They Know Everything

Chapter 12: (Sashierna) Rishie Nom, the Survivor

        There was a crack in the tape that was just enough to see where I was but not to reveal anything. People passed the window casually as they were oblivious to what was inside, and I had a feeling that they wouldn't hear me if I screamed. The good news was that Kaligarn was leagues away from this place right now, so I didn't have to worry about someone like him catching me int he act and taping the window up. Wherever we were was smack middle in a city. A big, bustling place full of what I could only assume to be the anxiousness of commuting from one place to another.
     I didn't get to look for long because someone knocked and came in. They had a tray of food in their hands that they placed on the end table, handing me my water bottle. I nodded as a thank you, expecting them to leave as wordlessly as they came in. However, he took it upon himself to just stand there and stare at the exit.
     "Are... you okay?" I asked him.
     No answer. I cracked open the water bottle and put it to my lips.
     "Don't drink," he said. I titled the bottle back and stared.
     "Why... not?"
     "Take this instead." He threw a can of soda my way, which landed in the sheets of my bed and rolled against the wall. "I'll be back momentarily."
     The man exited and locked the door behind him. I sat there, contemplating the water or the soda. I decided to eat first, thinking mindlessly of how strange the man was, especially in his attitude. I had the water bottle also lying in my sheets, so I was just eating away. And then my leg started getting wet. I reacted quickly by picking everything up only to realize that it was the water bottle. My eyes focused on the small needle-like hole in the cap.
     That's when he walked back in. He sat on the end of my bed, gripping the bed post. For some reason, I saw a smirk under is morph suit. A wide, dauntless smirk.
     "It was poisoned," he told me. "We were instructed to kill you in Kaligarn's absence."
     "So you let me live?" I asked.
     "Well, I did, anyway."
     The man pulled away the mask to his morph suit, giving me the slow and dramatic reveal. My eyes narrowed, then they widened.
     "C-"
     He immediately put a hand over my mouth. "Caliso is dead," he whispered aggressively.    "Don't say my name." He put the mask back on. "I'm getting you out of here by tonight."
     "What?" I exclaimed. "Kaligarn wouldn't let that happen!"
     "He'll be occupied for the day. He's going against Orvi and Aremie now, so he's stuck in a rut."
     "What are you on about? I thought you were dead! I saw you die! Rishie... saw you die!"
     He grabbed me by the shoulders. "Sashierna, calm down. I'll explain it to you. The computer files, everything."
     I closed my eyes. "What do you know about all that?"
     "Dad, Kaligarn, Aremie, and Praestin all wanted to save the world from inevitable death. They wrote down their findings of the other possible outcomes, and that's how they came up with the map for the MUT. You know all that, right?"
      "Mostly."
      "Well, Kaligarn managed to trace his own other versions that exist on the different universal planes. He found out he existed in ten, and I mean these ten universes are so completely different from each other that it's odd that there are no other versions. Because, you know, normally people exist in millions upon millions. So, you know, he started getting this twisted idea that the only way to fix it all is to destroy it. Because of this."
     Caliso pulled out a tablet and showed me an image of a planet that rotated and showed an empty surface. World 0. Its existence alone was part of the reason I was stuck in this place.
     "Did he explain what happened to this place?" he asked me.
     I nodded my head. "Yeah. He said we were variables or something."
     "Yeah, well." He handed me the tablet and pressed a few buttons. Another screen popped up with pictures of people I had never seen before in my life. Rishie and I were down there, too, but I noticed that all of them were labeled with letters. Rishie and I had the letter I on our pictures.
     "Who are these people?" I asked. "Some of them aren't even human."
     "It's hard to explain, but Kaligarn wants these people dead. He's never actually explained it, but you know I'm not going to pry and get myself killed in the same fashion as my father."
     "Oh."
     "We need to get going before he actually does get back."
     He pushed the tablet back into his morph suit, completely faceless as he unlocked my chains and grabbed me forcefully by the wrists . He told me that he had to keep up the act of being some tough guy or else he would also be killed, so I scowled at him to keep up my own act. The others though nothing of it as he pulled me farther and farther away until we were in a large opening. It... sort of resembled a lobby in some way. Maybe it once was, but all the windows were blacked out along with the walls and lights.
     "Where are you going?"
     My throat tightened as someone else appeared, but Caliso was confident in his reply. "She needs to go to the bathroom. She said she was feeling sick."
     The man grunted. "Proceed. Kaligarn will be back soon anyway, so hurry up."
     Caliso pulled me towards the bathroom, which was completely unguarded. There wasn't even an eye on this hallway, and Caliso pulled us both inside. This bathroom was black, but the window was torn apart. Whatever black tape or paint had been there before was shredded on the floor. Caliso had done this some time before. The street was open to us to escape.
     "You get out first," Caliso told me. "I'll follow you."
     I pushed the window open, feeling broken glass cut my fingers as I pushed myself through.
     "Hey!" There was a loud pounding on the door. "Anyone in here?"
     Caliso stared at me. "You need to go," he whispered. "I'll meet you there."
     "Where?" I whispered back.
     "Orvi's home office."
     I pushed myself onto the street, dropping onto the sidewalk and hearing the commotion only slightly above. The street was mostly empty and filled with abandoned buildings that had seen better days. I didn't look for long as I ran down an alley in my bare feet to find my bearings. Orvi... I hadn't heard that name before. But if that was where Rishie was, I had to find her.
     I started to find where I was after piecing together the distant suburban houses and the skyscrapers with Dad's face on them. Great. I was int eh small town Lasla I sent Rishie to, but I had not remembered it being so... dead.
     "Find her! Kaligarn will have our heads if she gets away!"
     I had to get going. I ran through more obscure alleys until I could get to a taxi that let me in and drove me on. I felt in my pockets. My money was still there.
     "You seem like you're in a hurry, Miss," the guy said to me as he drove to Orvi's. "Do you have an augment that's malfunctioning that bad?"
     Augment? "N-no, I just... I'm meeting my friend there."
    "Orvi's a good doctor. I'm sure he's doing his best with your friend."
     Orvi... I hoped he was helping her somehow.