by Beth Hodgson
“Let’s just say that they don’t like outsiders,” Kyle answered casually, not affected by the exchange.
As the two of them reached the outskirts of the camp, Emerald could see a few people standing guard with their guns drawn. Ryan waved to them, and the guns lowered, allowing them to pass.
Inside the camp were beautifully decorated tents in a variety of colors and patterns, easily noticed even with only minimal light from the bonfires. Scattered within the tents were metal trailers and a few stone dwellings.
There were already people hanging out by the bonfire, laughing and drinking. As Ryan, Kyle, and Emerald approached, the wasteland dwellers stopped what they were doing, trying to get a glimpse of the newcomers. There were several whispers, causing heads to appear out of the tent flaps, and faces pressing up against the glass of their trailer windows.
The group began to gather before the main bonfire, and Emerald noticed that the people that came out to see what was happening were mostly women. There were a few sturdy-looking men and some children.
“Kyle!” Emerald heard a man’s voice call out from behind. She turned, the wind whipping her deep-green hair in her face. Pushing her ponytailed locks aside, Emerald saw a thin, tall man with dark skin and long black dreadlocks. He was older, his skin weathered along with some gray sprinkled through his locks. He was wearing a long tattered red tunic with an intricate pattern; it billowed in the wind.
“Victor?” Kyle said, pulling Emerald’s arm to move closer to him.
Victor shook Kyle’s hand, then they shared a big, one-armed hug. Emerald watched the exchange, and his dark eyes noticed her immediately. He stopped, then bowed, falling to his knees.
“Princess,” he said, addressing her formally. There were loud whispers within the camp, and suddenly everyone was on their knees.
Emerald whipped around wildly, feeling panicked. “No, no, please.”
Everyone eyed her, including Victor. He cracked a light smile, then nodded his head, rising to his feet. The crowd followed suit.
“What brings the princess of Arcadia out to the wastelands?” Victor asked, waving at the crowd to disperse.
“Victor,” Kyle said, “there’s some troubling shit happening, and she needs to get as far as humanly possible from Arcadia.”
Victor nodded at her in acknowledgment, then turned to Kyle. “Indeed, there is.”
“What? How do you know? Was Arcadia’s broadcast live?”
Victor waved to Ryan, urging him to come closer. He turned to Kyle, then said, “I’ll have Ryan show you to your old trailer and have food brought up. Go rest and eat. We’ll talk in the morning.”
“Thanks. I’m pretty sure I know the way to the trailer.”
The cheer on Victor’s face faltered, then he composed himself. “Kyle, much has changed since you were last here.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
ORANGE
Colors appeared out of the blackness as images slowly morphed from fuzzy blurs to clear outlines. They made shapes, shapes in the image of a public restroom, all colored in shades of blue and orange. His body swayed back and forth. He was unable to get ahold of himself, as he was beyond inebriated.
Drew swung his head back sloppily, relieving himself in the urinal in front of him. After emptying his bladder, he clumsily zipped up his suit pants and fixed his collared shirt. He washed his hands and looked in the shiny mirror before him, gazing at his crooked black glasses through his drunken eyes. He fixed them, then took one last look at his appearance before stumbling out of the bathroom.
Spread out before Drew was a large party, filled with his fellow corporate associate scientists, directors, and other wealthy businesspeople. Air transports flew above the glass ceiling, capturing the night scene of the city. The party guests paid no attention to the aerial landscape. Most were mingling and laughing with the other scientists, drinking and eating food from party platters. It was the first time that Drew had heard some of them laugh. Everyone in the lab worked long hours, and they were all much too serious about their work. Including him.
Drew hadn’t even wanted to go to the party. He had always been a loner, and he didn’t seem to connect with anyone at work. He preferred his research over a simple party. It was much more exciting than a person. What he was working on would change the face of Arcadia forever. It was groundbreaking, something that would give people hope where there had been none before, and that satisfied Drew more than any party. But she’d convinced him. Between Gwen and work, they never had fun anymore, and she’d insisted that they needed to get out and at socialize like normal people every once in a while.
Who is she? She… she…
Malfunction.
Glitch.
“Looks like I need to call an air taxi. That’s a first,” she said, laughing. Drew looked at the blurry face in front of him. Everything was in precise detail except her face. It remained fuzzy, nothing more than a blur. “Are you ready to go?”
Drew nodded. “Yes. I think I will be sick soon if we stay any longer,” he answered. It was not far from the truth. He hardly ever drank, and now it was catching up to him.
“Okay. Let me say goodbye to a few people, and I’ll call the transport service,” the woman’s voice said. She laughed again. “It is something else seeing you like this. It’s funny, really. You are so… sloppy,” she remarked, chuckling.
“And so horny.” He leaned in to her, grabbing her by the waist, kissing her ear.
“Drew! Not here! Do you want people to find out about us?”
“I don’t care what other people think,” he whispered in her ear. Her hair had the light scent of flowers, her perfume radiating around her neckline. “Let the world know how I feel!”
“If people find out, they might terminate one of us,” she hissed at him. “Do you really want that to happen? Especially after all our hard work?”
He sighed. “No. You’re right.” He gave her a devious smile, dropping his hands from her waist.
She playfully shoved him away with her purse, then walked away to her other colleagues to say her goodbyes. She returned shortly, dialing the transport service on her communicator.
“Yes, hi, I’d like to request a pick up from Platform 1281…”
The voice of the woman was drowned out as the world spun around Drew.
White noise.
Static.
“Looks like they are ready for us,” the woman said as she ended the transmission, fixing her jacket.
Stepping outside, both of them waited for the transport. The lights were vibrant. More so than any other night that he could recall.
The taxi transport pulled up, and the back door opened for them to step inside. They seated themselves in the back end of the vehicle, then the door shut. Drew snatched the woman, reeling her into his arms, kissing her.
“You just couldn’t wait, could you?” She giggled, playfully returning his kisses.
There was a loud cough from the front of the transport, breaking the private conversation. “Where to?” the taxi driver asked.
The woman pulled away from him, embarrassed.
“Platform 683-A, please,” Drew said, pulling her back toward him, kissing her again.
“Sure thing, let me pull up the coordinates. We’ll be off in a sec.”
The engines sounded from the transport, and Drew felt them lift off. He paid no attention to the landscape outside the window; his drunkenness really had made him horny.
He felt her shy touch against his leg as they kissed again, and he smiled under their wet kisses. He hoped she was in the mood for some action when they got home.
With a sudden violent force, there was a loud blast from the engine. He felt the weightlessness inside of the transport for a second before his heart dropped into his stomach. The woman was yanked away from him, terrified. The driver was furiously yelling over his communicator, navigating the steering wheel while pushing multiple buttons, but it was no use. They were heading straight toward the gro
und.
A hard crash rocked his body, and he tried to make sense of the disaster around him. Screams from the woman. Shouts for help from the transport driver. Smoke. Lots of smoke. More screams. Fires. Orange flames engulfing him.
He couldn’t move. His right side was lodged in metal, and his body was broken. The heat of the fires incinerated him, melting his flesh as he screamed. Oh God, the heat…
“Drew! Oh my God, oh God… Drew!” she screamed.
Blackness.
His eyes jolted open.
No fires. No screams. Just a constant hum.
He must have been dreaming.
Do machines dream?
He sensed vibrations now.
Malfunction.
Keys typing.
Through the tangle of wires and machines, Drew saw the lab technician Telly glance at him. She was crouched over one of the machines, typing in code while plugging in several devices.
“You okay? What is it?” Telly asked in a soothing voice. She walked over and sat next to him on a stool. There were other members of Telly’s team working in the room, several of them working on his circuitry while others sat on their computers, typing away.
No sound came out of his mouth.
Telly rested her hand on his shoulder. “Sorry, Drew. I’m still working on that voice box prototype, but we were held back due to the damage to your circuitry. Fixing that is a priority now.” She held up a small flat screen from her lap. The screen had a long, thin cable that connected to the back of his head. “But in the meantime, we have this. Just talk with your mind. My tablet will translate it to text.”
Drew nodded, awaiting an order or question.
“What happened to you out there?” Telly asked. Drew saw the team pause for a moment, glancing in their direction curiously.
“I was locked on the target. I had her in my grasp,” replied Drew through the tablet.
“How did your circuitry go into overload? The authorities reported that there was purple lightning. Is that true? Did you see purple lightning?”
“Violet, 410 nanometers. Mixed with multiple wavelengths of the spectrum.”
Telly sighed. “What are you talking about?”
“The source had multiple frequencies… Able to emit different photon energies.”
He remembered seeing the frequencies within the light. It had all the frequencies except one—orange. But the red was not as powerful as the others.
Telly shook her head, confused. “Did this violet lightning cause your system to fail? What happened?”
“I had the target in my possession, but a man interfered with my mission, causing me to release the target, not by choice. I engaged both persons. After that, violet lightning.”
“Then?” Telly asked eagerly.
“I continued to pursue the target and the unknown man until the border of Arcadia. I was overcome by a force, which caused me to go off course and crash.”
“Force?”
“Affirmative. 410 nanometers.”
“Drew, did you see the cause of this lightning? This force?”
“No.” His body suddenly shook violently, an electrical current shooting through his body, then stopped. “I did not see the source.”
“Telly,” Robert called out from behind his platform, putting down his tools on a metal tray.
“What?”
“We replaced about thirty-eight percent of his wiring and circuitry. The transfusion is in place, and we restored his main transistors. I think before we replace the remainder of the shorted parts, he needs to rest and let his body recharge with the injected blood.”
“Agreed. But all of you must stay on site. I have to report to Director Santiago in twelve hours’ time, and I need everyone on standby in case something happens.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Robert replied. “We have our communicators. Page if you need us. Michael is right outside.”
“Thank you.”
“What’s that? Did I just hear a thank-you from you?” Robert joked.
“Yes, you did. Although I just might take it back if you continue to stand behind me and annoy the hell out of me.”
“Good night to you too.” Robert chuckled, then walked out of the lab.
Drew watched as Telly waited for Robert and the others to leave the room, then closed the door behind them. Darkness settled in his room, and the familiar bluish light from the observation window appeared. Occasionally, hints of color from the machinery lit up sporadically.
Telly put down the communication tablet on the platform he was plugged into, then walked over to him, staring. Gently touching his hand, she then guiding his hand to the curve of her waist.
Drew continued to look at her, his eyes glowing.
What is she doing?
Her hands traveled across his body, exploring the flesh infused with machinery. She then placed his mechanical hand behind her, then buried her head in his exposed chest.
Drew froze, unaware of what he should do. He needed instruction.
Reaching for his face, Telly touched it softly, keeping her eyes steady on where the fingers were heading.
She continued to move her hands, first to his flesh, then to his mechanical side, watching him as he remained inanimate. After three minutes of contact, she paused in front of him, her eyes firmly studying his.
“Drew… do you remember?” she asked him quietly.
“Remember what?”
Picking up the tablet, she saw the words across the screen, then shot him a look. “Us.”
“Negative.”
“Do you have any memories at all?”
“Fragments. I cannot distinguish between reality, memories, or my programming.”
“Are you able to recall any of them?”
“They disappear two minutes after I awake.”
“Then you do dream?”
“Yes.”
“Can you tell me about them?”
“I cannot recall any except one.”
“Tell me.”
“I see a green jewel. I need to replicate the jewel. One hundred times. I cannot replicate the jewel. Because of my failure, I am enslaved to the darkness.”
There was a long pause, then her eyes widened.
“What does it mean?”
Cannot compute.
Drew began to shake violently, causing his processor to overclock. Orange light flashed from his cybernetic eye, pushing him to the brink of overload.
Access denied.
Telly laid a hand on him while she adjusted some of the exposed wiring. Whatever she did, it calmed him. Slowly touching him, her eyes met his.
“Do you feel anything when I touch you?”
Was she trying to confuse him somehow? “Yes. I feel your hand on my face.”
“I meant inside. Did you feel any emotion of any kind?”
Did he? Should he have? It was too much to use his brain processor. “Negative.”
“You must have felt something,” she protested.
“Nothing.”
Telly began to shed tears, a human response for crying. It seemed familiar, but he couldn’t understand why.
“I just want you back,” she whispered, rubbing her fingers under her glasses.
“That does not compute.”
“Of course it doesn’t!” Telly snapped. She threw the tablet across the room, the cord yanking itself out of the back of his neck. As it did so, it caused his neck to whiplash, jerking from the force. “Why should it?” she yelled. “After all, you’re mostly machine now!”
Drew looked at her, cocking his head, trying to decipher the situation. He didn’t understand why she was reacting the way she was.
Telly slumped to the floor, and Drew could no longer see her. Breathy sobs echoed in the chamber, coming from her direction.
Across the room, the cracked tablet glowed white with his words still on the screen. Why did she throw the device?
***
It needs to be done. She is clearly unstable. I’ll b
e damned if she gets the whole team fired for her outburst. The director needs to know about her behavior.
Michael waited.
Telly came bursting out of Drew’s room, then slammed the door button behind her.
“Rough day?” Michael asked from above his computer screen.
She gritted her teeth, then walked furiously out of the lab, the sounds of her feet getting faint.
When he heard no more of her, Michael peeked out of the lab and down the hall.
No one was there. There was no sound coming from the dorm room, and it was closed. All was quiet.
They must still be napping.
Michael quickly bolted to the elevators, then swiped his key card, stepping inside. The glass elevator ascended, giving him a view of the city. The morning sun approached, reminding him of another night of sleep lost.
It was more than apparent now that Telly had an unhealthy attachment to Drew, one that no scientist should ever have to their experiments. Michael had heard her mutter things to Drew over the weeks leading up to the resurrection, things that only girlfriends or wives would say to their significant other. But now, it seemed, her attachment to Drew had escalated even further. It was one thing if she was a bit overprotective about Drew since she worked on him, it was certainly another thing for her to try to advance on him. What was she thinking? Was she trying to get romantically involved with company property? With experiments? This whole situation proved that he should have been in charge of Lab 34. After all, he had been with the corporation much longer than Telly, and he was long overdue for a promotion. But no, she had to come in and take his position. Perhaps after reporting to the director about what he had just witnessed, things would finally change.
The elevator came to its destination, opening its doors to a large outside platform. Immediately, Michael was greeted by one of the corporate guards.
“ID.”
Michael flashed his card, and the guard scanned it.
“Clear.”
He walked past the guard, then waited in the designated spot for the company transport. He watched as a transport landed for the person in front of him, then waited his turn for the next one to arrive. It only took several minutes.
“Where to?” the driver asked as Michael entered and seated himself on a plush blue seat.