The water continued to drip from the spout although she had turned it off. Outside, as before, no sound came. Yet, Syn knew she wasn’t alone. Slowly, she opened her eyes. Pigeon stood at the end of the tub gazing at her.
Syn lifted her head from the water and frowned. “How long have you been—”
Pigeon didn’t meet her eyes, but instead stared at her body. She whispered, “It’s time for dinner.” She turned and exited in a smooth motion without looking back.
Syn shivered again.
33
CONFESSION
“Adam immediately took it and ate. Why? He could scarcely have put it into words, but if compelled, he might have said: an eternity in this condition is unendurable.”
Kerwen slapped the table. “No! Not a chance! That’s not how it happened.”
From the far side of the table, Neci chucked an apple core at her. “It did. It did so. Taj? Come on? Help me out on this! You were completely lost. We walked around down there for two days because of you.”
Taji held her hands up. “I said you both had it wrong the first day.”
“What?” came the mock offense from both Kerwen and Neci.
Syn had entered the room and walked up to the table in time to catch this exchange.
Kerwen pointed at Syn. “Syn! You were down there today! Come on, don’t you see how easy it is to get turned around in the Farms.”
Syn pulled out a chair and sat down. “Ya. I would’ve been lost without you.”
“You would’ve been that tiger’s lunch!” Taji said, pointing and laughing.
Syn’s eyes went wide and her cheeks reddened.
“What?” Neci asked, her tone darkening.
Kerwen jumped in. “Syn went to pick a tomato and ran into one of the escaped tigers. I think it’s one of the last. Looked like Booska.”
“The mean one?” Pigeon asked and all four turned to notice her, surprised to see her sitting at the table with them and unsure as to when she had entered. Syn was positive only the three others had been there when she had just walked in. She corrected the thought—there had been the three other girls and four burlys located across the room. The burlys stood unmoving, and she was disturbed at how easily she had begun to take them for granted. They were animated dead people, corpses given life. And she was expected to eat dinner next to them.
Taji shook her head. “Booska. Mif. Kance. Those are the only three tigers still roaming alive. I’m pretty sure it was Booska. And that moron decided to try and pet it.”
Neci’s eyes narrowed.
Syn shook her head. “I just… I wasn’t trying to—”
Kerwen handed a bowl of leafy greens to Syn. “Taji saved your life. But admit it, anyone can get lost down there.”
Syn nodded, glad to have the focus off of her nearly life-ending mistake. She filled her plate with the green leaves (they looked like dandelions to her) and an apple but passed on the tray of meat.
The table went silent, and they each ate a few bites without word. Kerwen broke the quiet, “I’m wanting to find a way to get tomatoes up here. They’re growing like crazy, and it would be really good to have some for dinner. Maybe fry them up or add them to the salad.”
Pigeon spoke, “We could haul them up in a basket.”
“Ain’t got rope that long,” Taji said, her mouth full of food, spitting crumbs as she spoke.
“We could do it in segments. We could position ourselves as far as the rope will take us and then pull it up by wrapping it around a rung,” Kerwen said.
“No,” Pigeon shook her head, “It’ll bang against the ladder. Need a pulley that pulls it up the center of the shaft, clear of the edges. We could start collecting all the rope we find. It might take a few months of scavenging, but I think we could do it.”
Neci shook her head. “We’re not going to be here that long.”
The others looked at her, waiting for her to continue.
Neci smiled and motioned at the burly closest to her to fill her cup with more water. Syn studied it. This was the burly that Neci always had with her. It was different. Its body wasn’t decaying flesh. It looked whole. Its features were solid, and it had a muscular build. It was dressed in a nice shirt that hung untucked and a suit jacket and denim jeans. Had Neci dressed him? Of course she had—even now, Neci had dressed herself in a flowing red dress with white trim. Every time she saw Neci, the girl was in a new outfit. Each looked flawless and not at all what the denizen of some wasteland should be wearing. Neci dressed perfectly. Her hair was perfect. Her hands were clean—except for the grease underneath her fingernails that Syn had noticed. And Neci’s favorite burly was the same way—clean and dressed as if he were preparing for an important day. Somehow, Syn had overlooked that he was different than the others.
Neci caught where Syn had directed her attention and gave a thin grin. Syn turned her eyes back to her plate.
Neci continued, “With the help Taji found me, we’re going get through or we’re going to force the Bitch to let us in.”
Syn stirred in her seat.
Kerwen glanced at her, then turned to Neci. “Syn doesn’t know what you’re talking about. Tell her.”
Taji shook her head. “Not yet.”
Neci glanced at Pigeon, who eyed the ground nervously. Pigeon stammered, “I’m with… Ker. She should know.”
Taji grunted and flicked a grape in Pigeon’s direction. Pigeon didn’t flinch as the grape soared past her nose.
Neci smiled, “Fine. She should know.” She leaned in to the table and whispered, “There shouldn’t be any secrets between sisters.”
Syn’s blood turned to ice.
“I don’t know how much you know about Olorun, but I’ll share with you some of the basics. We are on our way to another star. Kapteyn’s Star to be precise.”
Syn nodded. This she had learned in the white room, and she felt safe acknowledging any of the training she had received there—she assumed it was the same for each of the others. At least that part of their existence had been the same.
Neci continued, “It was one of the ways that the ship builders worked. They like to build everything in multiples.” She motioned around the table. “Like us. One wouldn’t do.”
Syn’s stomach tightened.
“So, they planned for there to be several of us. Copies, each one identical, to begin with. But this isn’t the only way this process works on Olorun. There’s more than one Jacob lift. In fact, each lift has two pods, side by side. If one fails, the other works. Everywhere you go, there’s a backup for everything in Olorun.”
Syn nodded. She had seen and noticed exactly what Neci was saying. There was a duplication to everything. There would never have been a single control panel, at least not one of the important ones—each of those had a second, nearly identical, version nearby. If one failed, the other would work.
“I think that they didn’t just extend this to the big bots or to us. I think they made the ship that way.”
The other girls remained quiet. Nothing Neci had said alarmed them. They had all heard this before.
“I think there’s another Disc.”
Syn froze but then remembered that she was supposed to be hearing this for the first time. She feigned surprise and leaned in. “Really?” she asked.