The Rainbow Maker's Tale by Melanie Cusick-Jones
* * *
The Family Quarter had turned dark in the time it took me to walk from the café to Cassie’s apartment, and then back to the central area at the edge of the Green and Blue Residential Zones. As the mirrored ceiling had tilted into artificial night, softer lights came to life on the outside of the buildings and tall street lamps. We learned at school that the normal cycle of day and night had been imitated on the SS Hope to give inhabitants a sense of comfort and familiarity. Normally, it seemed odd to me that we created a false darkness on the station, only to illuminate it, but for once I actually found something comforting in the change. Perhaps, it was because tonight I wanted to hide in the shadows and make use of the darkness.
Across the plaza ahead of me loomed The Clinic. In daylight it was so clean and bright you could barely stand to look at it, but now in the dim light the reflections disappeared and instead you could see the movements inside the building, through the transparent façade. I watched a few dark suited figures gliding through the rooms, watching over the patients as they rested. It looked quiet, just as I had hoped. All the daytime services that operated in The Clinic had finished running at 6.00pm and so, few staff would still be here now unless they were working on the occupied wards.
I dropped onto a bench, pulling my day sac onto my knee so that I could activate the portable viewing screen inside, without taking it out. As I waited for the system to warm up, I listened to the happy splashing sound of the water in the fountain, not two metres from where I sat.
In daylight hours I liked watching the patterns the droplets would make as they sparkled and tumbled over one another. I would often wait here to accidentally run in to Cassie at the end of a placement day; enjoying the peace after a few hours with Olivia. There was something real about the fountain. I could appreciate the freedom water had – at the same time I resented its easy liberty! The only force each droplet adhered to was gravity, albeit the specially created gravitational field that operated on the space station. The water went up and came down, but everything in between was unknown. I wished my life had such opportunities.
Beep.
The viewing screen was ready. As I reached my fingers towards the keypad, I suddenly realised that I might actually get my wish. With everything I’d been doing recently, perhaps I was creating my own opportunities. Right now, I was going to try something I had never dreamed of previously, and I had no idea what the consequences might be if I got caught. In the past, had I been scared to push myself this far? I couldn’t be sure, but I knew that today – when Cassie needed my help – I was going to do this.
Was that what Scarlett had wanted from Cassie? For her to push my boundaries?
My fingers moved across the screen and within seconds I had logged into the main Family Quarter computer system. It was easy to navigate and I had a good general knowledge of pretty much everything that happened in the Quarter, based on what I had learned over the last few years. With a few swipes and taps I was able to work my way into any area I wanted – with the exception that I couldn’t get to any systems beyond the Family Quarter. From what I could see, there was a completely independent setup from the systems that ran the wider space station, even the Retirement and Married Quarter systems were not connected to ours. The independence of our system was only a minor irritation today, because I wasn’t looking for information on what existed beyond the grey resin boundary walls of the Family Quarter.
Without really focusing on what I was doing, my fingers had automatically guided the screen to the engineering blue prints for The Clinic. I scanned the image, zooming in when I found a likely candidate for the medicine storeroom, and zooming out when I realised it wasn’t.
Finally, I reached the basement level. There were two floors that extended below the ground level of The Clinic. According to the blueprint, the medicine storeroom was immediately beneath the great entrance hall. And it was huge.
Zooming into the plan again, I was able to pull up the security settings for the area. There was a general access keypad at the main entrance to the corridor leading to storerooms – Level 3 clearance. That wouldn’t be a problem: watching my Father over the years, I had memorised all of his number-chains, which ran to Level 4 areas. However, the main medical store itself was a different matter. This was a swipe reader, and I knew that the only people issued with swipe cards in The Clinic were the Medics themselves.
“Damn it!” I muttered. If I had already qualified as a Medic, this wouldn’t be a problem, but I was just a Medic’s son.
Just a Medic’s son…
The words repeated themselves in my head, and sparked the beginning of a plan. Closing down the viewing screen, having already memorised the route I needed to take, I hopped up from the bench and slung my bag across my body.
With one last glance at the fountain, I realised that I was getting my wish to be as free as the water that flowed there. I was here right now, but what would happen next, was completely unknown. Trying not to grin, I set off toward the welcoming entrance of The Clinic.
The scanner in the doorway beeped softly as I passed. I barely noticed the familiar sound as it registered my mark, although out of habit I looked down at the small combination of shapes tattooed in black onto the inside of my right wrist. It never changed no matter how much I looked at it, but I could just never shake the feeling that it should.
The usual crowds were absent this evening and the large entrance hall was quiet, except for a few Medics passing through from one area to another. A couple of parents – I assumed – were leaving for the night, one looking calm, the other…scared? I turned away, uncomfortable at the unfamiliar show of emotion in an adult.
This evening there was a lone receptionist seated at the large reception desk off to one side of the hall. The counter would normally be filled with five people during the daytime and so the woman looked abnormally small as she perched behind the long narrow desk. At the sound of the scanner she looked up, glancing at me and then turning to the screen beside her. I had no choice but to go over.
As I drew nearer I realised that the receptionist was not an adult, as I’d first thought. The biggest giveaway was the fact that she smiled at me as I approached.
“Hi?” I said as I reached the desk. She was looking at me expectantly – as if we knew each other – and it made my greeting sound unsure, when I hadn’t meant it to.
“Hello Balik,” she smiled brightly back at me.
There was something familiar about the girl, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. It wasn’t her face; not the icy blue eyes or dark hair swept up into a high ponytail, showing off bright indigo stripes in her fringe. The girl’s gaze flicked over my features in return, and the curve in her mouth widened further.
“Erm, hi?” I repeated, unable to remove the question from my tone. When she didn’t offer anything else, I found curiosity got the better of me. “Do we know each other?”
“No,” she laughed, shaking her head from side to side, making her multi-coloured ponytail flick out. “When you scanned in, your details came up on my screen.” A brief wave of her hand in the direction of the viewing screen reinforced her words, although she didn’t bother looking that way.
“Oh, right.” I bobbed my head once in understanding.
“But, I know who you are.”
My eyebrows twitched upward in an unspoken question. The girl giggled a little, the noise squeaking in her throat.
“What I meant to say is that you’re on placement with a friend of mine – Olivia – she’s been saying you’re going to meet us nearly every day since she started, but you’re always doing extra work or have plans…”
Her words trailed off in an odd way: it wasn’t the end of a sentence or a direct question. When she added nothing else, I realised that I would have to say something.
“I – Olivia – yeah, we’re placement partners.”
“It must be nice to have someone to talk to while you’re on placement,”
I struggled not to laugh out loud. How nice would it be not to have Olivia chattering away at my elbow for eight hours a day? I didn’t laugh. Instead I said, “That doesn’t sound like fun at all.”
“So, how come you’ve never come to meet us? Olivia’s always saying how good friends you two are.”
I managed to control the surprise I felt, and at the same time something deflated in me. I may not be good with other people, but I could read them well enough. By the sounds of it Olivia did like me. Just as Cassie had said – just as I had suspected.
“We are, I just – it’s tough being on the Medic rotation – that’s why I came on the extended placement. It’s been even harder than I thought it would be, if I’m honest.”
“I’m sure you’re doing well,” she smiled.
“I don’t know about that – I probably forget more than I remember!” I gave her a sheepish grin, hoping I looked honest. “I’ve had to come back now because I’ve forgotten something.”
“It’s pretty late,” she glanced at the time on her viewing screen, “there’s not many Medics left from the day rotations.”
“I know. It’s actually Mother I’ve come to see, I’ll probably only be a few minutes.”
“Oh, OK.” She sounded a bit disappointed, maybe hoping that I’d stay and chat longer to help her pass some time on her shift. Definitely picked the wrong person for that!
“Do you know where you’re going?”
“Yes, thanks.” I was confident in both my knowledge of The Clinic and the blueprint I’d looked at. The next part would be the most difficult.
“Thanks for your help…” I backed away from the counter, heading in the direction of the lifts.
“Kerry,” she filled in for me.
“Thanks Kerry, I’ll see you in a few minutes.”
“Great,” she grinned at me, just before I turned around.
At the bank of lifts I pressed the number seven for the floor I wanted and waited for the lift to arrive. A few moments later, the white doors swished softly open and I stepped inside.
As the doors closed behind me a computerised female voice advised: “Destination Level Seven, Biochemistry and Development Ward.”
It was a bit of a leap, but I knew that Mother worked regularly in Biochemistry and that the labs were usually covered by other Medics during the night, so I was expecting to find someone there with access permissions similar to hers. I just hoped my hunch was right.
As I entered the lab my mark triggered the scanner at the door. I looked around and at first saw no one, until a quiet cough drew my attention towards the back of the room. A young Medic was working alone at a long white bench, he held a pipette in one hand and a small test tube in the other. The inquisitive cough and the way he was staring at me now made it obvious that I’d disturbed him. He was probably only a couple of years older than me, but his dark blue suit clearly showed that was a fully qualified Medic.
“Can I help you?”
I kicked my feet into moving forwards, reminding myself that I had come here for a reason.
“Yes, hi, I’m Balik.”
No response. Cassie was right – we do turn into our parents once we start working with them. It was surprising this guy hadn’t already eloped, there weren’t many young people that stayed here for more than a year or so after successfully completing their placements…although it was the ones who left before placement that surprised me more.
“I was looking for my mother, I needed to ask her something.”
“You didn’t message her.” It was a statement, not a question.
“Er, no.” I agreed. Wow, you sound like a real idiot. Get your brain in gear and lie better! I stepped closer. “I was just passing on my way home and thought I would stop in to see her.”
“It’s quite late – she must have been on the day rotation and finished already.”
“Yeah,” I nodded, taking another two paces forward to join him at the bench. “What are you doing?”
“Hormone sampling for some new babies, just checking the levels are all OK. It’s standard stuff.”
“Interesting,” I noted, leaning forwards to peer into the test tube rack as though it was particularly intriguing.
“It’s standard stuff.” He repeated.
“Sure,” I stepped away from the counter, pushing my hands deep into my pockets, disguising the fact that I’d just lifted the man’s Medic pass off the clip on his suit belt. “Well, thanks anyway, I’ll head home now.”
He didn’t even bother to say goodbye as I walked from the room. My main focus was on trying to keep my steps as normal as possible, even though I wanted to run as fast as I could. When I turned at the door to look back, he had already returned to work.
I pressed my hand to the panel and the door opened, registering my leaving with a quiet beep. By the time the door slid shut I was already in the emergency stairwell, jumping down the steps.
I jogged down the stairs until I came to the ground floor. I hadn’t bothered with the lifts, as I already knew from using them a few minutes before there was no option to take you to the basement levels. No doubt there was only a service lift to this area, and I’d never used one in The Clinic before, so it would just have made things harder to look for it now. The stairs were good. I had seen the markings on the blueprint and knew that they went to the lower levels from where I stood now. Taking hold of the handrail, I began my descent more slowly this time.
As I came to the bottom, the last step opened out into a small square space with blank walls. The lights were dimmer here – not the bright white of the upper levels – and I squinted to try and make out my surroundings. I knew there had to be a door here, but nothing was immediately visible.
Having stared at the blank walls for a few seconds, I realised that the one place I hadn’t looked was behind me. I dropped down onto the landing and walked back on myself. Through the dim light I saw a doorway, concealed beneath the closed treads of the stairs I had come down. This was it.
To the left hand side of the door was the standard keypad. I ran my fingers across the panel, navigating to the correct screen and then inputting Father’s maintenance access code. A second later, the light in the panel changed to white and the door slid open. I looked around for a scanner, but there didn’t seem to be anything at all here – perhaps they never expected anyone to tamper with the systems? No scanner, meant no way to trace who had been here. “Perfect,” I grinned and stepped through the opening.
On the other side of the door was a service corridor. The passage was darker and smaller than the ones in The Clinic above, not much different to the ones I’d seen in areas of the engineering sector – my trips there had also been courtesy of Father’s pass codes. There wasn’t time for comparison though, I needed to get in and out as quickly as possible – I was pretty good at lying, but there would be no way to explain my presence here if I got caught.
Moving swiftly down the corridor I glanced at the doors and closed rooms either side of me as I passed. The air felt thicker in the narrow passage as I went deeper, and I detected a faint chemical smell to it that felt less pure than I was used to in the station. I recalled that the first three doors on my left were to access the main engineering equipment that ran The Clinic’s air and thermocontrol systems. That would explain some of the smells.
A dozen more paces along, I stopped. On my right was a door with a sign beside it that read: Room B.19. There was no description alongside, but I knew this was the right place, just like the blueprint had shown. The swipe access was also there – just like on the plans – the other doors I had passed had keypads or no additional security features at all.
With a slight thrill of excitement and trepidation, I slid the stolen card through the reader and watched in awe as the light turned from red to green. The door clicked very quietly and I turned