CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE #2
Students piled into the lab and I rushed out for my next class.
Statistics for Data Sciences couldn’t have come at a worse time – I couldn’t focus.
I copied notes from the glassboard, but I didn’t hear a word my professor said.
Ninety minutes later, Cas still hadn’t sent a single update.
I unlocked my solar ride, then checked my solisPhone again. Nothing.
So much of Cas’s plan could’ve gone wrong. What if Gemma was busy, didn’t care, or saw straight through her little brother who was always getting into stuff? If he had to walk the labs floor alone, what if someone caught him snooping in a restricted area? What if it was his mom? Or his grandfather?
I wrung my hands around the soft grips of my handlebars. I can’t ride my bike this worked up. I leaned against the nearest bench, trying to shift my focus, but I had this annoying habit of replacing anxious thoughts with even more anxious thoughts.
We kept calling Dr Anand’s research discovery a cure, but it was more like an extraction.
The transference procedure involved the two solradiance chips and a controlled current between the Pain Carrier chamber and the Pain Giver suite.
There were no wires connecting them; the helical disease found its way naturally, drawn by a burning pulse emitted from the Carrier’s chip.
I rubbed the scar at my wrist, shuddering at the memory of that first jolt of pain.
During transference, helical disease seemed to possess a kind of free will, following the lure set by that pulse.
The extraction was different.
Dr Anand’s research described repurposing the cording lining the Carrier chamber and laying it directly over the Carrier’s chip, anchored with a node.
Mr Fox had made alterations to one of the labs – the floor appearing to be glass.
It was really a compartment designed to capture the extracted disease.
The exact mechanics of how that worked were something Apollo and I were still figuring out.
Leo tracked down Apollo immediately after our chat in the kitchen Saturday.
Apollo had avoided the police, escaping safely through a false door in the floor of his command center.
He was already set up in another warehouse, business as usual.
We traded intel: the files I’d found in Albert Fox’s office in exchange for his mom’s journals and private notes.
We slowly pieced together the procedure – what buttons to press on the console, how I needed to prepare myself, what the consequences would be if something went wrong.
I refused to let anything go wrong.
Apollo was busy reconstructing the lab in a virtual simulation.
Once complete, we’d be able to download the mod on to Cas’s holo gaming deck – Leo’s was too outdated – and practice everything.
Cas didn’t know about Apollo. By that, I meant he didn’t know Apollo was the son of the woman his grandfather had most likely murdered for her discovery.
Apollo wasn’t ready for Cas to know. Eventually, the two would have to meet for any of this to work.
I wasn’t looking forward to that. Getting the extraction right was my only focus. That, and Cas’s next text.
Cas
Sorry, I know that took longer than I said. Gemma was really excited to show everything off. She went through every tea and supplement. But I got her to show me the labs. It wasn’t where I thought it was, but I found it.
I mouthed a silent yes!
The tension drained from my wound-tight shoulders.
This extraction – this cure – meant so much more to me than being pain-free.
I tried not to dwell on it too hard; every time I did, it left me with watering eyes.
It made me think of my mom and Skye, but also Rox and Estelle.
Leo had shared a link with me from Apollo’s ghost-network forums and there were so many stories.
I wanted to do everything I could to change the status quo of South Alta being ignored, used and tossed aside.
I wanted strength to become a choice, not a necessity.
Ugo’s words flitted back to me: you’re allowed to be soft.
Mom never got the chance to tell me that the way Ugo’s mother had for her, but I believed it was what she would’ve wanted for me. I wanted that for everyone. I was so close.
Nova
Thank you. For everything. I know that wasn’t easy
Cas
Having to down all those tea samples? They tasted like a wet garden.
Cas
Nah, I know what you mean. But don’t thank me yet. Wait until we finish this. We’ve got another week. Monday night – eve of the solar flare. We’ll time it with the fireworks so we have a way to celebrate.
I leaned back on the bench. Wait until we finish this, Cas had said. One more week. Would that be enough time for him to be ready? I was ready now. I had to believe in him. He was saying and doing all the right things, it was hard not to. My cheeks warmed at the thought.
I rode to South Alta’s library for my final paint session on the mural.
I applied the varnish with care, admiring every face, every smile I was protecting in more ways than one.
Mr Moorehouse had asked if he could be part of the unveiling.
He planned to address South Alta the day after the election, regardless of the outcome.
He didn’t want circumstances outside his control to dictate his commitment to our neighborhood.
I agreed, and hoped that by then I’d have my own announcement to make: I would free South Alta from the burden of helical disease.
I stepped back, admiring my work. The mural had become more than art.
It was my mission statement. Just as the city celebrated the solar flare to mark our perseverance and how far we’d come, this would signal the same.
Pain Carriers’ strength had carried South Alta through some of its roughest times.
After next Monday night, it’d be a new day.
By Sunday, Cas’s face was everywhere. I stopped by Caféology to pick up Estelle’s favorite garlic knots.
We’d planned to substitute our usual Sunday-night reality-show binge with rereading all the files and notes on the extraction – for what felt like the hundredth time.
The gastro pub was packed with people in Dominion gear, an image of Cas riding a massive wave on the fronts of their shirts.
With the AB Cup under way, the city buzzed with anticipation.
It only added to Cas’s stress, though he insisted he was fine with it, and I gave him the space.
In one of the booths, Nari huddled with her friend, watching the semifinals live. The men’s heats had finished that morning, my throat already raw from cheering Cas on through our old flatscreen. I edged closer, trying to catch a glimpse.
‘Who’s winning?’ I whispered.
Nari raised a brow. ‘Since when were you into surfing?’
‘I’m new to it,’ I said. ‘But I have my investments.’
‘Oh, I forgot about that.’ She smirked, but I refused to let her bother me. ‘I usually watch the men’s heats, but Shawna has been crushing on Pua Fredericks.’
‘Yes!’ Shawna pumped a fist as Pua carved through her wave with ease. ‘She’s through to the women’s finals tomorrow. I heard Castor Fox won his heat too. Are you going down there for it? I’m guessing you’re rooting for him.’
I paused. I wanted so much from Cas. I kept thinking of what he’d asked of me – don’t let me hesitate. I worried he wasn’t ready. I worried everything moved too fast. I worried his grief would incapacitate him. I worried about how much I’d hurt him when I tore down Dominion with or without him.
No. With him. ‘With him’ was the only answer because he wouldn’t hesitate. I’d keep my promise to him, and he’d keep his promise to me.
‘Yeah,’ I finally answered. ‘I’m rooting for him.’