Compile:Quest

Chapter 39: External Stimuli

Peppermint's Room, Lambent Laboratories, Cell 3,

Africa Dome

Peppermint's eyes fluttered open. Her heart clenched. Where was she? She scanned the small room, the narrow bed, her strange clothing. When memory flooded back, she sat up, clutching the thin blanket to her chest, blinking.

It wasn't some weird dream? Why wasn't she in her own bed, Nick and Maple in the kitchen arguing about breakfast. Her head slumped forward, resting on her drawn up knees. Nick and Maple. Her head tipped to the side. She tried accessing her weConnect, but everything was still greyed out.

"Phoenix, is there any way I can send a message?"

"Good a.m., Peppermint. Who would you like to send a message to?"

"Nick and Maple."

"You are not connected to the Africa Dome's network. Messages you send now will only be delivered once you join—"

"Just forget it." She hauled herself out of bed.

Peppermint caught sight of herself in the bathroom mirror. She wore long, soft pants and a long sleeved, button-up shirt. In pink. She drew away the elastic band of the pants with her thumb. Same underwear as yesterday.

"Okay..." she whispered.

She stripped off the foreign clothes and chucked them in the clothes dispenser in the bathroom, watching as they disappeared into the dark depths of the chute.

The shower synchronised with her profile the instant she stepped inside, releasing the perfect temperature, jet intensity, and spray pattern of water onto her body. She stayed inside until her legs wobbled and her skin pruned.

Peppermint wrapped a towel around herself, combing fingers through her hair as she walked into her room. She selected one of her usual outfits from the weDress and stood, shoulders slumped, waiting for it to arrive. Her mind recalled memory after memory of the previous day. With each new arrival her grip tightened on the towel.

A psi? Really? She shook her head. Meditation, random picture guessing. Another shake of her head. What would Nick and Maple think about all this when she told them? They'd laugh, for one. Tell her she was hallucinating, secondly. And probably tickle her to death, like they always did when she tried telling a joke.

What was that ancient saying? Absence makes the heart grow fonder? She could feel it now. A longing grew inside her with every second she was apart from her clustermates. They'd been friends since the Academy. After a night of drunken, drugged-up debauchery, their friendship had transmuted into something more. They'd been inseparable ever since.

Her clothes arrived. She whipped them out of the dispenser and flung her towel on the bed as she went to work on the plastic with her teeth. She freed the clothes from their packaging and slipped into a pair of generic white undies.

The door to her room slid open as she stepped into her jeans. Peppermint squealed and attempted leaping behind the meagre cover of the bed, but her ankles tangled. Her hip struck the carpet. She turned her head, staring in astonishment at Jasper standing in the doorway.

"Get out!" she cried when he didn't move.

Jasper's eyebrows met, his brown eyes widening as he raised his hands. "I'm so sorry—"

"Out!"

The man rushed from the room. Peppermint picked herself up and rubbed at her hip. She tugged a green tank top over her head and scowled at the door. Then she gathered up the clothes packaging and threw it into the dresser receptacle.