It's just the two of us in the windowless room. The floor is concrete and the walls are painted an off-gray. The long tubes of light emit a bright, white glow onto the metal table in the center. The big black guy who was also in the lobby when Ray and I literally fell into the building took my friend to the infirmary. Ray's wounds weren't life threatening, but he got hurt more by the mutant feral cats than I did. I wanted to stay with him while he got patched up, but this girl with the amber eyes and frizzy blonde hair offered to keep me company until he was done. Naturally, I couldn't resist.
She hands me a glass of opaque, yellow liquid. "I bet you're thirsty. Drink this."
I can still barely contain my excitement at finding normal-looking human beings topside, but her offering intrigues me. I smell it, but there's no discernible odor. "What is it?"
She furrows her brows. "Orange juice."
"But that's for breakfast, isn't it?" I remember what I've only seen in movies as I pick up the glass and gently swirl its contents.
She tilts her head to the side and now I can tell that she thinks I'm a total idiot. "It's six thirty in the morning. You've never had any, have you?"
I shake my head. "Where did you get it?"
She pauses as if trying to decide whether I deserve to know. "There's a grove about five miles south of here."
"So you can go outside?" I ask, looking at the warm glow of her skin. There's no way she got that complexion from being confined indoors.
"Only when the sun's not out." She stands from her chair and turns away, and I get the impression she regrets even telling me this much.
I look at the glass again. Maybe it's what she says it is; maybe it's not. I don't know why she'd lie to me, but she's got some type of weapon strapped across her back and I still don't know what's her angle. "And it's safe for consumption?"
She glances over her shoulder. "Do you think I'd poison you?"
Well, I'm not quite sure how to answer without causing offense. However, she seems to understand my concern because she reaches over and takes a drink. "Happy?"
No nonsense and to the point. I like this girl already. Not only is she cute, but if I can act harmless enough, she may also be willing to continue to talk. This will give me the perfect opportunity to get some information from her to take back to Commander Lamer. He's bound to reinstate my rank after that.
She's still watching me intently, so it's my turn to take a sip. The juice is slightly sweet, with a tangy aftertaste and there are bits of stuff floating in it. But it's damn good.
"Maybe you should slow down," she warns, but by then, I've gulped down almost the entire glass.
I put on my best smile and work my magic. "Thanks for the drink, uhm—"
"My name's Nelly." She takes the bait.
"Nelly," I repeat slowly, accentuating each syllable. "You look like a Nelly. How old are you, anyway?"
She raises one brow and crosses her arms.
"Oh, sorry. I guess I'm not supposed to ask a chick, I mean girl, uhm, lady her age, right?" I stutter.
In response, she just stares at me.
"Right. Let's try something else. Do you come here often? What's your sign? Heard any good jokes lately?" I try anything to break her stoic facade, but she remains silent. Unfazed, I lean my chair back and put my feet up on the table. Strangely enough, she now starts talking again.
"And your name's Wilhelm?" she asks.
"Just Will. This is my call sign." I indicate to the name embroidered on my jumpsuit.
She leans forward. "Call sign?"
"Yeah. I'm a Skipper pilot. They're single-seater submarines. We have these sort of nicknames that we use to refer to each other. It's kind of tradition."
"So, why Wilhelm?" And now I've got her hooked.
"We try to play off our real names and add some type of nautical reference. So my name's Will, right? And then a ship's wheel is called a helm. But then there was this really famous German dude called Kaiser Wilhelm that we learned about in school, so I put two and two together, and bang. Wilhelm." I grin at my own cleverness.
"That's pretty good." She nods, taking a seat again. "I bet that's the best one."
"I don't know about that. There are over a hundred actives right now, so I can't list all of them. Let's see, though. There's my buddy Raymond. He goes by Ray for short, and his is Stingray. That's an obvious one. Topher's Columbus, Murray picked Merman, Cory goes by Coral, and Anne-Marie's Anemone. But the worst one's got to be my sister Ellen." Mentioning her brings back memories of our earlier conversation and I can't help but frown.
Nelly leans forward. "Oh yeah?"
"She came up with Magellan. How stupid is that?" I throw up my hands in emphasis.
She shrugs her shoulders in response. I feel like she's totally mine for the catch, so I chance an offhand question. "How many of you are here, anyway?"
"Less than there are of you." She leans back with a stoic pout.
Her certainty is puzzling. "How do you know how many there are of us?" I ask.
"Because the people who live here are the ones who built Vanguard," she says.
Well, that's interesting. "So that's how you knew we were down there. That's why you were signaling to us with your lights on the shore."
She nods.
"But I guess you didn't know that we weren't allowed topside." I start putting two and two together.
"We knew. We were just hoping someone would eventually break the rules. I gather that's you." She smiles for the first time, which makes her look even prettier. And if she indeed has a thing for bad-boys, then I can now use that to my advantage.
"How long have you been doing that?" I look down at my thumb, picking at a non-existent hangnail as if I couldn't care less about whether she answers. "Waiting on the shore for anyone to surface, I mean."
"Someone's been doing it the entire time," she admits, surprisingly open about all this. "Jed and I took over about two years ago, I guess."
"Jed? That's your friend?" I ask, recalling the guy who was reluctant to leave Nelly alone with me. Only after she argued that Ray was too heavy for her to support did he finally take my friend to the infirmary.
She nods again.
"So why were you trying to contact us? What's the point?" I ask with genuine curiosity. "We're not completely at capacity, but we probably still don't have enough space for you all. In any case, you wouldn't want to live down there."
She wrinkles her forehead. "Really? Why not?"
"All we eat is fish, the only thing we have to drink is water. We're pretty limited to where we can go," I admit.
"If it's so bad, why don't you leave?" She leans one elbow on the table and props her chin into her palm.
I laugh. I thought she was smarter than that. "And go where? I mean, you look healthy, clean, well-fed so you're probably doing pretty well up here. But you're the first survivors we've ever met. We were taught that everyone up here died. Vanguard's been our best and only option. And even if there was someplace better, we couldn't get there."
She taps her index finger against her cheek. "Why not? Don't you have some bigger ships? People had to get down to the station somehow."
"Yeah, we have two subaquatic ferries." I fiddle with my jumpsuit's cuff. "But neither they nor our Skippers were made for long-range travel."
She seems to be pondering this when the door opens. It's Jed, but Ray's not with him. Dropping my feet to the ground, I rise from my chair, but he holds out a hand.
"Relax. Your buddy's fine, he's still getting some stitches," he grunts at me, seeing my escalated reaction. Pulling Nelly aside, he whispers something to her. She nods as she also tells him something that I can't make out. She then heads out the door without another word, leaving me alone with Jed. I wait for him to start asking me questions, but his bluntness takes me by surprise.
"Now that we're done with the introductions, I'm gonna tell you what you're going to do for us." He looks me in the eye. "You're going to go back home and as fast as you can manage, you're going to bring us back one of those ferries."
I start mentally kicking myself for telling the girl about those. Of course the first thing she does is tell her buddy here. I probably told her a lot of things I shouldn't have, and she barely had to say a word. I'm so mad at myself – and although I should be more reserved when addressing this hulking young man – I can't help but let my bitterness seep out.
"Well, that is a swell idea, but you seem to be forgetting something. For starters, don't you think anyone's going to notice that Ray's missing? How am I going to explain to my commander that his Skipper's there, but he's not, without all suspicion falling on me?" I ask. "I'm really not gonna be able to get you the ferry by sitting in the damn brig. But honestly, I could almost get away with covering for Ray; however, there's just one other tiny, little flaw."
He thrusts his chin out. "What's that?"
"Just that you can't split us up. He's my ride." I grin, but I know I've gone too far when Jed clocks me in the jaw with the butt of his weapon. I immediately begin rubbing the spot and give him the stink eye. "Seriously, man? Did you really have to do that?"
"Stop being a smart-ass and I'll stop hitting you," he orders without a hint of amusement.
"I'm fucking telling you the truth! We're micro-chipped," I hold out my arm to show him. "I don't have the authority to start his craft."
He grabs my wrist and runs his finger along the skin until he feels the small bump underneath. "What all does it do?"
"Everything. Opens doors, logs our location, starts equipment." There's no reason to keep this a secret.
For the first time since I've met him, Jed looks surprised. "Damn. That's messed up."
"What's messed up?" Nelly returns to the room.
"They track them like cattle. See?" He pulls on my arm to show her, but she waves it off.
"Tragic." I swear her sarcasm is followed by an eye-roll as she pulls him aside. "Jed, can I talk to you in private?"
They step into the hallway, but Nelly returns in just a few minutes. She doesn't sit down; instead, she stands across the table and stares at me. At first I don't know what's different about her, but then it clicks. She's holding her gun, which used to be hanging behind her.
"Is that really necessary?" I point to the weapon. "In here, I mean. Aren't the bad things out there?"
"If you believe that, you're good as dead. Bad things are everywhere, Will," she says.
I want to ask what she means, but Jed also returns to the room. He's got Ray with him, but he addresses me directly. "Change of plans, hot-shot. Here's the deal. You two are both going to get us a ferry. Got it? Two ferries, back here as soon as you can manage, but no later than one week from tomorrow."
These people don't seem to be very good at bargaining, I think to myself. They're letting both of their hostages go with nothing guaranteeing their return. Since I can't go alone, they should have just kept me as collateral, but I'm not going to point that out.
"I asked if you understood!" he snaps when I fail to answer the first time.
"Of course." I nod, but I guess I'm not a very good actor because he sees right through me.
"Don't get any ideas or you'll never again see someone who's very dear to you." His face is harsh and his eyes are unblinking, the whites practically boring a hole right through me. This guy doesn't mess around, but things aren't adding up.
I glance at Ray, but Jed laughs. "I don't mean him, you dolt. Nelly didn't tell you?"
I guess she didn't since I have no idea what he's talking about. It must show on my face because he grabs me by the elbow and drags me into the hallway. He takes out a set of keys and unlocks a nearby door, swinging it open. "We found her outside. Luckily she was only exposed for a short while," he points to the figure lying on the cot hooked up to an IV. Even under the bandages covering her face, I can tell that it's my sister. Worse yet, apparently our captors know that, too.