by Kate Tailor
“Sure.” Raleigh pushed through the door, wishing that she’d had a month to prepare for this.
She tore off her smelly clothes and went straight to the showers. The steamy water opened her pores and rinsed the sweat from her skin. Scrubbing her arms red, she tried unsuccessfully to wash off the failure. Tomorrow would be a better day. It was always hard being the new kid. She bolstered her hope in a way that would make her mother proud. As the conditioner slithered from her hair down her back, she vowed that she would fit in.
The chatter of female voices echoed through the shower stall after she turned off the stream. Researchers. Maybe she could make a few friends. Many of her friends back home had been untraditional. Dr. Moore and Uncle Patrick weren’t the kind of friends who could braid her hair, but they had something in common. The labs could be her solution to fitting in. The researchers were older, but who cared? Straightening her shoulders, she figured she should introduce herself.
She dressed, preparing a proper introduction in her head, then she stopped. She wasn’t here to make friends. No. She was here to gain information about Mu and Tau. Researchers would not be involved with their imprisonment. The Receps, who were charged with capturing them, would know a lot more. She yanked the laces of her shoes tight. Adam was the nicest. He’d have to let her in. It was time for lunch.
18
RALEIGH’S HIGH SCHOOL had loosely-formed cliques. Lunch tables were organized more or less by interest and friend groups. Everyone had their place, but it wasn’t so unwelcoming that you couldn’t sit at a different table for a day and feel uncomfortable. That wasn’t the case in Grant and Able’s cafeteria.
Yesterday she’d noticed the obvious differences between Receps and scientists. Today she saw that the Receps further divided themselves, based on receptor volume. Adam, at ninety-seven, ranked low. The people at his table struggled during practice with Lucidin. People in the top ninety-ninth percentile and above filled up Gabe’s table. It seemed like an arbitrary way to choose dining companions.
Gabe caught her eye, his head motioning to the chair on his left. To his right sat Dustin. It was Dustin who had berated her for not running fast enough, and he called guys like Adam by their percentile rather than name. Now he stared daggers at her, the message clear, they didn’t want her. It was imperative that she fit it, but she couldn’t bring herself to sit there. They would never befriend her if they considered her Gabe’s pet.
Adam sat at the next table, and it had an empty seat. He waved to her. These guys on the lower rungs would be more inclusive, having worked hard to get by themselves. If she wanted to make friends, it would be easier with them.
Straightening her spine, she went over to the vacant seat. Her tray clanged against the tabletop gaining the attention of the others. She didn’t sit, waiting to make sure none of them protested. No one spoke, and she plopped into the plastic chair. Reluctantly they continued their conversation.
“Did you know that’s not real chocolate mousse?” one of the guys asked, pointing to her tray. “It’s made from avocados. It doesn’t have any milk in it, just added chocolate.”
Adam licked the edge of his spoon shrugging. “It tastes the same. You’d never know.”
“That’s what’s so creepy about it!” the guy said.
Raleigh grinned, remembering Thalia’s vegan stage. “My sister used to eat cheese made from nuts instead of dairy.”
“Did it taste like cheese?” the guy asked.
“No.”
“Exactly my point! Watch out. Agatha is like my mom, always hiding vegetables in things. I’m Brandon, by the way.”
Raleigh reached out and shook his hand, the greeting strangely formal. A few of the guys fist bumped during the game, something too awkward for her to do, at least yet.
“Who cares if it tastes good?” asked Adam.
Raleigh tried a bite. “It does taste good.”
With her blackouts, she never tried out for a team sport. But her sister Lana had been tight with her girls’ volleyball team. She envied that bond and now had a small thrill go up her spine imagining that she too would be part of a team—even if it was a team of Lucid-driven Receps.
Predictably, the conversation during lunch revolved around receptor volume, training, and what the field would be like. Mu and Tau weren’t discussed. As the guys stood up with their trays, she wondered how much Receps this low down knew. She didn’t dare ask about them the first day.
After stowing their dirtied trays, they spilled into the foyer of the building. Adam hung back for her, his hand rubbing the sweat from the back of his neck. “Technically we’re done with training for the day, but in an hour a lot of us are going to meet up in the weight room to lift.”
Raleigh hadn’t really ever lifted weights. She’d have to ignore her reservations, lifting was the best way to get stronger. “Sure, maybe.”
“Cool, see you in a bit.” Adam gave her a nod before heading off with the others to the dorms.
She watched as they all disappeared. Raleigh’s homey cottage now revealed its downside. By living separately, she missed out on some of the bonding.
Shielding her eyes, she stepped out into the sweltering afternoon sun. Nobody else lingered outside. The unbearable climate made it so people rushed from one air-conditioned building to another. Beads of sweat formed along her hairline and dripped down her back. Mu and Tau had to be here somewhere, and her money was on the squat, unwelcoming building Gabe failed to mention on the tour.
She circled the gymnasium and the squat bunker from earlier came into view. A short path led to its metal door, making it a destination rather than a place to pass. Rolling her shoulders back, she kept her steps measured and calm as she approached it. This was the type of place that would make a good prison. The narrow windows were too high to see through and only served to allow light in.
Carefully, Raleigh went to the side of the building where she couldn’t be seen from the gym or path. She surveyed the area. Even the desert critters hid from the heat. Reaching out her mind, she attempted to sense Mu and Tau. They could be barricading even if they were asleep, but not if they were drugged. Grant and Able’s best chance of holding them was to keep them doped up—the same way Rho’d been when he was in captivity.
She sought two male bodies in a drug-induced haze. Many people worked inside, none fitting that description. The inside of the building was cool, as evidenced by the goosebumps on the arms of the people she sensed. Most of them sat hunched over, their back muscles aching and their eyes strained. She guessed they were working at computers. She leaned closer, her hands pressing against the rough white adobe wall. There were maybe thirty people inside, but she didn’t sense any bodies that seemed like they could be Mu and Tau. What was this place?
“Raleigh?” said Gabe.
His voice skipped up her spine, causing her to jump. Whipping around, her hand fell on her chest. “Gabe. You scared me.”
“What are you doing out here?”
She didn’t have an answer because she didn’t think anyone was going to sneak up on her. She wasn’t used to people barricading. Now she stood a foot from the building, looking suspicious. Would he guess that she was trying to sense the people inside? If he did, would he jump to the idea that she was a spy?
“When did you learn to barricade?” Gabe studied her face.
“I was scared.” She hadn’t meant to barricade. Dropping it she let him sense her racing heart. “I closed off. Instinct.”
Gabe seemed to approve. “It figures that barricading comes naturally to you. What scared you?”
Snakes. Thalia once saw a snake when they were little, and ever since she’d always been vigilant when hiking. Raleigh used to tease her about it. “I saw a snake. Adam said there was weight training in the gym, and I was headed there when something slithered over here. I thought I’d check it out.”
“There are diamondbacks around here. They’re poisonous.”
Raleigh rubbed her arms. “We
have garter snakes back home. Anyhow, I came over here but couldn’t find it. What is this place?”
“Our intelligence building.” Gabe wasn’t interested in the building, he stood lightly on his toes. “Let’s get out of here. I don’t want to get bit.”
“Yeah.” Raleigh followed him away.
Gabe smiled. “You were getting along with Adam at lunch.”
“Yeah. I think it’s working out not to tell them about the extractions.” She snapped the elastic of the sweatband on her arm. “They seem friendly enough.”
“How many times have you lifted?”
“A few times in high school. Enough to know I need a spotter.”
“I can do that.”
Raleigh was relieved that Gabe bought her story. In the future, she’d have to be more careful when she poked around.
—
THE DUAL TRAINING sessions made for a long day. On aching legs, she ambled to the extraction room. The lactic acid irritated her muscles as she waited for her thumbprint to be scanned. Once inside she discovered both Dale and Quinn, she gave a small wave and sunk into the extraction chair.
“How’d it go with the Receps?” Dale asked.
“I bet it was awesome!” Quinn said. “We’ve reached level twenty-five of....”
“Don’t, Quinn. She doesn’t care.” Dale exhaled loudly and then turned to Raleigh. “I overhead them at the table saying that you sucked at basketball.”
Even if Dale and Quinn weren’t social with the others, they kept in the loop.
“I’m really out of shape.” The last thing she needed was for them to judge her, too.
Dale snorted. “Compared to them, who wouldn’t be? They work out nonstop.”
“They’re dedicated. I wish I had receptors.” Quinn made a muscle with his arm and frowned at it. The moment of regret passed quickly. His machine stopped, and he disconnected the tubes from his arm. “I’m done. Back to the game.”
Dale watched him leave, then leaned his head back with a soft thud. “I’m getting sick of gaming. So, what are you doing tomorrow?”
“I’m going with Agatha to the labs. I’m hoping to work there. She says that I can apply to college, so I can become a doctor.”
“I bet they’d love to have you as a healer. That’s the whole point of this place, to understand Lucidin well enough that we can save lives. Why aren’t you in Chicago or New York?”
“Agatha said it’s safer here.”
“Yea, the Designed think they’re better than everyone because of their Lucidin. Agatha worries that they’ll target us because they don’t like that anyone else has that power. I’ve never been to the labs. I’ve always wondered what they did in there.”
“Haven’t you been here for a couple of months?”
“They treat us well, but they really aren’t all that interested in us beyond the Lucidin.”
The gears turned hungrily in the extraction machine. It was the same thing Rho had complained about. Quinn clearly enjoyed the free time and the praise. Dale wasn’t the type of person who’d be satisfied with this kind of life. Raleigh wasn’t either.
“Do you want to come to the labs tomorrow?” she asked.
“I don’t know if they’ll let me.”
“It’s your Lucidin. Shouldn’t you get to see where it goes?” Dale had to prove to these people that he was more than a source of Lucid. Agatha and the others needed to involve the Modified, and she would insist that he come.
Dale bit his bottom lip. “I’ve been interested.”
“Then you’ll come with me tomorrow when I go. We’ll do it after extraction. Do you think Quinn will want to come too?”
“He’s in an online tournament tomorrow. Be careful not to bring it up, or that’s all you’ll hear about.”
“I’ll be careful then.” Raleigh laughed, and her side, still sore from the workout, protested. She was going to need that downtime from training tomorrow.
19
THE NEXT DAY they stared at brains that bobbed lightly in their cylindrical jars. Raleigh leaned in closer while Dale paled. She sensed the blood drain from his face and settle in his legs. The repulsion crept up his spine, and his eyes widened. It surprised her that he didn’t run out of the room. Of all the things Raleigh expected to see in the labs, human brains weren’t one of them.
In the hospital, the laboratory was the place where blood work was done. It smelled on account of the stool and urine samples. The grossest thing was bacterial plating of the medical swabs. There were no brains swimming in briny-smelling broth.
“What are they?” Dale asked.
Agatha remained unfazed. “We’re attempting to grow brains that produce Lucidin.”
Dale cleared his throat fighting his nausea. “Don’t they—um, you know—need a body?”
“To make Lucid, you don’t need a body. The hormone is made in the brain and then, theoretically, leaches into the surrounding solution.” Dr. Gustav, Raleigh’s new boss, tapped the glass. “We haven’t succeeded yet. In a few days we’ll slice up this one open and see if it produced any receptors.”
“Can they think?” Dale asked.
“No.” Raleigh couldn’t sense them and assumed they were sending no messages. Even tiny embryos had the spark of life. “These are more like cells arranged in a brain fashion.”
Dr. Gustav shook his index finger. “We never claimed to be close. You two will be responsible for keeping the broth between certain temperatures. And later, you’ll stain and mount the brain sections after they’ve been sliced.”
Dale gave Raleigh a look. “The other lab had nice clean beakers.”
It was true. The first lab they visited was working to construct a better synthetic. In the second one they toured, the scientists tried to recreate the illusive inducer used by the tribe all those years ago. Both would be heavy in organic and biochemistry. This was more hands-on.
Dr. Gustav snapped on a pair of gloves and turned to Dale. “You can feed the lab rats. The rats smell worse, and they bite, but if you want to help out in the synthetics lab they’d appreciate it.”
“I thought only people could use Lucidin,” Raleigh said. “Rats wouldn’t be able to test if any of their samples worked.”
Agatha pulled her attention from the brains. “You listen well. It’s for toxicity. We would never inject something into a human until we tried it on other animals first.”
So, the Designed weren’t the only guinea pigs, but there was nothing to say that some synthetics wouldn’t be exclusively toxic to humans. Raleigh dropped it. Her eyes went to the brains. They were the same translucent pink as the hamster babies in her fourth-grade classroom. Dr. Gustav put on gloves and reached in and delicately grabbed one, it squished between his fingers. Dale’s stomach clenched.
“I’ll show you how we rinse them.” Dr. Gustav rested the brain on a metal tray and motioned to Dale to follow.
Agatha’s gloves snapped as she tugged them off. “That’s fine. Show Dale, and I’ll take Raleigh to the video conference I’ve arranged.”
Dr. Gustav rested the brain on the tray on the counter and wrapped his hand around it, his meaty fingers turning it over to reveal the tail-like brainstem. “Right, thanks for your visit Agatha. Raleigh, it’s going to be a pleasure working with you. Dale, put on a pair of gloves, I’ll teach you the cleaning process.”
Dale furrowed his brow and grabbed two of the gloves from a box. Raleigh gave him a smile and followed Agatha through the doors into the hall. The icy temperature in the labs made her shiver in her summer clothes.
She waited for the door to shut behind them before saying, “Dale’s anxious.”
“The brains are a bit off-putting at first. Once he figures out that none of them are going to talk to him, he’ll be fine.”
Raleigh wondered what a brain would say. I’m here to take your Lucidin job, Dale. Grant and Able weren’t fools. They made the Designed too strong and the Modified free, but the brains would have none of that. If they wor
ked, it would be a victimless method.
The first floor of the building was undeniably devoted to the labs—with their high ceilings, black counters, and deep sinks that gave them an industrial look. Agatha led Raleigh toward the elevators, passing whiteboards and large equipment that hummed and beeped. When the elevator doors opened onto the second floor, Raleigh felt like she was in a standard office building. Offices lined the walls, and a kitchenette with a coffee maker percolated in the corner.
“We’ll take this meeting in my office.” Agatha moved down the hall stopping at a door with her name written in precise script. She opened it and welcomed Raleigh in.
The earth tones and clean lines that Agatha seemed to prefer made the office bland. Agatha motioned Raleigh to sit in a back straightening ergonomic chair. Raleigh delicately sat, her back held straight, and her muscles, sore from the workout yesterday, ached.
Agatha sat in an identical chair at her desk. She swiveled the computer monitor so that both she and Raleigh could see the screen. Then she typed a password, and a call went through.
“Hello, Agatha.” A middle-aged woman appeared on the other end. A pair of thick black lenses hid her dark brown eyes, and her ebony skin contrasted nicely with the white lab coat. She sat in an office, a patchwork of anatomy posters peeking out from behind her. To the side of them was a window, and skyscrapers dotted the view.
Agatha nodded at the screen. “Dr. Arthur, this is Raleigh.”
“Hi, Raleigh.” Dr. Arthur beamed, her eyes almost disappearing from the smile. “I’m Gabe’s equivalent in the healer world, which is to say that I train the doctors in our program how to use Lucidin in diagnostics and healing in the New York clinic.”
Raleigh leaned forward trying better to see the skyline in the distance. She hoped to be sitting in that seat one day. Her mind pushed out the thoughts about the Designed and trying to find Mu and Tau. The jitters of being a spy were replaced with a curiosity that tugged on her heart. She had so many questions for Dr. Arthur, but they all became tangled on her tongue. Should she ask what they’d been able to cure? If people believed her? And the most pressing, when could she start?