Authors: Rebekah Johnson
Intentionality (15 page)
9th October. 11:04hrs
Mate, we are almost in a position to move on to Phase Two. We have Monos inside the gatehouse. That will allow us access to the underground substation. We can regroup and be quite safe, undetected in the service tunnels for a couple of days. We have clothes and uniforms to disguise ourselves as the Mono workers. Those workers who should be on duty have volunteered to stay in their rest decks. That way the main computer shouldn't be alerted to an increased number of personnel. However we need some codes to safely transfer ourselves and equipment through the next set of security gates. These codes are highly confidential because they can allow access to the network controlling the electrified fence around Intentionality. This of course is our target. Once the barrier is down we can penetrate the fence in the hidden outskirts then filter in our own guards relatively easily.
Did your twins ascend?
Our timetable would be greatly advanced if we can get those codes from the inside.
They did promise to help once they were in Intentionality didn't they?
Luke
9th October 13:04hrs
Luke,
Events have really taken over from our initial planning phase down here. One of the twins (called Mae by the way) did not make it through the Ascension test. The other (Lily) did and is beginning the transition process tomorrow. She is waiting at âthe Spa'. She is able to communicate to Mae through some sort of twin-to-twin Evo-skill. This may be extremely useful for your code gathering necessities.
Glad to hear that you are ready for Phase Two. I will help in any way I can.
Just a further piece of information, our Grand Acer has resigned. He stated disagreements in future strategic planning as his reason, whatever that means. He was seen being humiliated by Natura during The Harvest in front of the whole Nest community. My guess is he was about to be exiled to the mines for his failure to achieve the goal, which was I assume the simultaneous ascension of the twins. Natura was wild, almost animal like in her disgust.
He is though, a man not to be crossed by anyone. He also has years of knowledge regarding Intentionality and was once part of the team in control of âThe Grid'. In my opinion, his loyalties were severely tested by Natura, possibly broken. We are in talks with him. Mrs Alder and my aunt are attempting to explain our grievances. We think he could be a very useful ally.
I will attempt to persuade Mae to talk to Lily; she may be able to get those codes somehow. However, Mae is extremely unwell just now. If this route is not possible in the timescale, we could try to get the codes from the Grand Acer. Perhaps we could try bargaining, maybe promise to keep him safe and anonymous during the uprising.
Contact me when you have made a decision mate.
Good luck,
Will.
10th October 03:31
Will,
Go with the Grand Acer.
We need to get in sooner than expected. Our sources here have discovered that the new Acers are to be moved through âThe Grid' the day after tomorrow. That's the 12th of October. It's a direct command from Natura. You are correct she has made some insane judgements recently. The sooner we get into Phase Three the better. Somehow the whole Eden, Eve peace and love scenario is fading to a complete halt. Natura has doubled the power on the fence and no one has seen her since she returned from The Nest just after The Harvest.
Lily has just finished regaling me once more with her day. She has been summoned by the Head Doctor in the Spa for her routine medical. I am recovered enough to communicate and to listen. Willem had me moved to his living quarters where I am being watched on rotation by Dawn, Mrs Alder, Mrs Jones, Willem and even the Grand Acer, who incidentally is incredibly interesting. His life has been full of extreme joy, loyalty, but conversely at times, deepest despair. When he speaks, the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. He was the son of a wonderful, capable Acer, Marjorie; her skills were used to rebuild many of the hospital working procedures after Intentionality was finished.
She must have had a very fine Matron as an ancestor. At the beginning there were many injuries and illnesses, stemming from the lack of clean water and hard labour involved with building the fortress that Intentionality was to become. Many workers fell ill, others were injured irreparably. Where there was disorganised chaos with too many people for the doctors to cope with, she planned waiting lists and prioritised injuries. She cleaned and separated the physically injured from those suffering the effects of disease. She rose to the top of her department very quickly but was adored by all who worked for her because of her compassion and empathy.
Marjorie lived to a fine old age however she passed away before Natura took over. He tells me she would have hated the new ways.
The Grand Acer gained from his mother's skills, he inherited her compassion and orderly mind. Soon he won awards for his organisational thinking. Even as a young officer he was trusted with commands above his experience base. It was working as an officer in The Grid that he met the love of his life. They worked together in the command centre, until his girls were born, first Julia and then Elizabeth. His wife became gravely ill following the birth of Elizabeth. The technology inside Intentionality even though much improved, could not reverse the damage to her brain. She never recovered, dying when the girls were only young. He applied immediately to be relocated here on The Nest; the girls followed and were educated amongst us, only leaving to work when they were old enough to live away from him. I feel this has broken his resolve. I can see that he misses them endlessly; he is worried for their welfare now that Natura is displaying such unpredictable mood swings.
The Grand Acer is not at all what I had envisioned. Previously I have only watched his austere, cold almost robotic presence. Mostly he seems to have been following a script, a pathway, planned by those who know nothing of the practical workings, here or of the children that those decisions were affecting on a completely real and personal basis. What I am sure of now, is that he will help if the need arises.
Mrs Alder has arrived with a smart tablet. Apparently it has news to cheer me up.
11th October 16:06
The Spa, The Palace of Intentionality
Hey Sis,
Surprise!
Thought I would go the regular route this time. If you know what I mean!
We have spent the last twenty-four hours being buffed, scrubbed, glossed and moisturised, I look and feel like a princess. They did however need me to remove those glorious, emerald nails. For some reason better known to Natura, our nails are all regulation short.
Our stylists have spoken to us about the fashion trends inside Intentionality; it seems that long luscious locks are no longer the look of the decade. As I observed in the salon each and every one of us were preparing for a radical change in hair length. Skye of course has gone for the pixie look, very short and wispy around her cheek-bones. She says it's so that there is no chance of anything getting in it while she is using her microscope but we know otherwise don't we. It is fabulously maintenance free for when she is exercising. Mine is an adorable straight bob, curved beautifully at the ends by some feathering, no fringe though, I couldn't gather enough vision for that. What if it grows fast and keeps getting in the way of my bookwork? The girls even put some colours through it for me; I have âtones of autumn with a berry red to accentuate'. Yes that is their vocabulary, not mine!
Grace and Summer quite hilariously and quite by chance have the same look, just in different colours! Their thick fringes frame the whole of their faces, but they were allowed slightly more length so that they can tie the rest back in a short rounded ponytail. Making them both look incredibly efficient.
I must at this point fill you in on my two new friends. I feel like I have known them for years! They are the daughters of the Grand Acer. Believe it or not they were living in The Nest until recently. It just blows my mind. How can so many people be living so close to one another, in such a restricted space, without having any knowledge of the others existence? Of course when I say no knowledge, they knew that we were being trained as Seeders. Just not really acknowledging that we were people I suppose. We have been given such a closed view of the world Mae. Julia and Elizabeth have travelled. They have played in open-air parks and visited the memorial grounds of our ancestors. They have tasted rainwater and listened to the owls hooting at night. They have wished upon the stars and comforted each other in the face of real tragedy. Julia is so very bubbly, charismatic I would say. But Elizabeth is a listener; she would be the one to go to in a crisis of the hair disaster variety.
So on to the next twenty-four hoursâ¦
Natura has decreed that we are all to enter The Grid by this time tomorrow. She will not be there to greet us, as she is unwell. We will be accompanied by a chaperone, one for each of us. They are to prepare us for our final journey. We have been talked through this sequence. Each of us will be destined to a different place once inside Intentionality. To ensure our safe passage we are to travel underground, apparently it's a long journey, this surprised me somewhat. I remember the photographs of the first new Acers just walking out of those huge ornate gates leading from The Grid. Do you remember Mae? We giggled at their suitcases, wondering what on earth they had to put inside them. Now I know! We have been given new suits to wear on our journey. They are a little bit like astronaut suits, when Skye asked why they were so insulated the Acers said that it was because the underground journey would be cold. So the clothes I arrived with will be in my suitcase, not that I shall be carrying it. Apparently my chaperone holds it as the suit has no hand holes, to limit the chance of the cold air giving us frostbite. We are to wear our award earrings and bangles. We have seen the travel pods (I am telling you this so that you don't freak out); their appearance is very similar to the chairs we were sat in during the Ascension test. Attached to the headrest is a dark visor that completely covers your face, it seems to envelope your chin and upper neck too. I can imagine the journey won't be the most comfortable. For this reason we have been informed that we will be given some sort of medication to calm and relax us. I am wondering if this is necessary, however it must be a tried and tested procedure as we are not the first new Acers to be brought into Intentionality. I am left hoping that there are Doctors on the other side to make sure that the medication wears off before we are let loose in society. First impressions count. I don't want to appear to be a mumbling, deranged addition to the communications sector!
Skye will be leaving in around an hour, Even though Summer asked to go first. Skye is needed in the labs. Summer and I depart pretty much at the same time tomorrow evening, at five o'clock.
Say Hi to Dawn from us all, we are so proud of her recovery. She will be your strength during your Ascension test resit.
Stay well, stay focussed. Above all come back to me. This whole process is keeping me occupied because it's enjoyable and a novelty, however the nights are unbearable without you. The sudden absence of âtwenty-four hour' company is starkly obvious in the quiet hours. You and I were not made to be alone Mae, I know this now. We may be two separate people but we are one soul.
Yours forever, Lily.
With that, the huge reservoir of tears began to fall. Not just because of the message but rather selfishly for myself and Dawn. We were not part of the ceremony and the results of being a success. I was also crying through frustration, fear for my sister and the general stress that had built in my brain during the last few harrowing days. Once released the tears just would not stop. Big, heaving, gasping cries came next followed by the shuddering intake of breath that set off another cycle. Mrs Alder could not calm me, she sent for Nurse Spendlove to give me more medication but she refused, she said that I was naturally purging my body, that it was a healthy sign, one of acceptance and healing. So here I sit, unable to lay down because I can't breathe, incapable of putting two thoughts together and uncertain of our next move in this race. I should inform Willem of the new instruction from Natura, I should make plans to leave and join my sister.
Then, like a switch as fast as a download they begin to shout again. I know it's they because I can hear more than one version of the same word. Throbbing, pulsing through my brain. It is increasing. I don't have anyone to ask that would be able to help interpret a mystery voice in my head and I am afraid more than before because it feels like a group of girls on a mission. It's not exactly anger I hear more like relentless begging.
“Mae I am on my way. Mrs Jones has contacted me. I was completing the final checks on our sub. Why didn't you communicate to me, I would have been able to help.”
“Willem, please hurry, I can't keep the thoughts away much longer.”
“Don't try then. Have you thought about responding? If Lily and I can reach your mind, have you considered that someone else can?” suggested Willem.
“Maybe it's the fighting that's causing the pain.”
Well that's a great suggestion. I am to ask a screaming, irrational female non-bodied sound what the problem is! I can't even hear myself think effectively, let alone consider the correct first greeting for a communication between myself and a non-human parasite. I'm utterly sure that âHello, what's your name?' would be completely insignificant.
The door slid open, Willem.
“Go on it won't do any harm, you look like death already.”
“I know this sounds really ridiculous but I can't think what to say!”
I was struggling to talk, I knew that I was slurring my words a lot and hoped that Willem would just think of something.
“Ask if it wants you to help,” whispered Willem as he knelt beside me and reached for my hand.
“Then stay with me, Mae, I have sent for help.”
“I HEAR YOU, CAN I HELP?”
I shouted over the mournful clamour for my attention.
Silence.
Silence teamed with background noise from the room I was residing in.
Silence followed by a faint whisper.
I was still conscious, Willem was still by my side but now I was informed and petrified. As I looked at Willem, one overriding thought came into my head, one surety above all the uncertain next steps.
“She cannot leave that Spa Willem, Lily must go no further.”