Chapter 18 #2
“They are.” Macy allowed him his inspection and lowered her hand to her lap when he was done. She kicked her feet through the water. “Jax told me you often speak with the computer?”
“As dull as it typically is, yes, I do.”
“Are you able to access it?”
“In what capacity? There are vocal commands and interactions that seem to function normally, but I know I’ve uncovered only a fraction of the information it must hold.
I believe access beyond that may require use of the screens, but the kraken never learned to read, and the Computer itself hasn’t been helpful in that regard. ”
“I could teach you.”
Arkon’s face brightened; his smile returned, and his eyes sparkled. “I will hold you to your word on that, Macy.”
She’d smiled more in this short time with him than she had in the last week. “You have my word, Arkon.”
“Was there something specific you wanted from the computer?”
“I guess…everything. There must be a wealth of information here. Even…even what they did to your people. How they created you, and why.”
“What few answers we have for those questions are unsatisfactory and incomplete, at best.” He stared down at the little ripples on the surface of the pool. “If I bring you to a room with working screens, do you think you could find that information?”
“I’ll try my best.”
Arkon nodded and pushed himself up, water sloshing with the sudden movement of his tentacles. “Let’s go, then.”
“Really?” Macy pulled her feet out of the pool and rolled down her pant legs. “You can take me now?”
“I do not think either of us has anything more pressing to attend at the moment,” he said with a smirk.
Macy chuckled as she stood up. “I’m quite tired of staring at the walls.”
“Perhaps we’ll figure out how to paint them, at some point. One matter at a time, though.” Arkon moved toward the door; at its core, his dragging gait was similar to the way Jax moved on land, but Arkon was somehow more graceful.
She followed him out of the pool room. “Arkon?”
He slowed and twisted to look at her over his shoulder. “Hmm?”
Catching up to him, she glanced down at her hands. “I know we’ve only just met, but you are so easy to talk to you and…and I would like it if I could call you my friend.”
“Of course, Macy.” He dipped his head. “I have never had a female friend…it is not the way of our people. But I can now boast that my number of friends has doubled.”
Something inside her chest warmed. She missed Aymee, and Jax’s frequent absence had left her lonelier than she’d been since their first few days together. Arkon’s friendship was a balm for the wounds her heart had suffered.
“The others don’t deserve you, Arkon.”
Water still dripped from Jax as he entered the area Macy called the Cabins. He’d waited an eternity for the water to drain from the entry chamber and had considered trying to force the interior door more than once. Macy had been sick, as of late, and leaving her alone made him anxious.
He wished he didn’t have to.
The door to their den was open, as it usually was when they were awake and not otherwise engaged. He entered; Macy wasn’t on the bed, at the table, or in the shower. He called her name and returned to the hallway, calling again.
There was no answer, no sign of movement.
He hurried through the nearby corridors, shouting for her, checking every open room. His hearts pounded, their pace increasing with each empty chamber.
What if she had wandered off and fallen ill? What if another kraken had come, knowing Jax was gone, and taken her?
The surface of Jax’s skin prickled like it was on fire, but he was cold inside.
He left the cabin area, pulling himself through the tunnel with arms and tentacles, and reentered the main building. All was silent save for the gentle hum of the Facility itself. His calls echoed off the walls.
Along the way, he leaned into every room, both hoping and fearing that he would find her in one.
She was nowhere.
He found nothing to indicate the recent passage of other kraken, but he’d been out for a long while; any such trails might have dried up already.
“Macy!” he shouted as he reached the intersection of two main corridors.
“Was that Jax?” Macy’s voice was unmistakable, though it was distorted by distance.
He rushed toward it, finally stopping in the doorway of a large room full of screens and controls. Macy and Arkon both looked at Jax from their place at the central console.
“You’re back!” she exclaimed.
Relief rushed through him, a soothing tide washing over the beach. “You’re all right.” The receding tide left anger in its wake. “Why are you here? You shouldn’t wander far from our den; it is not safe.”
She frowned. “I needed to get out of there for a little while.”
“What if Kronus had come across you, alone in the hall? What if you had fallen ill in some room that is rarely visited, and I couldn’t find you?” His hearts hadn’t slowed, and the heat on his skin only intensified.
“I feel fine, Jax. I was with Arkon.”
Jax’s gaze flicked briefly to Arkon, whose expression was unreadable. “You will not leave the cabins again,” he growled, moving into the room.
“What?” For a moment, her eyes were wide, and her lips parted in shock. Then she straightened, her body going rigid. She glared at him. “I am not an object, Jax! You can’t keep me like I’m some trophy you pulled out of the ocean. I’d think you of all people would understand that!”
He clenched his jaw; her words struck to his core, twisted inside him like a blade. His voice nearly failed. “I need you safe.”
Jax was no better than the rest of them; he was pushing her into a smaller cage, even though he sought to free her from the one his people had created.
The anger on her face slowly faded. She held his gaze and sighed. “I know, Jax. I know. But I can’t stay in there all day, every day. I need—” her eyes drifted to Arkon, “—someone to talk to.”
“You can talk to me, Macy,” Jax said.
“You haven’t been here!”
He gritted his teeth and released a long breath through his nostrils. She was right. He’d been gone often, and for long periods of time; why wouldn’t she be restless, staring at the same walls every day?
Closing the remaining distance between them, he stopped in front of her and looked into the unfathomable depths of her eyes. “I am sorry.”
Macy placed her hand on his chest. He covered it with his own and leaned down, pressing his forehead to hers.
“Don’t pull away from me, Jax,” she said softly.
“I’m not trying to.” He closed his eyes and took in her scent, letting it wash over his senses and permeate him. It had changed subtly over the last few weeks, and, somehow, had become only more alluring to him.
She drew back and smiled. “And I was safe. I’ve been with Arkon since I left the cabins, and I have the weapons you gave me.”
Arkon nodded when Jax glanced at him. He trusted Arkon to risk his life in defense of Macy, but it was still hard to accept that he’d allowed her protection to fall to someone else.
“She is quite openly appreciative of my work,” Arkon said. “Perhaps you should have her teach you how to properly compliment me.”
The high, sweet sound of Macy’s laughter shattered Jax’s lingering worry; here, now, all was well, and Macy was safe and happy. Even if it was fleeting, it was precious enough not to be ignored or dismissed.
“What are the two of you doing in here anyway?” Jax asked. The room wasn’t often visited by kraken — not that many of them were.
“Macy knows how to read.” Arkon’s smile was broader than Jax had seen in a long while.
He looked from Arkon to Macy and back again questioningly. “What does that have to do with your being here?”
“She thinks she might be able to access new information on the Computer. About our kind, about this place…about everything.”
“Can you?” Jax returned his attention to Macy.
“I can try. You got here right after we did, so I haven’t done anything yet.”
Jax and Arkon moved to watch over Macy’s shoulder as she brought up a projected screen full of symbols. The images moved when her fingers touched them, sliding aside or vanishing altogether, only for new symbols to appear.
“Welcome,” said the Computer. Its voice, emanating only from the console, seemed smaller. “Please enter your authorization code to proceed.”
“A code? Hmm…” Macy tapped at the screen.
“Access denied.”
She touched several more symbols.
“Access denied.”
Macy stared down at the console, drumming her fingers atop it. She raised her hand to the projection, finger extended, and stopped, glancing at Jax. “What’s the code you use to get into this building?”
Jax leaned forward, and Macy stepped aside to allow him a closer look at the symbols. They were all meaningless to him, but a few were familiar — he realized suddenly they were same as those beside the entry door.
“This one first,” Arkon said, pointing to one. Macy pressed it.
Slowly, Jax and Arkon ran through the remaining symbols.
They were arranged in a different order on the projection, and it was difficult to piece together a sequence that had long ago become second nature.
His hand knew the keypad’s buttons by touch, remembered the distance between each, the order in which they needed to be pressed.
“Access granted,” the computer said, and the screen changed abruptly.
“I can’t believe that actually worked.” The screen cast a soft blue glow upon Macy’s smiling face as she read. “Halorium Project?”
“Halorium is a stone found on the ocean floor,” Arkon replied. “It emits blue light. Our ancestors were tasked with gathering halorium for the humans who dwelled here.”
“It does strange things to human machinery.” Jax frowned; the stuff was rare, but it was out there… Would it interfere with Macy’s suit like it did everything else?
Macy swiped her finger across the screen, and an image appeared. It was a shard of halorium, spinning in place and pulsing light, so real that Jax wondered if he could reach out and touch it.
“Computer, what is the Halorium Project?” Macy asked.