‘Can I just call you “Tesla”, without the “sergeant” part?’ she asked the boy as she stepped inside the room. ‘With all due respect, I don’t really enjoy using all of this military terminology.’
His expression remained blank and neutral as he began to speak in a flat tone.
‘The General has made it clear to us that—’
‘Oh pooh-pooh to the General,’ Margaret countered, taking careful care to keep any perceived abrasiveness out of her tone of voice. ‘I know you’re a soldier, and I really don’t mean any disrespect to you or your commander by saying that, but couldn’t you and I, you know, just be friends? After all, I am supposed to be a guest here, aren’t I?’
‘I, um—’
She noticed cracks appearing in the façade of his concrete-solid resolution, and she wasted no time in pouncing on them.
‘Come on, don’t be like that! You’ve got your orders, I totally understand. Don’t get the wrong idea now, kid. It’s just that, you know, you seem like a really nice, smart boy, and I don’t have anyone else to talk to here. C’mon, it’ll be our little secret. I mean, you’ve been ordered to stand guard over me, right? If we’re gonna be spending a lot of time together, we may as well be on good terms, don’t you think?’
There seemed to be a storm raging in the boy’s mind right now, behind that stony mask of an expression he continually wore. Margaret knew that she had to capitalise on this moment of weakness.
‘I, um … well, okay then Doctor—’
‘Margaret,’ she interjected with as much saccharine warmth as she could pull off, jumping right in before Tesla could finish his sentence. ‘If we’re gonna be friends, you can call me Margaret. No need to call me “Dr Green”. Just “Margaret”, okay?’
Sergeant Tesla smiled shyly.
‘Okay … Margaret,’ he replied. ‘But please, if there is anyone else around, you must only ever refer to me as Sergeant Tesla. And I must call you Dr Green. I could get in a lot of trouble if the General finds out you and I are, er, friends.’
‘I understand,’ she said. ‘I won’t tell a soul.’
‘I need to leave now,’ Tesla said. ‘The overnight guard duty here will be done by another soldier. I’ll be back in the morning though.’
‘All right,’ Margaret said, feeling a dash of disappointment that she could not cement these gains any further tonight. Still, she had at least achieved something with this little exchange. Things were looking at least a bit more positive now than they had been prior to this.
‘Goodbye,’ Tesla said, turning around to wait for his replacement.
‘I look forward to seeing you tomorrow, Tesla. Have a good night.’
The sound of army boots clopping on hard stone began to resound through the corridors, and in a few moments another teen soldier appeared, striding brusquely towards Margaret and Tesla. This one was a tall and long-limbed teenage girl, and atop her lanky frame was perched a narrow, rectangular face with pinched features and cold eyes.
‘Sergeant Tesla, you are hereby relieved of guard duty,’ the girl announced in a curt tone.
Tesla saluted her and, with no trace of a smile remaining on his lips, he turned to Margaret and gave her a cool nod.
‘Good night Dr Green,’ he said before turning on his heels and marching off.
‘Good night Sergeant,’ she called out after him. She turned to the new guard and tried to spark up a conversation, but this was quickly shut down; this particular soldier seemed rather hard-boiled and stern, and appeared to have no interest whatsoever in chatting.
‘You need to go inside your room,’ the girl instructed.
It was neither a threat nor an order, but there was a hardness behind the words that was as cold and sharp as flint, and Margaret understood that it would not be a good idea to push the boundaries with this child.
‘Okay then,’ she acquiesced meekly.
‘You will be awoken at dawn,’ the girl said. ‘Get some rest. Good night.’
Margaret stepped into her room and watched the door as the girl shut it – and she then heard a lock click into place.
‘“Guest” my ass,’ she huffed. ‘“Prisoner” is where it’s at. Still, I’ve at least got someone on my side now. Thank you, Tesla. Hopefully you’ll be my ticket outta here, somehow.’
She shuffled around the room for a while, watching how the flickering orange glow from the candles changed and distorted her shadow, morphing it into strange and almost demonic forms on the curved stone walls. After a while she sat down on the bed and hung her head in her hands for a while, feeling the caress of despair running its icy fingers across her cheeks; escape was seeming like an impossibility at this point.
After a while she stood up and limped over to the sink, where she turned on the water and splashed a bit of it onto her face.
‘This must be the same stuff we drank earlier,’ she said to herself. ‘It’s gotta be. I’m sure I can drink this.’
She took a ginger sip, and immediately recognised the fresh taste that she had enjoyed earlier at the dinner table, so she imbibed a few more mouthfuls of the crisp water. Supporting her weight on the sink, she began staring idly at her face in the mirror. She leaned in closer, examining the pores of her nose, and as she did
