Chapter three – what's in a name?
What if, in the escape of '09, Max hadn't escaped with the others? What if Jondy had tried to save her when she fell in the ice, but in the end they both got caught?
…
'10 (same day as end of chapter one)
That night, after lights out, Jondy and Max went exploring again. They knew that the new X-5's were bunked in this barracks as well, but they had no idea which ones were where. They decided to search the girls' hallway first and then the boys. Starting at their door, they knew that in the room across from theirs were Elia and Jace, and Trix and Gem were in the room to the left of Max and Jondy's. That only left seven other rooms. Three on their side, and four on the other, and only six would be used.
They decided to begin with the room to the right of theirs. Like all rooms, there was a bed on either side, with just enough room to pass between them. The beds faced each other, so that the toes of each soldier pointed at the other bed. Looking at the soldiers in the beds, they saw that 453 and 211 occupied this room.
"Look Maxie, 453 looks just like you."
"Yeah and 211 looks like you Jondy. Except she's taller than you are."
"So. 453's taller than you as well."
"Jondy. Everyone's taller than me, and I'm the only person you're taller than."
"I know. But look, they're actually sleeping. I mean, if they look like us, doesn't that mean that they were made like us? And wouldn't that mean that they don't need sleep either?"
"I dunno. Maybe they're just pretending."
"Should we go check?"
"Jondy! We shouldn't so that."
"So. Come on, it'll be fun. We can surprise them. I'll wake 453 up, and you can wake 211 up. See what they say when they see us. Please Maxie?"
"Alright. Lets do it!"
Jondy silently opened the door, and her and Max slipped in, silent as ghosts. Jondy went over and stood in front of 453's bed, while Max stepped up to 211's.
"Ready?" Jondy whispered. "On the count of three. 1...2...3. Wake up time!"
453 shot up in bed, looking at Jondy.
"211?" she asked, just as 211 asked "453?"
"Ha ha, tricked you. Fooled you didn't we?" Jondy asked, while Max laughed.
453 looked around Jondy, to see 211 lying in her bed.
"But if 211 is over there, then who are you?" 453 asked Jondy.
"I am Jondy, queen of Jondyland."
"And I am Max, queen of Maxland."
"Queen of where?" 453 asked.
"No where. We're only kidding. You know, a joke." Max replied.
"A what?" 453 asked.
"You don't know what a joke is?" Jondy was stunned.
"No, we weren't taught about joke. What is it?"
"A joke is something you laugh at. Something you find funny." Max explained.
"Oh. I know what funny is, but what is laugh?" 453 asked.
"Laughing is what Maxie was doing before. Let them hear it Max."
"But I can't laugh just because Jondy. I need a reason."
"Alright, remember the look on their faces when they woke?"
Max began laughing again, remembering the classic look of confusion that they had both had.
"That, my sister, is laughing."
"Sister." 453 stated.
"Yeah. You're my sister. So is 211 here, and Maxie. All of the other girls are our sisters, and the boys are our brothers. They are our family. A family is a group of people who look after each other, and love each other."
"They probably don't know what love is Jondy," Max said, having recovered from her laughing fit. She began to explain it to them. "Love is a feeling. It's like a burning in your heart that makes you feel good. Love makes you happy, and it tells you to look after the people you love. I love Jondy and she loves me. We look after each other. We are sisters."
"So if I look after 211, then I love her right?'
"Can she make you smile?" Jondy asked, "And when you are hurt, does she tell you it'll be ok, and that makes it all feel better?"
"Yes."
"Then you love her."
"Oh. Does the Colonel love us?"
"No. No. He might look after us, but he doesn't love us. He makes us do things that we don't like. He hurts us. Doesn't he Maxie?"
"Yeah."
"Ok. Why do you call her Maxie? And why does she call you Jondy? Is that some kind of rank?"
"No. Jondy's my name. And Max is her name, but we call her Maxie. Don't you have names?"
"No. We are 453 and 211. You have designations too, don't you?"
"Yes, but we only use them when the Colonel or a TAC leader is around. Mine's 210 and Maxie's is 452."
"210, that's only one digit off 211's, and 452 is one digit off mine. Why?"
"Look at us." Jondy commanded, "Can't you see that you, 211, look like me, and 453 look's like Max? We are like twins."
"But, you have different eyes to me Jondy," 211 spoke for the first time since waking.
"You do?" Jondy looked closely at 211's eyes and saw that while they were blue like hers, they were a very dark blue, much darker than Jondy's light blue.
"I guess you do." Jondy stated. "They're the same color as mine, but they are a lot darker. Do you two have the same eye color?" she asked 453 and Max.
Max looked. "Nope. Hers are a light brown. Mine are dark brown."
"Well, apart from that, we look alike. I think that we are made of the same genes," said Jondy.
"But if we have the same genes, then why don't we have the same designation? And why are our eyes slightly different?" 452 asked.
"I dunno. Maybe they didn't want us to look totally identical, and so they changed us a little. And our designations have to be different, because they can't have two people with the same one. It would be too confusing."
"Oh. I get it."
"Would you like a name?" Max asked suddenly. "We could give you one, and you can use it at night, and when we're not being watched."
"Could we?" 211 asked eagerly.
"Yeah. I'd like that." 453 answered. "I want a name like yours Max. Something simple and short."
"How about Sam?" Max asked.
"Sam. Sam. I like it."
"Alright Sam it is. Why don't you give 211 a name, Jondy?"
"Ok. What kind of name do you want?"
"I want a strong name. Some thing different."
"Strong. How about Lex?"
"No. I don't want Lex. Some thing else."
"Ok. I know, how about Toni?"
"Toni. T. O. N. I?"
"Of course, Toni." Jondy replied.
"Now that you have names, you have to help us give the rest of your team names. We can do it now, if you want? Cause me and Jondy are trying to find out who's in which room. You can come with us and help."
"Alright. Come on Toni, let's go."
Jondy and Max led the two girls out of the room, and into the hallway. They pointed out their room to the girls, and then began their mission.
"We should start with that room," Jondy suggested, pointing at the room opposite Sam and Toni's. It was the last one on that side of the hallway, just as Sam and Toni's was the last one on their side.
The four girls walked up to the window in the door, and looked in. Max and Jondy saw two girls, one who looked like Trix and the other looked like Eva.
"That's 717," Sam said, pointing at the one who looked like Eva, "And the other ones 002."
"Do you want to name them? Or should we?" Toni asked.
"Why don't we ask them?" Jondy whispered.
"But, we shouldn't wake them." Sam whispered back.
"That's what Maxie said, but who cares. Unless they would tell on us? Would they?"
"002 might, but I don't think she will. 717 won't."
"Well let's do this then shall we?"
"Ok."
This time, Maxie opened the door, and let the other three in, before entering herself. When she got in, Toni and Sam had already awoken 717 and 002.
"What do you think you're doing 453, 211?" 002 asked.
"We have names now 002. I'm Sam, and 211 is Toni."
"What? Who gave you names?"
"Max and Jondy did."
"Who?" 717 asked.
"Max and Jondy. That's Max, or 452, and that's Jondy, or 210. They already had names, and they gave us one. We wanted to give you names."
"Why would we want names?" 002 asked, even though she had already decided that she wanted one.
"Because it gives us something to call each other when there's no guards around. It's just a name 002."
"Alright, but why not wake up the other's first, and we can do it all at once?"
"Good idea. Can you help us wake them up?"
"Sure. Jondy, Max, do you want to wake up the rest of your unit while we wake up ours?"
"Sure. But only wake up the girls now, we can do the boys after that. The boys are in the next corridor anyway. And when you wake them up, tell them to come into mine and Max's room. It's the one over there." Jondy pointed out the room, before the six girls left to wake the others up.
"Jondy," Max whispered.
"Yeah Maxie?"
"Do you think anyone will tell?"
"I don't think so. Now come on, you wake up Elia and Jace, and I'll wake up Trix and Gem."
Five minutes later, eighteen girls were crowded into Max and Jondy's room. Max and Jondy had moved the beds around so that they were both under the windowsill. When the last of the girls had come in, Max and Jondy had pulled Toni and Sam up to stand on the bed with them. Commanding the other girls' attention, Jondy began to speak.
"My sisters, welcome. Max, Toni, Sam and I have called this meeting for an important reason. Max and I were talking tonight to 453 and 211. They told us that none of you Beta team have names. So we named them. 453 is now Sam, and 211 is Toni. We decided that all of you should have a name, which you can use at night and when there are no guards around. I know that the Alpha team does have names already, but we wanted your help to name them. What do you say girls?"
"Yes," was the chorused reply.
"Alright then. When Toni or Sam calls out your designation, I want you to step up onto the bed, and we will find you a name. Understood?"
"Yes, ma'am," the rest replied, all of them excited.
"Ok, let's start with oldest first," Sam called, "That means you 717."
717 hopped up on the bed, and looked around.
"Who's going to give 717 a name? Any one?"
"What about Julia?" Jace called out.
"Nah, that doesn't sound right," another Beta remarked.
"I like Julia, but I agree. It doesn't sound quite right."
"Why not Jules than?" Max asked.
"Yeah!" cried the other girls.
"Jules it is. Now, for our next victim, 002. Come on 002, hurry up."
002 walked up to the bed but didn't hop up.
"Come on 002, hop up here!" Jondy mock order.
"No. I already know what I want to be called. I heard the Colonel talking to a lady today, and her name was Aly. I want to be Aly." With that Aly walked to the back of the room, to stand guard at the door once more.
"Ok. That one was relatively harmless. And now we need 735."
When Max saw 735, she whispered in Jondy's ear, "Brin!"
Toni heard her, and asked, "Who's Brin?"
735 looked up, "Brin. I like that name."
"I'm sorry 735, but that's the name of my sister, 734. But you can have something like it." Max said quickly, ashamed that Toni had heard her.
"How about Brit?" Jondy suggested quickly.
"Ok then."
This continued until every girl in the room had been named except one. 657. She hadn't liked any of the names that her sisters had come up with, and had told them to name the others first, before her.
So they had. 728 had become Lea, 581 was Lara, 567 Isis, 122 Jesse, 664 Anna and 712 Sara. They had just called 657 back up when Aly called out to them.
"Guard!"
The girls all laid down on the floor, hoping that the guard wouldn't look in the rooms. Lucky for them, he just walked straight through. When he had gone, the girls stood up again.
"That was a lucky escape," someone whispered.
"Lucky. That's what I want my name to be," exclaimed 657, "But I want to spell it with an i like Toni does. I'll be Lucki with an i."
Now that every girl had been named, most started to go back to their rooms to sleep. Soon there was only eight left in the room, Max, Jondy, Sam, Toni, Jules, Aly, Gem and Trix.
"What about the boys?" Trix asked.
"We could go name them now, if you want to help?" Jondy asked. "We could go in pairs, and take a room each. There are only ten boys I think. That just leaves one room left. We'll figure out who gets that room later."
"We won't have to." Jules stated.
"Why not?" Max asked.
"Because we can't go into 598's room. He'd tell on us. He's too strict sometimes. We can't give him a name."
"But then we can't give 206 a name either." Aly remarked.
"We can give him a name another time. Come on, let's do this quickly."
The eight girls set off, walking down their hallway, and turning left into the boys.
"Here we split up. The Beta boys are in the first two rooms on the left side, and the first three on the right. 598's room is the first on the right. Ok, split up."
Max and Jondy took the first room on the left. They looked in and saw that one of the boys looked like Ben.
"Come on Maxie, lets get this over with. You take the one who looks like Ben and I'll take the other."
Jondy and Max walked in, and woke the two boys. When the Ben-guy saw them, he started talking.
"Oh goody. Two little girlies breaking into our room. And to what do we owe this pleasure?"
"We want to give you a name."
"A name, oh how sweet," Ben-guy replied sarcastically.
"Shut up would you. All of the girls have names, and so do the Alpha boys. So we thought that you should too."
"Oh, well far be it from me to stop you."
"I know the perfect name for you. Alec, as in smart Alec."
"Alec. I can live with that."
"Good, cause my next choice was Dick!"
Max spun around and stalked over to the door. Jondy laughed at what Max had said, and walked over to her sister.
"Come on Maxie, let's get out of here."
"You named him?" Max asked, pointing at the other guy.
"Yeah. That's Nick."
"Then let's get out of here Jondy. I don't want to have to even look at Alec's face again, let alone hear him talk."
Jondy and Max left, leaving Alec and Nick in stunned silence.
"Wow." Alec remarked, "That one sure is lethal."
"Get over her Alec. She doesn't like you."
"So. Doesn't mean I can't talk about her."
"Just go back to sleep."