MEMORIAM

by Rachel Broom

“You defend her as if you are one of them. If you want to join the Pax then go ahead. No one is stopping you.”

  “No, I don’t,” Plantarch said, “but you can’t keep tracking down innocent people like dogs. It’s wrong.”

  Several clips of Violet Hansen from the past two months were found and now playing repeatedly on the main screen. Stella’s mouth opened in disgust as a clip of Violet appeared on the screen, entering the weapons vault, then coming out with her hands full, then another one of her in the laundry division, hiding them with the healer. More clips followed; one clip showed a redhead named Mary Taergle with Violet and Sam in the dome of the centicular.

  Stella licked her lips nervously. This had gone too far. Clips of Violet Hansen now covered the entire main screen. Every person in the control room had stopped working to watch the clips play out. A clip of Violet Hansen stabbing someone flashed, then another of her in the training center with Trent, her trainer. The last video that played was of Violet in Memoriam. Her recollections were reeling on the screen – an image of a little boy with brown curly hair, and another of the Head.

  How was this happening? Stella thought.

  Violet Hansen was tortured and her memories manipulated after her last attempted escape. She shouldn’t have been seeing her family. Memoriam, after all, only worsened memories. Memoriam seemed to have the opposite effect on Violet, though. She was regaining her memory.

  You could hear the silence in the control room as Stella stood, glued to the screen. She slowly turned to Plantarch, whose face was white.

  “Let it go?” She clenched her jaw. “This is rebellion. The Head warned me of people like this who would seek to destroy the Trux rebirth. Traitors like her deserve to die.” She lowered her voice so only Plantarch could hear. “Cancel her Memoriam treatments immediately.”

  “It’s too late, the order was already given.”

  Stella walked over to Plantarch and stopped inches from his face so that he could feel her steely breath on his cheeks. “You may not have to worry about your job much longer. Perhaps your age will claim you dispensable to the Head. Those wrinkles don’t go unnoticed.” She smiled sadistically and passed Plantarch, heading back over to the lift. “Send a notification to the Head. Tell him we found a rebellion.”

  ***

  Stella waited an hour until the Head arrived at the base. She ordered a platter of cold gels and trinkets in preparation for the Head’s arrival. The clips of Violet Hansen had been collected and stored on her memory disc, ready to show the Head. She had also sent for a skryer; the Head would most likely execute Violet as soon as Stella informed him that she was the source of yet another rebellion, and Stella wanted to be ready.

  Stella heard the door to her office open and stood up, smoothing out her skirt and listening to the slow clunk clunk as the Head climbed the stairs with his cane, his beady eyes meeting her anxious ones.

  “You have news for me?” he asked in a raspy voice.

  “Yes, sir.” She bowed her head slightly and gestured to the chair across from the desk. The Head stared at her, tilting his head. “You have forgotten your place already.” He pointed to the chair across from the desk and Stella swallowed, stepping out from behind her desk and sitting opposite, letting the Head take her chair.

  “Right. Sir, please, I have troubling news about that girl who attempted to escape two months ago. She’s rebelling again, this time with the entire base.”

  The Head smiled, his peeling lips stretching over his yellow teeth. “And who, may I ask, is causing such a disturbance?”

  “She is a hunter. I found proof that she was stealing weapons and meeting with others in secret.” Stella leaned over the desk and opened the memory disc. Clips of Violet Hansen began to play in front of the Head, floating above the disc. A glint of anger flickered in his eyes as he watched the clips. Who did this girl think she was?

  “How many have joined her?”

  “We have found three so far, but there could be others.” Stella selected Violet’s image on the disc and blew it up so it was enlarged. She then found Samford Pately and Vincent Garlezzo and added them. The redhead, Mary Taergle, was added as an afterthought. Another clip of Samford and Violet kissing played in the corner of the floating screen. The Head tilted his head.

  “How long ago was this?” He pointed to the clip of Samford and Violet.

  “Almost two weeks ago, sir. That’s beside the point-”

  “I was not finished talking.”

  Stella clamped her mouth shut.

  “Give me a rundown about this girl, Stella.”

  Stella paused. “I don’t know what you mean, sir.”

  “Tell me her history. Surely you have her report somewhere.”

  Stella stood up and shuffled through the images on her disc, passing documents and dragging one up to the screen where the Head could see it.

  “She came into the base six months ago.” A picture appeared on the screen. The woman seen in this image was almost a completely different person than the Violet Hansen the Head had seen a month ago. This one had full cheeks and short cropped hair that hung around her ears. “She was experimented on, wasn’t she?”

  “Y-yes, sir.” The Head pointed at the video of Samford and Violet kissing.

  “Then tell me this. How did she find her way back to her loved ones when her memories were supposed to have been tampered with? She was supposed to forget that man along with her brother that escaped.”

  Stella froze. “I d-don’t understand.”

  The Head slammed his fist on the table. “SHE REMEMBERS! HOW?”

  “Sir, Memoriam is still being developed-”

  “Yes, but I created the program. Don’t you understand? We set up scenes where she was in constant fear of being around the people she loved the most. She should be afraid of him…but she’s not…”

  He fell quiet. Stella wasn’t sure whether to continue in fear that he would blow up again. “The program is failing....” He made sure he said this quietly so Stella could not hear.

  “Sir,” Stella said. She cleared her throat. “Sir, I have a skryer on hold for her execution.”

  “No. I am done with this base. There is no need to continue executions.”

  Stella’s jaw quivered. “But sir...she’s a rebel. We have proof.”

  The Head faced Stella. It was then she realized her mistake: trusting that the Head would fulfill his promises.

  “Others will fall because of her actions, I will make sure of that, but we need not do it ourselves. Let the Pax choose their own colors – blood red.”

  Stella was silent. The Head stood up and walked over to the wall surrounding the base. “Others will fall, one by one. The red head-”

  “Mary Taergle.”

  “-yes. We will let the skryers have her. She seems the least significant to Violet. Send a skryer to fetch her.”

  “And Violet?”

  The Head crossed the room and stopped at Stella’s desk, sliding his finger across the levitating screen until he found the image he was searching for. He enlarged it so Stella could see.

  “We will let him kill her. He was experimented on, too, after all. It will be a bit of a bonding experience since they both lost their brothers, don’t you think?”

  “I thought it was against the law to attack another hunter.”

  “I am the law,” the Head replied.

  “And what about the healer, Samford Pately?”

  “Have you ever been in love?” The Head had bent over the platter of gels and picked out a cube, holding it up to the light.

  “Sir?”

  “Have you ever been betrayed by a loved one?”

  Stella was confused and didn’t say anything in response. The Head continued. “Samford Pately is just another one of Violet’s playing cards. She will use him to escape and then drop him. Even if her love is true, he will believe otherwise when I am done with him.”

  “Will he become an experiment like Violet?”

  �
��Of sorts.”

  “That still leaves Vincent Garlezzo.”

  “He is not a threat. He will be dead soon enough.” The Head was making his way across the room and down the stairs. Stella followed him, panic in her voice.

  “Sir, wait. You can’t be sure- ”

  The Head turned and slapped Stella. She fell back on the stairs, her face on fire, holding back tears as the Head towered over her.

  “Send Mary to me. Violet will be killed and Severin is to do it. How hard is it, really? If you fail you will be dealt with by me.”

  Stella swallowed, clutching her cheek. She kept her head down as the Head descended the rest of the stairs and left. Her hand shook violently as she touched her bleeding lip and pulled herself up, stumbling over to her desk. She pressed the call button and waited until a skryer showed up a few minutes later.

  “Find Mary Taergle and send her to me.”

  The skryer left the room. She quickly went over to her memory disc and found Severin’s tracker, sending a message to report to her office. She would tell him his next mission in person.

  Stella hastily wiped a tear that slid down her cheek, swearing under her breath.

  “Damn you, Head,” she whispered. “Damn you.”

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  “We can fix those. I can search the secretary’s office and figure out how to break in and activate the system. Vince-” I was distracted by the small voice in my ear that spoke. Your next Memoriam session will commence in fifteen minutes. Both Vince and Sam stared at me.

  “What is it?” Vince asked.

  “I have another Memoriam session.”

  “When?” Sam asked.

  “In fifteen minutes.”

  “You can work on trying to find an alternate way other than the lift to get down to the weaponry, okay?” Vince said to me.

  “Okay.” My whole body seemed to go numb. I kept thinking of what Trent had said about Memoriam and how old memories weren’t supposed to seep through.

  Sam reached over and squeezed my hand. “You’ll be okay.”

  I wanted to say, ‘I know,’ but I had a bad feeling. If my old memories were coming back, then what did that mean? I stood up shakily and went over to the door, then stopped.

  “Wait for me, will you?”

  Vince smiled. “Of course.”

  I swallowed and turned the knob, stepping out onto the balcony. People below were shuffling to their quarters. Was this plan really impossible like Vince made it sound? Was it worth the risk of thousands of lives being killed for the sake of freedom?

  I took the stairs down to the centicular. I was passing through a large group of people when I bumped into someone. My mouth fell open in surprise when I turned around and saw Mary.

  “Mary!” She didn’t act surprised to see me. “I haven’t seen you in a while,” I said. She didn’t reply. I opened my mouth then closed it again. “Mary, what’s wrong?”

  Her hand slipped into her jumpsuit and pulled out a small hand gun. I instinctively backed away, hitting other people who were passing me.

  “Mary, what are you doing?” Mary’s chin was glazed in sweat. Her forehead creased as she raised the gun and pointed it at my chest.

  “I know you have been meeting with Sam without me. You’re going to turn me in, aren’t you?”

  None of the people around us seemed to notice what was going on. Mary moved closer. “I know what you’ve been up to. You’ve been sending information to the base leaders. I was ready, though. The second Sam introduced you, I knew you were trouble. That’s all hunters are – Trux planted amongst the Pax to kill us all. You’re on your way to tell the secretary about me right now, aren’t you?”

  “I’m not a Trux. Both of us know that.”

  “I don’t care what you are.”

  “Mary, listen to me, it’s not what you think.”

  “Oh really? I find that hard to believe since hunters are the Head’s favorite. You really should learn to be a better liar.”

  “Mary, please.”

  Her chin wobbled. “I trusted you.”

  My head felt like it was being squeezed into a small bottle. I noticed stares, feet that should have kept moving but stopped. If this kept up then it would form a crowd, and that was the last thing we wanted. I licked my lips and held my hands up slowly.

  “I am not going to the secretary, I am going to the weaponry for another session of Memoriam. You can watch me. I promise.”

  “You’ll kill me!” she raged. “I didn’t make it all this way to be murdered! I want to live!”

  I had to do something quick before skryers came. I watched her footing like Trent taught me weeks ago. All I had to do was disarm her and then make a run for it. She would inevitably chase me or leave me be. Maybe she would come to her senses once I was out of sight and realize her mistake. Why on earth was she doing this? She was fine when I talked to her a few weeks ago.

  I swallowed and took a deep breath, my limbs shaking. I made a lunge for it and ducked underneath Mary and hit her arm from underneath, shooting it up. She screamed in rage and I grabbed her arm, twisting it behind her back, trying to reach the gun. She threw her head back but missed.

  I went in again. This time I managed to wring the gun from her hand and throw it to the ground. A crowd surrounded us now. People were yelling, spitting on the ground and cursing loudly. Mary grabbed a bunch of my hair and pulled, seething as I screamed in agony and spun around, trying to get my hands around her waist. I pulled her down to the ground and kneeled on top of her. She kicked and kneed me in the backbone, grabbing me with one of her free arms. Her nails dug into my arm and she threw a punch. I knew I was dangerously bordering on losing control and I needed to rein myself in before I would regret it.

  I locked her arm in my elbow and flipped over, holding her down on the ground. I had to get away. There was yelling and a blur of of white through a sea of charcoal uniforms. That was a bad sign. The skryers could not get to her before me. I didn’t want either of us to get lashings. Mary had obviously not seen the skryers or she would be trying to run. I got off of Mary’s back and tried to push my way through the crowd, but the people blocked me.

  “Please,” I said, shoving against a small man. He pushed me back to the ground. “We have to get out of here!” I said, panicking.

  The skryers made their way into the circle that had formed. One of them seized Mary, who was howling. She had blood trickling from her hairline. The other one came over to me and grabbed my wrist. He glanced at my two symbols, the Pax and ‘H,’ then dropped it again, walking away.

  “Wait...what are you doing?”

  The skryers ignored me. I grabbed one of them and pulled him around. He turned and threw me to the ground. I hit the tile and winced. The crowd slowly parted for the skryers dragging Mary away. I raised my groggy head.

  “No!” I screamed. “Stop them! Somebody!” No one moved. They had let the skryers pass, yet blocked me. What did that say about us? That the Pax had turned into animals like the Trux? That couldn’t be it. It just couldn’t. I didn’t want to believe that.

  I tried to shove through the crowd. I had to find Mary. She was already getting lost in the crowd. Everyone was moving and Mary’s red hair was vanishing. The hand gun was nowhere to be seen. That thought disturbed me: someone in this crowd now had a gun. I wanted to find Mary but I had my Memoriam session. I kept going back and forth, sick to my stomach, deciding what to do. I finally went down the hallway and got on the lift down to the weaponry.

  Trent was waiting for me when I got off the lift. We walked down the hall together. I thought of Vince’s suggestion – find another entrance. Where would another one be, other than the lift?

  “Bad day?” Trent asked.

  “Fight,” I said.

  “With who?”

  “It doesn’t matter.” Mary was gone now. There was nothing I could do to help her. The thought stung. Trent and I entered the Memoriam room. Chills rose up my spine as I went over to the cha
ir and got in. Trent hooked me up and went over to the screen.

  “You ready?”

  “Yes,” I said. I felt that same familiar pinch in my arm and felt myself become drowsy. Here we go again.

  I was staring at an image of me on a beach. There was a click and another picture appeared, one of me with a shaggy dog. The dog was licking my chin and I was laughing. The clicks continued, showing pictures of me with people I did not recognize. The pictures began speeding up. One of Sam and I flashed by, too fast for me to get a closer look. Soon, the pictures flew too fast for me to see. They vanished, and instead, everything around me grew brighter until I was able to see where I was.

  Huge buildings towered over me, one by one, lining the center path. I was in Stoclo, Rinfero’s capital. It was strangely empty. I walked down the path, glancing back and forth at little fabric shops and empty play parks for children. A swing at the play park was empty so I went over and sat down, rocking back and forth. My hands scaled the cold metal chains that were linked individually until I rested my hand on the hard leather seat. The swing began to shake. I got off the swing to see the whole play park shaking. I backed away, running back to the safety of the center path. Within seconds, the play park crumbled, falling to the ground and turning to ash.

  I continued to walk down the center path, pausing when the path split off, the one on the right continuing through the city, the left turning into a small dirt road. I squinted through the sunlight, gazing at the two paths ahead of me. When I took a few steps in the direction of the dirt road, a gate appeared, blocking its entrance. I was stuck. My decision had been made for me. I had to stay on the path through the city that seemed to run on for miles.

  A plot of land on the path up ahead had nothing but a small cradle in the middle. I could hear crying coming from the cradle, but I did not go over. The sky grew darker as I walked. Further down the street was another small play park with broken swings that hung there like old fruit, waiting to be picked. This weird feeling that there should be others with me kept ringing in my ears. Why was Stoclo empty? I looked ahead and saw a man. Was it the Head who I saw? As I grew closer, I realized the man wasn’t the Head. He was a stranger. He began to follow me as I walked.