“I’ve seen the maps. In the upper settlements, there’s several command rooms. They smell like the passengers and the builders. The rooms are light-colored, pale. On the walls are hung the faces of the Orishas—just like the giant ones high up on the Jacobs staring down at us. In one of those rooms, in a drawer, I found scrolls. Large white sheets of paper rolled up. They showed a map of Olorun. The first few I found were just pictures of our Disc. It showed me where everything was on the Disc. All of the upper settlements, the dwellings on the Rise, the lower farm levels, the groves, body farms, and access points to the water level below. It was all there.”
Kerwen interjected, “I don’t think we would’ve survived had she not found those.”
There was a general murmur of agreement from Taji and Pigeon.
Neci continued, “Map upon map that showed every meter of the Disc. Then, I found the one map that showed the ship from outside—I remember I couldn’t breathe when I saw it—there were two Discs. I knew what the gate was for. I had assumed, and my rotten companion had agreed, that it was the entrance back to the engine room and that it was dangerous to try and cross that. If the engines were working, why bother? Lying piece of scum!” Neci leaned in further. “Never, ever on our side. Always on hers.”
Syn squirmed. So why haven’t you destroyed Blip? But she didn’t want to ask that.
Neci sat back. “And I don’t think it was ever inhabited. Remember the magic word of the builders was redundancy. That Disc was a backup in case something went wrong. Well, something went wrong and instead of letting us have access to the backup, Olorun locked us up in here.”
Syn stammered, knowing she should say something, “Have you tried to open the gate?”
Taji roared at this and slapped her hand on the table. “Tried to punch our way through!”
Syn’s eyes darted between the others. The explosion had been them. Syn’s stomach tightened. Did they know her secret? Were they teasing her?
Neci held out a hand. “We tried many different ways. The last one was a bit—”
Kerwen interjected, “Overkill?”
Neci shook her head. “Maybe. But we still didn’t get through. So it couldn’t have been enough.”
“We found explosives and detonated them. Boom. Big ba-da boom!” Taji laughed more and shoveled food in her mouth at the same time.
“Just imagine. Another world like this one. But it wasn’t destroyed by those stupid predators. It wasn’t corrupted by the passengers. It’s just there. Green fields. Trees. Empty houses. All of it is just there for us.”
Kerwen added, “We wouldn’t have to live in fear ever again. No worries about the wild machines. No worries about tigers. Not a one of us has to die ever again.”
Syn saw the desperation in Kerwen’s gaze. Her words were backed with years of pain. Her chest felt heavy and something deep inside her ached. She imagined this room filled with the rest of the Sisters—a room of faded half-images—ghosts now against the real world. Syn had never had a sister, let alone a real flesh and blood friend, and she could not imagine the widening furrow of pain that Kerwen felt as she thought of her dead friends. Tears welled in Syn’s eyes, and she pushed at them with the back of her hand, hoping to hide her own shared ache.
Under the table, Kerwen grabbed her hand. She had seen the tears. Kerwen mouthed a single word that pounded on Syn’s heart. Please was the unverbalized request. Syn darted her eyes away from the silent but pleading Kerwen.
Neci stood up. “If we were designed to be Eve, then that’s the Garden. But somehow, Olorun has taken it upon herself to stand as the sentry to the Garden and not let us through. The angel and her flaming sword, keeping us in Hell. So, I think we have a plan. I think—”
“It’s true.” The words were out of Syn’s mouth before she knew what she was saying. In an instant she knew she had made a mistake and yet, her anxiety ebbed away. She had not wanted to say it, and yet, somewhere down inside, something released as truth washed through her. Perhaps the lie wrapped around the truth was that she truly had wanted to confess it all to them from the beginning. The words were carried with a hope that they would understand and the gulf between her and the Sisters would be bridged through her honesty and their understanding.
“Excuse me?” Neci said, sitting back down.
The others all looked at Syn, and the room went quiet.
Syn could not lift her head up. The words came slow. “It’s true. That other Disc is true. But it was inhabited. They just died out faster, I think. I’ve had to clear the bodies away, but it’s just like you said. It’s green. There are trees. There’s a beautiful river.”
Neci stood up and sat in the chair next to Syn, her red dress flowing behind her. “What are you telling us? Are you trying to say that you’ve been to the other Disc? That you found a way over there and you came back here?”
Syn shook her head. “No.” Syn’s throat tightened. She strained to say the next words. “I came from that Disc. I’ve lived there all this time and just found out about this side. When you tried to blow up the gate.”
Kerwen coughed. “Told you it was a stupid—”
Neci held a hand up to stop her. “You’ve lived over there? Did you come with other Sisters? Did you leave them behind?”
Syn shook her head. “Just me.”
Taji grunted. “Lie. She killed them all.” Taji pointed a fork in Neci’s direction. “She’s just like you.”
Neci shot a sharp look at the girl, and Taji averted her gaze. Neci put a hand on Syn’s shoulder. “Is that true? Did you kill the others?” Then with words just above a whisper, she added, “Tell the truth. I’ll understand if you did.”
Kerwen twisted in her chair at this utterance.
Syn looked over at Kerwen. “I didn’t know there were other Sisters. I was the only one. I was telling the truth. I woke up in my crèche. There were no others. Just me and my companion.”
Neci looked around the room. “So why did you leave?”
“I—I was lonely. I was by myself. I heard someone else on the other side of the gate asking for help.”
Taji and Kerwen traded glances. Pigeon hunched up and leaned in. One of them whispered, “Laoule.”
Syn continued, “I had never heard another person’s voice. At least not in real life. I watched movies all the time. I could talk to my companion. But I was by myself. I didn’t have Sisters.”
Neci leaned in. “You left your Disc because you wanted to meet us?”
Syn nodded.
Neci drew close enough that Syn could feel her hot breath on her face. “You left Paradise because you were lonely? For us?”
Syn nodded again, slighter this time.
Neci drew back and roared with laughter. “Bwah!” The others gave slight chuckles, but the roar was Neci’s alone.
In a flash, Neci grabbed Syn by the back of her neck, twisted her head around to look her in the eyes, and growled, “You lived in the Garden, you bitch? You lying, selfish, fat bitch. You could’ve taken us there the whole time! You have been sitting here, in this hellhole, with your great big secret!”
Taji coughed. “She’s not told you everything, yet.”
Neci’s voice grew dark. “What else?”
Syn looked at Taji from the corner of her eyes.
Taji said, “Tell her about the greenhouse.” She jabbed her fork in Syn’s direction and then at Kerwen.
Neci glared at Kerwen. “What?”
Kerwen held up her hands, “I was going to tell you!”
“What?” Neci slammed her fist on the table.
Kerwen pointed, “She can make things in the ship activate. We walked into the first greenhouse, and she turned all of the lights on. Not just the sunstrips. Even the buzzy little machines turned on. Everything. The ship responds to her like it did for the companions.”