The Red Woman came back. She was accompanied by an armed guard of twelve. I guess I was really dangerous. I was glad that John didn’t mention that I had tried to leave. I knew he wouldn’t, but there was still that fear that he would break and spill. Loren seemed to be cooler, more in control. I think he had to be relaxed because of the device in his pocket. I didn’t know anything about these rebels, apart from the overheard conversations.
The Corporation didn’t like them, but most governments didn’t like it when their own citizens rebelled against them. That much I knew. If I didn’t know who I was and I knew I wasn’t a Stargazer, I wondered if I was a rebel, but then I decided I couldn’t have been. I was sure they didn’t like the Stargazers as much as the Corporation. Was I an outcast? I imagined it as a horrible life, where I could barely get by, but there were the visions of me and that man, swimming in that lovely blue water, and running through that enchanted green forest. We were so happy together.
I wished I could use Medusa to search for him, but she was Corporate controlled. She would only agree to lock the doors when Loren used a protocol. She wouldn’t be any help, unless Loren had another cube to override her. The table must have been easy to fool; Medusa, not so much.
The Red Woman spied the paper cup on the floor. She turned to John.
“And what has she said in my absence?”
“She doesn’t remember anything.”
She smiled. “That’s all right. I have…another idea I want to try.”
“What are you talking about?” asked Loren, stepping in front of my table, defensively.
“You’ve had your turns,” she said, addressing the two doctors, “but now it’s time for a more…invasive approach.”
“Invasive?” asked John with wide eyes.
“Don’t worry, Dr. Goode, no harm will come to her.”
I didn’t believe her.
“And how will you find your answers?” asked Loren.
“That is none of your concern.” She turned away from the two doctors and addressed the guards. “Prepare for transfer.”
I laid there, immobilized and scared, as six men with stomping boots, wearing head to toe in black, armed, approached my table. One of them pushed a few buttons on the panel Loren had been working on. Suddenly, my table went vertical, and I was erect, hovering above the floor. The blue blanket fell on the floor and I was shivering again—from the cold and the fear.
I blinked at John.
“It’s okay,” he said with a smile that didn’t meet his eyes.
“Where are you taking her?!” demanded Loren. “We’re her doctors.”
The Red Woman smiled. She sauntered over, click-clacking, as she approached, and slipped her hand into a pocket on her dress. She drew out a piece of paper, folded in thirds, and handed in to Loren. He snatched it up and read it up and down.
“Let me see,” said John and he read it over too.
I blinked at John, pleading for someone to tell me what was going on.
John swallowed, nervous. “It’s a personal decree from President Pallas. You are no longer in our care. You have been reprimanded to Quadrant 13.”
Before I could even blink, he answered my question.
“Quadrant 13 is a lab.”
I tried to shake my head, to tell him, “No, No, No,” but I couldn’t move.
“So, you see, gentleman,” said the Red Woman, “our Beneficial One cares a great deal for my opinion”—she turned to Loren—“and even less of his nephew’s. Oh, and you are to report at 0600 hours for clean up detail at Pallas Park.”
“Clean up? I’m a doctor.”
“President Pallas was most displeased as to your…activities near his holy place. You are to help the workers clean, even if it takes you all day and all night.” She turned to John. “As for you, Dr. Goode, your services are needed for Miss Haiku Noon, Dr. Valier’s friend.”
“What happened to her?!” demanded Loren.
The Red Woman smiled. “Senator Noon doesn’t like his little girl tramping off with men, even if such men are the president’s own blood. As President Pallas would say, ‘Loyalty is more important than family.’” She raised her hands to the ceiling. “Pallas, Beneficial One.”
The guards echoed her words, but not John and Loren. They were on edge, angry, at the Red Woman. Even John, who seemed to be ill-at-ease in upsetting the social order, looked like he was going to rip the Red Woman apart.
She turned to leave, but then looked at John. “Oh, Dr. Goode, you don’t mind a lot of blood, do you? Miss Noon isn’t too pretty at the moment.”
Loren snarled and lunged at the Red Woman, but John held him back, whispering to him, probably telling him she’s not worth it, as the guards advanced to protect the Madam Secretary, pulling their guns out, warning Loren to halt.
John was able to contain him as they both retreated away from the guards and from me. It seemed that I was being abandoned. I didn’t blame them. They tried, but they failed.
“Knock her out,” said the Red Woman to one of the guards. “I don’t want her seeing the facility.”
I tried to move as the burly guard approached me with a syringe—its long silver needle waiting to inject me, but it was useless, and I had to endure watching him, witnessing in slow motion, as he stabbed the needle into my arm. I watched as John and Loren rushed forward, but they were too late, and I didn’t think they would be able to stop the drug from entering my system. It worked fast. The room was spinning. The guards’ faces were a blur, but John and Loren stood out with their blue and green eyes. Soon, they were a blur too, and the only color I could distinguish was red. She seemed to be swirling all around me, taunting me with her power.
And then there was darkness—all black—as I fell into a slumber.
I woke up in another cold room, smaller, and dark gray—metallic. There were machines all around me like the ones I saw with Medusa. I wondered if she was here, but it was just the machines, the blinking lights, and the instruments. There was a table near the one I laid on, still confined. On the metallic table was an array of tools. Some had sharp points; others were blunt. One look mechanized as if it would move on its own. That one had a very sharp point. I ran through my mind all kinds of tools: hammers, pliers, chainsaws, and drills. They were for construction, yet they could easily be used to torture someone.
The room had been semi-dark when I woke, but suddenly, lights starting popping bright above me, on the ceiling, in rows of three, twelve each. The lights were red and it made me anxious as I was laid vertical on the table, hovering above the floor. Then the lights began to change: flashing green, blue, yellow, orange, purple, and then alternating the colors, continually flashing. It hurt my eyes so I closed them. It was the one movement I could control. Beyond my eyelids, I could still see the colors, although dim, flashing, and then suddenly they stopped. I opened my eyes to find I was in complete darkness.
I heard a buzzing sound like a fly, and then all the lights popped on—a bright white. My eyes went wide with horror, but not for the lights. A man was standing just three feet from me and he was smiling. A woman, petite, stood farther in the background, but no less menacing.
“I’m Dr. Jamison,” said the man, who was tall, broad-shouldered, and had a goatee. He motioned to the woman. “And this is Dr. Keller.”
The woman cocked her head to the side, appraising me. I already hated her, but I was prejudiced against women ever since I met the Red Woman.
“We’re specialists,” he continued. Then he walked over to the instruments, softly brushing the silver metal with his fingertips as if they were precious to him. “You see,” he began, still staring at the tools, “a Stargazer’s physiology is different than that of a human’s. You can take more pain.”
“But this one claims to not be a Stargazer,” commented Dr. Keller.
“That’s right,” agreed Dr. Jamison. “So it’s a good thing your mouth is immobilized or else you’d be screaming—playing an act—pretending to be human—before we’ve even touched you.”
I am human! I wanted to scream it at him, but I couldn’t. I resorted to blinking, hoping he knew Morse code, but he just smiled at me.
“Sorry, that doesn’t work on me, like Dr. Goode. He always was a sucker for all that sea-faring kind of stuff. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s in his blood.”
“Maybe we should drain that rebel infection from his blood,” suggested Dr. Keller with a smile.
I really hated her.
Dr. Jamison shook his head. “No, leave him be. He’s insignificant compared to this fine specimen in front of us.” He advanced towards me and our faces were only inches apart. “I’m actually looking upon a live Stargazer!” He smiled. “Only Dr. Hinder was allowed near the live ones for any length of time. Dr. Goode presided solely over the dead ones. There were a lot of dead ones. You think you have all this advanced technology, but we humans can learn too, and we can fight back. You didn’t think we’d put up a resistance, did you?”
“Careful using that word, Dr. Jamison, or you’ll sound like one of them.”
Dr. Jamison rolled his eyes for only me to see.
“Thank you, Dr. Keller. We’re not the Resistance. No, those are subpar humans who cannot see the vision that is our Dear Leader, Julius Pallas. They fight against us, the Corporation, the Sanctuary that provides for the needs of all.” He furrowed his brow at me. “Do you know of the Resistance? Are the Stargazers in league with them?”
“She won’t talk unless you remove the restraints,” reminded Dr. Keller.
He rolled his eyes at me again. “Thank you, Constance.”
“You’re welcome, Victor.”
Without looking away from me, Victor said, “Medusa, remove the mouth restraint on the anomaly.”
Medusa didn’t appear, but the restraint over my mouth was instantly gone. I sucked in a huge gasp of breath, and then exhaled.
“Feel better?”
I didn’t respond.
He smiled. “Can I see your tongue?”
I looked over at the various instruments, fearing which one would pull my tongue out.
He chuckled, as if I were acting silly. “No, I just wanted to see if it was lavender too.”
“No,” I said firmly.
“I heard you spoke English. I didn’t believe it but here you are. There are some Stargazers that are proficient, and if they hide their eyes behind sunglasses, and they hair in a hat or shawl, then we have no idea the enemy is standing right next to us. That’s why Pallas outlawed dark shades and head-coverings of any kind. It’s a pity. I liked my baseball caps and aviators.”
Dr. Keller stepped forward. “Are you going to talk her to death?”
“Oh, I hope I’m not that boring, Constance, but if want to leave, by all means, go ahead.”
“The president decreed that both of us would conduct the interrogation,” she reminded him.
Victor finally turned away from me and looked at Dr. Keller. “I’m not disputing that. Whatever decision our leader makes is absolutely correct. Now, shall we get started?”
Dr. Keller nodded and walked over to the table with all the metal instruments.
“No!” I yelled out, trying to save myself hours of torture.
Victor turned back to me. “It’s not what you think. First, we’re going to do an injection. To humans, it’s painless; to Stargazers, it’s excruciating.” He smiled. “But since you’re human, it should be nothing more than a tickle.”
Dr. Keller approached a metal case and opened it. Inside were syringes full of black liquid. She picked one up, and held it very carefully as she approached me.
“No!” I yelled out again.
“Medusa,” said Dr. Keller, “restrain the subject’s mouth.”
Instantly, I was paralyzed and all I could do was shout inside my head. But my eyes were wide, very wide, pleading with both of the doctors to halt their actions. Dr. Keller didn’t seem to notice my eyes or she didn’t care. Victor furrowed his brow at me, like he was concerned, but didn’t stop Dr. Keller from stabbing the needle in the back of my neck.
It felt like ice was spreading all throughout my mind and then a hot, raging fire. My eyes were wide, hoping they would understand my pain, but then I remembered what Victor had said: “To Stargazers, it’s excruciating.” I knew I wasn’t this alien Stargazer, yet I was in torment. My head felt like it was in a furnace. I quickly shut my eyes, trying to fool them.
“Try the second dose,” said Victor.
My eyes flashed open, feeling betrayed, but I didn’t know why. He never showed any loyalty to me, not like John or Loren, who could only do so much before they were overruled.
Dr. Keller placed the empty syringe on the table, went back to the metal box, and carefully picked up the second syringe. I quickly shut my eyes, trying to overcome the pain of the first dose, the fire in my mind, and also prepare myself for the second round of torture. I didn’t understand this method as an interrogation technique. I could only assume that if I screamed, I would be instantly found to be a Stargazer. But what would happen to me then? Would they continue to torture me? Would they execute me?
I began to wonder if, just if, I was as a Stargazer, then who was I in the ranks of the group? Was I important? Would someone try to rescue me? The shadow I saw in my mind, perhaps? Was he human—a rebel, or a citizen of Sanctuary, or a Stargazer? And what had these Stargazers done to have such cruelty afflicted upon them?
I had so many questions, but no one could answer them, at least not these specialist doctors who seemed to be experts in medicinal torture.
I closed my eyes and prepared myself as best I could as Dr. Keller injected the black liquid at the back of my neck. A blizzard blew around my mind, followed by a raging inferno, like hot lava from an exploded volcano. I was screaming inside my head.
“Open your eyes,” commanded Dr. Keller.
I refused her.
“Please, open them,” said Victor, in a soother voice.
I should have refused him too, but for some reason, the soft voice made me compliant. If I was an invading alien, a Stargazer, on this planet Earth, then I was a poor one at that, for these humans easily subdued me by their gentle voices.
I opened my eyes and looked only at Victor. He looked concerned for me, and at that, I began to cry. Never ending tears ran down my face. They let me cry for the longest time. After I had no more tears left, the water dried on my face. It itched. I wanted to wipe it away, but I couldn’t move. Victor must have sensed my distress. He walked over to me, reached inside his pocket, and withdrew a white handkerchief.
Gently, he wiped my cheeks, around my chin, and under it, along my neck, where the salt water had fallen in a rush and stuck to my skin like a clear mask.
“Better?” he asked.
I blinked once.
He smiled. “I don’t know Morse code, but I assume that was a yes?”
I blinked again.
Without looking away from me, he said, “Dr. Keller, please administer the third dose.”
My eyes went wide with panic. He just smiled at me.
Dr. Keller retrieved the third syringe as before, but Victor halted her approach to my neck.
“What are you doing?” she asked, holding the sharp needle point near my neck, ready to stab me.
“Medusa?” he said.
“Yes?” the female voice replied from a speaker hidden someone in the room.
“Remove the subject’s mouth restraint.”
Instantly, my mouth was free, and I knew what he wanted to hear. As Dr. Keller injected me again, I tried in vain to conceal my urges, but it couldn’t be contained, and I let out a piercing shrill that blocked out even the loudest sounds of the machines in the room. Dr. Keller dropped the needle on the floor and covered her ears. Victor didn’t make any attempt to protect himself. He just stood there, staring at me, while I continued to scream. Finally, he smiled at me again, and I knew my life was at an end. I welcomed it now—anything to end this torture and end myself—my unknowing self—the mystery of who I was and where I came from. I didn’t want to know anymore. I didn’t care.
I wanted to die.