Day 10
The ride was quiet. Orin, I soon discovered, didn't take pains to prevent other people from reading his mind. In fact, the only time he'd blanked himself was when he'd become worried that I represented some kind of threat. He wasn't thinking anything terribly important now, instead his mind was abuzz with administrative thoughts: another gasoline delivery would have to be made soon, Haven was about to open its first library, there's probably some open space on the north end for the newcomers but if we keep getting people we'll have to expand. At first this unnerved me; back in Carson if you were telepathic and capable of doing so, you blanked your mind as a courtesy to everyone else in the quarantine zones. There were Afflicted, after all, who couldn't shut out the thoughts of others. I wondered who in this town couldn't shut out others, and how much worse it would be given that everyone else here would be projecting without even meaning to.
<< The ones who can't stop listening, we call them Hermits, and they tend not to stay in the city for obvious reasons. Further up in the mountains you'd find some if they wanted to be found, though. <<
I'd been unconsciously following Orin's example and hadn't been guarding my mind. I suspect he didn't even realize this fact, had instead thought I'd been asking a question and answered it. I once again realized that while this city was like a quarantine zone writ large, there was one important difference: anyone could leave anytime they wanted.
There were Afflicted here, I could see. Traditional ones, the ones people think of when they hear the word, though technically nearly everyone here either had contracted the virus themselves or were offspring of those who had. I spotted the symptoms: swollen joints in the lesser cases, skin discoloration and hunchbacks in the more advanced. In the city, such people tended to stay in one of the volunteer hospitals ran by outfits like the one me and Dana used to belong to. There were some people convinced that the virus' spreading phase had ended, and these people wanted to help. They had to endure testing and be held for 24 hours every time they wished to leave the zones, to ensure they hadn't contracted the plague. Thus far, nobody had, but the Troopers didn't appear interested in letting something as minor as fact get in their way.
The car slowed as Orin turned the vehicle into a parking spot. I was somewhat surprised to find that he was parking in the hospital's visitor lot, which though not terribly full still represented somewhat of a walk to the main doors. I'd have thought the founder of the town might get better parking.
<< We're all equals here, Derek. Granted, not everyone holds to that philosophy, but I try to practice it as much as I can myself. <<
Jamie leaned into me as Orin took the lead. I wondered what she was doing until she whispered to me “When is somebody going to say something?”
I laughed. “Orin, is there much actual talking that goes on in this town?”
He seemed surprised by my sudden speech, which went a long way toward answering my question on its own. Then he glanced at Jamie and seemed somewhat abashed.
“My apologies,” he offered. “I am so often in the exclusive presence of other mind readers, I often forget to talk. But yes, even between us there is speaking. It helps to clarify one's own thoughts, I have found, if one has to speak them out loud. And there are people among us – not just you and your friends, Jamie, but others who support our cause and help us here – who cannot send nor receive. We tend to speak as a courtesy to them.”
We were in the hospital now, and as though to practice what he had just preached, Orin leaned over the front desk and spoke to the attendant. “Is Robin here? I'm escorting some people up to see the injured newcomer, and I'd like her to meet them.”
The attendant shrugged. “I'll have her paged, but you know how busy she is. Takes on enough duties for five people, which is definitely two too many.”
“Thank you.” Orin replied, and gestured us over to the elevators. I'd been in hospitals before, both as a visitor and a patient, and this one was far, far less hectic. I suspected the town wasn't big enough to need a full service hospital. Still, it'd be good to have.
The elevators opened and we got on, but our destination was only the third floor. No elevator music played which, for me, sealed in my mind the fact that perhaps Haven was indeed a more evolved town than ones I had previously visited.
When the doors opened, Orin led us to the second room on the right, and there she was. Dana was hooked up to a wide array of monitoring equipment that I couldn't identify, and she still looked tired, but there she was, well and awake.
“Jamie, it's good to see you.” she said, her voice dry. “I suspect I owe your late arrival to Derek's late waking?”
“Yep.” I replied for Jamie, who was clearly debating whether a hug was in order.
I glanced around the room and spotted John, who had fallen asleep in the chair he'd apparently been occupying all night. Dana caught my gaze. “Try not to wake him, he needs the rest more than me.”
It was a single room, no other bed, and the five of us made it somewhat crowded even though Orin was standing somewhat in the hallway. He spoke up just as I was thinking this. “You should all probably say your hellos before the nurse comes around again, as I'm almost certain she'll compel us to leave.”
“Hello Dana.” I said. “It's nice to see you too.”
Jamie had indeed decided that a hug was appropriate. She'd only known Dana for a few months, but friendships seemed to be cemented much more quickly under fire, and we'd known fire.
“Last thing I remember, we were getting clubbed by Troopers. But these sort of accommodations are far better than I'd expect from anyplace government-run, so I assume someone here's been a hero?” her gaze was indicating me.
Jamie stood, regaining her composure. “I don't know how much John has already told you.” Among us, there was an unspoken agreement not to visibly contradict John's often self-serving exaggerations, though I remained fairly sure that everyone involved knew they were exactly that.
Dana shook her head. “Not a thing. I spoke to him briefly in the night, and when I woke up this morning he was as you see him. So you are free to tell the whole truth.”
I stopped myself from laughing. “In that case, yes, Jamie here found that a network connection ran through her cell, so she tapped it and corrupted the jail computers-”
Jamie mock-pushed me. “It was Derek.” she said, still glaring in the way that meant she was only feigning annoyance. “He got through the doctor's helmet enough to distract him while he stole the stunner, then he blasted his way out.”
“I didn't take care of everyone.” I reminded her, “there was a certain Trooper who got a baton to the head as the result of our hacker friend.”
Jamie shrugged. “You know my motto: If brute force isn't working, you're not using enough brute force. Besides, Shaw was a jackass, wouldn't even talk to us.”
“Shaw?” Orin spoke up quietly from behind us. “That is a name I've heard before. He's the one who likes to claim that Afflicted can rise high in the ranks of the Troopers?”
I looked back at Orin, who appeared a bit more disturbed at the name than he was letting on, either verbally or in his thoughts. “That's the one.” I replied. “Claimed the vice-president was one of us, told me the mind-readers ran everything now. I locked him in the cage he'd kept me in and took away his ID.”
Orin nodded. “They may still not have discovered him. He is, as you've seen, a telepath and has somehow risen in the ranks. I suspect that this is because he is supremely skilled at hiding his talents. We've met a number of refugees who have spoken of talking, or communicating at any rate, to exactly that man. He is, especially of late, the person that the Troopers use exclusively when dealing with our kind. As far as Robin's been able to discover, he's largely left to himself in this. It may be some time indeed until others decide to check in on him.”
“He's probably already out.” I said. “The gas station attendant who gave me directions here said he'd have to call them.”
“I'd been meaning to ask you who your contact had been. Rory is very dependable, and I trust him to give you as much of a head start as he could. You are likely correct, though, Shaw is likely once again free.” he sighed. “There is a chance what he says is true. When Haven was first founded, we welcomed Afflicted who had been simply ejected from their towns. Keep in mind, this was before the Troopers rose to power on the back of their successful quarantine program. Another group of refugees, though, were Afflicted from various testing facilities. There'd been experiments during the war, live human subjects with the disease were subjected to inhumane research. Though it was claimed this was done to halt the plague, I suspect that the research is what eventually made such weapons as the ordinary stunner and the city-sleeper, weapons which let the Troopers take over with little casualties and therefore be the largest of the factions struggling for power at the time. I mention this not to distress you, but instead to point out yet another aspect of our world that Haven is a haven from. “
He paused to consider, then continued. “We've always received a very small group of these people, and I have always coordinated with the various underground movements to help get them here – this is how I met your father, Derek – but approximately six years ago, it stopped. The movement lost any ability to contact the secret prisons where these experiments were being done, and the trickle of refugees from them has vanished completely. Many of my townspeople suspect that something horrible has happened, that security in the prisons has been stepped up to a point where the various leaks had been discovered, and that it was only a matter of time until we were found as a result. I, however, suspect that our friend Shaw may have something to do with it. If he is right, and their kind has risen to a position of power, the experiments may have been halted.”
Orin stopped speaking, suddenly aware that everyone in the room was looking at him, even John who had apparently woken up at some point during the oration. “My apologies, I sometimes get carried away with my speeches, and it has been too long since I had such practice. I did not mean to disrupt your reunion.”
“Are you kidding?” Dana was the first to respond. “I've heard every story these jokers have had to tell, it's great to hear something new.” she was smiling, and I found myself glad that I at least had a new story to tell her.
“Dana, you could have woke me up yourself.” John was at her side now, his hand holding hers. “It would have been much better than hearing that guy yammer on. Even my dreams were boring.” I could tell he was trying to be his usual gruff self, but his elation at seeing Dana awake and well could not be hidden.
I considered leaving the two of them alone, and the opportunity came as a new voice sounded in the hallway. “Crowding into the rooms? Nurse is going to have a fit. Come on, out, all of you except for the sick woman and the lovesick guy.”
Orin had apparently gone into the hallway the moment he'd seen the newcomer. I followed him and was followed in turn by Jamie. The person who'd shouted at us was standing across from Orin, and though she was a full foot shorter than him, she stood with her arms crossed in a mostly failed attempt to look stern.
“Okay, Orin, I got your page, what's all this about?”
Orin smiled and indicated me and Jamie. “Robin, I'd like you to meet Derek and Jamie, two of the newcomers. Of the other two, Dana is the injured one, and the man I assume is her husband is John.”
Robin nodded hurriedly and shook my hand. “Sorry if I seem somewhat testy, but I'm pretty busy.” she glared over at Orin while still shaking my hand. “As he well knows.”
Robin was shaking Jamie's hand and offering her similar apologies and barbs directed at the town founder, when Orin spoke up, saying simply “Derek is Keith's son.”
Jamie made a visible effort not to seem offended when Robin dropped her hand and turned back to me. Her eyes were wide and some amount of understanding were in them. Though her mind was blank to me, I could tell that she hadn't felt greeting newcomers was exactly what she should be called upon to do.
“Now I see why you had me paged.” Robin said, talking still to Orin but scrutinizing me carefully. “Not that I mind meeting new people, you see, but I'm usually up to a great deal of work.”
“The woman at the desk said you do the work of five people.” I said, trying to have a normal conversation while simultaneously attempting to figure out what was so interesting about me or, for that matter, my father. As far as I knew he was just another one of the experimentees that Orin had been referring to earlier.
“Let me guess,” Robin replied. “She said I should be doing the work of three. She thinks that joke's funny, and it was a decade ago when she first made it.”
I didn't even see where it was a joke at all, so I agreed with Robin on this point. She finally stopped looking at me as though searching for cancerous growths and looked me directly in the eye. “Derek, your father helped this town. I don't know how much he told you or how much you know, but he was Orin's first contact with the underground. He enabled me to break the network that linked the other sites under the control of the people who would later become the Troopers, and find out about other sites. I'm only sorry that we couldn't meet in person, that I couldn't get him out of that place before...” she trailed off awkwardly, finally adding, “Well, I'm sorry.”
“That's okay.” I replied to her, feeling somewhat awkward myself. I could tell her feelings were real, but they were, as she had implied, over two decades too late. There was nothing they could do now besides what they were doing, and that – especially in her case – seemed to be more than enough.
Full Post...
<< The ones who can't stop listening, we call them Hermits, and they tend not to stay in the city for obvious reasons. Further up in the mountains you'd find some if they wanted to be found, though. <<
I'd been unconsciously following Orin's example and hadn't been guarding my mind. I suspect he didn't even realize this fact, had instead thought I'd been asking a question and answered it. I once again realized that while this city was like a quarantine zone writ large, there was one important difference: anyone could leave anytime they wanted.
There were Afflicted here, I could see. Traditional ones, the ones people think of when they hear the word, though technically nearly everyone here either had contracted the virus themselves or were offspring of those who had. I spotted the symptoms: swollen joints in the lesser cases, skin discoloration and hunchbacks in the more advanced. In the city, such people tended to stay in one of the volunteer hospitals ran by outfits like the one me and Dana used to belong to. There were some people convinced that the virus' spreading phase had ended, and these people wanted to help. They had to endure testing and be held for 24 hours every time they wished to leave the zones, to ensure they hadn't contracted the plague. Thus far, nobody had, but the Troopers didn't appear interested in letting something as minor as fact get in their way.
The car slowed as Orin turned the vehicle into a parking spot. I was somewhat surprised to find that he was parking in the hospital's visitor lot, which though not terribly full still represented somewhat of a walk to the main doors. I'd have thought the founder of the town might get better parking.
<< We're all equals here, Derek. Granted, not everyone holds to that philosophy, but I try to practice it as much as I can myself. <<
Jamie leaned into me as Orin took the lead. I wondered what she was doing until she whispered to me “When is somebody going to say something?”
I laughed. “Orin, is there much actual talking that goes on in this town?”
He seemed surprised by my sudden speech, which went a long way toward answering my question on its own. Then he glanced at Jamie and seemed somewhat abashed.
“My apologies,” he offered. “I am so often in the exclusive presence of other mind readers, I often forget to talk. But yes, even between us there is speaking. It helps to clarify one's own thoughts, I have found, if one has to speak them out loud. And there are people among us – not just you and your friends, Jamie, but others who support our cause and help us here – who cannot send nor receive. We tend to speak as a courtesy to them.”
We were in the hospital now, and as though to practice what he had just preached, Orin leaned over the front desk and spoke to the attendant. “Is Robin here? I'm escorting some people up to see the injured newcomer, and I'd like her to meet them.”
The attendant shrugged. “I'll have her paged, but you know how busy she is. Takes on enough duties for five people, which is definitely two too many.”
“Thank you.” Orin replied, and gestured us over to the elevators. I'd been in hospitals before, both as a visitor and a patient, and this one was far, far less hectic. I suspected the town wasn't big enough to need a full service hospital. Still, it'd be good to have.
The elevators opened and we got on, but our destination was only the third floor. No elevator music played which, for me, sealed in my mind the fact that perhaps Haven was indeed a more evolved town than ones I had previously visited.
When the doors opened, Orin led us to the second room on the right, and there she was. Dana was hooked up to a wide array of monitoring equipment that I couldn't identify, and she still looked tired, but there she was, well and awake.
“Jamie, it's good to see you.” she said, her voice dry. “I suspect I owe your late arrival to Derek's late waking?”
“Yep.” I replied for Jamie, who was clearly debating whether a hug was in order.
I glanced around the room and spotted John, who had fallen asleep in the chair he'd apparently been occupying all night. Dana caught my gaze. “Try not to wake him, he needs the rest more than me.”
It was a single room, no other bed, and the five of us made it somewhat crowded even though Orin was standing somewhat in the hallway. He spoke up just as I was thinking this. “You should all probably say your hellos before the nurse comes around again, as I'm almost certain she'll compel us to leave.”
“Hello Dana.” I said. “It's nice to see you too.”
Jamie had indeed decided that a hug was appropriate. She'd only known Dana for a few months, but friendships seemed to be cemented much more quickly under fire, and we'd known fire.
“Last thing I remember, we were getting clubbed by Troopers. But these sort of accommodations are far better than I'd expect from anyplace government-run, so I assume someone here's been a hero?” her gaze was indicating me.
Jamie stood, regaining her composure. “I don't know how much John has already told you.” Among us, there was an unspoken agreement not to visibly contradict John's often self-serving exaggerations, though I remained fairly sure that everyone involved knew they were exactly that.
Dana shook her head. “Not a thing. I spoke to him briefly in the night, and when I woke up this morning he was as you see him. So you are free to tell the whole truth.”
I stopped myself from laughing. “In that case, yes, Jamie here found that a network connection ran through her cell, so she tapped it and corrupted the jail computers-”
Jamie mock-pushed me. “It was Derek.” she said, still glaring in the way that meant she was only feigning annoyance. “He got through the doctor's helmet enough to distract him while he stole the stunner, then he blasted his way out.”
“I didn't take care of everyone.” I reminded her, “there was a certain Trooper who got a baton to the head as the result of our hacker friend.”
Jamie shrugged. “You know my motto: If brute force isn't working, you're not using enough brute force. Besides, Shaw was a jackass, wouldn't even talk to us.”
“Shaw?” Orin spoke up quietly from behind us. “That is a name I've heard before. He's the one who likes to claim that Afflicted can rise high in the ranks of the Troopers?”
I looked back at Orin, who appeared a bit more disturbed at the name than he was letting on, either verbally or in his thoughts. “That's the one.” I replied. “Claimed the vice-president was one of us, told me the mind-readers ran everything now. I locked him in the cage he'd kept me in and took away his ID.”
Orin nodded. “They may still not have discovered him. He is, as you've seen, a telepath and has somehow risen in the ranks. I suspect that this is because he is supremely skilled at hiding his talents. We've met a number of refugees who have spoken of talking, or communicating at any rate, to exactly that man. He is, especially of late, the person that the Troopers use exclusively when dealing with our kind. As far as Robin's been able to discover, he's largely left to himself in this. It may be some time indeed until others decide to check in on him.”
“He's probably already out.” I said. “The gas station attendant who gave me directions here said he'd have to call them.”
“I'd been meaning to ask you who your contact had been. Rory is very dependable, and I trust him to give you as much of a head start as he could. You are likely correct, though, Shaw is likely once again free.” he sighed. “There is a chance what he says is true. When Haven was first founded, we welcomed Afflicted who had been simply ejected from their towns. Keep in mind, this was before the Troopers rose to power on the back of their successful quarantine program. Another group of refugees, though, were Afflicted from various testing facilities. There'd been experiments during the war, live human subjects with the disease were subjected to inhumane research. Though it was claimed this was done to halt the plague, I suspect that the research is what eventually made such weapons as the ordinary stunner and the city-sleeper, weapons which let the Troopers take over with little casualties and therefore be the largest of the factions struggling for power at the time. I mention this not to distress you, but instead to point out yet another aspect of our world that Haven is a haven from. “
He paused to consider, then continued. “We've always received a very small group of these people, and I have always coordinated with the various underground movements to help get them here – this is how I met your father, Derek – but approximately six years ago, it stopped. The movement lost any ability to contact the secret prisons where these experiments were being done, and the trickle of refugees from them has vanished completely. Many of my townspeople suspect that something horrible has happened, that security in the prisons has been stepped up to a point where the various leaks had been discovered, and that it was only a matter of time until we were found as a result. I, however, suspect that our friend Shaw may have something to do with it. If he is right, and their kind has risen to a position of power, the experiments may have been halted.”
Orin stopped speaking, suddenly aware that everyone in the room was looking at him, even John who had apparently woken up at some point during the oration. “My apologies, I sometimes get carried away with my speeches, and it has been too long since I had such practice. I did not mean to disrupt your reunion.”
“Are you kidding?” Dana was the first to respond. “I've heard every story these jokers have had to tell, it's great to hear something new.” she was smiling, and I found myself glad that I at least had a new story to tell her.
“Dana, you could have woke me up yourself.” John was at her side now, his hand holding hers. “It would have been much better than hearing that guy yammer on. Even my dreams were boring.” I could tell he was trying to be his usual gruff self, but his elation at seeing Dana awake and well could not be hidden.
I considered leaving the two of them alone, and the opportunity came as a new voice sounded in the hallway. “Crowding into the rooms? Nurse is going to have a fit. Come on, out, all of you except for the sick woman and the lovesick guy.”
Orin had apparently gone into the hallway the moment he'd seen the newcomer. I followed him and was followed in turn by Jamie. The person who'd shouted at us was standing across from Orin, and though she was a full foot shorter than him, she stood with her arms crossed in a mostly failed attempt to look stern.
“Okay, Orin, I got your page, what's all this about?”
Orin smiled and indicated me and Jamie. “Robin, I'd like you to meet Derek and Jamie, two of the newcomers. Of the other two, Dana is the injured one, and the man I assume is her husband is John.”
Robin nodded hurriedly and shook my hand. “Sorry if I seem somewhat testy, but I'm pretty busy.” she glared over at Orin while still shaking my hand. “As he well knows.”
Robin was shaking Jamie's hand and offering her similar apologies and barbs directed at the town founder, when Orin spoke up, saying simply “Derek is Keith's son.”
Jamie made a visible effort not to seem offended when Robin dropped her hand and turned back to me. Her eyes were wide and some amount of understanding were in them. Though her mind was blank to me, I could tell that she hadn't felt greeting newcomers was exactly what she should be called upon to do.
“Now I see why you had me paged.” Robin said, talking still to Orin but scrutinizing me carefully. “Not that I mind meeting new people, you see, but I'm usually up to a great deal of work.”
“The woman at the desk said you do the work of five people.” I said, trying to have a normal conversation while simultaneously attempting to figure out what was so interesting about me or, for that matter, my father. As far as I knew he was just another one of the experimentees that Orin had been referring to earlier.
“Let me guess,” Robin replied. “She said I should be doing the work of three. She thinks that joke's funny, and it was a decade ago when she first made it.”
I didn't even see where it was a joke at all, so I agreed with Robin on this point. She finally stopped looking at me as though searching for cancerous growths and looked me directly in the eye. “Derek, your father helped this town. I don't know how much he told you or how much you know, but he was Orin's first contact with the underground. He enabled me to break the network that linked the other sites under the control of the people who would later become the Troopers, and find out about other sites. I'm only sorry that we couldn't meet in person, that I couldn't get him out of that place before...” she trailed off awkwardly, finally adding, “Well, I'm sorry.”
“That's okay.” I replied to her, feeling somewhat awkward myself. I could tell her feelings were real, but they were, as she had implied, over two decades too late. There was nothing they could do now besides what they were doing, and that – especially in her case – seemed to be more than enough.
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posted by Roger Ostrander at 3:13 PM
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