Chapter Twenty-Four

Simon and a team had been waiting for her when she reached the clearing they had named the day before. She was long overdue, and she must have looked terrible, but when she grunted “It’s done” to them they asked no questions and led her back to the facility. When they arrived, Clay was there to meet them. She told him only that she had gotten in a jam, but that it was finished, and there was no way to trace her back to the Colony. He nodded, then left her to rest.

She collapsed in exhaustion when she got to the bed, feeling and thinking nothing in the brief moments before she slipped into a deep sleep.

The mood was clearly different in the Colony’s compound as she moved around it the next day. She could hear heated conversations behind closed doors; members of the group eyed her suspiciously. The facility was full of activity. Mechanics were attaching tires to a truck in the garage bay. She saw several young recruits choosing rifles from a secure weapons rack. The place was abuzz, and yet she felt incidental among all the activity that she was directly responsible for.

She found Simon in his workshop, where he was irritably directing an assistant to help him pack up computer equipment.

“No,” he said in exasperation. “Not that one. That one. That one, Jimmy.”

After a few more minutes of packing, he sent his assistant away, loaded with several crates worth of computing equipment.

“I shouldn’t be so hard on him,” he said to her once they were alone. “They’re good kids. They just don’t know anything.”

“I’m pretty good at computers,” she said, and immediately felt stupid for saying it. “It’s, uh. It’s hard to get….”

“Terminal time?” he said, gazing at her.

“Right.”

She stood there awkwardly as he busied himself in his office, loading a beaten-up backpack. She had the distinct sense that he had already forgotten she was there.

“How’s everything going?” she said at last, unable to bear the silence.

“It seems yesterday was quite a scene around here,” he said. “Clay definitely owes you now.”

“How so?”

“Because you gave him his fight,” he said, rubbing his temple. “The first one, anyway.”

“What do you mean?”

He stood quietly for a moment, then started packing his bag again.

“Well,” he said. “At any event, I’m not sure there will be much of a group to come back to, after we’re done.”

“After you’re done with my brother?”

He nodded.

“Right.”

“Then what’s next?”

“That depends, I suppose, on Clay,” he said. “I’ve given up on underestimating him. The sheer force of his personality….”

He shook his head.

“Listen, young lady,” he said. “Whether cutting our lines was the right move or not, the Colony owes you. I owe you. And I promise I will help your brother.”

She felt her face flush.

“Thank you.”

“Now you should go see Clay. He’s waiting for you in the infirmary.”

She rose to leave. As she walked out the door, he called after her.

“Clay is the real thing, Ms. Wang,” he said. “A true believer.”

The infirmary sat in the aboveground portion of the Colony’s facility, large windows providing ample sunlight. Small examining rooms had been fabricated out of larger spaces, white particle board erected as dividers. She heard the faint pulse of a respirator and the beep of a monitor, and wondered idly how the drop in power had impacted this facility. The natural light warmed the space, and its gentle hums and bustle soothed her.

She found him kneeling beside a basinet, attended by a nurse dressed in a sweatsuit and a woman who was frowning into a laptop. The room was hushed. As she walked in, she got a look at the bassinet. In it, Clay was clutching a baby, no more than 6 months old, delicately supporting its torso with his human hand. She gasped to see an implant extending from its chest, a metal and polymer device that broke from the smooth skin. A sheath of thin wires ran from the implant to instruments in a cart, which in turn fed into the woman’s laptop. Clay tilted his head towards her as she approached but did not turn to look.

“She will not survive,” he said quietly. “None of them have. The implant will fail, or infection will take her. Despite all our expertise, all our effort.”

He reached his prosthetic arm up and with remarkable gentleness wiped her forehead with a cloth.

“How is this possible?” asked Haojing.

“We have been trying, for many long years, to renew the care that has made it possible for so many among us to survive.” As he spoke, he delicately adjusted a valve on her tiny implant.

“But we are bereft,” he said. “We have the people. We have the knowledge. But we cannot fabricate the things we need. People die every day for lack of materials that were cheap and abundant decades ago.”

“Is she… one of yours?” asked Haojing.

“A child of the Colony?” he said. “No. No. We have had a few babies, among our people, which is always a thrill. But no. She is a child from a settlement nearby, brought to us by neighbors, who have asked us for our help.”

He nodded to the nurse, who walked over and took his place. He rose and gave her one last look, brushing her hair tenderly.

“And I can do nothing for her. Come, follow me.”

They walked through the facility together.

“I suppose you have noticed that I am not quite as popular, around here, as I once was.”

“Yes,” she said simply.

He laughed, hollow and metallic.

“Well. Popularity is not so important to me, anymore. The time has come for results.”

She frowned.

“By helping my brother?”

He studied her.

“How better?” he said, cocking his head to its side.

“I – thank you,” said Haojing as they came to an external bay, one loaded with carts and pallets, people bustling around.

“My body… my body is not all mine, Ms. Wang,” he said. “Its parts are at war with each other. I must find a way to force my organs to work together. And if I do not find a solution, I will die. So will many others that share my condition. We must regain control of the powers we once had, all of us, together. We cannot do that here, hiding, sucking up energy we did nothing to help create. We must go into the world again. We must take what we need, out there, and do the good we can. Your brother will be the start.”

They reached a small pen off to the side of the bay, where Haojing’s horse sat contentedly chewing.

“Oh, hello!” she said brightly.

“He was right where you said he would be, safe and sound.”

“You’ve fed him, gave him water?”

“He has received treatment better than many of the humans in my charge, I assure you. He will be ready to carry you on our journey tomorrow.”

She walked over and stroked his mane. With a look on his face that was probably a smile, Clay reached into his pocket and emerged with a carrot, which he handed to Haojing. She presented it to her horse and he devoured it happily.

“Now I must go and make final preparations for our journey,” said Clay. “We leave at dawn.”