Mindless

Chapter Ten - 022

Even though I'm told I slept for five hours, it feels like less. While the other interrogations were going on, I got to rest, to sleep off the aftereffects of the poison. But poison-free and well rested are two different things. I'm still exhausted.

Kay comes back later to wake me up and tell me what's going on. I showered and changed clothes before I slept, so now all I have to do is brush my hair and I'm ready to go. Instead of pulling it back, I let it stay down, like Kay's. It's strange, but I like it.

She walks me through the winding hallways to a door with a sign on it labeled 'decisions council.' I feel my heart rate accelerating. This is when they decide what to do with us.

When we get in there everyone else is already present. 046 is wearing a uniform very similar to mine, but the other girl still wears her clothes from the moonBase. She was last to be interrogated is my guess. I take a seat next to Kay and wait for someone to say something.

"So."

I whip my head around to face the other side of the room. A tall, muscular girl with dark brown hair pulled back into a ponytail stands at the head of the table, commanding attention. Her entire expression screams 'in-charge.'

"As you are all aware, we have three intruders in our midst. These people are of free minds, which means they have abilities as well. We have two options. Send them to Earth or take them in."

Chills run through the room at the mention of the word Earth. I look to 046, who seems as confused as I am.

"I vote we allow them to stay."

I turn to the person who spoke, a boy around my age, around the age of what everyone here seems to be, with messy brown hair and electric blue eyes. His uniform indicates a status of power.

"I second that notion."

"I am of agreement."

More and more people stand, until the room is filled with standgin people wanting us to stay here. I try to shake off the weird feeling that gives me, making me want to smile and glare at everyone at the same time.

"Then it is settled," she ways, and everyone sits. She turns to the other girl, the one who broke us out of the moonBases.

"Do you choose to stay here, or face exile on Earth?"

"I choose to stay here and become a part of starBase 000."

I stand, sensing it to be the right thing to do. 046 does immediately afterward.

"I second that notion."

"I third it."

Kay and I walk and talk. She seems overly eager to show me everything here. I can barely keep up with anything she says as she explains the schedules, and what kind of training and education we will have here.

"You're going to love your quarters!" SHe exclaims. Yet again, I am confused by something she says. "Love?" I ask. She gets this stricken look on her face.

"That's just sad. You don't know what love means. In this case, it means that you're going to really, really like what I'm about to show you."

We go up another elevator and then turn left twice, and she suddenly stops. "Here it is!" SHe says. A door with a sign saying unclaimed faces me down. She taps it twice and it says 'claimed.'

"We'll get your fingerprint and other data into the system soon, don't worry. Then, your name will be on this door.

She presses one finger to the sign and the door slides open, revealing the biggest space I have ever seen before, just designated for living quarters. "I remember when they got me away from the moon Bases... my room could fit in here about seven times over. It was the size of this place's bathroom."

As I look around the room, I gasp. There are colors... so many colors... and these strange stacks of bound paper, and fluffy carpets and a closet holding who knows what. Not a dresser, a closet.

And there are holes in the walls filled with some kind of glass, and stars that can be seen beyond them. They have a hanging length of fabric on either side, as if to pull over the hole in the wall. There's a door that leads to a little platform inside a biodome of some sort. The ground, far below, is a chalky silver substance that glimmers rainbow as it catches the light. Stars shine out all around us. I gasp again.

"Pretty awesome, isn't it?"

"Yeah," I exhale, not daring to touch anything lest it disappears.

"And because it's so late, you'll get to explore this place for hours, especially since you already slept. There's a clock on the wall over there-- 'll be back at 05:00 hours to show you around and walk you through your schedule. Try to get some rest if you can... oh, and your new uniform is in there," she says, tilting her head in the direction of the closet. I nod numbly, still not believing that this is all mine.

"I know the feeling," she says in a way that makes me almost think she's remembering when she first arrived here. "Trust me, the shock will wear off someday." I understand what trust is now, and shock I've sort of always understood, but the shock of this situation wearing off? No. Never. I will never, ever get used to this.