I separated from him. “How can you say that? How can you be so cruel to her when you declare your love for me?”
“I’m sorry, Ava, I didn’t mean for it to sound that way, but…you’re different.”
I faced away from him. “And what if they determine I’m full Stargazer? What then? Are you going to experiment on me, while all the time telling me you’re sorry and that you really love me?”
He touched my arm, but I jerked away from him. “I’m sorry Ava, but I just can’t rebel against the Corporation.”
I turned back to him with a scowl. “You can’t be brave like your brother, right?”
His face screwed up in anger and he shot off from the bed. He went to leave, but turned back and faced me with a calmer expression. “You should be with Loren, Ava. He accepts you. He’d die for you. I know that. I can’t say I’d act the same way, although, I do love you very much.”
“I love you too.”
I meant it but only as one friend to another. I knew that Loren was the only one for me. John knew it too, nodded, and then exited my room, just as Henrietta was walking out of the bathroom.
“I decided to stay longer in there—give you two some privacy.”
“Oh, thanks, I guess. What do you think of Loren and John? Which one should I be with?”
She sat down next to me and stared at the white wall ahead. “I don’t think you should be with anyone until you find out who you are.”
I didn’t expect that answer, hoping she’d say ‘Loren,’ but I had to admit, she was right. I stayed silent, watching the wall with her. Soon it changed to a black screen and Medusa appeared.
“Dinner is being served in the cafeteria if you would like to eat.”
“Oh, thanks Medusa. Is it your job to remind us of meal times?”
“Yes. President Pallas has directed me to keep you healthy. All female Sanctuary residents are allowed 1,400 calories a day, but you are allowed a generous 2,000.”
I looked at Henrietta. She looked shocked too.
“What about exercise?” Henrietta asked. “She will need to burn off the excess calories to maintain an ideal weight.”
“Ava is allowed 2,000, but she does not have to consume 2,000. Exercise is allowed but only within Quadrant Echo, where she can travel the length of the premises with a proper attendant.”
I smiled at Henrietta. “That means you.”
She smiled back. “I don’t mind. I’m sorry for crying earlier. I felt like my whole world had been turned upside down when Pallas sent me away to live with you, but now…I’m better. I see that our arraignment will be beneficial.”
“What do you mean by beneficial?”
“I’ll have a friend for the first time in my life.”
I smiled, hoping that her life was finally going to move forward now.
“Yes, you will. As long as I’m here, and alive, I’ll be your friend.”
She bit her lip. “If you’re allowed more calories, can you get a sweet, and I can share it with you?”
I wrapped my arm around her shoulders. She was wearing a drab gray shirt and pants. I was tempted to suggest she wear mine with all the different colors, but I didn’t know if she’d accept. She was still a slave and had limitations imposed upon her. I hoped that being around me, and the unexpected freedoms I was given, she’d soon share my belongings. She was already sharing my prison cell, after all.
“I know of something better. You can finally have that birthday cake you missed!”
“Oh, that’s too many calories!”
I turned to Medusa. “Is there a provision for eating too many calories?”
The beautiful but machine-built computer replied, “You will have to increase your exercise. I will be monitoring your progress. Once you have burned off the excess calories, you may conclude your routine.”
“Thanks, Medusa.”
She disappeared from the screen and the wall went back to white. The door opened and two guards were ready, their guns targeted on me.
I sighed, but there was nothing I could do. I knew I had superior strength but speed was another mystery. Could I outrun them? And how far would I get before my brains exploded in my head?
I didn’t need to hold Henrietta’s hand, but I did as I pulled her out of the room and into the hall of Sublevel 001.
“C’mon,” I said happily. “Let’s have some cake!”
Henrietta led the way to the cafeteria that was above the Sublevel. Guards lined the hall outside the doors and many more were within.
I wasn’t nervous with Henrietta by my side but that changed when everyone looked at me. None were Stargazers or at least none of them had lavender hair. They were all human. I recognized Dr. Eyre with her short red hair. She looked away from me, spooning something thick and beige in her mouth, while she sat by herself at a long table, filled with other inmates. She had on the same dress I had worn with her designation that I couldn’t make out. The others I assumed to be rebels, but as I hadn’t met every employee of the Corporation, there could have been some mixed in with the group, which I estimated to be around one hundred. There could have been more, given the size of Quadrant Echo and the numerous prison cells.
The cafeteria was white and clean—like the infirmary. There were machines and flashing lights around. I didn’t see a server or anything like a food bar.
“Where do we sit?” I asked Henrietta.
“Let’s go somewhere vacant,” she suggested and led me to a long table with two unoccupied chairs on the end.
The others stared at me; some looked curious; others looked angry. No one paid any attention to Henrietta.
“How do we get our food?”
Henrietta traced her finger along the white table and a panel appeared with buttons.
“We order from here and the food materializes.”
“It materializes? No one cooks it?”
“No, it’s made by a computer.”
I chuckled. “No wonder the bread is stale.”
“They give all the prisoners sub par rations, as they do slaves.”
“And you’re okay with that?”
She hesitated and then said, “It’s not ideal, but at least we’re fed. The Corporation takes good care of us. No one ever starves.”
I looked around at everyone. No one was overweight, but thin—too thin. Even if they wanted to revolt, they seemed too weak to accomplish the task. With my strength, I could be the only one to subdue the guards, but that was a risk I wasn’t willing to take—not yet anyway.
The prisoners continued to stare at me, occasionally looking at Henrietta, wondering why she was so casual and calm around me. I was, after all, the enemy. But they were too.
I needed a distraction. Food seemed best. I looked down at the panel on the table. I pushed a button and a menu came up. It had a list of food and beverages with exact calories. It also made suggestions of meal combinations to reach specified caloric intake for the day.
I saw that my name “Ava,” was on the screen, telling me I was allowed 2,000 calories.
“How does it know me?” I asked Henrietta.
“It recognized your fingerprint scan when you touched the panel.”
“Oh, so Medusa knows everything that I touch?”
“That’s right. It helps her track us.”
“Or it helps Pallas,” I muttered.
I was careful to keep my disdain of that man quiet. I knew Henrietta still thought the world of him, despite making her a slave and then kicking her out. I was having a hard time believing he was thirty. He wasn’t that much older than Henrietta, Loren, John, and Vincent, yet they revered him like a wise, old man. How did he build Sanctuary, the Corporation, in such a short time? Did he inherit everything?
I wanted to deluge Henrietta with those questions, but I assumed she didn’t know much, so I continued with my order. I selected roast beef, a baked potato with lots of butter, green beans, iced tea, and two pieces of chocolate cake.
“You have exceeded your daily requirements,” Medusa’s voice echoed from the panel.
“I don’t care,” was my response. “I’ll work it off.”
“That is acceptable. Enjoy your meal, Ava.”
Within seconds, there was a buzzing sound, and then as if by magic, my meal appeared right in front of me.
“That’s incredible,” I said to Henrietta.
“That’s the greatness of the Corporation,” she reminded me with a smile.
I ignored her devotion and looked around the room. No one had a good as meal as mine.
They looked jealous. Some looked like they were going to approach us, but they hesitated.
“Hurry up and order,” I instructed Henrietta. “I don’t like the look of this crowd.”
Henrietta scanned the scene, and then shrugged at me as if she didn’t know what I was talking about. But she selected her meal: a bowl of soup and water. I quickly hit the cancel button on the panel.
“Why did you do that?” she asked.
I shoved the piece of chocolate cake to her. “You’re going to eat that, and you’re going to get the same meal I have.” I smiled at her. “I can’t walk off these calories in Quadrant Echo by myself, now can I?”
She smiled back. “Okay.”
She ordered the same and within seconds, her meal appeared, but not before a warning from Medusa that she needed to burn off her excess calories.
“Eat your cake first, with me,” I told her.
“Oh, but that’s not proper meal etiquette.”
“It’s your birthday. Go wild!”
“But it’s not my birthday.”
I sighed. “Just eat the cake first.”
She hesitated, and then picked up a silver fork and went to separate a section, but I remembered something—a song—very deep in the back of my mind.
“Stop, wait!”
She halted the fork in the air. Everyone stared at us.
“What is it?”
“I know a song. You can’t eat that until I sing you a song.”
“Is this a Stargazer custom?”
“No, I don’t think so.” I closed my eyes, trying to remember the lyrics. When I opened my eyes, Henrietta was furrowing her brow at me, confused. I opened my mouth and began to sing, “Happy birthday to you—happy birthday to you—happy birthday, dear Henrietta, happy birthday to you!”
I smiled, feeling joyous inside, happy for Henrietta, but she just stared at me with a look of confusion. I glanced at everyone else. They had the same look.
I turned back to Henrietta. “Let’s eat before it gets cold.”
She hesitated, but then nodded, and dug in. I did the same. We both ate very quickly, enjoying our meal, not slowing down to savor the taste. The chocolate cake was by far, the best part.
I smiled at Henrietta. “You have icing on your face.”
She smiled, giddy with sugar overload. “Do I?”
She went to clean it, but missed the spot entirely. I took a napkin. “Here, let me,” I said as I wiped the black smudge from the side of her mouth.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw two guards advance, and then stand still. They must have thought I was going to hurt Henrietta. I was surprised at their actions; I didn’t think a slave’s life was worth their effort, but perhaps it was an opportunity to shoot me and prove to everyone that I was indeed, dangerous.
“You really are different, aren’t you?”
I turned to see Dr. Eyre, standing cautiously near me. I looked at her prison outfit. Her designation was NTRS-01-24-3013. She took a seat at my table, several feet away. Her once brilliant red hair was now dull and thin. Being in prison didn’t suit her well.
“I don’t know,” I replied. “Am I?”
“The Stargazers wouldn’t dare be so tender to humans.” She shrugged. “And why should they? We haven’t been very welcoming.”
“Don’t group your Corporate demons with us, doctor,” said a gruff voice near us.
I turned to place the face with the voice. It was short man with long brown hair, unkempt. He wore a white shirt and pants with his designation as EHRI-09-24-3010-L.
I deduced the “EH” to be Extremely Hostile. The “RI” I could only conclude to be Rebel Intruder or Infiltrator. The date was when he was apprehended, three years earlier than me. As for the “L” I had no idea what that letter meant.
He saw me eyeing his shirt. He gave me a wicked smile. “Trying to figure me out, alien?”
I didn’t like being called an “alien,” but I let it pass. I lifted my head, trying to show bravery, as if he didn’t upset me.
“What does the ‘L’ stand for?”
He looked down at his shirt as if he needed to remember. Then he looked up at me and smiled. “I was a lieutenant in a rebel faction.”
“Were any others caught with you?”
He nodded to a girl and boy across from him. They both had blond hair, unkempt, eyeing me curiously. They didn’t seem threatening like the short man.
“These two privates were captured too. That’s how we got caught.” He turned to them with a sneer. “These no good bunch of kids couldn’t bypass the security measures in time.”
“We did,” said the boy, defending himself. “My sister and I got through, but you tripped the secondary security net in a rush to enter the dome.”
The man shot off his seat, furious. The guards did nothing—yet.
He pointed a threatening finger at the boy, who now looked extremely scared. His sister clutched onto his arm, fearful as well.
“We had that sector under surveillance for months! You knew what to do! You failed!”
The sister, even though scared, stood up and pointed back at him. “Don’t blame Rainn! You were the one in charge!”
“Sunny,” said Rainn softly to his sister. “Sit down, please. I can handle this.”
“Like you handled it back then?!” shouted the man.
It all happened so fast. The man lunged forward, knocking Sunny out the way, as he grabbed Rainn’s shirt, and pulled him forward, his fist reared, ready to slam it against the boy’s face. I shot off my seat, not thinking of the repercussions, and rushed to the next table. I heard shouts behind me, maybe Henrietta, maybe Dr. Eyre, I didn’t know, and I didn’t care. I had to stop that man from hitting Rainn.
My only thought was to stop his fist from reaching the boy’s face. So I held up my hand and blocked the blow. The man’s fist slammed into my hand. I heard bones breaking and the loud cry of someone in awful pain. I thought the boy had really been hurt, but when I looked at him, he was already backing away, unhurt, with his sister, retreating away from me. I looked down at the man I had stopped, his knees to the floor, holding his broken hand in the air, screaming in pain. His eyes were wide, staring at me, with his mouth open, screaming and cursing at me for what I had done—vowing revenge. His hand was nothing more than a crumpled and broken mess.
I looked up in time to see the barrel of a gun pointed in my direction. Out of instinct to protect myself, I advanced forward. He pulled the trigger once and a massive sound wave shot straight to my ear drum, sending a shrilling ring inside my head. The ringing bounced back and forth, causing me pain, making me delirious. I clamped my hand to my ears, as if that would make it all go away, but the screeching sound only got louder as I felt my legs go weak, and my knees crashed to the floor.
Someone stabbed me in my arm. With my eyes half-closed from the pain in my head, I turned to see a guard holding a now empty syringe in his hand. I felt sleepy and realized he had administered a sedative. I was glad for it as I drifted off into the cozy world of black and the pain in my head was nothing more than a dim memory.