Gene. Sys. (20 page)

“What about the people neither of us know? It
doesn’t seem fair to make an assessment based on just a picture.” I shift my
body on her bed so that I am on my stomach, facing the wall.

“Right. We make a third pile then.” She taps the
wall and the first picture comes up. It’s Rene.

“Mutineer!” I blurt out with a big smile. Ev
looks at
me and a small smile graces
her face.

“Very funny.”
She turns back
to the wall and, after moving about a dozen scientists to the ‘don’t know’ pile
,
another familiar face pops up
. It’s Grant.

“No,” I say.

“Agreed.” She continues flipping through the
scientists. More and more scientists get moved to the ‘don’t know’ pile and we
move a couple other scientists to the ‘no’ pile
;
Grant’s husband and Dr.
Cicca
. Finally we come across
our first Mutineer, Dr. Kivuli.

“I still can’t believe she’s one of them,” Ev
states.

“I’ve never really trusted her, but I know what
I saw.” A part of me is happy for being suspicious about her from the
beginning. “Just be careful what you tell her when you meet again.”

“Right.” Ev goes back to the wall. She continues
to move scientists into the ‘don’t know’ pile.

“Stop!” I nearly stand on her bed. “That’s him!”

Ev brings up the file she just had and we both
stare at a picture of ‘Joseph
Relli
’, one of the scientists
in charge of surveillance and security.

“Are you sure?” Ev asks.

“Yes. He has the same build. He must work in the
surveillance room.” I lay back down on the bed.

Ev moves his picture to the Mutineer’s pile and
the next picture that pops up is Hawk’s. We both stare quietly at his picture.
I wait for Ev to say what she thinks.

“I don’t know, Atom. There is something about
him that just seems off.” She treads carefully.

“Yeah,” I agree. “I think we move him to the
Mutineer pile.”

“Okay.”
 
Ev exhales and moves him to the pile of Mutineers. There are only four
people in that pile. We add Dr. Dennis O’Neal along the way, but since he’s
dead, he doesn’t really garner much thought.

In the last few files we come across both Dr.
Peters and Dr. Metzger. Ev and I both decide that we don’t know enough about
either to pass fair judgment so we put them in the ‘no’ pile but decide to keep
an eye on them. After a few more files, we come to the end.

“Did you see Brianna’s file?” Ev looks at me.

“I don’t remember seeing it,” I say. I thought
we were being attentive, but with the number of files we just went through, we
could have just missed it. “We must have accidentally moved her to the ‘don’t
know’ pile.”

“I guess.” Ev scowls. She steps back and takes a
seat next to me on her bed.

“How do you like her in your Language class?”
I’ve been wondering if Ev likes the choice I made for her.

“The class is great! She’s really funny too. I’m
actually looking forward to the next class. We start learning eastern languages
like Japanese and Chinese.” She smiles at me and leans back in her bed.

“What languages did you already learn?” I ask.

“
Aprendi
Espanol
, et Francois, und
Deutch
,
e
Italiano
.” She giggles.

I laugh as well. “Show off.”

“What did you learn?” She looks across her bed
at me.

“I can build shelter anywhere and out of
anything.” I smile back at her.

“That’s so cool.” She lights up. “So what is it
we are doing tomorrow instead of the simulation?”

I turn over to face her. I’m excited to share.
“We are playing a game of Breekbal against the drones.”

“Really? What if someone gets hurt?” She sits
up, concerned.

“Dr. Peters will be there and we need this. I
think this will help bring us all together as a team. We need to learn to rely
on each other,” I state, not giving her a chance to change my mind.

“You’re right. I hope it works,” she says
absentmindedly. Her eyes look into mine and her face gets serious. “Can I ask
you a question?”

“Sure.” I’m a little wary of what she might ask.

“Do you like me?” she asks, her eyes getting
watery.

I don’t know what she means by that question.
Why wouldn’t I like her? “Of course.”

She forces a smile but the movement of her
muscles breaks the dams holding her tears back. She wipes her cheeks and looks
away. “I’m sorry.”

“Why? Don’t be sorry.” I really don’t know what
to do or why she’s crying. “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah,” she says through her tears while shaking
her head to the contrary. “I just don’t know if I can handle all of this.”

“That’s why we are doing it together.” I put my
hand on her back. My heart breaks for her and I don’t want her to be sad.

She turns to me and looks through her puffy
eyes. “Can you just hold me for a little bit? I don’t want to be scared.”

I smile at her and pull her in to me. She rests
her head on my shoulder and then we fall onto our backs. We fall back a little
too quickly because when our heads hit the mattress our foreheads collide.

“
Ow
.” I put my open
hand on my forehead.

“Oh no. I’m so sorry.” She kisses her hand and
places on my forehead. We look at each other and smile.

“It’s okay. It’s all going to be okay,” I
reassure both of us.

I caress her head as we both lay quietly. My
mind races with thoughts of the Mutineers, Breekbal, and the outsiders. For a
brief moment I think to myself how comfortable this feels, but then my mind
returns to the other thoughts, specifically the game of Breekbal tomorrow and
what the best strategy will be.

I shiver awake and unaware of my surroundings.
It isn’t until I roll my head over and see Ev that I realize I fell asleep in
her bed. I have both arms wrapped around her. My movements must have woken her
up because she rolls over to look at me.

Her smile quickly shifts to anger and she stands
next to her bed. “What are you doing?”

“What?” I sit up.

“Why are you in my bed?” she yells at me.

I stand up, confused. “You asked me to hold…”

“I didn’t ask you to sleep in here!” She scowls
at me.

Why is she acting like this? “I’m sorry. I must
have just…”

“What about Fe?” she demands.

“What about her?” I feel my voice rising.

“You kissed her, Atom!” Tears streak down her
cheeks. “You can’t do that and then do this!”

“It was an accident!” I’m yelling now. “And you
asked me to hold you. I did that because I’m your friend.”

“Is that what I am? A friend?” She stops yelling
and speaks through her tears.

I feel tears breaking free from my eyes as well.
“Yes. I don’t know. What do you want me to say, Ev?” I plead with her.

She just stares at me.
 
She walks to her door and opens it.
“Please leave.”

“Ev? Talk to me,” I beg. She doesn’t answer, so
I have no other option but to leave. The second I step through the threshold
the door slams behind me.

16

There are still a couple of hours before my
class, so I head back to my room and lay in my bed. I can’t wrap my head around
Ev’s reaction, but it certainly explains why she had been acting weird before.
Fe must have told her about the kiss. Why would she do that?

With my head a complete jumble I know that I’m
not going to be able to get back to sleep before class, so I decide to look at
all the monitors in my room. Everything seems pretty normal. Drones are
patrolling the compound; scientists are going about their business.

I’m about to roll back over when I spot 80 on one
of the monitors. He’s standing just to the bottom right edge of the frame. A
couple of seconds later Brianna walks into the frame and exchanges a few words
with him. Just as I adjust myself to get a closer look, 80
looks
directly in the direction of the camera. He says something to Brianna and they
both walk off in a hurry.

The meeting is certainly peculiar and I am
unsure what it was for. Suddenly it hits me. Brianna is extremely attractive.
Why wouldn’t 80 be interested in her? I find myself getting very excited for
him. I’ll have to make sure to tease him about it later.

Another monitor catches my attention and I look
to see Dr. Kivuli walking down a hallway with Hawk, Dr. Metzger and a fourth
scientist that I recognize from both the picture I saw with Ev and from the
Center for G.O.D. He is very tall and thin with light brown hair.
 
Not a combination of people I would
expect to see walking together. They are in the middle of a very heated
conversation and at one point Dr. Kivuli turns to shout something at the tall
scientist.

The tall scientist stands his ground, but doesn’t
reply. When they walk out of the frame of this camera, I look around to try to
spot them in another, but can’t find them.

After a few more moments of watching the
monitors with no activity, I decide to get in the shower and try to wake my
body up before I head to class. The cold water is initially painful but soon
turns refreshing and I have to force myself to turn the water off and get out.

I get ready and head down the hallway to my
class. As I turn the corner I run into Ox, standing in the hallway.

“Hey Ox!” I greet him.

“Hey man. How’s it going?” he asks.

“Pretty good. What are you up to? Aren’t you
heading to class?” I stop next to him.

“Yeah. I’m just waiting for Fe to come out.” He
says nonchalantly.

A hint of rage and jealousy rises up within me.
Why would he be waiting for Fe? My thoughts are broken up when Fe opens the
door and gives me a big smile and hug when she sees me.

“Atom! Why are you here?” she asks cheerfully.

“I was on my way to class,” I say.

“Us too,” she replies as she starts walking down
the hall. “Walk with us.”

It suddenly hits me that I had put both Fe and
Ox in the same Mechanical Engineering class. I feel my breathing ease up as we
walk. “Sure. How do you guys like the class?”

“Love it!” She takes my hand. My breathing increases
again but for completely different reasons. My mind, however, shoots to Ev and
her reaction. Suddenly my hand feels awkward in Fe’s hand and it begins to
sweat.

“It’s pretty good. I’m not a big fan of the
teacher,” Ox says, snapping me out of my thoughts.

“Really?” Fe looks at Ox. “I think he’s great.”

“What’s he like?” I ask.

“His name is Hawk,” Fe responds.

I’m surprised by this revelation. I wouldn’t
have thought of Hawk as someone who would be mechanically literate, but then
again I don’t know anything on the subject myself, so I’m in no place to make
the assumption. “I know Hawk. I don’t really like him.”

“See,” Ox adds and looks at Fe.

“Why not?” She looks at me with concern in her
eyes.

“We have a history and it’s not pretty,” I say
definitively. It’s not a subject I want to talk about.

“Besides, what kind of name is Hawk?” Ox
whispers to us as we approach the classrooms.

“Says the guy named Ox.” I smile at him. He
laughs so Fe and I join in.

Fe pulls me close and gives me a hug. “See you later.”

Down the hall I spot Ev looking right at us. She
turns her head in disgust. I frown and I feel my heart drop. I don’t want her
to be hurt. As Fe pulls away I put on my best smile. “Have a good class.”

“You too.” She walks into her classroom and Ox turns
to walk in after her.
 

“Ox, wait a second.” I put my hand on his
shoulder.

He turns. “What’s up?”

I look around to make sure no one can hear me.
“Let me know if Hawk does anything weird.”

Ox raises an eyebrow at me. “Why?”

“Just do it, please,” I say as I turn to head to
my classroom.

When I walk in, Hydro, K and Dr.
Cicca
are already there.

“You’re late.” Hydro pokes me and smiles.

“Sorry about that.” I look at Dr.
Cicca
.

“It’s alright.” She smiles. “Okay. Today’s class
will be outside.”

She hands each one of us a tablet and we head
out of the classroom. We turn down a couple of hallways and exit through a door
that I have never been through before. We are in a part of the compound that I
have never been to before. I can only assume that it is the back part of the
compound.

When we turn the corner, I see the tall plants
behind the library that I hid in when Dr. Kivuli was talking with Joey. What I
had not noticed that night was the sheer variety of plants that have been
arranged in perfect sections.

Dr.
Cicca
stops us
just short of the first set of plants and turns to look at us. “Today we are
going to learn about agriculture and farming. You’ll learn how to decontaminate
soil, how to choose and cultivate crops. You will be getting your hands dirty.”

I look over at Hydro and K. They both have giant
smiles on their faces. We spend the majority of the class going back and forth
between the tablets and the plants. We use the tablets to learn about the
plants we are working with and how to balance the PH of the soil.

Dr.
Cicca
actually
encourages us to try a lot of the fruits and vegetables that we have been
working with. My favorite is by far the corn, which happens to be the tall
plants I had hid in. I also like the grapes, watermelon and carrots. My least
favorite is probably the tomatoes.

Tasting all of these fruits and vegetables
reminds me of the chicken that 80 gave me. My mouth waters thinking about it.
This has easily been one of my favorite classes and I hope we get more chances
to try more food. The protein pouches seem so bland to me now.

At the end of the class, Dr.
Cicca
walks up to me. “So I hear you guys are playing Breekbal against the drones.”

I’m caught off guard by the question. “How did
you know that?”

“The scientists have been talking about it. I’m
pretty sure there is going to be a crowd there to watch you.” She smiles.

“Watch us what?” Hydro asks as she and K join
us.

A sudden surge of nerves rushes through my body.
I was not expecting there to be people watching us. I look at K and Hydro. “We
are playing a game against the drones.”

“A dangerous game,” Dr.
Cicca
adds.

I shoot her a look to let her know that she’s
not helping. She steps away.

“I’ll explain it as we walk. We need to get
there,” I tell K and Hydro.

“Good luck,” Dr.
Cicca
says as she turns to head back to the compound.

As Hydro, K and I walk around the outside of the
library, I fill them in on what we will be doing. “So our training today is
actually going to be a game that we will be playing against the drones. There
is really only one rule: get the ball into the other team’s pit.”

“Is it really that dangerous?” Hydro asks,
concerned. K’s face tells me that she was thinking the same thing.

“It can be.” I know I have to tell them the
truth. “It is very likely that someone will get hurt.”

“Do we have to do it?” K pleads.

“Yes,” I state.

We walk silently the rest of the way. When we
get to the outskirts of the drone part of the compound, I see the other Genesys
gathered in a group. They are all paying attention to Ev. To my left, a steady
stream of scientists is making its way to the field in the middle of the drone
quarters. I actually spot Rene among them.

To my right, an equal amount of drones seem to
be moving to the field as well. I need to get better at not calling them drones.
80
was
right, it makes them sound like they don’t have
a mind of their own.

When Hydro, K and I approach the group, they all
turn their attention to me. Ev steps up to stand next to me but she doesn’t
make eye contact.

“I told them what you told me,” she says out of
the corner of her mouth.

“Thanks,” I tell her and then turn my attention
to the group. “The game is pretty simple. We have to get the ball into their
pit by any means necessary. They will have a clear advantage since they have
all played before and have most likely formed strategies, so we have to play
smart and play as a team.”

“Can we hurt them?” Titan blurts out.

I look at him and see a hunger in both his and
Sil’s
eyes. I sigh. “If you must. Realize though, they can
and will try to hurt us. So be quick, be strong and trust the person next to
you.”

They all look around at each other. I see some
eager faces and some concerned faces.

“I don’t want to do this.” Mag’s small voice
breaks the moment of silence. I can see tears on her cheeks and fear in her
eyes.

“You have to,” I say apologetically. “Listen, we
are all going to have to face things we fear and don’t want to do, but it’s
important that we conquer those fears. We have a lot resting on our shoulders.”

Mag bows her head and slinks back behind Ox. I
look around the building we are standing next to and I see a crowd gathered
around the field.

“Alright everyone, let’s go win this!” I try my
best to get them pumped up, but I don’t get much of a reaction. I start to walk
towards the field and they all follow behind me.

Cal catches up to me. “Nice pep talk, buddy.”

“Thanks,” I throw out.

“I was being sarcastic.” He punches my shoulder
and smiles.

I force a smile and walk on. As we get to the
crowd, the group of scientists and drones move aside to let us in. When we
reach the field I see the opposing team, including 80 and 13.

When 80
sees
me he gets
his team to walk over and meet us in the middle of the field. The first thing
that pops into my mind is that they all have different haircuts. Some even have
facial hair. I find it funny that this surprises me, but I guess it’s because
not more than a month ago all the drones looked the same with the same haircut.

“You sure you want to do this?” 80
says
, snapping me away from my thought.

“Yeah we are!” Cal shouts. Most of the other
Genesys shout ‘yeah’ after him.

I smile at 80. “You better believe it.”

“Very well.” He looks at all of us. “The rules
are simple. First to three, wins.
 
Get
the ball completely into the other person’s pit by any means necessary and we
don’t stop for injuries.”

I look back at the Genesys. They all have their
game faces on, even Mag. I turn back to 80. “We’re ready!”

“Suit yourself,” he says, winking at me. He
tosses the ball at
me and smiles
. “You guys can
start.”

The ball feels slightly heavy and rough in my
hands. It reminds me of the rubber that laces the floor of the simulation room.
I throw the ball to the ground and it bounces right back up at me.

I return my gaze to 80 and the drones. “When do
we start?”

“Now!” 80 shouts and then charges right at me.
His shoulder bores right into my stomach and I lose my handle on the ball. I
fall hard to the ground and he kneels over me, pinning my shoulders to the
ground. “You okay there, Atom?”

His smile is both playful and evil. I smile back
and then, with one quick move, I reach my hands up, grab his neck and flip him
off me. I look around when I stand and I see the majority of both teams off to
one side. It looks like one of the drones has the ball and the Genesys are
trying to tear it away.

From my left I see two drones charging hard at
the group. They get there before I do and ram through the majority of the
Genesys. I see Sil, Al, Sodi, K and Fe all fall hard to the ground and get
trampled over.

A few drones fell as well, but the strategy
opened up an avenue for the ball carrier. He steps forward and bounces the ball
high towards our pit. I chase after it and jump. Just as I am a couple of
inches from grabbing the ball, my legs get knocked from underneath me and I
flip to the ground.