Ayna glimpsed a face peering out from the dark recesses of the metal rafters in the room behind the doorman. She did not miss the doorman's glance over his shoulder and the subtle nod from the face in the darkness. After this, the large man who nearly filled the entire doorway to the lab stepped aside and let her in. He stepped back into the doorway, blocking Ayna’s escort from entering with her. Ayna barely looked back as she nodded her own assent to the concerned boy.
The face from the shadows was there, in the rafters still, and belonged to a young girl who looked a few years younger than Shara, but the caution and confidence she displayed told Ayna that she was older than she looked. The girl was always there, watching, but stayed on the walkways above, gliding above the stateswoman, listening to her talk to the underlings, as if she were a cat preparing to pounce down upon her and take care of the unpleasant business. If such a thing became a necessity.
Ayna felt the eyes of the girl on her, but chose to dismiss her. If Ayna was correct that this was the famous Tani, then it would only be a matter of time before Ayna's indifference would prod her into the open. The Tani from the feeds was not a humble person. Having no choice but to wait, Ayna purposefully kept her eyes on the people near her and focused on asking as many questions as she could.
Eventually, Ayna could feel the shift in tone from the eyes on her back as her inquiries focused more on the process they were using and how it differed from the SatNet Docs. The interest and excitement in her voice was a farce, but the wonder at it all was not. They had set up the facility underneath the river that ran south from the ruins near Prin, giving them easy access to nearly all the water that was brought into Prin. The space itself was hardly expansive, but every bit of it was used efficiently. She understood now how the cult Bloodsmiths had fallen in line behind this budding operation.
From the moment that she heard the scale of the bloody field in Hafi’s report, she was certain that it had nothing to do with the lab’s work in the Underground, but it would not harm her to be certain, and she had to do something as she was waiting for her own labs to analyze the samples from the field. Ayna followed behind another girl who had introduced herself as Delilah. This girl was older than the first, and taller, and made of that special type of leanness that exaggerated each movement into stilted energy that seemed to curl in on itself. She appeared as the perfect opposite to the small cat-like girl above.
“Why do you do that before placing the implant?” Ayna asked Delilah, pointing to a series of pictures someone had clipped to the back wall that showed them scrubbing an open wound with a fine metal wire brush, then cleaning it out, then the implant.
Delilah stared at Ayna, as if she had entirely forgotten that they had done such a thing, or that anyone else could see the pictures they had put on display, “I—uh—well—the SatNet docs, they—talk about that. Needing to do that—for the implants to take properly.”
Ayna knew this was not quite true, but also discerned that it was true to Delilah. Someone else had taken the theory laid out in those documents and turned it into this step-by-step process before her. There was no way to know unless Tani came down from the rafters and spoke to her.
“What is your educational background?” Ayna asked.
Delilah shied away from Ayna, like she had poked her with a piece of burning metal, not words.
“I studied at Central. Biology with a specialization in Illara physiology.”
Ayna nodded. It was a new field, but nearly everything was, in its own way. The first survivors established Central and started recreating the educational paths from the old universities not long after the Sundering. Lost data had resulted in some studies being lost, but most knowledge domains were not lost so much as decayed. The survivors had to use what technology the Sundering left behind, which was often inadequate to perform a lot of the complex work that had come before.
Precision surgical procedures had been commonplace before the Sundering and performed primarily by bots. Doctors measured recovery times for patients in hours or days, due to the accuracy and efficiency of the bots. To teach surgical procedures to the students in Prin, the educators at Central had to go back a few hundred years before the Sundering and start with the texts and tools they could find and that their advanced but limited technology could sustain. Ayna’s husband had to have an emergency surgery a few years prior and had taken weeks to recover.
Illara physiology was complex. Terrans were relatively simple. Even in basic functions, such as digestion, the Illara varied so much from Terrans it required its own field. Somewhere along the line, the studies had developed from learning from the Illara to finding what made the two species different. Delilah was the perfect candidate for a project like this, the goal of which was to make Terrans more Illara-esque, but she wouldn't be able to provide Ayna with true insight.
Ayna had married her Illara husband to blend the species and create a peace between the two embittered factions that had been fighting for power within Prin since the Sundering. They based this project on the same need to unify, but for different ends.
Ayna shifted her goal from forcing information out of the staff, to asking the right questions to bring the girl out from the rafters. She needed to talk to the girl above to understand the mindset behind this project, which was exploding in popularity in the Underground, but all she could see as she toured the facility and asked her questions were the photographs of a bloody field that had frightened her hardened General, who had never run from a fight. The spectrum of things they knew that seemed so simple compared to the things they knew nothing about stretched out before her.
She was aware of the tour continuing and Delilah showed her a few sick patients that were relying on the ‘treatment’ to live or to have a tolerable standard of living again. The lab was sterile and clean and smelled as fresh as the musty Underground ever got. Ayna couldn't help but wonder about the progress with the crystal. As she looked around Tani's lab, she just saw a sea of blood and dismembered bodies. The sound of the water overhead thrust itself into her mind as a single, low, vibrating note. The metal that surrounded her no longer felt like it would protect her from the field that she knew lay to the west, but now felt like it would crush her beneath the swamp of bloody crystals. And the girl in the rafters would just watch it happen.
Ayna turned to Delilah and started to grill her, "It must be hard to get all the supplies you need for this operation. How did you manage to get all the Source elements and medical equipment?"
Delilah fumbled for answers. Behind them, a bar that extended down from the ceiling wobbled and Ayna heard the sound of feet hitting the floor.
14
Tani
Tani chose Delilah because she was smart, capable, and had the most experience with surgical procedure out of anyone who applied to work in the project. But her attempts to explain what they did at the lab to Stateswoman Shae were clumsy. She stumbled over words, struggled to find the right combination of words to express what they were doing while also underplaying the illegal part of it all. The awkward verbal somersaults from Delilah undermined the true value of the project.
Since issues of legality did not burden Tani, she took this Shae woman at her word and accepted that she too was unconcerned about such issues. At least unconcerned for now — and for now was all that mattered. The woman’s threat to have the facility shut down was a good one today. But tomorrow Tani would pull the trigger to move to the facility she already had on standby, and it would be months before Lady Shae could find them again. In those months, Tani would become prepared again for the next move, or five. As many as it took.
Delilah was explaining the situation regarding the rabbit boy’s mother. Tani watched from her perch on the metal rafters above. She swung a leg over the edge and leaned over, grabbing a pipe that ran from ceiling to floor, and slid her way down it, carefully making sure her clothing covered all points of contact with the pipe. She planted both feet on the ground, creating a firm echo in the sp
ace that announced her decent. Stateswoman Shae and Delilah turned to face her.
“The important thing we are doing is taking work that Central hospital won’t. Everyone is here because they decided to be. Workers and patients,” Tani started. She waved away the question on Lady Shae’s face before she could ask it. “Yes, they are essentially guinea pigs. But they signed up to be.”
What an interesting phrase, ‘guinea pigs’. There was no scientific study that used them as far as Tani had ever seen on the SatNet records. Tani was not even sure what exactly a guinea pig was, other than some animal that was likely never seen after the Sundering. But the phrase had stayed around and been picked up and reused throughout Terran history and lingered longer than the animals that inspired it. Her Illara lab tech used it as well, which amused Tani; a Terran phrase that no longer applied to the Terran world being used by a different Terranoid species that had also never seen the animal to which the phrase referred. She supposed the thought would appear mundane if she spoke it aloud, but it was the minor details of how systems overlapped and adopted parts from each other that interested her. It had led her to her scavenger and mechanic work. It had led her to this lab—to the vast space that, for the Underground, was open and more expensive than the entire housing block she had moved in from. Everything here was systems and layers—an ecosystem that encompassed the social and intellectual realms just as much as the physical.
Ayna stood silent, not in reproach or scorn, but in observation. Tani felt as if the lady had seen the thoughts that crossed her mind, feeling simultaneously sheepish for thinking them and angry that the woman would invade her thoughts. She recognized both the emotions as equally preposterous and pushed them aside.
“As Delilah mentioned…” Tani stumbled over the words herself. I’m just as clumsy as Delilah is, she scolded herself. She also knew that should know the name of her patient, but she didn’t. “This patient… has a problem that is caused by her central nervous system, which has been stripped of myelin, and has lesions forming in the brain. I believe it was known as Multiple Sclerosis.”
She glanced at Delilah to see if she was mistaken. Delilah did not correct her, so she continued, “The process that we have performed has halted the growths in her brain that cause degeneration, for now. We will observe her for another two weeks, which will take us to a month after the first operation, and if she remains stable in her condition, then we will move forward with the next operation. This will not reverse the degeneration, unfortunately, but it will allow her to move herself with her mind—”
“Telekinesis,” Delilah interjected.
Tani resisted the urge to roll her eyes. For some reason, the word telekinesis bothered her. It was such a fancy word for the most mundane power they could give someone — potentially give someone. The process was still being refined, despite its small successes so far. She felt the same way she felt about the word telekinesis as she did about kingsnakes. They were simple and disgusting creatures, but some idiot had thought it was appropriate to put ‘king’ in their name, like putting a top hat on a rat. Or, she guessed, expensive fabric on an Underground child. She glanced down at her dirty white linen shirt and the lab coat she wore and then over at the stateswoman’s dress. It was likely silk or some synthetic variant of it. It fell from gentle curves that hung around her hips and thighs until it barely touched the surface of the ground. Even in the rich neighborhoods of Prin, it was impractical. The inch of dirtied hem was not all from the lady’s trip to the Underground, but had accumulated over multiple wearings of the dress. It would have been a thousand times more ridiculous on Tani.
Instead of responding to Tani’s introduction and its subjects, the woman put out her hand in greeting. “As I am sure you heard, I am Ayna Shae. What is your name?”
“Tani.” She didn’t care at all for the smooth and clean hand that met her own.
“Tani. You put this entire project together, didn’t you? It is no small feat. It must have taken a lot of effort and organization.”
Tani nodded. “I found the documents on the SatNet, as many others did. They just made sense to me in a way they didn’t to other people, I guess. All the systems and layers… that’s the simple part.”
Tani wasn’t sure why she added on the last part, but it had escaped her mind and her mouth and so she closed her mouth and waited to see—and judge—the response.
Ayna nodded. “In another time, before the Sundering, you would have changed the world.” Ayna paused, then put her hand out again. Tani took it and gave it a light shake, welcoming Ayna’s recognition of her, but not falling prey to the flattery as camouflage for the threat that Ayna created just by being there. Ayna continued to speak as she shook Tani’s hand, “It was a pleasure to meet you.” She glanced over to Delilah and added, “Both of you.” She turned toward the door and walked out of the lab.
Tani watched the door close behind the stateswoman. In another time… “Call Vin. Tell him to prepare our secondary substation. We need to complete the move by the end of tomorrow.”
Tani was living a life of comparative luxury. Volunteers, patients and their friends and families moved everything into her new station. She only had to move her clothes and what few other items she had, all of which fit into her backpack. Enjoying a walk to the new substation, she took the Topside path through the Upper Market with all its shops that she never could purchase from before. Taking her time, she peered into each stall as she passed through the wide open pavilion. Many of Prin’s original shops had set up inside the buildings long before the stalls came along, but even with her improved financial status, she didn’t dare to enter those most exclusive of stores. Sticking to the tents and carts that lined the open space outside, she smiled to herself as she admired the sparkle of the jewels in one cart. She imagined wearing as many as her small neck and arms could hold while performing surgery.
It was impossible not to notice the sideways looks she got from many of the stall owners and shoppers. She didn’t belong, and they all knew that she never would. The stall owners were likely making sure she wasn’t stealing anything, while the shoppers all visibly held their pouches and purses a little closer. She thought about lifting something from someone just out of spite, but she found the nicest sling cot in a furniture stall and bought it for herself instead. Even though it was a practical item, it had cost more than she had wanted to spend, and the shop owner and a few onlookers had watched incredulously as she swiped her LightTab and it approved the purchase. It was half of what was in her credit account, but they didn’t need to know that. She was happy that the looks of judgment shifted into looks of curiosity.
She slung the cot in its pack onto her back and turned on her heel. She walked a few extra blocks through Topside so that no one from the market would see her slink down into the Underground entrance. Holding the pack gently and rubbing her hands over the smooth grey material, she walked down into the abandoned section of Underground. Tiles from the walls had long-since chipped away, many of them defaced with faded lines and splashes of paint, and small bits of rubble lined what had once been busy platforms. She hopped down onto the tracks, walking between the rails until she reached an old stopped train. She climbed in through the back and walked until she found the open door that led her back onto another platform.
The lights down here did not work, leaving her in near-complete darkness, but she knew the path well. She had grown up in a makeshift flat close to the new station. Sometimes the rubble shifted slightly, but mostly the empty parts of the Underground remained unchanged since she had lived nearby. Some new graffiti lined the walls, but it all blended together into a blur in the darkness. It was too bothersome to rely on torches regularly when moving around in the Underground. Rebellious teenagers from Topsider families did most of the graffiti and other defacements in the Underground that required light.
Approaching the end of the platform, she jumped back down onto the tracks and walked past the storage space that used to be her home.
Inside was a small room with flimsy dividers creating a small hallway and six tiny bedrooms. She had shared the front one with two other orphans when they were still young enough to find food easily and go to the basic Topside schools.
She walked by, pausing for a second to see if she could hear any signs of life. There was nothing, which was not surprising. Anyone who lived in one of those rooms didn’t spend time there, if they could avoid it. She skipped down the tracks a few hundred meters. The raised shadow of the next platform was in sight now, but she ran her fingers along the dirt caked wall until she felt the opening for a maintenance tunnel right before reaching the platform. Piping and insulated wiring lined the small shaft, which went deeper at a nearly imperceptible decline before opening into an electrical room, long-since abandoned and unused. Rusted, large metal boxes filled the room. Scavengers stripped any salvageable parts from them years ago. Crossing over to a round metal plate in the far corner of the room, she pulled it off and descended along the ladder beneath it.
She couldn’t help but think again of Ayna Shae and imagine her climbing down into this new station to pay another visit to the Project. It wouldn’t surprise Tani to find out that Ayna had enough connections in Prin and its Underground to find the new station. But it would surprise her if Ayna could do it in less than a few months. Not that it mattered. Tani already had the next location lined up, if they needed one.
She still could not deduce what had prompted Ayna’s visit. Something must have provoked it—something that Tani was certain she would want to know about. But so far, nothing came across the SatNet that tipped her off. The SatNet was a festering pool of rumors, but if you knew where to look, you could almost always find out what you needed — or wanted — to know.
Song of Sundering Page 10