by Magus Tor
“You slept for the entire day,” the blonde woman said with a smile when she saw Aurelia. “How are you feeling?”
“About as good as can be expected,” said Aurelia.
Elza sat on the couch, Aurelia on a chair facing her.
“Elza, I need to talk to you about something.”
“Sure, whatever you need.”
Now came the hard part. “But I need this to stay between me and you. Completely confidential.”
“You mean don't tell Jonathon,” said Elza, raising an eyebrow.
“Right.”
Elza bit her lip, thinking. “I'm not sure that I can promise you that, Aurelia. I mean, if it's something that's to do with the Resistance, then I think I'm morally obliged to talk to him about it if it concerns him.”
Aurelia sighed. “I'm going to ask only for this, Elza. I need your help, and I need this to be just you and me. And you owe me.” She hadn't wanted to say that, but it was true. Elza owed her something; the woman had tried to kill her, after all.
“I know,” was all Elza said.
“This isn't directly Resistance business, and Jonathon shouldn't be truly affected. I mean, his career or anything. And it's time for me to call in my favour. I need help, and only you can give it to me.”
Elza nodded. “Okay. Tell me what you need.”
“I need to rescue Nicholas.”
The older woman shook her head. “Aurelia, don't you think that maybe it's time you let this go? I know you consider him a friend, but have you not done enough already?”
“Would you do the same for me?”
“Of course,” said Elza. “But this is different. He's a Clone.”
“To me it's not different. I need him out of wherever he's being kept; I'll handle things from there on in.”
The older woman nodded. “I think I can help you. I've been thinking about a way to get him out, because I had a feeling that either you or Jonathon were going to want to get your hands on him. And there's something I think we can do.”
“Without telling Jonathon?”
“If necessary, yes.” Elza leaned forward, her elbows on her knees as she explained things. “Nicholas will be in the Military prison down at the Arena.”
“Okay, as long as they haven't injected him yet.”
“They won't have. I'm sure of it. There's something going on here—he should have been injected when he was arrested, no questions asked. The fact that that didn't happen makes me think that they need something from him before he can be killed. Something like information about the Resistance maybe.”
Could be, Aurelia mused. On the other hand, it could be because he'd been arrested on the orders of Jonathon, and the sec Workers were waiting for his say so before they did anything. Nicholas wasn't in the Resistance, and as far as Aurelia knew, she, Elza, and Jonathon were the only ones who knew of his connection to them.
“So how do we get him out?” she asked.
“I can get him out,” Elza said. “The hospital has a Clone quota to be used each month and can take Clones from wherever we like to fill that quota. Generally we take them from the Military prison anyway, since it's a good use of resources. I might be able to either persuade someone to give me Nicholas or smuggle him out with the others that we take.”
Aurelia's mind lightened a little at the possibility of getting him out. “Wait a second,” she said, processing what Elza had told her. “Why do you have a quota?”
“For testing, of course.”
“Testing what?”
“Drugs, medicines, procedures, new operations, you name it. There's a huge testing facility at Lunar Hospital.”
“You test things on Clones?” said Aurelia, disbelieving.
Elza sighed impatiently. “Look, Aurelia, I know how you feel about Clones, but you know how they're viewed here in Lunar. New drugs and procedures need testing before we can use them on people, and we use Clones for that purpose. Most of the Clones we take from the Arena would be injected anyway, and there are strict protocols to prevent us from taking underage Clones, unless really necessary. We do not subject them to needless pain and suffering. You're a med Worker, Aurelia; you of all people should understand this. We need test subjects, and this is the best way for us all.”
Gods. Aurelia hated that half of her understood and even agreed with the argument. She took a deep breath. Now was not the time to argue with Elza, and she knew it. If the Clone testing facility was the excuse needed to get Nicholas out, then so be it.
“Okay,” she said. “Is there something I can do to help?”
Elza shook her head. “Leave it to me. I'll need to talk to a couple of people. Meanwhile, you can arrange whatever it is you're planning for when Nicholas gets out.”
“How long will this take?”
“A couple of days probably. The faster the better, though,” said Elza. “I can probably pull rank and get him sent to me, but that will attract suspicion. I think the best bet is going to be smuggling him out with a group of regular test subjects. That's going to take a little while to arrange. I'll do what I can and let you know when I've got a definite date and time, okay?”
Aurelia nodded. “Fine.”
She looked at the beautiful woman in front of her. Elza was quite something, she had to admit. Not only beautiful but clear headed, smart, and logical too. Well, she was when she wasn't addicted to stim patches and trying to kill everyone, anyway. Suddenly, Aurelia felt a wave of affection for Elza. She knew that the woman felt uncomfortable helping her without Jonathon's knowledge, but she also knew that Elza felt she needed to honour her debts, and Aurelia liked that about her.
“Elza,” she said, leaning forward to grasp the woman's hand. “Thank you.”
Elza smiled. “You're welcome. But maybe you shouldn't thank me until I've done what you've asked of me.”
Aurelia grinned at that. “I've no doubt that you can do absolutely anything you put your mind to,” she said.
“Well,” said Elza, getting up, “that's something that you and I have in common, then.”
Talking to Elza had been a breeze compared to what Aurelia knew she needed to do next. She called a transport pod and was waiting outside the hospital when it arrived. As she drew up to the security in front of Jonathon's house, she was afraid for a moment that she wouldn't be allowed in, but the Worker just waved her through. The pod dropped her off, and she went to the large door, hesitating before she knocked. He'd told her once that she didn't need to knock, but now she felt uncomfortable just walking into his house.
He came almost immediately and was about to kiss her before he saw the look in her eyes.
“Come in, have a drink,” he said, turning and walking into the living room.
She waited until they were inside, but once the door was closed she couldn't hold back anymore. She almost spat out the question that had been burning through her since the morning, maybe even since the night before.
“Why didn't you save him?” she said.
He turned, surprised at her vehemence. “Save him?”
“You were there; you saw what was happening. Why didn't you stop them from taking him?”
“I saved you,” he said. “I got you out of there.”
“Right, but you could just as easily have taken both of us. You're Elite—you can do what you want, remember?”
He poured a glass of water, and she noticed that his hand was shaking.
“It's not quite that simple, Aurelia. That's not how it works. There are limits, even for me; there are things that I can and can't do. Even if the only reason I can't is so as not to create suspicion.”
“And there are things that you can't do because you don't want to do them,” she responded.
“You don't understand.” He placed the glass on the table.
“I understand that you could have saved Nicholas and you didn't. And I understand that it's better and safer for you to let him be imprisoned and then injected.”
“Aurelia!” he sh
outed, then took a moment to regain control of himself. “I came all the way out of the dome to get you and Nicholas. Why would I have him arrested as soon as he got back in?”
“You came all the way out of the dome to get me.” Aurelia felt the high tremor in her voice, rather than heard it, and knew she was close to being overcome with emotion, but she couldn't stop herself. “You came to get me because you want me, and you're just so used to getting everything that you want, aren't you? You've never been deprived of anything, never had anyone say no to you for anything. If you see something that you want, you can just take it.”
Her heart was beating fast and her stomach shaking inside her.
“Aurelia, I gave you my word.”
“And I believed you. But now I find that I can't.”
“So what are you saying?” His voice was quiet now, and he wasn't looking at her anymore.
“I'm saying that I can't trust you. I don't know where your motives lie, why or how you do the things you do. But I know that you didn't save Nicholas, and I think that you probably even endangered him. And I can't live with that.”
She was hanging by a thread now, able to control her emotions only through sheer force of will. He didn't fight her; he simply nodded. And she didn't need to say more. She turned and walked out, the door sliding shut behind her. The transport pod was waiting as she had ordered it to do, and she climbed inside. She made it all the way past security before she started crying. When the sobs came, they were loud and wrenching, and there was nothing that she could do to stop them.
By the time she got back to the hospital, it was over. She'd had her moment, had let her emotions control her, but now she had no choice but to put them to one side. She carried the deep hurt inside her but kept it well hidden. She had work to do and couldn't afford to throw everything away because she was, what? Heartbroken? Destroyed? Both.
She went upstairs and washed her face, the cool water on her hot skin soothing. Now she needed to get on with things. She could hurt again later. What she really needed was Zak, the Clone Nicholas had said would help her. She needed a place to hide Nicholas, and since Zak had a human wife it meant that he probably knew somewhere and that she needed to contact him.
Finally she decided to go to the Arena, the only place that she knew she could count on finding him. She cooked up a story about losing a necklace during her tour, and the receptionist gladly called her tour guide to assist her.
His eyes showed no recognition when he came down to meet her.
“No,” he said. “I'm afraid I didn't see anything. But I'll be sure to contact you if we find your missing jewellery.”
She passed the note to him as he shook her hand. Then she walked out of the Arena, legs shaking a little, but satisfied that she'd done what she could.
He contacted her that evening and agreed to set up a safe house somewhere in the City where Nicholas could stay while... while what? That needed to be her next job. What the hell was she going to do with Nicholas once he got out of prison?
She turned the idea over and over in her head but could come up with only one solution. Earth. She felt sure that he would argue with her on this, but it was the best plan. She just had to figure out how to get him there.
There was little time to plan that now. Elza had told her that Nicholas was to be released that evening.
“We often move the Clones at night,” she'd explained. “It's easier on everyone concerned, and there's no need to draw attention to ourselves. Nicholas is to be smuggled out with a group of others.” She held up a hand to silence Aurelia, who had been about to ask a question. “You don't need to know the details, trust me. It's better if you don't.”
“Okay.” Not like she had a choice.
“Once he's in the facility,” Elza continued, “it's up to you to get him out. You'll find the testing areas on the seventh floor of the hospital.”
“Fine.”
She could come up with no way to get Nicholas out of the facility without connecting herself to the process. She knew that her number would be registered when she went into the testing area, and there was no way around it. Once it was registered, when Nicholas disappeared, it would be obvious who he had gone with. So... so what?
Aurelia looked around her quarters, familiar now after only a few weeks. Being a med Worker was all she had ever wanted; being appointed to Lunar Hospital was the best thing that had ever happened to her. And now... Now she was going to sacrifice her dream. So be it. She had worked long and hard, but there were things more important than dreams. And deep inside, she knew that she was doing the right thing, no matter how hard.
Decision made, Aurelia felt empty. This, she was sure, was the best solution she could come up with. The only solution she could come up with. There was no point worrying about it; she had to do what she had to do, and for a moment she felt a brief pang of sympathy for Jonathon. Duty overcame personal concerns.
She waited in her quarters, pacing the floors anxiously. Zak contacted her first, saying the safe house was arranged. Elza didn't contact her until close to midnight. But the Clones were installed in the facility, Nicholas among them. She even had his room number. Aurelia wanted desperately to say goodbye to Elza, but she didn't dare let her know what she was planning on doing, so she simply thanked her. There was nothing more to say.
In her med Worker uniform, she attracted no attention at all as she prowled the seventh floor of the hospital, looking for the testing facility. She finally found it down a long corridor and entered her number to get through the locked doors. Inside she was confronted by a young female med Worker.
“Can I help you?” she asked.
Okay, maybe not planning an explanation beforehand had been a bit of an oversight; Aurelia should have realised that, even at this time of night, there would be a Worker on the floor. Thinking that she could just waltz out with Nicholas had been naïve.
“Er... I'm here to get a Clone,” she said, feeling like an idiot.
To her surprise, the med Worker nodded. “Sure. Is there a particular one you're looking for? Or would you prefer to have a look around and see which will fit your needs?”
Weird. But okay. “Er... I'll have a look, if that's alright?” No point in giving Nicholas's name—and besides, she wasn't even sure if he was registered under his own name, though she presumed he wasn't.
“No problem. Please don't take him out of the hospital building itself, and return him to the facility in the morning,” the young Worker said.
Aurelia suddenly realised the implication of what she was being told to do. It sounded an awful lot like the Worker was giving her permission to take a Clone for, well, intimate purposes. She felt herself begin to blush.
“Don't worry,” the young Worker said, patting her arm. “Lots of the female med staff do it; it's nothing to be ashamed of, only natural.”
“Oh, of course. Natural. Right.” Aurelia could feel her face a deep burning crimson, but she went along with the idea. At least it would mean that Nicholas wouldn't be discovered missing until the following morning when she didn't return him.
She walked down the corridor, peering into rooms, trying to look as if she was making a choice. She finally saw him in the second-to-last room on the right. Keying in her number, she opened the door and was glad to see that not even a flicker of recognition crossed his face.
“Come with me,” she said sharply.
There were six Clones in the room, and Nicholas looked at the others as if confused before obeying and getting up off the bed he’d been lying on.
“Hurry it up,” Aurelia said, as if impatient to get going.
He walked over to her and then followed her out of the room and down the long corridor.
“Good choice,” said the young female med Worker as they passed her on their way out.
Nicholas acted the part well, silently obeying her until they were down the stairs, through the yard behind the hospital, and finally outside of the grounds themselves.
&
nbsp; “Where are we going?” he said urgently.
Aurelia hushed him. “Just wait.”
She hadn't dared order a transport pod; she wanted no record of where they were going. Zak appeared in front of them a few minutes later, and without a word they followed him through narrow streets. They seemed to be leaving the centre of Lunar behind. They walked for maybe fifteen minutes, meeting no one other than the odd late Worker making his or her way home.
Zak stopped in front of a large building and pulled out a key. Gesturing that they should be quiet, he opened the door and then opened another, which led down into the basement.
“You'll be safe here for a few days,” he said, showing them into a small room next to air filtration and heating devices. “Don't make any noise. There's food and water down here, so don't leave until you have to.”
Nicholas gripped his hand. “Thanks.”
Zak nodded. “You'd have done the same for me,” he said.
Aurelia knew he was right, but she offered her thanks anyway.
When Zak left, she finally turned to Nicholas and hugged him.
“Was it really awful?” she asked, pulling away.
“Which part? Being interrogated in a Military prison or being a Lunar Hospital guinea pig?” But he was smiling.
“You didn't really think you were going to be a guinea pig, did you?” she asked, half sure he was joking.
“Nah. As soon as I realised we were being taken to the hospital, I figured you or Elza had something to do with it. I just kept my mouth shut and went along with everything until you came to find me.”
He sat on the low single bed, stretching his legs out in front of him. Aurelia began examining the small room, finding boxes of dried foods and canisters of water as well as a door that opened into a tiny bathroom.
“So are we even now?” she asked, pulling out food and beginning to make something for them both.
“Even?” said Nicholas, spying something and getting up to look in the food box more carefully.
“Well, you rescued me, and now I've rescued you, so we're even, right?”