Lifeboat

27. It

"Can she hear us?"

"Yes."

"Will she be able to do anything? Or say something?"

"No."

I forced my eyelids to open. The slick liquid surrounding me clawed to claim possession of the spaces around my eyeballs and up my nostrils. Blinking and snorting it back, I made out the familiar white coat of the Engineer standing close to me.

I was in a cylinder.

Waves of nausea flushed over me. My stomach sank lower into my abdomen. I swallowed hard. Immersed in a bubbling, viscous liquid, my internal movements as slow as my outer.

How am I breathing?

Was I breathing? Gingerly, I tested this notion. No. I was not.

How am I alive?

If I'm no longer breathing then I have to be dead.

Am I dead?

The sight of the Engineer fiddling around with something at the base of my cylinder led me to believe that this was not the case.

"Are you positive she can't get out of there?"

Again, that other person. Where were they? His voice came through muffled and dull, stripped of emotion by the liquid around me.

"Unless Poll suddenly finds how to access her power supply then I would hazard a guess at no."

What?

"Why are you so nervous about her? Don't you think the Professor believes that she set him up to be caught and not you? Because my money would be on..."

Believes it's me? A set up? But who?

The owner of the second voice moved around the line of cylinders. The stocky figure came into view. His voice one range deeper than the Engineer's.

"These inventions give me the creeps. They should all be decommissioned. No one can really trust them. Programmed organic lifeform, my arse."

Marco!

"It won't be long until these monsters are harvesting us and sticking chip programmes into our brains. You wait and see."

He spoke in English. Perfectly. Marco was a traitor.

I knew it.

Just wait till I let Dante know about this, you creep!

But how exactly would I do that? I had no control over my body. Heck, I couldn't even get my lungs to move. What would happen if I did manage to break out of the cylinder? Would I be able to breathe again? Or would I be lying there, on the cold floor, flapping my arms around and gasping for life like a fish out of water? This scared me far worse than Marco.

Speaking of the devil himself, the unshaven, unfriendly face of Marco pressed up close to the surface of the cylinder. His glare wobbled through the liquid.

"You should fetch the Professor in before you disconnect the nervous system. I can't wait to see the expression on his face when he finds out what she really is."

He leered a grin of yellow teeth and traced his grubby finger in a line down the mist of condensation his breath had created.
"She had him completely fooled. What an idiot."

I blinked my eyelids as rapidly as possible, desperate to show this monster that I would be coming for him. Somehow.

Marco raised a bushy eyebrow and flinched a step backwards.

"I thought you said it couldn't do anything?"

It?

The Engineer straightened up and laughed at Marco's nervousness.
"Yes, Agent, I've only left the unconscious connections running. Poor Poll is as harmful as a cabbage. I thought the Secret Service were meant to be tough?"

Scowling, Marco slapped his hand across the glass of my cylinder. The dull noise echoed its way into my head. He growled at the Engineer.
"These things are an abomination. They can't replace Agents. It won't be long until they're nothing more than breeding vessels again. Back where they should be. Not running around loose, stealing our jobs."

The Engineer shrugged while Marco gave me one last stare and stalked his way to the main exit.

"Right then, sweetheart, looks like you're ready for your big moment. So, let's get in the Boss and the handsome Professor, shall we?"

Pressing his forehead against the cylinder, the Engineer winked at me and smirked. His voice barely above a whisper.
"Between you and me, sweetheart, I would love to be under orders to get close to Alessandro. You lucky little thing. I wonder what he would do if he knew that his wife is working here? He's so close but doesn't even realise. So romantic, don't you think?"

I had to get a message to Dante. I had to get out of this. I had to kick Marco's arse.

How?

The Engineer jumped round to face the door. His figure partially blocked my view. From over his left shoulder I could make out two blurred figures, of the same stature. They glided forward, becoming clearer.

The grey-blue eyed Stare on the left. To his right my Dante. My Alessandro.

He had been cleaned up and dressed in a light grey jumpsuit. His hair cut close to his head, his face smooth and stern. He came to a stop before the Engineer, who shuffled away to the right. That's when I noticed the pale orange wristbands digging into his flesh.

Keeping his eyes on the floor, Dante's body told its own story. Bare feet, scratched and blistered. The loss of body mass, obvious under the tight clothing. His hands shook, with fingernails bitten to the quick. His once solid, strong shoulders now sloped. Cheekbones distinct from a sunken face. Dark shadows under his eyes. His beautiful eyes. What would I see in them when he looked up?

As if in answer, Dante slowly raised his head. I thought I would come face to face with his rage. Marco had told him that I was the traitor after all. Instead, his hollow eyes showed me the depths of despair my Alessandro had been driven to.

He was lost. His eyes swam with total dejection, beaten in spirit as well as body.

Tears mixed freely with the liquid around me, warm against my skin before fluttering away.

The grey-blue eyed man placed a hand on Dante's arm. He smiled and turned to me.
"As you can see, Professor, I speak the truth. We have been searching for you for a very long time. We need to put an end to your reckless disregard for our laws. The natural world is not safe to be left to its own devices. The human race will not survive without our food production or our breeding programme."

He paused and nodded his head sharply at me. His face etched with hate.
"This is the result of the Revolution's pig-headed inability to back down and see the truth. If we didn't keep nature clear of infection within the rays of our dawn purification, then this is what we will eventually become. Programmed organic lifeforms. Take a good look, Professor."

He shook Dante roughly and pushed him up against the glass.

I watched helplessly as Dante's eyes overflowed and streamed with tears.

"This is what you have done. Welcome to the future, Professor, say hello to P. O. L."