Aurelia knew she really should go back to work. But Jason was taking care of things, and as far as he knew, she was still at the arena. She desperately needed rest, so she headed back to her quarters. Lying in bed, she felt her mind spinning. She was sure Nicholas was out. If he isn't, then he would have been caught by now. A report from someone as important as Jonathon Hansen wasn't about to go unnoticed, and she knew sec Workers would have poured every resource into tracking the clone.
What she didn't know was where to go from here. If Nicholas was in hiding, there was no one she could trust to get a message to him—no one she could send in her place. Besides she trusted no one else to persuade him to come back under the dome. What she would do with him when she got him back here, she wasn't sure, but she'd figure something. Or Jonathon would. Well, once Jonathon realized that Nicholas was no threat to them, he would.
Eventually, she drifted into an unsettled sleep, her dreams plagued with images of suffocation and portable domes that collapsed, caught fire, or unbelievably grew wings and took flight.
***
She managed to drag herself down to the hospital floor after a short rest. Working on automatic, she saw several patients and completed paperwork.
"How was the tour?" Jason asked, jauntily.
"Fine, I guess," Aurelia said, distracted by a form she was trying to fill out.
"You didn't enjoy the pretty boys playing war?" he teased. He keyed his number into a cupboard and took out some supplies.
Aurelia considered telling him off, but what was the point? He only had the same attitude towards clones as everyone else, the conditioning he'd grown up with. It wasn't his fault. Instead, she bent her head over her paperwork and left him to his stock checking. There was no point in fighting with him; he was only excited because he was looking forward to his days off, and besides, she was too tired.
She didn't see him again until an hour later when he knocked on her door.
"Someone here to see you at reception," he said.
For a second, she thought about Nicholas. He'd been to the hospital once before. But it couldn't be him; he wasn't that stupid.
"Shall I bring her through?" Jason asked, destroying any hope that it could be Nicholas.
"Sure," Aurelia said, wondering who it could be. Pretty much the only woman she knew in Lunar was Elza, and she wouldn't need an escort to get to her office.
A few minutes later, her questions were answered when Jason ushered a tall young woman through the door. A woman with purple hair.
"Hi," Aurelia said, trying to appear casual and at the same time as if she didn't know the girl. Jason nodded and closed the door behind him.
"What on earth are you doing here?" she hissed as soon as the door shut.
Tara shrugged. "Checking you out," she said, picking up an instrument lying on the desk. "Making sure you're who you said you were."
"Put that down," Aurelia said. "You shouldn't be here. Why would you want people to connect us?"
Tara looked up, surprised, and laid the instrument back on the desk. "We're not doing anything wrong. Besides, I wanted to check out the hospital—it seems interesting."
Aurelia sighed. Tara was just a kid and a bored kid at that. Aurelia rolled up her screen and put it away. "Come on," she said. "It's my turn to buy you coffee. And we shouldn't talk here. Let's get out."
Tara seemed faintly amused at the clone coffee bar Aurelia took her to. Although to be honest, Aurelia didn't actually know any other cafés in the area except this one where Nicholas had taken her. The girl looked around, studying the men in military uniform and the odd tired-looking Worker.
"So what did you find out?" Aurelia asked, placing a mug in front of her.
"Nothing," said Tara. "He's not hiding in any of the places I know, and he'd stick out like a sore thumb, being a clone, anyway."
Aurelia nodded; she'd thought as much. Tara had done what she'd been asked to do, but Aurelia wondered if possibly the girl could help her more.
"What do you know about out, past the edges of the dome?" she asked, cautiously.
"It's sucky," the girl replied, taking a drink. "Cold, dark—I wouldn't want to go out there." Then her eyes darkened. "You don't think your friend's out, do you?"
She was quick; Aurelia had to give her that. "He might be," she said.
Tara sat back in her chair, a thoughtful look on her face. "Hmmm. I don't know anyone out. Sorry."
"Do you know how people get out out?" Aurelia asked, knowing it was a long shot.
"Sure," Tara said, giving Aurelia a jolt of surprise. "It's tough." She raised her cup and spent an overly long time taking a drink, apparently enjoying keeping Aurelia in suspense.
"Out with it," Aurelia said. "Come on, tell me."
Tara put her mug down. "Fine. They go underground," she said. "I've never been down there, but I know some people who have. There are parties down there sometimes, Elite kid parties, you know. Sometimes the guys go down on dares and stuff, but as I said, I've never been down. Don't like the dark, me. I much prefer it up here with the nice shiny lights."
"Underground?" said Aurelia thoughtfully. "Like, literally beneath the Lunar crust?"
"Yeah, there are tons of tunnels under the city for all kinds of things," Tara told her. "You can't get through the dome, so it stands to reason that if you're getting out, then you're going under it, right?"
Okay, that definitely made sense. "But no one you know has been out?"
Tara shook her head. "Nah, we might be young and like some trouble, but we're none of us stupid. It's dangerous. Anyway, there are other people underground; they'd stop us for sure. They don't mind when we party a bit—the noise keeps people away, you know, but they wouldn't let us go out."
"Sec Workers?"
The girl laughed. "No way. I don't know who they are. They wear black a lot, but definitely not sec Workers."
Aurelia finished her coffee and raised a hand to order two more. She needed the drink to keep herself on her toes. "I'm gonna be honest with you," she said. The girl wasn't much younger than she was, but she still seemed like a child. "I've got to get out."
"You in trouble?" Tara asked, her eyes narrowing.
"No, but my friend is, and I want to help him, and that means I've got to get out. Can you help me?"
"Maybe." Tara shrugged.
"Can you at least help me get underground where there's a chance I might get out?"
Tara looked reluctant, but she nodded. "Give me some time to talk to some people; I'll do what I can," she said. "But I think you're a bit psycho."
Aurelia laughed, the first time she'd laughed for ages. "So do I," she said. "But this is something I have to do."
"Alright. I'll comm you tomorrow. In the meantime, you'd better find something better to wear," Tara said.
"Why?"
"Because I can't take you into an elite kid party looking like that." Tara pouted. "You'll never get in. Work with me a little here."
She huffed in irritation and was still shaking her head at Aurelia's naivety as she walked out the door. Aurelia watched her bright purple head bobbing through the crowd and disappear. Another small step, but she was closer. Her time reader said it was still early, but she headed back to the hospital anyway. She had things to do.
Her first stop was Elza, as promised.
"Look, I'm not saying I'm going out; I'm going underground to see what I can find," she said.
"Right," said Elza. "And if you get the chance, you'll be out, right?"
Aurelia nodded.
"Nothing I can say will stop you, is there?"
This time Aurelia shook her head.
"Fine," Elza said with a sigh. "But go and get back in as soon as you can. Remember, more than three-week cycles outside, and your body will start to degrade. Besides, it shouldn't take you more than a day or so to find him. He won't have gone far, not yet."
"And work?" Aurelia asked.
"I'll cover for you. I'll say you caught my flu, but on one condition."
"What's that?"
"Tell Jonathon what you're doing. I don't want to be the only one who knows, and he has the right."
Aurelia hesitated for a moment. Elza was right. She might have been angry with Jonathon, but that didn't mean she wasn't thinking of him. She did understand why he couldn't do anything, and the only real reason she hadn't contacted him in the last day was she didn't want to put him in a position where he had to compromise either her or himself, which wasn't fair. But now, yes, he should know.
"Okay, I'll tell him," Aurelia agreed. Fortunately, Elza hadn't said when she had to tell him, and if she played things right, she could com him right before she left, not giving him time to try and stop her.
"You're going to need something to trade," Elza said, thinking aloud.
"Why?"
"Because you can't go beyond the dome without a breathing suit, and I can't give you one because I don't have one," she explained. "I assume that whoever leads you out will have them; there must be some kind of black market in them, and you'll have to buy one. Money doesn't do much good out, nor do tokens, so you'll need to trade something."
Aurelia marvelled at how fast Elza could work her mind around the practicalities of things, and she was suddenly glad she'd come up to see the woman. It was obvious why she'd been chosen for the resistance, and she had the ability to put aside her own concerns to concentrate on the logistics of things. "What can I trade?"
"That's pretty easy; I should imagine medical supplies are fairly important. Take some. You'll need to sign them out under your name, but there's little we can do about that right now. Hopefully, you'll be back before anyone notices you're gone. Just don't take anything too suspicious. A few pain shots, healing patches, and such should be fine, I would think. Especially since you're only renting a breathing suit, you don't need one to live in permanently."
Aurelia nodded. Again, Elza made sense. "Is there any way I can contact you from out?" she asked.
"The com system works from there," Elza said. "Workers use it, so it must. Whether or not you can find an intercom to use is another matter. Other electrical devices won't function, though—something to do with frequencies and atmosphere and all kinds of other stuff. Devices need to be specially designed to operate in the hostile environment."
"I guess that'll do," Aurelia said. "If I need you, I'll just have to find a com."
The practicalities dealt with, Aurelia got ready to go back to her quarters.
"You're brave," said Elza, as Aurelia was standing to go. "I see why Jonathon wanted you. But sometimes you're a little foolish as well. Putting your personal feelings to one side is difficult, but it's something you're going to have to learn how to do."
Aurelia thought she was wrong, but she said nothing.
"Go and get back," said Elza. "And good luck."
***
Aurelia still had the dress Jonathon sent her, and that would have to do for the party. It was the only thing she had to wear except for her uniform, so it wasn't like she had a choice. Aurelia sat on her bed. She was beginning to wonder about her choices, her life decisions in particular. She wasn't entirely sure how she kept getting involved in things like this, other than the fact that it seemed like the right thing to do at the time, and that no one else seemed to be willing to do what needed to be done. Her parents had always strived to foster a sense of morality in her, even on Earth where such things were considered old fashioned and unnecessary. In a world where everyone had enough, the argument went, there was no reason to feel morally obligated to do anything. Aurelia sighed. I'm scared. Of course, she was. But she felt that she had to find out what was going on with Nicholas. Why did she owe him anything? She didn't. Not really. But he was her friend, and that had to mean something, didn't it?
She had already picked up medical supplies during her morning at work, and when Tara's com call finally came, she excused herself from the floor, saying she had a headache. Then she went to her quarters and dressed. She took a small bag and stuffed her uniform inside it, along with the med supplies, and as an afterthought, she picked up the stunner she'd taken from Jonathon and put it in the bag, too. She could put off calling him no longer, so she keyed his number into the com and waited. She had no idea how she was going to explain herself, so she was relieved when the com didn't pick up. Instead, she left him a cryptic message in case it was intercepted. She was going away for a day or so, not to worry about her, and to talk to Elza if he had any questions. There, a promise fulfilled.
A transport pod was waiting for her at the gates, and she carefully entered the address Tara had given her into the console. Then she sat back in her seat and tried very, very hard to relax. She counted each breath, tensed, and relaxed each muscle in her body. It was no good; her heart was still racing, and her stomach still squirmed with anticipation. She'd deliberately not thought about what was going to happen if she did get out. But Elza was right: Nicholas couldn't have gone far. And besides, with so few people outside, it couldn't be too tough to track him down.
The pod slid through streets that grew narrower and then darker, and Aurelia could sense the dome sweeping down as she got closer to the outskirts of the city. Here buildings were shorter and dirtier, the streets less well-kept and less well-lit. Eventually, the pod stopped in front of a residential building, and Aurelia got out.
Now, where? Tara had given her the address, nothing more. She looked around but saw no one. So she approached the door of the building, but she didn't want to key her personal number in, didn't want anyone to trace her back to this place. She was concentrating on reading the names of the building's inhabitants in case any seemed familiar when she felt a tug on the bag that was slung over her back.
"Nice dress," said Tara, sarcastically. "We're not going to a dinner party, you know?"
"Best I could do," Aurelia said through gritted teeth.
"Probably make no difference once we're down there," Tara said with a shrug. "Now, you ready?"
Aurelia nodded.
"Then let's get underground."