Chapter 4
My sleep was so regulated, I had no idea what time of the day or night it was or even what day. I knew they were feeding me because my hunger and thirst were kept at bay. I could only assume they were giving me food through the needles and lines that I could feel in both arms. They kept me in a twilight state so that I was vaguely aware of things going on around me but couldn’t participate.
I spent most of my time in dreams. Dreams where my parents were still alive. Where both Beau and Diomed were under me running not because we were hunted but because it felt good. I saved the dreams of Arianell for those times that I was at my darkest depths of despair and the memories of her satiny skin, remarkable scent, and endless passion kept me sane. We weren’t always in bed, sometimes she showed me a workshop where she conjured spells and potions that my subconscious mind remembered. Things that I could use to help me escape, remain hidden and change my appearance.
I looked up at the white stone ceiling from which a light fixture hung and stared at the dim globe. Turned low in my cell, they had dimmed it in an attempt to simulate nighttime and I was supposed to be sleeping. For some reason, I was growing clearer headed and waking up. I was still manacled to the gurney cot and their liquids were still feeding into my veins.
No one was in the room but all their scanners and monitors were running. The main one that recorded my blood pressure, pulse and respirations was chiming a soft alarm. I heard rather than saw the door opening and the technician named Cabor entered quietly. He wore a white coat over his jumpsuit and his face bore an expression of unease. I cleared my throat and attempted to speak. My voice came out hoarse and squeaky until he offered me a glass of liquid that had an iron taste but was clearly not blood.
“Let me guess,” I finally managed. “Your Council wants to put me to death.”
“Oh, no,” he shook his head. “No, I told them that would be a scientific blunder of the worst sort. We need your data in our database. I can already see you contributing cures to several blood disorders from which the people here are suffering.”
“Why the long face then?”
“There have been several attempts of local indigenous trying to find a way inside the city. They have attacked the Gates and destroyed two Sentinels.”
“Sentinels?”
“Technicians programmed to patrol and protect the gates to the tunnel that leads to the City.”
“What’s this place called, anyway?” I tried to sit up but my muscles felt like limp fish. Besides, I was still bound.
“Reyjadsk. One of the last cities to be settled before the ice. The northern hemisphere,” he answered.
“How many humans live here?”
He hesitated before answering me. “There are over one hundred thousand citizens in Reyjadsk and ten thousand technicians like me.”
“Like you?”
“Some are med-techs; others are sani-techs, servo-techs, mech-techs and Sentinels. There are science-techs, also.”
“So, pretty much what a…human can do, you can do,” I cut in.
“Yes.”
“And how do the humans feel about that?”
“We are programmed to obey and to protect the humans at all costs,” he answered easily.
“But you would have killed me if they told you to,” I pointed out acidly.
“But, Tobias, you aren’t human,” he said softly.
“What am I, then? Did I come from some other kind of creature not born of this earth? No, I came from human stock as all of us did before the Split, fracture or whatever you call it. As for a curse I’m living under–I didn’t ask for this, it was forced on me and if I could take it back, I would. But I can’t so I have to live with it. It has already cost me my family, my horses and my friends. My life is worth nothing!” I was shouting by that time and he let me rant until I finally stopped with angry tears running down my cheeks to pool under my neck.
“Do you know you cry bloody tears?”
“Yeah. It’s part of the curse my great-grandfather hit me with.”
“Tell me about it,” he came around, and untied me from the cuffs and I rubbed my wrists. Even though cushioned with a wool-like fabric, I had still abraded them in my struggles. He helped me to sit up.
“Aren’t you afraid I’ll attack you?” I asked as he undid my ankles as well.
“No. You are too weak to injure me. I have fed a compound to you that will sustain your metabolism for several weeks as long as you continue to receive the iron supplements. Also, I have given you a formulation that will protect your skin from UV rays as you are extremely photosensitive.”
“You’re letting me loose?” I swung my legs over the side and sat there until I was sure I could stand without falling over.
“Yes. I see no reason to keep you contained to the bed.” He gave me a bundle of folded clothing, footwear and underthings. Asked me if I required assistance in dressing but remained in the room as I pulled on the outfit. Underwear, a jumpsuit like his in royal blue and flat sandals that hugged my big toe and were thin-soled. The jumper closed not with buttons or a zipper but a thin strip that hugged the cloth underneath. It fit snugly from my ankles to my neck and wrists but was warm, flexible and comfortable.
“We will tour the science levels, they are particularly interested in meeting you,” he stated. “And if you are up to it, we will meet the Council. They are troubled about your account of this border and the war between the old lands and the Elassai.” He stepped back and held the door open so that I could precede him into the vast room I had seen beyond my windows.