by Andrew Gates
“Let’s try together,” he suggested.
Iris cautiously approached him. This time they both pushed and surely enough, the door started moving. At first it moved slowly but then it swung open all at once. Iris and the man toppled forward into the residence.
“Oh, thanks,” Iris said as she stood back up.
The man took a bit more time to stand. His legs seemed to give him trouble.
“Don’t worry about it,” he replied.
“I appreciate the help. I can do it from here,” she said, hoping this mysterious stranger would leave her alone now.
“No, no, I’ll stay.” The man said as he struggled to stand. Iris nervously gave him some space.
“Don’t you have somewhere to be?” she asked.
The man shook his head and hobbled over to her living room. Everything seemed to be in the same place. None of the furniture had moved around during the attack but the water level was high enough now that things started to smell damp. The flickering lights did not help the situation.
The hobbling man sat down on the couch for a moment and pressed his hands to his face. Oh no. Why is he sitting down?
“No,” he said, finally answering her question, “no, I don’t have anywhere to be. Not with the chaos from those two monsters out there.”
“Two?” Iris asked.
The man nodded his head and leaned back.
“Yeah, there were two. They arrived in some kind of sub and split up when they got here. The one that came through here made it further into the station and wasn’t stopped until the whitecoats threw everything they had at it. The other fucker stayed close to the edge of the station, got down to the mining level somehow and a bunch of loader operators managed to pour goddamn molten iron onto the thing.”
Iris did not know what to do about this stranger but the last thing she wanted to do was instigate him. She nervously walked towards him and sat down on the table, making sure to maintain her distance.
“How do you know all this stuff?” she asked.
The man shifted in his chair. He leaned forward a bit and reached into his jacket pocket. Iris leaned back, worried that the man was about to pull out some sort of weapon. Instead he pulled out a small white earpiece.
“This is how I know what’s going on,” he answered.
Iris looked at the earpiece. That did not help answer who he was or why he was here.
“What is it?”
“It’s a Navy communication piece,” he explained. “I’ve been listening in on their movements for the past few days. Today was real interesting.”
“But you’re not Navy?” she asked, trying to find out more about him.
The man shook his head.
“No,” he replied.
“Then how do you have it?”
The man leaned back in the couch again. Iris kept a wary eye.
“I stole it,” he answered casually. “I needed it. I needed to stay hidden from them. The best way to not get caught by someone is to know where they’re looking.”
She remembered Desmond’s words from Sunday evening. Some sort of escaped convict, killed a bunch of people.
Iris stood up in shock. This must have been him. This was the man. Here he was sitting in her home with nobody nearby to help.
“You’re the one they’ve been looking for,” she said, no longer trying to act calm. “I’ve heard about you. You’re a dangerous man.”
The man smiled. It was as if he took pleasure in knowing people feared him.
“That’s me,” he replied.
“What do you want?”
He stood up. Iris backed away from him, edging towards the wall behind her. It was a good thing the man seemed to have trouble walking.
“You, Iris,” he answered.
Iris paused. How does he know my name?
“M… me? Why me?”
The man started limping towards her.
“You know me, Iris. I recognize you. Don’t you remember me?” he asked. He held his arms out, as if to suggest he came in peace.
Iris looked at him. She did not recall ever meeting a violent bald man with a bad leg. She would have remembered someone like this.
“No,” she replied, “I don’t know you.”
“Picture me younger and with a full head of hair. Come on Iris, you have to remember,” he continued.
Iris did as he asked. She tried to imagine the man younger and with a full head of hair. At first she came up with nothing, but after a few moments, he began to look familiar. She recognized him from her childhood, from her adventurous years.
“Trace,” she said aloud.
The man smiled.
“You always called me Trace,” he responded with a grin.
Despite this revelation, something about him still made her feel uncomfortable. She still kept her distance.
“I remember you now, yes. But why did you kill those people?” she asked, maintaining her serious tone.
“That’s why I need you,” he answered. “I needed to escape from that cell. I didn’t do anything wrong. The woman in charge has it out for me. She wouldn’t let me leave. She wouldn’t let me see my daughter.”
“But you killed all those people.”
“I had to. All I want to do now is be with my daughter. You have to understand, it’s all I wanted and I had nothing left to lose. When you’re in the same place with your back against the wall, you tell me you wouldn’t put yourself at risk,” he explained, as if his actions were justified.
“I don’t think I would kill anyone,” she replied.
Trace just stared at her with his deep colorless eyes.
“You’ve never been where I’ve been.”
For a moment there was nothing but silence as the two childhood friends stared at one another. After a few seconds, Iris lowered her head, took a deep breath and looked back up again.
“Maybe you’re right, Trace. So why are you here now? You’re not here to kill me, I guess,” she said.
“No,” he replied, taking another step toward her. Iris was nervous but this time she did not back up. “I’m here to ask for your help. You can trust me. I have no reason to hurt you. I just want to talk.”
Iris hesitated. On one hand this was her childhood friend she had known for years, someone who had no reason to lie to her. On the other hand he was a murderous convict who arrived when Iris was all alone during the single most dangerous time in the station’s history.
“Forgive me for not trusting you, but I don’t,” she said quite plainly.
“Okay, okay,” Trace replied. “I’ll keep my distance. I get it.” He backed up and sat back down on the couch. “I don’t want to alarm you.”
You already have.
“Maybe it’s best you stay right there,” Iris ordered. Trace nodded in compliance. “Okay,” she continued, “so… so what is it that you need me for exactly?”
“It’s very simple. I need you to connect me to Ophelia,” he replied.
“Who is that?”
“My daughter. She’s a student at your school.”
Once he said that, it slowly started to come back to her. She remembered hearing about Ophelia’s father but never realized he and Trace were the same person. The rumors around school were that he was arrested for having sexual relations with someone outside his ethnic group. I guess that’s not what really happened.
“I know you now,” she said as she put the pieces together. “I heard you were put away.” She paused for a moment, examining him. “You two look different.”
“It’s easier to see the resemblance when I still had hair.”
“Did you shave it off to stay hidden?”
“I did.”
“Well look,” Iris said, bringing the conversation back to Ophelia, “I don’t know how easy it will be for me to bring you to her. With everything that just happened, school definitely won’t be in session tomorrow. Who knows when the next class will take place? The halls are anarchy right now. There’s no or
der.”
“Then if you can’t bring me to her, bring her to me,” Trace interrupted.
Iris paused.
“I… I don’t know where she is.”
“Nobody told you?”
Iris shook her head.
“I don’t know who she’s living with.”
“Somebody at the school has to know,” Trace added. “Someone knows.”
“Yes, yes, someone does. But I won’t be at school for a while. There’s not going to be any school for a while, don’t you see? How would I get in touch with these people?”
“Call them,” Trace suggested. “Call the principle, the other teachers. I don’t know. There’s got to be a way to find out.”
The lights stopped flickering all of a sudden, momentarily bringing Iris out of the conversation. At least they solved one problem.
“Oh, thank the Lord Beyond Both Seas those fucking lights were driving me crazy,” Trace said.
Iris held her hand out in front of her and thought about her options for a moment. This last hour had been the most wild, exhilarating, unexpected period of her entire life. Maybe I’m not in the right mental state to make a decision like this, she thought. The last thing she needed was to be in deeper danger. In fact, right now, more than ever, she just wanted everything to go back to normal.
“Look, Trace. I don’t think I can help you, at least not right now,” she explained.
Trace seemed disappointed by this response, but that was to be expected.
“I know you’re busy. I read on the Meganet that you’ve been dealing with a lot of protestors at the school. Look, I have a lot of respect for what you’re doing. I really do, but there are bigger things going on,” he explained.
“No, not that,” Iris replied. “I mean… yes that too, but there’s more to it than that.”
Trace stood up again and slowly hobbled forward. Iris did not move.
“I can tell you still think I’m a bad person, but I’m not. I’m just trying to find my daughter and that’s it. If you don’t want to help me find her, I get that, but please try to find it in your heart to help a father relocate his child. I’m not a bad person.”
“If you weren’t a bad person, why were you in prison in the first place?” she asked.
“Because I pissed off the wrong person. She hates that I left the Navy, she hates that I’m defiant, she hates that I can’t be her puppet. So she saw an opportunity to remove me and she took it.”
“What was that opportunity?” Iris asked, almost afraid to know what the answer would be.
“Well,” Trace answered hesitantly, “I found something. Something nobody knows but me and a dead soul.”
Despite her reservations, Iris took another step forward towards him, curious now.
“What did you find?”
“Are you ready for this?”
“Yes,” Iris responded, growing impatient, “what did you find?”
“There are people on the surface, Iris. Right now. People are alive up there. I found a video feed from a camera they sent up. I saw live video of footprints. Human footprints,” he explained enthusiastically.
Trace must have been wrong. Even if someone survived the Cassidy crash, the atmosphere would not allow them to live for long. Top scientists almost unanimously agreed it would take thousands of years for the air to be clean again. He’s really lost it, she thought.
“Trust me,” Trace said, noticing her hesitancy.
Just then Iris heard commotion coming from the hall. It sounded like people moving quickly. She stood still, not saying a word, keeping a watchful eye on her slow moving friend. He looked back at her as the noise outside grew louder. Whoever was out there was clearly getting closer.
“This ones’ totally smashed,” she heard a male voice say. “Nothing here.”
“Not true, check out this fucking shit,” another man replied.
Iris continued to look at Trace and he continued to look right back. She guessed he was listening to the activity too.
“Hey this next spot looks okay!” the first voice hollered.
She could hear splashing steps in the water right outside the open door. That was when Trace finally turned his head, facing the noise. Before they knew it, three teenage boys came walking through her doorway. One of them held a bat.
Looters.
“Hey, looks like this one’s not empty,” one boy said to the others as he walked in. He wore long athletic shorts and a black t-shirt.
“Hey listen up, give us all your pods, locker keys, watches and anything I happen to like!” the one with the bat ordered with a grin on his face and a swagger to his step. He stood on the right side with a sleeveless white shirt and denim shorts.
Trace turned his whole body to face them. Iris took a step away and placed her hands up. She did not know what to do.
The one with the bat stepped forward.
“Did you fucking hear me?” he asked.
“My pod is here!” Iris answered, not wasting any more time. She reached into her sweatpants pocket and grabbed it. She could feel herself trembling as she held it in the air. “And my work pod is on the counter,” she added.
The one with the bat started to walk towards her.
“Don’t give them your pod,” Trace said as the teen came closer.
That did not seem to stop him from moving though. He continued towards Iris as if Trace had not said anything at all.
“Shut the fuck up,” the first boy added.
“Yeah shut your mouth,” said the other, who had not spoken until this point. He seemed a bit more nervous than the rest and wore nothing but black from top to bottom.
Trace reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a pistol. He aimed it at the boy with the bat first. That finally got his attention. The boy stopped in place and put his hands in the air.
“Woah, take it easy, man!” the one with the bat said.
The other two teens quickly bolted out of the residence. Iris could hear their feet splashing in the water as they ran away.
“Is this really how you want to die?” Trace asked.
Iris had never felt so frightened from a single sentence.
The boy simply shook his head.
“Drop it,” Trace added.
The bat hit the watery floor.
“Good,” Trace continued, “now get the fuck out.”
And with that, the teenage boy ran out of the room, following his frightened friends out into the decimated halls.
Iris took a deep sigh of relief as Trace put the pistol back into his jacket pocket.
“This is what the station has come to,” Trace said calmly. “The government has finally lost its progress through obedience. Don’t you see, Iris? I’m not your enemy. The world is the enemy now. I can offer you security.”
Though Iris hated to admit it, Trace did seem to have a point. It was a miracle that humanity had survived this long at all. A strong sense of order was the only thing that allowed them to last for 200 years. Now that the order was gone, anarchy would reign.
“Those… those fucking monster things destroyed more than a couple of hallways and Navy guards. They destroyed our entire fucking system down here. That’s what’s going to kill us, not a couple of metal robots. I’ve lived in this world, Iris. I’ve stirred the fucking pot of the goddamn government. I’ve fought against society, hidden, stayed safe. This is where I know how to survive. Chaos!”
“And you’ll be able to help me survive?” Iris asked. “From who, looters? A bunch of kids?”
Trace walked towards her.
“Yes, and the world.”
Iris shook her head.
“But it’s not going to last forever. The government just needs time to reclaim control of the station.”
“It may take a long time,” Trace said, continuing forward.
“Then why are you afraid of being caught?” Iris asked. “If this is your world now, then why do you need me at all?”
“Because Parnel w
ill stop at nothing. Not even this incident will slow her down.”
Parnel?
“Wait, what did you just say?” Iris asked.
Trace stopped walking. He was now half a meter in front of Iris.
“Parnel is the one trying to take me down. She’s the fucker who doesn’t like that I’m challenging her goddamn authority.”
“Sanja Parnel?”
“That’s the one. You know her?”
Now this was getting even more confusing. Iris could not understand how Dr. Parnel fit into this story. She was just a contractor working on the Cassidy disaster. There was no reason she should have been involved with any of this.
“Yes, I know her. I… I kind of work for her. I’ve been doing research for her investigation. I thought she was investigating… something,” she said, remembering at the last minute not to share any classified details.
“The submarine, I know,” Trace added. “My brother was the goddamn co-pilot of the thing. That was her job, Sanja Parnel, but she’s got so much authority she can basically do what she wants. And she takes pride in that too. If you get on the wrong side of her, she can destroy you and she won’t let you forget it.”
Iris felt her muscles weaken. Her heart pounded. She did not know who to trust anymore. Earlier today she knew the rules and who was on what side. But now it was like everything she knew was turned upside down.
“I shouldn’t have said that. I can see I bothered you,” Trace said. He grabbed her on the shoulders. To her surprise, Iris did not feel the need to move away.
“Look, I can protect you. Remember that,” he continued. “Parnel doesn’t have to know you’re helping me. We keep it secret and if I get caught, I’ll deny you had any involvement. She can’t touch you, Iris. I’ll protect you from the mob out there. In return, you get me to Ophelia. That’s all I ask.”
This was a lot to take in. Iris sighed and closed her eyes. She had to escape this world for a moment. It was too much for her right now. She let the world go as she retreated into her own thoughts, into darkness.