Just when I’m beginning to think my MicroComm has failed, Ayma’s voice fills my ear. “Velkan’s not responding to us, but we picked up some conversation that might relate to him.” She pauses, before adding. “Something about a last minute addition to the transfer shuttle to NeuroOne at dawn.”
“NeuroOne?” I blurt out before I can stop myself.
Beside me, the tall woman catches a ragged breath as she reaches for another hare. My eyes latch onto hers and I see terror in her strained expression.
I let my knife slip from my grasp and bend down to the floor to pick it up. “Ayma,” I whisper in an urgent tone. “I know where Velkan is but I don’t know if I can get to him before morning. I need you to stop that transfer. Do whatever you have to do.”
To her credit she doesn’t give me all of the reasons why it’s impossible. My tone is enough to tell her this is a matter of life and death.
“Copy that. I’ll be in touch,” she replies. “Be careful.”
The MicroComm clicks off and I get to my feet and finish gutting the hare in front of me before hanging the meat on an empty hook passing by on the overhead conveyer belt. I clean two more carcasses before a buzzer goes off over an intercom. The workers set down their knives, leave their stations and line up at the door. I fix a blank expression on my face as I fall in behind the tall woman.
“Shift change,” she mutters over her shoulder. I move with the line of bodies as we march out of the prep area, accompanied by two guards. I force my feet to keep moving as we exit the building, even though everything inside me revolts at the idea of leaving Velkan behind.
We troop down the street at a brisk pace and turn into a fenced courtyard dominated by two large identical concrete buildings. The men file silently to the left and I follow the women into the building on the right. One of the guards waits by the door until we are all inside and then locks us in. Almost immediately, a low murmuring begins and the tension among the women lessens.
The tall worker who drew the map in blood comes up to me and cocks her head to one side. “You’re new to foraging and food prep, aren’t you?”
I give a tentative nod, unsure how to explain my sudden appearance, but she saves me the trouble.
“This is the third division they assigned me to this year,” she grumbles, throwing herself down on a sagging couch. “I only worked in the vegetable gardens for a week before they moved me.”
“Tell me about it,” I say with an exaggerated sigh.
The woman gestures around her. “These are our quarters. They leave us alone in here for the most part so long as we show up for our shifts. It’s past curfew now so we’re locked in for the night, but during the day we can go out in the yard if we’re not on duty.”
“So there are no guards in here?” I say.
“Just a few cameras in this main living area,” She smiles faintly, as though it’s a forgotten habit, and pats a spot on the couch. “I’m Solina.”
“Trattora,” I say, sitting down beside her. “That map you drew. What is that place?”
She gives a one-shouldered shrug. “Med station. There are often accidents with knives in the kitchens.”
“So will they return my friend to the male quarters after they dress his wound?” I ask.
A frown ripples across her forehead. “He was in a fight, so I can’t say for sure.”
“It wasn’t his fault. He was trying to break it up. The other worker stabbed him.”
Solina hesitates before she responds. “They’ll review the cameras to see what happened. Your friend will be sent back here if he committed no crime.”
I grimace. Does intervening in a fight qualify as a crime? I’m not sure I want to know the answer. “What will happen to the worker who stabbed him?”
Solina picks at the frayed fabric on the armrest. “He’ll be reassigned to the mines if he has no prior convictions.”
I fix my gaze on her. “And if he does?”
“He’ll be eliminated.” Solina's eyes soften when she sees the frozen look of horror on my face. She bends over to remove her shoes and whispers. “Don’t think about it. You need to keep your spirits up.”
“Keep them up for what?” I hiss back. I throw a guarded look around our bleak quarters, unnerved by the thought that they might be monitoring our conversation in here.
Solina lowers her voice further. “There’s always the possibility your friend could escape. There are rumors some made it to the mountains from here. That’s where I’m going if I ever get the chance.”
I give a tight nod. It’s safer for both of us if she has no idea that I came from the mountains. But now that she’s talking, I need to find out everything I can from her that could be useful.
“Where’s NeuroOne,” I whisper, keeping my face down, and shielded from the cameras.
A shadow passes over Solina's face. “No one knows exactly. Preeminence is headquartered there.”
I lean my head against the couch, pretending to rest. “Is that where the processing plant is too?”
Solina purses her lips. “So they say, but don’t worry about it. Once you’ve been tested and assigned to the collective, you’re free and clear. Preeminence isn’t looking for our level of IQ. They rarely transfer anyone from here, unless there’s been some kind of error.”
Struggling to keep my expression neutral, I give a nonchalant nod.
Solina stretches and gets to her feet. “I’ll show you where the showers are if you want to clean up before dinner.”
I freeze, remembering the jumpsuit under my bloody garb. Of course, they discovered Velkan’s suit when they went to dress his wound. It would have raised questions, and led to retesting. That’s why he’s earmarked for transfer to NeuroOne. I get to my feet, my legs like rubber beneath me. I need to hide my suit.
“You go ahead,” I say to Solina when we reach the shower room. “I’ll be right there.”
I slip into a bathroom stall and hurriedly undress and tuck my jumpsuit around the pipe behind the toilet bowl before heading out to the showers.
The hot water is a welcome relief from the grime and blood and horror of everything I’ve seen today. I stand trancelike under the jet until another woman yanks me out from the stream. “Three minutes,” she snaps, thrusting a raggedy towel at me. “Your turn’s over.”
Solina gives me a sympathetic smile from the bench where she is drying off. “They cut the water off after so many minutes.”
I don’t bother to ask why. It doesn’t make any difference if it’s to conserve water or power, or simply to add to our discomfort. I won’t be here long enough to care about the mechanics of how the collective operates. If Ayma can’t halt that transfer to NeuroOne, I’ll have to make sure I’m on it with Velkan.
I towel off and dress in the clean set of clothes Solina hands me, before slipping back into the bathroom stall. I reach behind the toilet bowl to retrieve my jumpsuit. My blood runs cold when my fingers grasp at bare pipe.
18
I crane my neck and peer behind the toilet bowl. It’s gone! I stare at the u-shaped pipe in disbelief willing my suit to miraculously reappear. For one wild moment, I consider the possibility that it too has some cloaking technology previously unknown to me. I feel around the pipe again for good measure, but the suit is gone. A gnawing panic mushrooms. I drive my fingers into my hair, frantically running through the possibilities. One of the women took it, but who? And what is she planning to do with it?
I gulp back a jagged ball of fear. Whoever has it, she doesn’t know the suit belongs to me. But if she turns it over to one of the guards, it won’t take long before they realize it matches Velkan’s. They’ll retest everyone. It’s only a matter of time before I’m destined for transfer to NeuroOne too. Hunkering down in the stall, I activate my MicroComm. “Ayma, do you copy?”
“Go ahead.”
“Someone stole my jumpsuit while I was showering. If they turn it over to the guards, it’s only a matter of time before I’m discovered.”
Ayma doesn’t even hesitate. “We need to get you out of there. I can generate a new ID for you as a guard. Can you break into the admin building?”
“Where is it? I’m in the housing quarter.”
“I’m pulling up the facility layout right now. Looks like the admin is located directly behind the male housing block. I can unlock the doors and rig the cameras if you can find a way out of your quarters.”
I peer up at the bathroom vent above me. “There’s only one possible way out of here. I won’t know if it’s an option until I get a better look—”
Before I finish my thought, an ear-piercing siren blares through the building. “Something’s happening. Gotta go,” I say to Ayma in an urgent whisper.
I step out of the bathroom stall and join the other women lining up inside the main living area.
“What’s going on?” I ask the woman standing next to me.
She frowns and shakes her head as a camera overhead whirrs in our direction. A moment later, the door bursts open and several female guards walk through.
“Foraging party from today, step forward,” a flat-nosed guard with bulging forearms barks.
Fear grips me in a chokehold. I throw a furtive glance around, waiting on someone else to make the first move. One by one, the women who rode back in the foraging transport vehicle with me comply with the order.
The guard narrows her eyes. “One more.”
My heart races in my chest. I can’t hide forever. My tag will indicate it was me. I step forward and join the others, clutching my hands in front of me, head hung low.
“Strip down,” the guard orders us.
My legs almost give way. Just as I feared, they must have discovered Velkan’s suit beneath his collective uniform. They’re searching for anyone who was with him.
The other women start to undress. With fumbling fingers I pull my shapeless tunic top over my head and toss it at my feet.
“You too!” The guard snaps at an older women who hugs her arms tightly to herself. When she doesn’t move, two of the guards march over to her and rip the tunic from her. My throat tightens. She’s wearing my jumpsuit under her clothes.
“Found another one,” the thickset guard barks into her earpiece.
Two guards march the terrified woman out of the room, ignoring her protests.
“Get dressed,” the thickset guard mutters before exiting the room after them.
I exchange a shocked look with the other women and hurriedly pull on my clothes, shaking at my narrow escape. I’m sick inside that I let that woman take the fall, but it won’t be long before she confesses to finding the suit stuffed behind a toilet bowl, and once they test her they’ll know they’re looking for someone else who came in on the transport. I have to move quickly.
I slip back into the bathroom stall and reactivate my MicroComm.
“Are you okay?” Ayma asks.
I grimace, my nerves still jangling inside. “For now, but the woman who stole my suit is in a world of trouble.” I whisper a quick recap of what happened.
“If they test her, they’ll realize she’s not who they’re looking for,” Ayma replies, confirming what I already know. “You’re in danger as long as you stay there.”
I eye the narrow vent above me, gauging its width. Whatever the risk of being caught outside after curfew, I’m going to have to take it. “I’ll need a guard’s uniform as well as an ID,” I say, my decision made.
“The laundry facility backs up to the kitchens,” Ayma replies. “Grab the ID from admin first. You can trade shifts with someone to access the laundry afterward.”
“I’ll link to you when I’m ready for you to rig the cameras and locks,” I say. “I need to wait until everyone’s in bed.”
The MicroComm goes silent and I rejoin the other women in the main communal area. The atmosphere is more subdued than before, and no one mentions the woman who was dragged away. It’s almost like there’s an unspoken rule to pretend she never existed.
Dinner is a simple vegetable stew served with hunks of dark bread. Evidently feeding our brains with protein is not a high priority as we’re below par for extraction. The stew is bland and mushy, nothing like my mother’s shram broth swimming with delicious flavors. My thoughts drift to Cwelt, and then to Buir and Ghil. I squeeze the hunk of hard bread in my fist, resolving to do whatever it takes to return to my people.
When I become aware of the conversation at the table, I realize the women are discussing my jumpsuit. Evidently their curiosity got the better of them. I drop my gaze, certain my eyes will give away my guilt.
“But where did she get it from, that’s what I want to know?” a tiny, sharp-faced woman with close-set eyes whispers in a nasally tone, before slurping on a spoonful of stew.
“She must have found it out foraging,” a young woman with a long chestnut braid over one shoulder replies.
“I’ve never seen anyone dressed like that before,” the sharp-faced woman says.
Solina places a hand on her hip and strikes an exaggerated pose. “How do you know what they’re wearing in the CentroZone these days?”
A couple of the women titter, breaking the tension.
“I think she stole it from one of the guards,” the sharp-faced woman whispers, arching a conspiratorial brow. “Why else would they be looking for it?”
“Do you think it had something to do with the man who got stabbed today?” another woman muses. “He was with the foraging party.”
Solina's eyes dart to me. A flicker of misgiving runs through them before she turns away. My pulse pounds in my throat. Does she suspect something? More importantly, can I trust her not to voice those suspicions?
The women chatter among themselves for a while longer before rising to clear the table and start on the dishes.
Solina turns to me. “I’m going to bed. I’m not on clean-up tonight and you’re off the hook as you’re new. Some of the women will play cards afterwards if you want to stay up.”
“No, I’m exhausted,” I lie, knowing I won’t sleep a wink tonight. I’d rather pretend to be asleep than make small talk or answer awkward questions from the other women. I accompany Solina into a dark, rectangular dormitory lined with numbered wooden bunks on either side of a narrow aisle. She throws herself down on one and stares up at me with a mocking smile. I shift uncomfortably when I realize she’s waiting on me to walk to my bed.
“You don’t know what bunk you’ve been assigned, do you?” she says. She gets to her feet and walks across to me, scrutinizing my face. Her lips hover so close to my ear I can feel her breath tickle the hairs inside. “You’re not the girl who went out on the forage transport this morning, are you?”
For a long moment I say nothing. She knows. She probably knew all along. But if she’d wanted to turn me in, surely she would have done it when they arrested Velkan. I have to believe I can trust her. I give a quick shake of my head.
Solina looks at me incredulously. “Why did you volunteer to come here and let someone else escape in your place?”
The words leave my lips before I can stop them. “To find my parents.”
Solina rumples her brow in confusion. “They’re here?”
“Not here, exactly. I think they’re at NeuroOne.”
Solina's dark eyes glisten with fear. “Then you’re too late to help them.”
“Maybe not,” I say. “Our parents were government scientists. We believe they were conscripted to work for Preeminence.”
“Our parents?” Solina's mouth opens and shuts a couple of times. “So that kid who got stabbed today came with you?”
I give a despairing nod.
Solina blinks as she puts it together. “He has a high IQ, doesn’t he?”
“Yes.” The word stabs at my throat like a lodged fishbone. I know by the way Solina asked the question that she thinks it’s all over for Velkan.
“He’ll be transferred to NeuroOne,” she says flatly.
I jut my chin out at her. “I�
�m going to save him.”
She gives a sad shake of her head. “There’s nothing you can do for him now.”
“I’m not alone. I have people on the outside helping me. I can get a guard’s ID and get on that transport with him.” I lean closer to her. “If I secure you one too, can you find us uniforms? You could escape on the foraging transport vehicle.”
Her eyes widen with longing, but she pulls away from me, battling with the audacity of it all. “I don’t believe you,” she whispers. She flicks an uncomfortable glance around the dormitory. “Did they put you here to spy on us?” Her voice shakes as she settles on the only logical explanation for why I’m here instead of the dark-haired girl who left this morning with the foraging party.
I shake my head and activate my MicroComm. “Put your ear to mine.”
She stares dubiously at me for a moment, before leaning in next to me.
“Ayma,” I say. “I have someone here who wants to escape. Her name is Solina, but she needs you to convince her I’m not spying for Preeminence. Can you make her an ID too?”
“I can generate as many IDs as you want,” Ayma responds. “The tricky part will be breaking in to admin to retrieve them. Once you’re inside you’ll need to go to the third office on the right, that’s where the IDs are issued.”
Solina's breathing is heavy beside me. She’s listening intently, but whether or not she’s buying what Ayma is saying remains to be seen.
“Ayma,” I whisper. “Tell Solina why I infiltrated the collective.”
“To look for your parents.” There’s a pause and then she adds, with a twinge of melancholy. “And mine.”
Solina frowns and fixes a piercing gaze on me. “So let’s say I believe you, how are you going to get us out of here?”
“Ayma can access the collective’s network and databases. She can assign us to whatever patrol we want. I’m going to be on that transfer to NeuroOne if she can’t find a way to stop it. You can request duty on tomorrow’s forage transport vehicle and escape into the woods. I can tell you where the resistance is hiding out in an underground cave. You’ll be safe with them.”
Girl of Stone (The Expulsion Project Book 2) Page 14