by Chaim, Moran
“That the people are all her children and such?”
“Yeah, that bullshit. Try being the daughter of an important and smart woman telling you she doesn't want to listen to your paranoia no more. And that she has so many other children to take care of.”
“I would form a resistance, I guess.”
We laughed together. It felt so good to be out in the open about it. We reached the dining hall I saw on my second day in Knaan. There were people eating delicious looking dishes. Everyone greeted her. Then we found an empty table and sat.
“What would you like?” She asked.
“What time is it?”
“It’s time for breakfast. Eggs? Cheese? Salad?”
“I don’t want to eat that bug-algae shit. It makes me nauseous.”
“Oh no, the salad is real this time.”
“Real? As in grown?”
“Yes, we have hydroponic labs that grow vegetables.”
“So how come I had to eat that crap all the time?”
“Because we can’t grow enough for everyone. That’s just for people on duty.”
“Holy shit!”
I was too loud and everyone stared at me. I lowered my voice immediately.
“Of course I want a real salad.”
“Coming up.”
She walked towards the vending mechanism on the other side of the room.
Everybody was minding their own business like nothing happened. But maybe it was deliberate, to keep the resistance scandal quiet. How would it look like if people found out that the president’s daughter was the leader of the resistance all along? None of us had been publicly identified. It was a tranquilizer that killed our idea and some family diplomacy that revived it in a new form. I still didn’t know whether it was Isaac who snitched or Padma who spied. Could it be Bahomi? Regardless, it had turned out for the best. No more hiding. No more living a double life.
Shanta came back with our dishes. I got a pretty large salad with tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, and green leaves. No dressing though. She got herself a Shakshuka, which is basically eggs poached in vegetable ratatouille served over tomato sauce. You’re supposed to eat it with bread but there wasn’t any. I had the first bite of the first real salad I had since I got here. It wasn’t bad. I would prefer to add some lemon juice and olive oil but it did the job. The tomatoes had a weird aftertaste.
“Can you taste the tomatoes?” I asked, handing a fork with a piece on it.
She took the fork and tasted it.
“What’s wrong?”
“Weird aftertaste?”
“Nah, that’s our tomatoes. Get used to it.”
“It might be because you grow them underground.”
“Maybe.”
We ate quietly for a few moments. Was she actually mine? She left Bahomi for me, so could I just be with her without hiding it? Did I even want to be with her? She did manipulate me. But I knew that other than that I could trust her. Or at least I wanted to trust her because I had no one else to trust.
“You know you manipulated me into all this,” I said.
It was blunt but I didn't care. The stressful part was over and I could say whatever I wanted, finally.
She looked stunned for a second.
“I had to check if I could trust you.”
“By lying to me?” I asked.
“I wasn’t lying, I was being friendly.”
“You made me think you wanted me so I’d follow you to that room.”
“I did.”
She smiled. She had something in her teeth. She still looked cute. I pointed to it. She blushed and removed it, lowering her eyes.
“But you were with Bahomi.”
She deserved my pushing.
“Not anymore.”
She grabbed my hand and made me drop my fork. I was still chewing.
“I can think of something that will help you wake up.”
After two minutes we were making up in her room. She literally pressed a button on her bed and there was a door for an inner room that was bigger, with bigger beds.
“What is this?”
“Security measures. The president's family can't be safe in a normal room.”
The door closed behind us and we were alone. She kissed my face and neck. I was kind of frozen.
“Anything else that you 'rich and famous' have that I should know of?”
“We can take longer showers.”
“Oh, great,” I said.
She pushed me into bed and we were making out for real with hands above and beneath the clothes and all. Her tongue was so gentle it made me quiver. She started peeling off my overalls. I had just one more thing that bothered me other than the fact I was as pale as a corpse.
“What about running away north?”
“What about it?”
She apparently didn't mind me interfering with the questions, and set a gentle hand on my crotch.
“Didn't you say you'd rather live up there than staying here, if you could?”
“I did.”
“And?”
It was a bit hard for me to think with her hand stroking me.
“You were right; I didn't know what was up there.” She kissed me to hush me. ”They have a bigger Purist problem than we do. We saw what happened in Norway.”
She started to undress herself. It felt unreal.
“No point of leaving,” she finalized.
“Really? That's it?” I asked.
“I'm staying here with you. Is that ok?”
She was now fully naked, sending me an inviting smile. She was mine. Everything I had wanted since I arrived was being given to me.
“What is this? What’s happening?” I asked.
“Roy, relax. It’s fine.”
She leaned over and stroked my cheek.
“This isn't real, the salad, your skin, your tongue, this room.” I pushed her away from me. “I can't believe anything you're telling me.”
“You're freaking out right know, it's the tranquilizers wearing off.”
I jumped in my place.
“The tranquilizers? Your mom assimilated us!”
“She didn't. I talked to her.”
“But she did, this isn't real. We're inside right now.”
“You're acting crazy.”
I looked at her, studying her face.
“Maybe you're not real,” I said.
She tried to hug me. I shook her off.
“I need to wake up. I want to wake up!”
I started banging on the wall.
“Roy, relax! This is real!”
I banged on the walls so hard I started to hyperventilate. The light began to change.
“Please listen to me. It's me, and we're finally together. No more secrets.”
No matter what she said, it still didn't feel right. The same as my test with Dr. Manu. The simulation didn't get it just right and I could feel it. I had been assimilated. I was locked in a dream. She looked at me like I was insane. Her face morphed a little and she looked like Hadar.
“Stay with me,” she said softly. Whoever she was.
I had just one more thing to try. I closed my eyes and thought about flying. I imagined myself higher and higher above ground. Inch by inch. I was concentrating and sweating, my overalls hanging from my waist. But I felt resistance, like a gravity but stronger. I kept telling myself it wasn’t real and I was about to wake up. I opened my eyes yet I wasn't flying at all. I was still standing on the ground. Nothing had happened.
A second later I saw a bright white light, and then fell to the ground.
I woke up with a hand holding me down at the shoulder. It was a doctor pointing a syringe at me. Just like the first day. I didn't like the syringe way of communicating, and this time I was stronger and more conscious. The doctor looked shocked when I looked back at him. I grabbed his hand and directed the syringe to the bed frame while I punched him with the other, which knocked him down. I pushed my chest up to release myself from the strap t
hat locked me to the bed, but I failed. So I used all I had and managed to slide under it. It was a good thing I was still skinny. I took out the IV needle in my arm and the urine collector from my pants. Then I stood up, dizzy, and held the bed frame until I got my senses together. He was about to rise again so I kicked his stomach causing him to wiggle around like a worm. I saw the room's door was open and I looked to the other side. Shanta, Bahomi, and the rest were all assimilated.
An alarm sounded. Red lights flickered. I had to wake them up before someone else came. The doctor on the floor began to move so I stuck the syringe in his neck and he collapsed. I opened Shanta's bed and woke her up, and then I did the same for Toya and Dev. I stopped before I opened Bahomi's bed. Should I raise that asshole? He thought I was responsible. But we needed everyone and he was the best fighter. I opened his bed and woke him up gentler so it’d take longer. Then I went to the last bed. It was Dr. Manu, who had tested my skills. He was our inside man? The chief engineer was the guy? I woke him up and went back to the others and shook them a little more. The red light and the siren did the rest. Then, I went to see Shanta. I could have had her just a moment ago, yet it wasn't real. She was real now but she wasn’t mine anymore.
“We were assimilated, we have to run!” I shouted to them while they woke up.
Shanta looked at me frightened, like I turned her most delicate dream directly into a nightmare. Which was probably true.
“No time now, we have to go.”
We all ran to the secret room as fast as we could without the guards spotting us. We reached the room, gasping for air. After a few seconds Shanta started to talk.
“How did you wake up? No one wakes up from this.”
Then I felt a sharp pain on the back of my skull and I collapsed.
“I'll kill you. I'll fucking kill you,” I heard Bahomi shout.
Bahomi stood above me, kicking my ribs. I heard one of them crack. Dev came to my aid and was strong in comparison to someone just waking up from assimilated sleep.
“Don't you see what he has done?” Bahomi shouted while Dev held him against the wall.
“It's not his fault, he got caught too,” Shanta said to my defense.
“He brought her to us!”
Shanta and the rest looked at me.
“I didn't.”
I was in so much pain that I couldn't speak much.
“He just freed you from assimilation you idiot!” Shanta shouted.
“We don't…have time,” I said in pain.
Toya helped me up. It was a weird picture. Dev was retraining an enraged Bahomi while Toya was holding me up, with Shanta standing in the middle.
“Let me go!” Bahomi shook Dev off and stood next to the door facing us.
“I'm sick of your stupid plans over plans and never-ending contemplation,” Bahomi erupted with anger. “If it wasn't for him we'd be still on our original course!"
He swung his right arm at my face, but I pulled back.
“If it wasn’t for you we’d actually have a course!” He yelled.
He swung his fist again and I ducked under it, trying to make him angrier so he’d lose focus.
“You rat! You sold us out!”
This time he caught me with a kick to the ribs. I held on to his leg and punched his throat. He caved in and started coughing. Then I tried to grab him by the neck and push him to the floor but he released himself with an elbow to my ribs. I heard another rib crack, or maybe it was the same one.
He stood up, still coughing. He looked at Shanta and said. “Is this what you want, this pacifist peace of shit? You know he let the Purist go? He just let him go.”
“How do you know that?” I asked. “You were out on the ground.”
“I should have left you there,” Bahomi said.
I lunged at him, shooting my fists at his face, trying to hold his neck. He got me in the ribs over and over again. The pain was almost stunning but my rage and adrenalin soothed it from paralyzing my body. I grabbed his neck and started to strangle him.
“I should have let him bash your head on the ground,” I said through clenched teeth.
In that moment, that’s exactly what I did. I pulled Bahomi’s neck and pushed it back into the wall behind him. Before I knew it, his face was turning blue.
“Stop! You’re killing him!” Shanta yelled.
She stopped me at the last moment, pulling at my arms.
She unclenched my hands, freeing Bahomi. He was almost unable to breath. I was furious and I tried to get back in position but Shanta was in my way.
“Both of you stop!” She said.
“Enjoy your last minutes of peace, “Bahomi laboredly whispered.
Then he ran away.
“Where does he think he can go?” I asked. “They will catch him and find us.”
“I don’t know,” Shanta replied.
My rib was pulsing with pain. It hurt every time I took a breath.
“Find him before he does something stupid,” Shanta commanded Dev, who then rushed out the room. “Make sure no one sees you!”
Dr. Manu looked at me and smiled.
“Glad you didn't take the janitor job.”
He knew. That son of a bitch knew. He drilled me hard to tip me to the resistance’s side.
“We can't all go out like nothing happened,” he said.
“We can't stay here either,” Shanta said.
Was Manu the one pulling her strings?
“We can go to the gun room,” I advised.
“And then what? We're trapped again with no water or food,” said Toya.
“Food and water are no problem,” said Dr. Manu, “I can reroute the pipes.”
“They will search for us there,” added Shanta.
The alarm was still blaring. They could’ve come at any moment. We were all looking at each other, clueless. What could we do next? Bahomi was on the loose with crazy eyes, and we were exposed. All our plans had turned to garbage, and we knew it.
Then the power dropped entirely. No light, no air conditioning, not even the emergency lighting kicked on. Complete silence and blackness.
“That's odd,” said Dr. Manu, “It doesn’t look like the backup generators are working.”
Chapter 16
The power was still down and the air was getting heavy and sticky.
“If the backup generators don’t start in a minute, it's going to get really hot in here,” said Dr. Manu.
“Purists, I’m assuming. Great timing,” I said.
Suddenly Shanta snapped.
“It's Bahomi. He's waking everyone up and disconnecting the simulators’ backup generators. This is the old plan.”
“If he disconnected the wrong ones it means there aren't backup generators for security either,” said Dr. Manu. “I have to go.”
Who knew how many of these people had actually left the simulation to walk around Knaan in the past week, month or even a year? Now they’d wake up in complete darkness and almost definitely panic. The silence and confusion would turn into frustration, which would quickly turn into panic and angry screams and demands for answers.
We started hearing the commotion through the pipes and air tunnels. The bursts of sounds became more frequent, yet after a few moments the AC started working again. So did the emergency lights. The PA system rattled.
“This is president Padma. We’re fixing this problem. Please remain calm and stay in your rooms.”
I was sure Padma's attempt to sooth the panic wouldn’t work. Predictably, we started hearing muffled explosions from above, like a fireworks show in a nearby city. I looked at Shanta.
“The invasion,” I said, “they waited for the moment our systems break.”
“We're not ready,” she said.
“We need guns.”
“I can get you guns.”
“I need you with me. We need to talk to your mom right now.”
I looked at Toya.
“Get us as many guns and as many magazines as you c
an carry, and meet us at the security room.”
They took off. Shanta and I sprinted to the security room. I could tell she had difficulty grasping the concept of her plan going south thanks to Bahomi. We ran up the stairs amidst the sounds of explosions and panicked shouting.
“People of Knaan. Please remain calm. Our security system is handling the situation.”
Thank you, Bahomi, for rushing the apocalypse.
We came next to the security room. There were many other people there, all dressed in white overalls. They were pale, skinny and some were hairless. They were looking for answers. The door was shut and two guards with guns stood by it. We pushed through the crowd until we reached the door.
“Mom!” Shanta shouted.
“You need us!”
The guards looked baffled. They probably didn't know about the resistance. That was something Padma would never share in a PA announcement.
“Let us in!”
She demanded one of the guards open the door, and although he recognized her he didn't know what to do.
“I'm sorry. President's orders.”
The other talked into his comm device, and the door soon opened and Padma emerged. She looked at us raging.
“Catch them!” She commanded.
We couldn't escape because the crowd was pushing against us, and the guards held us with their guns against our chests.
“You need us. We're the only ones that know how to fight,” Shanta said.
Then a voice from the inside reported: “All sentinels down. Ten cameras down.”
I said to Padma, “You can't let them near the openings.”
“Take them back to assimilation and make sure they're locked this time.”
Toya and Dev rushed in with guns, and pointed them at Padma.
“Release them!” Dev said.
Looking furious, Padma briefly paused, but then ordered them to let us go.
Toya and Dev handed us guns.
“What do you want?” Padma asked.
“President Padma we need you here,” a voice from inside the security room demanded.
“You must fire at a higher rate to keep them away from the hatch openings!” I shouted.
Padma reluctantly listened. She looked like she knew she was running out of options.