Chapter 3
Victor led the travelers along a trail that wound around a hill behind the compound. Finally, they reached an opening in the side of the hill. Thick iron bars blocked the entrance to a tunnel that sloped downward into the darkness.
"What's this?" William asked.
"It's an old copper mine," Victor explained. "This place started out as a mining town. There are tunnels and shafts all over the place." He took out a large key and unlocked a gate. "It's a good place to keep all of our sensitive equipment – no signal in the world is going to make it through this hill."
Caroline nodded. "Sounds like a good setup. So Topher lives down there now?"
Victor chuckled. "No, he's usually up in the compound with the rest of us. We only power up the equipment when we need it, which isn't often any more."
"Makes sense. But the last time I saw Topher he sort of liked hiding in dark holes."
"He's changed," Victor told her.
Caroline shrugged. "And you haven't. Funny world we live in."
"Yeah," Victor said, frowning. He motioned everyone into the tunnel, and then locked the gate behind them. "Let's get going."
There were electric lights spaced every fifty feet or so along the shaft, giving some dim illumination. They passed side tunnels that were filled with wooden crates and old plastic barrels. Finally Victor stopped at one side tunnel that had a thick metal door. A few yards beyond it, the main tunnel was blocked by another gate.
"This is it," Victor said, unlocking the door.
"What's down there?" William asked, pointing down the main tunnel.
"Nothing you want to mess with," Victor said curtly. He shoved hard against the iron door, which screeched on its hinges.
Inside, the walls were lined with computers and video monitors. A chair that Caroline recognized as a crude replica of the Dollhouse's imprinting chair occupied the center of the room. Beside it stood a tall, middle-aged black man.
"Showtime," the man said. "So which one of them is supposed to be the latest and greatest Caroline?"
"Um, I am," Caroline said uncertainly.
The strange man grinned. "Step right up, then. And don't worry about the chair, it's perfectly safe."
"Tech," Jorge swore.
"Not just any tech, dude," the man assured him. "Safe tech. Don't worry, it's not set up to mess with your mind, only to let me have a peek inside. The imprinting hardware isn't even hooked up right now. I only install it when we need it. Doesn't hurt to be on the safe side."
"Who are you?" Caroline asked.
"What? Oh, of course," the man said, smacking his forehead. "It's the new body. I'm Topher."
"You're Topher?" Caroline repeated, incredulous.
"Yeah," the man said. "Well, Topher 2.0, anyway." He motioned towards the chair. "Have a seat, and we'll get this started."
"Victor was right," Caroline said as she sat down in the chair. "You've changed."
"It happens," Topher said. "The person who had this body before me wasn't really happy with it, and we needed a new me, so here I am."
"Who had it before you?" Caroline asked suspiciously.
"Well, you see…" Topher hesitated before saying, "You did."
"I did?" Caroline gasped. "I was a guy?"
Topher nodded. "Caroline 4.0, alias Carl. Apparently you just weren't cool with being a man, and asked to be wiped."
Caroline shuddered. "Ugh."
"Hey, it's really not that bad," Topher assured her as he attached some electrodes to her forehead and temples. "Now, this is going to tickle a bit," he warned her.
"You always say that," Caroline said, "and it always hurts like hell."
"I've made a few improvements," Topher said, throwing a switch. "It's not so bad in scanning mode any more."
Caroline squirmed a bit in the chair. "Ooh, that does tickle!" she said.
"Told you," Topher said.
"Uh, what exactly is he doing?" William asked.
"It's just a scan, dude," Topher said. "I look inside her head, and I see…" He stared at the monitors, and nodded. "Yeah, that looks like our Caroline, sure enough. Let me just check some of the deeper levels…"
He twisted a dial, and Caroline gasped. "Hey, stop that!" she snapped.
"Hey, I'm not touching you," Topher protested. "And the sensation is an unavoidable side effect."
"Well, I don't like it," Caroline snarled.
"The monitors tell a different story," Topher said with a wink. "But we're done, anyway." He threw a switch, powering down the chair.
"Well," Caroline said doubtfully. "I guess that wasn't too bad."
"And you're all clean," Topher said. "No viruses, no nasty programming, no head lice. I dub thee Caroline 6.0."
"Speaking of all clean," Caroline said, "I was promised a shower after this."
"Soon as everyone's done, I'll show you where it is," Victor assured her.
"All right, then," Caroline said impatiently. "Who's next? Come on, Jorge, don't be shy. You saw that it's safe. Get in that chair."
Once they'd all been scanned – including, at Topher's insistence, Vonda's child – Victor led them back to the compound.
"Bath house is over there," Victor said, pointing. "Iris is supposed to be finding you some clean clothes. Oh, and we've kept the co-ed shower setup – hope that doesn't bother any of you."
Caroline shrugged. "We've been on the road together for almost three months," she said. "We've seen plenty of each other. I think we'll deal with it okay."
Victor nodded. "Dining room is over there, then," he said.
"Bueno," Jorge said. "Food first."
"I'm with you on that one," Vonda said.
"Sorry, but I have been dirty for too long," Caroline said. "I'll meet you there after I'm clean."
"Count me in," William agreed.
The shower turned out to be everything Caroline had hoped for. "Oh God, hot water!" she shouted. "And real soap!"
After months on the trail, scrubbing herself clean felt like a real luxury. The soap was homemade and harsher on her skin than old-fashioned soap, but she didn't care; she lathered and scrubbed and rinsed enthusiastically to get the dirt out of her skin and hair and nails. And William was more than willing to help her scrub her back. "Oh, that feels good," she sighed as his fingers kneaded her shoulder blades.
"How about this?" William said, taking a step closer and wrapping his arms around her from behind.
"That feels good too," Caroline said, leaning back against his chest.
"Sure does," William said, as his hands started to wander.
"Mm, slow down there, tiger," Caroline said with a giggle. "Save it for tonight, alright?"
"Why not now?" William bent down to nuzzle her ear.
Caroline closed her eyes and fought the temptation to give in. "William, please!" she said. "I promise, tonight you can have anything you want. You can have everything you want. Just not now, okay?"
"Promise?"
"I promise," she said, turning around to kiss him. "Honest. In a real bed, too." She stood on her tiptoes to give him a passionate kiss.
"Um, am I interrupting?" a voice said from behind them.
William jumped. Caroline turned her head and saw Iris standing at the doorway to the shower room, holding a pile of towels and clean clothing.
"Not quite," Caroline said. "What's up?"
"I just brought you these," Iris said with a grin. "I'll leave them here, and when you two are done, I'll meet you in the dining hall." She gave them a wink and turned to go.
Jorge and Vonda were stunned by the amount of food available in the dining room. They hastily made some sandwiches, and proceeded to wolf them down. Victor watched them eat; it was clear that they had been on short rations for a long time.
Finally they began to slow down. "Bueno," Jorge said in satisfaction. "You eat like this all the time?"
Victor nodded. "Most of the time, yeah. We've had a couple of lean years here and there, from droughts or locusts, but we've got enough stored up to get through them when they happen."
Jorge grunted. "Maybe Lupe knew what she was doing bringing us here, then."
"Lupe?" Victor asked.
"You keep calling her Caroline," Jorge said. "She's my sister. Was my sister."
"So what's your story?" Victor asked.
Jorge looked reluctant, but Vonda said, "You tell him the first part. I need to feed Shimone anyway." She turned away from them and pulled her baby out of her sling, raising her to her breast to nurse.
Jorge shrugged. "Not much to tell. We were shepherds. We lived in the San Gabriel mountains, above the old city." He closed his eyes and said, "Lupe went missing one day. When we found her, she was – blank."
"Wiped," Victor said, nodding grimly. "Then what?"
Jorge shook his head. "I couldn't leave her like that. I've seen what happens to women who get blanked. Every man who wants her – I couldn't leave her like that."
"Sounds like a pretty deep wipe," Victor said.
"Deep, yeah," Jorge agreed. "She didn't remember nothing. She couldn't even talk, she'd starve if you didn't give her food to eat…"
"I'm sorry," Victor said.
"Then my compadre William came by," Jorge said. "He's a salvamentero – he goes down to the old city and brings stuff back, right?"
"Salvager," Victor said. "I've done some of that myself."
"I've known him for years – he's from the north, Fresno he says. He trades with us, food for – things he finds. Well, he knew stories – they say there's a place down in the middle of the old city, where the pandilleros, the gangers, don't go. They say in this place, there's a ghost who can bring people back who've been blanked, right?" Jorge closed his eyes. "And it's real. We went there and found it. It's deep under the ground. And yeah, there's a ghost, a woman in a white dress. But she didn't bring back Lupe. She brought back this Caroline instead."
Victor shook his head. "There was nothing else she could have done. She was wiped too deeply. If she'd just lost her memories of herself, but could still talk and take care of herself, yeah, then there would have been a chance. But as deep as you said…" He gave Jorge a sad look. "I'm sorry, man. Your sister is gone."
"Had to try, you understand?" Jorge said.
"Yeah, I get that," Victor said. "And yeah, I know the place you're talking about. I used to live there."
"So you know the ghost lady?"
"Yeah," Victor said. "Her name used to be Claire. She's called Whisky now. A friend from the old days."
"She's not all there, is she?"
"Not any more," Victor said sadly. "So," he continued, turning towards Vonda, "where do you come in?"
"She's a Sangre," Jorge said.
Vonda nodded. "I'm Blood, yeah," she said. "Or I was. Until I got knocked with Shimone. Then my bros turned me out." An angry look crossed her face. "Her daddy is Crip."
"We found her after we left – that place," Jorge said. "She was beat up, starving. Lupe – Caroline – said we had to take her with us." Jorge sighed. "I thought – Lupe, you know, she was always the one who looked after the lambs who lost there mothers. Kittens, puppies, whatever – she was always taking care of something, right? So I thought, maybe there's a little bit of Lupe still inside there. Taking on someone else's problems – it's something she would do."
"It's also something our Caroline would do," Victor warned him. "Don't get your hopes up."
Jorge grunted. "Anyway, she told us about this place, said she was going there. What else could I do but go to look out for her?"
"So you all just followed along after her, huh?" Victor said, chuckling. "Yeah, Caroline has that effect on people."
"Well, I'm grateful, anyway," Vonda said. "She took care of me when I needed it. Ain't that what your bros are supposed to do?"
Victor nodded. "It's what we do here."