Chapter Twenty-Three

Autumn Ashes had told me that a car would be by to pick me up at 1:00. It took me most of the morning to pack, though. She hadn’t told me what I’d need though, so I had to ponder every shirt, every pen, and even every sock.. Did I really need my Pocket Guide to Poetic Devices? Five pairs of underwear, or six? Would they have a toothbrush for me?

The choices were overwhelming!

I managed to get my suitcase and my old, ratty backpack together just in time. I got a distracted, one-armed hug from my sister, who was distracted with her phone again. Dad gave me a better hug, grumbled, “Your ass is still grounded on weekends,” and handed me my phone.

I lugged my stuff into the elevator, rode the unsteady thing to the first floor, and waited on the curb for my ride.

When the car pulled up in front of me, I was shocked by its ordinariness - just a gray four-door with tinted windows. I stayed on the curb, convinced it was just someone waiting for a resident. Then the front window rolled down an inch or two.

“Hey, the driver says if you’re Alice, you should get in!”

I stood up, threw my bags in the popped trunk, and opened the passenger door. Three other girls stared at me. One, a black girl with short, bleached hair, rolled her eyes and scooted to the middle to make room for me. Her legs jammed up almost to her chest, and I grinned at her. “Get out. I’ll take the middle.”

“Thanks,” she said gratefully.

Once we were all situated, the car started. The girl in the front looked back at me. “So, you’re Alice? Li Mei.” Her straight, black hair fell from her ear and she shoved it back into place, irritated.

“Yeah, I’m Alice. Good to meet you.” I held out my hand, and she shook her head.

“I’d rather not, thanks.”

“Okay, maybe some other time?”

“Probably not. I don’t touch.”

“She wouldn’t even get in the car until I got out of the front seat,” the black girl said. “I’m Sam.” She grabbed my hand and shook it.

The girl to my left held up a hand in a half-committed wave. “Candice, from the Sidney District up north on the peninsula.”

As we rode, I stared out the front window. The gorgeous steel-and-glass buildings jutted skyward like gigantic grass, growing thicker and thicker as we approached the city center.

“...So, my parents got out of Hong Kong Walled City before it got too bad. Forty million people were on the island and another five million were trying to make it in Hong Kong proper,” Li Mei continued where she’d obviously left off in a story. “The Redemption couldn’t keep up with the demand for food, clean water, or even fresh air. People were dying, and we hadn’t seen the sun in months.”

Sam nodded, sympathy in her eyes. “Yeah, Hong Kong made the news over here about five years ago. My parents talked about it too. I heard something similar was happening in Wight, but slower.”

“They got up to seventy million in Hong Kong Walled City before it all collapsed.”

The car turned away from Victoria as we kept talking. It started racing north past a massive bulk of silver steel that loomed over the old-growth forest around it like a fallen titan. Cannons the size of ships jutted from its side, their barrels twisted and scorched. We drove toward a glass-and-steel tower jutting from the top of the wall - the Sanctuary’s communications superstructure.

The Sanctuary/Haven Operative Control and Knowledge School.

As we scrambled out of the car to get our luggage, a familiar face waved with one hand. “Okay, Han Li Mei, Sam Brandt, Candice Long, and Alice Pendleton - hi kid. That’s everyone.” As she said each name, Overclock marked the tablet she had propped on her lap.

“Alright, girls! I’m Overclock, but you can call me Olivia. Since I’m off field duty for a bit -” she shrugged her right shoulder, “- and Alice and I are friends already, I got voluntold to mentor you four. You’ll be Training Team, uh, Z-4. You get to come up with a cute name - it’ll be your first team-building exercise. For now, though, let’s get up to your suite.”

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

She stepped toward a pair of glass doors, which whooshed open. The elevator took us up until we were just below the top of the steel wall. I could see, way off to the north, the mass of square megabuildings that was home. Duncan Towers looked so small from here, like a child’s blocks.

The elevator dinged. We dragged our bags down the hall and stopped at the door marked Z-4. Overclock pulled out a card and touched it against the door, which slid open.

“Welcome to SHOCKS. You can explore the rooms.”

Beyond the door, a tight common area offered a few cozy-looking white armchairs and a love seat facing a TV in the wall. The tile floor and walls screamed clean, and I could see Li Mei relax as she stepped inside. She squealed, “It’s perfect!” and flopped into one of the armchairs.

I followed Sam as she walked in behind Li Mei. Five doors exited from the back of the common room; one on either side and three on the back wall.. Four of them had screens on them, each labeled ‘unclaimed’. Candice ran to one of them, opened it up, and pulled her stuff inside. The door screen switched to ‘Candice L., _____.’

I carried my luggage to the door next to hers and stepped in.

A loft bed sat against the metal wall. Under it sat a huge, egg-shaped device, half-glass and half-metal. I could easily fit inside it, I judged. A little desk and chair barely fit against the back wall next to the bed, and a small closet was half-filled with an equally-tiny dresser. A quartet of gray and blue bodysuits hung from hangars.

It was exactly what I’d always wanted - a space of my own, without anyone else in it.

“Hey, sorry to invade your space -,” Sam said as she stuck her head into my room, “but Li Mei noticed your name screen.”

“What about it?” I looked.

‘Alice P., Luciole,’ was written on it.

“None of us have Aliases yet. The paperwork is signed, and we’re all enrolled, but no Alias. We were wondering how you got yours already!”

I froze in the doorway. Was I ready to talk about what I’d seen? What I’d had to do? I didn’t know.

“That’s a fair question, but if you knew how, you’d see how rude it was,” Overclock said. “Alice got emergency enrolled by my Operator. Then she had to deal with all the things you’ll be learning over the next month, all at once. It got pretty bad.”

Sam’s eyes got wide. Li Mei looked down at her feet. Candice stuck her head out of her room. “What happened?”

Overclock’s eyes narrowed, and she balled her hand into a fist. I held up my hand, though. “It’s okay. I’ll tell them what I can.”

I sat heavily in the other armchair. Sam and Candice flopped onto the couch. And Overclock stared at me for a second before saying, “you don’t owe them anything that you’re not comfortable with.”

“We’re a team, right? Some teammate I’d be if I kept secrets.”

“Up to you, kid. I’ll be in the bathroom.”

I told them everything. Well, everything I could. Getting enrolled by James, and fighting my way to the shelter with Overclock. The boutique. Going on a rescue mission to the locker room, and the battle with the Type Four. And I told them about saving Sora and getting bailed out by Team ResCute.

But not about what the Mack had done to my friend. Not about how she was still in the ICU. And definitely not about all the students I hadn’t saved.

I was in tears well before the end. But it was out there.

Sam got up, walked over, and put a hand on my shoulder. I flinched, but the pain from my nerves had started to fade. Li Mei stayed curled up in her chair, fidgeting. She opened her mouth but didn’t say anything. Then she closed it.

Candice walked to her room and started to shut the door.

“Hey, before you disappear into your rooms, there’s one thing we’ve gotta take care of,” Overclock said. She hopped over the back of the couch, landing with a bounce on the cushion. Once she was comfortable, she pulled out four small chips. One was placed in front of me, as well as one for the other girls.

“These are your Operator chips. They connect you with your closest teammate. Put them in your drive port later - you’ll be able to talk to your Operator, and they’ll be able to see and hear through your eyes and ears. You can meet your Operators in person when you’re off duty, whether it’s for medical, personal, or just off rotation.

“Two bits of advice. First, before you put your chip in, think about what kinds of boundaries you want to set. My resident mentor didn’t mention that, and the default in the Operator’s manual is near-constant presence. James drove me insane, and I couldn’t figure out why.” She looked away from us. “Just think hard about those boundaries.

“The other thing I’d do is wait until you’re in your rooms to actually meet your Operators. Li Mei, Sam, and Candice, your first chat’s going to cover a lot. Alice, you’ll be digging into the system a bit more deeply. Either way, you’ll want somewhere quiet to work out how you and your Operator will, uh, operate together.”

Standing, Overclock looked us over. “My room’s across the hall, kids. Let me know if you need anything. Or, even better, just talk to your Operators and leave me alone.” She headed for the door and she was gone.

I followed suite, standing as well. “I’m going to unpack and meet my new Operator.”

“Wait,” Candice said, “Alice, if you did all that, you should show us your transformation!”

“Later,” I replied. I grabbed my chip. It felt warm in my fingers, with a reddish tone to it. The other girls’ chips were white or gray. “I’ve never had a room of my own, and I’m sure you girls want to meet your Operators. James was really great, but Overclock was there a lot and he never felt like he was mine. I’ll see you for dinner, though!”

Li Mei and Sam nodded and grabbed their chips as well. But not Candice, at least not right away. As I retreated to my very own brand new bedroom, her stinkeye bored a hole in my back.