Prodigy

  “Is this seat taken?” a friendly voice asked.

  Alex looked up and saw a familiar face looking back. “Mara, hi!” she said excitingly. It was perhaps a bit too enthusiastic, because it caught the attention of some of the other women. Alex immediately corrected her excitement and slumped low in her seat. This seemed to satisfy the women as they turned back around.

  “Don’t tell me, you’re here to break me out?” Mara joked.

  “Not quite,” Alex laughed shamefully.

  “It’s so good to see you,” Mara said, “but what are you doing here?”

  “It’s a long story,” Alex replied.

  “Why don’t you start at the beginning?”

  “The beginning? How far back would you like me to go?”

  “As far back as you can remember.”

  Alex proceeded to tell her mother all about her life. She started with her first memories inside the Facility – how it was difficult not having parents around. She told the story about how she and Milo met at a young age and became best friends. She glossed over most of her scholastic achievements and said one difficultly had been making friends since many of the other kids her age were very immature.

  Other than school, Alex did not really have much else to talk about. She eventually arrived at the part of her life story where she moved into the pyramid, met Aris, and hacked into the government database.

  “Why were you hacking into a government database?” Mara asked.

  Alex paused for a moment, not too sure how her mother would react to what she was about to say. Then she remembered the sign language message and realized her mother anticipated she might eventually watch it someday.

  “I wanted to find out more information about you.”

  “What did you find?”

  “Well, not much, but I did manage to locate a video file using my birth name and birth date.”

  Mara made the connection immediately. “I’m so sorry, Alex. That must have been very hard for you to watch.”

  “It was, but I also learned a lot. Do you remember that night at all?”

  “Are you kidding, I think about it every day of my life.”

  “So you remember the sign language message you left me?”

  Mara smiled then said, “Of course.”

  “It meant a lot, thank you.”

  “I didn’t know what else to do and I needed a way to send you a message to let you know that I loved you. I had heard stories about women being separated from their children and then having their memories wiped.”

  “Is that what happened to you?”

  “No, fortunately not.”

  “So there is one question I’m dying to ask you,” Alex paused, fighting back her emotions.

  “What is it honey?” Mara said, placing her hand gently on Alex’s shoulder. It was the first contact they had had in over eighteen years.

  “Why did you not try to contact me?” Alex said as her chin quivered. Her emotions were too much to handle and tears came flooding out. Again, this attracted a lot of attention, but this time Alex did not care.

  “Oh honey, I’m so sorry for the pain you must have gone through,” Mara said, as she held Alex tightly. Alex began to cry even harder. Her mother rubbed and patted her back and told her everything would be okay.

  “My sweet child, I’m so sorry.” Alex remained sniffling in her mother’s arms. This piqued a few guardians’ curiosity, but not enough for them to intervene. “When you were ripped away from me, I was hauled off to prison. I received notification shortly after that you had died due to an infection. I didn’t exactly have you in the most sterile conditions so I believed it. After that, I dedicated my life to revolting against the system. For years, I led a crusade to fight against the tyranny. Ironically, through some mysterious force of the universe, that was what reunited us again. Maybe it’s true what they say, everything happens for a reason.”

  Alex felt a lot better after receiving this new piece of information. She peeled herself from her mother’s warm embrace and looked at her with sympathetic eyes.

  “Even though I had no idea where you were,” Alex sniffled, “somehow I still felt connected to you. It was as if you were talking to me in my thoughts.”

  “I was.”

  “What do you mean?” Alex asked with a puzzled look.

  “Regardless of where in the universe you were, I still wanted to communicate to you and let you know that I love you.”

  “How did you know you could do that?”

  “I didn’t know, but I just believed I could. I started communicating with you for many years, sending you prayers, until one day, you answered back. It was the weirdest feeling and I didn’t know how to deal with it at first. I thought for sure I had gone crazy,” she laughed. “But I could feel you telling me you were okay.”

  “I did, I was saying that!” Alex said.

  “That’s a relief; so I’m not crazy?”

  “Well, I didn’t say that!” Alex joked, as they both laughed.

  Their reunion was cut short as lunchtime came to an end. The prisoners were instructed to form single-file lines according to their block categorization.

  “I’m in the A block so I have to go now,” Mara said.

  Alex looked down at her shirt, taking notice of a large letter ‘C’.

  “To think, this whole time I thought I was the team captain,” Alex joked.

  “You’re smart, pretty, and funny. I’m so proud of how accomplished you are.”

  “Accomplished? I’m in prison!”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Milo looked down at his access pod. He did not recognize the number of the incoming call, but decided to answer it anyway.

  “Don’t say a word, just listen,” the voice said.

  Milo was not one for theatrics, but given the circumstances, he went along with it. He had hung out with Aris enough over the past week to recognize his voice and appreciated Aris’ compliance for such precautions. As far as Milo knew, Alex was safe and sound at her mother’s old apartment. As for Aris, he knew a little bit more than that, but not much. Until Aris found out for sure, he operated under a veil of secrecy. Ordinarily, Milo would not be so keen on hanging out with Aris, but he needed to set aside his differences and coordinate with him to keep Alex safe.

  “Meet me at the spot where we first met.”

  “When?”

  “One hour.”

  Milo disconnected the call then left his room immediately. Across the street from the Facility was a privately-owned building with an underground parkade. Milo ran across the street and waited in the parkade for his taxis to arrive.

  A few minutes later, six taxis showed up. He opened the door of each taxi, provided a random address to the automated driver, and then closed the door. He hopped into the last taxi, instructed the driver to take him to the Megaplex pyramid, and then crouched down onto the floor. One after another, the six taxis pulled out of the parkade and headed in all different directions. In case anyone was following him, this would impede their efforts.

  Milo’s taxi arrived at the pyramid with about fifteen minutes to spare. Milo poked his head out cautiously to ensure he had not been followed. When he did not see anyone around him, he felt proud of his cleverness. His heart raced, but in a good way. The last couple days, his life was anything but ordinary. First, he was chased down by a guardian and thrown in jail, then he was detained and questioned in connection with a wanted fugitive, and now a secret meeting. The entire chain of events was rather exhilarating for him. He calmed himself and then headed into the park.

  With a hurried pace, Milo walked toward the grassy knoll where he first met Aris. It was not exactly the first place they had met, but he was sure this was the spot that Aris meant. When he arrived, Aris was already there waiting for him. They saved the pleasantries and went straight into business.

  “Were you followed?” Aris asked sternly.

  “No.”

  “Good.”

  “I
know you didn’t invite me over for a tea party,” Milo said “so tell me, why am I here?”

  “It’s regarding Alex.”

  “What is it?”

  “Well, I don’t want to say,” he paused, “I’d rather show you.”

  Aris handed him a large folder, which contained several documents. Milo opened the folder and was amazed at what he saw. After analyzing the contents carefully, he asked, “Where did you get these?”

  “It was in the apartment.”

  “What apartment?”

  “The one Alex was staying in. I went there last night after I received your message. I wanted to warn her, but by the time I arrived, it was too late.”

  “Wait, slow down. What do you mean ‘it was too late’? Where’s Alex?”

  “I don’t know. When I got there, she was gone. The doors to the apartment and the bedroom were removed from their hinges with explosives, most likely by guardians. There were several large imprints of uniform boot marks all over the place, further supporting the so-called ‘guardian’ hypothesis. From what I could tell, Alex made it out the window, but that’s all I know.”

  Milo stood in a trance-like state as his imagination played out the events that likely transpired.

  “We need to find her,” Milo said.

  “I agree. We should start by calling the local authorities and see if she was picked up.”

  “So where did you find these documents?”

  “It was in a large wooden box underneath one of the floorboards.”

  “How the heck did you know that?”

  “I got lucky I guess. I think Alex found it too. There was a disturbance in the dust surrounding the floorboard. That’s what tipped me off about it.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Living in a hyper-accelerated world certainly had its drawbacks as Alex was discovering. Not having her access pod was unbearable. Like an addict not getting their fix, she struggled to find ways to occupy her time and keep her mind stimulated. On the outside, there was no shortage of stimuli; there was always a constant bombardment of sense data available at a moment’s notice. But now her life had slowed down to a crawl and it was proving to be a difficult transition. She knew the feeling would eventually pass with time, once she adjusted to her new environment.

  Periodically, she would try to maintain her strength by staying physically active. As a result, she was gaining a lot more muscle than she would otherwise have. When she was not exercising, she would simply lie in her bed and contemplate the decisions she had made in her life that had led her to being where she was. Her life had had so much promise and then almost instantly, it had fallen apart. Being locked in a cage did not even seem real to her, it was as if she was in a bad dream and could not wake up. Unfortunately for her, that was not the case.

  In a strange twist of fate, being locked up in a prison was the one place that allowed her to connect with her long-lost mother. It was as if some mysterious force in the universe had orchestrated the events in her life so that her and her mother could be together once again. She questioned whether her choices had any impact at all or was she just a passenger along for the ride. It was not clear how being locked up in a cell fit in with her life plan, but she trusted it would somehow work out in the end.

  ***

  After a buzzing noise, Alex’s cell door slid open.

  “Come on, let’s go. Get up,” one of the prison guardians demanded.

  Alex stood up and joined the train of prisoners. The line snaked around the upper level, growing longer as it collected more people. Once everyone was in line, prison guardians herded them into the cafeteria. The prisoners maintained their single-file line and accepted their allotted food rations, one by one. In some ways, it was like growing up in the Facility, except with stricter rules.

  Alex shuffled along in an orderly fashion, minding her own business. She filled her tray with food and then brought it to the same table where she always ate. She sat alone, but was hoping her mother would soon join her. Alex’s eyes scanned the crowd looking for her mum, but she inadvertently caught the attention of a scary-looking prisonmate. Like a deer caught in the headlights, Alex froze for a second.

  “What are you looking at, runt?” the burly woman said.

  Alex looked up at her and said, “Nothing… I was looking at nothing.”

  “Are you saying I’m nothing?” the woman said in an instigating tone.

  “No, that’s not what I meant at all. I’m sorry if I affronted you.”

  “Affronted? Are you using fancy school words to impress me?”

  “No… I was—”

  “I don’t care much for fancy school words.”

  “I’m sure you don’t… sorry, that came out wrong.”

  “Are you calling me dumb?” the woman asked.

  “Of course not, miss.”

  “Don’t call me miss. The name’s Olga, and you’d better learn it really quick.”

  “It’s nice to make your acquaintance, Olga. My name is Alex.”

  “I don’t give a rat’s behind what your name is.”

  The woman approached Alex, getting right up in Alex’s face in an attempt to intimidate her, but it did not seem to be working. On the surface, Alex was calm and poised without being confrontational, but inside she was terrified. Alex had downloaded volumes of different martial arts techniques – everything from Jiu Jitsu to Krav Maga – but had never used it in a real combat situation before. She preferred to use her words to talk her way out of any mess rather than using force. Besides, Olga was nearly twice her size and was with her friends – hardly a fair fight.

  Olga’s rage escalated to the point of physical contact. She shoved Alex so hard that it caused her to fall backward off her seat. The primal chants of, “fight – fight – fight,” filled the air as the crowd gathered around for some midday entertainment.

  Alex quickly rose to her feet and stood her ground. Olga approached closer and slapped Alex across the face. The slap was heard around the cafeteria, which now had a sizable crowd gathered around the scuffle. The commotion, combined with the yelling and screaming attracted the attention of the prison guardians, but none of them were stepping in to help. Experience had taught them it was better to allow these sorts of squabbles to play out rather than stopping them. Suppressing the issue often acted as a pressure cooker, making the situation much worse over time.

  Alex could feel the stares from a thousand eyes fall upon her. It was at that moment she realized her strategy of going unnoticed had failed and she now required a new strategy. Interpreting the situation, she applied the principles of game theory. There were only two ways to act: passively or aggressively – fight or flight. Alex made a number of calculations and determined that in the long run, acting passively had a higher probability of producing a favourable outcome – so that was the choice she went with.

  Olga was receiving adulation from her peers, so she continued to torment the newcomer.

  “Come on, fight back,” Olga demanded as she slapped Alex again. The assault was more humiliating than painful.

  Olga came forward, backing Alex up against the wall. She grabbed Alex by the throat with her left hand, made a fist with her right, and then cocked it back. Olga held her fist for a moment to play to the crowd and then slammed it into Alex’s face, causing her head to snap back and hit the cement wall. The crowd cheered louder for Olga and encouraged her to continue to dole out her punishment.

  Alex was in a daze as her head felt like it had been struck by a sledgehammer, but she continued to resist the urge to fight back. At times, she thought she may even be able to beat Olga. As a master of controlling her emotions, Alex subdued the rage she was feeling because she ultimately believed it would be for her own good.

  Olga still had Alex pinned and had no intention of letting go. Olga delivered a deflating blow to Alex’s midsection, causing her to keel over in pain and wheeze for air. The crowd cheered.

  Alex struggled to get back to her fee
t, but within seconds a swarm of people began punching and kicking her. Her only instinct at that point was to turtle up in a ball and protect herself as much as possible. She must have absorbed a dozen or so kicks and punches before the onslaught abruptly stopped. The crowd gasped, causing Alex to think that something horrible had happened to her. She reluctantly opened her eyes and checked for any grotesque bones protruding from her skin, but there were none. Just then, Olga collapsed onto the floor beside her with void eyes staring at nothing. She had been knocked out cold. Before Alex knew what was happening, she was being helped up.

  Once on her feet, she brushed the hair out of her face and could see her mother standing beside her. Mara was holding a metal lunch tray with a sizable dent in it. Olga was lying unconscious with blood trickling out from some undetermined location.

  “Are you okay?” Mara asked.

  “Yes, I’m fine. Thanks.”

  “Everybody, listen up!” Mara shouted amongst the hundreds of stunned onlookers. “This is my daughter, Alex. If anyone so much as touches her, there will be hell to pay!”

  Indecipherable murmurs could be heard throughout the crowd as everyone went about their separate businesses. The show was over.

  Although Mara was relatively new to the prison, her reputation preceded her. She knew a lot of people on the inside and had garnered many people’s respect. For anyone who did not have respect for her before, they certainly had it now.

  Chapter Nineteen

  The grass in the prison yard was lush. Despite the fact there was a twenty-foot high brick fence surrounding the perimeter with armed guardians looking down in watch towers, one might actually forget they were locked up.

  Alex was a little sore, but other than a few contusions, she made it through her first prison brawl without taking any serious damage. With the incident behind her, she now had the next three hours to talk with her mother. They slowly walked out to a far corner of the prison yard and took a seat on a bench.

  “Any word on when you’re getting out of here?” Alex asked.

  “No, but I don’t expect it’ll be anytime soon.”

  “Couldn’t they just wipe your memory?”

  “They could, but my debt to society is too great. They would rather have me suffer some more. I’ll probably serve the rest of my life in here.”