Master of the Earth and Skies

9

    I estimated that we'd been traveling for about an hour and a half when the truck finally reached its destination. It was still before sunrise. Outside, the sky had started to lighten, but stars were still clearly visible. Contestant Jess, laying across my lap, had fallen asleep some time ago, meaning it was a freezing fifty degrees in the back of the truck without her powers being active. The only part of me that was warm were my legs where she was lying. It irritated me that being on my lap probably meant she was warm. Apparently, she'd been comfortable enough. Her respirations came in soft snores until I shook her awake. I hadn't even considered sleep. My mind had been busy, thinking back over what I could remember about CRM in general, and Peter Locke in particular. I practiced various conversations with him in my imagination where I tried to persuade Locke to obey the law and return us to the Games Commission.

     Even in my head, the conversations didn't go well.

     The problem I faced was the radical nature of CRM. It was clear that these people honestly believed they were doing the right thing. No amount of protesting on my part would convince them otherwise. Anything I said would be disregarded as an unfortunate consequence of my programming. And even if I screamed and fought and begged them to take me back, they would continue to believe this. The fact that they'd so neatly exploited the gap Harold had created in Contestant Jess's conditioning (had they known to do that, or was it just luck?) didn't help. The fact that Locke had clone ancestors didn't help, either. These people would not understand that Contestant Jess was confused. They wouldn't see that Locke's example was an aberration. All they would see was proof of something they desperately wanted to believe.

     I was so frustrated I could have screamed. But now was clearly not the time. As Contestant Jess rubbed the sleep from her eyes, I got up and peered out of the truck's windows. I saw, lit from floodlights on the lawn, what looked like a large mansion. The looming structure presided over a well-kept lawn with what looked like some kind of path leading around to the right. I couldn't see any guards. There was an iron gate, but nothing surrounded the estate but a large, well-trimmed shrub. Well, at least escape didn't look too hard. But I was only seeing the outside. What kind of security was inside the mansion remained to be seen.

     The truck pulled up to the entrance of the mansion and stopped. I fought my rising panic. Even Contestant Jess, for all her stated desire for freedom, was frightened now that we'd arrived. I could hear her quick breaths and feel her trembling as she clung to me in the truck. I forced my own breathing to slow. I was the senior Contestant, responsible for both of us. I needed to stay calm and think.

     I heard the sound of the truck gate being unlocked. The ramp lowered, and the door finally opened. Three people, two of whom were still wearing the uniforms of Games Commission guards, were outside. The third was Peter Locke himself. He blinked, his smile of welcome turning into a frown of confusion as he turned to one of the guards. "Why are they both in their underwear?" he asked. "What happened to their clothes?"

     The guard scoffed. "Don't ask me! That's what they were wearing when they were sent out to us."

     "And no one thought to even offer them a jacket?! It's freezing!" Looking disgusted, Locke quickly peeled off his own jacket and offered it to Contestant Jess. She took it. I was annoyed. I was wearing a lot less than she was, I was already shivering, and the air was cold on my bare skin. But the guard who had spoken quickly peeled off his jacket and tossed it to me. It smelled of sweat and tobacco smoke. I pulled it on anyway. My shoulders strained the fabric, and there was no chance of closing it over my chest. But at least now I was a little warmer, although my bare legs beneath my sleeping trunks were still covered in goose bumps. My toes had long ago gone numb in my wet shoes.