by Grace Hudson
201 looked down at the straw, shaking her head. “No, it was not a weapon. But given enough thought, sharpened by time and patience, it was possible,” said 201. “I tried to keep this from you, Reno, since you would have been forced to send me to Zeta Circuit, or perhaps expire me yourself, I suppose there is no difference now.” She caught a glimpse of Reno, his eyes never leaving her face.
“Yes, Reno, I expired the Pinnacle Officer. I substituted myself for the Vassal, the 18Y Vassal that Pinnacle Officer Wilcox had chosen for the night. I stole a radio from the guards and I waited. I knew that Rafaella and the others would blow the beacon. All I had to do was make sure I was in the elevator when it happened. With the Pinnacle Officer, of course. He did not expect what happened next. He did not know I was the wrong Vassal until the elevator had stopped, but by then it was too late.”
Reno studied her face, his eyes flat, before tearing his gaze away. When he met her eyes again he appeared to stare through her, through the wall of the cabin, as if fixed on an unknown place far in the distance.
Now he knows, said the voice of Pinnacle Officer Wilcox. He will expire you before this night is over.
201 laughed to herself, her senses tingling, a chill shooting through her. She felt her mind wavering, ready to split from her body but she clenched her fists, determined to stay firmly in place. She cleared her throat, trying to keep the tremor from her voice. “Someone told me to use my mind rather than just my body. That is the reason, the only reason that I am here with you today. Your words taught me this, Reno. I have never forgotten them.”
“This is my fault…” Reno shook his head.
“No, I did this. This was something I planned, alone. You could not have known,” said 201, willing him to connect with something, any part of this that could make sense for him. The look on his face indicated that he would not be sharing her understanding of the situation.
“I hate to interrupt, but how did you know that we were going to blow the beacon?” asked Rafaella. “We didn’t tell anyone so how did you know? Did someone tell you? Who was it?”
“No, nobody told me.”
“You saw them,” said Reno, understanding dawning on his face. “You saw all of them.”
“What? How…”
“He’s right. I could see you, in my mind. That’s why I call you Raf.”
“I think it’s time for you to do some more talking.” She bent down over 201, lifting her from the ground and slicing the ropes from her feet. “You’re coming with me.”
Rafaella turned to address Reno. “I’ll be back with some food and blankets for you. Knock on the wall if you need anything, Petra and Kap are right outside.”
She turned back to Reno when they reached the door. “Oh, and don’t think about trying anything, Kap can be a little… unpredictable.”
201 looked back to see Reno glaring at her through the door as it slammed shut.
– 30 –
The door to the cabin swung open, revealing Lina kneeling by the hearth, stoking the coals to rekindle the fire. Lina looked up, her white hair illuminated by the flames. 201 stopped in the doorway, eyes trained on Lina.
“Hello,” said Lina.
Lina’s hair was wild, mostly white with flecks of dark brown peeking through in streaks. Her olive skin was dark, much like the faces of the Internees of Kappa, those faces from her dreams, the Kappa Internees who chopped wood in the heat of the day, sweating and straining without complaint. Her eyes were a vibrant green, with a kind crinkle at the corner and a welcoming smile. Her neck was lined, little collections of grooves running together and fanning over her collarbone. She wore a white tunic paired with a blue cloth belt, dark leather pants and dark brown leather boots.
“You… you are over limit.” 201 spoke softly, the words barely breathed.
Lina smiled. “Over limit?”
“I don’t mean… What I mean is…” 201 struggled for the right words. “I have never seen anyone, one like us, who is over limit. Not like this.” She stepped forward, reaching out and touching Lina’s hair. It was soft and light under her fingers. 201’s eyes followed the crinkles at her eyes, the little furrows above her eyebrows. 201 giggled to herself, touching Lina’s cheek. Lina grinned at her, nodding, a slight look of confusion creeping in.
“201, this is Lina. Lina, 201.” Rafaella closed the door, clapping Jotha on the back. He remained in place, saber drawn, guarding the door. Rafaella nudged 201 towards a seat by the fire.
201 turned back to Lina. “You made it. You made it past the limit. I am glad,” 201 said. “I mean, I am glad that you are. I hope to be like you some day.”
“Well... thanks then.” Lina clapped 201 on the shoulder, thankfully her good one. “Come, you need something to eat, you look starved.” Lina disappeared to the kitchen.
Rafaella turned from the doorway, raising an eyebrow. “What was that all about?”
“We do not make it to over limit in FERTS. The others... they do not understand what this means. If you were an Internee, you would be expired by now. I am 24Y,” said 201, gesturing to her insignia, the red numbers glowing in the gentle light of the cabin. “26Y is over limit. I did not have long to go before I was expired as well.”
“Tell me about Zeta Circuit. Many of the Internees were taken there, but they do not understand what it was, aside from the fact that they knew they were to be… expired as you call it, at some point.”
“That is the idea,” said 201, leaning back against the chair. The coverings were soft, warmed from the heat of the fireplace. 201 felt the need to rest once more, but decided on shifting to keep her back straight in order to remain alert. “None of the Officers know of Zeta Circuit except the ones who are stationed there. Even Reno, he does not know. The Pinnacle Officer keeps one Circuit from the other, hiding each set of processes so nobody knows what happens there except for the Pinnacle Officer, and his second-in-command, Officer Cerberus. Cerberus, who is now the Pinnacle Officer of FERTS.”
“They have a new Pinnacle Officer now?”
“Yes. The Pinnacle Officer is gone and another has risen in his place. There will be no end to this.”
“And you know all this? How?”
“Yes, I know... I know some things. I dreamed of these things, saw them as I lay awake or when I slept. The images come to me…” She scratched her forehead, flicking off a dried flake of blood. “I do not always understand their meaning, but I see things that I now know to be true.”
“Like us,” said Rafaella.
“Yes, like you, Cal, Adira, Petra, Jotha and the others. I had not seen Lina though. She was not there when I watched you go through the plan.”
“I still don’t understand. You say you saw us. How could you have known…”
“20:15 regroup at Zeta, blow doors. 20:20 lead Zeta Circuit out the door. 20:25 sneak out, get through suspension zone. 20:30 regroup and arm up. Does any of this seem familiar?”
“Yes but…”
“Except you were wrong about the time you would blow the beacon. Something went wrong, I had to readjust my own plan.”
“The charge didn’t go off…” Rafaella leaned forward in her chair, resting her elbows on her knees. “There was something up with the wiring, had to check it.”
“I didn’t see that. Like I said, I don’t see everything, sometimes it makes no sense, but this time I knew something would go wrong, the timings were out…”
“So you still risked it? Knowing that the timings were wrong?”
201 nodded. “It was worth it.”
“But why?”
“At worst, I would have provided a distraction in order for you to get away. Zeta Circuit would be safe.”
“No, at worst, we would have been killed, all of us. So many things could have gone wrong. Surely you know that?”
“I did not allow myself to think of that possibility. I had to focus. I did not expect to be here, I thought I would be expired before the end of that night.”
“A
nd Zeta would be safe.”
“But that was not my only plan.”
“No, you expired Pinnacle Officer Wilcox, an outrageous risk, if you ask me. If I was to take a guess, I would say that you lost your mind, maybe a long time ago.”
“That may be true,” said 201. “It did not seem to be impossible to me. All I could see was the plan, and then…”
“Your escape.”
“Yes.”
Lina came through the doorway, handing bowls of soup to Rafaella and 201.
“What is this?”
“What do you mean?” asked Lina. “The soup? You have never had it before?” 201 shook her head. “It’s just spicebush, carrot, onion, potatoes and beans. Trust me, you’ll like it.” She reached out her hand to stop 201, spoon poised at her mouth. “Just wait for it to cool down first, you’ll burn your mouth.”
201 put down her spoon, looking at the soup as the ingredients swirled in her bowl. She had never seen food like this, food that wasn’t in the square shape of regulation protein, the watery, nothing taste that she had grown to endure. Lina left to make a pot of tea, humming as she made her way around the kitchen.
“So how is it you come to be with the Epsilon Fighters then?” Rafaella’s face grew hard. “How is it you come to be here, attacking our camp?”
201 lifted the spoon to her nose, the aroma of the soup weaving its way around her. The fragrance was like nothing she had experienced before, warming her senses and making her feel a sense of something… something familiar yet unrecognizable. She placed the spoon back in the bowl. It was still too hot.
“I was captured. Recaptured, I suppose you could say, though Reno did not see it that way. He saw it as a rescue from the mercenaries. These rogues that I have never seen.” She looked up at Rafaella. “I was so close, Raf,” she whispered. “I nearly made it.”
“Yeah, well you’re not out yet. You attacked our camp. I’m not going to let you out to wander around where you could attack any of us.”
“I wouldn’t do that.”
“Yeah, you say that. You tell your leader, this Reno, that you killed a mercenary. You arrive here to attack the camp with the Epsilon Fighters. You tell me you killed Pinnacle Officer Wilcox. Forgive me if I don’t believe every word you say.”
“Last night. That ember you saw last night. That was me as well. It was a warning.”
“Yeah, well you say a lot of things, and now Cal’s injured, badly. I don’t take well to attacks, friendly or otherwise.”
201 thought it wise to remain silent if she was to get a chance to taste the soup. Just inhaling the aroma had been intoxicating so far. She had once before ventured to try the strange roots growing by the river, and though they did not agree with her, they were preferable to regulation protein. The regulation protein was familiar, predictable. She was used to the taste, though she did not care for it. It was always as expected, never varying to any great degree. This ‘soup’ as it was called, was a wild, chaotic mixture of items she neither recognized nor understood. The mixture of fragrances alone was overwhelming.
201 raised the spoon to her lips, sipping slowly. The taste exploded across her tongue, strange, earthy, warm, the taste of comfort, memories of something she could not understand, yet felt she knew somehow, yet could not possibly know. One word trailed through her mind as she sipped at the spoon, allowing the flavor to wash over her, filling her senses with warmth and comfort.
Home.
– 31 –
Everything was dark. 201 reached out to touch something, anything but she was floating, swimming in darkness. But she was not alone.
“Help me,” said a voice.
201 reached out again, stretching her fingers to make contact.
“I can’t find it. It’s too dark. Help me.”
201 spun her awareness to find the source of the voice.
Caltha was floating, spinning, curled in on herself. She looked so young and scared. Her eyes sprang open to stare at 201.
“Cal?”
201 gasped, opening her eyes to find she had slipped out of consciousness in front of the fire. The voices of Lina and Rafaella stopped as they both turned to face her.
“What did you just say?” asked Rafaella.
201 blinked at her.
“You said ‘Cal’, I heard you.” She looked over at Lina. “We both heard you.” Rafaella leaned closer to 201. “You don’t get to call her that. Why did you say her name?”
“I saw her,” 201 whispered.
“I don’t believe you. You had a dream, that’s all.”
“I saw her, Raf. She’s trapped. She can’t get out. Can’t find a way out. She was scared…”
“Shut up!” Rafaella stood up, eyes glistening. “Get her out of here! I don’t want to see her face. Get her out!”
Jotha strode towards 201, grasping her wrists behind her back, securing them with rope. He pushed her towards the door. 201 struggled in his grasp, turning back to Rafaella.
“You have to talk to her, Raf. She needs you.”
Rafaella refused to look at 201, turning back to the fire.
Jotha pushed 201 along the path towards the back cabins. 201 saw strange animals in fields, the sound of voices filtering out from the cabins, the glow of warmth seeping out through the windows.
“I was telling the truth, Jotha.”
Jotha gripped her wrist. “How do you know our names?”
“I told Raf already. I saw you, dreamed of you, long before I arrived here.”
“Well, that’s just great.”
“You heard what I said in there. Last night… that ember you saw, that was me. I was telling the truth. You have to talk to Raf, make her understand. Cal’s in trouble. She can’t get out. She’s afraid. You have to do something!”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” said Jotha. He led 201 towards the door, flanked by Petra and Kap.
“He’s pretty mad,” said Kap, gesturing over his shoulder to Reno inside the cabin. “Been yelling for a while now but he’s quieted down a bit.”
Jotha nodded, allowing them to open the door. He pushed 201 inside.
“Make sure they don’t kill each other,” said Jotha. “You hear anything worse than yelling, call for me.”
Kap nodded, placing a hand on Jotha’s shoulder. Petra gave him a grin, resting the crossbow on her lap.
“You ever going to sleep?” asked Kap.
“Yeah, just not yet.” Jotha gave him a smile.
– 32 –
201 lay face down in the straw, twisting her body in order to flip over into a sitting position. She edged back to where she thought she would find the wall. There was barely any moonlight to make out shapes in the darkness.
“Traitor.” Reno’s voice seemed to come from beside her. Too close. He growled, launching himself at 201 and butting his head against her midsection. She rolled, edging along the wall, straw shuffling at her feet, making too much noise for him not to hear.
She heard Reno rustle in the straw, ready to pounce again. This time 201 was ready for him. She waited until she heard the crunch of straw beneath his feet and threw herself down the wall, hitting the straw beneath. The satisfying thud of Reno’s head against the wall reverberated through the cabin. He slid down the wall, panting.
“Stop it. You will hurt yourself,” she said.
She heard another thud as he banged his head against the wall, breathing out in a rush. “I trusted you, 201,” he said.
“So you trusted me. I trusted Harold too. I trusted him to stop Officer Ryan from hurting me. He did not help me. I trusted you. You would have been forced to expire me at some point. I suppose you trusted Wilcox as well. Your trust in FERTS will be your downfall.”
“You lie,” he said.
“No, you will find that I speak the truth,” said 201, shuffling back to rest against the wall. “Or perhaps you will not. I really do not know.”
“I thought you saw everything. How can you not know?”
“I do not se
e everything, as you put it. I see things, some of them make sense, others do not. Sometimes I wish that I did not know about FERTS in the way that I do now.”
“You dare to speak of FERTS in this way. I should…”
“You should what? Expire me? Knowing what I know, it is the same as being expired. You complain of these ropes, this cabin. This is nothing! I sleep on straw tonight, and yes, I am bound. But that is nothing compared to what the Internees must endure. Perhaps you will think of Beta and Omega Circuit as you sleep, knowing that their nights may end with an Officer in their doorway, ordering them to strip.”
Reno exhaled, banging his head on the wall once more.
“Or perhaps you will think of Epsilon Circuit. The ones who are sold to Vendees for their private entertainment. They fight, then they are taken. Then they are expired.”
“What?”
“You didn’t know,” she muttered to herself. “Of course you didn’t know. You are the trainer. You know what the trainer must know, nothing more. Now I understand,” she said.
“How dare you…”
“Or perhaps you will think of Kappa, the Internees with their aching backs, the strain from chopping wood is too much you see. But they know that if they flinch, it they complain, as you complain of these ropes,” she added, shuffling her feet. “They know they will be sent to Zeta Circuit. It makes no difference. When they fall, they are sent just the same. And Zeta Circuit will burn, always burning, waiting again to be filled.”
“What about Alpha Field?”
201 sighed. “Did you know, Reno, what the plan would be if your attack on the camp failed?”
“What do you mean?”
“Pinnacle Officer Cerberus had a plan, did he not. Would it be so strange to think that he may have had a backup plan?”
“Well, the Pinnacle Officer would always have a plan. It is his duty to protect the Vassals from mercenaries. That is the main duty of the Pinnacle…”
“Mercenaries? Mercenaries? FERTS is built on a lie, Reno. And that lie is this: There are no mercenaries.”