Sanda slows our pace, leaving Meyer ahead. "You know he likes you."
Heat slithers up my neck, and I pull at the collar of my loose top to try to conceal it, but I'm pretty sure it's no use. "Meyer? Um, yeah. I think I do."
"Well, he does. After you healed me and he took me to the Affinity camp to find a medic, I asked about you. Despite everything that had happened, when he spoke of you, his eyes still lit up. I've never seen that in him before. Not seeing you for the last couple days has driven him crazy. He's always been super focused on his mission with Affinity and hasn't taken much time for girls, so I can say if he's taking the time for you, you're worth it."
I watch Meyer as he jogs ahead toward a line of storage buildings. His tall frame and strong shoulders move with surprising grace.
"He's worth it, too." I flash Sanda a smile and increase my speed. Ben and Smith enter the unit next to this one, and once I've caught up with Meyer, I ask, "What exactly are we doing?"
Meyer presses his hand to a security pad and a large door rolls up, revealing two red vehicles inside the opening. I guess they're vehicles, at least. They're nothing like the driverless auto taxis in Elore. These have two wheels and a metal body with handles and a place to sit.
Meyer gestures to them. "We're taking a tour of New Philly before we go to Mr. Sloan. Sanda and I thought you'd enjoy seeing your new home, and Ruiz agreed."
"And we're using these?"
"They're scooters," Sanda explains. "They're really fun."
She breaks away from the two of us and grabs a bright blue helmet from the rear of the scooter. She puts it on, latches it under her chin, and climbs onto the seat. I scan the rest of the space, and in the far back of the storage unit sit two partially covered transport vehicles.
"What are those?" I ask.
"A couple broken hover pods I've been working on the last couple of days," Meyer says. "Little four seaters. Operating systems are shot. Totally different than the ship that got us from Elore. I'm sure you could fix them in no time."
I turn to check them out. "They're like driverless taxis with no wheels."
Meyer holds my arm and leads me toward the scooter, snatching an extra helmet from a counter on his right. He hands it to me. "That's exactly what they're like, except they fly."
I chuckle. "If I never have to fly again, I'll be happy."
Meyer smirks and gestures to the helmet in my hand. I follow Sanda's example and affix it to my head, then climb in back of Meyer, who's already on the scooter.
"There's a comm in the helmet if you want to speak." His voice echoes inside the headpiece. "You ready?"
Before I get a chance to answer, Sanda zips from the storage bay and Meyer activates our scooter. We're off with a jolt, the wind lashing my face through the opening in my helmet. Behind us, Ben and Smith drive similar scooters.
On the streets of New Philadelphia, we whip around a black, then a red auto vehicle and a large transport carrying multiple people. The blur of the buildings come and go before I even have time to take in as much as I'd like. Overall, it's a mingling of old and new structures, almost like Levels One through Three in Elore combined into one city.
Apparently, New Philadelphia is a bustling metropolis, too. Instead of people focused on handhelds or scurrying to get to their placement, they're milling, eating lunch from a food cart, even going in and out of buildings decorated with goods in their windows. A couple of two-wheeled vehicles with drivers zip by us on the road.
I point to a window front where an artificial, womanly shaped figure models a dress. "What's that?"
Meyer laughs through the helmet comm. "You buy clothes there."
"Buy clothes?" In Elore, you order the necessary supplies online and they're delivered by drone the next day. "Can I buy clothes?"
"Probably, if you can pay for them."
How do you pay for goods in New Philadelphia? In Elore credits were deposited into our citizen's account, but who knows if that's how it's done here.
"See the building on your right?" Meyer asks.
A large white structure with columns comes into view. Surrounded by taller buildings, the broad, four-story construction looks out of place. An iron gate surrounds the green lawn.
"That's the president's home."
I remember my tiny, stark, functional apartment in Elore. "Waters lives in that huge place all by himself?"
Meyer laughs. "No, but I guess there are perks to being the president. He does live there with his family."
"It seems like more than they need."
We maneuver our way over the streets, further into New Philly. I stop focusing on the sights Meyer occasionally points out and concentrate on the citizens. I crane my neck to watch a lady with bright strawberry-red hair wearing a tight yellow dress walking a puffy, tan animal down the busy street. When she's out of sight, a man with slicked, purple-streaked hair follows the trajectory of our scooter. His eyes perfectly match the hue of his hair. Some wear vivid clothing, and others dress similar to Meyer or me in their plainer clothes. In Elore, everyone dresses much the same in a uniform style, and hair color is kept natural and refined.
Not here. No one hides or tries to keep attention from themselves. The thought of it makes me feel free, if only for today.
Pulling onto a street marked 'Broadway', we drive up next to a shop with a word over the top of a large, clear window. 'Salon'. In the window, a blonde fiddles with a woman's brown hair. Before we zip past them, the dark hair transforms to nearly white in an instant.
"How'd they do that?" I wonder out loud.
"The hair?" Sanda giggles in my comm.
"Yeah."
"I saw it, too. I've lived in the Outerbounds all my life, and it still amazes me. People like to change themselves up occasionally, if they can afford it."
"How does it work?" I ask.
"It's nanotech. Not permanent. It can be used to change eye color as well."
The guy with the purple eyes and hair comes to memory. He must have visited the "salon" recently.
"We're here." Meyer drives the scooter to the curb and deactivates the vehicle. Sanda parks hers ahead of us and dismounts, removing her helmet and placing it into a compartment on the rear of the scooter.
Ben and the other guardian park their vehicles ahead of Sanda's. Ben throws me a look of mild concern, yet, still, doesn't speak to me.
"Where?" I ask, peeling myself from behind Meyer and swinging my leg to the sidewalk, scanning the buildings. The ones to my side are similar to the clothing shop I asked Meyer about. Again, various merchandise is displayed in the windows.
"Up there." Sanda points at a tall building across the street with no shops on the ground floor, at least none I can see. "Dr. Sloan lives there."
"I'm confused why we came to him." I hand my helmet to Meyer to stow. "Why didn't Waters have him visit me at the lab?"
Sanda gestures for us to go. "Eh ... it was a good excuse to come into the city, but you'll find out when we get there."
"You ladies go ahead." Meyer tucks the helmets away. "I'm starving. There's an amazing food cart with the best burritos in the city. Every time I'm here, I have to grab one." He smiles at me. "I'll get you one, too."
Sanda slaps Meyer on the arm. "Don't forget about me."
"Ouch!" He winces and exaggerates his pain, rolling his eyes. "How could I ever forget you?"
"Brothers," Sanda mutters. She slips her arm around my waist and ushers me toward Mr. Sloan's building.
I smile and check for Ben, who remains alert near our side with Smith. Relieved he's continuing with us, I walk with Sanda into the building. She leads us to the elevator and each of us palm the scanner on the inside. The eleventh floor is our destination. Upon our exit, I'm surprised to be met with a simple, tiny foyer and a single door instead of a hall leading to multiple units.
Sanda steps forward and knocks on the door. I raise my eyebrow at Ben, but he's stoic, as a guard should be.
With a zip, the door slides b
ack. Out floats a drone with a slightly human form. No legs, but a torso and head and what looks like two slots where arms extend from the body if needed.
"Why are you here?" the faceless drone asks gruffly.
I inch back from the AI, startled by its rude behavior. Even in Elore, the speaking drones were courteous.
"We have an appointment," Sanda answers.
The drone floats around us, a scan coming from the area where its face would be, the beam raking over us one at a time.
"Come on, Sloan, let us in," Sanda scowls.
"There is supposed to be one additional human for the appointment," the drone says.
"Yes," Sanda says, "Meyer Quinn. He will be joining us soon."
The scanner deactivates. "You may enter. Please adhere to the required procedure."
"Required procedure?" I mumble.
Sanda leans into me. "Don't ask, just follow the instructions."
Once in the unit, another non-human voice from nowhere greets us, this time female and somewhat more polite. "Remove your footwear at the door and begin the disinfecting process by proceeding to the line marked on the floor."
We do as the voice commands, and upon standing on the line, a ray of light comes from the ceiling and surrounds each of our bodies.
"You may proceed," the unseen voice says.
The rude drone hovers ahead and leads us from the entry into a large room. Ben and the other guard don't follow, and instead act as sentinels at the exit. On the opposite side of the room, a bald man has his back to us, working in a mostly dark room at a huge touch screen. To his left is another chair that reclines, like the one in the lab.
"Dr. Sloan," Sanda calls.
The man doesn't answer and continues tapping. A commotion comes from behind us. I turn to see Meyer entering the front door. He's holding a sack and trying to remove his shoes while not placing our food down. Meyer walks to the line and the beam of light surrounds him. After, he joins us.
Finally, the man working at the desk rotates to face us, but avoids looking at the group.
"Now that you have all arrived, we can begin."
I shift my attention toward the others, unsure what's going to happen next. Meyer shrugs and takes a step, the bag crinkling in his hand.
"You can't bring that in here," Dr. Sloan says in a flat voice.
Meyer scowls and tosses the bag across the room. It lands by his shoes.
"And you two can have a seat at the back of the room. I merely allowed you to come because Ruiz said you must be accompanied somehow." He continues to mutter under his breath and taps at the keyboard in front of him, not once looking at us.
"But—" Sanda starts to protest.
"No. Lark alone."
I sigh, shoving off the obvious discomfort this man exudes. The reality, though, is I'm quite used to it. His abrasive personality is worlds beyond that of anyone I've met from the Outerbounds, but he's not unlike most citizens in Elore.
"It's fine," I say, trying to work through his motivation. At his station, I stand next to him, waiting for instructions. Instead of giving them, he continues typing on his virtual keyboard. Finally, he waves a hand in my direction.
"Sit."
I scan the room, then at the reclining chair. "On that?"
"Of course on that."
I look back to Meyer and Sanda. Sanda rolls her eyes and mouths, just do it. Ben and Smith still stand at the unit entrance. Slowly, I walk to the chair and lower myself into the seat. As I do, the thing automatically reclines. Dr. Sloan pops up from his chair and grabs two VR headsets, thrusting one of them in my face.
"Put it on," he says.
My eyes widen, but I take it from him and put it on as he places the other over his head.
"I'm disabling the ability damper installed on you yesterday," Sloan explains. "This way the scan will access the data correctly."
Instantly, my vision goes colorless and materializes into a plain, artificial room. A virtual version of Dr. Sloan appears, his body language considerably more relaxed than before.
"Welcome, Lark." Unlike before, he looks me straight in the eye as he speaks. "I've been looking forward to meeting you. I've seen all your data so far and it is fascinating."
"You didn't seem like you were looking forward to it," I say, confused by his shift in demeanor.
"I apologize. I dislike the outside world much. It's too ... stimulating, to say the least. In here, I can block any sensation I don't desire in order to focus on the ones I do. It makes my job easier when I have to deal with other people."
"Why'd I have to come here then? We could have met in VR from anywhere."
He chuckles. "Oh, I'm certain you're right, but, if you haven't noticed, I'm very particular about things. And I needed you here. Traveling to you was out of the question—the outside is a dirty business I want no part of."
I shrug, but begin to feel somewhat less apprehensive. He's not who I expected him to be. "Ok, then. Let's get started."
"I'll be leaving you alone in here for now to run the tests. The first will include a physical blood sample. Are you okay with that?"
"Do I have a choice?" I ask.
"You always have a choice." He still holds my gaze.
I nod, somehow trusting him. I don't know what it is about him but I know can. "You can take it."
Dr. Sloan vanishes from the virtual room and soon after something sharp pricks my arm.
The sample he needed.
I expect the experience to change, but nothing does. "Dr. Sloan?" I call, not sure if he can hear me. I release from the virtual state and pull off my headset. Sloan is leaning over his keyboard, studying the data on his screen.
"I need a comparison," he mutters, not even realizing I'm no longer under, or at least he doesn't appear to. He spins in his chair and eyes Meyer and Sanda. Meyer stands.
"Not you," Sloan says in a clipped voice. He's totally different out here from the person I met in VR. "You tried to carry your nasty food into my space."
Sanda, eyes wide and apparently a little stunned, slightly opens her mouth. Sloan shakes his head. "You either." He thrusts out his arm, pointing a finger straight at Ben. "You. You are quiet and respectful."
Ben's eyes move to mine. "Um, I'm on duty, sir."
"No matter," Sloan says. "This is your duty now. Come."
Ben inches forward and the AI voice sounds. "Remove your footwear at the door and begin the disinfecting process by proceeding to the line marked on the floor."
Ben follows orders and slowly comes into the room. With every step he takes, my chest tightens. He can't use Ben as a comparison. If he looks too closely at our data, he might find too many similarities. Something in me trusts him, but it doesn't matter. I rack my brain to come up with a plan to make it stop.
"Dr. Sloan?" I squeak.
"Why are you out of VR?" He swings around from the screen.
"Um ... I feel sick."
He pushes back in his chair, away from me, eyes wide. "What do you mean sick?"
"I might be having a bad reaction to my implant," I lie. "I don't know. My stomach doesn't feel right at all."
Horrified, Sloan stands and backs further from me. Ben steps in and takes my arm and the data on the screen shifts, scrolling and adding new information. I yank from Ben and clutch at my middle. Ben's so focused on me, I don't think he noticed what happened.
"Leave now. These tests can be done another day. I'm reactivating the block on your ability." Dr. Sloan turns back to the screen, narrowing his eyes and looking confused by the new data. He types on the keyboard and before the screen goes blank I see two familiar words at the top of the page.
Project Ascendancy
Chapter
Six
Sloan's AI unit rudely ushers us from his apartment, but I don't care. I can't get out of there soon enough. I must speak with Ben, and I won't be able to do it here.
Project Ascendancy?
That dream I had wasn't a dream at all. It was real. I ha
ve no way of knowing what data popped onto the screen after Ben touched me, and I have no way to find out.
Meyer ushers me down to the street and gets me on the scooter. Before he takes his spot, he tosses the very rumpled bag of our food in a container on the street and mumbles about them being cold and no good anymore.
Traveling back, my mind is filled with thoughts of what just happened. But nothing makes sense. Somehow, I find myself at the compound with barely any memory of the trip. Ben and Smith are gone. I can't even remember them saying goodbye.
"You're feeling better, right?" Sanda asks, checking her Flexx for the time.
I nod. "I'll be fine. I think I got nervous or something."
She narrows her eyes at me. "Okay … I have to take off. I'm headed out first thing in the morning."
"I wish we had more time to get to know each other." I wrap my arms around her shoulders, desperate to tell someone what I saw, but not knowing if I can yet.
"Hopefully soon. But you get to start training tomorrow, and I'm returning to duty with Affinity." She inches back, revealing the sadness in her eyes. There will not be a day like this again anytime soon.
Meyer plants a peck on Sanda's cheek and waves farewell to her then he turns to me. "I'll escort you to your father's unit."
"What happened to Be—I mean, Porter?"
Meyer gives me a quizzical look. "He and Smith were called to another assignment."
Tightness builds in my chest, but demanding to talk with him might raise suspicion, and right now even Meyer can't know about Ben. Anyway, I don't know that any of it means anything. So Project Ascendancy is real. It doesn't immediately make it bad. Maybe learning about my ability sparked new interest in old studies on the topic. And what went on with the data when Ben grabbed my arm at Dr. Sloan's? That could be nothing too.
I'm just jumpy.
We cut through the courtyard. Meyer messages Father, and we are on our way. The buzz of a reply returns seconds later. He glances at it, then holds his Flexx for me to see the screen.
They finally let me out, but go ahead and go into the unit. A package came for Avlyn.
"I wonder what it is?" I force a smile and pull Meyer forward to move faster.
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