Julia Karr - Truth

“Yes, sir.” I took Dee’s hand, and we walked silently to the elport. Neither of us said a word until we got outside the hospital.

“He’s not so bad,” Dee said. “He’s just worried about Gran.”

“Uh-huh.” I let her think what she wanted. I, on the other hand, thought he was more worried about his precious reputation as a doctor.

By the time we got back to our old apartment, Chris and his friends had already packed and moved most of our things to a storage unit.

“I sent the guys home,” he said. “Everything’s done except the kitchen and these from your grandparents’ bathroom.” He pointed to a collection of bottles on the dining room table.

“Pops’s medicine!” Dee exclaimed. “He hasn’t had his pills since yesterday. Nina!” She grabbed my sleeve. “He’s got to be hurting, really bad. We have to do something.”

Chris said. “You might be able to drop these off, although…” He glanced at Dee, like he wasn’t sure how much more he should say.

“Although what?” She waited for him to finish.

“You might not get in. And if you do, they might not give them to him.”

“They have to,” I said. I’d had enough. Pops needed his medicine, and I was sick and tired of being told what to do. “In Government class we learned that it’s against the law to withhold medical treatment from prisoners if it’s doctor ordered. And all these prescriptions are doctor ordered.” I whisked them off the table into a bag. Then scrolled through my PAV for the copy of the digi I’d sent to Wei of the order the cops had given Gran. It said Pops would be taken to the downtown detention center at the main B.O.S.S. building on LaSalle and Jackson. “I’m taking these to him. Chris, take Dee with you when you’re done. I’ll meet you back at your house.” Grabbing my coat, I rushed out the door.

“Nina!” Dee ran after me to the elport. “You can’t. What if they arrest you?”

“Dee. They will not arrest me. Go back there and finish packing.”

Chris came up behind Dee. “I’ll drive you. You could use some backup.”

“I can take care of this myself. Dee needs your help more. Our twenty-four hours are up at six p.m., remember?” The elport doors opened. I stepped in and hit Close before either of them could stop me.

“Where’s detention?” I asked the reception bot.

“Stand for weapons detection,” it said. A bright light flooded over me. “No weapons found. Place hand in reader for ID scan.”

I did as I was told.

“Nina Oberon, who do you wish to see?”

“Herbert Oberon, my grandfather. He needs his medicines.” I placed the bag of bottles on the desk in front of the bot. Apparently, that was the wrong thing to do.

Sirens blared, and a booming voice intoned, “Code blue at reception. Contraband. Code blue at reception. Contraband.”

By the third Alert, I was ready to run. But there was nowhere I could go that they wouldn’t find me.

“May I ask what you are doing?” said a female voice behind me.

I spun around to find myself face-to-face with a woman in uniform, a look of curiosity on her face and a stun-stick aimed at my neck.

“I’m looking for my grandfather.” My voice radiated a confidence internally negated by the quivering in my belly. “He’s required to take these.” I reached for the bag.

“Hands up,” she commanded.

I threw my hands over my head, but I wasn’t about to back down. “Those are his meds. It’s not legal to keep them from him. It’s illegal to withhold medical necessities.”

“You seem well versed in Governing Council law.”

“I’m in school. They teach us that in Government.” My arms were getting tired, and I was more than a little scared.

The woman opened the bag with her free hand and perused the content. Gesturing with the stun-stick, she said, “Pick it up and come with me.” Keeping her weapon at the ready, she marched me across the atrium, where we went into a small office. The door clicked behind us. “Put the medicine there.” She indicated a spot on her desk. “You may sit, if you’d like.”

“I’d rather not.” Sitting felt like surrender. My eyes swept through the room. Besides the desk, there were two chairs, and a tech rack hung on the wall. That was it.

“Suit yourself.” Sheathing the stun-stick in a pouch on her belt, she selected an ID reader from the rack and scanned my information. “Hmm, Nina Oberon.” Scrolling through a digi-pad, she eventually stopped. “Ah, here we are. Herbert Oberon.” After she studied the info for what seemed like an eternity, she pressed a button on her desk. “Send a detention runner to purple corridor security office.”

Detention runner? Were they going to arrest me? My heart pounded in my chest. Gran was in the hospital, and if I got arrested, both Pops and I would be in jail, and Dee would all alone. Just as I was contemplating making a run for it, a nonhumanoid bot whirred through the door.

The woman removed Pops’s medicine bottles, scanning each one into her desk unit. “You know, you didn’t have to create a scene,” she said. “All prisoners are allowed personal medications after they are approved by the detention facility physician. I’ll have that confirmation in a moment.”

Create a scene? How was I to know the reception bot would think I was trying to get contraband to Pops? Adrenaline abating, I felt the need to move around, or I was sure I would collapse on the floor, a mass of quivering body parts. However, the room was tiny, and any movement on my part could easily be read as hostile or combative. So I stood as still as possible, even though the bot’s sensors were picking up on every twitch and sigh I made.

“All medications are approved,” the woman said. “They will be administered at the appropriate times.” She opened the bot’s front compartment, put Pops’s meds inside, shut the door, and pressed a code on the keypad. It spun around and skimmed out the door.

The woman scrutinized me. “Due to your youth, the recent loss of your mother, and your grandmother’s sudden illness, I’ve requested my superiors overlook your flagrant disregard of protocol. Should it happen again, however, you will be detained and charged with attempted breach of Bureau offices. Do you understand me?”

“Yes, ma’am.” My age was on my ID, but it was beyond me how she knew so many personal details about me and my family.

“Good.”

Pops’s incarceration, it made sense that they’d know that. But Ginnie’s death and Gran’s heart attack. There was no doubt in my mind, B.O.S.S. was tracking me.

She escorted me to the entrance. “There is not to be a repeat performance. Correct?”

“Uh-huh.”

The door shut behind me.

I was headed for the trans stop when Chris’s trannie pulled up in front of me. Dee jumped out and flew into my arms. “Nina! Are you all right? Don’t ever do that again,” she said. “You scared me to death.”

“I had to, Deeds. Pops needed his medicine.”

Chris leaned out the window. “You guys mind getting in? I’d rather not get a ticket.”

Dee took the front, and I slid into the back.

“We packed the things, and I made Chris come here first. We’ve been waiting forever,” Dee said. “Chris was ready to go in and see if you were okay.”

“Really?” I looked over at him. “I was fine.” Liar.

Chris shrugged. “Wei’d kill me if I let anything happen to one of her best friends.” Changing the subject, he said, “So they let you give him the meds?”

“You saw Pops? How is he?” Dee swiveled around.

“They didn’t let me see him. They scanned in the meds, and then a robotic carrier took them to wherever he is.”