"The Mistaken M. Jones"

6. In a Strange World

Earth, in the year 4509

When they gave her the uniform, Mercedes was still too lost to really do much else but take it and go where they told her to go. Gravis, a younger and evidently gentler person compared to the first man who'd found her, had let go of her once she'd nodded to his promise he would only lead her and not touch her, but she had to go along. No one was going to hurt her, he vowed, and she didn't know if that would be true, but at this point there was nothing else to do. And once she was in that dressing room, she could have a moment at last to stop and process everything that was happening to her.

She had gone somewhere else. Wherever she was, it was not Lima, or Ohio, and she didn't even know if this was the United States, or, as she feared, Earth at all. The people looked strange, the buildings didn't look right, and she was almost sure she'd seen some kind of spaceship. Maybe none of it was real. She could be dreaming, she could be in a coma and this was the kind of dream her head thought fit to project on to her. Except she could still feel the pinch in her arm from when Gravis had first caught up to her after she'd started to run, and then there was the bracelet, cold to her skin. 11:45:03. 11:45:02. 11:45:01…

She looked at the uniform in her lap. On the sleeves, there were patches. She had vaguely been aware as the woman at the counter had fixed them there before giving the pile to Gravis. One side had a sun with the number 7 in the middle. At least it looked like a sun to her. On the other side, there was a strange sort of shape, a rock maybe, smaller ones around it. Over this patch, there was a single pip. Now that she was seeing this, she was remembering more. The dead man, he had more of those pips, in different colors. The girl with the blue hair, she had only the one, like her, but she was sure she'd seen her other arm, and it had a moon, the number 4. The rest of the uniform was primarily a leafy sort of green.

What was going to happen to her once she put it on? From what she'd gathered, all those others in the uniforms, they were going somewhere soon, and they believed she was one of them, that she was supposed to go, too, but… but she wasn't, was she?

Finally, knowing she had no other way, she started changing. The uniform surprisingly fit her just fine. The colors didn't do all that much for her, but for once that was the least of her worries. She walked hesitantly out of the dressing room, and there Gravis ushered her outside again.

"Where's your ticket?" he asked, and she sighed.

"I told that guy, I don't…"

There was a commotion somewhere near, and both Mercedes and Gravis looked up to see the throngs of youths in uniform were headed to the left. Gravis called out to a woman in a uniform like his, who shouted back that there was a problem with the craft, and the departure was delayed for a few hours.

The next thing Mercedes knew, she was being sent to join the others as they were taken to a large room not unlike an assembly hall. They all sat, and the waiting began. 11:11:54. 11:11:53. 11:11:52…

"Hey, let me see… Day team seven?" She hadn't seen the blue haired girl come up and take hold of one of her arms until she was there, staring at the patch with the sun. "I'm Night team four," she showed her own arm. I don't mind, I guess," she shrugged. "Night or day, there's no use complaining, we have to get through it one way or the other."

"Get through what?" Mercedes was growing continually more unnerved.

"Our digger years, what else?" the blue-haired girl shrugged again. "I don't think I've seen you around here before. You're not from the city, are you?" she guessed. "I'm Savelyn."

"M… Mercedes," she replied before she could consider whether or not it was wise to give her real name or not. Of course, the bigger concern here was this thing the girl had said just before. What are digger years? She wanted to ask her, but she knew if she did then the friendly girl with the blue hair might start to wonder about her, and she could land herself in even bigger trouble. "Yeah… not from the city," she shook her head, hoping it would get her in the clear.

It did. After this, though Savelyn stayed near her, she sat down and closed her eyes. She was napping, nothing better to do. Mercedes watched her, wishing she could get herself to sleep, too. Maybe when she woke up she'd be back home, in Lima. She would have given anything to hear her father go on about how dentistry was a nice option for her. She might even do it, so he could have his family clinic idea happen.

The hours passed, and Mercedes might have been the most on edge person there. The others in the green uniforms were amassed in the room, a lot of them napping like Savelyn, others whispering together like little rainbow clusters if their heads were close enough together. Then there were some who looked nervous, but they mostly kept it in to themselves. There was one boy, his hair clashing horribly with his uniform, being orange and making him look like a carrot stub standing on long leafy stalks. He looked… sad. She didn't know what it was about him, but she had been on the verge of tempting fate and going to speak with him, when a woman stepped up to her.

"You, come with me for a minute."

TO BE CONTINUED (TOMORROW)