The needle came free, the soldier wiped the area where it had pricked, and left the room without a word. Turnip hissed at the man as he left. Dust moots floated before the window in the faint light, and somewhere a woman screamed. Tye got up and checked the door. It was unlocked, so he opened it. He’d taken two steps into the hallway when he was met by a soldier.
“Mess is this way, sir,” the young man said. Tye followed him with Turnip in tow.
Milly and Robin were already there and Tester arrived soon thereafter. The animals were fed, and they lay at ease beside the table. Tye gave Pepper food off his plate. The party ate in silence, the unspoken knowledge that they were being monitored zipping their lips.
Half an hour passed as they ate, and finally Milly spoke. “Everybody all right?”
Tye nodded, as did the others. “You all get shots?” Tye said.
More nods.
Tye yawned. He was bone tired, and his head pounded. Since he’d gotten that shot it was as if every muscle in his body had doubled in weight. He rubbed his eyes. “You think they can hear us?” Tye said.
Tester rubbed his eyes, then bent over and looked under their table. When he emerged, he looked up at the light fixture above the table. “They might have a high-gain microphone on us, but I doubt it. Did you see those TVs? They had tubes. That shit is old,” Tester said.
“Probably have a thousand of them in a warehouse somewhere,” Tye said.
“What do you think the shots were?” Milly said
“I don’t want to think about it because the conclusions I’m drawing aren’t good,” Tye said.
“Like they infected us with XK119 so we’ll have to take their shots every week. That we might now be slaves in a community we know nothing about,” Tester said.
“When you say it that way,” Tye said.
“He’s got a point,” Robin said.
“Oh, you don’t say shit for two hours and now you have an opinion?” Tye said.
“Cut it,” Milly said. “Are you kidding me? We’re almost at the end of the path and you’re bickering like little children. Tester, you may not understand this, but back home we put stock in leaps of faith.”
What Tester had said got Tye thinking. They had walked into a total unknown. It was getting difficult to keep his eyes open. The room was fading, the overhead lights dimming to an orange glow. His heart pounded in his ears, and he felt hot. What did they really know about Argartha? Myths? Fantasy? Nausea rose in him like a stinking tide.
Tester put his head down on the table, and Robin’s head flopped to the side as she fell asleep. Milly’s eyes were wide, her face etched with terror. “I can’t move,” she said.
“Tye? Tye?” It was Tye’s mother. She sat on the table bench next to Milly.
“Yes, momma, I’m here,” Tye said. The last time he’d seen his mother he’d gotten cracked on the head and knocked unconscious.
“You remember what I told you the day your daddy died, boy? Think hard now, you might not see me again until your time’s up,” she said.
“Yes, momma, I remember,” Tye said. “You said I was the man of the house. That I had to take care of you and Lois.”
“You need to take care of yourself now, you hear?”
“Yes, Ma’am,” he said.
Milly flopped onto the table, and snored.
Tye was falling, the world spinning away from him, bile creeping up his throat. His mother called out to him, and he reached for her, but she disappeared as the blackness took him.
Chapter Thirty-three
Year 2076, location unknown
Milly sat with her feet dangling in dirty water. She blinked and rubbed her eyes. Bright sunlight overexposed the world, the air thick and hot and wet. The porch she sat on was half submerged, the entire area flooded. She didn’t recognize the house behind her, but it appeared freshly painted and clean, as did all the houses on the street, which now looked like a canal. A rowboat was tethered to the porch, and two fishing poles rested across its gunnel. Where the hell was she? She sure wasn’t in the hills of Virginia. The edges of her vision blurred, and when she moved her head, she became dizzy.
The world shifted and Milly stood in an octagonal room before an open hole in the ground, its dark maw staring up at her like a giant accusing eye. Rot and decay assailed her, and she covered her nose. A thin path trailed around the hole, and the sides of the chamber disappeared into blackness above. She pinched her nose and put her back against the wall, getting as far from the hole as she could.
The scene changed yet again, but this time Milly sat at a table with Peter in white nothingness, like they were inside a cloud. “How are you?” the aberration of Peter said.
Her heart pounded. It was his voice, and his face, but she knew it couldn’t truly be him. “Fine. What is all this?”
“You’re under the influence of mindbender,” Peter said. “A drug that allows the Argartians to determine your true self.”
“My true self? You mean if I’m smart? Or strong?” Milly said.
“No, those things will determine what you do. There are workers of every trade in Argartha. Everybody who meets our basic criteria is accepted,” Peter said.
“Basic criteria?” Milly said. She recalled a line written on the guidestone, “Prize truth — beauty — love — the reborn – seeking harmony with the infinite.” The reborn were the chosen people, no doubt about that. In Argartha, she’d serve them.
“You’d be serving yourself
