Tool

Chapter Seven

Aurelia's heart raced. It was the first hint she'd had of where Nicholas could possibly be, and instinctively she knew Zak was right. Out. The clones on the parade ground were beginning to form back into lines, preparing to exit the arena.

"How do I get out?" she asked.

Zak looked at her and shook his head. "You can't," he said simply.

"But Nicholas did . . . or maybe did . . . so how did he do it?" There had to be a way for her to get to him.

Zak shrugged. "I don't know. But I do know that it should be impossible. Besides, it's dangerous out there."

"I don't care," Aurelia said impatiently.

"You have no idea." Zak turned to her. "Under the dome is safe. Everything here is safe. Out there are no guarantees. You need equipment even to breathe, and if it fails, well . . ." He shrugged once more.

The arena was almost empty again, and noticing the sudden quiet, Zak stood.

"And that concludes the tour," he said, back to his guide self. "Are there any questions I can answer for you, ma'am?"

Oh, so many, she thought. Her head was full of questions, but she knew he wouldn't answer any of them, so she shook her head and allowed herself to be led back towards the stairs.

"How can I contact you again?" she asked in a whisper as they approached the stairway.

"You can't," he said, shortly. "I'll contact you if necessary."

Smiling politely, he shook her hand in front of the reception desk and she was back in the bright light of day, standing on the busy street outside the arena. What now? Slowly, she returned to the hospital, thinking about leaving the dome.

The dome stretched above her, the colors almost white at this time of day, signaling heat, though the temperature was comfortable. She could walk 'outside' under the dome in only her uniform, and she knew that this day was the same as any other day on Lunar. Unlike on Earth, there was no rain, no clouds, certainly no snow. Water was shipped up from Earth and filtered onsite. There was no winter or summer, though the lights of the dome reflected the seasons in that some days were longer than others. The effect helped to preserve the circadian rhythms of those who lived here. The first Lunar inhabitants had rapidly learned how these rhythms were more important than they had first thought. Without the right light and dark cycles, the body lost track of time, both eating and sleeping became difficult, and med Workers ended up handing out thousands of antidepressants.

And the air. Again, filtered and pumped into the dome. Did it smell different than on Earth? She hadn't really noticed. There was always a sort of metallic tinge to the taste of breath in her mouth, which could be from the manufactured air, she supposed. The carefully stored water she drank could also be to blame.

She reached the hospital and bypassed the front entrance, going instead through the rear gate, where she could head straight to her quarters and avoid seeing anyone. Once in her living pod, she kicked her shoes off, grabbed her personal screen, and curled up on the couch. Her first stop was research.

Accessing histories of Lunar was easy, and there were hundreds of them. She skimmed her way through a couple of intriguing titles before giving up. Lunar histories were about the city and nothing else. Next she tried a news search, running as many combinations of "Lunar," "Out," "Moon," and "Dome" as she could come up with. Nothing, but she hadn't really expected anything. News was strictly controlled everywhere, even here on Lunar, and if out was not a place people were supposed to be, then out was not a place to be written about.