He convulsed over and over again, as his body jerked uncontrollably in response to the slight touch from the control stick. His eyes had rolled into his head, and showed only the whites, as a steady stream of drool began to run out of the corner of his mouth. She tried to reach towards him but could not move. She yelled his name, but no sound came out. She tried to yell louder, but still there was no sound. It felt like she could not breathe. Her heart began to beat faster, as she gulped for air. She opened her eyes and it was total darkness. She suddenly tried to sit up, but banged her head on something above. She relaxed just a bit, as she realized that she was in the sleeping compartment. She quickly remembered her fear from last night. As the Guardian had stood just behind her as she tried desperately to get the door unlocked, with curfew just seconds away. How the door had opened by itself, activated by her brother from inside the chamber. How she had stepped across the threshold just as the red curfew light over the door had activated. How she had stood there dumbfounded, and stared back at the Guardian in the hallway. How it had simply stopped, and then the door had slid shut. And now she was here. She didn’t remember having gotten into the sleep chamber, or anything else from last night for that matter. But she vividly remembered about Jericho. Poor Jericho, she thought as the tears began. Suddenly the darkness was shattered by a bright explosion of light to her right. The wall to the sleeping chamber slid away, and Gabrielle blinked her eyes, as she cried softly in the new brightness.
“Baby, are you okay?” She recognized her mother’s voice, and though still quite upset, she began to calm.
“Mom?” she said questioningly.
“I’m here baby. You okay?” Her mother’s comforting voice asked.
“I don’t know.” She said and began to cry.
“What’s the matter, sweetie? What’s wrong?”
“Everything!” She sobbed, as she accepted her mother’s welcoming embrace.
“Hey there, girly. What’s the problem?” She heard her father ask from further away. Her eyes adjusted to the light as she saw his comforting face come into view.
“Yeah, Sis. What’s up?” She heard her brother, Timothy sleepily asked from the bunk above. “You came in and passed out right in my arms last night. I had to put you in the chamber.”
“Hun?” Her mom asked. “Tell Mommy what happened.”
“It’s terrible, Mom. Jericho…” She sobbed. “He’s been controlled.” Her mother held her tighter.
“Jericho?” her father asked. “Our Jericho? What could he have-” He began.
“He was protecting me!” She said in between sobs.
“Protecting you, honey?” Her mother asked. “What happened?”
And once again she began to tell Jericho’s story, as she tried her best to control her emotions and just deliver the facts as she knew them. Regardless of what she said there was only one thing on her mind, and that was, where was he now? Was he okay? When could she see him again? Would she see him again? Finally, the story told, her mother offered her opinion.
“Hun, you’ve got to calm down. So far you don’t know that he’s not okay. Maybe they released him afterwards, and he just hasn’t been able to get over to see you yet.” She said calmly. “He’s a good boy, sweetie. No harm will come to him. You have to believe that.”
“But he was on the ground mom. Shaking and-”
“Listen to your mom.” Her dad said firmly. “We do not live in a savage world, and from what you’ve told us, this was not his fault.” He took a deep breath, paused for a second, and then continued. “The Guardians will sort this out, and he will be fine. That Donovan is the one that needs to worry.”
“He’s an ass!” Timothy exclaimed from above.
“Tim!” His mother yelled, as he slid down from the bunk above into the tiny living area, and made his way across the cramped room to sit on the board across the other wall.
“But he is.” Timothy said quietly.
“That may be true.” Said her dad. “But for now, Jericho is our concern.”
“When can you find out more?” Her mother asked.
“I’m supposed to meet Rebecca for the morning meal. And she will fill me in.” She brushed her hair out of her face. “What time is it?” She asked.
“I think you need to get going.” Her father said. Her mother nodded in agreement. Timothy sat with his knees drawn up, arms wrapped around, and he too nodded in agreement. He gestured towards the only blank wall in the compartment.
“You first.” He said. She walked over and placed her hand into the indentation on the wall just to his left, and the panel that covered the wash area slid sideways into the wall. The room activated, its setting having adjusted automatically for her use. As the door slid shut behind her, she began an abbreviated version of her morning wash routine. She tossed her dirty clothing into the small chute, quickly used the bathroom, and then activated the cleansing mode. The small closet like room quickly filled with a warm mist, and a fine spray enveloped her entire body. Eyes closed, she began to rub at the spray that covered her body, and then activated the next cycle. The mist was replaced by a quick but powerful fine burst of water, and rinsed her completely in a matter of moments. It was then replaced by a powerful warm air burst from all around. Seconds later she was clean, and dry. A wall panel slid down to reveal her clothes for the day. She quickly dressed, and left the compartment, headed for the meal building.
As she stood in line at the mealtime building, she gradually moved forward as one by one, the people in front of her were scanned. She looked everywhere for Rebecca, or even anyone that she knew, but saw no one familiar. It was her turn to be scanned. Absentmindedly she stuck her hand into the scanner, and never glanced at the green light to see if it had changed. She followed the line forward, and as she entered the building, she instantly saw Rebecca at the far end, already seated. No matter how much she wanted, she could not just rush over to her. The entrance line had delivered her into the meal line to which there was only one exit. Impatiently she approached the serving wall as her line moved forward. Finally at the wall, she placed her hand on the indentation, and after a seconds hesitation, a wall panel slid up, revealing her tray. A meal tray specifically designed for her nourishment needs. She grabbed it, exited the line, and rushed over to Rebecca.
“And?” She asked, as she looked at Rebecca expectantly.
“And…I don’t know.” She said.
“What do you mean, you don’t know?” She quickly seated herself, and looked nervously at the closest Guardian that monitored the room. This was the meal room. You came in, you got your meal, you sat and ate, and you left. It was not permitted to just stand around. And though talking during meal time was frowned upon, if it was done quietly while one ate, it was mostly overlooked. But since the incident with Jericho, Gabrielle wanted to be more careful than usual. She did not have any intentions of being controlled. “I thought your dad was-” She began.
“He did.” Rebecca said. “He came back but he didn’t have any information, just that they still had Jericho. They wouldn’t tell him anything else.” As this began to sink in, Gabrielle looked down at her tray. Three molded compartments held her meal. The same as each meal, the largest center compartment held the grey mush, to the right the elongated compartment held the flat white rectangular hard wafer, and to the left was the cup which contained the flavorless red liquid. She absentmindedly picked up the wafer, and scooped up a small portion of the mush, and looked at it briefly.
“So we don’t know anything at all?” She asked, as she put the mush into her mouth.
“Nothing.” Rebecca said. “But dad did not seemed worried, he thinks it will all be straightened out today. I didn’t see him this morning when I left the compartment, but he probably stopped by again this morning after his shift to check on Jericho.” Rebecca, had finished her meal, and drank the last of her liquid.
“I don’t know if I can go the whole day witho
ut knowing something.” Gabrielle said, as she ate her meal faster now, aware that time was almost up. She had to be on the road shortly in order to make it to the factory in time for her shift. Rebecca finished the last of her liquid and replaced the translucent cup into its compartment on the tray.
“It will be okay Gabby. You have to believe that.” She said, as she got up. “Tray’s empty, meal’s over.” Looking around, she picked up her tray and whispered, “See you on the road.” And she briskly walked towards the exit, and deposited her tray in an opening at the wall near the exit. Gabrielle, quickly finished her mush, bit off chunks of the wafer, chewed, and washed it down with her liquid. She knew she must hurry, but the tray must be empty before she could leave. She glanced at the Guardian closest to her again. It stood there cold and unmoving. An empty tray. That was the rule. She finished and left.
Her mind had played back over and over the scene of poor Jericho as he lay on the ground while she had walked the road to the factory. Though surrounded by others during the walk, she had ignored them. And as she approached the scanners at the entrance to the factory, she barely remembered the walk at all. She remembered it had been as crowded as it always was, and that even if you did try to walk slow, like she had when she had when she had passed the section of the wall where she and Jericho had gone through just yesterday morning, you were quickly caught up in the sea of moving bodies and pushed ahead. She also remembered that she had not seen Rebecca, who must have been much further up, having finished earlier. It was going to be a long day, she thought as she approached the scanner and slid her hand inside. The light glowed steady green as she passed by on her way inside. She never even noticed. Her mind still reeled with thoughts of whether Jericho was safe. Though she knew that there was nothing she could do to help him, or even to find out about him, she could not help but dwell. She spoke to no one as she made her way through the hallways to her station. As she reached her area, she passed by the Guardian at the entrance. She glanced at it out of the corner of her eye as she passed, and felt a chill run up her spine. In all the years she had seen them, passed them, been surrounded by them, it was now that she realized that she had begun to fear them. Now she realized that in a matter of seconds they could make decisions that would take your freedom, and change your life, and you, and every one around you would be totally helpless to stop it. Now she had finally realized, that they were in control. She stepped up to her station, and tried to forget the ominous presence of Guardian. She began her assigned task.
Gabrielle worked diligently at her task all day, and now late in the day, the mid-day meal had been over for some time. It was not much longer before her shift would be over. Gabrielle continuously adjusted the dials at her station, as was required of her. The table top revealed a series of gauges, and red needles that swung back and forth to indicate pressures within the monitored streams. Her task was to adjust the adjacent dials constantly to maintain the pressures indicated on each gauge within the desired range. She had no idea or concern what the streams were, or even what the gauges meant. All she knew was if this gauge went too far to the left, turn that dial to the right gradually until it began to come back. If it went too far to the right, turn the same dial gradually to the left until it began to come back. There were four gauges and four dials, and all must remain in the proper range, which required constant and continuous observation, analysis, and adjustment. Today had been a long day for Gabrielle.
Twice before the mid-day meal, she had been so withdrawn into her own thoughts, she had failed to make the required adjustments before the needles went outside the acceptable range, and the alarm buzzer had sounded. Both times she was able to quickly make the required adjustments and bring the pressures back in line, but not before she could see out of the corner of her eye, the posted Guardian begin to move towards her. Not even a full step, but a slight movement none the less. Movement for which she was now highly tuned to perceive. Each time as the pressure was corrected, the Guardian’s tiniest movement had instantly stopped, and as she had glanced at it later, it appeared to not have moved at all. As she adjusted her dials, she actually began to believe that maybe the Guardian had not moved at all. Maybe it was all in her mind. She had never had a problem on her station before, and so she really did not know what the Guardian might do if somehow she failed at her task. Would it really approach her? Would it stop her from her task? Would it shut down her station? Would it control her? She had no idea.
Once again the monotonous task allowed her to return her thoughts to Jericho. She had never even spoken with some one that had been controlled, so she truly did not have any idea what happened to him after he was taken. But as she began to imagine what could happen, tears once again began to fill her vision. She sniffed quietly, and quickly wiped her eyes, as she tried to hide that she was crying. But even the thought of this action, made the tears come quicker, and her vision blurred even more. She had a hard time being able to see the gauges, and suddenly it seemed that the readings that she could see, had becoming more erratic. The needles seemed to begin to swing wildly, and through her tears she worked faster and faster to make the necessary corrections as she turned her dials. The required adjustments became larger and larger, in order to keep the gauges within acceptable margins. As this continued to become more difficult, the tears made it even harder to see, and to correctly judge the readings. By the time she emitted the first choked off sob, one of her gauges had passed the red line, and the alarm sounded. Astonished, and flustered, she quickly turned the dial, but as another alarm sounded she realized that she had turned the wrong dial, and that now there were two gauges in fault. She desperately focused her attentions on the dials, and made additional corrections as she tried to bring the gauges back into the correct ranges. She was so focused, that she never saw the Guardian approach her from behind.
Chapter 6