The Rainbow Maker's Tale (11 page)

A brusque looking female Medic
entered the room through the sliding doors, effectively ending the
conversation at this point. Cassie shuffled aside unnecessarily to
let her pass by and I saw the edginess return to her eyes. The
Medic marched past us, to the desk at the front of the room, where
she collected a waiting mobile viewing screen. Without addressing
us, or looking up, she rapidly ran her fingers across the screen,
nodding once or twice at whatever it was that she read there.

“I’m Medic Karlina” she
introduced herself, without raising her eyes from the screen. Then
she progressed straight into her
welcoming
speech. “I’ll be
your mentor for the next few days as you get settled in to your
placement here. I know all of your parents well and so I appreciate
that they have high hopes for at least some of you finding your
future roles here with us at The Clinic. There’s no need to worry
too much if it is not the path for you, there are plenty of other
options in the station.”

Cassie cast a sidelong glance
at me as Medic Karlina addressed us, but she turned away too
quickly for me to understand anything from it.

“First of all, we’ll be
splitting you into pairs for the orientation tours and then we can
get start-”

Medic Karlina’s words were
cut-off abruptly as the sliding doors to the main reception hissed
open. Another girl burst into the room, nearly knocking Cassie over
and I extended my arms automatically to catch her. I felt a little
disappointed when she steadied herself and didn’t need them.

“Sorry I’m late!” The new girl
gushed, her slightly plump face reddening as she spoke. “I thought
I was going for my father’s placement today at the farms and I got
confused, because it wasn’t there I was supposed to be but here,
but then it’s across the other side of the zone and so I had to run
back and…”

Half of her words didn’t even
make sense to me and she stopped speaking as she cast her eyes
nervously around the group she had just barged into the middle of.
It was as though her brain had taken a few seconds to catch up with
her mouth.

“You would be Rachel from the
Black Zone I take it?” Medic Karlina enquired as she considered the
girl standing awkwardly in front of us, before returning to the
screen she held and rapidly tapping in some instructions.

“Yes,” the girl – Rachel –
replied breathlessly.

“Well…now you know where you’re
going to be the rest of the week you won’t be late again I take
it.” The Medic’s tone was unnecessarily disparaging and I realised
I already did not like this woman, who seemed to take pleasure in
someone else’s discomfort.

“No,” Rachel answered in a tiny
voice.

“Good – let’s get started
then.” Medic Karlina was all business again. “You’ll be working in
pairs for the time being. Balik, you can go with Olivia, Karl with
Rachel, and Joel with Cassie.”

Disappointment welled inside me
when I was not partnered with Cassie. It was stupid of me to have
expected such luck in the first place. I saw Olivia smiling
acknowledgement in my direction and I knew immediately that this
was going to be hard work for me. Intending to be polite I nodded
slightly at her in response, already having been distracted by
Cassie grinning towards her partner.

Maybe this will be a good thing
for her, I mused unable to hide the bitterness I felt at that
moment. Cassie would be much better off with someone who wasn’t
preoccupied by conspiracy theories and dangerous aspirations for
escaping from the Family Quarter. The question was, would I be able
to stand back and let her have that, if it was what she wanted? I
thought so, but the monster growled threateningly in my chest at
the idea. It might not be as easy as I hoped.

“You’ll get your clean
clinic-suits through that door,” Medic Karlina directed, “once
you’re changed, come back here and we’ll get you off on your
orientation tours.”

As instructed I followed the
other two boys into the male changing suite, picking up a clean
white clinic-suit, which was hanging on a peg beneath a small
screen displaying my name. I changed swiftly, not bothering to join
in the brief conversation between Joel and Karl. Glancing around to
check no one was watching me, I transferred the stolen vitamin
tablet to the pocket of my new suit, flattening the light fabric
gently to ensure the tiny lump was not visible. After folding my
normal day-suit inside my shoulder sac and hooking it onto my peg,
I wandered back out into the orientation reception room.

With a few moments alone –
well, almost alone: Medic Karlina had her back to me, engrossed in
whatever was on her viewing screen – I stood in the centre of the
small room wondering about what the tour might entail. I’d already
visited The Clinic several times with Mother as a young child and
then had been in numerous times since on the pretence of visiting
Mother at work, so I had a very good idea of where everything was.
The things I wanted would be in the biochemistry labs on the
seventh floor, which would no doubt be included on the tour. My
only problem was how to get them.

My scheming was interrupted
when Cassie came back into the room. She patted her hair nervously,
smoothing it over the shoulders of the unfamiliar suit. The bright
white contrasted with her dark hair and made her eyes stand out in
a different way than normal: they looked soulful. Beautiful. That
was until she noticed me. I smiled in what I thought was a friendly
manner, but the only response I got was the glimmer of a frown,
which she swiftly shook away as she approached.

“Are you actually looking
forward to this?” she grouched. I could only assume that Cassie was
still unhappy about starting the placement, just as she had been
when we spoke after the exam.
Well, at least she was speaking to
me again and didn’t appear to be angry anymore.

“A little – why – aren’t you?”
I asked innocently – Cassie’s grumpy expression was so cute – I
couldn’t help smiling once more as I teased her. She had no need to
be so nervous, it was laughable really: after myself and Eli,
Cassie was the best at science in our class. I was sure the
placement at The Clinic would pose her no problems. This insecurity
was unexpected, albeit unfounded.

Cassie only shook her head in
response to my question. If she was going to say anything more it
was interrupted by Joel emerging from the changing room. His face
lit up with a bright smile when he saw her and he loped over to
wait with us.

“You looking forward to this
morning, partner?” Joel grinned, entirely focused on Cassie. The
beast inside me rumbled with discontent.

“Sure,” she nodded slightly,
returning his smile.

You little liar!

I scowled, when I saw that her
smile did not reach her eyes. Why would she pretend for someone she
hardly knew? Cassie caught me frowning at her and I hurried to
erase the expression, kicking myself, because the only reason I was
supposed
to be here was getting information from Cassie. I
needed to get a grip on myself, I was swooning over Cassie like a
fool!

It was not long before the
entire group had reassembled in the orientation reception. A little
band of brightly clad children now stood waiting for instruction.
Most seemed excited, although I still sensed Cassie’s apprehension
as I tried to ignore her quiet conversation with Joel. The girl,
Olivia, joined me and then each pair was allocated to one of the
new Medics, who had appeared in the last few minutes.

Joel and Cassie were the first
to leave: trailing behind the designated Medic with portable
viewing screens clasped in their hands. I was vaguely conscious
that Olivia was standing by my elbow chatting away rapidly, but so
far I had tuned out the droning noise. I would not be lucky enough
to do that all day, I was sure.

They were leaving. I knew I
shouldn’t be paying attention to Cassie – I was only feeding the
monster – but I couldn’t help myself. The doors were sliding shut
and I watched her disappear from view. I felt a stab of irrational
disappointment, before shaking myself for being so stupid.

So, what?
Cassie had
seemed happy to see me when I first saw her outside The Clinic, but
ever since that moment she apparently wanted nothing to do with me.
Maybe she was speaking to me just because she bored, or easily
distracted.

At the last second Cassie
turned around in the doorway, looking directly at me, straight into
my eyes. My previous internal conversation was forgotten as I fell
under her spell again.

What would she see in my eyes –
the truth?

The idea scared me because in
that instant I felt as though Cassie was seeing right into my mind:
that she could see me for what I really was.

Would she see the monster too?
The selfish creature who wanted everything he shouldn’t?

All I could do was turn away:
for fear that she would
really
see me. Cassie could never
see that, I knew; it would only drag her down with me. I saw her
hand lift in a wave before I turned, but I could not respond…could
not move. I would betray myself if I did.

Deep breath, I told myself
firmly. Take a big, deep breath and relax. I searched for some form
of distraction. There was nothing except the mobile screen I had in
my hands. 11.06am – the viewing screen clock advised me. My heart
sank.

Olivia was walking next to me,
still talking. I’m not sure that she’d actually stopped yet. Even
when our guide, Medic Levi, was speaking I could hear Olivia
muttering asides to me, providing a commentary of everything we
were doing…or that she was thinking about…or things she had already
done... My tactic, of politely ignoring her, had not diminished her
enthusiasm for the one-sided conversation at all.

However, Fortune had smiled on
me in one aspect, even if she had seen fit to inflict Olivia on me.
We were now sat on the seventh floor of The Clinic in biochemistry.
Medic Levi had left us for fifty-minutes to complete some basic
blood work analysis and would be returning for us after that. The
lab was nearly empty, with only one other Medic working nearby and
he was paying us no attention whatsoever. All I had to do was
distract Olivia for a few minutes so that I could get my hands on a
couple of analysis kits and a blood tester. But
that
was
proving to be the biggest challenge yet.

Appealing to Olivia’s academic
side had not worked. I genuinely had no idea why she had come on
the early class rotation, as she seemed to have no interest in
actually learning anything. When I’d suggested that we split up to
do the task so we could both practice, she’d pouted a little and
tried to persuade me to do the testing for her. Every time I’d
attempted to move away from her to
familiarise myself with the
facility
, she’d trailed along beside me, offering random
observations and a running commentary about how much fun we were
going to have on our placement together. It was getting
ridiculous.

“…so glad we were put together
as partners…” Olivia was saying as she flicked her golden hair
across her shoulder for about the fiftieth time. “It would be
so
much fun to get to know each other outside the placement
too, don’t you think?” It must have been a rhetorical question as
she continued without a breath. “I have
so
many friends and
I’m sure they’d love to meet you and find out how well we’re doing
on our placement and –”

“That sounds great, Olivia,” I
interrupted. It felt rude, but I realised she wasn’t going to stop
otherwise. “I don’t want to be impolite or anything,” I lowered my
voice, drawing close to her. “But, you’ve got something black stuck
at the front of your teeth. You might want to get it out before we
see the others for lunch.”

Olivia leaned away from me,
pulling her hand up to cover her mouth. With her eyes widening in
embarrassment, I knew I’d found the one thing that would get her
off my back for a few minutes. Vanity.

I was already moving towards
the storage racks – where the various test kits and chemicals were
held – when Olivia bolted out of the lab door. At best I probably
had two minutes to find what I needed before she made it back.
Glancing across at the Medic, I was happy to see he was still
ignoring me as conscientiously as ever. I swiftly flicked through
the various packages, vials and equipment on the shelf.

I found nothing on the first
shelf, but on the next I found the basic chemical testing kits. In
a cupboard beside it I found the small vials of acid I wanted and I
was just straightening up with the tubes in my hand, when Olivia’s
voice at my elbow had me spinning on the spot in a panic.

“What are you up to?”

“N-n-nothing,” I stammered
nervously, adrenaline coursing through my system as my fear of
being caught triggered.
What had she seen? What would she say
about my stealing the chemicals?

“I know – this is so
boring
isn’t it?” Olivia whispered leaning forwards
conspiratorially. “And – there was nothing in my teeth!” She swiped
my arm lightly, nearly making me drop the vial of acid I still
held, concealed inside my fist. “You were just teasing me weren’t
you? You’re so mean!”

When she huffed at me, I saw
that Olivia’s mock-anger was carefully engineered to ensure she
remained perfectly pretty. A sigh of relief heaved from my chest,
as I understood that she had seen nothing. “You caught me,” I tried
to smile back, “I was just teasing you.”

“So mean!” she exclaimed again,
not releasing my arm until I moved away.

“We should really finish up the
assignment,” I reminded her, hoping that the change of subject
would help get Olivia away from me a little, so I could properly
conceal my stolen goodies.