Alexia, listen to me, Aurora whispered firmly. Calm down. You have to calm down.
Alexia hyperventilated and slid down to hold her knees against her chest.
That could have been me, she whispered between sobs, wiping off the tears that just wouldn’t stop flowing under her blue framed glasses. It could have been me, she repeated.
But it wasn’t. Aurora whispered back. You were strong and he was weak. Your mind prevailed and his did not.
The man on the bed seemed to be badly malnourished. His face and hands were dry and skeletal, somehow diminishing the faint speck of humanity that flashed in his eyes. Distressed, he pulled on the restraints and his moans grew louder, attracting the attention of a guard who stood outside. Alexia buried her face in her arms to drown the sobbing.
“Hey shut up in there,” the guard shouted, banging on the door, riling up the man in the bed even further. Standing outside, he slid open the small window built into it then gagged and stepped away.
“What’s going on?” a second guard asked.
“This one shit himself.”
“Well, the nurses won’t be here for hours,” the newcomer remarked.
“So what, you want to go in there and clean up the mess?”
“Hell, no. The poor bastard is so far off maybe he doesn’t even know where he is. Just let him be, the nurses will wash him tomorrow.”
Alexia heard the small window door slide back in place then the two guards stepped away murmuring to themselves. The man on the bed had calmed down and quietly lay there looking at Alexia in the eyes. She wiped her tears then covered her mouth and nose with one hand as she stood up then approached him. It was still unclear for how long the Program had been running before she was brought in. As far as she knew, this person could have been in that cell for at least fourteen years. She then kneeled on the floor so he wouldn’t have to exert himself to keep eye contact. Gently, she grabbed his hand and held it in hers. The man appeared to mutter voiceless words then she reached for his face and held his cheek. His eyes were still locked with hers and in them, she saw fear and confusion and a certain innocent, childlike quality as if frozen in time on the day the Program eviscerated the mind behind them. Tears rolled down his cheek then Alexia’s hand. The man had calmed down and was breathing calmly. After a few minutes, he slowly closed his eyes and fell asleep while she still held him.
Ethan did this. To me and Maya and everyone else unlucky enough to cross his path, she whispered.
I’m sorry it had to come to this for you to finally see it, Aurora remarked.
Carefully, Alexia grabbed a section of dry bedding and covered him then she stood back and sat on the floor, observing the anonymous man who had become an unfortunate byproduct of the Controller Program. And he was only one of them. The holding facility contained dozens if not hundreds of cells.
But why? What can possibly be achieved by ruining so many lives? What good could outweigh this monstrous evil?
There’s no time to ponder on the motives of madmen. We have to keep moving.
Alexia nodded then looked up. Without noticing, Aurora had shut down the radar overlay if only to spare her the strain while she hid in place. Okay I’m ready, she whispered then once more the wave of pain invaded her temples. That time, however, she stopped herself from flinching and accepted it. It was nothing compared to what the people being kept in that facility had gone through. Then again, the faint blue lines all around her formed and she set her destination for the elevator, just out the door and around the last corner bend. There were no motion signatures as if the guards had left the vicinity. Giving the man on the bed one last glance, she opened the door, left the cell and locked it back behind her. A short walk later, she was standing in front of the elevator. Its doors opened and she stepped in the box and after a short ride up, out to freedom.
It was still dark on the surface but the constant reddish twilight of the barrier’s glow was good enough to light up her view out of the abandoned husk of a building that hid the entrance to her former prison in plain sight. The radar overlay was gone which unnerved her, knowing that a Troika guard could be just around the corner.
I take it there’s no motion sensors out here? Alexia asked in her mind.
Correct. Get behind the wall for now, I’m trying to reach Joel.
Alexia obliged and strode away from the elevator door towards the other side of the ruined lobby. Once there, she peeked out of the building from one of the frames that had once housed a glass window. There was no one there. The PPCs from the recon convoy where gone and it was too early for farmers to be around. The streets were deserted as far as the eye could see.
Wait. He’s here, Aurora added.
Immediately after, Joel stepped through the door frame and looked towards her. He was wearing the auglens and apparently, still the same clothes from the day before. Under the dim glow of the barrier, he looked at her and smiled in relief. Without muttering a word, she met him there and hugged him tightly. Joel took off the device then returned the hug in silence. After a few seconds, she felt his arms loosening up as if preparing to break the hug but she was not ready to let go. Too much had happened in the last few days. Alexia’s world had changed in ways she had never expected. Maybe it was the threat of her own mortality or having seen what could have been, had her mind not been able to put up with the Program. At that moment she refused to let go and so he embraced her still. Then after a while, they separated. When she looked up, their eyes met again. Joel touched her face gently then pulled her close and she let him, as her heart raced and her mind blanked.
Under the empty door frame of the abandoned hotel lobby and exposed to be found by those who were hunting them down, for a moment forgetting all pain, fear and uncertainty, they kissed.
Alexia’s body was still trembling when she opened her eyes and saw him smiling at her.
“I’m glad you’re safe,” he said softly, holding her waist with one hand and her check with the other.
Then she snapped out of her trance and slightly pushed him away to let go as she took a step back into the shadows and stood there, processing the fact she had just received her first kiss.
Joel looked at her, disconcerted. “I’m sorry. I just couldn’t help myself,” he said nervously.
“Just get back here, there might be patrols,” she said, feeling her voice shiver with the same intensity the rest of her body was. He nodded and stepped into the shadows then put on the auglens. “Don’t apologize, you simply took me by surprise,” she added, smiling awkwardly.
“I surprised myself too, to be honest,” he said, scratching the back of his neck and looking down, perhaps embarrassed.
“Are you two done?” Aurora interjected as she rendered her actor next to them, dispelling the awkwardness of the moment, which was a relief for Alexia. “Joel, repeat the situation so Alexia is aware of where we stand,” she added.
“Right,” he said, apparently relieved too. “As we discussed over auglens comms, I’m going to bring you to the reactor chamber, Ethan Sommers is waiting there to-“
“What? No!” Alexia interrupted.
“Look, I know you don’t trust him and neither do I,” Joel continued. “But his ass is on the line too and he claims to know a way to clear your name.”
“How does he intend to do that?” Aurora asked.
“He says you have evidence that would prove you did not conspire with the rogue Controller. All we need is to have Alexia fast-converge with the Citadel mainframe to offload it.”
“What evidence?” Alexia asked.
“Convergence logs most likely,” Aurora replied. “But those could be easily transferred over wireless connection. No need for fast convergence.”
“He’s lying,” Alexia said as she shook her head. “Again.”
“Obviously,” Aurora said.
“I don’t like this any more than you do,” Joel added. “But I don’t think we have any other choice. If the Troika gets to you first, then i
t’ll be all over.”
Alexia sighed in frustration then said “okay fine but I can’t help feeling he’s toying with us. How are we supposed to get there anyway?”
“I have an idea,” Joel said. “On my way here, I saw security guards posted on all pathways to the alleys I went through. Elevators, ladders, it’s all being guarded. Probably even maintenance hatches. But, I’m sure we can go down through the ration delivery system.”
“Clever,” Aurora said.
“Wait a minute. What do you mean? What ration system?” Alexia interjected.
“Residential sublevels receive ration knapsacks that are prepared at distribution centers right here on the surface,” Aurora explained. “There are 12 distribution centers arranged in a clockwise manner, each one of them somewhat equidistant from the center of the Citadel. Under them, pipes run to residential junctions directly below.”
“That’s right,” Joel added. “And I know for a fact, the pipes are big enough to fit a person. They have to be, otherwise maintenance personnel wouldn’t be able to get in there when repairs are needed. We’ll slide down eight sublevels and from there it’s a short walk to the engineering sector and an elevator ride to the reactor chamber.”
“Eight sublevels?” Alexia asked, as she pictured the fall. “That’s quite the ride.”
“It should be safe,” Joel, explained. “The pipes are built in a way that they coil near the destination junction to slow down deliveries so the rations don’t get damaged.”
“I guess we don’t have a choice,” Alexia said with resignation. “Let’s just get it over with.”
“There’s a small problem though,” Joel said. “We need to get to distribution center 6 which is on the other side of the Citadel and they might have guards posted every few blocks.
“The nearest distribution center is number two,” Aurora said. “Why not just use that one then walk from junction one to six once we’re underground?”
“I figure it would be easier to evade guards up here on the surface,” Joel replied. “Once we descend to sublevel eight, we can only move through tight connection tunnels. We’d be trapped if they spot us.”
“That’s alright, I know what we can do,” Alexia said. “It’s almost six in the morning. In an hour or so, an army of farmers is going to emerge from the alleys. We just need to find farmer uniforms and we’ll blend right in with the crowd.”
“That’s actually not a terrible idea,” Aurora remarked.
“You don’t have to sound all surprised,” Alexia countered, annoyed.
“Okay, let’s get going,” Joel interrupted. “Maybe there’s spare uniforms right there,” he added, signaling with his head at the aeroponic farm directly across the street. Carefully, he peeked out of the darkness to look for patrols then he gave her a thumbs up and grabbed her hand. “Coast is clear, let’s go,” he stepped out of the abandoned building and Alexia followed as she felt once again comforted by that simple touch. They crossed the street and made for the front doors of the greenhouse. They turned out to be unlocked and they stepped right in. Inside, there was a small decontamination area they skipped through. After that, the inner structure contained several multilevel racks that ran from one wall to the other. Each level in the racks contained plants with their roots exposed, resting in plastic containers that allowed them to breathe. The air was thick with the oily smell of vegetable matter and Alexia noticed it coated her tongue if she breathed in with her mouth so she covered her face with a sleeve. Joel noticed and did the same. The layout of the aeroponic farm suggested each one of the tents was a standalone food source unit. As they walked the length of the racks, they saw seed containers, plants at various stages of growth then near the end, fully grown legumes, fruits and vegetables. Beyond the racks, there was a small warehouse where piles of empty knapsacks were going to be filled with rations for the day then eventually brought to the distribution center.
“Amazing,” Alexia pointed out.
“I managed logistics in such a way that every farm was an independent unit,” Aurora explained. “Several could stop operating and the impact to overall food production would be negligible.”
Once they reached the other side of the structure, they found another decontamination chamber. Beyond it, there was a small break room with tables, chairs and several prepackaged soy based meals in containers on the side. Next to them, there were restrooms and a small administration office.
“Great!” Joel exclaimed and Alexia followed him to a changing room where several uniforms hung against the walls. There was a communal bench in the middle that ran the length of the room and wooden boxes on the sides that seemed to be used for workers to store their possessions. They were not official uniforms but rather, surplus soft clothing was used in their manufacture so they all had the characteristic patchwork chaos of patterns and colors.
“You go first,” Alexia said. “I’ll wait in the break room.”
Joel nodded and stepped inside as she turned around and went back to the break room. Once there, she sat in a chair next to the table and rested her elbows on it. As she waited, Alexia recalled the encounter with Joel and how her body had reacted in ways that were new to her.
You just met him, Aurora whispered in her mind all of a sudden, startling her.
I told you not to read my mind, Alexia echoed back.
As I said, we are connected. I can’t help it-
These thoughts are private, Alexia interrupted, embarrassed. Find a way.
Your mind is in disarray which keeps you from thinking straight. You’re vulnerable right now-
No, you’re just jealous you’ll never get to feel what I felt, she whispered. Aurora didn’t have a rebuttal and simply remained silent. Realizing it had been a low blow, Alexia sighed and rested her forehead on her arms. I’m sorry.
I understand, Aurora’s voice echoed. But know you must focus on your survival right now.
Who knows what’s going to happen now, Alexia whispered, as she crossed her arms and reclined back on the chair. I can’t help it felt good. I’m scared. I’m confused. But when he held me, it all went away. Why is it so wrong that I want to feel that way again?
At that moment, Joel stepped in the break room. He had already put on the patchwork shirt and pants. “So, do I look like a farmer to you?” he asked with a smile.
Alexia looked at him dumbfounded.
“I guess I don’t?” he said, looking down at himself.
“No, it’s fine,” Alexia replied, finally snapping out of it. “To be honest I’ve only seen a few farmers from up close so I’m not even entirely sure.”
“Well, I see them all the time so I think it’s fine,” Joel said then sat down next to her. “Your turn,” he added, motioning to the changing room.
Alexia nodded then stood up and walked in. She grabbed a suit from the rack that seemed to be close to her size and put it on the bench then took off her uniform. The two-piece patchwork suit didn’t look any different from the rest, as they all appeared to be unisex. When she put it on, the sleeves and pant legs were too long so she had to roll them up. She then stood up and grabbed her dress, the white and blue lab uniform that had been her only choice of attire since she was eight. Ever since she had joined the Controller Program. The clean, neat uniform made to her exact size had been back then a confirmation that everything was going to be alright, especially after the year or she had spent in the alleys. And now taking it off and replacing it with the uncomfortable patchwork suit, she was reminded her life was never going to be the same and she shuddered with uncertainty. There was no way to dispose of the dress so she buried it in a trash drum by the door.
She then returned to the break room where Joel sat patiently. He noticed she was back and said “you may want to tie up your hair in a knot. Makes you look more like a laborer. And lose the glasses too, farmers get little to no medical care so you would stand out if you keep them on.”
Alexia nodded and put the glasses in an inside pocket
of the shirt then she tied up her hair.
“Want to grab a bite? I’m starving,” he said then stood up to grab two rations packs from the counter and put them on the table.
“Sure,” she said and sat down, grabbing a wooden spoon then eating the simple soy-based meal alongside Joel in silence. Alexia had a hard time seeing things around her without the glasses but she figured she would keep them off if only to get used to it before they left.
“Are you okay?” Joel asked all of a sudden. “You’ve been kind of quiet for a while now.”
“Huh?” she mumbled. “It’s just… I don’t know what’s going to happen. I’m scared,” she said, as she played with her food.
“Come on, it’s going to be alright. Your dad may not be very trustworthy but it’s in his best interest to clear your name. He’s a smart guy, he’ll figure something out.”
“And then what happens after that?” she asked, putting down her wooden spoon. “Even if we convince the Troika of our innocence, things can’t go back the way they were. Me and Aurora are now obsolete. Not to mention that after all we learned about the Controller Program, I don’t want to go near Director Sommers again.”
“Good,” he said. She looked at him in disbelief. “That means you can come live with me.”
Alexia chuckled as she shook her head.
“I got an apartment, it’s not a lot but we could live there comfortably,” he added. “You’re smart, you’re educated. I’m sure we could find a job for you in the engineering team.”
Gestalt Prime Page 25