by Mark Lingane
Sebastian was fascinated. “Is it always this busy?”
“I have insufficient information to answer that.” @summer was visibly upset. “Something bad is going on here.”
They entered through the doors into a large white room. The floor was covered in dirty footprints and wheel tracks from the high volume of people going through.
“Are they all dead?” Isaac said.
“Yes.”
“But there are hundreds.”
“We’re at war. Sacrifices are to be made. It’s a great honor.”
They all looked at her.
“That’s what Iris tells us,” @summer said. “Stay here.”
She pointed to a small room containing cleaning equipment. They crowded in to wait for her return. They sat in silence, trying to come to grips with what they were seeing.
A few minutes later @summer returned with a handful of white coats. She urged them to wear the coats as a disguise.
“Will this work?” Sebastian asked her.
“Transparency is complete here. If you wear a doctor’s jacket, it means you’re a doctor,” she said.
“You all trust each other that much?”
“For the Hive to work, everyone plays their part. If something breaks it’s important to see where it’s broken. Then you can fix it. We’re all vital cogs in the successful operation of the war effort with the evil east.”
“We’re not evil,” Sebastian said.
“Everyone is evil unless proven otherwise.” She glanced at each in turn. They all looked awkwardly at their feet and felt suitably embarrassed. “Leave the gun-machines here,” she said to Melanie.
Melanie nodded. It was the right thing to do.
They shuffled out of the cleaning room and walked down the long corridor.
@summer ran her finger down a listing on the wall. She stopped on one line and tapped it. The line changed into a display of the hospital and the directions on how to get to the location.
“Where are we going to find him?” Melanie asked her.
“The military wing.” @summer pointed to an area colored dark gray on the display. “Second floor.”
“Do we sneak in, or go in with guns blazing?” Sebastian asked.
“As we have no readily available guns,” Melanie said, “I think the smart option would be the first. Keep our heads down, straight in then straight out. Keep focused.”
@summer nodded in agreement.
They turned and took the stairs to the first floor. They walked together as a group down the long corridors, trying to look confident and as though they belonged. They waited by another display as @summer worked out the best route.
A nurse strutted past on a pair of white, high-heeled boots. Her tight white dress stretched with her body as she walked. A thick red line ran from the high neckline down to the hem, which ended on the high side of her thigh. Another thick red line splashed across her chest to form a large red cross. Her dark hair was pulled back tightly into a ponytail that bounced freely from side to side as she walked.
Sebastian tried not to stare at her. “That’s pretty inappropriate clothing for a respectable place. Right, Isaac? Where’s her corset? And not even a hint of a bustle. Or even an apron. Isaac?” He waved his hand in front of Isaac’s face.
“She looks very clinical,” Melanie said. “And menacing. I wouldn’t trust her with a thermometer.”
“She’s coming back,” Sebastian said. “Quiet.”
They watched her pass.
“She seems busy,” Melanie said. “You’d think they’d have more than one nurse.”
“That was a different one,” said @summer.
“Really? She looked exactly the same,” Sebastian said.
Another nurse came past, wearing the same clothes, hair and footwear.
“This is creepy, with them looking all the same,” Isaac said.
“They dress the same because it’s a uniform,” @summer said. “But they have different faces. Didn’t you notice that?”
Two more nurses came past, chatting quietly, and the boys took surreptitious looks at them, trying not to be obvious.
“They look the same to me,” Isaac said.
“Were you looking at their faces?” @summer said.
“Don’t we need to get moving?” He looked shiftily from side to side.
@summer led them through several quick turns, until they all heard a familiar but unexpected sound—the cry of a baby. They paused at one room with a display on the outside wall that showed the contents. A female cyborg was lying on a bed, looking exhausted. The nurse wrapped the baby in a gray blanket and placed it in the mother’s arms.
“It’s a girl. Congratulations,” said the nurse.
The mother was in tears. “I choose to call her @sarahSunshine.”
“I’m sorry. That name is taken. You can choose from these suggestions: @sarah12335. @sarahSunshineGamer. @sarah$ummer.”
“I like that last one. :-),” the mother replied. Her soaking face broke into a smile.
“Give me the infant. Preparations will commence.” The nurse took the small baby in her arms and walked from the ward. The mother instantly drifted into a well-earned recuperative unconsciousness.
53
THE NURSE WALKED down the corridor and they followed her out of morbid curiosity. She paused to talk with another nurse, who tickled the baby under the chin, then continued down into another ward full of sleeping infants. She placed it in a cot, typed the name into the display above the bed, turned and left. Images of the baby’s parents and happy-looking cyborgs flashed on the display.
They looked through the large window at the sea of small bodies.
“They’re normal,” Melanie said. “This place is really screwing with my head.” She turned to @summer. “You’re the enemy. You can’t be the same as us.”
“We’re nearly there,” @summer said, ignoring her.
They went up another flight of steps, and the color of the floor and walls changed from the clinical white to a dirty gray, a color more resistant to the obvious blood and dirt.
@summer looked down the corridor then pushed the others back out of sight. “There’s a guard. You can’t pass.”
Melanie looked at her. “And you can?”
“I’m from a patrol. I’m military. I’m first aid. I wear a military uniform. It is coded into me. I can pass.”
“She has a point,” Isaac said.
Melanie gave him a whack around the ear.
They hid in another cleaning closet and waited.
@summer marched down to the guard and saluted. He didn’t respond; he only blinked lazily at her. She typed her code on the access panel by the door and entered. The guard turned his attention away to the boredom of the empty corridor.
Once past the secure entrance, @summer was presented with a T-junction. The information was limited so she guessed and turned left. The corridor contained dozens of doors, each identical and with no information displayed. The subjects were secret, and @summer wondered what went on in here. There were no displays or information kiosks. She needed terminal access. She tried a random door; it opened under her touch.
There was a cyborg lying in the bed, and he was old. His face was wrinkled and a lot of his body was missing. A sheet covered him, but it was obvious that he had no legs and only one arm. His eyes were bandaged, and what she could see of his face looked badly burnt.
She looked at the display above his head. It was showing all his vital statistics, but no name. The last line simply stated: Program – Testing (failed). She winced. The testing program had a reputation within the medical support members of the military.
She extracted a keyboard from behind the display. She pulled up the main directory and searched through the scant information, quickly narrowing down the potential rooms.
The man stirred. She paused in her search. He let out a low groan that was part whimper. She had a list of all the people who had been brought in from the outside. One figu
re flashed up on the display. She hadn’t seen the face before but the vital statistics had an interesting submission in the relatives field. She made a mental note.
She continued and narrowed the search down to three potential rooms.
She quietly opened the door and looked for some clothes. There was military armor suspended from the rod in the wardrobe. She slid them off the rod and went back to the door. The cyborg stirred. He was certainly alive. He raised his arm and clicked the buzzer. A light started to flash.
@summer went over to the man and took the buzzer from his hand and turned it off. She didn’t need any nurses turning up now. She was about to leave when the man’s hand shot out and grabbed her wrist.
“No more,” he whispered.
“No more,” he repeated after she failed to respond.
“No more what?”
“Testing. Pain is bad.bad.bad.bad. No more. Please let me kill.kill.”
@summer looked up at the display above the bed. It said the man’s age was an unbelievable twenty-nine. He was a test subject for pain-enhancing serums. @summer felt sick. She hated the way they tested their weapons on themselves.
She looked over the controls for the patient and turned down the life-support setting. She hoped he would drift off into sleep then pass away, putting an end to his suffering.
She hurried off to the next potential ward looking for Gavin.
She had to cross the T-junction again. She looked cautiously toward the guard. He was still staring blankly in the other direction. She crept over and found the first room. It was completely empty. No bed. Closed windows. Nothing in the wardrobe. Nothing but a horrible smell.
The next two rooms were close together but at the rear of the wing, past the nurses. She crept along the corridor until she could see the nurses’ area. She hoped her timing was correct. A distant alarm went off and the nurses strutted off en mass to resuscitate or torture whatever they found.
She made her way past the waiting area and into the first room. It had been recently vacated. The bed was still unmade. She ran her hand over the sheets. They were cold, meaning that the departure wasn’t recent. No signs of struggle. She checked in the wardrobe. Sitting folded but jammed at the back was Gavin’s cape. She extracted it. It had been removed. She knew the nurses here would have cut it off. He had undressed willingly. The thought troubled her.
@summer looked out into the corridor. It was still clear. She made her way back toward the guard. The nurses were fussing around the patient whose life support she had turned off. She hoped he had been able to die without enduring further trials, but the nurses were unstoppable here. If they wanted you alive, you could die for an hour and they could still bring you back.
She swiped her code on the access panel and made her way past the guard. She saluted and he still ignored her.
“What took you so long?” Melanie said. “Time is of the essence.”
@summer handed over a uniform. “Whoever fits into this should wear it.”
Isaac tried the uniform but it was too big. He handed it to Sebastian. It was a better fit. It was still too big, but it was less obvious.
She handed Melanie the cape. “He was here. But he’s gone,” she said.
“Is he … dead?”
“I have insufficient information to answer.”
“I’m blowing the place up.”
“Not the hospital,” Sebastian said. “If you want to blow something up, make it the core. Let’s finish what we came to do.”
“Sebastian, I found some information you might be interested in,” @summer said. “Your mother was here until recently.”
His face lit up.
“That doesn’t mean she’s still here or even alive.”
@summer didn’t mention that Isabelle was part of the testing program.
54
DISPLAYS LINED THE wall in the small white room. A cyborg stood in front of them, watching the various views within and around the military zone. An Iris camera descended from the roof. It examined the cyborg, sweeping around his body and stopping a few inches away from his head.
A voice came from a speaker attached to the camera. “You were on patrol with @summer14Rose.”
“Affirmative.”
“You did not terminate her.”
“I did. She recovered. They’ve assisted her.”
“You may come to regret that.”
“If probability had not played out, they wouldn’t be here at the door. They’re trapped. You can do what you want with them now. The probability trees say to kill.kill them immediately.”
The Iris camera moved toward the display. The camera zoomed in on the gang, focusing on their faces. “Let them in.”
“The trees suggest against that. If they come it should be against adversity.”
“No. Our son is coming home. Allow them access. Clear the way.”
The gang continued their stop-start expedition across the Hive city until they reached the border between the recreational and military zones. The military zone was in stark contrast to the brightly colored buildings and fun-laced activities of the recreational zone. Dark and ominous, the military area was dominated by a gray unwelcoming fortress of forbidding buildings, which were surrounded by a fortified wall with great metal doors for a mouth that spat out all those too weak for military service.
@summer had found a small storage room where various exercise—or, as Sebastian and Isaac called it—torture equipment was collecting dust. There was a large glass window in the front of the room framing the main gates of the military zone.
Melanie was watching the movement of the personnel. No matter what she thought of the cyborgs, they were highly trained. They were obedient, focused, resilient, and looked damned sharp. They had two changes of the guards at exactly thirty-minute intervals. No one got in or out without going through those guards. And they checked everything.
She looked at the gang. Two of them were in semi-military uniforms, she was dragging a suitcase, and Isaac looked like a teenage dirtbag. What chance did they have?
Maybe she should run at them firing and screaming. That had always worked in the past. She looked at the ranked soldiers, so precise and defined. Perhaps not this time, she thought. She turned from the window.
“They stop and check everyone at the patrol point,” she said. “Then at the main doors. And on top of that there are random patrols. How do we get past that?”
“Shall we give up and get some food at M?” Isaac suggested.
Melanie sat down on a bench and stared at the great doors. After they failed to open magically, her gaze wandered off over the surrounding scenery.
“What’s that tower?” Isaac pointed to a long spindly tower inside the recreational zone, half twisted metal, and half angry sculpture with a vendetta against the sky.
“It’s a tesla coil. It radiates—” Melanie said.
“I know what a tesla coil does,” Isaac said. “I just haven’t seen one that big. The ones in school were small.” He held his hands about a foot and a half apart.
Melanie squinted off toward the tower. “It’s a power source. @summer, if something happened to that tower, how would the Hive get power?”
“I don’t know. It’s never happened before. I can estimate that power would be rerouted from somewhere else.”
Melanie took out the light gun she’d taken from the cyborgs and rolled it between her fingers. It reminded her of Gavin. “Isaac, knowing you, did you bring your water gun?”
“Um. Maybe.”
She held out her hand, and he reluctantly extracted the water gun from his shoulder bag and handed it over.
“I have an idea. Sebastian and @summer, can you find something for us to sneak in with, something smart? Isaac, you’re coming with me.”
Not long after @summer and Sebastian returned to the storage room, Melanie appeared carrying a staggering and vacant Isaac. His hair was standing on end and his skin looked like someone had rubbed coal all over him.
Melanie let Isaac fall to the ground. “He was hit by a huge bolt of lightning.”
“Is he all right?”
“I guess so. He’s breathing, but more importantly he’s quiet.”
“Are you sure he’s all right?”
“Nothing wrong with him. Now, what did you find?”
“This,” said @summer, proudly displaying several black cases.
“You can’t mean those small boxes. We can’t fit into those.” Melanie picked up one of the cases. They were no more than two-foot square, rough and hard to the touch, but they flexed like plywood. A silver metal band ran around the top and bottom of each one.
“Not one of them, but if we join two together we could.” @summer flipped open the first box. “I cut the bottom out of the box using the laser. Welded together, we have two boxes hollowed out, big enough for one person to curl up in.”
Melanie looked into the box. It looked deep enough. “What if they open the lid?”
“We put the base over the person, like a tray, then pile supplies on top of it. They open the lid and they see supplies.” @summer held the tray above her head to demonstrate the concept.
Melanie stood with her arms folded, staring with a blank expression. They all waited to see what she would say.
“I have to admit, it’s clever, damned clever. Let’s get going. I’m not sure how long we’ve got.” She glanced at @summer. “It’s just as well you’re not as good-looking as me.”
“Hey, you can’t say that about her,” Sebastian said. “She is good-looking.” His sentence ended in a mumble as he realized what he was saying and embarrassment claimed him.
@summer made her way toward the great steel gates at the entrance to the military zone, pushing a cart. The two cyborg guards were constantly scanning the area, their laser rifles held diagonally across their chests. @summer directed the cart toward the younger one. She had four box stacks on the cart, three containing the other gang members, and the last with all their equipment. She was finding it heavy and difficult to control. She ran the edge of it into the guard’s shin.