The Phylum

Chapter Ten: The Aftermath

"I told you: I opened my eyes and found her like that, I don't remember how I got there."

Lie.

Legion stared sternly at me from his oversized, onyx desk. His fierce, red hair was riled up, making every little nod or shake exaggerated. "What was the last thing you remembered before you opened your eyes in Isolation?" Legion leaned in closer, as if he hadn't asked me this already. "I went to bed in my dorm and I woke up in the white room, sir. That's all I remember."

I had rehearsed this story a thousand times in my head. I weeded out imperfections and even practiced manipulating my voice to be as believable as I possibly could. There were a few things I had to guess blindly at, I didn't really know what Rosasharn's memory wipe power entailed: did she replace memories with new ones? Did she just wipe memories? I didn't know. I couldn't ask her either, though I doubted that she'd tell me anything truthful if I could.

After remaining paralyzed for quite an amount of time, a mentor tapped on the Isolation door to take me back to T Block. He was shocked, to say the least, to enter and find a half-paralyzed student sitting stiffly in a chair while a powerful memory thief (as I liked to call her) was stretched across the floor. Rosasharn was taken care of first, of course. A secret, essential disciplinarian meant more than some confused student. I didn't see her after that, part of me was glad. The other part wanted to know exactly what had happened. I took it memory extractions didn't usually go as terribly as mine did.

Legion nodded at me, causing his hair to flicker menacingly, "you did tell me that. You did, my boy." The way he said 'my boy' made the term less endearing and more condescending. "However, this isn't the sort of disciplinary fracture I can simply drop after a few questions," Legion's voice was booming, despite my being seated in front of him. I wished I could disagree that he'd only asked a few questions, he had been interrogating me since I had first left Isolation. "That incident left one of my colleagues in a coma, did you know that?" I shook my head, I honestly didn't. I had no clue what happened to Rosasharn and my first conclusion was that she had died. It was a foolish conclusion on my part, Egos (I don't know what other word to use, Cal. Sorry.) were more durable than TKs and much, much more durable than humans. Whatever had put Rosasharn in that coma of hers would have killed a human easily. "What do you know about her?" Legion's loud voice interrupted my reverie, he was still hopeful I'd slip up or provide some sort of important detail. "Nothing, sir. I've never seen her before here or in Central," Legion pursed his lips, causing the wrinkles on his face to become more pronounced. Legion sat back in his high-backed chair, his eyes never leaving mine, "you're lucky, Ezra." Legion tapped his desk with his chubby finger, "You're very lucky I don't have any mind reading mentors at hand."

"Or colleagues," I added helpfully.

---

Leaning back on my dorm door, Calico crossed her lean arms across her chest. "They screwed me over, they gave me a troublemaker," even though the same smirking humor was in her voice, there was something honest about it. "You're mad?" I realized that with the trouble I had gotten myself into I wasn't the only one held responsible. My mentor, Calico, was being dragged down with me. "Mad? No. Rosie had that coma coming to her, she's a prat," I grinned and then realized I wasn't really supposed to know who 'Rosie' was. "That woman, right? The woman I woke up to on the ground?" My cover-up was too quick and I cursed myself when Calico squinted suspicious eyes at me. "Yes, her," Calico thumbed my dorm's pad for me (something I wasn't aware she could do) and motioned me inside. "Remember what the nurse said, bedrest for the rest of the day" Calico's voice slithered through the crack, reminding me unnecessarily of the one thing I didn't want to do.

My dorm was dark, making it hard for me to weave through the abandoned battle shirts on the ground. All light switches were controlled outside of the dorms so the students didn't get any urges to pull anything funny. During hours where we were supposed to train or eat in the Mess, the lights were turned off. I cursed our light limitations when I slipped across a pair of trousers, catching myself just in time. Just as I had begun lowering myself into my bed I heard a sharp tap at my door and the muffled voice of my mentor, "training tomorrow, kid!"

The good news keeps coming.