Tamisan and Enigma Box Set

Chapter 8

8

I could feel the tears in my eyes. What if he was still alive right now? He might still be okay. The procedure was supposed to leave him unharmed.

“Yeah, well, it ain’t the first failure he’s had,” the second guard said. “So many of ’em have been stuffed up. The only one it’s worked on so far is that Zeena girl. I tell ya, he’s losin’ ’is touch or somethin’.”

“Better watch whatcha say, Marik, or maybe you’ll be the next ‘body donor’,” the other warned him.

I realised I was holding my breath again and willed myself to breathe normally.

“Starrick wouldn’ do that!” Marik said in a half whisper.

“Don’ you bet on it! Who do ya think this guy used ta be?”

“No…” he said incredulously as he looked closer.

“Yeah. Kaylan. He used ta clean the kitchens. Now I guess we need a new mop-and-sponge boy.”

They grabbed him by the arms and led him into the room in front of them – no longer amused by the state of the poor guy. After a short while, they emerged and Marik used his thumbprint as identification to lock the door behind them.

I waited until the sound of their footsteps and voices faded away, then headed back down the corridors toward my horrid little room, deep in thought.

If Mosuti was alive, could I find him?

On the way back, I found an open door not far from my room. It must have been closed when I’d come past before. I didn’t remember seeing it along the way. I peered in and saw that the room was filled with tables and chairs, with a Vid phone on the far wall. My hearts leapt – maybe I could contact someone! Alert the authorities and they could come and get me out of here and arrest Starrick and all the others that were involved!

I hurried over to it, feeling shaky and on-edge, pressed the button that turned down the sound, put my thumb on the scanner, waiting and wondering if my ID would work, or if I even had one.

“GOOD MORNING RAJENDRA SHEA,” appeared on the screen, along with a small blinking red light.

Rajendra Shea? That was my new name? Assigned to me by Dr Starrick? I didn’t like it. I stood there frowning at the machine. Rajendra. No. It was awful.

I want to pick my own name! That’s only fair after what they’ve done to me! ... Or they could at least find something decent.

Yeah, I know that sounded childish, but I couldn’t help it. I looked at the screen. It wanted my attention.

“WOULD YOU LIKE TO MAKE A VIDEO CALL OR VOICE ONLY?”

Voice would be quicker to connect, but I chose to make a video call so they could see my new face as evidence. I punched in the code for Interplanetary Communication, but was presented with an “ACCESS DENIED” message that flashed red on the screen.

“YOU ARE NOT AUTHORISED TO USE OUTSIDE LINES, RAJENDRA SHEA.”

I pressed the button to see if I could access a line within the base, but received a similar message.

Then why ask me if I would like to make a call?

I shouldn’t have been surprised, and I guess I really wasn’t, but I couldn’t help the heat rising up to my face. I turned from the machine and hurried back to my room.

“Shoulda known,” I mumbled to myself as I walked, my hair tickling my arms when it moved. As if they were going to let me call Earth and tell them what they did to me. Of course they’re not going to let that happen!

I wiped away tears. Tears of anger. It was stupid of me to think I could get the word out so easily. This was a serious situation when you consider that the Eibhlin Process was highly illegal and Starrick was set up here and running experiments without his employers having any knowledge of or giving any authorisation for it. Well, at least, I was fairly sure they didn’t know. He would be prosecuted and sent to prison for this. They might even throw away the key.

I made it back to my cell without being seen and pressed my thumb on the lock. Nothing. What if I was locked out? How would I explain what I was doing outside the room to Dr Starrick? Before I could panic, the door swished open. It must have still had a problem after I shorted it out. Or maybe it wasn’t locked from the outside. Either way, I was glad I’d made it. I raced in and sat down on the bed to think – still shocked about Kaylan and what they’d done to him. And as silly as it sounds, the new name I’d been given still bugged me.

I knew I couldn’t be Zhenna Rhodarma anymore – I’d already come to that conclusion – but I really felt I should’ve had a say in the choice of my new identity – or at least been told about it. I wondered if I didn’t like it because I thought it was a horrible name, or because someone else had chosen it for me. I was sure it was because they had chosen it. Was I just being selfish? Was I being silly? I hadn’t had a say in my birth name. But then, I was now an adult, and quite capable of choosing a name for myself. It wasn’t like me to be this upset. What was wrong with me? There was a whisper in my mind about me having no soul. Was that why I was feeling so angry? Maybe it had nothing to do with the name at all. I pushed it from my mind. I had other problems to worry about. I was stuck here. Trapped and at the mercy of people who obviously didn’t care about me or any of the other victims of their experiments. And I had no contact with the outside world.

What was I going to do? How could I get away? How was I going to sit through the tests like everything was fine and pretend nothing had happened? Pretend I didn’t see the guy with scattered brains. Pretend that I didn’t know Mosuti could still be alive... I had to bide my time somehow, and I had to get out.

Dr Starrick wouldn’t want anyone knowing what he was doing here at Maztec, so I had to be careful. I was determined to contact someone and tell them everything I knew. Someone had to put a stop to the horrible experiments that were being performed here. I hoped I could do something before someone else got hurt. But how?

I sat, thinking hard. Not moving. Hardly blinking. I didn’t know how long I sat there. The things the guards had said were eating at my thoughts. I wasn’t the only lab rat. Mosuti had also been through it, but his mind hadn’t been successfully transferred. He didn’t make it through in one piece. I wondered if any other crew members were still alive after the attack. If Mosuti was alive, it was quite possible there were more.

Dr Starrick had taken advantage of a disaster and used it to further his sick research. He must have saved the lives of any passengers he could, but told Jannali and the company back on Earth that we’d all died.

How many? How many made it?

It was driving me crazy. I had to resign myself to the fact that I might never find out. He wouldn’t tell me, I was sure. He’d deny everything. I was locked in my room – sort of – kept away from everyone and told a bunch of lies.

The guards had also said I was the only successful experiment. I shuddered to think how many things must have gone wrong with the others. Would any of them be alive after he’d finished with them? And what else did he have planned for me? He could do anything he wanted really. What could I do about it? How could I stop him?

Oh, crap. I have to get out of here!

My best chance of contacting someone would be the other station here on Althar 3 – Station Jannali. If I could at least find out where it was...