Authors: Rebekah Johnson
Intentionality (20 page)
“Lily I am so relieved to hear that you are in the tunnels,” I shouted trying to get a word in to quell the rant.
“The Resistance showed me the tracking system that traces our anklets. I have been following you on the screen so I knew you were moving but not how you were. I tried to communicate but you had closed me out, don't ever do that again!”
“Lily I can only apologise and explain that I was very focussed on keeping myself safe. I suppose that I blocked you out because somewhere in the back of my mind I felt you didn't need to know how much danger Willem and I were facing. I need you to help us now though. I can go no further alone. Willem is badly injured. We need The Resistance to move towards a rescue and really quickly. Do you know exactly where we are?”
“Yes, to the nearest ten metres. There is something you need to explain though before I ask Julia to contact them. Are you above ground or in the access tunnel? My tracker got really misleading.”
“It's a long and completely fantastical story, however we were above ground and then in an instant, following a completely unplanned flight, we weren't! This is why Willem is injured. You need to explain to Julia that he has lost a lot of blood. He needs urgent medical attention.”
“Mae help is already on its way, we sent for a rescue team when we realised that you were no longer moving. One team is above ground and the other will find you in the tunnels.
“I am waiting to decode a message that has been redirected from one of Natura's lab technicians, apparently it is encrypted, my skills are being utilised in a very real way, plus it acted as a distraction. They didn't want me to come along just in case it was you that was seriously injured.”
“So I shall see you again in just a few minutes. Stay strong code breaker!”
“You too warrior princess!”
I can now begin to think practically. Help is on its way. I need to check that Willem is still breathing. His hand is cold but there doesn't seem to be any more blood on the floor.
I can hear an electric motor getting louder. It sounds like the ones used to travel along the corridors in The Nest. Do I wave at it frantically or hide?
I shall choose to listen out for fragments of conversation. If I am careful I could also climb under the piece of ceiling tile that I have positioned over Willem.
The motor has stopped. I haven't decided whether to trust the men's voices. If it was only me here I would maintain my hiding position, but Willem needs help. The footsteps are heavy, booted. The voices are gruff, hurried. There is the faint hiss and buzz of a radio transmitter in the car. But are they listening in to follow instructions or to intercept those from the Intentionality guards? Nothing is clear and I know that I am running out of time.
“22.52.05.14 is at large travelling on foot towards The Grid. It must be captured unharmed. It must be rendered silent then placed with immediacy in the preparation cylinder. It is a necessary element for the continued well-being of Natura.”
To: [email protected], [email protected],
cc: [email protected],
Subject: change of travel plans.
Message: The group booking has arrived on the mainland. Two party members have travelled ahead of the main group. They will communicate their exact position from which they will be collected. Please proceed to the agreed next step of preparation.
Look forward to doing further business with you soon.
From Luke
“Life lived a different way!”
Cc: [email protected], [email protected]
Subject: re change of travel plans.
Message: Hi Luke. There will need to be a slight change of plan here too. Please inform your passengers that due to a small electrical fault with the Spa doors, they must enter the Spa through the lower trade access tunnels. Unfortunately the observation section of their tour inside the genetics laboratory will also be out of bounds tomorrow. This is because Natura has ordered a very special power surge, one that will render The Grid impenetrable for twelve hours from 06:00hrs. Can I suggest that you make your way immediately to the collection point, where Julia and Elizabeth will be only too happy to show you to your conference accommodation? Arrivals after this time will be turned away for their own safety.
From Skye
Assistant lab geneticist
I am bound by the feet and hands. Some kind of regulation cuffs, so tight that I have absolutely no chance of escape. I have tried to use my power but as it emanates from my palms and they are in fact facing each other, all I succeeded in doing was causing myself more pain. Neither can I see past the cold metal floor, that I have been thrown onto. I am hanging onto the back of a pickup vehicle, strung up really, like a piece of rope. I have no idea whether they gave up on Willem because he was dead or he seemed like he soon would be. But they left him there all the same. My only hope is that The Resistance got to him quickly enough. He was wearing his tracking anklet too so they shouldn't be long. They
can't
be a long time; he hasn't got that much time left. He has not communicated to me in my head since we were hit by that torpedo under the Polar Ocean.
I on the other hand have screamed at the top of my lungs, both in my head to my sister and in the corridor to whoever was close by. I was not going to be bundled like a piece of litter into a bin without making a really big fuss. However, now I am back to listening, fragments of conversation and radio bulletins mostly but they may come in useful.
I know that I cannot be harmed. Natura has ordered this. I also know that my sister has not been found. I have also learnt that my kidnappers are incredibly pleased with themselves. They have been promised a pay rise and more importantly, day work out in the open. In an alternative situation I could be persuaded to feel very sorry for them. They have been working the tunnels for years as the lowest paid employees. They weren't actually searching for me. They had been sent to repair the hole in the ceiling. They are Monos and as such the lowest of the low. Alternatively I could also assume that as Monos, they may be open to persuasion from The Resistance if they are able to cross our path along the corridors.
Imperative then that I keep yelling!
I have assumed two possible destinations for my journey. The first being the preparation cylinder for which I am already prepared. The second option is that I shall be taken straight to Natura so that they can claim their prize in person.
I can hear another sound, the same vehicle electric hum of our pick up. The Monos are talking, waiting to show off their catch! They have planned to stop and ask their colleagues about the best way to enter The Grid. They haven't been inside before.
We have now come to a halt and I can tell that by the movement of the vehicle my heavy-set Monos are getting off. Footsteps are echoing along the corridor, a couple of polite introductions, and then an unexpected shuffle or is it a drag?
There is now silence. I find myself wanting my heavy-set Monos back. At least I knew what I was fighting against.
“Mae, don't move. We need to drive out of this tunnel and away before the bodies are discovered.”
My heart has jumped completely into my head. Great tears are welling up and rolling down my cheek onto the cold metal floor of the pick up
Along with those tears is a smile a mile wide.
LILY!
She has appeared out of the black doom, like a knight in shining armour from a fairy story. My sister has arrived, as calm and collected as she always is. Someone else must be driving because she is with me I can feel her trying to unlock the handcuffs while we move off around a very sharp bend. Through a heavy plastic curtain and into the coldest room I have ever been in.
As I sit up, the blood rushes away from my head and I am momentarily blinded by stars, unaccustomed to this new environment and off balance I am falling. Only to be caught by another warm, strong arm. I'd recognise that strength and physical beauty anywhere. The driver in this quickly hatched rescue plan appears to be Skye! Dressed in a white lab coat she grins mischievously as she gathers me in to a huge hug.
“Hi babe, you didn't think I would leave you to cope alone down here did you?”
“How on earth did you become deeply involved with this?” I asked.
“Clearly this is going to be a long and quite disjointed story Mae, one which I will retell in glorious Technicolor, just as soon as this whole adventure ends. Let's just say my Evo-gene has enabled me to be a gene detective, whilst yours has made you into a super human. I began asking questions of your disability on The Nest. One of my Internet searches was hacked into by The Resistance. They asked Willem to get in touch. I thought that you would work it out when you caught me in the Mono corridors, but I guess you had your own worries at that point. I was never going to the preparation cylinders. Someone from The Resistance forged my work details. Just as soon as I was posted to the labs I began running tests on our DNA. You can do that when you have all the technology at hand and of course the pre-planned opportunity to gain samples. Remember that I was very careful with your hairstyle before the Ascension test? The Resistance wanted to know why Natura had suddenly requested twins in the process and I wanted to help you to ascend. However, I have found out something quite startling. Your DNA does not match Lily's completely. You both have a surprisingly exact, matching profile to a former Acer. The records state that she overpowered The Grid system. She fought the mind games as if she were conscious. Natura was so intrigued that she took her out of the system and allowed her to live, secretly monitoring her every thought and move through a system implant. She went on to have a family but died after a short virulent âmystery' illness just after her baby was born.”
“Those babies were twin girls weren't they? That's why we were in the accelerated class. Natura thinks that we hold more power than usual and she got greedy. So why do I have that internal warning system when Lily has been free?” I pondered.
“No Mae, she had a boy. There is no record of him or the husband after that. Neither do we know how, where or to whom you were both born, there are simply no records. This is most unusual because every small detail has been catalogued meticulously in other areas of the scientific evolution. Not to record the development of our first ever twins seems incredulous if not suspicious... But you are right about the power, Natura is a greedy tyrant, leading me to believe that she knew and didn't want to share!
“The other startling element is your one and only difference. You Mae, seem to have a mutation of the communication gene, an evolution of the gene pool again, Similar to the one that occurred as a reaction to the Black Death. Perhaps you can tell me how it works once this episode is over. But right now we need to continue with the next part of plan D!”
I had to tell them the whole story, the way that I can feed into the memories of a woman who I now know as my mother, to experience them as if I were the one taking part. I told them about my theory that the buzzing was a warning system. I then recounted the visions and horrors from my time with The Grid girls. Not a sound was released from either one of them until Lily finally crumpled into my arms.
“I thought we were here for a good reason, to add my knowledge to the void left us by the Evo-shift, thus making Intentionality stronger through my small contribution. They always talked to us about those small building blocks and each one of us being vital if the whole balancing tower were to stay upright! This was our next life challenge, to begin a life that would take us both into old age feeling confident and fulfilled,” whispered Lily.
Lily has had her world shattered. But how could I allow her to risk her life in the next part of the plan, still thinking that Natura was the good guy?
“During our educational preparations for The Harvest, we have then in effect been fattened for market like a prize pig. Our brains have been forcibly enlarged to provide a service but not the one we have been led to believe. Is this Grid just a big waiting room do you think? You have to admit it is genius in its sinister perfection,” contemplated Skye as I looked over aghast.
“Waiting room, torture room, I don't know. I don't have anything else to tell you. All I know is that once in the preparation cylinder there is only one way out and that is through the tunnel to be mechanically placed in The Grid. This also means that Grace and Summer are in there now, along with rows and rows of other young Acers. The Resistance promised to help if I could get them in. So that is what we are going to do. We are not going to wait for a plan from them that may or may not arrive. I don't know how many of the senior Monos survived. We may have lost Willem forever in this fight. I am determined to do everything I can to limit anymore loses.”
“Mae I am not sure about Summer or Grace. They should have been taken already but there was some confusion over timetables. I overheard Julia passing out revised notifications to the guards just before she helped me to escape,” admitted Lily.
It has taken only five minutes for Skye, Lily and I to decide our next move. We are to travel on that pick-up vehicle of doom to Skye's lab where we can get an electronic message to both The Resistance and to Julia and Elizabeth. Immediately after that we will travel to the preparation cylinders. Lily and I will be handcuffed together, to give the impression that Skye has retrieved us after finding that the Mono tunnel servicing men had been overwhelmed. She has supposedly responded to their plea for help. Skye will leave us at the cylinders to return to her post so that no one is suspicious. Julia and Elizabeth should by then be waiting in the cylinders to prepare us for the torture. We will not be sedated or tightly restrained. Our headsets will not be connected and therefore the Ascension test cannot be transmitted to us. Once inside The Grid we will wait.
Hiding in plain sight until Natura makes her next move was Lily's idea. She is so clever and measured in her thoughts. Always thinking in a way that others do not. She sees opportunities where others see walls. We still don't know why Natura particularly wanted us both so urgently. Our job on the original plan was to unplug The Grid girls after Natura had been stripped of her ruling status. However this plan depends on the survival of my fellow passengers on the sub. I am prepared to wait only a few hours because something about this urgent search for Lily and me makes me suspicious. Skye has also told us about a planned power surge tomorrow. My guess is that Natura is trying to keep The Resistance out and knows about their planned timings.
At least I can move on, with the reassurance that I have Lily in my sights, plus Skye is safe for the moment. I keep sending a searching pulse message out to Willem, but he has not responded. Lily says not to worry as she definitely saw his tracker move destinations just before she left the safe tunnel to rescue me. The identity of his rescuers is a mystery. We can only hope that The Resistance got to him first.