Where Is home?

Profusely Perturbed

"So I now have to go to a certain spot on Earth, and you want me to jail break some of your friends from the facilities on my way out. As if it isn't going to be hard enough already. Do you have any idea how I'm supposed to break out these friends of yours? Or how I'm supposed to break myself out? Do you have any information about the facilities at all?"

"Woah now. Why are you getting all defensive?"

"I'm not getting defensive. I have a lack of information about Earth up here. You live there; I'd expect you'd know a bit more. I can't just jump into this with no plan, otherwise it won't work. I don't want to end up tested on."

"We, um... actually we all escaped from the facilities ourselves. Not unscathed though. And we didn't all make it out. That's why we need you to break out our other friends. They're part of our tribe."

"You escaped! But not unscathed... you were tested on!?" Hazel whisper shouted.

Alder looked over his shoulder, probably at Yarrow and Gordo. He looked worried.

"This connection is not going to last much longer."

"Don't you dare hang up on me Alder! I have too many questions! You have barely given me any information about--"

Call Ended

"Agh!"

Hazel stood up and threw her hollopad onto her bed, fisting her hair. Humans, on Earth! She was talking to a real live Earthen... and he hung up on her?!

"How dare he!"

"Hazel? Who was that? What's going on?" Hazel heard a sleepy voice through the wall.

"Sorry Clover, didn't mean to wake you up."

"Who was that you were just talking to? Who's Alder?"

Hazel paled. "How much did you hear?"

"Only the part that you yelled at the end. Why does it matter how much I heard? Are you keeping secrets from me?"

"Aren't we all?"

"What do you mean; Aren't we all?! What is going on?!" Hazel could tell that Clover had sat up in her bed and was probably staring at the wall right now, as she spoke.

"As if you aren't keeping secrets from me! What happened to put you in here again? How long have you been here. We only met last night! We don't have to know everything about each other."

Hazel didn't want to be all defensive and mean but she didn't know how else to keep Clover from asking too many questions. Hazel wasn't even sure if she was going to help these men. If they'd already been tested on how could she know that they weren't under facility control? How could she know if they weren't facility workers in the first place!? That whole story about the tribes could have been fabricated!

Clover was silent for quite some time.

"Fine. You're right. Not everything has to be out in the open." Hazel heard the bed springs in the other room groan as Clover lay back down, probably with her back facing the wall.

Hazel also shuffled into her bed, expecting a restless night, swimming with thoughts of Earth and Alder.

...

Hazel found when the 0600 hour bell rung, that she had assumed correct. That night was the spottiest sleep she could ever remember having. Still, her mind was flooded with thoughts of Alder. If he wanted her help he was going to have to give her information! What did he not understand about that?

She got up and got changed without even thinking about it. Brushed her teeth and threw her hair in a ponytail before making her way to the library. She did however notice in her zombie like state, that Clover was no where to be seen. She must have taken off as soon as the doors opened.

Hazel sighed and continued with her plan to see if the prison library had any information about earth that Hazel had somehow not stumbled upon yet.

She was sure there wasn't much that she didn't know about earth, but there was several things she was going to have to find out about if she even thought about helping Alder and the twins. How was the earth affected by the major decrease in human population and the major radiation that was left behind after the Third War.

She also needed to know about the tests that people were running down there and how many facilities there were and what had been tested on Alder and the twins and whether or not they were trust worthy or if they worked for the facility and were on to her. Whatever was going on on earth right now was not something hazel was going to be able to figure out by herself. However, there were a couple things that she could learn from the magic of books, so that is exactly what she set out to do.

Still, she felt bad about last night. She hoped that Clover wasn't too upset. She just didn't know how to explain; didn't know if she could or would ever explain! She wasn't even sure if who she was talking to was honest. If he wanted her help so bad then why would he so rudely hang up on her? That's not how cooperation works. That's what someone who's hiding something does. But what was he hiding? Those were questions for another time. Instead she focused on what could learn here and now.

Hazel flopped into a chair with two books in hand; Radiation Effects and Tribal Life and Culture. Right now Hazel had to focus. Learn about the affects, learn about Alder's story details. Maybe if she could pick apart what information she was given and expand upon it she could figure out whether Alder was able to be trusted, or worthy of her help. Then she could move forward by either trying to weasel some more information out of him or trying to explain to her new crew how in hell she got so twisted up in only one day.