Silos of Man

Chapter 30 - Paradise Interrupted

She's staring past me more than at me, and I'm trying not to let it freak me out. She's processing and I have to give her time and space to do that. I sit quietly across from her hoping to the universe that she's not emotionally shooting the messenger. There's nothing I can do or say to make this reality any better. I'm not even telling her about Blake until I've heard from Tom's intermediary on her status. She's clarified her understanding of our situation with me three times, and is now absorbing it all.

She's coming to terms with fact that we are in fact not on an actual vacation, but rather in witness protective care because our utopic government is so infiltrated by the anti-cure movement that they've offed a few brilliant doctors who've already found a way to return male humans to the earth, and have now turned their sights on me. On us. That her mother is secretly a member of a quiet, sanctioned watch-dog agency, tasked with monitoring the ethics of the NWG, and in this capacity has possibly not just uncovered this truth, but one far more disturbing, with possibly utopia-shattering consequences. Namely, that the Sisterhood unintentionally delivered the unravelling plague upon the earth, and pre-determined the female-based take-over of global politics, economies and laws, long before The Transition. That her fiancé has also found a successful cure to the male-eliminating virus, which was confiscated by the NWG, so that they can deliver their news of successfully creating a viable, thriving embryo from combining the genetic material of two eggs through gamete-cloning technology, along-side the news of our chromosomal supply degradation crisis. Oh, and that her fiancé has also been the recipient of envelopes containing documents corroborating these awful truths, and is due to testify in front of the Global Senate at some point in the near future.

That's a lot. I'll wait all night for her to get through this. It's been 92 minuets since her last word. It's okay, Danny, don't push. I've already said this to myself twelve times. Finally, she takes a big, loud breath and with, "Well, fuck!", she starts pacing. This is typically the final phase in her mental crisis management. "So now what, Dany?" "Well, babe, I'm not too sure. We are apparently going to be contacted by someone who will bring us word from home, and timelines for the senate hearing. Until then, we just exist. Here. Together."

Ryann looks around the room and says, "Well, Mama was right, these digs are dreamy. Not too bad for a couple of fugitives, hey?" She throws me a smirk. I smile back, hoping to hell she doesn't sense my anxiety about Blake. I'm counting on the fact that she'll be less in-tune with me while she wades her way through all the other aspects of our reality.

There's a knock on our door and we both jump out of our skin. We collect ourselves knowing that no one can get to us through the guards who are surreptitiously posted around our abode, to keep the evil out. I answer the door with Ryann behind me. A small, calm, friendly looking person stands on the other side of the door threshold, holding a dish of something that smells really good. "Hi there. Sorry I'm late. I hope you're both hungry!" With that, she taps me on the shoulder and walks past us, into the foyer. I close the door, and her face becomes far more serious.

"Ladies, I'm sorry we're meeting under these circumstances. My name is Babs and I will be your intermediary until the senate hearing. I hope you're settling in alright. This is one of our finest locations, so I hope that you get to enjoy yourselves at least a little bit while you're here." "Hi Babs, nice to meet you." Ryann was able to extend her customary cordiality with apparent ease and I am, as always, enamoured by her glorious strength. But the worst is yet to come. As soon as she learns about Blake all hell will break loose. "The first thing I'm to let you know, is that Blake has stabilized." Shit. Ryann flashes a WTF look at me and then clarifies with Babs, "Blake? What the hell do you mean she's stabilized?!" Babs throws me a panicked look and I take Ryann by the arm and sit her down on the couch beside me as I deliver the news about the accident. Babs stays uncomfortably quiet near our kitchenette while I bring Ryann up to speed.

"So, she's going to be okay?!", Ryann asks Babs with tears streaming down her face. "Yes. That's what all the doctors are saying. There was substantial trauma to the left-hand side of her head so they're keeping her in the ICU until at least the day after tomorrow, but all the scans have indicated a good prognosis is imminent." "That's really good news, Ryann. Let's hold onto that." I say as I pull her a little closer to me. I can feel her quivering with fear and grief. I know she's also feeling some resentment toward me for not having told her about the accident sooner, but she also understands my reasoning for not doing so. I needed an update before dumping news on her that she could literally do nothing about, and she gets that, but there's still some disappointment with me, I can feel it. I know it'll subside, but it's stinging right now.

"Everyone's confident that Blake will walk away from this, so we should all be very grateful for that, because quite an effort was made to see that didn't happen. Your sister is a fighter, Ryann, like you, I'm to understand." Babs tossed a look of admiration to my beautiful, vulnerable fiancé and I felt my hackles go up. Time to intervene. "Any news on the hearing, Babs, or timelines as to when we can get home to see our family?" "The hearing date should be announced on Thursday and I'll be letting you know as soon as we know. And getting back to your family will be determined by how long the hearing takes. The thought is that as soon as this hearing happens, the darkness will be brought out into the light to evaporate away, and peace to your lives should be automatically restored." Oh great, we've got a poet on our hands - my inner self gave an exaggerated eye-roll.

Ryann asks, while trying to reign-in her tears, "Will you provide us ongoing updates on Blake?" "I'll bring further word on your sister as soon as I can. My contact with you is supposed to be infrequent but my directors all understand the emotional uniqueness to this situation right now, and so I'm sure I can get the approval for more frequent updates until Blake is at least out of the ICU." I become involuntarily grateful to this potential usurper for agreeing to ease Ryann's suffering by keeping her up to date on Blake's crisis.

Babs heads to our front door and I follow to see her out. She whispers to me when we've moved away from Ryan, "I'm sorry about that, I thought she knew." I nod, "It's okay, I was only delaying the inevitable, so you ripped off the band-aid is all." She acknowledges my releasing her from culpability with a humble nod and smile, and steps through the front door, which I hold open for her, and out of our temporary home.

I turn to Ryann, whose eyes were wild with processing thoughts and emotions. She's going to need some time and maybe some TLC, so I'm just going to sit here quietly, waiting for her to signal what she needs from me, readying to provide whatever it is without delay.