Tool

Chapter Seven

Idly, she searched the terms inside the hospital database, more as a thinking exercise than anything else, while she tried to come up with somewhere else to look. To her surprise, she got a hit. The resulting document was a research study conducted on scientists working outside of the dome. The only reason the search engines had caught it was because the slang word out was used in the first sentence. Aurelia read through the report with slight interest. The study was well done, and the results showed that working out for more than three-week cycles could be detrimental to health, which was more or less what she would have expected to find. What interested her most, however, appeared at the end of the report. The author's name. It was Elza.

Alright, so it's a small lead, but at least it's something. If Elza had done this study, then she must have been out at some point, making her the only person Aurelia knew who had done so. It was a start. Hurriedly she pulled her shoes back on and then, remembering that she hadn't eaten for Gods knew how long, grabbed a protein bar. Then she was on her way upstairs.

Knocking on the door, Aurelia had already decided to be honest with the woman. There had been too much suspicion between them lately, and Aurelia needed Elza's help. She felt sure that she would get it, if only because Elza still felt that she owed Aurelia something. She found the hospital head lying on the couch in her living pod, a distinct improvement from the last time she'd seen her, when she'd been in bed.

"How are you feeling?" Aurelia asked, out of politeness. She was anxious to get to the point of her visit.

"Much better. I was thinking about going down to my office tomorrow morning." Elza smiled. "Take a seat."

Aurelia gratefully sank into an armchair. She hadn't slept for what seemed like years, and for a moment she thought of the stim patch that Elza had once given her with a pang of longing. She hadn't known then how addictive the patches were, but Elza had found that out the hard way. At least she was nearly back on her feet now.

"Elza, I have to ask you something."

"Mmm?" The woman was keying instructions into her screen. "I'm just getting us a coffee, if that's okay? You have time, right?"

"Yes, sure. So, I read this study you did about the effects of working out," Aurelia said. "There's some stuff I need to know."

Elza rolled up her screen. "Sure, I remember the one. It was a good study, got some good peer reviews. I was quite proud of it. What do you need to know? Tell me you didn't find any flaws!" She was smiling, though, sure that her scientific mind wouldn't have missed anything important.

"No, no, it's nothing like that. I need to know about out," said Aurelia.

There was a knock at the door, and a young hospitality Worker brought the coffee in. Elza thanked her, and the young woman left.

"I've got good reason to think that Nicholas is out," Aurelia explained, picking up her cup. "And I don't know anything about out. You must have been there; what was it like?" She decided to keep quiet for the moment about her intention of going out to bring Nicholas back, which she realized was absolutely her intention.

Elza shuddered. "It's awful," she said. "Cold, dark, just a terrible, horrible place. You couldn't pay me enough to work there like some of those mine Workers and scientists do." She cradled her coffee in her hands, as if its warmth could stave off the cold memory of being outside the dome.

Aurelia sipped her coffee and waited. She hoped that her silence would prompt Elza into talking, and eventually it did.

"You have to understand, Aurelia, that I was out there with permission. I mean, I visited Workers, ran tests, went to government-sponsored work sites and mines. Still, it was brutal. There are a legitimate number of people on the outside. They live dangerous lives. Housing pods and amenities are usually under small, portable domes, and Workers wear breathing suits to protect them from the lack of atmosphere. And those suits are never far away, even when Workers are under bubbles. Portable domes break down all the time, they leak, and you have to be able to jump into your suit within seconds, wherever you are."