The Lost Code Part 4

"Support!" called the other half.

"Strength!"

"In numbers!"

The girls, despite being oldest like us, seemed to take some sick pleasure in being super coordinated and enthusiastic about these kinds of things. They also always seemed to look great for flagpole, like they'd been up for hours, while us boys had our hair pointing every which way. They all cheered and clapped to themselves when their routine was over, and all the boys around me had their heads hanging sideways watching.

"They're going to the ropes course today," Beaker said quietly from beside me. I hadn't even realized he was there.

Claudia started making announcements about the day. "I've checked in with Aaron up in the Eagle Eye and he reports that midday Rad levels will be slightly elevated, so everyone follow the two-hour application cycle."

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Leech rubbing his hands all over his chest, like he was putting NoRad on girl parts, and making ecstatic faces while doing it. Mike and Jalen and Noah were cracking up.

The show was mostly for the Arctic Foxes' ringleader, Paige, who was smile-glaring at Leech from across the aisle. She flipped her sandy blond hair like we'd already seen her do a hundred times in two days, and then made a big show of whispering something to her friends that made them all laugh hysterically. Then it was Leech's turn to do the glare-smile thing.

Paige and Leech had apparently been going out last session, and now, even though there had only been one day off between sessions, it was suddenly this big will-they-or-won't-they-date-again thing for reasons that n.o.body really knew, and you had to wonder if the two of them were just doing it to keep all the attention on themselves.

I saw other Arctic Foxes looking at our cabin and whispering, sizing us up. I figured the kid with the clumpy white bandages around his neck probably wasn't going to interest them.

When announcements were over, one of the little girls' cabins, the Lemurs, did a skit about something to do with always remembering to wear your NoRad lotion, and we were released to breakfast. Everybody walked up the gravel path to the dining hall in a ma.s.s. Leech and his gang mingled with the Arctic Foxes, and there was lots of pulling sweats.h.i.+rt hoods over each other's heads, and then when we got into the dining hall there were lots of whispers across the aisle between Leech's end of the table and Paige's. I was at the other end, and noticed that there was a similar quiet end at the Foxes' table, too.

There was bread and margarine waiting on the tables, along with metal pitchers of bug juice. Today it was bright yellow and was supposed to taste like something called a pineapple. There were jokes about how it looked like pee, about how Beaker was drinking pee. Tables got called by age, youngest to oldest, so we had to watch tray after tray of millet pancakes and scrambled synth eggs go by. The food at each meal was still good, and there was plenty of it, but since that first night, there had been no sign of real wheat, or delicate leaves of spinach.

Now a piece of bread smacked against the side of Leech's head. "Oh no!" he said, looking over at Paige, who was glaring wickedly, like she was auditioning for the part of "bad girl" in a school play. Leech scanned the table, grabbed a square of margarine, pressed it onto the tip of a knife, then flicked it back at her. She ducked and it hit a poor girl named Sonja, who you could tell had a life in her cabin like Beaker had in ours. The margarine bounced off her cheek and fell down the front of her s.h.i.+rt and she started grabbing at herself, and all the girls cracked up and the boys went nuts.

"Knock it off, Carey," said Todd, using Leech's real name.

"That's bloodsucker to you, mammal!" Leech shot back.

Todd leaned forward, slapping both hands on the table. "Watch it, kid, or you'll be missing electives today."

Leech glared back at him, smile unflinching. "I think Paul would say that was unfair," he said, like because he'd been here so long, he and the director were best friends.

"Not if I explain your behavior." Todd's eyes narrowed; his jaw set.

"Try it," said Leech.

Todd kept staring at him... then looked away. "Food time," he said, and everybody at the table knew who had just won.

We headed across the busy dining hall. I was glad to get away from all that table stuff, but also for the chance to walk by the CIT area. They owned one whole end of the dining hall. They had a normal dining table, but then also couches along the walls, and a Ping-Pong table. The CITs were all there, spread out over the surfaces like someone had tossed them carelessly, and yet placed them perfectly, legs in sweatpants hanging this way and that, heads covered by sweats.h.i.+rt hoods or backward mesh baseball caps. They leaned on each other's shoulders, their toes painted, their ankles and wrists wrapped in woven bracelets. They were like a portrait of perfection, like the ideal of youth that you'd see in holotech environments, who had that plastic feel and smiled at you and talked to you about the products they were wearing. Except the CITs weren't smiling, and they were more real, unnerving, almost dangerous feeling. You could imagine them never even having to speak, lounging there, communicating in glances and scents like the Turkish lions that roamed the deserts of France and Germany.

And yet one pair of those silent eyes was looking at me, sky-blue irises peering through green-streaked bangs. She was sideways on the couch, legs draped over the armrest, her head against the fortress shoulder of Evan, who was reading a video sheet. CITs didn't have to go the whole "no technology" route, like the rest of us.

Lilly's gaze made me freeze, and then almost trip, and I looked away quick, hating that she was seeing me with these ridiculous bandages on my neck, but then I glanced back, and she was still looking at me, and she nodded, or at least I thought she did. I wondered if I should nod back, or do nothing, like I was playing it cool, or- "Lil!" someone called from the Ping-Pong table, and she looked away.

I hurried into the kitchen. On my way back with my food, I caught a glimpse of her playing in a doubles game. She was wearing someone else's purple-and-white mesh cap, maybe Evan's, her sweats.h.i.+rt sleeves pushed up, her gaze across the table intense. She didn't look at me, and I told myself not to stare.

Breakfast dragged on, and as we were finally getting up to leave, Todd said, "Owen, you're supposed to go see Dr. Maria?"

"Oh, yeah."

"Meet us down on the fields when you're done."

I headed out of the dining hall and across a dirt road toward the infirmary. I didn't mind the idea of seeing Dr. Maria. She'd seemed nice. And I wondered again whether or not I should tell her more about what was going on with me. Maybe she should know about last night with the wounds and the shower. She was a doctor, after all. And yet, going to the infirmary also meant the possibility of running into Paul. That was something I definitely wanted to avoid.

"Hey! Owen!" I turned and saw Lilly pulling away from a little cl.u.s.ter of CITs, including Evan. "Just a sec," she said to them, and hurried over to me. "Hey, I've been thinking about you."

She had? When? Where? What about? Wait, she was still talking- "How are you feeling?" Lilly was asking.

"Oh," I said quickly, "you know, better. Fine."

She nodded. "Cool, and what about your neck?"

"Oh, that," I said, flapping a hand against my bandages like they were no big deal, except that movement made the wounds cry out and so then I tried not to wince. "Something must have gotten tangled around me on the bottom, or a parasite got me or something. Did you, um, see anything when you found me?"

"No." Lilly looked around, almost like she as checking to make sure no one was listening. "So, that's it?"

"It?" It sounded like she was expecting me to have more to report. There was the whole thing with the shower. "Well, actually-"

"Lil!" Evan called. He tapped at his wrist. "We gotta go!"

"Right," said Lilly. "Gotta get down to the docks. Okay, listen..." She touched my arm. I looked down at that happening. She had teal-green nail polish with little glitter stars. "We should talk," she said, starting to step away, "about your neck and stuff."

"My neck?"

"Yeah, can you find me during elective time today? I'll be guarding free swim."

"Sure, okay," I said.

"Cool." She smiled. "Hey, until then"-she nodded over my shoulder-"mum's the word with them them, okay?"

I glanced back at the infirmary. "Oh, yeah. Right."

"And listen, if you get any strange urges," said Lilly, "just go with it."

Strange urges-what was she talking about? But I just nodded. "All right."

"Good." Lilly hurried back to her group. I looked down at my arm, where her fingers had been. I could almost feel little heat impressions there.

I turned and headed to the infirmary, thinking about what Lilly had just said. We were going to talk. She knew something about what had happened to me. It was already killing me not to know what.

Inside, I found the office door and Paul's both closed. I could hear a low, m.u.f.fled voice in Paul's office, like he was speaking to someone. I hurried over to the open infirmary door.

As I walked in, I heard the strained sound of vomiting. I found Dr. Maria in one of the exam rooms, sitting on the bed beside a little Panda girl who was bent over a plastic basin, her face red. Strands of her black bangs had gotten stuck by the corner of her mouth. There was brown goo on her pink teddy bear T-s.h.i.+rt.

"It's okay, Colleen," said Dr. Maria gently.

"It hurts," Colleen whispered, her voice hoa.r.s.e.

"I know. Just try to breathe and it will be over soon." She rubbed the little girl's back, then glanced at the computer pad lying beside her. She looked worried.

"Hey, Dr. Maria," I said.

She looked up. "Oh, Owen, hi. How are you-"

Colleen lurched over and barfed again, the liquid splattering into the basin. She coughed a little, then looked up, staring off into s.p.a.ce. Vomit dripped from her nostrils.

"Is it over?" Dr. Maria asked gently.

Colleen exhaled hard and nodded. "I think so."

"Okay." Dr. Maria helped Colleen lie back on the bed.

Without really meaning to, I glanced into the basin, and looked away fast. But I'd seen that the vomit had red swirls of blood in it. I backed away and stayed by the door.

Dr. Maria pulled the covers over Colleen. She moved quickly over to the counter, and returned to Colleen holding a little gun-shaped tool with a needle at the end and a clear gla.s.s vial mounted on top. "I'm going to take a quick blood sample. Just look toward the window and you'll feel a slight sting."

Colleen turned away. Dr. Maria stuck the needle in her arm, and blood splashed into the vial. "Okay, that's it. Just rest for a bit, sweetie. I'll be back to check on you soon, okay?"

Colleen nodded, her eyes already drifting closed.

Dr. Maria put the syringe back on the counter, grabbed her pad, and tapped the gla.s.s a few times. She put that down and picked up the vomit basin. "Just a second, Owen." She hurried around the bed into the little bathroom. There was a sound of pouring and flus.h.i.+ng.

"Now let's take a look at you." Dr. Maria smiled at me as she walked around the bed, but she also glanced worriedly back at Colleen.

We crossed the hall to another room.

"She seems pretty sick," I said. I'd been thinking about my incident the night before, throwing up some blood, too. Was something going around? Did Colleen have the same condition I did? But her neck had looked fine.

Dr. Maria sighed. "Yeah, the poor kid. Could be some minor food poisoning. I think she just needs to rest." But Dr. Maria sounded more worried than that.

I sat on the bed, and Dr. Maria snapped on new rubber gloves. She sat down on a rolling stool, untaped my bandages, and started unwrapping them. The attention caused fresh itching. "Things any better with your cabin today?" she asked. She was looking at me with a smile that felt genuine, like she cared.

"I guess," I said, thinking, Not really Not really. But they hadn't gotten any worse.

She pulled off the last layer. The fabric stuck again and caused a fresh throb of pain. She threw out the bandages and returned with a small exam light. "And how are these doing?"

"Fine," I said. "They itch, but less today. They-" I paused, thinking of my talk with Lilly. It was almost like she knew something about these wounds. And even though Dr. Maria seemed like someone I could trust, too, I wanted to talk to Lilly first. "They just get kinda sore," I finished.

Dr. Maria leaned in and ran her finger gently over the wounds, but didn't try to separate them like I had. "Well," she said, squinting, "they are looking a little better." She rolled to the counter and got a little square towel that she used to wipe gently around the wound edges. "There's some blood here, but not as much. Do you remember any more about getting these?"

"I don't," I said, a truth, but I also felt the weight of the unspoken lie, about being under for ten minutes, and now I'd added to it by not telling her about the shower.

"You sure?" Dr. Maria asked, and I worried that she was onto me, but when I looked over she was just tapping on her pad, like her question was routine.

"Yeah."

"Okay, well, I'm going to put fresh bandages on your neck and then I'll just need a quick blood sample. Does that sound all right?"

"Sure," I said. "Is that to check for an infection or something?"

"Oh, the blood?" Dr. Maria was turning away as she said it, getting bandages from a drawer. "Yeah, we just want to, basically, just keep an eye on things."

"Okay."

Her answer sounded vague, almost like I was a little kid who couldn't understand the details. And then I wondered, were there unspoken lies on her side, too? I thought about little Colleen. Maybe.

Dr. Maria gently put on the bandages, then rolled over to get a new vial and needle for her syringe gun. She clipped them on and took my hand. "Just push up your sleeve."

The needle stung, the blood leaped into the vial, and then it was over.

"Miss Maria?" It was little Colleen, calling weakly from across the hall.

Dr. Maria got up and put her supplies on the counter. "I should get back to her. See you tomorrow, same time?"

"Sure," I said.

She rushed out.

As I left, I heard Colleen retching more, and I wondered again if our conditions were related. It would be Dr. Maria's job to notice that, wouldn't it? And she hadn't said anything. Except we'd both had the blood samples taken. And what were those for?

More questions. I had to get to electives and talk to Lilly.

Chapter 5

ELECTIVES WERE RIGHT AFTER LUNCH. ONLY AS WE left the dining hall, Todd turned in the other direction. "It's time for a special tradition," he said. left the dining hall, Todd turned in the other direction. "It's time for a special tradition," he said.

"Oldest cabins get a tour of the Eagle Eye!" Leech finished for him, grinning big.

"This way," muttered Todd.

And so instead of me seeing Lilly, we met up with the Arctic Foxes in a paved area with a security checkpoint, by a set of large metal double doors where I'd entered the dome two nights ago. I followed along in the back, so annoyed that I'd missed my date, well, not date date, but meeting time. My neck started to itch more, almost like it agreed.

Leech, Noah, and Jalen started joking around with the Foxes. I hung back by the edge of the group, away from where the girls and boys were mixing.

"Good afternoon, kids." We turned to see Paul approaching. He was wearing a black hat with the Eden corporate logo on it. Despite the shade that the brim cast over his face, his sungla.s.ses were still on and as dark as ever. He didn't slow down as he neared us, and we parted to let him by. "Right this way," he said over his shoulder.

We followed him to a rectangular metal column, an elevator shaft stretching straight up until it was lost in the SafeSun glare. "Open," he said, and the doors slid apart.

We all crowded inside the metal box. Elbows and shoulders jostled, and I found myself against the back wall, right behind Paige and two other Arctic Foxes. The doors slid closed. There were narrow windows in them. I had to get on my toes to see out.

The elevator shot up, the force pressing me into the floor. I saw other kids wobble.