Nemecene: The Epoch of Redress (25 page)

"Comm later."

I need a zapper or something to keep me on track with my schedule. What do I need to bring? My slippad of course. Oh and Mother's constellation charms, to spark Dr. Tenille's memory just in case. I remember he used to hold her hands to stop her from rubbing them all the time. He was worried she would cut herself. She used to stroke so hard she would bleed sometimes. A deep breath in, then out again. I have to plane like I'm on the slick.

The pond's looking pretty in pink today. Those flowers really do lap up the rays. I wish I could sleep as peacefully as they do at night. The morning dew might look like tears on them, but they're not sad, they shed joy instead, welcoming the brand new day. I need to cut through the grass. I could lie underneath these trees forever, the citrus is so soothing. Sigh. Another time maybe, Jacinta is probably parked already. I can see her through the archway sitting at the sweet counter. Almost there. I truly have been slacking. My recovery time is sliding.

"Hey l... Um. Way, Jacinta."

"Way. Nice bracelet."

"Thanks. And for saving me a seat."

"Wasn't the sweep a jumper? It took me three days to chip down. Intense! How about you? Shaplo says you were bouncing."

Try not to look stunned. Make something up. Fast. "Off the walls, yeah? I think the tag had the opposite effect on me. I couldn't sleep for three nights." Nice to know my pretentious neighbor is spying on me. I'll have to feed him something scandalous to keep him busy. "So. Let's compare slips."

"I found a case study for kidney transplants, no detail spared. Dizzy, yeah?"

"I found a brain transplant, just behind the eyeballs. I'll never look at a reflector the same way again, eh?"

That caused a shudder and a show of tongue. The poor girl is going to have to toughen up if she wants to be a medical lead.

"I'm not sure why they make us study these barbaric images. Technology is far past the blood, guts, and gore now."

That's what you think. Not from what I've seen recently. "Maybe there are GHU procedures only select medics are aware of, and they test our digestive systems as part of their evil grooming process."

A gasp! This is fun. What a nervous lass. She's been tapping her foot under the table the whole time.

"Whoa! What's with the sudden shove?" She just slammed herself up with her eyes glazed. "Way! Hey lo! Planet earth calling Jacinta. You awake?" I didn't mean to terrorize the girl. "It was just a rib." Oh, I get it. Rib's on me. "Very funny. Good whip! You can stop now. Come on, people are watching us." She's non-responsive, and actually people are…

Let go of your breath. What are they all doing? Creeps! Did they just all stomp their left foot and pop their jaw in unison? The courtyard was almost empty a few minutes ago, and now look. Row after row of vacant bodies, twitching their right shoulders and marching. Am I the only one who is sane here? Did the Gadlins neglect to mention something in the water?

"Jacinta, you..." Where did she go? She left her things and just assalammed.

Eek! Hands off, you wack! How am I going to get through this mob? Quiet! I can't hear myself think. All of you. Out! Out of my head! Stay loose. Breathe. Count them out. One. Two. Three. Breathe. Four. Five. Six. Breathe. Seven. Eight. Nine. Good. Now clip!

"Get out of my way!" Ouch. Get up! Watch their legs again. There. Between the slides. Dodge their arms. Almost out. Finally. Head for the clearing. More? Eek. Behind me.

"Hey lo, chum." Smack right into Stitch. At last, someone normal...ish. Oh no! Not him too.

Keep running.

"Let go! You're bent! You're all bent!" I can't control the shakes now.

"Ease, Eli." He is almost falling down in, well, stitches. "You've never seen the thriller dance before?"

"The what?" I am in complete shock. That was a dance? Where was the music?

"It's a 20th century ritual. Pica trip!" I am still puzzled. "You don't subscribe to bioRhythms do you?" More confused. "You're cute."

Ah yes. The smile. Wonderful. I'm back to being cute again.

"What are bioRhythms?"

If he could just stop laughing maybe he would start making some sense. "It's a…"

"Ohhhm gee. You're safe. Both of you. Something is possessing the archives, and everyone in the Central Core. People are acting like demented cadavers and one tried to grab me."

Stitch is absolutely howling now, Keet is struggling to catch up with his lungs, and I am finally controlling my nerves.

"You two are priceless. Welcome to the big city, newbs."

Is it over now? Rubrique Court looks clear from here. Students are heading to their lessons as usual. I wonder if I should return to the Nook in case Jacinta is looking for me. I don't imagine she actually saw me leave. It was all very creepy how whatever program was running in their head, they just followed instructions like some master puppeteer was pulling their strings. Is this perhaps why the Ministry gets nervous with malfunctioning biochips? They obviously weren't able to control Keet or myself, and Stitch even seemed to have a dual presence of mind. But then again, he has all sorts of emitting and rubbing devices that he probably can control incoming signals to a certain extent.

"She's lost in thought."

Are they talking about me? "Sorry. I just drifted for a while." They're looking concerned. Oh. "Not that kind of drifting, was just thinking about what happened. I'm still a bit rattled." Stitch has it down to a giggle at last.

"I found the documents you needed for your anatomy project, Eli."

I didn't ask Keet to research my… Oh right. We can't reveal the theft to Stitch just yet. I hope he missed my momentary flinch.

"Ah thanks, but I have to dash to the interview. I want to be early in case I get dragged to my eternal grave when the salsa zombies start looking for partners." You never know. I have encountered quite a few, dare I say, peculiarities in this city, and I am convinced this is only the beginning.

Stitch is observing us very closely, with the corners of his eyes secretly trying to focus on the documents Keet is obscuring with his chest. I lean into him to break his line of sight.

"You can educate us both later on the insanity we just witnessed. You trip with that?"

"I'm trip with that." And there he goes, wiggling, spinning, shadow beating.

Keet and I look at each other, shake our heads, and smirk. That boy is a walking oxymoron, a dweeby genius with military training and a penchant for practical jokes.

"I'll wait in your room then. Pass me the key, Eli."

"You mean the secure band and the controller, master of antiques."

He fakes a ha-ha and walks away with a honker following him.

"Oh and lose the goose."

My chest is throbbing. This could be it. Off to Dr. Tenille.

Day 31: Early Evening

M
y chest is throbbing. This could be it, the culmination of years of hiding, months of planning, weeks of refining. I am hopeful that Dr. Tenille will have the answers that will put your mysterious accident to rest and will consequently expose whatever demons have been trapped inside Eli's subconscious. If she can at least become part of his crew, the gifted few he shares his patient roster with at the GHU, she might be granted special permissions to the observation facilities, like the one you lived in, if that's what you want to call it. But abandoning the safety of her residence to volunteer herself to the probing scrutiny of the very organization we have been sheltering her from as far back as I can remember may be a risk that offers limited blessings in return. As much as I desire closure with regards to your death, my utmost concern is with regards to Eli's life, to keep her from sacrificing the second half of her years to a padded cell.

My calm remains challenged in the midst of this tranquil room as each second stretches into hours. Anticipation has my mind reeling into realms I dare not enter completely. What if Dr. Tenille's involvement with your case was not purely academic? What if he was instrumental in keeping you under his microscope and as such stripped your freedom and kept you from us? We honestly do not know whether he had motives none too honorable; all we know is that his was the name authorizing your release, and that he now represents our leap of faith into a volatile future, which began the first day we set foot in this city. Even the promised stability of my position at the Museum of Antiquities has proven to be vulnerable to a cryptic intruder, forcing me to carry my journal at all times, without which writing to you while sitting at Eli's desk nervously awaiting her return would not be possible. The cosmic order, it seems, has its own hidden agenda.

Slightly past dawn, while Eli lay sleeping in my bed, I had entered the rear of the round room as usual and collected my daily archival duties from the scheduler. The exhibits in the Ancient Civilizations Gallery under the east dome had completed their tour at this location and were ready for travel to the next museum on their circuit. My charge for the day was to ensure the appropriate documentation was in place and that their replacements were properly cataloged; so, I withdrew to the artifacts room for the greater part of the day, checking and cross-checking the incoming and outgoing transport chests. At the back of my mind, I kept visualizing the unique composition of granite that Eli had pulled from her pocket. Even though its reddish hue was notably rare, I was convinced I had seen that particular stone before, but I was unsure as to whether it was in its physical form. Just as I remembered where I had come across a similar rock type, Eli appeared on the comm, her panic causing me to immediately abandon my dig and switch to the stacks.

Fortunately, my sketching skills have immensely improved since accepting this position of apprentice curator, because little did I know that within less than ten minutes I would be running from my research terrified for my life, and the only reason I escaped ridicule from my favorite twin is because she had made an even greater spectacle of herself than I had. Just as the patrons were struck with madness, the PAL had completed its preliminary pass through the volumes and returned with a sleeve matching the exact likeness of your jewel that I had etched in my brain. Since everyone else was intently committed to being the walking dead, the staff paid no attention to the security scanner gesticulating wildly as I rushed the exit with the documents in hand. Understandably, I wasn't entirely worried at the time about the consequences of blatant theft, but tonight I will no doubt be testing my powers of persuasion by imploring my supervisor to forgive my highland naivety and keep the incident between us. In any case, the contents of my booty did not turn out to be especially threatening to the Unification and raised more questions than gave answers about who you really are.

When I finally reached the campus oval, panting and visibly shaken, I found Eli at the pond, obviously irritated at Stitch, but that time the tremors came from within, while I wrestled with my tongue and strove to conceal the stolen goods from him as he gradually tempered his hysteria. Eli was no doubt sensing, as was I, an impending repeat of yesterday's confrontation regarding trust issues, so she sliced through the tension and cleverly redirected us in separate directions, while she focused on the interview. That is how I arrived at sitting here, at Eli's window, massaging my temples, my head pounding and confused by the story I had just read.

It is not clear to me whether the tale is fact or fiction, but the astonishing narrative alludes to possibilities I had never considered. Trusting the validity of the account, how you came into possession of such an elusive treasure is a curiosity, for according to legend it was last seen in the hands of a Gadlin sage, centuries before their flight. The text continues to describe nine gold and silver domed spikes evenly spaced radially from the center of a hollow crystal bulb, protecting the heart of the jewel with its nine delicate rose petals. Although the actual gem had never been revealed, rumors abounded concerning the existence of a flawless diamond the size of a human eyeball resting at its core. Ordinarily, I would uphold Father's version of its origin, as a family heirloom gifted to you through him on the day of our birth, a longstanding tradition, but my intuition in light of recent events and his questionable honesty invites alternate interpretations

A theory still plausible is that the brooch Eli adopted was merely a replica of the artist's rendition I discovered, its worth is nothing more than a sentimental link to a long line of highlanders, and the thief was enamored with a childhood fable; however I trust the Ministry with due diligence in all matters of state. No, this act of piracy is not the result of a childish fantasy. Whoever breached this space and muzzled the privyshelf is fully aware of its prophesied value and is quite possibly linked to the three officials and ultimately the Pramam's advisor. The question that remains is why now? How could you, our supposedly mentally unstable mother, a common orphaned clerk, have managed to shield it from authorities while tenanted inside a GHU asylum?

As I pulled the second and last page from the folder, the lighting started to flicker and I was unable to continue reading. I was forced to investigate the source of the malfunction. Taking the secure band and controller with me, I sealed the room and peeked around the corner to the central shaft. The solar storage cells on the mirrored inner surfaces of the tube were very dim, almost as if they had been drained of the day's sunlight, and the whole branch was affected. With previous releases of this technology, the cells were attached to separate storage collectors which relied on a dual feed system that was susceptible to cosmic variances, like the storms we have been experiencing recently, but this latest advancement keeps the energy locked in each individual cell, releasing it gradually when required. For thousands of these units to empty all at once would require a load far above their intended capacity, which the architects of the residence complex had generously compensated for. The sentinels were also strangely absent, and unless my memory fails me, the curfew was still in effect, which also contributed to my anxiety over Eli's lengthy meeting with Dr. Tenille.