Beyond the Sky by J W Lynne

Author:J W Lynne [Lynne, J W]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-01-30T00:00:00+00:00

THURSDAY, JULY 7

2226

SEVEN

When Ten returns to our dormitory, he brings with him a large black box. Quietly, he sets it down, careful not to disturb Fifty-two, who is lost in her dreams.

“What’s in the box?” I ask softly.

“You said you wanted go on tonight’s mission.” He pulls out a helmet and two sim suits and places them on the bed. “I was able to synch a helmet with Miss Teresa, so we can follow along with her in the sim suits. If you still want to.”

Uncertain excitement floods into me. “Why wouldn’t I want to?”

“Ryan forbade us from doing this,” he says.

“He said he didn’t want us going on the mission physically …”

“He told me just now that he doesn’t want us doing this either.”

“Why not?” I ask.

“I think he’s worried about emotional trauma,” he says.

Ten and I have been through many emotional traumas. We both carry painful scars in our hearts. Even though sometimes those scars make us feel weak, I know they have made us stronger. I look deep into Ten’s eyes and I know that he wants to proceed with this. And I do too. I reach out and grab a jumpsuit and start putting it on over my clothes.

As Ten begins putting on the other one, he launches into a quiet explanation, “This will probably be more like watching a movie than doing a sim. We can see only what Miss Teresa can see … which is a three-hundred-sixty degree view of her environment.” He picks up a helmet. “I only got a chance to synch one helmet, so we’ll have to take turns.” Ten is about to put on the helmet, but he hesitates. “Miss Teresa said it would make her less anxious if we were watching.”

“Then I’m glad we’re going,” I say.

“Me too.” He puts on the helmet and, a moment later, he begins to describe what he’s seeing, so I can follow along in my mind's eye. Right now, Miss Teresa is sitting inside an aerial drone, along with a few other robots and some human soldiers, as Ryan briefs them on the mission.

As I listen to Ten, I think back to the sim we did with Ryan. I remember how Ten, Ryan, Twelve, and I stood in a circle, holding hands, just before we were drawn into that horrible place of death. I shake away that terrible memory, but something sticks. We started the sim holding hands. Maybe if Ten and I hold hands now, we can both see Miss Teresa’s mission.

“They’re going to be departing in two minutes,” Ten says.

“What if we hold hands?” I ask him.

“What?” he asks distractedly.

“That’s what we did before the sim with Ryan. I wonder if that connects the sim suits?”

Ten shrugs. “I guess it’s worth a try.”

I take the other helmet out of the box and put it on. In front of me, a menu appears with numerous strings of numbers beneath it. Are all of them sims? Could there really be that many of them?

There’s no time to think about that now.

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