Zora rolled her eyes. “I’m in deep shit thanks to you. They interrogated me for I don’t know how long and they didn’t want to let me go.”
“I don’t give a—” started Ailsa.
“I helped you, you know,” said Zora. She crossed her arms. “You owe me.” She stole a sideways glance at Gabriel.
Gabriel turned and smiled at them. “I hate to interrupt this lovely reunion, ladies, but we can’t just sit here. Where to?” He grinned at them and his perfectly straight and white teeth made Ailsa tingle.
Ailsa sighed. “We have to get outside the city but it has to be somewhere with medical facilities. Do you know a place?”
“Not a clue. And Princess Charming back there needs something to eat, ASAP,” said Gabriel. “I know a good place for food, very discreet, then maybe we’ll know where to go.”
“You can’t escape Xemura,” said Zora. “He knows where you are, always. You can’t get outside of this protectorate without papers and you don’t have any.” She laughed. “You’re dead. You and your little girl are dead. You’re stuck. You can’t go anywhere. Xemura will catch up to you any second and then all of us are done.”
Ailsa punched her hard in the nose.
42
“I need to know where we’re going,” said Gabriel. His beef and broccoli was getting cold on the front seat.
Ailsa fought to get spoonfuls of sweet and sour chicken into Texa’s mouth.
“I don’t like it! I want beef! Not chicken!” yelled Texa.
“Take mine,” said Gabriel. “I like chicken just fine.”
Ailsa grabbed it, flicked the iridescent aluminum box open and spooned some of it into Texa’s mouth.
“Thank you Gabriel,” said Texa in a sweet voice. “It’s really good. I can leave you some, if you want.”
This girl loves everybody but me. Ailsa shoved more food into Texa’s mouth and handed her a bottle of water. She reached down and slapped Zora.
Zora stared up at her from the floor, eyes wide.
“We have food for you,” Ailsa said.
“Do we know where we’re going yet?” asked Gabriel. “It’s miracle they haven’t fallen on us already.”
“They’re nearby,” said Zora. “They know exactly where you are. They’ll show themselves—”
Ailsa slapped her. “Shut up!” She spilled soy-soaked broccoli on Texa’s shirt.
“Mom!” Texa whined.
“Sorry, baby,” Ailsa said. She turned back to Zora. “We need these chips out and you’re going to remove them.”
“I need specialized—” Zora started.
“All you really need is a knife, isn’t it?” asked Ailsa. She shoveled another bite into Texa’s mouth. She felt the weight lift from her chest as Texa was satiated.
“What’s in it for me?” asked Zora.
“You’re involved in this Xemura business up to your ears,” said Ailsa. “I know you don’t like it. This is your chance to do something about it. Help us. Help my girl. She’s only seven. Her life hasn’t even started yet.”
Zora’s eyes bulged and a sneer crossed her face. “You should have thought of that before killing yourselves!”
43
“Did you do something back there, Texa?” Ailsa asked her.
The tiny taxi rocketed towards a private clinic on the outskirts of the protectorate.
“They made me angry. They were interrupting my show. Finally, I get a nice viewscreen and the audio subscription and they were going to take it away from us,” said Texa.
“Do you know how to control the power, use it when—” started Ailsa.
“I don’t like it!” Texa’s eyes sparkled with tears. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Can you leave her alone?” Gabriel said.
Ailsa’s chest was empty. Every breath hurt. The current hummed. “Okay, little girl.”
Texa yawned.
“Take a nap, baby. You need your rest.” Ailsa turned to Zora. “So, you know these people?”
“Stop telling me what to do,” Texa mumbled.
Gabriel straightened his back. “Thank God she’s out. When she gets emotional, it’s like I’m buried in here.”
Zora cocked her head. “What do you mean?” She leaned forward from the back seat and touched Gabriel’s shoulder.
Gabriel looked in the rearview mirror and said nothing.
Why did he have to open his big mouth? Ailsa grimaced.
“What does he mean?” Zora asked Ailsa.
“Shut up,” she said.
Zora crossed her arms. “I can’t help you if—”
“Zora, just tell us how to get past the Gards at this clinic.”
“It’s actually a Xemura clinic,” said Zora with a sheepish smile.
Ailsa smacked her across the face. “You stupid bitch, do you think I’m screwing around with my daughter’s future here?” She hit her again. “Stupid upworlder. You have no clue what life is like for the rest of us.”
“I—” started Zora.
“You look down on us like farmers on their livestock. So arrogant,” Ailsa said.
“I have a job to do,” said Zora. “I advance the human race through science. I am—”
“You prey on downworld. You people keep all the wealth for yourselves.”
“Why shouldn’t we?” asked Zora. “We produce it.”
“You corral us. You experiment on us without our permission, you treat us like things to be toyed with as you please.”
Zora crossed her arms and looked away.
“But we’re human beings, just like you, free, equal. We want the same—” started Ailsa.
“You’re rabble! You’re the reason this planet is dying! Now we have to find ways to survive – new ways,” said Zora.
“Ladies,” said Gabriel in a deep voice, “you’re going to—”
Texa opened her eyes. “Can you guys shut up!”
44
“How are we getting in, Zora?” asked Ailsa.
Gabriel pulled into the parking lot of Xemura Clinic No. 23. The wide, flat building snaked through an expertly landscaped forest on a hillside. Villas and small farms dotted the landscape around it.
Just beyond and above the clinic was another high, cement wall. Green, flowing fields framed little homes on the other side. Floating blimp cameras and weapons platforms created a two-kilometer high barrier between them and the other protectorate.
“What’s in that other protectorate?” asked Ailsa. “And how far are we from 13477?”
Gabriel shrugged.
Ailsa turned to Zora with a harsh stare. “How are we going to do this?”
Zora smirked. She straightened her back and put her hands on her hips. “So, all of this abuse and now the proud downworlder depends on the know-nothing upworlder.”
“Well?” said Ailsa.
Texa looked up at Zora and smiled. “You’re nice. You’re just scared.”
Zora’s eyes darkened. She looked out the window at the clinic. “It isn’t right, what Xemura is doing, what he did to you. You did kill yourselves though?” She turned around and fixed Ailsa in a quizzical stare. “How do I know I’m not risking my neck for someone who’s going to turn around and suicide again when things get tough?”
Ailsa’s face fell. “That’s not—”
“You killed her!” Zora yelled. “And you talk to me about helping her? You’re not fit to be her mother!”
45
Gabriel pulled a gun from under the front passenger seat. “Maybe this will come in handy, darling?”
“Enough talk.” Ailsa grabbed the gun. She turned to Gabriel. “Does it work? Where did you get it?”
“The dead soldiers,” he said.
She pointed it at the roof of the taxi.
“Not in here! You’ll damage it!” yelled Gabriel. “And who knows what else. Those things go through a lot and keep going.”
“What if it doesn’t work?” asked Zora. “We’ll go in there and be prisoners.”
“Relax,” said Ailsa. “You’re an upworlder. You’ll be fine.” She opened the door and grabbed Texa’s hand. “Come on, baby girl. Zora’s going to help us.”
The three of them made their way to the front door. Gabriel edged the taxi’s rear bumper up to the front steps and killed the engine.
Ailsa passed through the front door of the clinic. Zora and Texa passed through ahead of her. A shiny young woman sat behind a bright white plastic desk. A great, gray and green tree grew from smooth stone floor to atrium ceiling above them.
The woman looked up. Ailsa brought the gun up and pointed it at her.
“Get out from behind there!” Ailsa yelled. She pointed the gun down and pulled the trigger. A crater opened in the smooth granite floor between them. Ailsa stared at the hole a moment. Oh my God.
The woman’s eyes got big and she tilted her head.
Ailsa walked around and grabbed the back of her neck. “Come on.”
“Go!” Ailsa yelled to Zora. They walked past empty operating rooms and offices.
“This place is abandoned,” said Zora. “It’s not a good sign.”
“Zora, I’m scared,” said Texa.
Zora put her arm around Texa’s shoulders.
“Get your hands off my little girl,” said Ailsa. She pushed the stiff-necked receptionist ahead of her.
Texa stopped and turned around. “I asked her to, Mom, okay? Is that okay with you?”
Ailsa brushed past them, then turned around. “Well,” she said to Zora, “which one is it?”
“I’m heading for the last one on the right,” Zora said as she brushed past Ailsa. “The major operating theatre is usually back there.”
A short, dark hallway opened into a two story atrium illuminated with direct sunlight filtered through opaque ceiling tiles. Three unblemished steel operating tables waited in the middle of the room. Next to each was a series of screens, tubes and wires.
“Texa, you go first,” said Ailsa. She forced the stiff-necked woman into a seated position behind the tables, in the corner farthest from the door.
“You must all wear proper protective garb in the operating theater,” the receptionist said. “You may find it in the closets out in the hallway.”
Ailsa turned to her. “Why don’t—”
“Leave it!” yelled Zora. “It’s not even human. Help me get Texa up on the table.”
Ailsa walked over and hoisted Texa by the armpits. “Really? Are they that—”
Zora rolled her eyes. “I’m going to put her under.”
“Is that really necessary?” asked Ailsa.
“Does she have any known allergies?”
Ailsa frowned.
Zora applied a quick injection to Texa and she was unconscious. She selected a long, tubular metal device with a black, rubber suction cup on the end. She pulled up Texa’s duck-and-egg-patterned shirt to reveal her swollen abdomen.
Zora shook her head.
“What is it?” Ailsa asked. The current ebbed. She took a deep breath and relaxed her shoulders.
“You are not physicians,” said the android. “Sounding silent alarm.”
Ailsa glared at Zora. “Is she kidding?”
“No,” said Zora, “and he put the tracker in with the new method.”
“I thought you put it in,” said Ailsa.
“No, it was Erik. I… didn’t…”
“Anyway,” said Ailsa. “Just get it out.”
“What if it leaves a scar?”
“Just get it out! Now!” yelled Ailsa.
Zora grimaced and tossed the tubular device to the floor. She grabbed a scalpel and made a small incision above Texa’s belly button and below the reducing swelling. She stuck a finger in, hooked it and pulled.
“It doesn’t want to come,” Zora said. She poked a second finger in and the incision expanded.
Ailsa’s stomach tensed up and she looked away.
“It might be attached to her uterus,” said Zora. She looked up at Ailsa. “What do you want to do?”
Ailsa froze. Rip it out and no grandchildren. Wait and Xemura’s goons get us.
“Ailsa.” Zora glared at her.
“I don’t know! What do you think?” Ailsa leaned on the other steel table. Her head swirled and her stomach turned.
Zora pursed her lips. “Let me jiggle it a bit.” She jammed her two fingers hard into the open wound.
Something cracked. Ailsa bent over and took deep breaths. “I think… I’m going to be—”
“I got it!” yelled Zora. “I got it! I had to break it in two, then the clamp lost power.” She fused the wound and taped gauze over it.
“Your turn,” she said to Ailsa.
“No sedatives.”
Zora moved to the next table over and tapped it. “Hurry up.”
Ailsa limped over and laid down. “Mine’s in my leg,” she said.
Zora undid her pants and pulled them down to reveal the red swelling on her thigh.
Ailsa looked away and cleared her throat. “This is just a little weird.”
Zora guffawed. “I don’t swing that way. Tall, dark and handsome is my type.”
Ailsa glared at her. I saw him first.
“You ready for this?” Zora asked. She held up a shiny steel scalpel. The ceiling lights reflected off of it and Ailsa blinked her eyes shut.
“Just do it, bitch.”
Zora slashed her leg. Blood oozed out and pooled on the metal table.
Pain flooded through Ailsa. She gritted her teeth. Stop, stop. All I wanted was to end the pain so how did this happen?
“It’s hooked into your sartorius. Hold on.”
The crack vibrated her bone and a jagged piece ripped into her.
“Ow!” Ailsa whined. She sat up.
“Lay down! Almost done.” Zora pulled the two sides of the wound together and fused them.
Ailsa’s head swam and she gritted her teeth. Each prick of the needle caused her jaw to ache more. “Would you… just… finish… already!” she muttered.
“It’s done. It’s done!” said Zora. She ripped off her plastic gloves. “Pull your pants up. I’ll grab some antibiotics, then Texa and—” Zora stopped. Her face froze.
Ailsa raised herself up. A soldier brought his rifle butt down on her forehead.
46
Ailsa sat up and hit her head on the bottom of a steel table. “Damnnit!” she whispered.
She crawled out and got to her feet. She put weight on the leg with the incision and collapsed on her side to the red granite floor. She struggled to take in air.
“I just can’t do it. I can’t.” Ailsa sobbed.
She got up on two feet again and leaned on the steel table. The shiny white android still sat behind it. “What the hell happened?” Ailsa asked.
“Xemura Security arrived and removed the disallowed personnel, to include Dr. Zora Collins, the juvenile and… They did not take you. This was against policy. I am sounding the silent alarm once more,” said the android.
Ailsa groaned. “Where did they take them?”
“You are unauthorized personnel.”
Ailsa limped over to the android and slapped its face. “Where did they go?”
“Violent behavior against Xemura corporate property is considered a severe crime under the category of property destruction and is heard by arbitration panel 37240. This crime has been reported,” the machine said.
Ailsa screamed. She headed for the door. “Texa,” she called.
There was no answer.
“Texa!” There was a scrap of cloth up ahead. She bent down and picked it up. It was the duck and egg pattern from Texa’s shirt. Blood stained it now.
“Texa!” She yelled it louder this time. “Zora!”
She made it to the entrance. The frosted doors whooshed open for her. She walked out. The parking lot was empty.
47
Ailsa sat down on the front stoop of the clinic and cried.
I’ve lost her. The one good thing
in my life. She’s gone. I’ll never get her back now. Gabriel either abandoned me or is being corrected. It’s all my fault.
But why did they leave me behind?
She let out a deep breath and sagged. She buried her head in her arms. I deserve to be like this. I don’t deserve Texa or Gabriel or anything. I killed my baby girl. The tears poured down her cheeks.
A long time passed. Ailsa did not want to get up. She did not want to open her eyes. She did not want to be alive. A wrenching pain clawed at her gut.
A tiny red and black bird landed on her shoulder. It dug its pointy claws into her flesh. She shrugged and it flew off.
The bird came back. She looked up. There were a half-dozen of them standing around her. Some pecked at the decorative landscaping but others watched her. Their tiny little eyes flickered here and there.
“Don’t look at me!” she whispered. “I’m death. I’m failure. I’ll screw you up, get you killed, poor, precious little birds.” She buried her head in her arms again.
I won’t look up. I won’t move. I won’t open my eyes. Someone will come for me. Someone will tell me where to go or what to do. I’ll take the correction or the uplift or whatever. I deserve to suffer.
48
Ailsa plodded down the empty road from the clinic against her better judgment. “I can’t even give up right,” she whispered. “I don’t even have the willpower for—”
She stopped. It was Texa. Her influence made me strong. She was angry when the Gards killed those men. She was sad when I killed us. Without her, I have no strength left.
She collapsed to the ground. “I am such a failure!” she yelled.
Get up. Get up. You have to find her. Not just for her but for you, too.
She stood up again. There was a red spot on her pants where Zora made the incision.
A loud beeping noise sounded behind her. She turned. A black car approached. Ailsa looked up. Gabriel?
Death Shop: With Hope, Anything is Possible — Or Not Page 6