~~~~~~~~~~~
Let There Be A Light
Part Four of ?
By Tchabu
It was dark and Sarah was absolutely terrified. She had no idea
where she was. She only knew sensed that she was all alone. In her
dreams, she had felt a comforting hand holding her own and heard her
brother's voice speaking reassuring words, but now he was gone. She
vaguely wondered why he had left her, but was unable to open her eyes
to find out.
***
Sydney was working busily at his desk when an aide brought him a
simple message: The Triumvirate wishes to see you. Knowing that
such highly placed Centre powers rarely bothered with employees of
his station, he immediately set out with a sinking sensation resting
in the pit of his stomach.
***
The doctor finished checking over his patient, explaining his
findings to the nurse as he cleaned up.
"Her ribs are healing well. However, her arm isn't mending
correctly; I believe it will have to be broken and set again before
it will ever be usable. Also, her vital signs show that she should
regain consciousness within the next 48 hours."
***
He couldn't see the face of the man behind the desk, but that had
always been the way the Centre operated. Sydney listened to him,
very pleased with what he heard. Every once in a while, he glanced
at Raines, who was also seated before the large desk, reveling in the
expression on his face.
Finally, the spokesman for the Triumvirate comcluded his lengthy
oration with a simple statement. "The project known as Sarah will be
reassigned in entirety to Sydney." He let it hang upon the thick air
before Raines began to protest vehemently, arguing that "it" had been
his project for a decade. "Silence, Raines! You have produced NO
successful projects in many years. The Kyle project, for example,
was a complete and utter disaster." Turning to Sydney, the man
said, "Sarah will most likely regain consciousness within hours, so I
would advise you to be available when she does. If you violate any
of the conditions I have given you, you will be promptly removed from
this project and severely punished. You are both dismissed. Go now!"
***
Sarah's eyelids fluttered open and were confronted by a glaring
fluorescent light. She wondered groggily where she was as her eyes
adjusted to the brightness. After scanning the nearly empty room,
she knew that she was in a tiny space with stark white walls, a
chair, her bed, and a dark security camera mounted in a corner. For
some reason, the blinking red light gave her an uneasy feeling and
she struggled to get up. However, a heavy wave of agony hit her and
forced her back down to the bed.
With all of the pain, fear, and heavy medication, Sarah couldn't
clear her head enought to get an intelligible thought through to
herself. In her mind's eye, she suddenly saw a face, and she reached
around in her memory to find a name. She recognized him instantly;
his dark hair and soft brown eyes were so familiar. She grinned in
triumph as his name came to her.
Jarod. With that, memories came flooding back to her: all the time
she had spent with her brother, everything he had taught her, and and
all of the years she had spent at the Centre, where she realized she
now was. Still, she had no idea what had happened to her or why she
was in a cast and had taped up ribs. Why had she been unconscious?
And where was Jarod? Knowing the Centre, he was probably off
somewhere being tortured.
Sarah suddenly felt a chill. There was no way for her to know where
her brother was and whether he was safe, and that thought worried
her. She lay there shivering, staring at the wall, until Sydney
arrived about ten minutes later.
He smiled warmly and pulled the chair up next to the bed. "It's good
to see you finally awake. How are you feeling?" No answer. She
continued to stare past him. Sydney tried again. "You've been in a
coma for about five weeks. Tomorrow, your right arm will have to be
reset so that it can heal properly." This time, she turned her head
and met his eyes.
Sarah whispered one word. "Jarod?" she asked. It was barely
audible, but the psychiatrist caught the hope in her voice and her
eyes. He hated himself for answering as they had instructed him to.
"Sarah, I'm sorry, but your brother has been killed. His body was
discovered a few days ago. He had been shot several times." At
least they could have gone with the old freak accident story, Sydney
thought. He had no idea why they had switched over to murder after
all these years. Secretly, he hoped that she wouldn't believe the
lies, but knew that in her weakened and heavily sedated condition,
she wouldn't even think that he wasn't telling the truth.
The girl looked as if she had been slapped. The little bit of color
in her cheeks drained away, leaving her very pale and weak-looking.
The spark of hope died away and she turned her head to stare at the
wall again, dry-eyed and motionless, until Sydney quietly let himself
out.
She was alone now. Not just in the room, but in the world. Jarod
was the only real family she had ever known. Sarah remembered very
little about her adoptive parents, except for the last few moments of
their lives, and none of the foster homes had ever felt like home.
Not only had Jarod taken care of her and taught her about the world,
he'd been her friend. The only other person Sarah could call a
friend was Angelo, but that was different.
The girl lay there for a long time, feeling numb and very much in
shock. Finally, however, she drifted into a dreamless slumber.
***
"She regained conscoiusness today," Sydney stated intot he telephone,
skipping any formalities. In the same moment, he silently prayed
that the line wasn't tapped and wondered why he suddenly felt so
incredibly old and weary.
"Have they come to a decision yet?" the voice on the other end
replied. Jarod was both anxious and fearing the answer.
"Yes." Sydney paused. "She is assigned to me from now on." Jarod
breathed a sigh of relief, but before he could speak, his mentor
continued. "Jarod, there are certain conditions I must abide by for
Sarah to remain in my care."
"What are they?"
"Your sister is to remain in Renewal Wing until she is able to return
to her old 'space.'" This comment brought a sigh that sounded
desperate and angry at the same time. "Secondly, she must be
pretending again withing eight months, and--," here he was
interrupted.
"Do they expect her to Pretend for them after she knows what they do
with the sims? Much less after she has been out in the world for all
this time?"
"Jarod, you have to understand that, since she is so talented, the
Triumvirate has decided that she will go back to doing sims, whether
she wants to or not." He spoke tha last phrase bitterly, knowing
what it would mean to his new charge.
"I KNOW she's talented. At fourteen, she's better than I was at
twenty-five. Do you have even know what she did?" Without waiting
for an answer, he continued. "With nothing better to go on than the
place a child disappeared from and a picture, she simulated the
kidnapping of a little girl, becoming both the child and the
kidnappers. Then, she found the little girl and rescued. This all
took her less than three hours."
"Three hours?!?" Sydney gasped. "She was never even given any sims
that complex."
"Well, think of how they'll try to use her now, Syd." There was a
short silence.
"There are two other conditions I have not yet told you about."
"Go on."
"In order for your sister to remain in my care, instead of Raines',
she must believe that you are dead."
"So what's the story this time?" Jarod burst out angrily. "Have I
been killed in a plane crash, like our parents?" He spat the words
out, the rage apparent in his voice.
"I'm so sorry, Jarod. I don't want to go along with this, but I'd rather lie than have Raines in charge of Sarah."
"Thank you, Sydney. I'm sorry I shouted."
"Don't apologize, Jarod." After another long silence, he said, "I'm
worried. Starting tomorrow, she is required to have daily sessions
with Lyle as part of her re-integration into the Centre."
"Lyle? Isn't there anything we can do to stop them?"
"Believe me, Jarod, I've tried. the Triumvirate is extremely
stubborn on this point."
