Dirk must have understood, because he linked his fingers with mine and guided me along the hallway, past the lift, to a staircase I hadn’t even realized was there. It was damn cold in the concrete and steel well. Hand in hand, we descended one level. Instead of exiting on the community level, Dirk kept going. We’d just circled the stairs when a rush of a slamming door above jerked my attention upward.
Andreas appeared, but Dirk didn’t wait for him. We continued descending past the labs and med bay. I nearly tripped on one step, but Dirk steadied me even as the sensation of falling registered. When Dirk threw open the door, we emerged on a level I hadn’t visited. Where the hell was this?
With Andreas right behind us, Dirk charged toward a sealed door at the end of the hall. He pressed his palm to it, and the lock went from red to green, then we were inside and the sound, mercifully, cut off. Head pounding, I blinked. It was always awkward how the body handled overwhelming one sense. Too loud sounds made us blink. Too bright light could leave an acrid taste in our mouth. Overwhelming scent could make us pinch our eyes shut. It was as though the senses tried to work together to compensate.
Dirk squeezed my hand then released it as he went to a large computer station. Then it hit me—the whole room was one large set of computer bays. There were chairs, all bolted in place, and long panel systems, monitors, and lights. Most of the stations seemed to be in a sleep mode with only a couple of lights blinking. The one Dirk worked on, included three different screens—monitors.
“Computer?” My voice sounded hollow, as if I’d stuffed cotton balls in my ears. What the hell was that alarm?
“Standby.” The system informed me, but a panel to my right illuminated, and I appeared on the monitor. “Bashan, Valda. PhD, MD. Recognized.”
Dirk had found the computer’s central brain and didn’t tell anyone?
Glancing over my shoulder, I found Andreas staring at me, not the room. No surprise tightened his expression.
Okay, maybe Dirk simply hadn’t told me.
The sound cut off abruptly, and the computer said, “Acknowledged. System resetting. Please stand by.”
Shoulders sagging, Dirk braced his hands on the computer console. A pristine white bandage covered his right forearm. Information scrolled across the screens. Source code. Even with the alarm-spawned headache, I would have to be blind not to recognize the network operations center. The NOC was vital to any installation, and it never occurred to me to look for the one in the biosphere. Computers weren’t my thing, and the system acted like a competent AI.
“System reboot in progress. Please standby.” The scroll of the source code froze, and I blew out a breath.
“Were you planning on explaining this to me?” It came out far harsher than I intended. Closing my eyes, I forced a deep breath then another. Yoga breathing exercises paid off in steadying my pulse. “Let me try that again, how long ago did you locate this center?”
“System reboot complete, operational systems coming online.” The computer sounded so damn placid about the whole thing.
Dirk blew out a breath and pushed away from the console to face me.
“What the hell were you thinking, dragging her down here?” Andreas, however, didn’t seem interested in letting him finish. “We didn’t discuss this.”
“We also weren’t keeping it a secret.” Dirk, apparently unmoved by the other man’s hostility, dismissed him with a glance then focused on me. “We located the control center the first week we were awake.”
When I’d still been hiding in my lab and avoiding them. “You didn’t want to mess with it in case the systems are calibrated for perfect balance.” That would have been my choice.
Dirk merely shrugged.
“We shouldn’t be down here,” Andreas repeated, then he grasped my elbow and gave a none too gentle tug.
Pulling free, I pivoted to face him. Why had he followed us and not Oz? Weren’t he and Oz chatting? Before I could ask, Hatch jogged into view beyond the open door to the hall. Apparently, he’d come down the stairs, too. What other hidden gems were in this place?
“Where were—?”
Andreas interrupted by reaching for my arm, but Dirk intercepted him with a fierce grip on the psychologist’s arm. Based on Andreas’ pained expression, it wasn’t a kind hold either. “Grab her again to drag her off, and I’ll break your arm.”
The threat ballooned the tension in the room.
“Well, damn folks, if you were having a party, you should have invited me.” Hatch circled Andreas, then held his hand out to me with a wink. “C’mon, gorgeous. We’ll let the boys sort this out.”
Torn between wanting to get my questions answered and preferring to avoid overt violence, I accepted Hatch’s offered hand. I let him guide me from the room, then hesitated at the threshold. Glancing back, I said, “Dirk, I don’t know what’s going on…yet. But don’t hurt him.”
“If you wish,” he replied, dislike clear in his expression.
“I do wish…” And still I didn’t let Hatch pull me away. To his credit, he waited without a word, as I studied the two men in the NOC. “I do want answers about this room and what that alarm was.” Yes, he had answered me, and I believed him. Largely because, of all of them, Dirk had been the most upfront with me and had done exactly as I asked. Obedience was not something I ever thought I craved in another individual until the moment I had questions about it all.
“I understand.” An evasive answer if there ever was one, but when I looked at Hatch, not even he could hide the concern in his eyes with the quick smile he gave me.
Something more was going on here than just whose bed I’d occupied or an alarm sounding. A lot more. Relenting, I walked with Hatch and pretended I didn’t notice the sound of the hatch closing on the NOC or my concern for the two I’d left behind inside.
We didn’t have to take the stairs, Hatch pressed the call button for the lift and it opened as if it had been waiting for us. Inside, Hatch raised his eyebrows. Withdrawing my hand from his, I folded my arms. “Living quarters.”
The ride passed in silence. Once we stepped out onto the correct level, I went directly to Hatch’s quarters and used my palm print to access the suite. He slid a hand in the pocket of his sweats while he rubbed the back of his neck with the other. The interior was precisely as I remembered it. All the lights were on, it was a disaster area of items. The food I’d brought sat on the counter in the kitchenette.
“Yeah, sorry about the mess,” Hatch sounded almost sheepish. “I’m a little ADD sometimes. I get onto a project, then I get pulled away, so there’s a lot of half done things in here.”
I skimmed my gaze around the room as I paced it, still avoiding the detritus. The bedroom was visible, the sheets still rumpled and the lights on.
“How you maintain your quarters is up to you.” Not that I cared for the chaos, but I didn’t have to live amongst it.
“Thank you for the breakfast,” he said, a sheepish note creeping into his voice. “Damn sorry I wasn’t here to enjoy the fact you delivered it yourself.”
Pivoting, I faced him. “Where were you?” Because he certainly hadn’t been in here.
“I went for a run.” He gestured to the gray sweatpants, dark colored tank top and gray hoodie he wore. The shirt seemed a little darker at the chest, perhaps from sweat, though his forehead barely had any and his hair wasn’t even a shade damp. Like so many other suites, his was cold, as were the hallways.
“On the garden level?” The temperatures down there could be warmer. Still, when he showed up at the NOC, he hadn’t been panting.
“Is that a problem, babe?” He unzipped the hoodie and stripped it off as if he were warm, yet he couldn’t hide the piloerection of the hairs along his arm. At some point, he’d shaved, because the scruff I associated with him and Dirk also seemed absent.
“Not at all. I thought after being awake all night working on the water supply, you’d be asleep.” Hadn’t Oz said they were? And Dirk had been in his roo
m…or had he? All I really saw was a figure in the bed, I couldn’t make out his features directly. Of course, he’d exited from his suite, so maybe I was looking for trouble where there was none.
“Planned to crash,” Hatch said, giving me his back as he opened the cabinets in search of something. He finally located some coffee pods. He pulled them out and held one up toward me. “But I was mentally restless, so I went for a run. I was just coming back when the alarms went off.”
It all sounded perfectly plausible, so why didn’t I believe him?
“Coffee?”
“No, thank you.” If he’d been running, would he get a chill so fast coming back into the room? Not impossible, but he also wasn’t that sweaty. So maybe he didn’t go for a long run… The voice of reason prodded at me. Why was I looking for trouble? “Sorry, I don’t mean to be snippy. I have a headache. I should probably go take a pain reliever and get to work.”
The whole morning had been a mixture of odd disappointments and excited frustration. Neither of which contributed to improving my mood. I would owe Oz an apology. Whatever discussion he and Andreas had probably got interrupted by the alarms and whatever play we’d been discovering was thoroughly quashed.
There’s always later.
I ignored the hope in those thoughts.
“I’ve got some here.” He pulled out a small bottle of ibuprofen, then popped it open before carrying it over to me.
“Pills? Really?” The hypos were much more efficient.
“They work,” he told me, an almost stern note in his voice. As he poured a couple into my palm, he brushed his thumb across my forehead. “I don’t like to see you upset or in pain.”
I was upset. I was in pain. More than that, though, I was angry. Like an insidious invader, rage crept through my system, and I didn’t know what to do with it. I wanted to rip into him, and I had no good reason for such a vicious response. I wanted to march back down the stairs to challenge Dirk about this secret he’d apparently been keeping. Deserving or not, the sense of betrayal stung. I wanted to find Andreas and slap him. The man was truly riding my last nerve. And Oz?
Oz I was mad at because instead of staying with me, he’d gone chasing after Andreas. A necessary evil, but I didn’t have to like it.
I pulled my face away from the touch, then tossed the two pills into my mouth. Walking away from Hatch, I swallowed them. It could take anywhere from fifteen to thirty minutes for the medication to begin alleviating the discomfort. I nudged an open box out of my way and shook my head.
“If it bothers you so much, I’ll clean it up today.” He hadn’t followed me, but he did watch me with concern on his face. “I want you to be comfortable in here.”
Did he? It was like one of my father’s classic records caught in a groove. My temper just kept getting bumped back to the point where I was irritated all over again. “It’s not necessary.” I focused on him. “When did you four find the NOC?”
“First week we were here,” he said without missing a beat. The muscles in his upper arms tensed, but the rest of him remained in the same relaxed pose. “Dirk and I were exploring. Same reason I found the storage rooms with all the personal items.”
He had mentioned those. Taken me on a shopping trip to one, and I’d found so many great items. The splashes of color it added helped me relax. Perhaps a first step toward digging me out of my entrenched schedule?
“Did you four agree to not tell me about it?”
Hatch unscrewed the top of a water bottle all the while studying me. “I don’t recall any of us discussing keeping anything specific from you.”
My stomach sank. The hedged answer lacked any of his usual charm.
“C’mon, babe.” He smiled suddenly. “I know the alarm was annoying as hell, but we’re not your enemies.”
“I’d like to know what set the alarm off.”
“Me, too.” Following the swift agreement, he took a long swig from the bottle. “Why don’t we ask the computer?”
Because I didn’t trust the system anymore…and I wasn’t sure I could trust them. From the moment I’d woken up in this place, all I’d done was try to regain my sense of order. I’d done what the computer suggested, followed its guidance, then hid when I couldn’t deal with the people I found or the things here. So many little pieces didn’t add up.
The garden level was in the basement? It had a fake sky? False weather? Yet it was always full of new growth, fresh food. Water didn’t seem to have a warning on it, and, yes, the guys had been fixing the water system. But what the actual hell? Now an alarm that was nothing more than a violent sound played at crippling volumes?
It defied all logic. Why had I played along? The pain spasming right behind my eye flared, like a hot pulse, and it drilled right through my skull. I clapped a hand to my face, and squinted my eyes shut. The agony rolled over me in waves. One moment I was on my feet, and the next I dropped.
Hatch was there, saying something…but all I could hear was a rushing sound. Then a drumbeat. A harsh one. It beat so swiftly, I wanted to throw up. Lying on the carpet, I stared across the floor. All I wanted to do was stand, but my muscles wouldn’t obey me. The pain splintered, fracturing my thoughts. Hatch swam into and out of my vision, and then he looked toward the doorway. Stress filled his expression. Someone lifted me. As we turned, I caught a glimpse of a lifepod. Panels intact.
My vision whited out and finally tumbled into blessed darkness.
Chapter 14
Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of overcoming it. - Helen Keller
Hushed voices carrying on a heated debated echoed above me. When my eyes opened, all I could see was the circle of lights above. Too bright. I squinted against watering eyes. The circle within a circle of bulbs was too much. A masked face appeared in my periphery and the argument ceased. Why were there…? Waves of exhaustion swarmed over me and down I went again.
The next time I opened my eyes, the debate seemed to be continuing. My throat was dry, and my lips parched. I opened my mouth in order to tell them to shut up or take the argument elsewhere, because it all seemed like too much. Only the sound didn’t quite escape.
“I told you, she needs to sleep off the medication. Loading her up helped, but it’s still going to keep her down a while.” Oz. His voice penetrated the fog of argument with calm reason.
“She’s been down for ten hours. You’ve said that every fucking hour since she’s been here, so how much longer is a while?” Dirk. Brutal. The passion he expressed in so many ways, it left me chilled and hot all at the same time. Damn conflicting responses. But not afraid. Never afraid.
“Why haven’t more fluids been pushed?” Andreas. His scowl seemed to reflect in his voice. For a psychologist trained in human interaction and emotions, he seemed terrible at engaging with others.
“Like you’re really a specialist. Why don’t…?” Hatch. The dry wit, and almost careless sense of he could give a damn, made me want to smile. I didn’t believe he liked the game, whatever it was.
The game.
“You shut your fucking mouth.” Dirk. Every bit of his hostility seemed to pulse in the air. I forced my eyes to open again. When had they closed? “It’s your goddamn fault this happened.”
“Hey, I didn’t do anything. We were talking, and she asked for something for her head.” No defensiveness echoed in Hatch’s tone. “But if you want to make something of it, let’s go. Right here.”
Were they planning to fight? Dammit, why wouldn’t my eyes stay open? I tried to swallow, but it hurt so much I gave up the effort. There was no moisture in my mouth. Narcotics. They loaded me on them? Why? I had a headache? They should have pushed fluids for hydration and maybe a mild pain reliever.
Something metallic crashed into the floor. The racket stung. Apparently, I still had a headache.
“Gentlemen.” Oz. Oh good. “Enough. We have plenty of blame to go around. Some of us have pushed her. Some have pushed her away. Others are trying to trick her
into the direction they want her to go.”
Wait…? What?
“Just say it, Doc.” Andreas elongated each syllable. “Dirk changed the plan, again. Now Hatch is gonna cost us another month because he jumped the gun.”
I tried to swallow again, but my mouth wouldn’t produce enough spit to make it happen. The aggrieved note in Andreas’ voice sent a pang through me. As contentious as he’d behaved since waking, the genuine concern in every syllable couldn’t be discounted.
“An argument for another day, gentleman.” Unlike his earlier soothing tone, this time Oz sounded stern and unyielding. “This is what is in front of us. We had an agreement. Let’s not waste time renegotiating it.”
“You’re presuming we can salvage it this time.” A tired Hatch offered me more motivation. I needed to sit up. I needed water. Why the hell weren’t my limbs cooperating?
“Don’t,” Dirk ordered. “Just don’t. We knew the deal coming in, and we’ve done this more times than I can count. We’re not surrendering.”
“Five years,” Hatch argued. “Five. Fucking. Years.”
Five years? I was missing five years. What deal had lasted that long? Did they all remember? Had they all been lying to me? My pulse rabbited, and an alarm sounded. Suddenly Oz appeared above me. I blinked several times, trying to clear the fuzziness overlaying his features.
“Hey.” His voice softened, and the warmth of his hand cupped my cheek. “Welcome back.”
I tried to ask what happened, but it came out a weak croak.
“Water,” Dirk suggested. His blurry face joined Oz’s indistinct in looking down at me. The length of his hair seemed missing. When he canted his head, the hair gathered at the nape of his neck became visible. Relief nudged into my discomfort. The last thing I wanted was to discover the hair was an illusion.
A straw touched my lips and I sucked on it greedily. The cold wash of water across my parched lips and down my dry throat was practically nirvana. “Better,” I said though it came out a hoarse whisper. “What happened?” The more words I used, the worse I sounded.
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