“They won’t see you if you stay down. Keep going. There’s a back door at the end of this aisle.”
“How do you know that?” she whispers, but slips through the door and keeps going.
“I remember this hellhole from our previous visit. To your left and right, rooms for the Unchipped. At the end of the aisle, the meeting room, kitchen, and the labs. The rest of it we never saw.”
A door at the end of the hall opens and two white coats walk out. They stop to talk to one another, missing her white hospital pajamas. Kaarina sits down and presses her body against the wall, making herself as small as she can.
A door opens next to her and a hand taps her shoulder. She turns and sees a young girl with black hair. It hangs long and covers most of her pale face. “In here. Hurry,” she whispers.
Kaarina glances back at the two doctors. They’re shaking hands, clearly at the end of their conversation. They’ll walk down the aisle and spot her soon.
Before she can think too much about it, she turns toward the girl and lets her drag her into the room. The door closes silently behind them.
The girl’s round face forms a shy smile. Her widened pupils have a hard time focusing. “Hi, I’m Sanna. I’m Unchipped and have been here for three years now. Are you new here? Have you just come from the operation? What are you running away from?”
Reading the girl’s face is hard because of the dark hair hanging down in front of it. Kaarina fights the sudden urge to reach for her face, to fix the locks of hair behind her slightly pointy ears. She must be ten years old, maybe younger.
“How is your door not locked?” Kaarina leans against the door, as if trying to block anyone from entering.
“They trust me. Though I do have a secret. One that only scar-skulls are allowed to see.”
“Scar-skulls?”
Sanna’s eyes investigate Kaarina’s skull and find a scar from a chipping procedure gone wrong. Clearly eager to reveal someone her secret, Sanna gestures Kaarina to follow her to a walk-in closet by the door. Kaarina manages to crawl a few inches before she collapses on the floor. Sanna slides open one of the closet doors. First, all Kaarina can see is a row of blue thermo-shoes. Then something small and round hops out the closet. A wide grin takes over Sanna’s face.
“His name is Mister Bun-Bun.”
Kaarina stares at the rabbit, now climbing onto Sanna’s lap. The girl’s gentle fingers stroke the critter’s white and black fur.
“How on earth did you find a bunny in the Chip-Center? Was he at the lab?”
“I didn’t find Mister Bun-Bun. I bought him. From the black market.”
Was the rabbit supposed to be dead when Sanna bought it? Why would the Unchipped deliver live animals, and to a place like the Chip-Center, buzzing with guards?
“Does Laura know you have a bunny?”
Sanna shakes her head for no.
“But it’s my only secret, I swear. Doctor Laura trusts me. She never goes through my things. I even get to go on tours with Doctor Laura. I’ve been told that if I’m good and do what I’m told, I’ll be the first one to get chipped once they figure out what’s wrong with me.”
Kaarina can’t fight the temptation anymore. She pushes the black hair aside. The shy smile on the girl’s round face deepens. She’s like a porcelain doll.
“There’s nothing wrong with you, Sanna. You’re just not plugged into their system, that’s all. It doesn’t make you invalid or less important. Do you talk to the others at all?”
Again, she shakes her head. “We’re not allowed. You’re the first person to ever meet Mister Bun-Bun.”
Kaarina fights the urge to hug the girl. How has she managed, all alone, all these years? Just her and her bunny. Isolated, vulnerable. Hopeless. A product of the Chip-Center. Just one of Doctor Solomon’s multiple victims.
Raino’s face flashes through Kaarina’s mind. “Sanna, do any old people ever come to the center? Or have any of the other test subjects ever gone missing?”
Sanna’s eyes scan the ceiling as she processes Kaarina’s question. “Yes, I’ve seen old men and women. One or two of them come in each week, I think. Some of the scar-skulls sometimes disappear. I help the nurses with their rounds. Each door has a small book with a scar-skull name and age. I check them all the time. I try to memorize the names. It’s a game me and Mister Bun-Bun play.”
“And you don’t know where the missing scar-skulls are taken to?”
“Of course I know. They go to the basement. I get to see them sometimes. It’s like a big aquarium. But instead of fish, there’s a lot of naked people.”
An image of a tinted glass stasis capsule flashes through Kaarina’s mind. That’s where she would be now, sleeping, turned off. That is if Markus hadn’t stuck around and caused a scene. Kaarina imagines hundreds of stasis capsules hidden underground. Thousands. That must be where Doctor Solomon stacks people that don’t fit in her agenda.
Kaarina takes the girl’s hands, squeezes them tight. She hopes this gesture will make Sanna trust her, like the Chipped people did back in the city. “It’s not an aquarium. It’s a bad place, Sanna. This whole place is bad. They bring people in and turn them into computers. They’ll never wake up. They’ll be like vegetables. Do you understand what—"
A yell echoes from the hallway, followed by hurried footsteps.
“Leave the girl. You gotta go Kay. They’ve figured out you’re missing.”
Sanna nods at the door, then at Kaarina. “I think they’re looking for you,” she says and gives a little smile. “Can I see you again? Can you come back to see me and Mister Bun-Bun soon?”
Kaarina braces herself against the wall, tries to turn—and collapses to the floor.
“Again. Try again.”
The drugs have worn off enough for her to hear Bill again, but not enough to make her body obey
