The Color of Knowledge

Chapter Six (pt. 1)

"Glad to see you made it on time, Ivy," said Enzo as he brushed some dirt off his pants. "Black suites you well."

The new work clothes had been dropped off the day before, after Ivy had returned home from the hospital. She had tried them on for her mother, careful not to mention the feeling in her gut that she was being watched.

"Thank you. It's nice to be here." Of course they were making small talk. Trying to fill the silence with meaningless words. Zari was late, and they couldn't move on until she arrived.

It was quite cold in the lobby of the Exploration Unit, mainly due to the fact that Ivy's particular black clothes had shorter sleeves than usual, being that she would be working in the field. Enzo stood with his arms crossed over his broad chest. Ivy also stood. Not knowing what to do with her arms or hands, she interlaced her fingers together in front of her and let her arms hang.

"Finally," said Enzo.

Ivy turned to see Zari running through the front doors of the building. Her fiery red hair flew behind her.

"I'm not late, am I?" she asked in disbelief. "Ivy told me we started at eleven-thirty."

"What? No I didn't."

"It doesn't matter," said Enzo, "we must be going. From now on, just know we always start at eleven."

He turned away to walk towards the basement. Zari glared at Ivy before following after. It took a moment, but Ivy gathered her anger and started after the two. Enzo led them into the gymnasium where tryouts had been held and through the door at the far side of the room. It was the same one Ivy had tried to open after she had completed the maze. This time it wasn't locked and they were met by the sunlight of early afternoon.

"Are you two excited for your first day?" Enzo asked.

Ivy grinned. She was much more than excited.

Zari pulled her hair into a ponytail. "I guess."

They continued to walk down a path lined with grass until Ivy could see the edge of The Society where three pods were docked, each a different size.

"Nadia, good morning." Enzo acknowledged the tall girl who had jumped down from the largest of the pods.

"Morning. I Just finished programming our destination."

"Great, so we might not be that off track time-wise," he said with a sideways glance at Zari, who decided it was the appropriate time to take a strong interest in her shoes.

"Sir, the papers?" whispered Nadia.

"Oh. Thank you. I almost forgot. Ivy and Zari, you must sign a confidentiality agreement before we leave. You are not permitted to discuss anything you see or hear while we are out there." He brandished two typed contracts and handed one to each.

"Why aren't we allowed to say anything?" Zari asked, crossing her arms.

"New policy," Enzo explained. "Don't argue. We are already late."

While Enzo tried to persuade Zari to sign, Nadia pulled Ivy to the side. "How was your date with Alex?" she whispered.

Ivy blushed. "It wasn't a date. How did you even know about that?"

"What did he say?"

Ivy looked around, making sure Enzo and Zari were still engaged in conversation. "He said he fell off the pod for me." She could feel her face getting hot.

Nadia's eyebrows drew together. "Figures."

"Why haven't you visited him?"

Nadia looked up to meet Ivy's gaze then looked away. "I don't know how to handle situations like that," she muttered. "You know, sometimes I really don't like myself."

"What do you mean? You're not ugly or anything."

"Not in that way. I mean in my thoughts. The way I am." She looked to Ivy. "It's not like I purposefully lack emotion; it's just not there. I wish it was, but it's not."

"I don't think it's that bad."

"Did Alex have anything else to say?"

"He thinks he'll be reassigned to the Sanitation Unit."

"Trust me, he won't be. I've already talked to Enzo about that."

"Ivy, you're up next to sign," Enzo interrupted. "Quickly now. If you wish to read the whole contract as your friend here did, I would really appreciate if you wouldn't."

Ivy took the pen in her left hand and signed her name. "I don't think you know what you've gotten yourself into with her." A look from Enzo told her he had heard.

"Okay," he said loud enough for them all to hear. "It is now twelve o'clock and we have less than four hours to work today. Unfortunately, I have to go over some basic principles before we set off."

"I don't know about Ivy, but I already know most of the basics, so you won't need to teach me much."

"And how do you know so much already, Zari?" One could tell he was trying hard to keep a smile on his face.

"I tried to tell him about her," Nadia whispered to Ivy. "I tried."

"Just know that I do," said Zari with a twitch of her eyebrow.

"Ok, great. So I'll just talk to Ivy, then," said Enzo, directing his attention away from the red headed girl. "These machines behind me are called pods. They are what we use to take us out over the earth. They can reach speeds of up to two hundred miles per hour. As you can see, they vary in size, based on how many people are in them at once. We will be using the largest, made for four people."

Ivy looked behind where Enzo stood to get a better look at the pods. They were a very dark gray, almost black in color, and shinier than a freshly pressed coin. They were similar to oversized motorcycles in their design. There was no top covering, and glass enclosed all four sides that would come up to her midsection.

"These are some of the most important machinery we will use. They are the backbone to our Unit," Enzo continued, with a certain gleam in his eye as he mentioned the crafts. "They are solar powered, of course. However, they cannot roll around on the ground. They hover about—"

"Two feet from the ground," interrupted Zari, smiling.

"Actually, three feet, but you were close," said Enzo, who's smile was even wider.

Ivy watched Zari's smirk fade as Enzo moved on.

"We'd best be off. You'll learn more hands-on, once we get out."

They all climbed aboard the largest of the pods, Zari first, of course, and then the rest. Enzo sat in the pilot's seat, and placed his hand on a tablet to be scanned.

"Once you're ready to operate one on your own, you'll have to put your handprint in the system. You can't start a pod without an authentic handprint."

"Feel free to wipe the drool from your mouth at any time," Zari whispered to Ivy, who realized her mouth had been hanging open since she had boarded. She moved away as the pod shook alive. "Shotgun!" Zari yelled as she brushed past Nadia to sit in the co-pilot's seat.

"She acts just like a child," said Nadia with a shake of her head.

Ivy was not listening. They were moving out away from The Society, and she was in awe. She had only ever looked over the edge back when she was ten years old. The earth was barren and a desert brown for as far as she could see.

"We have to descend before we can get moving," said Nadia, buckling up in one of the two empty seats in the back of the pod. "You'll want to strap in for this."

Ivy buckled into the last empty seat, which was positioned behind Enzo. "Hold on," he said with enthusiasm.

Almost instantaneously, Ivy's gut lurched into her chest and her stomach dropped. She felt as if she were on an attraction she used to ride at the fair, before The End. The ride ended almost as quickly as it had begun, and Ivy was three feet above the earth.

Looking up, she saw how high The Society was. It looked smaller than she had expected. She unbuckled the straps that held her in and stood to survey the land around her. Yawning to equalize the pressure in her ears, she turned around and observed the horror before her eyes.