Chapter 32 #2
The other room seemed to be a meeting area of sorts.
Most of the furniture had clearly been repaired in some way.
But everything in the sea had to have been waterlogged at some point.
Some of the seats were ones she recognized from Tau.
The clean, modern aesthetic was mashed together with what looked like utilitarian pieces, perhaps from Beta, and then others that looked like they had been handmade here.
Ellie took a seat on one of the chairs from Tau and waited.
Alexia and Anya sat down as well, both of them looking a little uncomfortable. It was Anya who finally spoke, thankfully.
"The information we have discovered at your facility is all very helpful.
We believe that Proteus is right. We should be able to fix what has been broken and perhaps move some people Above.
At least into that facility, and if we can discover others, then that will allow us to move even more people onto the land.
However." Anya paused and took a deep breath.
"It's him that concerns us. That's why we brought you here. "
"Rather dramatically," Ellie replied, surprising herself. She hadn't thought she had it in her to talk back like that.
Anya smiled. "Very dramatically, one might argue.
We knew Proteus wouldn't allow you to come here if we asked him, not without his supervision.
And you seem to be the person who knows the most. A good amount of information in that facility is categorized as classified, and it is locked behind walls that very few are able to get past. Certainly not someone we have here. That concerned us."
"It's just information from separate research done at the facility," she tried to lie.
"Information that your droid has functions placed to hide.
That makes us think it's not unrelated research.
" Anya leaned forward, bracing her elbows on her knees.
"Proteus is clearly hiding something from us.
Considering the old legends about him, we have good reason for our concern.
I think you understand that. He wants us out of the sea as fast as possible, but we want to limit the deaths along the way. So you are here to tell us the truth."
A part of her didn't want to tell them anything about Proteus.
Another part of her wanted to tell them everything. Anya was saying what Ellie had wanted to hear Proteus tell her. That he wanted to minimize death. That he would take her concerns seriously about the creatures who were already living Above.
She opened her mouth and then snapped it shut. "I don't think I should tell you anything without Proteus."
"I told you," Alexia grumbled. "There is a reintegration program for a reason.
The clones need support. They need therapy.
They need to be reassured regularly that they can go against whatever they were trained if they were woken up.
Clearly Ellie had been used, perhaps even abused, and she will not be interested in helping us unless Proteus tells her to do so. "
A spark of anger burned in her chest. "I told him to talk to you all! I told him he should tell you everything, and he said he would respect that."
Alexia's laser sharp gaze turned to her. "Prove me wrong, then. Prove that you have a mind of your own. If you want to tell us, if you think we need to know, then you should do so. Regardless of what Proteus might want."
"I don't want to anger him either," Ellie whispered. "He's done so much for me."
It was more than just that, though. They didn't understand the connection that had bloomed between them. Seeing him dragged away from her, it didn't make her want to trust these people.
It made her angry.
So angry that she wanted to lie to them.
She wanted to go along with Proteus's plan and allow the humans to return Above without realizing there were creatures already there.
Not to tell them that most of the facilities were ruins, and to let them find out on their own that the scientists who had been left there were experimenting on more than just animals, but people too.
But deep down, that wasn't who Ellie was. She wasn't the person who could allow innocent people to walk into the unknown without giving them all the protection she could.
She was a good person. She would do the right thing, even if it made her angry to give these people the truth when they had done nothing to earn it.
Opening her mouth, she started at the beginning. "I don't think Proteus ever wanted me, really. He said the sea led him to my pod, but I think it was just luck."
The whole story came out. How she'd woken in that other facility, with Pilot and Proteus looming over her.
How she'd been trained for her entire life to be useful, to seek out a master, and that she'd thought she'd been helping.
But the more she helped with his plan, the more she realized he would do anything to get the humans out of the sea, and that he didn't care about the threats to them along the way. He was rushing through everything.
And then she told them about what she had read in that woman's journal. In her Original's journal. What she had seen in the sands with the cameras that Proteus hadn't been telling any of them about. And how nervous it all made her.
She purged the story from her soul, knowing that he would be so, so angry at her.