The Sorting Room

by Angelina Singer

  INTENDED PARTNER: #45839202841111847593030287563

  PROGENY: NONE - TERMINATION OF PARTNER

  SOLUTION: BOTH WILL REMAIN IN CHAMBERS UNTIL RELEASED AT THE DISCRETION OF THE RULER OF THE UPPERWORLD.

  Zephyr

  WHAT? So Luna and Onyx were both humanoids at one point? Or, almost? How is that possible? Why are they here, then? Evander’s whirling thoughts nearly cloud his vision completely, but it still doesn’t take long for him to notice the real reason for the cryogenic box.

  In the formerly-sealed box, lie two separate, pink, gel-like substances. They are somewhat cognizant of small, under-developed fish, with what looks like a primitive beginning of an eye and nose that are only partially formed. The translucent material seems flesh-like, the surface wet and cold to the touch. The two are held securely in the box, arranged in mirror-image positions - the yin and yang of life itself.

  What does this even mean? I am so confused… this is utterly unbelievable! I better go bring the remains to Zephyr. And with that newfound revelation, Evander closes the small box, sealing the paper in it with the mysterious substances, places the small box in his pocket, and leaves his filing office to inquire of Zephyr what this all means. For him right now, for Luna, for Onyx, as well as the entire future of the Upperworld, it is critical that he finds out what this anomaly could mean.

  ✷✷✷

  Onyx is viewing the security footage of that fateful day in the Sorting Room with wide eyes, and a stomach full of anger. He ejects the data chip from the holograph machine and bolts out the door of the security office after Jade for further questioning.

  “Jade! You mean to tell me that Luna covered for someone else’s mistake? What would make her do this? Why did she do this? What - what can I do to help her?” Onyx runs his hands through his bleach-blonde hair, his blue eyes vibrant with vengeance. “Delphine will pay for this!” Jade is unable to respond immediately, and her silence only infuriates him further.

  “Well? Aren’t you going to explain this to me? How could you have let this happen on your watch?” Onyx’s ice blue eyes are burning with anger, nearly searing Jade’s stone cold, emotionless face. The two are two opposing powers, their infinite strengths working against one another, fire against rock. Jade remains silent, monitoring her words, to keep the secret under wraps, for fear that if she told him the truth, that his world as he knew it would shatter into a thousand pieces.

  “Onyx, even if I told you, you would not believe me.” Her sneering voice only further fuels the fire burning in his very core. Onyx moves closer to Jade’s smug, relentless gaze, until his breath is hitting her face with a forceful dominance of desperation, and his strong arms are poised ever-so-carefully on her tough shoulders.

  “Try me.”

  CHAPTER 17

  Delphine is still crumbled on the floor of her habitation pod.

  The thoughts… won’t stop. I can’t. Move. I’m dying. My head hurts. Everything hurts. It should have been me… they should have sent me. I’m a coward. I’m a fake. I’m worthless.

  Her head is sinking beneath her heart, her small body breaking apart little by little. The sheer thought of an innocent being sent to Earth in her place is beginning to slowly destroy her. She grabs a knife off of the kitchenette area of her habitation pod.

  Maybe this is what I deserve after that. Maybe I was never meant to exist anyway.

  Ever so slowly, she raises the knife to her own throat, the cool, crisp metal grazing the surface of her pure skin. She applies pressure, awaiting the warm gush of blood to signal the beginning of the end, but none comes. Her skin appears to be indestructible, an exoskeleton effective in protection against outer threats, but quite useless in protecting her against her own paralyzing thoughts. The sheer inability to end it all only prolongs her pain. She gets off of the floor and lays down on her bed, the lush pillows swallowing her weary body like a soul-hungry demon. Without any other escape from her guilted reality, she presses the sleep aid injector on her wrist communicator and allows the sweet, medicated slumber wash over her until her fears dissipate completely into the blackness of her sedated consciousness, at least for now.

  Evander re-enters her habitation pod to check on her on his way to talk to Zephyr about what he found, and finds her unconscious on her bed. “Delphine? Are you all right? What’s wrong? Are you asleep? TALK TO ME DELPHINE!” He is beginning to panic, until he sees the blue light blinking just below the pale, thin skin on her inner wrist. Her sleep aid has been employed - she is only asleep. Of course - we are all immortal here. His momentary panic subsides until he notices the knife in her outstretched hand.

  Did she try to harm herself? I’d better bring her to the psychological infirmary. She is in no shape to be able to do her job, and if I can’t get her better soon, I’ll be failed as a guide. Zephyr told me that I had to get her working soon to avoid certain repercussions.

  “Cosmo, I have a recruit that needs some psychological attention… Yes, she is unfit for the Sorting Room until she is treated properly… Okay, I’ll give you the pod number… 593, New Arrivals District, Delphine. She’s asleep right now, appeared to employ her self-injecting sleep aid. There is also the curiosity of a knife poised in her hand… I suppose I forgot to mention to her that she is immortal. She’s been under a lot of stress adjusting to her existence. Quite strange actually - I’ve never seen a new recruit be this distraught… I wonder what happened to her, poor thing.”

  Evander carefully sits next to Delphine’s sedated body on her bed. He uncomfortably pats her shoulder, and then checks her neck for her pulse. It’s still there. Slow, deliberately there. If it stops we’ll have to reboot her, and then she’d have to start all over. Good thing it’s still there.

  “Evander, let us in! Can you open the pod door, please?” Evander hits the small red emergency button under the hidden compartment in the wall, in order to open the vacuum-sealed door of Delphine’s pod. “She’s over here on her bed.” Cosmo and two other orderlies barrel into the door with a sterilized stretcher for Delphine’s limp body. “Okay, gently place her here. I’ll bring her to the Department of Well-Being, where the sedative will be counteracted so that she wakes up.” Evander nods, his solemn face filled with concern. “Evander, do you have any idea what caused this?” Evander starts to shake his head, but then remembers something. “She has been nervous while learning to sort, but I remember that she seemed especially upset after the incident in the Sorting Room. I wonder if she was somehow involved in it?”

  Cosmo nods. “Yes, that could be something. I’ll conference with the Psychiatric Department and decide how to proceed with her treatment. I’ll keep you posted, but until then, you should likely move on to your next charge. Go speak with the Guide Department for another assignment.” Evander’s eyes suddenly become wide with surprise. “Won’t she need me, though?” Cosmo shakes his head. “No, you’ve done all you can. The psychiatric department will do the rest. Delphine is in good hands. Off you go, now!”

  Evander hesitates, looks back at Delphine on the stretcher, and forces himself to move on. He’s never had to leave a charge before they feel completely ready. But then he reminds himself that others have it so much worse. Onyx must be losing his mind worrying about Luna right now. At least my charge is safe and sound and did nothing wrong…

  ✷✷✷

  “Jade, I’m waiting.” Jade takes a deep breath, but then decides to just tell him everything. What was the use of keeping it from him anyway? She never understood Zephyr’s logic. “I’m warning you, when you find out the truth, it’s going to change everything. Your very existence will be different from now on, perhaps more difficult than you ever could have imagined - ” “Jade!” Onyx grabs her shoulders and pulls her to his face, his ragged, unsure breathing intensified with the pregnant pause. “Tell me everything…”

  Jade opens her mouth, but promptly closes it. “Well, it’s actually not even me that you have to hear it from. Zephyr should be the one to tell you - i
t was his idea to keep it from you and I wouldn’t want to upset him…” Onyx relaxes his hold on her, but maintains his vengeful gaze.

  “Take me to him then.” Jade nods solemnly, surrendering herself to his desperate plea. “Okay, let’s go.” Jade motions for Onyx to follow her out of the main security room and out into the purple, hazy atmosphere of the Upperworld.

  ✷✷✷

  Evander walks briskly through the Sorting Room, on his way to debunk his newest accidental discovery. He was told that he would receive his next recruit assignment shortly, but to get back to work sorting until then, that is, after he solves this mystery. Before he exits the Sorting Room, Evander notices a crowd forming around the monitor which broadcasts a live feed of Luna’s mission on Earth in slowed-down terrestrial time. He feels ashamed at his own curiosity, and even more ashamed that Jade has decided to publicize her struggles like this - even though mistakes were made, Luna should not be publicly embarrassed like this. Even Onyx who clearly cares so much about her cannot bear to watch her struggle - it appears that it physically hurts him to see her suffer the way that she is. Or it is too painful to be rendered helpless in fixing this whole problem. So he thinks, anyway. Against his better judgement, he joins the crowd for a brief moment, and quickly notices the source of their interest. Luna appears to be following a boy somewhere, his hand firmly grasping her arm. There are three red warning lights beginning to blink on the side of the monitor.

  “Hey, do you know what those are?” A fellow sorter turns to Evander, the question barely formed on his lips before Evander forms a response. “Indeed I do, but I wish I didn’t.” The sorter who asked him the question appeared to be a recently-emancipated new recruit; Evander could tell by the gleam in his eye of new existence, that he himself knew so well. That and his obvious inexperience were tell-tale signs of a rookie.

  “Well?” Evander shakes his head with empathetic emotion. “She’s likely going to be attacked by that humanoid.” The new recruit’s eyes widen. “How?” Evander shifts his gaze. “In a very horrible way, the most destructive possible. It may render her unable to return to the Upperworld at all.” “Well then you should try to save her!” Evander’s bland, helpless expression met the rookie’s hopeful gaze. “Well I can’t. No one here can save her… without jeopardizing their own existence.” Then Evander exits the Sorting Room to bring his newfound curiosity to Zephyr’s attention.

  CHAPTER 18

  “Garth… it is so kind of you to invite me to your habitation pod for the night.” Garth turns to Luna as they walk through the darkening park. “Oh yeah, sure… my what?” Luna tilts her head to the side in confusion. “Your habitation pod, where you reside?” Garth raises two bushy eyebrows. “Oh I get it - you’re one of those UFO chicks. Okay, um, yes. My habitation pod.” Luna nods her head, but finds it strange how Garth’s hand remains firmly clenched around her own wrist.

  “I just mean, it is kind of you to offer me shelter and protection during the dark hours.” Garth nods his head sheepishly, with a knowing grin slithering across his face. “Yeah of course… right this way…”

  The dusk sky is purple, rapidly turning pitch black. Clouds are forming over the concert pavilion as it fades into the distance. Stars begin to appear, breaking out of their bonds that the daylight imprisoned them in.

  Garth leads Luna into a typical suburban yard… except there is a decaying car parked on the front lawn. He fishes a key out of his deep, saggy pocket - still with one hand. The other is guiding Luna right along beside him, as if to keep her from breaking free. She looks around at the yard - there is a tree with a rubber tire hanging off of it, and a few wooden structures just like the one that she woke up on so many hours ago.

  “Alright, make yourself at home…” Garth not-so-gently shoves her into the room, where a couch and a TV are stationed. Luna forces a smile, even though something about this is beginning to feel more than a bit… uncertain. “Okay, so where will I be able to spend the night? On this structure over here I will likely be very comfortable…” Garth shakes his head, and then clenches his sweaty hand even tighter around her wrist. “Follow me…” And he leads her down a hallway to a room with a bedraggled bed and clothes strewn all over it.

  “Oh, this looks quite… nice too.” Luna sits on the edge of the bed, politely sliding the tossed clothes away, purely by instinct. “See you when the light returns!” Garth raises his eyebrows again, but manages to understand her gist.

  “Not so fast, babe. I’ll be staying in here too.” Luna does not register concern just yet. Although she finds it strange, she allows him to sit down on the bed next to her. “Oh… okay.” “And now…” Garth’s words ooze out of his throat like his virus-like presence, and his humid breath assaults her face with a sickening determination. “I’ll keep you nice and warm… rather, things are about to get good and hot…”

  ✷✷✷

  “Zephyr, Jade tells me that there is something that I haven’t been told… a secret that affects Luna as well? I am pleading, please reveal to me what I don’t even know about myself. Four hundred Earth years of existence and it seems that I still don’t even know who I am. And now Luna… it has to do with her too?”

  Zephyr sends a knowing glance to Jade, partially confused, and partially infuriated. His flaming hair glows brighter for a moment, and then dies down to its customary smolder. “Jade, have you revealed too much to Onyx?” Jade nods her head slowly, but is quick to explain herself in the midst of such uncertainty. “Well, yes… but it was important to him to know this. Given the… incident recently, there were many questions that I did not feel qualified to answer. Granted, I know of some things, but not all the things. And I did not want to overstep my bounds, Oh High One.”

  Jade’s curtsy was likely meant to be of utter honor and respect, but it had quite the opposite effect in context with her slippery logic.

  Zephyr overlooks her less-than-honorable gesture and sighs deeply. “Okay, Onyx. I suppose, given the circumstances, it is time that you know the truth. Please sit.” A white marble bench in the corner of the Grand Hall quietly levitates over to where Jade and Onyx stand, and they perch themselves on it with bated breath.

  “Onyx… you do understand that all our sorters, as well as guides, and various administrators here in the Upperworld are created through our advanced technological endeavors in our utero lab. Cells are spliced together until we have a thriving zygote, which is then rapidly aged until maturity is reached in our utero chambers.” Onyx nods his head. “Yes, of course. I’ve trained many new recruits and seen the process of gaining existence many times. But how is that related to - ”

  Zephyr raises his pale white hand to silence Onyx’s query. “That’s just it. Onyx, neither you, nor Luna, gained existence in this manner.” Onyx’s eyes widen. “What?” Zephyr nods slowly. “You began existence inside the inner organs of a humanoid, on Earth, through a natural reproductive process.” Onyx’s face goes blank, and his hands begin to shake. “I… I don’t understand…”

  “Zephyr!” Evander runs into the Grand Hall where Zephyr is speaking to Onyx and Jade. “I found something… something quite strange, in the floorboards of my record keeping office.” Zephyr’s usually staunchly emotionless face registers some concern, and also annoyance, as it does under extreme circumstances. “Oh, I’m sorry to interrupt - it’s just… I figured this was important…” Zephyr solemnly nods when he sees the small cryogenic box in Evander’s hand.

  “Actually, your timing is impeccable.” Evander heaves a sigh of relief. “Oh, okay. So, uh. What is this thing?” “Evander, please open it.” Evander slowly unscrews the last bolt on the outside of the cryogenic box. The top opens with a small hiss and then the document and gel-like substances are exposed below it.

  “In that box, are the humanoid remains of both Onyx and Luna. They were both extracted from their maternal humanoids, in the Earth years 1790 and then 1794, respectively - ” “But why? How? What?” Onyx interrupts Zephyr with his t
angled emotions, this newfound information causing everything that he thought was real and true to crash down, his whole world changed by a pile of flesh in that cryogenic box.

  “Onyx, humanoids have a way of… changing the ideal life courses that I have mapped out for them, some with consequences that affect other beings, such as yourself. In fact, we have a whole sect of underground sorters which have the sole purpose of correcting such mistakes - ” “I’ve never had to change anything… I’ve never heard of any sorters deviating from the master plan…” “You wouldn’t have heard of them, they are kept in secret, Onyx. Even you, being the Primary Guide, would not know about them. It’s one of the few loopholes we keep running here in the Upperworld. Without them, we would be completely at the mercy of the humanoids. In fact, Jade is one of our underground sorters. She’s known about you being… different… since the day you were activated.” Onyx locks eyes with Jade. “You knew? How could you leave me in the dark like this?” Jade opens her mouth to explain, but no words come. “Onyx, Jade was sworn to secrecy. She would not have been permitted to tell you even if she had wanted to.” Onyx glares at Jade, and shakes his head in disbelief.

  “But I still don’t understand. Why wouldn’t you just send down sorters like you did Luna?” Onyx’s relaxed gaze becomes momentarily exasperated. “Now Onyx, you of all sorters know that sending down a sorter to Earth is a very dangerous prospect… we would lose too many if we sent one down every time things did not go as planned.” “I still don’t understand how I exist, and why Luna is involved in this, and why she’s down there if we had a loophole. Why would you scare her like that? She’s suffering for no reason now!”

  Jade senses Onyx’s temperature rising, his heart pounding faster and angrier than it ever should have. She carefully guides him to sit back down on the bench, out of respect for Zephyr, and his own good.