“Sitting in endless meetings for twelve weeks isn’t like me either. I’m a big picture girl.” I tried a smile, but Jacy kept his frown. I made a sudden liberating decision. “Tell the Committee I’m resigning as a consultant and going back to what I do best.”
Shock, anger and censure warred on Jacy’s face. His lips moved for a moment before he spoke. “And what do you do best?”
“Explore. We have no idea how high up the Expanse’s ceiling is. What if I find another hatch at the top? There could be another Expanse filled with supplies. That’s just as important as arguing over who gets to move into the new levels first.”
I left before he could respond. For the first time since the rebellion, I strode through the bland white corridors of Inside feeling light as air. I couldn’t wait to tell Riley!
My good mood dissipated once I arrived at the infirmary and spotted Emek’s colorless face. Grimacing with pain, he clutched his sheets in tight fists. He wouldn’t respond to my questions. His skin felt cold and clammy. The Traitor wasn’t in the main room so I raced to the back.
She prepped for surgery. “You’re early.”
“Emek looks bad. When’s the last time you checked on him?”
Pushing by me, she ran to him. I caught up to her as she probed the skin below Emek’s waist with her fingers. He screamed.
“His appendix has burst.” She kicked off the brakes on the bed. “Move!”
I helped her roll him into surgery and we transferred him to the operating table. Then she issued rapid-fire orders. The experience, which usually passed by in a blur of blood and frantic activity, slowed this time. Even with the emergency, I anticipated her needs a few times and handed her instruments without being asked. Despite my resistance, I was learning.
As she worked to save Emek’s life, I no longer viewed her as the Traitor, but as Doctor Lamont. According to Doctor Sanchia, Lamont was the best diagnostician in our world and a skilled surgeon as well. More reasons she was here and not locked in the crowded holding cells with the Travas.
After sewing up Emek’s incision, Lamont told me to dress the wound as she adjusted the anesthesia. It didn’t take us long to finish. I wheeled him into the recovery room, which also served as the examination room.
Once the new levels were completed, the infirmaries on levels two and three would be combined into one large medical facility, spanning two grids. This had been an easy decision for the Committee. A shame they all weren’t.
Keeping an eye on his vital signs, I stayed with Emek until he stabilized. When he roused, we moved him to a regular bed in the main room. I ensured he was comfortable, helped him sip a glass of ginger water, then tucked him under a blanket as he drifted off to sleep.
I turned and met Lamont’s measuring gaze. She had watched me, but instead of commenting on my nurturing instincts, she checked Emek, nodded and returned to the operating room to clean up. Knowing the importance of a sterile area, I helped. We worked in silence, but the tension between us wasn’t quite as thick. When the surfaces gleamed and the place smelled of antiseptic, I tossed the dirty rags into a special medical bag and sent it down the laundry chute.
“You did well,” she said. “Thank you.”
I grunted a reply, heading to my room. The rush from the emergency surgery fizzled and exhaustion soaked into my bones.
“There’s a package on your bed from Logan,” Lamont said as I pushed open the door.
Good thing she had mentioned Logan’s name. Because if I hadn’t known he brought it here, I would have assumed it was from Lamont. Then I would have carried it to Lamont’s office and smashed the thing to little pieces. Instead, I set the vampire box on the table. The device had been used by the Pop Cops to test the scrubs for illegal drugs and pregnancy by taking blood samples. It could also settle the issue of my birth mother, determining if Lamont was indeed my parent. It had been Logan’s idea to use the box.
I stretched out on the bed. Staring at the ceiling, I wondered why Logan sent it now. He knew I had no desire to prove the relationship. Lamont hadn’t acknowledged me—that was proof enough. Guess I would need to visit Logan and ask him.
Eventually I drifted to sleep. Floating in a sea of blackness and surrounded by nothing, I strained to reach solid ground. But my body thinned. My arms turned translucent. My legs disappeared. I dissolved into a void.
Sound and touch returned with a vengeance. A roar woke me. The noise rattled the floor and my bed lurched so hard it tossed me across the narrow room. I slammed into the wall along with the table. The vampire box clipped my forehead as it shattered against the sheet metal.
Loose items spun around and knocked into me as if the contents of my room had been stuffed into one of the huge laundry dryers and turned on.
The bluelight died, plunging me into darkness. Then it all stopped. I ended up sprawled in a heap on the floor amid a pile of debris. Dazed and confused, I stayed still, trying to clear my head.
Then the silence hit me. As familiar as the beat of my own heart, the Hum had always rumbled throughout Inside. A comforting constant noise noticed more on a subconscious level than noted on a conscious level.
The Hum meant the power plant was doing its job, producing electricity and heat, keeping us alive.
Silence meant the opposite. Until that moment, I hadn’t known true terror.
2
IN THE BLACKNESS OF MY ROOM, I UNTANGLED FROM the heap and stood. A wave of dizziness hit, spinning me back onto the ground. Pressing my fingers to my temple, I touched a tender spot covered with a sticky wetness—blood. I probably had a concussion.
Unable to trust my legs, I crawled, shoving aside debris as I moved toward the door. Or so I hoped. In the darkness, direction was hard to determine.
My hand touched a round dome, and I picked up my exploring helmet with a cry of triumph. Funny how the small things become important in an emergency. I donned the helmet, toggling on the light.
I faced the wrong way and the room was a mess—no surprise. A thick glass splinter jutted from my right forearm—a surprise since it didn’t hurt. Of course once I stared at the blood welling from the wound, pain shot up my arm. Basic first aid instructions that I’d learned when I lived in the care facility replayed in my mind. I left the glass in place.
The crushed innards of the vampire box crunched beneath me as I reached the door. Despite my refusal to use the box, the damn thing had still gotten my blood via the glass shard.
I stumbled through the door and illuminated another disaster area. The sitting room appeared as if a giant had upended all the furniture. I checked Lamont’s bedroom. It mirrored mine, but at least she wasn’t trapped under debris.
The sudden understanding that whatever had shaken Inside most likely caused major injuries and maybe death, cleared the confused fog from my mind in a microsecond. Energized, I wove through the carnage of the apartment. Ignoring the disaster area that used to be her office and exam room, I reached the patient area.
I swept the light around the broken beds. Emek waved a bloody hand from underneath
