Chapter 16
“It’s very dark,” Cassie observed, as we reached the entrance to Park 42.
Through the gloom ahead, the only light I saw came from a single viewing screen and scanner at the gate. “I’ve never noticed any lights when I’ve been here during the day.” Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea. “Are you sure you want to go in here? I wouldn’t want to risk you falling again.”
“I don’t think we need to go too far,” Cassie whispered back, throwing a glance in the direction of the viewing screen. “What kind of range do you think the screen transmitter has?”
“The same as usual I expect,” I told her, before realising what she was actually asking me. “I think both transmitters would have the same reach: about ten metres or so.”
“Good.” Cassie squeezed my hand and pulled me through the gate.
The darkness was thick around us. In the distance above the tree line a faint glow from the residential zones and main plazas managed to cast some dim shadows across the clearing where we sat, huddled close together with our backs against a tree.
“Are you going to eat?”
Cassie had discarded her food plate on the floor as she sat down and not looked at it since.
She shook her head. “I can’t.”
“OK.” I tossed my own plate aside, similarly disinterested. “What’s going on?”
Taking a deep breath, Cassie began talking. And she didn’t stop.
Yesterday, Cassie had spoken with Ami and Patrick on the viewing screen. Everything had been normal – she’d even finally admitted to Ami that she liked me – but hadn’t told her about the accident. I realised that this must have been the conversation Patrick repeated to me when I’d seen him.
Was that only twenty-four hours ago? It felt like much longer…
That night Cassie had dreamed about them. It had been a nightmare, really, because she’d seen them being dragged from their beds by a group of men and taken away.
That seemed strange. It was oddly violent, for someone who lived in the world we did. What would inspire such dark ideas and details – the pictures had been so clear to her: gloved figures, clothed in black; people talking to one another without speaking; Ami’s parents helping them take their own child away.
“And you think the suggestion I made, about your subconscious being able to tap into people’s thoughts, makes your dream real? That’s a big jump.”
Cassie shook her head and I saw tears spring to her eyes, even in the dim light.
“Ami’s gone, Balik. Her and Patrick have gone.”
“Gone?”
Cassie drew in a ragged breath. “When I left you today, I went to Ami’s apartment. I saw her neighbour, who told me that Ami had eloped. Her parents were gone too.”
“Gone?” I echoed myself, my brain not working fast enough to make the connections Cassie was between Ami’s elopment and her missing parents.
“To the Retirement Quarter!” She spat out, her lip curling into a sneer of disbelief.
“Did Ami elope?” I asked, my voice quiet. Was she disappointed that her friend had left her behind?
“NO! Ami didn’t elope – she wouldn’t have – she promised she would tell me. And, she always hated the idea of eloping. She always said that when she was ready, she would be one of the few people who actually said goodbye to their friends properly. Ami wanted me to wave her through the entrance to the Married Quarter. I don’t believe – I can’t believe – that she would change that.”
The words toppled out of Cassie’s mouth, bouncing over one another. More tears fell. I reached out and wiped them away with my thumb.
“That isn’t everything.” Cassie said, calming down a little. “I’m hearing more people. All the time…”
At these words, I was immediately reminded of the brain scans I had hidden in her profile. It reinforced my theory about what was causing Cassie to show as abnormal in the system. It was showing up, every time she heard someone.
“I’m scared, Balik.”
Cassie’s eyes lifted to mine, willing me to know what to do. I still had no idea. “What is it specifically that scares you?”
“Specifically? I’m scared of everything and nothing – I’m not even sure anymore!” Her eyes closed. “It’s like I can feel something all around me, not just the voices, but something more…it’s pressing against me all the time, trying to break through.”
“But, you think it is similar to the voices…has there been anything else you can pin-point as being connected?”
“Ami’s neighbour, when she spoke to me, I saw images inside my head. They weren’t from me.”
“What kind of images?” I wondered aloud.
“She kept thinking about a mark, but it was red, not black.”
“I’ve never heard of one being red before.”
“Neither had I. Before I saw Ami’s arm last night – her mark had turned red.”
“Her mark changed?” I’d never heard of that. I couldn’t even see how that would be possible. Maybe an ink fault? That seemed unlikely.
“Not just hers. Patrick’s had changed as well.” Cassie said.
“What? How is that possible?”
She shrugged. “All I know, is that I’ve never heard of a red mark before. But, Ami’s turned red. And what I saw inside her neighbour’s head was definitely red as well.”
“You think you actually saw something from inside someone’s mind? Not just a voice?”
“Definitely,” Cassie said, with a finality that unnerved me. “When I came to your apartment, I was worried something might have happened to you – when I saw your Mother and spoke to her, it happened again: some images, some thoughts.”
“You saw inside my mother’s mind?”
Cassie shifted uncomfortably, but didn’t answer.
“What is it? What else happened?”
“The same thing that I think happened with that woman today. I got the pains at the front of my head.” Cassie pointed to her temples. “It felt like something was trying to get inside me.”
The front of her head…It was the same area that had shown up strangely on the brain scans.
The air whooshed out of my lungs, as another realisation smashed into me. Another adult had tried to use a similar skill to Cassie’s, on her. Not just any adult – my mother!
“It’s not just your Mother.” Cassie said, as if plucking the thought from my head. “I heard my parents tonight. They were talking to each other, without speaking. Just like the people in my dream.”
More details poured out. The more Cassie talked, the more I began to see the connection between her dreams and what was happening to her.
“I can’t make sense of it,” I admitted at last, shaking my head hard, as though it might shift the neurons around and make them work better.
The things Cassie had told me about her experiences – with her parents, Ami’s neighbour, even my own mother – they were strange to the extreme, almost unbelievable. But that wasn’t the issue: I believed Cassie. Like every other lie I had exposed, it appeared that the adults of the Family Quarter knew. It shouldn’t have surprised me that they would be involved in this – whatever this was.
The thing I couldn’t grasp was what purpose the lies had. Rather than becoming clearer to me, the more I knew about what was happening, the less I understood.
If it had been some natural change Cassie was experiencing, then why were we not being told about it? An evolutionary change was not impossible to imagine. In fact, it seemed the most likely explanation, as the adults appeared to have this same ability and were using it on us…
If that were the answer, what reason would they have for, not only excluding us from this, but physically removing us from one area to another under the masquerade of eloping?
I tried to run through the things we knew, piece-by-piece, looking for the missing link. The adults had this ability, but no children other than Cassie – as far as w
e could tell – shared it. The systems that monitored our health and behaviour were specifically designed to seek out this anomaly amongst the children, and report it for immediate investigation. As if it was a problem, and not something they wanted to happen…
That made sense, I realised.
Why would our parents not want us to develop the same abilities that they obviously had? I decided that they wouldn’t need to hide this, if there was not something more sinister going on. And they would not need the violent men in black, that Cassie had seen in her dream, if this was a good thing. The final piece, that I still couldn’t place, was what all of this had to do with our marks…
“You’re the one who said you always felt that there’s been something missing – something not right – about the station.”
Cassie prompted me, interrupting my silence. She was right of course, but I had no idea what all these new revelations meant. I could see her face turned towards me in the half-light: expectant and afraid. I had to give her something, even if I didn’t have much.
“Yes,” I agreed with a nod. “But, I was thinking more along the lines that there are things being done beyond our knowledge, and that we’re excluded from them in order to protect us. I wasn’t thinking that our parents were communicating amongst themselves without speaking and abducting us forcibly for transfer to the Married Quarter!”
There was a long silence. I could only suppose that Cassie was as lost as I was and so I just let her be quiet.
“We’re going to have to get back, before our parents start looking for us.” Cassie’s voice sounded raw, as if she was crying.
That was impossible – we couldn’t go back – not knowing what we did.
“No! What are we going back to?”
Cassie didn’t answer me.
“If we honestly believe that what you dreamed was – in any way real – that means our parents and the other adults are forcing people to the Married Quarter! What reason would they have for doing that?”
All Cassie offered me was another shrug. It pushed me further, making me throw some of my own questions back at her.
“On top of everything else, if the ability to communicate through thoughts is as widespread amongst the adult population of the space station as you seem to think it is, why have they not told us about it?”
“Perhaps it’s something that’s not supposed to mature until we’ve moved over to the Married Quarter.”
“I don’t think so.” And neither do you…Cassie’s voice sounded hollow, as if she didn’t even believe her own words as she spoke them.
If Cassie hearing people’s thoughts, was something that was meant to happen to all of us, they would tell us if the skill emerged early. I was sure of it. The brain scans I’d seen in Cassie’s record certainly showed they were looking for it, but that only reinforced that it was not for our benefit.
I counted off the examples Cassie had given me. The woman in the street, Ami’s neighbour, my mother and then her father: she’d felt them all try and tap into her thoughts.
What connected them with each other?
It took a moment, but then something jumped out at me. Each attempt at intrusion coincided with them questioning Cassie’s behaviour, or something she’d told them. My thought processes leaped on further. Could there be a connection between their interest in her behaviour, and The Council’s preoccupation with moderating our behaviour with chemicals and hormones…was hearing thoughts another, deeper means of control?
That seemed plausible.
At school – even in our training at the Clinic – this extra sense that the adults had was never hinted at. Almost the opposite: they taught us that hearing voices was a sign of mental illness in humans…
This new information just didn’t fit with how The Council approached everything else in the Family Quarter. Protecting us – ensuring we survived and became adults – was the goal of all their other actions. If this change happened to everyone, I was sure they would have a plan to deal with anyone who matured early.
I shared my thoughts with Cassie. “If this – what’s happening to you – was the change you’ve heard people mention, surely we’d know about it? We’d need to understand that when it started to happen we needed to move across to the Married Quarter. As far as we know, you’re the only one who can do it.” I shook my head. “It doesn’t sound right.”
“So what is the change then?” She persisted, knocking us both back into wordless contemplation.
Change. Ami’s neighbour had been the first adult Cassie had heard mention it. Then, there was the conversation she found her parents having…did anything connect them? I couldn’t think of anything. What else was missing?
“Maybe it’s something to do with whatever The Collective is?” Cassie’s next suggestion jumped us to a whole new area. “The way my parents talked about The Collective made them sound different to The Council.”
“No.” That still didn’t sound right. The Collective might be something else, but it wasn’t this – I was sure. The only other change we knew about, besides Cassie’s was Ami and Patrick’s mark. And hadn’t Cassie seen an image of a red mark flash through the neighbour’s mind?
“The change has to do with our marks.” I told her. “From everything you’ve said about your dream and what you’ve seen in the adult’s minds, they are preoccupied with them. It was Ami’s mark they checked before removing her, remember?”
This was my best guess. My next being, that whatever had caused Cassie to hear people was an accident. Being able to do so was revealing another world to her: one that we were deliberately excluded from.
“There is more to this world than we’re told.”
Words from my past ambushed me, dropping another piece of the puzzle into place. Scarlett had told me this, hadn’t she? I’d always thought she meant the secrets I’d uncovered, but now I heard her words in a new way. Cassie was feeling people inside her head. That had happened to me, just once before, hadn’t it?
It wasn’t a complete answer – Scarlett had been a child, but she had been able to speak inside my head. She had also fallen to her death then I’d seen her walking around, so I thought I could allow some leeway on the age thing.
“You will find the truth and you will need Cassie to do it.”
Was all of this what Scarlett had meant for me to find?
It had to be – the similarities were too great. I had always wondered what made Cassie special, if it wasn’t this, I couldn’t imagine what else it would be...
Cassie’s head moved against mine, as she fidgeted. It drew my attention back to her, just before she spoke.
“Ami and Patrick’s marks changed. I’ve never seen that happen before, have you?”
I looked down at my own wrist, seeing the dark shape of my mark outlined by the dim light. I had never seen, or heard, about them changing. Tilting mine towards the viewing screen in the distance, I picked up a sliver of additional light. Air stuck in my throat – I couldn’t answer her question, I couldn’t breathe. In the shadowy light, I could see that the edges of my mark had taken on a deep red tinge.
It’s a trick of the light. I had nothing in common with Ami and Patrick – how could I have the same thing as them?
I didn’t. I couldn’t.
“No,” I told Cassie, finding my voice.
There was a long pause, before Cassie spoke again. I used the time to run through what I might be able to find out tonight, to support my theory, once my parents thought I was asleep. I couldn’t share it with Cassie until I was sure.
“Do you think Ami’s OK?”
I sucked in a deep breath, wishing that Cassie hadn’t asked me that. Any situation that hid behind lies and secrets was never good.
“Ami was asleep when they came for her and then sedated by the sounds of things. It seems they don’t want us to be distressed by the removal to the Married Quarter…But, for what reason, I really don’t know.”
/> “Patrick wasn’t sedated though. He saw what was happening to Ami and when he struggled with them, they hurt him.”
True.
“Do you think they killed him?” I asked, before immediately regretting my unedited question, when I saw the expression on Cassie’s face.
“Dead?”
I stayed quiet.
“DEAD?!” Cassie shouted, her voice rising to near hysteria in a single word.
“It’s just a thought, Cassie, a possibility – I didn’t mean – ”
“Just a thought? Why would you say it if you didn’t mean it?”
It wasn’t that I didn’t mean it, but that wasn’t the right thing to say. Through the darkness, all I saw was fear in Cassie’s eyes. “I’m sorry Cassie. I shouldn’t have said that. I have no idea what’s happening and it was wrong to throw an idea like that out there. I’m sorry if it upset you.”
Cassie didn’t respond, although her head drooped forward, in what I took to be a nod. I realised that we had talked enough. To work out anything more at this point I needed to get back to a viewing screen – maybe even The Clinic to get supplies if I was going to test reactions on my own mark. (It had occurred to me that the change might be related to hormones, and I might understand more about why our marks might change, if I knew what it was made of in the first place).
“We need to get back,” I told Cassie. “But, before we leave I want you to take this.”
I let go of her hand and pulled the wristband back out of my pocket. Cassie had given it me back when we first sat down, but I had another, and something told me that she might need it, if we didn’t figure out what was happening quickly enough. Without knowing what was going on, I knew enough to tell me that Cassie needed to be protected.
I pressed the cool square of the metal band into Cassie’s palm and tried to ignore the awful squirming in my stomach, that had begun with the thought of Cassie being in danger.
“Why do you want me to have this?” she sounded worried.
“Just in case.” I shrugged, trying to downplay the significance of my gift. “And don’t worry – I think I’ve been able to make another one for me – I had a rummage through Father’s tools and came across some interesting pieces.”
“You don’t think something will happen do you?”
The truth was, I didn’t know. I didn’t want to lie to Cassie, and so I didn’t. “I’m not sure of anything any more, but I’ll be happier knowing you have that with you.”
“We can’t go to anyone about this, can we?”
“No,” I agreed, “It’s just me and you now.”
Cassie pulled herself closer to me and drew my face around to hers. In the shadows she looked beautiful, but fragile – like she might break if I touched her. I froze in place, my back remaining pressed up against the tree.
With her next movement, Cassie appeared anything but fragile. She rotated on the ground, raising her right leg over my hips, pulling herself into my lap. As her eyes met mine, she looked inside me.
“You and me,” she said, echoing my words.
“Always,” I confirmed, the word swelling in my throat, so that I couldn’t speak. Cassie was so close to me, anyway – I didn’t want more words – I just wanted her. She leaned into the gap between us and brought her lips onto mine. In desperation, I dragged her close and didn’t let go.
Cassie held on as if she would never let go, barely breaking our kiss to breathe. When she did, I couldn’t stop moving. My mouth moved over her cheeks to her neck, and tilting her head back, I found the softest niches of her throat. As my tongue brushed over them, Cassie pressed herself tighter against me, and sent me charging on. Her throat curved into her shoulder and I pulled the sleeve of her day-suit away as I kissed her there. In the next instant my own suit was being pulled aside, her hands on my skin like electric heat, and all I felt was Cassie wrapped around me.