Configured: (Book #1 in the Configured Trilogy)

by Jenetta Penner

  Accept it.

  My heart plummets.

  Really? So soon?

  My thoughts move from Aron to Meyer.

  Should I tell him?

  I wave of guilt that I don't understand shudders through me. I have nothing with Meyer other than friendship. We shared a terrible experience which bonded us, but that's normal. There can be nothing between us any more real than the moment we shared in the simulation last night.

  I sigh and re-log into my spouse pairing account, tapping into Aron's profile.

  I accept.

  * * *

  At my cubicle, I link my Flexx to sign in, ever aware it's still collecting information for Affinity. I attach my headset, then login to GenTech's server. The real world falls away, leaving me isolated in my virtual office.

  ASSIGNMENT: SECURE WORKSTATION 519 displays in the headset.

  Corra's station again.

  What's up with that?

  Chemist reports when she tried to archive work the system crashed and would not reboot.

  I sigh at the fact that it's not really in my job description to fix crashed systems, so there must be a security concern. I access the workstation from here and scan the system for any viruses, all while running system diagnostics in the background.

  Hours later, I haven't found anything of substance, but my assignment still tells me the system is not secure. This should be a simple fix, but for some reason, it's not. Each time I fix a small issue that may be triggering the security alert, another minor issue is caught by the scans.

  My stomach groans, and I check the time. Lunch. The diagnostics and malware scans continue as I rip off my headset and eat a sandwich I packed this morning.

  After lunch, I'm still not getting the information I need, and request to work onsite in the lab. The approval comes almost immediately, and Corra is notified I'll be there soon. I bundle up my bag and headset and slap my handheld on my wrist before moving through the InfoSec suite.

  Just as I walk by, headset removed, Daniel swings his chair out halfway and eyes me. I ball my fists, but continue past.

  The lab chems are so focused on their work that I'm not noticed when I arrive. Corra works with a sort of liquid today in a beaker, and although it's cool in the room, seventy-six degrees Fahrenheit, according to my EP, sweat flecks her forehead. She's probably trying to prove her extraordinary ability and receive a promotion. I snicker at the thought, but quickly lower my head so no one notices.

  I scan the door to the secret lab. It's still closed.

  I spot the appropriate work station. On my approach, Corra turns, and I gesture toward her chair to work with her system. She moves to a table with another project. I attach my headset, sync it to her viewer, and begin the diagnostics again. As they run, I lean back and wait.

  While I'm waiting, my Flexx buzzes with a message. I snatch it and tap the screen. Aron.

  I'm so appreciative you got back to me so soon. Can we meet this evening to discuss the details?

  I guess so?

  This whole spouse pairing thing is moving too fast with Aron. If we make a contract now, we'll be living together by next week. Paired for life.

  When I move to answer, illumination in my EP snaps me up in my seat.

  Avlyn Lark: Instructions for Modified Mission

  My heart quickens as the words scroll on the bottom of my vision.

  This will only be available for viewing one time. Please memorize your instructions.

  Focus. Breathe.

  Your current assignment is to disable the security of lab 1008B of GenTech at precisely 5:56 p.m. in a manner that cannot be detected using access from workstation 517402. When complete, exit the lab suite, leave the building, and return home. Await further instructions. Do not make any modifications to these instructions.

  Send an alert only if you CAN NOT complete the project.

  My gut forms a knot, and I comb the room, making sure no one else realizes what I'm seeing. Of course they can't though, since the words are from my EP.

  If I can't do this and am caught, I'm finished. There will no leniency from Manning. The pressure from my heart crashing into my ribcage makes my lungs ache for air. I close my eyes and concentrate on slowing my heartbeat. I remember the beach sim with Meyer, visions of the slow waves lapping onto the shore rolling through my mind.

  Finally, it slows to a manageable rate, and I lift up the headset and open my lids. Nothing has changed in here. Corra still works and sweats in the corner, and the other chems buzz about like drones.

  I check the time and note the countdown in my EP.

  4 hours 32 minutes

  I can only hope this project takes me that long.

  * * *

  5:33 p.m. It's almost time. I make a last check over the system I'm working on and sort through the information to make a few final patches to security, but it's still telling me the system's faulty and unsecured. I'm not even sure I'll finish this today.

  Should I start another set of scans today or wait for tomorrow?

  I rub my hand over my face and wipe the perspiration beading at my temples. It's not hot in here, but it is to me.

  Thinking about my options, I brush over the touchpad on the desktop. A sting strikes my arm. The EP goes white, and I'm in. It's not time yet… but I'm in.

  Security for floor ten, room 1008B, I think.

  Warmth surges through me, and the lab transforms to glimmering white. All the chemists are gone.

  Inside the system, I stand and walk to the secret door. With the tips of my fingers, I touch it. Nothing happens, and I put my hand on the security pad.

  The door slides back, revealing the same equipment to that in the real lab: enlargers, viewers, and tables, only they're digital, not solid.

  As if my feet work on their own, I step into the virtual lab. This is a bad idea. My assignment is to simply unsecure the room and leave, but instead, I walk around the tables and into a second attached room where I see them.

  Ten human forms lie on top of tables, each enclosed in a clear, dome-like case. They're shimmery white, as is everything else in the room, with no facial details. When I tap the clear dome, it displays information, including an identification image.

  VacTech test subject 3043

  I stare at the image. I've seen her before… on the street. The woman with the long, nearly white hair that security took away in Level One the other day. The one screaming they couldn't take both her and her spouse and leave their child behind. They never drafted her as a soldier, but took her here as an experiment.

  "What are they doing?" I mumble.

  As if the system's responding to my question, the answer immediately appears in the form of information, scrolling across the bottom of my vision. I flinch.

  Development Project for Aves Virus Stage 2 - Project Ectopistes

  Goal: To create a mutated version of the original Aves virus and the accompanying VacTech to be administered to Level Two and Three citizens and select Level One citizens. Elimination of all non-essential Level One citizens.

  Choking for breath, I wave away the information and jog out of the virtual room. Even inside the system, my lungs burn. Manning is testing subjects pulled from the draft, seeing how their bodies respond to the virus to release it on a large scale.

  A sickness washes over me, making my head spin. The room begins to dissipate.

  No, no, no! my mind screams. I can't leave before I'm sure the mission is complete.

  With a groan, I push away the sensation and the vision returns to normal, but it won't hold for long. In my mind, I quickly program the door to secure again while coding a timer to unlock it at 5:56 p.m. I blink twice to end the experience and am met with DIAGNOSTIC COMPLETE in my headset. Along with it, my EP is flashing ERROR in the corner.

  Great...

  I scour the code and make the repairs with trembling hands.

  This can't be happening.

  After ten agonizing minutes, the viewer flashes, COMPLETE. />
  It's 5:51 p.m. Five minutes until the timer releases the door. I reach up and grasp at the headset and pull it from my face. This needs to be returned to my cubicle. The instructions are to exit straight from the lab, but taking it home isn't an option. It's against regulation for me to take my headset home, or even leave it in here. I nod to Corra to alert her the repair is complete, grab my bag, and head to the elevator.

  At my InfoSec station, I force my shaky fingers to logout of my GenTech account and return the headset. The line back down has gotten long, but the elevator is still the fastest way to go. When my turn comes, I board and move to the back, keeping my arms crossed and head lowered.

  We make a stop back at the lab floor, and people get on and off, but I stay tucked in the back, head down. Corra tucks in and slides up next to me before the door closes.

  "You have to come back to the lab," she whispers.

  "What? Why?"

  The cab stops and chimes. Floor three. Corra grips my arm, pulling me forward.

  What is she doing?

  "They need you up there. Come back."

  Corra releases me and bumps her way through the people in the elevator. I don't want to create a scene, so despite my reservation, I follow.

  "Why did you go upstairs?" she pants as we hustle through the corridor of floor three.

  "I had to return my headset."

  "Those were not your instructions."

  I shake my head, confused. "Instructions?"

  "You weren't supposed to go back upstairs. It wasted too much time. We need to take the service stairs now. They're waiting for you at the bottom of the elevator."

  "Who?" I choke out.

  "Direction."

  "How do you know?"

  "When they saw your EP had an error, I got a Flexx message to escort you from the building."

  Questions reel through my mind. Corra is working with Affinity? But if she's right about Direction guards waiting downstairs, there's not much choice but to follow her.

  Instructions loading alternating with ERROR blinks at the bottom of my EP.

  We race the three flights down, successfully avoiding a few other GenTech employees.

  "Keep your head low and stay behind me," Corra instructs.

  At the bottom of the stairwell, we disappear into a group headed toward the exit. Through them, I see the guards waiting near the elevator, scanning the departing workers. One of the dark-suited men with a Direction logo on the right side of his chest glances my way, and I tuck my chin down and fall in behind Corra, who leads me down a service corridor and out the back.

  As we hit the street and tuck into the crowd, it hits me.

  This is it… I'm not going back home.

  Nausea wells up my throat as I realize I won't see Kyra again… won't have a chance to help her. A picture of Aron's face finding out what happened to me fills my mind, and to think, he offered me a spouse pairing.

  "Where are we going?" I ask. I'm still not receiving directions in my EP.

  "Level One."

  "What? Why? What about the increased security?"

  "It's been reduced," Corra replies sharply. "Level One is subdued… Don't you watch the news?"

  The EP finally kicks in and starts directing me on which streets to take.

  Keep north using Tenth Avenue to Sector A

  The two of us hustle down Tenth as the sky darkens, fast enough to move from sight, but not so much as to stand out from the clusters of citizens returning home.

  When we hit the first street of Level One in sector C, I see Corra was right. Security has returned to nearly normal. Guardians Drone buzz above, and an occasional human patrols the street.

  As we bound through C, the EP words flash red with each new direction, but still assure our location is secure. We press into Sector C, silent, except to let Corra know the directions since it's easier than constantly checking her device.

  We pass Twenty-first Avenue, and I slow as we near Bess's building. Something tugs at the back of my mind to go there. Bess is my last real link to Ben. Maybe I need answers. When Lena was captured, I didn't do anything but run. Now she's going to be executed Friday. I can't let that happen again.

  I can't message her a warning… It's probably monitored by now.

  "We need to keep moving," Corra says.

  "You don't have to stay with me," I tell her. "I can find my way."

  "No, my order is to escort you to the destination."

  Figures I'd be stuck with the girl who's always trying to prove herself.

  "Then I guess you're going with me," I say as I sprint across the street toward Bess's.

  Corra catches up as I enter the lobby. "We're not supposed to be here," she whispers.

  "I need to see someone."

  "No way," Corra hisses. "I'm to make sure you're safe. Let's go. Now." She turns and motions over her shoulder for me to follow.

  "I'm going upstairs. Either come with me, or don't." I move toward the stairs without turning back and bound up. Soon after, a second set of footsteps closes in.

  "You're coming?" I ask.

  "Just following orders to escort you," Corra's frustrated voice sounds from below.

  We rush from the landing on floor four, and I knock on Bess's door.

  Corra grasps my arm and yanks me toward the staircase. "No one's home. Let's go."

  I tear from her grip, pull back, and rap again. "Bess?" I say into the crack of the door.

  "Avlyn, there's no one here. Now let's go."

  "Knock it off, Corra. This is important." I spot the lock pad to the side of the door and set my hand on top, but use my body to block what I'm doing from Corra.

  The door clicks, and I bump it open to a darkened room. Night vision on my EP kicks in. Inside, the space illuminates in my vision, looking absolutely ransacked.

  "Bess?" I call. "It's Avlyn."

  I step over a few pieces of overturned furniture and manually switch on an intact lamp in the corner.

  "Careful, stuff's everywhere," I say, remembering Corra doesn't have an EP to lighten up the room.

  She shuts the door behind her and one tiny auto light flicks on. "What happened?" she asks.

  "I have no clue. Haven't spoken to Bess for weeks."

  "Who's Bess?"

  "My bio mother."

  I wander into the bedroom, and it's in shambles too. The room is strewn with bedding, and every one of the drawers is pulled out, their contents littering the floor.

  "Well, she's gone, and this isn't exactly the safest spot for us to stay."

  "It's safe," I hiss. "The EP would tell me about any danger if there was surveillance."

  Corra skulks in the doorway, wordless, for once. When I push past her for the living room, her glare burns into the back of my neck.

  "I'll just be a minute," I say. "Then we can go."

  All the drawers are pulled out in the living room too. Bess's mementos are either ripped from the walls, broken, or both. Over near the dining table, the mostly smashed animal figurine lies on the floor. I walk over and kick away some debris, finding the head of the deer figurine. I pick it up, stroke the intricate details, and return it to the shelf.

  I spin around and head straight to the office next, Ben's old room. The door is open, and the desktop system gone. The desk it rested on is overturned and partially smashed. Quickly, I scan the floor for any hint of the paper I found in the hiding place under the baseboard. Not that they were mine, but Bess's letters are some kind of link to my past. After today, I'll have nothing.

  "Do you see any papers?" I ask.

  Corra walks inside the doorway and glances around the room. "No. What would you need paper for?"

  "Help me move this." I grab the corner of the desk and push it. It makes a sharp scraping sound across the floor. Corra stands behind me, doing nothing.

  "Thanks a lot," I mutter.

  She scoffs, still not moving.

  The desk is pushed aside enough for me to get at the loose baseboard
piece and pry it up. Once it's out, I reach my hand into the opening to check for anything. Disappointingly, the stack is gone, and so is the stuffed rabbit. I stretch my fingers to the back of the hole and the tips catch on something.

  I grab it and pull out two small, folded sheets of paper.

  "Find what you were looking for?" Corra asks impatiently.

  "May have."

  She walks over, but I pull the note against me and glare back at her.

  Corra throws her hands up in the air and shakes her head. "Whatever," she says and sits on a broken chair she's overturned.

  I unfold the note.

  Avlyn,

  You will probably never find this letter, but in case you do, I have to tell you something.

  First, I know what you found. Please understand what Devan and I did was out of love for you and Ben. We had no idea of our mistake until it was beyond too late. We deeply wanted the best for the two of you, and were deceived into thinking the research project would ensure your futures. The credits were always to make sure of that.

  Please, forgive us.

  I also felt you deserved for me to tell you why I left. I didn't message you because I wasn't sure how you felt about me, and it wouldn't be safe for me to explain myself that way.

  I never knew my bio mother or father. I was raised by Level One parents and told nothing of my past. Even the nano scans revealed no answers. Over the years, I've pieced together rumors and evidence and believe I now have answers, but if Direction finds out, it will not only put me in danger, but you as well.

  Disappearing is the best thing for me to do.

  I love you, I always have.

  Bess

  What? This is ridiculous. Who knows why I bothered with this? I crush the letter into my pocket and turn to Corra. "Let's go. There's nothing here."

  26

  Corra stares at me, eyes narrowed. "That's it?" she huffs. "You see some letter, and now we can move on?