist,” I say to April.

  “We call her a Seamstress.”

  “Seamstress.” I like that word. It sounds more worthy of a piece of clothing like this. “I should change.”

  “No.” April fluffs my hair. “It’s yours.”

  I look down. “I can keep it?”

  “Certainly you may.” April’s smile is so much like Stone’s, kind and open. “Of course, they won’t allow you to wear it below. But I will have it cleaned and ready for you every time you come to Progress.”

  “And when you live here”—Stone puts an arm around me—“you can have a whole room full of dresses. Right, Mother?”

  I suddenly remember my task today. In the joy of trying on the dress and being with Stone and April, I had forgotten that they might not be real, that I need to discover whether or not this place actually exists. Watching them interact, seeing them, smelling the fabrics in this room, I am sure they are real. I just have to prove that to Berk.

  “What would you like to do today, Thalli?”

  “I want to know more about Progress. Can I see what’s in the other rooms? What the other jobs are?”

  Stone smiles. “That sounds like the request of someone who is thinking of joining our community.”

  Stone doesn’t give me time to respond. He just takes my hand and leads me into Progress.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  And this is the technology center.” We have visited every room in the large building. Stone pushes the door open. “My father works here.”

  I see a large man, larger than any I’ve ever seen, sitting behind a huge machine. He is wearing thick, protective glasses and using an instrument that makes a loud, squealing noise.

  “This must be Thalli.” Stone’s father stands, and I have to stop myself from gasping at his height. He is a full head taller than Stone, who is a head taller than I. “I am Miller.”

  His hand swallows mine. He is darker than Stone but has his dark eyes. Miller, however, has no hair at all. He is older than April, and his eyes wrinkle at the sides in a way that reminds me of John. “I hear you enjoyed my movie theater.”

  “Your theater?” Stone lifts an eyebrow and his father laughs—a deep, loud laugh. The sound—and his size—remind me of a tuba.

  “All right, our theater.” Miller puts a large hand on the machine below him. “And I am close to getting this to work—it is another film. It was damaged pretty badly, but I was able to bring it back to life.”

  I think of the film I saw with Stone. My cheeks heat at the memory.

  “My father’s main job is to keep Progress running. He and his team keep the electricity going and the machines working properly. But films are his love. He has missed many meals working on this.” Stone motions toward the equipment.

  Miller pats his ample stomach. “I haven’t missed that many meals.”

  These two are so comfortable with each other. So different from the way we interact with our Monitors. They enjoy being together. They appreciate each other. They love each other. This is what John was talking about. He had this with his wife and children. With his son. Is that why Dr. Turner was not able to send him to annihilation?

  “We’ll let you get back to work.” Stone grabs my hand. “I have one more place I want to show Thalli.”

  I wave good-bye and try to keep up with Stone’s long strides. “Where are we going?”

  “Be patient.” He smiles at me and keeps moving. We have left the town and are walking toward what appears to be a greenhouse. I don’t want to disappoint him by telling him I have seen this before. Each pod has its own greenhouse. But he isn’t walking there.

  “So your . . . parents?” I ask the question that has been burning in my mind. “How did they choose to—” I don’t even know how to phrase this question. It is so strange, so uncomfortable.

  Stone stops and looks at me, his eyes dancing. He sits on the earth and motions for me to join him. “My parents were some of the first to be allowed up here. The Scientists allowed forty people from below to try to begin this new city. They were about our age when they arrived.”

  “Why did I never hear of this?”

  “Only those who were chosen were told.”

  “But surely not everyone wanted to go.”

  Stone shrugs. “The State can be very persuasive.”

  They weren’t really given a choice. Of course. That is the way of the State. “So how did your parents survive?”

  “Each of the members chosen had training that would help up here.” Stone stretches out his legs. “And they went through a few months of training below. It was hard the first few years, but the Scientists helped as much as they could. And our founders were strong and resourceful.”

  “I can see that.” Knowing this place was made from so little, in such a relatively short time, is amazing.

  “But back to my parents.” Stone smiles. “They knew each other, of course. And they talked. But there weren’t really any feelings yet.”

  “They were designed without feelings?” I think of my malformation. “But that changed? Did the Scientists adjust their makeups?”

  Stone laughs and I marvel again at his smile. So
open. So relaxed. He stands, helps me up, and we walk again. “No. Something about being out here, in this air, changes everyone. It’s like a child who goes from a liquid diet to a solid. They learn to chew and to swallow. People here learn to feel and to think. It is encouraged.”

  I don’t want to tell Stone I don’t know anything about children. But he is lost in the story and doesn’t seem to notice my ignorance. I am grateful for that. He would never finish his story if I asked every question that came into my mind.

  “A few other couples were joining together and beginning to have children.”

  “They were married, right?” I am happy to know at least one of these words.

  “Married?” Stone seems confused.

  “They had a wedding? April walked down the aisle in a white dress?”

  Now it is Stone’s turn to need an explanation. I tell him what John told me, about weddings and love and commitment.

  “No, we don’t have that here.” Stone blinks a couple times. “But it sounds nice. Some couples here stay together awhile—like my parents. Others go on to pair with someone else.”

  “Oh.” Was John odd, even among the anomalies?

  “Anyway, my parents found that they were attracted to each other, so they chose to be together. I was born a few years later.”

  “The sky is getting darker.” I have been so busy listening to his story that I didn’t notice. I realize I spend little time noticing the sky at all here in Progress. I rarely look up. There’s no need to below, except on our moon-viewing days. And usually when I am here the sky is so bright, I don’t want to look up. “It is beautiful.”

  I have to stop. The sky is blue and pink, and I see the moon, although it is almost translucent. I wish I had my violin with me. I would like to play this beauty. I wish I could capture it on my learning pad and look at it again. But it wouldn’t be the same. My little rectangle on the pad couldn’t truly display the grandeur. I can look in all directions and see the sky. Part of it is blocked by mountains, but it is never completely blocked. This is so much more amazing than seeing the moon through the panel.