Without Flight

Part 7: Sarah September 15th

It had been four months since meeting Dale when I started to get the letters. At first they are quite vague. I immediately crumple each on of them up. However it's the newest one that I can't ignore.

Sarah,

They have been following you. They know about Dale. I can help. Please meet me at the same address indicated in my previous letters.

Dr. Jay

He had never mentioned Dale before and it is now that the real fear begins to set in like a rusted blade to my heart. I run to the trash in my room and quickly unearth the last letter that had the address written on it. I was to meet at the address and follow the directions. I fold it quickly and place it in my pocket.

As I approach the area I am convinced that I have made a wrong turn. The building had clearly been abandoned—the windows boarded and broken. I skip my feet escaping a mouse that scurries right in front. There were very few abandoned buildings in our sector, most being on the extreme outskirts. I follow the directions explicitly. I push the heavy cracked door open and there is nothing but darkness. I brought matches as recommended in the letter and use them to light a small light hanging by the door. I walk down the corridor, the fire lamps dim light quickly fading. At the end of the hall is the elevator. I push floor B. The sight before me could not have been imagined from the building that held it—a state of the art laboratory with equipment I had never seen. It was to my surprise when I find Dale at Dr. Jay's laboratory before me. He had been getting the letters too, apparently.

"What is this place?" I quietly ask.

Dr. Jay appeared from out the corner gently flicking a needle. Before I could even respond he jabbed it in my arm and suddenly the world goes black.

I wake up on a cold metal table my arm sore and slowly turning a pale viridian. I bump into the swinging florescent light above me and a subtle ringing in my ear starts to loop continuously.

"Sorry about that," Dr. Jay says. "Needed your blood samples pretty quickly. This antidote I am working on is rather time sensitive."

"And what if I didn't show up?" I reply.

"I knew you would," he says glancing towards Dale.

"What are we even doing here...and why...why do you need my blood?"

Dr. Jay's grey hair and engrained wrinkles give his age away easily enough. His white coat is spotless but creased. I feel myself trying to decide if he is trustworthy or not. I wonder if I should run, but Dale's tranquility about the situation puts me at ease and I decide to wait it out.

"I need your blood because you two have created quite a mess for yourselves," he stays stiffly still looking through different glass tubes.

"What are you talking about?" the sound of Dale's voice caught me by surprise.

"You fell in love. Which you shouldn't even be able to do. But by now you've learned that a small fraction of our sector is immune. Your blood is key to changing it. I've been having the two of you followed you know for some time now. I had a brother by the name of Henry, he was just like the two of you. He showed me how things could be different. And although I never was able to feel the way he could, I always new that I wanted what he had. I wanted to be filled with passion and desire. I was close to finding a cure back then but his death slowed things down quite a bit. I think it's time now. It's time to give people a choice—whether they want to feel or not."

I quickly make the connection that the Henry he speaks of is the one in my mother's photos. I try not to show my shock, but I am sure that he knows who I am who my mother is.

"Authorities would never allow such a thing to exist," I scoff.

"If enough people make the right choice—the right to choose, they will have an army too powerful to stop them," Dr. Jay calmly adds.

"People pride themselves on being a sector of great means and peace. Can you really see anyone giving that up? Do we give ourselves the chance to end up corrupt as the other sectors have? Love is wonderful yes—but it is dangerous. I have seen it."

Dr. Jay pauses for a moment, " Seen it, on those 'news' reports? You are rather trusting of this sector I must say. Why is it that we have such wonderful means while the rest of the world suffers? Is it just because of our inability to love? Believe it or not, it is a rare thing to find wealth that doesn't have its origins in less than scrupulous means. This society was founded on the ability to harness and at times kidnap our most genetic promise. Those whose minds would map out our intricate and perfect future, and it has been the goal to do whatever it takes by whatever means it takes to keep it thriving. That's what makes the two of you so dangerous to a sector like B52-12. You're ability to love—to feel, means that you have the capacity to fight for what you believe is right; for what you love. You have a reason to rebel. While the others don't."

"So what then? Our blood is some kind of cure, some kind of antidote to all this?" Dale questions in disbelief.

We watch as Dr. Jay flickers test tubes filled with our blood. He places them in a centrifuge and we watch as they spin around. He extracts the plasma from the tubes and then drops it into other compounds.

"Precisely, well the necessary ingredient to one. If I am able to harness it correctly it will allow people to have the choice to be free."

I stare at Dr. Jay as he prods, probes andtinkers. Could what he was saying be true? Could we dare imagine a world wherewe were free to love? Free to choose? I had not ever allowed my mind to wanderto such wonderful and terrible imaginings