Adaline

by Denise Kawaii

  Listening to the heavy breathing leaking through the walls of his cube, 62 closed his eyes and allowed himself to fall into the darkness. It took a moment for him to center his mind and stop the quick falling sensation of unfocused dreaming. Once he was able to right himself he imagined a dense steel floor to stand on. As soon as his feet hit the ground, he set to work.

  "This is a really stupid idea." 62 spoke to himself. "But, might as well give it a try."

  He sat down on the floor. Leaning forward, he placed his elbows on his knees and rested his face in his hands. He closed his eyes tight, focusing on creating a pinhole of light to connect with another dreamer. He thought long and hard about the Man he wanted to see. He imagined his short grey beard, hard brown eyes and long white coat. He remembered the menacing expression on his face and the eerie precision of his practiced hands.

  He thought about the Man in his room, full of devices. Surrounded by bustling Nurses. 62 was frightened as he remembered being tied down to a bed, the Man hovering above him. He shook, feeling the tingle of imaginary electrodes on his head while needles jumped on phantom dials beside him.

  He felt his consciousness shift as the landscape around him melded into the scene in his mind. 62 opened his eyes to find the torturous room forming before him. He gasped as three Nurses appeared, each displaying images of Boys broken by electrical current.

  The Nurses surrounded a bed. They leaned over it and pushed the arms and legs of a thrashing Boy down to the mattress. One by one the flailing limbs were tied down to the bed. The gentle hum of electronics filled 62's ears. One of the Nurses picked up two wands connected to wires leading to a large box with dials and gauges.

  62 cried out at the dream. "No! No, stop it!" He flew up from his place on the floor and rushed the Nurses. Overwhelmed by panic he pushed the Machines aside to get to the bed. He tried to tear away the metal bands that held the Boy down but couldn't get them loose.

  He came to the strap that held the dream-Boy's head. It was unmoving and connected to several electrodes. 62 pulled at the metal with all his might, grunting with the effort. He wanted to free the Boy. The Boy who looked up at him knowingly. The Boy with tousled hair and soft, tired eyes. The Boy who was smiling. The Boy who was...

  62 gasped. "You're me!"

  The dream Boy smiled. Although his mouth didn't move, his voice echoed in 62's head, "You know what to do."

  62 let go of the bands around the other Boy's head, closed his eyes again and focused. The dream melted, dissolving into complete darkness except for a tiny speck of light pulsing ahead of him.

  He pushed his hand against the bright light and willed the pinpoint to open. Slowly, the light grew in both size and intensity until it enveloped his hand. 62 pushed harder.

  The shift from his own dream to the Man's consciousness was instant and disorienting. 62 stumbled as he fell onto a large black and white grid. Hulking figures rose into the air around him, still and imposing.

  "Rook to H-4." A voice rang from somewhere in the distance.

  The black column beside 62 began to move, slowly dragging from one square to the next. The grating sound of metal on metal filled the air. 62 covered his ears with the palm of his hands to escape the painful screeching.

  The doctor walked along the edge of the board, following the column with his eyes. He came to rest behind a line of white statues. The screeching noise stopped as the column entered its assigned square and the room fell silent. The doctor looked at the grid sternly, not seeming to notice 62 standing where the tower had been.

  "Pawn to G-3." As the doctor spoke one of the white statues slid forward two squares on the grid, screeching against the floor.

  The doctor from Level 2 walked back to the edge of the board where most of the black figures stood. As he passed by this time, he noticed 62.

  "Who are you?" The doctor halted his stride mid-step as he demanded an answer.

  "I am the Boy you are looking for." 62 spoke slow and clear.

  "You what?" The doctor shifted back on his heels, startled.

  "I am the Boy you are looking for. I've come to tell you to stop looking."

  The doctor laughed, an unsettling crack that escaped like static. "You are nothing but a blip in my imagination. Be gone." He gave a dismissive wave.

  62 stood, as motionless as the statues around him.

  The doctor clenched his fist and shouted. "I said, 'be gone!'!"

  "Having some trouble?" 62 asked with calm confidence. "Maybe I can help you, if you'll agree to stop bothering with C.A.T.."

  The doctor tilted, off balance. "Stop bothering with C.A.T.? Those Boys need a good bothering. That teacher..." he shook his head in frustration. "My Brother is tampering with their data. I just have to find out how."

  "I'm the one you are looking for." 62 repeated.

  "You are no such thing. You are just my imagination run amok. I will find out what's happening. I'll discover the truth!" The doctor thrust his fist forward, shattering the short pillar in front of him.

  "I know the truth." 62 said. "Would you like to hear it?"

  Instantly, the doctor's rage vanished. He looked at 62 with pleading eyes. "Tell me. Please tell me the answer."

  "You are the one damaging C.A.T.. You must stop tampering with the Boys and let them return to their studies."

  The Man's rage returned, displacing the uncertainty that filled him a moment before. "I am the solution!" He shouted. Turning to view the rest of the grid he spoke again. "Knight to D-6."

  A figure with a long curving neck started to shift across the board. 62 closed his eyes and willed his imagination to overpower it. The giant figure stopped , turned around and began to creep toward the doctor. Its slick black enamel faded to the color of pale skin. Hair grew from its head and it opened its eyes.

  A perfect copy of 62 said, "You are the anomaly."

  The doctor stood, astonished. He whispered, "What?"

  Another pillar transformed into a Boy. 62 and both of his copies reached their hands out toward the doctor. Their mouths opened and they spoke in unison. "You are the anomaly."

  62 focused on three more figures lined in a row directly in front of the doctor. All three transformed, their pale fingers reaching out to touch the doctor's tunic. "You are the anomaly."

  "This can't be happening." The doctor put his head down and watched his feet as he walked toward the opposite corner of the board.

  Five more figures transformed from towers and columns into copies of 62. As the statues melded from towering statues into Boys they followed the doctor. They groped the air behind him, some of them reaching out to grab at his back and arms.

  "I am not an anomaly!" The doctor spat at the new group of duplicates. "I'm going to find it, and I'm going to repair it."

  The doctor pressed against the wall of his dream. A door opened revealing his sterile office on the other side. He slid through the door and tried to shut it behind him.

  As the remaining statues opened their eyes, becoming 62, they crowded the door. The mass of arms and legs pressed against the door, breaking it off its hinges.

  "How can I be an anomaly?" The doctor shouted at the Boys. "I am a doctor! A repairer of Men. I must find out what is changing Adaline and stop it."

  The doctor fell backwards as the throng of Boys pressed into the room, hitting the edge of his exam table. 62 opened his mouth to speak and each copy did the same. Their voices rang out together in a powerful melody. "You are the anomaly. Your quest to repair something that is not broken is destroying the Community. Stop now."

  The mob of Boys parted so 62 could pass through them. He entered the small, white room and stood beside the doctor. He could see sweat beading on the Man's brow and could sense his heart racing. 62 and each of his copies cocked their heads in curiosity as the doctor scrambled to get to the far end of the table.

  The doctor trembled, and a single tear trickled down his cheek. "I must find the problem."

  62 reached his hand toward the do
ctor. "I told you that I know the truth. Let me show you."

  Nervously, the doctor nodded his compliance and reached across the table to grasp 62's hand. "OK. Show me."

  62 held the doctor's hand tight as two of his copies slammed the Man's wrist into one of the locking cuffs.

  The air whooshed out of the doctor's lungs as he gasped in surprise. "What is this? Untie me, right now!"

  The multitude of copies followed 62's motions as he leaned forward to whisper, "You are the problem with Adaline. Stop, now."

  "Let go of me." The doctor squirmed, his arm caught in the tight cuff around his forearm. He gasped, "I can't make it break free."

  62 smirked. "Of course you can't. I won't let you."

  The doctor's eyes went wide. "You aren't a dream. You're real."

  "Yes, I am." 62 focused on the hand he held tight. "Doctor, all this time I've been afraid of you. Of what you could do to me. But now, I'm curious. What are you most afraid of?"

  He concentrated, willing himself to begin drawing energy from the doctor in order to increase his ability to control the Man's dream. The surge of power that leapt from the Man's hand and into 62 almost knocked the Boy off of his feet. He regained his balance without letting go. "I'm sure you know what every Boy is afraid of. I think Men are afraid sometimes, too. Even Men like you."

  A sinister smile overtook the doctor's face and he stopped struggling for a moment, allowing 62 to get an even firmer hold without him noticing.

  "Of course I know what you fear." The doctor's sneer widened as the Boys in the room began to grow. Their skin became tight and shiny. Their eyes glowed and the room filled with the smell of synthetic skin and hydraulics.

  "Boy 1124562, are you unwell?" The now-Nurses chanted together. A dozen sleep-fog ports clicked open and tendrils of sticky fog began pouring out of them, filling the small room.

  62 didn't falter. He focused on the doctor's hand and drew more energy from it. "Yes. The Nurses are scary to me. To all of us. But these Nurses aren't real, are they? I asked you a question, Doctor. Are you going to answer it?"

  The doctor's face fell as the Nurses around him succumbed to 62's control. Each mechanical head tilted towards the Man. "Doctor, are you unwell?"

  62 allowed the Man just enough control to see what would flicker across his imagination. He held his hand tight as the Nurses lifted the doctor up on the bed and forced his free arm and legs into the heavy straps.

  The Nurse closest to the doctor looked at 62 and chirped, "This Man has an anomaly. It cannot be repaired."

  The doctor's hand became sweaty against 62's palm, and his slick fingers began to slip free. 62 grabbed the doctor's wrist with his other hand. "Don't go, Doctor. You haven't shown me what you are afraid of yet."

  The Man's eyes flashed with burning anger. "You can't do this. This is my dream. You're just a Boy!"

  62 looked at the Nurse that was diagnosing the doctor. "What happens next?"

  The Nurse spoke, the same level tone eerily unfeeling. "Anomalies must be removed from Adaline."

  The room around them winked out of existence. Suddenly they were being pushed along a hallway. Transportation Aides were on all sides, pushing the doctor's gurney so fast that 62 struggled to keep up. Still, he held the Man's hand tight.

  The doctor began to panic, and all of the lines around them became crisper as he lost what little control he had left of the dream. The lights shown in blinding brightness, their stinging white rays glimmering off the bodies of the Transportation Aides as they rushed past.

  "No," the doctor gasped. He pulled hard at the buckles on his hands and feet, kicking and twisting with increasing panic. "Don't make me go there."

  "Go where?" 62 panted.

  There was a blast of air around them as the scene changed again. The gurney stopped and the Machines vanished. The Man, still strapped to the bed, writhed in terror as a large metal door appeared.

  The door had no window or handle. It was surrounded by wide, steel panels and hundreds of thick rivets.

  "What's so scary about a door?" 62 let one of his hands loose from the doctor and reached out to touch it. The metal burned with a hissing sizzle under 62's skin.

  The doctor yelped. There was a crash in the air high above them. 62 gazed up and saw a tangle of arms and wires racing down on them. A single eye radiated red from the center of the ambling mess.

  A high pitched voice rang out all around them. "Hello. Thank you for participating in Adaline. You have an anomaly. Please, be a good Boy and enter the containment unit."

  Two of the long segmented arms reached out from the middle of the mass of wires and hoses. Their claw-like hands clamped onto the edge of the bed. The large metal door opened with a whine that rang in 62's ears. He had to fight the urge to let go of the doctor's hand so that he could cover them.

  A flame licked the air just inside the doorway. Its light flickered across the faces of a hundred Boys. They looked out at 62 with terror in their eyes. 62 backed up a step, and the Boys noticed the doctor. Upon seeing him the throng of Boys leapt up, trying to get out of the door through the climbing flames.

  "Doctor!" They cried out, "Help us!" Flames wrapped around their arms like shackles and kissed their pale faces until they blistered. The whole room glowed red and the cries of the Boys grew louder as the roar of flames tried to hush them. A tone of sadness rang through the air and melded into a melody of pain like 62 had never heard before.

  The doctor thrashed against the gurney as the Machine above them pushed him toward the gaping mouth of the flame-licked door.

  "No!" Tears welled in the Man's eyes and his skin lost all of its color. "I'm not unwell!"

  The hot fire singed the end of the exam table. The synthetic sheet popped and sizzled in a mass of tiny black bubbles as it curled and melted into itself. Black smoke wafted up from the smoldering wheels as they inched further into the gaping doorway.

  The doctor's eyes rolled inside his head, finally coming to rest on 62. As if just seeing the Boy for the first time, he gasped. Through trembling lips he whimpered, "Don't let them take me, 62."

  62 closed his eyes and wiped the overhead clamps, glowing red eye and echoing mechanical voice from the dream. He allowed the fire to die, and the anguished faces to fade into the darkness. He left the door as it stood, yawning open on newly slacked hinges.

  All was quiet aside from the doctor rasping and wheezing in the bed. 62 still held his hand, and the doctor squeezed it in thanks. A deadness filled 62's heart as he looked at the pitiful doctor beside him.

  "So this is your fear." 62 laid his free hand on the now cool door. "This place in your dreams is what haunts you."

  The doctor leaned up as much as his confines would allow. "Why did you do this, Boy? Why did you make me come here?"

  62 inspected a rivet so he wouldn't have to look at the doctor in disgust. "I didn't bring us here, Doctor. You did. But now that I've seen it, I can imagine it."

  62 felt the doctor squirm under his grasp. He continued to speak without looking at the Man. "I can bring you here whenever I want. I can make the Machine push you in there, and let the fire eat you up."

  The doctor laughed, nervousness cracking in his voice. "Fine, bring it back here."

  62 finally looked back at the face of the Man whose hand he still held. "I could let all of those Boys out. I can make them do to you whatever treatments you did to them."

  As 62 thought of the Boys he had just seen, their silhouettes surrounded the doctor's bed. Each Boy held a different medical device in his hands. The doctor eyed each scalpel, wire and tube with wariness.

  A moment of silence passed before the doctor breathlessly spat, "It's just a dream. It can't hurt me. Not for real."

  62 squeezed the doctor's hand in both of his. His fingers dug into the Man's flesh as he allowed the anger to burn inside of him. "Oh, but I can make it real."

  62 began to break the link between their two dreams. The doctor's eyes went wide as the darkness approach
ed them, creeping inch by inch from the edge of 62's consciousness.

  "Let go of me." The doctor squirmed, his arm still caught in the cuff of the exam table. His eyes were bright with fear.

  "You think you have all of this power, but you don't." 62 pulled the Man's hand another inch towards his side of the closing rift. The darkness closed in so that it blocked the doctor's face from view. 62 refused to let loose the wriggling fingers that tried to escape his hold.

  "Please, stop." The doctor pleaded as the darkness closed on him, just above his wrist. 62's closing dream cut the Man's flesh like a knife.

  62 waited until a trickle of blood ran down his wrist before letting go. The doctor wretched his hand backward into his own dream, cutting his hand further. 62 could hear him cry out in pain on the far side of the small white light that was left in the hand's absence.

  "Doctor, be careful letting your Nurses look at that. Now you have a physical anomaly. You never know what they might decide to do to treat you." 62's voice echoed in the darkness of his own mind. The light shrank smaller until it was the size of a speck of dust, and then it winked out of existence.

  62 stared at the spot where the light had been. He was so overcome with emotion that he hardly noticed the touch of a Man's hand on the back of his neck, or the quick sting of an electrode as it connected to his data chip.

  CHAPTER 46

  The changes in C.A.T. weren't immediate. A change in protocol rarely is. It didn't take long, though, for the Boys to notice fewer Men patrolling the halls. The constant checks for anomalies changed to every other cycle, then every tenth cycle, and finally, none at all.

  62 wasn't sure if C.A.T. would ever go completely back to normal, but he was glad for the extra freedom that he and the rest of his brothers now shared. There was still the occasional Defense Auditor found strolling between classrooms, and the Nurses all seemed to retain their hypersensitivity to any changes in the Boys' behavior. But all in all, life was a lot more relaxed than it had been.