The Compound-A Short Story Prequel to The White Lilac

Brian dumped a bucket of blocks onto the floor and began sorting them by color and size. One of the other children, a blonde haired girl around the age of two came over and squatted next to him. She seemed perfectly content to watch, her small hands resting on her knees. At first Brian held a hand out to protect his tower, but then he relaxed and went back to his building completely ignoring her.

“They are so young.”

Allia glanced behind her and saw First Official Foreman.

“Which one is yours?” he asked, his gaze shifting from her to the children playing.

“Brian, the boy building the tower.”

He nodded. “Mine is Caryn, the girl watching him.”

Neither said anything as Brian’s tower fell. Instantly Caryn jumped up and started picking up the blocks that rolled too far. Brian didn’t appear bothered by the destruction. Instead, he tilted his head to one side as if it helped him think of a better way to build the next time. He picked up blocks and started building again.

First Official Foreman cleared his throat. “I heard about your charge.”

“The treatment didn’t work.”

“I am moving you back to full time in Science Lab 2 starting in the morning. I saw some of the notes you were working on and we need to make the proper coding of this treatment a first priority. We can’t afford to lose anyone else. We’re behind schedule as it is.”

Allia closed her eyes a moment. She felt exhausted, but the prospect of being back in the lab sounded much better than meeting a new charge in the morning.

“I will turn in then so I will be properly rested,” she said and turned to leave.

“We have openings in the candidate program now.” First Official Foreman’s voice was so low she almost didn’t hear it, but it made her bones freeze inside of her.

“Not for my son. I have a signed contract,” she said. She turned back to see he wasn’t watching her, but his daughter.

“I know,” he said, with a sigh. “But if we don’t find a treatment that works we might need anyone we can get.”

Allia’s mind began to race. They were considering putting her son in the program, even after they promised her they wouldn’t. She felt a flash of anger and the ice of despair race up and down her limbs. She began to shake. How could they do this to her? Without even knowing when she started walking, Allia found herself outside on the long path that circled the Compound.

Images of all the candidates she’d worked with over the years flew through her mind. She’d seen them all writhing on the ground. She’d seen their wide eyes darting and then slowing and silently dimming. They promised her that her son would never have to go through that. It was the only reason she’d agreed to have him. He was her hope. The one who had lived, who would continue to live after she was gone. He was her reason for living. How could they go against their promise and take that away?

She wanted to crumble into a ball and stay like that, but she had done that before and it didn’t change anything. It could not bring back those she had lost. And she was tired of being helpless, of letting things happen to her instead of taking control. But how could she take control of this? The Compound would never let her take Brian.

In their eyes he belonged to them, he was a product of their scientific minds and experiments. He was also one of the few who survived and they needed him, if not for the program then for maintaining the staff. She wouldn’t be able to just steal him away. They would come looking for him and they wouldn’t stop as long as they thought he was alive. Even if Allia managed to get a ride on one of the ships going to Earth or Deltan or some newly colonized planet, they would find her eventually. She had worked in the Compound long enough to know just how far and how deep their influence flowed.