I remember screaming. I remember thumping. I remember lights and shadows passing over my face as I shook and shook and the taste of blood filling my mouth and a hunger awakening in my breast. I remember wishing to be back in the dark place and then, as it all blended together, I remember nothing.
I awakened with a jerk, shoving something off of me before realizing it was a blanket. A blaring pip-pip of some machine in the background going off and I’d banged my head against a wall on my left side. Nausea and exhaustion made even the act of thinking difficult but I stopped and looked around. The alcove I awakened in was small, hardly larger than the bed I was in and with a ceiling that I could reach up and touch. Every wall around me was the same matte gray metal I’d seen since arriving but clean of a coating of rust and mildew. Instead of the same metal walls, the ride side of the alcove looked like some kind of fabric screen or curtain pulled taut. Tiny green and yellow lights blinked over my head and as I craned my neck and focused on them, familiar windows popped up.
[Bioscanner Data]
Patient: Tee
Condition: Stable, Sensate (5 Notes on Record)
Alarms: Sensate (Activated), Deceased [Inactive)
[System Note: User authorization level permits override if you like]
If it turns off the damned thing, authorized! I thought at the floating window. The pip-pip in the background stopped abruptly. A series of clipped, rapid steps approached my alcove from the outside before the curtain was yanked open by a older, dark-skinned woman in a blue-gray smock. I shielded my body with my hands.
“You’re awake!” She exclaimed. “It’s okay, hun. Just lay back, you’re safe.”
“Where am I?”
“Miss ‘Tee’ is it? You’re in the Ward 5 Clinic in Respite 42, Samantha’s Folly. Your notes say you’re an 4A Crosser who hasn’t been through orientation. Does that sound right?”
“Y-yeah. I don’t remember getting here. What happened?”
The heavyset woman manipulated some invisible window before sucking her teeth. “It doesn’t really say beyond that you had an ‘unexpected reaction to Logorinth tech.’ You were brought back by a search and recovery crew. Your file says you've been here comatose for three days. If you want I can send a notice to Orientation and to your finder to stop by and fill you in…”
“Yeah, that’d be helpful.”
“Okay hun, I’m going to send a call to a ‘Cal Mephis,’ I’ll be right back.”
“No!” I nearly shouted at the woman. “Sorry, no. Cal Mephis wasn’t who found me. I mean he was who found me, but he’s not who brought me back? Look, the team who brought me back was led by a guy named Rhodes? Everybody called him Captain?”
The woman stared at me for a long pause, her arms crossed. “Alright hun. We don’t gotta call Mr. Mephis if you don’t want. I don’t have any notes on a Rhodes here, but I can ask around and in the mean time I’ll ask Orientation to send someone over if you feel ready. How’s that sound?”
“I guess. I didn’t really plan this far.” I felt at a loss for what to say. “What’s your name?”
“I’m Theresa, and I’ll put in those calls now.”
Theresa bustled through a small door on the left side of the room and I caught sight of a cramped office the size of a large closet. The rest of the room looked much the same aside from a larger doorway with a similar curtain-screen over it on the right. I could ear what sounded like muffled street traffic echo in through the screen. I craned my neck out and realized my whole wall housed what looked like three more alcoves like mine.
“Don’t worry hun, you’re my only patient for the day and you’ve got at least another day or two before I release you. I’m medic-on-duty so if you need anything, you just give me a holler. Otherwise, lay back and nap. It sounds like you’re going to have a full day soon.”
I followed her advice and the moment the curtain closed, laid back down to sleep.
I awakened to a voice just outside the alcove.
“And she’s in here?” A man asked in a high-pitched voice.
“Yes, I am.” I answered, pulling the curtain open. Theresa stood glaring at a man in a too-tight jacket with a bronze badge pilled to his chest. I already hated him and I’d just met him. Seeing me awake, Theresa retreated back to a side door.
“Hun, if you need anything or get tuckered out, you just call.” She said, glancing at the man before ducking into a side office.
“Yes, hello Crosser. My name is Heinreich Archer. I am your appointed Orientation Officer from CoRe.” He said, gesturing to the cube-shaped brass badge on his chest.
“My name is Tee, and most of what you just said was gibberish.” I replied flatly.
I watched the man visibly collect himself before fixing a fake smile. “Hello 'Tay.'” He said, each word slowly enunciated. “My name is Heinrich Archer and I have been assigned by the Coalition of Respites, CoRe, to help you through Orientation.”
“Heinrich I’m new, not stupid.”
“Oh good. I wasn’t certain.”
I waited. He waited. We waited in mutual dislike.
“Be that as it may,” Heinrich continued. “As a new Crosser, field examination has placed you as a 4A. This indicates you come from a life that included machines, computers, simulated environments, and game-like interfaces but that you may not fully grasp nanotechnology, neurologically responsive devices, or quantum theory. Does this sound correct, ‘Tay’?”
“Tee and yeah. That’s correct. I’m a twenty-first century girl.”
Heinrich nodded and jotted a few notes on his tablet. “So you believe you come from the 21st century? Noted. What else can you tell me about your era and experiences sofar? Can you recount the windows the System has shown you?”
I stared at the man suspiciously. “This doesn’t sound like an orientation. Usually those involve me listening and you talking.”
“I’m just confirming some additional information before we begin.”
“I was told that any information I had on the System was valuable.”
“Ah,” Heinrich replied with a frown. “Whoever told you that is correct. Beyond whatever you provided to Cal Mephis, CoRe is willing to provide a nominal fee for any additional information you furnish.”
“How did you know I spoke with Cal Mephis?”
“I must have read it in your file.” Heinrich replied without looking up. “So, about your experiences. Would you say that the System has been difficult to navigate?”
I shook my head. Everything about the situation sounded shady. I took a deep breath and raised my voice. “Theresa! I think I’m about done in here.”
“Excuse me, ‘Tee’ but we’re just getting started.”
“No, we’re not.” I replied. “I don’t believe a word you’ve said to me so far and every chance I’ve given you to fill me in, you’ve tried to scoop whatever you can out.”
Theresa stepped into the room. “Something I can do for you, hun?”
“I think I’m too tired for orientation. Could you show Mr. Archer out?”
“Gladly.” Theresa replied. She wasn’t a large woman, standing maybe a half a head shorter than me but she had a wide figure and I noted the glee she took in politely shoo-shooing the man out of the room, passively blocking his way forward with her body. In under a minute he was politely but firmly pushed through the clinic’s outdoor curtain much to his protest.
“Sorry about that, hun. I didn’t think Archer would be the one they sent.”
“So you know him? Is he always… like that?”
The broad woman sighed and sucked her teeth. “No, he’s normally worse. Orientation folks are usually good people but a few like him slip in. When I checked your file earlier it showed Marice as the Officer on Record. Looks like someone reassigned it.”
That’s not at all worrying. I thought. “Any luck on finding Rhodes?”
“Yes! I spoke with two of the other medics and seems he’s been checking in every day or so with the medic-on-call.” She paused and looked at me sympathetically. “I’d just started my shift before you woke up but he should be by in another hour or so from what they say. You want to sleep until then or…”
“Do you guys have the internet or something? I’d really like to start doing some of my own reading.”
Theresa brightened. “Officially, you have to be registered by an Orientation Officer to have access to the ReNet but you can use my tablet while you’re here. If anybody asks, I’ll just say I Figured Heinrich had already done it since they’re supposed to do that right off.”
The woman ran back to the small office and returned with another of the grey tablets like Archer had been holding. I flipped it over preparing to see more of the shifting Syslang text. Brightly lit English characters greeted me instead.
“Oh, first time seeing subtech?” She grinned. “To see the world like you Crossers… I can’t imagine.”
“Subtech?”
“That’s what we call tech that isn’t run by the System on account of how the System marks it as subpar. Anything human hands build ends up being subtech unless you get the System to upgrade it.”
I nodded slowly. Everything about this world was so different.
“Well, if you need me, I’ll be in my office.” She said over her shoulder before leaving me alone.
The next hour was incredibly enlightening. Scrolling through page after page using a rudimentary search bar and links brought back maddeningly vague memories of a childhood misspent. Once I set that aside, a few things became clear quickly. Respites were little fiefdoms that only loosely agreed to work together through a UN style Coalition of Respites quaintly called “CoRe.” Each one appeared to set up its own internal rules for governing ranging from monarchy to democracy to a dozen other models so exotic I barely understood them.
This particular fiefdom, Samantha’s Folly, was an older one operating under a loose Assembly of Nobles and was moderately large with a population of nearly twenty thousand residents but was barely a twentieth the size of the largest Respites. At nearly seven hundred Respites registered to the Coalition, the number of different factions was dizzying. Add to that indications that every ten Earth Years a meeting convened to accept new Respites or deny them. I didn’t even bother trying to figure out how that worked.
I’d always been a numbers kind of person and the Respite kept all kinds of statistics available. I pored over them trying to fit things together in my head. One number stood out to me amidst all of the new information… five thousand. For every Crosser like me, there were five thousand Natives. Apparently Crossing was a rare event, with less than a dozen a year being recovered. The Respites had taken a pretty long time to figure out how to tap into the right System menus and watch for “beacons,” messages that marked a Crossing. From there, scrapper crews like Rhodes’ and Mephis’ volunteered to recover new Crossers and bring them home. In this entire Respite, there were probably only a handful of other Crossers and they’d come from god knows where. I truly was alone.
Oh, and Archer? Completely up to no good. According to a helpful “How to Deal with Crossers” page, apparently there was a goddamned System Oath he was supposed to give me about not divulging anything I shared before I even spoke. He hadn’t lied about the ‘nominal fee’ but conveniently left off telling me that this was usually reserved for ‘loyal’ citizens who accepted the sacrifice of sharing knowledge for public good rather than seeking out an Infobroker Kiosk. Basically, a patriotism scam. Between that and him casually mentioning Mephis when he hadn’t even learned my name, I smelled a rat. I tapped through a few menus and found guidance on how Crossers request an officer change. He wasn’t going to enjoy our next conversation.
“How’s it going, hun?” Theresa popped her head out and asked.
“A lot better Theresa. I think I’m starting to put things together.”
“Good. Shame on that Archer for trying to play hard with a level one.”
I stared back at Theresa confused. A level one? Does she mean threat levels? I’m not a level one. I pulled up my menu and froze.
[Extended Interface Activated]
Name: Tee (Self-assigned)
TL: 1 [It seems this is Class-locked]
Potential: 0/0 [Hmm, that too is Class-locked]
Combatant Class:
Noncombatant Class: Unassigned
Qualifications: 5 [2 interesting ones added!]
Muscular Output: 1.13
Motor Reflex: 1.03
(Cognitive Processes: 1.70)
Predictive Analysis: 1.90
Memory: 0.56
Tertiary Sensitivity: 0.03
[Further Traits Locked. Access may require Qualifications or Trait Advancement.]
Where are my—Are you talking to me? I thought at the display. The entire display into a glitched before settling down.
[Extended Interface Activated]
Name: Tee (Self-assigned)
TL: 1 [Class-locked]
Potential: 0/0 [Class-locked]
Combatant Class:
Noncombatant Class: Unassigned
Qualifications: 5 [ALERT: 2 Unexamined Qualifications]
Muscular Output: 1.13
Motor Reflex: 1.03
(Cognitive Processes: 1.70)
Predictive Analysis: 1.90
Memory: 0.56
Tertiary Sensitivity: 0.03
[Further Traits Locked. Access may require Qualifications or Trait Advancement.]
What the hell was that? Hello? I stared at the words but nothing else changed.
“Hey newbie, see something interesting?”
Rhodes, in all his dusted up glory grinned back at me from the clinic’s entrance.
“Oh thank god you’re here.” I said, grinning back.
I attempted to climb out of the alcove for the first time since I’d arrived. If Theresa hadn’t come out of her office and rushed to my side, I’d have faceplanted almost immediately. My whole body felt weak and the ground kept shifting.
“Woah there, kiddo. I’d ask if you’re doing okay but you already answered that.”
“She’s fine,” Theresa replied. “She may need a bit of help getting her legs again after resting for the last few days but the scans are clean and—”
“Hey, how about some medical privacy, doc?” I interrupted.
The medic chuckled. “You Crossers have such weird ideas. Medical privacy. Since it looks like you’ve got this in hand, I’ll just be filling out paperwork. Walk around the room a bit and call if you need.”