“Have you used them before?” 62 asked.
“Yeah. One time I was bored and wanted to see what would happen if I hooked one up to a battery. Hoooeee! What a noise!” The chickens squawked from deep inside their hut and Blue pointed at the box. “Exactly! They know what I’m talking about.”
00 clapped his hands together. “This is perfect. Blue, you know what these alarm things look like, right?”
Blue rolled his eyes. “Obviously.”
“Okay, then. You collect as many as you can. I’ll go boot up the computer and tell N302 the plan.” 00 took a few steps away, then spun around, rocking on his heels. He pointed at Blue. “You really are a genius. No matter what anyone else says.” 00 turned back around and jogged out of the greenhouse and into the building.
A smug smile spread over Blue’s face. His eyes closed as he soaked in the compliment. Then his eyelids flew open and he ran after 00. “Hey! What’s that supposed to mean? What do other people say about me?”
62 chuckled. He looked up at Sunny. “Do you need help here? I think they’re going to be gone a while.”
“Do you want to help me check the coop for eggs? With as riled up as the hen is, today may be our last day to find one for a while.”
“We can take the chickens for a walk, if you think it would help,” 62 managed to say with a straight face.
Sunny laughed so loud that the hen screeched.
CHAPTER 37
“I’ve never had to work so hard to make a bot pay attention to me in all my life,” 00 complained at breakfast the next morning. After several power-ons, he’d finally gotten N302 to listen to him. It had taken another several attempts to ask it to let them try to hook it and its secondary unit up to the radios. “But I practically had to beg. I tried typing, but it wouldn’t take me seriously. Finally, I had to use the microphone and make it listen.”
62 patted his brother on the arm. “It must’ve been hard. It’s no good having a bot that’s too mad to be powered up.”
00 sighed and dropped corn mash from his spoon back into his bowl, watching it slop against itself when it landed. “It might be more trouble than it’s worth, though. I’m not sure we can figure out how to get the things wired in.”
“You’ll figure it out,” 62 said with an encouraging smile. “You always do.”
Blue dropped into a chair across from 62, slamming his bowl of corn mash on the tabletop. “Sunny says there aren’t any more eggs.”
“Yeah, she told me that chicken probably wouldn’t lay any after it got scared,” 62 replied.
“Not even that. She just told me that even when the dumb bird starts laying again, we can’t eat them. Not until after she hatches a batch of chicks.” Blue stirred his breakfast roughly, sending a thick glob of mash over the side of the bowl. “Like we need more chickens. You can’t even do anything with them!”
“We could eat them,” 00 pointed out. “More chickens means more eggs, and more roosters means eating meat every once in a while.”
“But how long is that going to take? Weeks? Months? I can’t take it,” Blue complained.
“You can always go back to Hanford, you know. You’re not the one that was banished from town.” 62 said the words cautiously, hoping that Blue wouldn’t take the suggestion as an excuse to pack his bags and leave.
“They do have better food there,” Blue said, gazing down at the bowl of mush in front of him. His eyes snapped up, locking on 62’s. “But Hanford’s got rules. And no bots.”
“You’re right there!” 00 agreed, pointing at Blue and nodding.
The Boys finished their breakfast, checked in with Sunny, and set about the business of turning their computers into radio station assistants. N302 had been reattached to Terminal Two so that it could help 00 alter its programming to enable and disable the radio. N302 even managed to add code that would allow the bot to turn the lights on and off, provided there was enough excess power. While the computers updated their programming, Blue turned on the power to the elevator. When they disassembled Terminal Two, using the lift to bring the heavy computer down to the main floor was a welcome treat. 00 got his elevator ride, and none of the Boys broke a sweat as they pushed the cart full of computer parts.
They spent the rest of the day measuring out wire and setting up relays for N302 and its new set of alarms. Blue found fifteen fire alarms, and they decided to wire them all up so they’d hear the signal no matter where they were in the building. The system was so spread out, however, that they realized they didn’t have near enough wire.
“But the things were wired into the walls,” Blue said. “Can’t we just use those wires?”
00 scratched his head. “I guess so, if we can figure out how they’re run.”
This set into motion a project of chasing wires through the building that lasted late into the night. Eventually, N302 was moved down to a room on the third floor, central to the building and all the devices it was to be hooked up to. 62 dragged himself to bed as the moon rose high in the sky, dreading the early morning ahead of them. Enough time had passed that Parker would be calling them any day now, and they didn’t want to miss his broadcast. They vowed to leave the jailhouse at daybreak with Terminal Two, in hopes that they’d have it up and running in the radio room before the end of the next day.
62’s mind wandered in and out of a series of dreams, but he finally settled his mind back at Hanford’s library. He was startled to find Mattie there, and for once, he was able to push through to her dream with very little effort.
“Hey,” 62 said as he sat down on the floor in front of her.
Mattie was seated on the floor with her legs crossed, surrounded on either side by stacks of large books. She was flipping through one, a book full of colorful paintings, and only glanced up momentarily at 62 to acknowledge his presence. She found the image she was looking for, a picture of an oil painting of a small yellow house near the sea. The water in the picture rippled, then settled back into place.
“Are you okay?” 62 asked.
The young librarian looked up at him with tears in her eyes. “Parker told me. The Oosa aren’t taking me to see the ocean.”
“I know. They’ve been doing bad things, Mattie. I tried to tell you before.”
Mattie sniffled, wiping her nose with the back of her hand. “I wanted to live with them so bad. I thought I was one of them.”
62 reached out to the book in his friend’s lap and tipped the cover so that its pages rolled from one side to the other. He closed the book and pulled it away from Mattie. He tossed it aside and crossed his own legs, scooting closer to her until their knees touched. “I know it’s hard. But you’re lucky, you know? Your mom was lucky. She got to have you, and look at you! You’ve managed to survive just fine without the Oosa.”
“I’m not fine,” Mattie said with another sniffle. Tears dripped from her eyes and she pushed them away with the palms of her hands. “I’m sick, 62.”
“What do you mean?” 62 leaned forward and took her wet hands into his own.
“I’ve broken three bones since you left. Two of them are ribs. I’m having a hard time breathing, and eating is impossible. My jaw aches. Not like a toothache or anything. It’s like it’s on fire, burning under my skin. It’s so painful.”
“But you look fine!” 62 stammered.
“We’re in a dream,” Mattie said with a sorrowful laugh. “None of this is real. I’m in the hospital now. They think I’ll have to stay at least another few weeks, if I can get better.”
“Of course you’ll get better. What happened to make your bones break? Did you fall?”
Mattie shook her head. “Something like this happened before you came to Hanford. My joints ache for days and then a bone will just break, for no reason. I’ve never told anyone, but it’s getting worse. This time, the first rib broke while I was rearranging books. Then, my leg broke. I was walking to the hospital to get my rib looked at. Just walking! And all of a sudden, I was on the ground. It’s in a ca
st now.” Mattie rubbed her left leg just below her kneecap.
“And the other rib that broke?”
“They were rolling me over in bed.” Mattie’s eyes glistened. She tried to smile, but the curves of her cheeks twitched from the effort. “They aren’t saying it, but they think it’s radiation sickness. They think it got me because I’m half Oosa.”
“No,” 62 said. “It can’t be that. You just had a couple of accidents. You must have hit something without realizing it. They’re being too rough with you.”
Mattie shook her head. “It’s the same thing that happens to the kids in the nursery. They hurt all the time, and eventually they can’t be held any more…” Mattie’s voice drifted off and she looked away from 62. He followed her gaze and saw the viewing window of Hanford’s nursery. A Woman stood in the window, wringing a child’s blanket in her hands. Silent tears streaked her cheeks. Her face was contorted in anguish. Mattie looked back at 62 and the scene disappeared.
“You got better the last time this happened, right? You’ll get better again.” 62’s face twisted as he tried to make himself believe his own words.
“They let Parker in to see me, even though they have him in quarantine. You know what that means? That means that they aren’t worried about someone who might’ve gotten into a hot spot spending time with me. Like if he’s irradiated, it won’t matter if he sits down next to me.”
“That doesn’t make any sense, Mattie. If they had him come see you, maybe they know that he doesn’t need quarantine. Maybe he’s just there so they can double-check, even though they already know he’s fine.” 62 gripped Mattie’s hands firmly in his own. “You’re going to be fine, Mattie. You’ll see.”
“Maybe,” Mattie answered. She mimicked 62’s consoling nod. “We’ll see.”
“Besides, if you’re so sick, why didn’t Rain or Parker tell us when they were here? Rain’s a doctor. If you’ve been hurt, she’d know about it, wouldn’t she?”
“Dr. Rain knows, but I asked her not to tell you.”
“Why?”
“Because, what use is it for you to know? You’re all the way out there, and if you come back, they won’t let you in. The best I can hope for is to get better.”
“I have to tell Blue,” 62 said in a flat tone. “He needs to know you’re hurt.”
Mattie closed her eyes, fresh tears collecting in her lashes. She nodded silently. Then, nose sniffling, she faded from existence, leaving 62 sitting alone in a darkening library. 62 slumped against a nearby shelf, crying to himself until he woke to the light of morning.
CHAPTER 38
Blue was leaving. 62 understood, and only wished his friend wasn’t going alone. 00 offered to return to Hanford with him, but Blue explained that he’d move faster without 00 trailing behind him. “And besides,” Blue said, pointing back and forth between 62 and 00, “You two look identical. They’d probably hold me up at the gate if I came back with you because I bet Joan can’t tell the difference between you.”
Sunny leaned against a nearby wall. “I’m sorry I can’t come with you.”
“You could,” Blue urged. “You made it all the way out here from wherever the Oosa were keeping you. I bet the walk to Hanford would be easy, compared to that.”
“It’s not the walk that worries me,” Sunny said. “If they find out I’m here…”
Blue shut his mouth, pressing his lips into a straight line. It was apparent from the burning of his sapphire eyes that he had more to say, but he held the words back. Blue pulled his mask on, shuttering up his frustrated expression, and pulled his pack of gear from the floor. 62 and 00 put on their masks as well, silently escorting their friend to the trailhead.
After the door slammed shut behind them, Sunny hidden away inside, Blue let out a frustrated yell.
“Why in Hanford’s name can’t she be bothered to stand up and tell them what’s happening?” Blue kicked the dirt at his feet and punched the air.
62 took a quick step sideways, doing his best to miss an accidental box to the side of the head. “I don’t know,” he answered. “She’s scared, I guess.”
“Chicken!” Blue screamed into the air. His mask filter did little to temper the rage in his voice. “Worse than chicken! She’s useless! What’s the point?”
“The point of what?” 00 asked.
“Of keeping someone like her around? All she does is take up space, moping around in there. We look after her, we make sure she doesn’t get all crazy and hurt herself. But what’s the use? All she does is hide.” Blue kicked a boulder resting on one side of the trailhead, then reeled back, hopping on one foot and hollering up a storm.
The throbbing of Blue’s foot seemed to bring him back to the present, and his rage faded. He leaned against the offending boulder, rubbing his hurt foot.
“Sunny does her best,” 62 said in a steady voice. Sunny had been through a lot. They all had. But even though Blue had been abandoned as a baby, and 62 had been thrown out of his home not so long ago, their problems seemed small compared to Sunny’s. “Are you sure you’ll be okay?” 62 asked.
Blue nodded. He dropped his foot back to the ground and stomped on it a few times to make sure it still worked. “Yeah, I’ll be fine. I’m just mad.”
“I’m sure she’ll be okay,” 00 said. He hadn’t said Mattie’s name, but 62 knew that’s who he meant. “She’s just got bad luck right now, is all. You’ll see.”
“I hope so,” Blue answered. He pointed to the top of the mountain. “Keep the radio on. Once I find out what’s going on with Mattie, I’ll help Parker get his transmitter going, if he hasn’t already by the time I get there. I’ll send a message as soon as I get a chance.”
62 nodded, then reached out and gave Blue a long, hard hug. 00 did the same. It was awkward, but felt necessary and right given the situation they were in. Blue pulled away and 00 wrapped an arm over 62’s shoulder in brotherly support. 62 and 00 watched Blue pick his way down the trail until he was around a bend and out of sight.
“She’s going to be okay,” 62 said softly. “Right?”
“Who? Mattie, or Sunny?”
62 turned his head, focusing on 00’s eyes through their lenses. “Both.”
00 lifted his shoulders. “I don’t know.”
“Me either. That’s what’s so scary.”
The pair of brothers stepped away from the trail, heading back inside just long enough to grab Terminal Two and load it in the wheelbarrow. They were more dedicated to using the computers to monitor the radio now, no longer seeing it as a means to satisfy N302. With Mattie hurt, and Blue walking alone in the desert, it was a necessity. They pushed the wheelbarrow to the radio room in silence, only stopping once on a switchback on the trail to see if they could find Blue in the landscape below. They didn’t find him. Once they arrived at the radio room, they double checked the solar panel and battery pack Parker and Blue had arranged on the south side of the building, then forced their way through the rickety door to begin rebuilding Terminal Two.
The computer’s boot up sequence was eerily identical to N302, and for a moment, 62 worried that they’d brought the wrong computer. But once they started communicating with the bot, it was clear that this unit was a less intelligent version of its parent Machine.
U> Connect to radio frequency 94.7 FM band.
TT> SEARCHING FREQUENCY
TT> FREQUENCY FOUND
TT> CONNECTION ESTABLISHED
U> Set electronics to turn the power-on when the first current surge is received during AM hours.
TT> TURN ON SET
U> Set electronics to power-off when the first current drop is sensed during PM hours.
TT> TURN OFF SET
“Is that it?” 62 asked when 00 backed away from the keyboard.
“That’s it,” 00 confirmed. “As long as the programming N302 wrote works, this thing should turn on the systems in the morning, and turn them off again at night.”
“Are we ready to go back to test the jailhous
e setup, then?”
“In just a minute.” 00 turned the volume up on the speakers until he could hear the flicker of static on the radio waves. He shrugged his shoulders. “Figured we should at least check to see if Parker was on the air before we left. I’m ready now.”
The Boys picked their way back down the mountain toward the jailhouse. They could just see the top of the building peeking over a crest on the trail when a loud ringing pierced the air, startling the Boys. 62 grabbed 00’s arm, shouting, “The alarm!” before running ahead on the trail.
The closer they got to the jailhouse, the louder the ringing became. The sound rattled 62’s brain and made his eardrums burn. Both Boys covered their ears with their hands. They dropped down off the trail to find Sunny, masked, squatting behind one of the large rocks, her hands clamped over her ears as she rocked back and forth. She turned her head, catching sight of them.
“I can’t get it to shut off!” She shouted through her mask. “If anyone’s on the radio, I can’t hear them over all this noise!”
62 and 00 rushed to the building’s front door. They had to make N302 turn the fire alarms off. But the second the door swung open they realized that the earsplitting sound outside was nothing compared to the throbbing scream of the alarms inside. The air vibrated around the Boys with the power of the sound. They pushed forward through the hurricane of noise, into the detox room. 62 lowered his hand from his ear to grab the radiation detector, but the ringing alarm made his head feel like it would split open. 00 pulled a towel off a nearby bench and pressed it between his ear and his shoulder to mute the noise so he could use his free hand to turn on the detector.
There was no way to hear the clicking noise of the device over the sound of the alarm. 62 leaned over the device’s box and watched the needle swing back and forth on the dial while 00 waved the wand over both their bodies. 62 sighed with relief that the needle didn’t go into the danger zone on the dial and nodded at 00 when he figured they were done.
The towel dropped from 00’s shoulder and he clamped his hand back to his uncovered ear. They abandoned the radiation counter, too frazzled to worry about turning it off, and hurried out of the room and into the main building. They fought to open the stairwell door with their feet so neither of them would have to uncover an ear to turn the handle with his hand. Then they tottered up the stairs as quickly as they could, off-balance with their palms clamped against the sides of their heads. Although normally their steps would echo through the stairwell, with the alarms ringing, 62 couldn’t hear his own feet as they pounded the stairs.
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