C James - Dome Six

“That’s not our concern.”

She narrowed her eyes at him and shook her head. “Do you even hear yourself? This isn’t education — it’s indoctrination.”

“If you want me to go to Director Davis right now and get a new teacher for this cohort, I’m happy to do it. Anyone with half a brain could take your place. Is that what you want?”

She had half a mind to slug him and walk away, but she had to be smart and stay under the radar.

“No,” she said.

“Then I’d suggest you get in there and teach what you’re supposed to teach. You’re on a very, very short leash here. If you keep throwing flags with IDA, I won’t be able to protect you.”

“Are we done?”

He backed away and gestured toward the closed door. She wiped her eyes on her sleeve, smoothed her clothes, and went back in.

Of course, all the kids knew what happened and where she’d been that morning. A few were even crying for her. She couldn’t look any of them in the eye.

“Would anyone care to tell me where you left off?” she asked. No one answered. “It sounded like you were talking about macronutrients.”

“You were talking about history and philosophy,” said Vi. “You had us thinking through scenarios.”

“Yes, well, today we’re talking about nutrition.”

Tosh proceeded with the lesson she knew by heart in a fast monotone, careful to avoid her students’ confused looks. She imagined the stream of words as an unbroken string of code deep in IDA’s operating system. No peaks, no valleys, no flags. But she’d opened doors of her own and there was no turning back.

And so, about 20 minutes into class, Tosh broke down.

She didn’t even know what she was saying when it happened. She was too divorced from the present. Anger, grief, and confusion washed over her in relentless waves. She seldom let her emotions get the better of her, but she supposed she’d denied them too long. Her voice trailed off and she was racked with heavy sobs. The feeling of helplessness was so overwhelming that she soon found herself sitting cross-legged on the floor, bawling uncontrollably.

Dee, who understood her pain better than anyone in the room, rushed to her side and threw her arms around her, followed immediately by Vi. The warmth of their arms soaked into her and the floodgates opened further still. But then other students came up and joined the embrace. Not all, but many. The others already believed the Authority was right and just in all decisions. To them, Hideki’s guilt was certain, and Tosh’s loyalties were now in question. They might not say it, but they probably felt safer knowing that Dek was dead.

Until very recently, she had taught them to think this way. Day after day, year after year. The thought made her even more upset.

As her composure slowly returned, she felt cathartic. It was good to let the poison drain from her, embarrassing though it was. It cleared the path back to rational thought, and she wiped her face on her sleeve. With a bit of help from the kids, she rose back to her feet and thanked them before they returned to their seats.

The 47 faces looking back at her in tidy beige stripes were a mix of sympathy and confusion, and in that moment, she could see which ones she’d reached. Not many, but some. If there was any possible way to free them from this cycle, she felt duty-bound to find it. That was the thought that finally refocused her.

“Well,” she said. “Sorry you all had to see that.”

Byron was waiting outside Tosh’s unit when she got home. Dee held her hand the whole way.

“How you holding up?” he asked, pulling her into a hug.

“I’m okay,” she said. She’d kept so much from him. Hopefully he’d understand why. “I just want to lay in the dark with you.”

“That’ll have to wait,” he said. “Everyone’s waiting to pay their respects.”

After the day she had, being around people was the last thing she wanted but then again, they were there out of respect for her and her family. The least she could do was accept the gesture. Then she’d go check on Owen.

They made their way up to Tosh’s unit and opened the door. Vi and her parents, Greg and Susan, sat together on the couch. But to her everlasting shock, Owen was on one of the living room chairs opposite his friend, Aaron. His right arm was tucked into a sling.

His right arm?

He rose to greet her. “What’s going on?” she said, looking at the sling. It certainly appeared to contain an arm. “Is that…?”

“It is,” he said, grinning. “I got out of surgery a few hours ago,” Owen explained. “Aaron helped me round everyone up.”

“But how—”

Owen was looking past her somewhere. She whirled to see Elle standing there with a sheepish grin. “Hi, Tosh.”

“What’s she doing here?!” spat Tosh.

“Mom, relax,” Owen said, his good hand on her shoulder. “She gave the order to replace my arm. I asked her to come.”

“I thought there wasn’t enough matrix,” Tosh said.

“That was the last of it,” Elle said. “That’s pretty much it for bioprinting.”

Tosh squared up to her and said, “Look, I’m grateful you helped Owen. I am. But you can’t be here right now.”

“You need to hear what I have to say,” Elle said. “If you still want me to leave then, I will.”

Tosh turned to Owen and gave him a look that said, I hope you know what you’re doing . She chewed on her lip.

“Fine.” They took as many seats as there were. Elle and Tosh remained standing. Byron offered her his chair, but Tosh waved him off. She shrugged and said, “So talk.”

Elle spilled everything she knew — Downing’s dealings with the Company, his apparent manipulation of the evidence that convicted Dek, and even his foiled attempt to cover his tracks. Then Owen shared what he and Hideki had been working on. Everyone’s jaws hung open. Killer Macros? Signals? It sounded like bunk, but it was all too specific to be a fabrication.

Even so, Tosh trusted Elle as far as she could throw her.

“Wait,” Tosh said, thoroughly confused. “You’re telling me that Dek is still alive ?”

“I believe so,” Owen said. “The device worked. I saw it.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Dek thought it would play better at the Quietus if you didn’t know. I’m sorry.”

“There’s something else, Tosh,” Elle began. “The day your parents disappeared… I saw your dad. Moments after he tripped the alarm. He asked me to look the other way. I’m ashamed to say I did.”

Tosh stared at her, incredulous. She tried to imagine the young version of Elle confronted with such a dilemma. She couldn’t have known what her father was really up to, but she would’ve been inclined to trust him, and he wound up dead. That didn’t mean it was her fault, but Tosh could see in her eyes that she felt it was.

All eyes turned to Tosh.

She told everyone what happened the day before her parents disappeared in the FPC. Her research into her father’s movements revealed that he’d seemingly vanished near the multimeal processor, only to reappear in the same spot. But when he came to her, seemingly confused about where he’d been, she’d helped him — just as Elle did. Only that time, he didn’t come back and neither did her mother.

The story hung in the room for several seconds while everyone tried to process it. It was Greg, Vi’s father, who finally broke the silence. “You’re saying we all have these red Macros inside us?”

“Yes,” Owen said. “And if they lose the signal, they activate and kill us. That’s how the Box works.”

“And how they’d keep anyone from ever leaving the Dome,” Aaron added.