Flare (33 page)

“I can do it,” said Ash. “But I’m going to need some time, because this is going to be a complete reconceptualization.”

“Take all the time you need,” said Santiago. “We have a lot of that down here.”

/***/

Ash studied their sewage treatment plan for three hours, and every layer of the system showed him something new. Their own batch of algae broke down the solid waste incredibly quickly, and a parabolic mirror used the power of the flare to cook the sewage clean without losing water to evaporation. It took him two more hours to learn the entirety of the system. He then asked Nigel and Santiago if he could take the diagrams home, and they agreed.

“We’ll send the specs to the projector in your room,” said Nigel. “Feel free to come back at any time.”

“Yes,” said Santiago. “We’re already doing fine, we’re just hoping you can make us a little better.”

/***/

Ash found Dave sleeping in the dining room. He was resting on a pad in the far corner, alongside a man, a woman and a kid who were playing a game next to him, kicking a ball that was projected by a monitor on the ceiling. There was a sprayed aerosol on the floor, and the projected ball became three-dimensional within the translucent gas. It bounced up and down on the ground and clung to the players’ feet and bodies. The three players made a triangle and they kicked the ball to each other, looking as graceful as ballerinas. The ball would often hang on their feet and rotate around it, revolving as if it were in orbit and then flying away with the player’s kick.

It looked like a lot of fun, and they were beckoning Ash to come forward and play with them. He also noticed that there was quite a bit of food left on the table and though it was all vegetarian, it had the warm, inviting aroma of turkey, stuffing and graving.

I can’t stop here, not now
.
I need to wake up Dave, and we need to get back home.

/***/

Back in his room, Ash worked on the sewage system through the night. He had some ideas, but they would take a while to develop. Every layer of the design held its own private genius, and Ash learned a groundbreaking innovation with every piece of the system.

Perhaps the salvation to humanity is right here in these schematics.
Perhaps we need saving from more than just the sun, and the brilliance in these diagrams gives us just that.

He came up with four solutions to increase the efficiency of the sewage treatment system and decided to hold off on bringing them back to Santiago until the next morning. He was tired, and he also needed time to think about his place here. He needed to think about more than just how to increase the efficiency of a sewage system.

He went to bed, and right before he went to sleep he snapped the fingers on his left hand twelve times in a row.

/***/

The next day Ash had his morning talk with Adriel, and she brought up the fact that he snapped the fingers on his left hand twelve times in a row. She didn’t mention that he had snapped the fingers on his right hand twenty times in the train, nor did she bring up the words
quiver
,
rainbow splice
or
semaphore
hermaphroditic creatinine
.

He wasn’t convinced that he had found a true hole in the system, but it was all he had to go on now, and he wanted to act quickly.

He ended the discussion and went outside. They had now unlocked his door at all times, and he was free to enter the hallway during the day. He had seen which room was Dave’s from the previous night, and went to knock on Dave’s door.

“Where do you wanna go, chief?” asked Dave.

“I want to go to a neighboring district, to see another sewage treatment system, so I can compare. Let’s go somewhere close this time.”

They went to the platform and descended into the small train. Shortly after the ride started, Dave once again turned his seat around, brought up the table and poured a glass of the cloudy white tea for each of them.

“Dave, have you carried others in this train?” asked Ash. “Have you had any passengers on this train besides myself?”

“Yeah, two others,” said Dave. “They’re giving us more and more responsibility.”

“I need you to find some people,” said Ash. “It’s my sister, and another friend of mine.”

“Sure, I …”

“We’re not going to do anything bad,” said Ash. “I just need to find them.”

Dave nodded and then laughed.

“I don’t care if you do
do anything bad
,” said Dave, “and I’m not gonna rat you out for trying to find your own sister, or even a friend. Describe them to me. I’ll keep my eyes open and ask around.”

/***/

Four days later, there was a knock at Ash’s door. It was Heather, with Dave close behind. Heather hugged Ash and wouldn’t stop, until Ash gently prodded her away and motioned that they should go to the train. He nodded at Dave to thank him, and Dave winked in return.

Ash and Heather went onto the platform and down into the train. They left the lights off. Ash sat in the driver’s seat and then turned it around to face Heather. He wanted to ask about Courtney but decided it was best to tell Heather everything that he knew first, so he told her about Adriel, and then he told her about the sewage system. He told her how the people who ran this place were beyond ingenious, and how each design broke the mold on every rule he’d ever known. He told her about Dave, and how the train seemed to give them privacy, even while it stayed on the platform. He told her that the Salvation’s leaders were so thorough that they might still be able to hear them now, but this was the most private area that he knew.

Ash told her about the last step of the test, how he had refused to close the door on the person.

“They didn’t make me do that,” said Heather.

“Really?”

“They know I swore the Hippocratic Oath,” said Heather. “They know doctors wouldn’t do such a thing, so they made an exception for us.”

“Everyone wants doctors,” said Ash, smiling, “and this place is no different.”

“True.”

“Now,” said Ash. “Tell me everything else you know, starting with where Courtney is, and the other guy too.”

She told him that she didn’t believe Courtney was in the Salvation, and she didn’t think the tall, silent man was there either.

“Tell me why you think this,” said Ash, “and start at the beginning.”

Heather explained that she had started field work after two days of training. Most of the work had to do with fertility or nutrition: taking care of those who were expecting, or even hoping to conceive a child, and looking at the living conditions to make sure that all the citizens there got the ideal amount of food, exercise and rest.

“I haven’t had to take care of any sick people,” said Heather. “At least not yet.”

“Really?”

“Yes,” said Heather. “It’s not like they keep this place in a sterile bubble, it’s just that the people here stay healthy, even the elderly.”

Heather explained that she was given access to a database of citizen health records and that she rarely saw people fall ill there.

“I also saw the records of two people very similar to Courtney and the silent man who came with us,” said Heather. “They didn’t let them in.”

Ash’s heart dropped for a moment, and he bit his upper lip.

“Start with Courtney. Why didn’t they let her in?”

“They didn’t let the young woman fitting Courtney’s
description
in
,
” corrected Heather, “because she had a genetic disorder.”

Ash thought about that for a moment.

“Sickle-cell anemia?” Ash guessed. “Courtney told me she had a brother who—”

“No,” said Heather. “The girl I found was a carrier of cystic fibrosis, so they denied her entry.”

Heather’s explanation hit him in the chest, blunt and offering no counterargument. He frowned, but the more he thought about it the more it didn’t make sense.

“Black people don’t get cystic fibrosis,” he said.

“They do,” said Heather. “But it’s quite rare, and Courtney didn’t get it either. She was a carrier.”

Ash nodded, and a dark ball of anguish grew in his stomach. He didn’t quite understand how they had given her this diagnosis, but he knew that the Salvation’s decisions had hard lines. If they thought this and kicked her out for it, it was now truth and he had no recourse but to deal with it.

Whatever the Salvation’s reason, it’s her, I know it
, thought Ash.
Courtney’s now on the surface, either dead or avoiding death
.
Every day I sit here drinking pear tea is another day that she has to find a way to survive the sunlight.

“What about the other man?”

“I found someone matching his description,” said Heather. “They accepted him, but he chose not to enter.”

“He chose not to enter?” asked Ash with a small laugh. “How did they even—”

“I don’t know how they communicated with him,” said Heather. “But they did. They have in the notes that he chose to leave because he felt that
this was not his role
.”

“What else did you find?” asked Ash. “Leave nothing out.”

Heather told him about the people who ran the place. They were regular humans with the health records to prove it, but they were definitely in charge. Their goal wasn’t power, though: as the new citizens progressed in their training, those in power would give them more and more privileges until they reached the highest level, at which point they would be given a new name.

“Like Zerachiel, Gabriel and Adriel,” said Ash. “Older, somewhat archaic names.”

“I’ve met an Arariel, Hadraniel, Uriel and a Muriel,” said Heather. “All the names end in i-e-l.”

That’s it,
thought Ash.
That’s the meaning behind their names.

“They’re angels, or at least trying to be,” said Ash. “Names that have
el
in them often reference power, might or
God
, but these are all names of specific angels. Angel names usually end in i-e-l.”

“I didn’t know that, but it makes sense,” said Heather. “They’re pretty nice.”

“They are,” said Ash, “but in mythology, angels didn’t visit earth just to be nice. They always brought an agenda.”

Heather nodded.

“What else do you know?”

“I don’t know too much else,” said Heather. “But I’ve heard a rumor that the man who designed this place is having a meeting here in three days. His name is
Metatron
.”

“Metatron?”

“I know,” said Heather. “Crazy name, sounds like a robot and—”

“That’s a major angel in Judeo-Christian mythology,” said Ash. “
The
major angel. If there was one leader of a group of angels, it would be Metatron.”

Ash thought about this.

“I need to go to this meeting, wherever it is,” said Ash. “I can’t wait until they trust me enough to get a new name. I need to go and get answers now, because Courtney could be …”

Ash’s voice trailed off, and Heather put her hand on his leg. He could see her concern, even in the darkness of the unlit train.
I’ve only known Courtney a short time,
thought Ash.
But I care for her, and Heather doesn’t take that lightly.

“Ash, tell me about the angels,” said Heather. “Or rather, the names that these people have taken. What kind of angels were they?”

Gabriel, Adriel, Arariel and Hadraniel
, thought Ash.
Uriel, Muriel and Metatron
.

“There are good angels and fallen angels,” said Ash. “The fallen angels are bad, almost as bad as the Devil himself.”

Ash paused for a moment, and then looked his sister in the eyes.

“But these people only have the names of good angels. Every name I’ve heard has been that of a good angel, every last one.”

/***/

They met the next night, once again in the darkened train.

“I accessed their computer system,” said Ash. “It’s surprisingly open.”

“Really? Did they leave it open on purpose?”

“Maybe,” said Ash. “But whatever the case, it’s open and I found the meeting place.”

“Where?” asked Heather.

“A high-security room,” said Ash. “They lock a few doors in between here and there, and there’s no way I’ll be able to get in. Not through the front door, at least.”

“The front door?”

“Yes,” said Ash. “There’s a back way, and it’s going to be very difficult to get in through that path. I’m going to need your help.”

/***/

They met back in the train a day and a half later to run through his plan. She showed him the closet where the emergency suits were, and he figured out how to shut the door behind him so that no one would get hurt.

“Remember,” she said, “you don’t need to do this now. If you don’t feel the time is right—”