Chapter #13

   Bluren was roughly yanked downward, by who she couldn't see. Then hand was large, covering her mouth and much of her chin, and strong. The hand steered her around and started pulling her down the hall. After getting over her alarm, Bluren's slow brain began to work again. No! It said This is not acceptable. What's going on!? She had to do something- fast.

   So she did, and it was the first thing that came to her mind. She bit down on the hand as hard as she could. With a surprised grunt of pain, Bluren's captor let go of her. Bluren whirled around and was surprised to see the boy. The one with the partially metal face, who had given her the letter from the Masters. He was holding his human hand in his mechanical one, and glaring at her as if she had broken a punishable law.

   "Why are you here?" Bluren croaked. Her voice obviously hadn't been used in a while, but still it was strong and echoed throughout the hallway. Now the boys eyes widened and he looked around frantically, as if to make sure no one was listening. "Shhhhhhhhhh!" He said, glaring again. "You have to come with me. There isn't much time before they come to retrieve you." He stood and reached for her hand, but she backed away.

   "No." She said insistently "First you must tell me who you are, why you are here, why I have to come with you, and where we are going." The boy looked exasperated and replied "Listen, all will be explained soon. You're going to be fine. I'm here to help you, and bring you to a safe place." All of a sudden there was a shout heard far away, down the hall. The boy grabbed Bluren's hand and ran with her in the opposite direction.

   This looked like the place where all of the masters usually walked around, busily going somewhere, but they were all gone. The twisted elevators were empty, and the whole place was huge and empty and quiet. The boy placed his hand on the pad beside an elevator. Instead of opening the door, the pad turned an angry red. The boy muttered something under his breath about "Already!" And "Denied access" and "have to go the hard way." .

   The boy grabbed Bluren's hand and they bolted together towards a huge staircase, leading down. They went down the stairs so fast, Bluren was sure she would end the trip by falling. On what she thought was the bottom floor, Blurn and the boy ran to the far side, where they stopped at the corner of the wall. The boy let go of Bluren's hand and began to examine the grooves in the wood wall. "Yes!" He exclaimed, and for some reason Bluren didn't know, she felt relieved, too.  The boy pressed a small button on his wrist and a little saw blade popped out of the palm of his hand.

   He continued by buzzing through the wood wall, until a good sized section was almost entirely detached. He pressed on the wall, and it fell through. There was a dark passage inside. The boy motioned for Bluren to follow. She didn't know why, but she trusted this boy. So she followed him.

                                                     Chapter #12

   New panic welled inside her as she realized this. Why hadn't she recognized her own image in a mirror? What was going on? Those deep set tired eyes were hers, as well as the bruise. How long had she been here? The bruise was fresh, so not too long. Oh, if only she could remember what had happened...

   She heard herself take in a deep ragged breath. He throat was parched. She had to get out, but how? There was another iron door on the wall with the mirror. A few painful steps and she was there, examining the handle. The door was locked of course. Bluren shuddered with the thought that someone had locked her in here. That was one of her biggest fears, not being in control of herself or her safety. 

   The lock was had a small electric handprint lock. When it rejected her own print, she decided to try something else. She crossed the room again to where the medical supplies were set neatly on a table. When she got there, however, she realized they weren't medical supplies at all. Laid out on a tray, were six screwdrivers in several different sizes, screws, and a small pile of bendable scrap metal. 

   Taking the top sheet of metal, she rolled it into a thin cord. The biggest screwdriver she used to roll the metal flat, then she folded it again, and did the same thing until she had a nice hairpin-like object. She repeated this with every piece of metal, until she had a pile of little chords. Then she punched the sharp screws into two of the chords to connect them, doing the same until she had a long strand. Now for the light. The light that was shining on the bed thankfully had wheels, and she soon assembled the her cord of metal to be touching the lock, light, and also resting on the table to keep it from falling without her having to touch it. 

   Now came the tricky part. She was going to try to break the light, cause a spark, which would travel through the cord, fry the handprint sensor, and unlock the door. The chance of her plan working wasn't very high, but it was all she had. Just as she looked up, she noticed a small circle on the wall. As she came closer, it suddenly dawned on her. A camera. She was being watched. Thinking fast, she grabbed a screwdriver and smashed the camera with it. Now she had to work quickly. She smashed the light bulb with screwdriver as well, which sent sparks flying everywhere, the room smelling like smoke, and ending with a loud sizzling sound. 

  Bluren had been covering her ears and squeezing her eyes shut, so when she opened them, she found herself in complete darkness. Standing up, she felt her way to the door, moving aside things she had used to fry the lock. She could feel a burning hope in her chest that it had worked. She felt the door knob, and it turned! A wave of sweet relief washed over her as she pushed the heavy door open. 

   Outside she was alone in a long hallway with fluorescent lights. There were doors like hers on each side. She thoughtlessly ran and looked in windows on the walls of the rooms. That's was it. A window on the outside, and a mirror on the inside. Most of the rooms were dark, but at the far end of the hall, there was a light. She ran, every step full of pain. She pressed her face to the cold glass, like a child looking eagerly into a bakery. 

   Inside was Tara, with her unruly orange hair fanned out on the hospital bed. She was still asleep- or unconscious -with the same light beating down on her tanned skin. The same table, with the same objects, were also there by her bedside. Was this a test? Just as she was about to call out to Tara, a sweaty hand clamped down on her mouth. 

                                                    Chapter #11

   Bluren's eyes were closed, but she could feel the scorching light behind her lids. Her hands were laying flat on some sort of table, with stiff parchment underneath. She clenched her hands into fists, crumpling the paper with that satisfying crunching sound. Bluren focused on her breathing. In. Out. In. Out. She thought. What position was she in? She wasn't sitting. Slowly she opened her eyes. The light burned down on her. Just now had she realized the smell of antiseptic with a trace of mint in the air.

   And then she remembered.

Bluren's first instinct was to strike, at anything, but she held herself back and strained to remember more. She didn't open the door. She must have fainted instead. It felt as if she had to pull the thoughts out of the air and insert them back into her brain. As if they were floating slowly away from her head. Then she remembered something else.

   Tara.

   She had to get out of this room and find Tara. A thousand possibilities of things that could have happened to her ran through her mind. Did they taker her? She could be outlawed. That one sent a tingling shudder down her spine. She shakily sat up on the table she found she was laying on. Her whole body ached like she had been stung several times at every joint. Bluren looked around. She was, indeed, surrounded by medical supplies. There was a long window on the wall Bluren faced as she sat on the hospital bed.

   When she came out of the sleepy daze she was in, she realized there was someone observing her on the the other side of the window. This someone had big eyes, a matching lilac colored tunic, and was sitting on her own hospital bed. It was understandable why this someone was in a hospital room. She had handprint bruise on her arm, that looked like it came from someone big lifting her up by only her arm. The girl had old eyes, even though she could be no more the thirteen. Her eyes told of knowledge and sorrow and change, all at once, which proved to be taking its toll. The girls mousy hair was in a tight french braided rope that led all the way down her back.

   Bluren gave the girl what she hoped was a sympathetic smile. The girl smiled, too. Now it was time to go. Bluren slowly let herself down from the bed, but so did the girl. That was weird. She raised her arm in the air, and the girl did the same. The girl was copying her every move, but why? Wait. Bluren took a deep breath and looked down at her own arm. There it was, the imprinted hand bruise. That wasn't a fellow patient. It was her reflection. 

                                      Chapter #10

   That night after her first day working for the masters, Bluren's feet were heavy with exhaustion. As 700 had escorted her back to her quarters that night, she had said that The Masters would give her her first task to complete the following morning. Bluren wondered what they would assign her to do. She lay over her bed with her eyes closed, mentally turning over the events of the day. The food had both pleased her then disturbed her. The freedom to freely invent all day was wonderful. This whole place was strange, unlike anything she had ever experienced before.

   Bluren was pulled from her mind by soft knocking on her door. She jumped up to peer through the peeping latch. Through the slit in the door, she saw two strikingly blue eyes smiling intently at her. Startled, Bluren jumped and slammed the peeping latch. Her heart was pounding, and her mind was bouncing around trying to figure out who that was. Not 700, she couldn't look into the latch. Who else? The mechanical boy? No, his eyes were two different shades of blue.

   Cautiously, Bluren opened the spiraling door. A second later she was engulfed in a huge fuzzy embrace. What made it fuzzy, was the curly mop of hair that surrounded the beaming face of none other than Tara. "Tara!" Bluren exclaimed "How did you get here?" She was grinning at the sight of her friend. "Well, it took quite a bit of persuasion." Tara explained "But I finally convinced the entrance guards to let me bring you your mail in person." She dug through her lumpy mail bag, and handed her a stack of advertisements.

   "Tell me everything!" Tara said, sitting on the bed and patting the spot next to her for Bluren to sit down. "Well" Said Bluren, and continued to tell Tara about the events that took place since she got the invitation.

   "Wow.... And they just gave you all this stuff?" Tara said, gesturing to Bluren's spacious room. "I guess." Replied Bluren "But I still don't know exactly what I'm doing here. 700 said that I am to build things for the masters. I'm not sure if I have any choice in what I build for them, if I can eventually go back to the beach, or what..." They sat in silence for several seconds, before Bluren spoke again "700 also said that I have some sort of appointment this week, in the medical apartment this week." Tara suddenly jerked her head up and exclaimed "Do you have any idea what the appointment is for?" In a strained, suddenly worried, voice. Bluren was caught off guard by Taras sudden alarm. "Why, no, not really. I can't remember why I didn't ask 700." She really was racking her brain to think of the reason... It all seemed fuzzy.

   Tara gripped Bluren's wrist, and forced her to look into her eyes. "Wait. Bluren-" but she was cut off by a light tapping on the door of Bluren's room. Tara's eyes darted from the door and back, but she ignored the tapping, which grew louder and more impatient with each tap. Tara was talking fast now "Bluren, how long do you think you have been here?" What? Why was Tara asking this? Bluren had told her that she had been working for... For... A day? Three? With sudden realization, Bluren's eyes filled with tears caused by panic and confusion. The tapping was pounding now, and someone on the other side of the door was yelling something, a voice to deep to be 700's. "Tara," Bluren choked "What's going on? I can't remember how long I've been here." Tara spoke in a low whisper "Bluren, this is bad. You have been here for a little over a week, and I'm sure I'm not mistaken that that scheduled appointment in the medical apartment already happened."

   There was a huge bang, and when Bluren and Tara looked up at door a long crack had formed down the middle. "Tara, you have to get out!" Bluren yelled as the next deafening bang came splitting through the air "How?!" Tara yelled. Another crack brought down a corner of the door. Through the hole in the door, could be seen the enraged face of a front door sentinel. "Bluren Steelman." He said with frightening calm "Open this door."

                                                      Chapter 9#

   Bluren waited in her inventors office for no more than ten minutes before her projects and tools were delivered at her door. The strange part was that they were delivered by the same messenger who gave her the letter from the Masters. She knew him right away from his half-steel half-human face and hands. She hadn't known what to say, so she didn't say anything other than a small thank you. The boy had stared at her as if he recognized her, too.

   The next half hour was spent unpacking musty boxes of hard drives, her own personal tools, and other various parts of potential inventions. While rummaging through, she happened to find the small wooden chest that she had packed Bethany's project in. She carefully handled the small iron diamond and set it on the table. Also inside the box, was a leather bag, about as big as the palm of her hand. Bluren undid the drawstring and took out the tiny chrome cylinder.

   This was supposed to bring down the dome connection. What was the dome connection, and why did it need to be brought down? Bethany had said that the masters were banishing people who tried to defy their intelligence. Bluren had been personally invited to work for the masters. Was she out of danger? Bluren felt a pang of guilt about what Bethany's note had said about the masters becoming too powerful. Was she just contributing? No. She was determined not to do that. Bluren would get to the bottom of whatever was going on, and find her sister in the process.

________________________________________________________________

   At around one o'clock, Bluren was interrupted from her work mapping out a blueprint, by an announcement on the loudspeaker. "Attention Masters. The hour of eating has come!" It was the voice of the boy that called her on the stage at her initiation. She still didn't know his name. "Please join in the cafeteria for a lovely meal. Please return to your offices after eating, and thank you for your work."

   The cafeteria was almost as noisy as the experimentation facility hallway, only with voices instead of machinery. People were lined up along the food counter. There were mounds of food. Everything from breakfast cereal to meat, such as chicken. This much startled Bluren, meat animals were almost never seen and seldom eaten by people of Bluren's class. She had tasted sausage once on a Christmas, and lunch meat once when she had volunteered at a Grocery and they were throwing it out. Bluren loaded her plate with anything that looked appealing. Noodles in a cheese sauce, thickly buttered rolls, a boiling onion soup with herbs and spices, and fresh cows milk, all of which were great luxuries.

   She said her prayer, and as she started to eat, she thought of the expensive breakfast rolls she used to make each morning. She thought of the people of outside The Beach that lived without home or work. She was eating enough for maybe three of those people to have a good meal. There were people she knew that thought it a delicacy to have hot soaked oats with a sprinkle of home-ground cinnamon. Bluren suddenly felt sick. How could this all be free? Where was all this food coming from? She looked around at the others in their nice clothes and smiling faces. Did they ever wonder or think of the food they might be stealing from those outside?

   Bluren ate her milk and buttered roll, but returned the rest to the counter before heading back to her work.

   

    

                                               Chapter 8#        That night, Bluren unpacked her things and laid them carefully into the armoire. She changed into a pair of the silky pajamas that came inside, and not knowing what to do next, sat on the bed thinking about all the fortuitous events that had happened lately.    To think that her top priorities had been to become Emi's best employee, earn enough money to keep her house, and to finish Bethany's project. Of course, the ladder was still important, but her life had changed so much in the past few days, her list consisted of many more things. For instance, being prepared for the exciting day ahead. In the morning she would have to be out of the dorm, which is what 700 called the girls housing place, by seven o'clock and meet her by the elevator at seven fifteen. 700 would introduce Bluren to more people, and show her where she would begin her invention work.    The clock on the wall told nine thirty, so Bluren said her prayers and pulled the cloud-like comforter up to her chin. The room was dark. Bluren could hear dogs barking below the street. Although she didn't have to worry about those dogs breaking into her house anymore, or about the cold, or the struggle to keep a good spot in the bakery, Bluren felt hollow and lonely. It was like the first night she spent all alone in the house after Bethany had gone. It was a deep loneliness, almost a fear, but more of a sadness. She closed her eyes a shut out the world, stubborn to stay that way until she fell asleep.______________________________________________________________________        Bluren's alarm went off at six fifteen. She had also discovered her spacious bathroom last night, which had the same oak wood cabinets, stocked with supplies, a bathtub/shower, toilet, and a mirror covering an entire wall of the room. She had stood in front of that mirror for several minutes, staring at the girl reflected. She had only am old green-tinged hand mirror at home, and couldn't remember the last time she had seen herself in a full length mirror. She was small, but strong. You could see that in her shoulders. Her hair was a honey color that almost matched her tanned skin. It was tied in loose bun at the back of her head, with strands falling out. She wore a light blue shirt, with faded jeans and a stained white apron still tied on. Her expression was serious but curious, paired with large eyes that couldn't decide if they were hazel or blue.    After showering, and brushing her teeth, and praying again. She changed out of her old clothes, and into one of the white dresses in the closet. The white dress was full, fell just past her knees, and fit perfectly. She slipped into the leather work boots, which were snug and comfortable. Lastly was the purple silk blazer. Pulling her long hair into its usual knot behind her head, she headed out the door.    700 was waiting by the elevator, clipboard in hand. "You look nice!" She remarked and they stepped inside. Another round of jostling, deposited them at the entrance of another hall, but this hall wasn't as nice as the dorm rooms. It seemed to be made entirely of linoleum and stainless steel, and smelled of the antiseptic used by the nurses in the small sick building at The Beach. There were heavy metal doors with hand print pads on the walls. Different sounds came from the other side of each of the doors. Sawing noises, whirring of machinery, rushing of water, people shouting random numbers, and the clicking of a thousand buttons. Bluren wished to cover her ears, but 700 was trying to speak. "This is the experimentation facility." She shouted over the raucous "This is where you will be working for the next few weeks. I will show you to you office."    As they walked down the hall, the noise only continued. Finally, they reached the door marked 475. "It already knows your print, so you can place your hand on the pad." 700 yelled. Bluren wrenched her hand from her ear, and placed it on the scanner. The door clicked open. "Hurry, inside!" 700 exclaimed, her formality slipping. When they entered and shut the door, all the noise suddenly stopped. As if by magic. The room had white walls with purple linoleum flooring, a gargantuan workbench, a tool box that was taller than Bluren, and a - blue this time - apron, with her name and number finely embroidered on the front. It reminded her of the apron she had at the bakery.    "Alright. You're inventing supplies will be brought to your office in thirty minutes, until then feel free to explore." 700 announced "I hear the masters have left you several goodies hidden around. When your things do arrive, you are to work on them until the breaks." She smiled "If you happen to need anything, I'm only one push of the button away." She pointed to a large glowing white glass button on the wall. With that 700 headed back out into the noisy hallway.                               

                                               Chapter #7

   It was surprising how much dust there was in Bluren's house. She had been packing most of the afternoon, and that meant going through old boxes. As small as her house was, she could still manage to fit at least 25 boxes of things like old projects, assortments when she was little, and things Bethany used to have.

   It was strange to think that she was leaving The Beach, a thing she had never been allowed to do. That when she finished at the Masters headquarters, she had gone straight to the bakery to resign. Emi looked concerned and asked why, but The Masters had given her instructions to tell no one of her recent employment. "Well, we will miss you Bluren." Emi said, smiling "And thank you for your help." Ciri, who didn't have to worry about his former competitor anymore, wished her the best and waved goodbye with the biggests of grins on his face. Bluren really would miss the bakery, the smells of bread early in the morning, Emi's kindness, and the happy faces of the customers buying goods.

   In two short hours, Bluren had her things packed and ready. She had been told that she would be given cloths, cooking things, and other essentials when she moved into her new quarters. It puzzled her as to why she needed to move houses, when she could just ride her bike to the Masters headquarters, although she hadn't time to ask. The things she had decided to take were several well-loved books, a small stuffed animal called a Tiger that she had won in a school contest when she was little, her pillows and blankets, and of course Bethany's project.

   After her house was cleaned, Bluren just stood for a moment staring around. This was the home she grew up in. Ever since she could remember she had lived here with Bethany. The swept dirt floor was their pen and paper. Bluren had grown up watching Bethany draw abstruse designs and blueprints with thin twigs. Bluren herself had made pictures in the sandy earth and invented stories to go with them. These years of creativity drastically slowed as soon as Bluren graduated school. She had graduated in 2470, the same year that the weather and sun had died for a whole week at a time. It wasn't just a blink in the sun or a drop in the temperature, at all went out at once, without warning. The little electricity rationed in The Beach was all of a sudden non existent.

   Bluren remembered it as being one of the only times in her life where she had actually seen the masters. There was a meeting called at the gate of the Masters headquarters, and one of the Masters had gotten up on a high balcony and announced to everyone that this problem would be over soon, and not to worry. For a week they all had to carry lanterns wherever they went, causing tiny glowing dots to dot the streets.

   A small rap at her door caused Bluren to snap out of her memories. When she opened it the same little girl with the short dark hair cut and white dress was there waiting to escort her to the Masters Headquarters. Gathering her bags under her arms, she took a last look and followed the girl out the door.

____________________________________________________________

  

   In the Masters headquarters, the girl lead Bluren through the entry hall, up the tube, past the of purposeful people, and into an entirely different section of the building. It was a quiet corridor, carpeted with a red floral print, and had homogeneous bronze circular doors running down one side of the wall as far as Bluren could see. The walls were dark wood planks, sanded and lacquered until it's was smooth and glossy. They walked down the hall until finally stopping at a door with the number 475 above the door. Bluren wondered if it was a coincidence that that was her own number.

   "This room is yours" the girl said "You can activate the door with your handprint. All you have to do is place your hand on the pad in the wall." So she did, and when she did so, her palm tingled as the pad scanned her hand. The door spiraled out into the wall and the girl motioned for Bluren to step inside. The room was so much bigger than Bluren had expected. It smelled like the cinnamon buns made at Emi's bakery. She happily inhaled the familiar scent.Plush white carpet, not unlike the one in the hall, a huge round bed with fluffy violet cushions, and an armoire made of the same dark oak. She opened it, and inside were several pairs of white dresses, purple blazers, and shin length leather work boots.

   There was one window on the side of the wall. Bluren pushed back the heavy cream colored curtains, and looked out. The window had a breathtakingly high up view of the whole town. She could see the beach, the school with children pouring out of the doors, the grasslands, and even the bakery by the ally.

   The room was wonderful, and a flood of gratitude filled Bluren's mind. She turned around. "Thank you." She said "This is the best place I've ever lived." The girl smiled. "Only the best for the masters." She said. "I have been assigned to be you guide and helper. If you ever need anything, please tell the operator on you telephone in the bathroom through that door." She curtsied and started to leave "Wait!" Bluren called "If your to help me, what should I call you?"

   "Oh, yes I forgot!" The little girl exclaimed "I am called 700."