She says, “You told me you didn’t know the woman with Metis. Come to find out, you worked with her in the past. You’ve jeopardized our entire operation!”
Thane feels his own anger rising. He has spent nights in the freezing cold stalking suspects and has sacrificed friendship for the Interpreter Center. He has given up more than he should.
“How did I jeopardize it?” he says. “I found Metis. I got you the green drug. You didn’t have either one before.”
“Had you not withheld, we could have taken them both in without the police getting involved.”
“How? It’s just me, you, and Professor Jacob. How were we going to capture two people?”
“I have my ways.”
Thane does not doubt it. That was another reason he decided to contact the police. He does not trust her.
Apollina huffs. “Now they’re gone. Hiding somewhere in the desert of Elara.”
“The Officer Scyllas will find them.”
“Tabula Rasa is quickly approaching.”
“Where’s Professor Jacob?” he asks.
“Cleaning up your mess. The police need an explanation for your presence at the house in Elara. You lied to them, then you changed your story. You’re lucky you have him and his reputation to back you up.”
Thane has a feeling that if it were just Apollina, he would have been discarded once his purpose had been served.
Aris blinks her eyes open. Metis’s back is to her. Next to him are stacks of books. The image elicits a sense of déjà vu.
“Good morning,” she says.
He turns around, and she sees a small smile on his face.
“Good morning. Are you thirsty?” he asks.
“Yeah.”
He hands her a silver can labeled “water.” There is a tab on the top with a hole. She pries it open, and the entire top comes off. Clear liquid is inside. She tips the can into her mouth, letting the cool water rinse out the sleep from her throat. There’s no taste to it. Strange.
“There’s food also.” He gestures to a metal locker sitting on another end. She goes over and opens it. In it are shelves filled with silver cans labeled “water” and “food.” She doesn’t know who put them here or how long they’ve been around.
“At least we won’t starve,” she says.
Aris has never had food from a can before. She wonders what it would taste like. Everything she has ever eaten in her life has been freshly harvested.
She looks over her shoulder. “What are you reading?”
“A journal.”
She closes the locker and goes back to him.
“Who wrote it?” She hands him the water. He drinks from it and gives it back.
“I don’t know. There’s no name,” he says, “There’re more on the shelf and the floor.”
Aris looks around and sees several black bound notebooks with no titles. She picks one up from a pile, sits with her back against a wall, and begins to read.
They are daily accounts of life in the cave. Mostly things she already knows. How cold the desert nights are. How hard it is to go up and down the mountain. The flora and fauna of the desert. She flips through the pages, scanning for more significant clues. She comes across a passage.
“Hey, listen to this,” she says and begins to read out loud so Metis can hear.
“‘The Resistance sent word that they will use Elara as its headquarters. It’s the farthest from Callisto and the prying eyes of the system. It makes me immensely happy. I thought I’d have to learn to hunt the rodents and birds of the desert. Not having to worry about food and water will save a lot of time. Time I can use to work.’”
The idea of having to eat animals make Aris cringe with disgust. She, like all the citizens of the Four Cities, has been subsisting only on vegetables and vegetable-based foods. She is just as happy as the writer of this journal for not having to hunt down food.
She flips through the journal and sees another entry.
“‘A scout found a water source nearby. It’s a little spring seeping between rocks inside another cave. I may be able to get there easily enough to refill the cans.’”
Aris looks up. “We should try to find that cave. We can do the same thing.”
She goes back to the journal and scans through more pages.
“‘Almost got spotted by a drone today. I was careless. I should have known Eli would be looking for me. I’ll have to limit being outside to only at night from now on.’”
An idea forms. Aris searches the pages more urgently for evidence.
“Listen!” she says. “‘It took more than four men to bring up the table and distillation set. A beaker and a flask broke in the process. Someone will have to go to Callisto to get more of those. They won’t be easy to replace.’”
Aris raises her head from the journal. “I think the Crone wrote this.”
Metis flips through the journal in his hands and reads a page.
“‘The experiment has been slow going, but I still feel strongly that I’m on the right track. Tabula Rasa destroys nerve cells. At the same time, it increases the level of enzymes that break down the neurotransmitters for memory. I’m close to a formula that would counter the effects of Tabula Rasa. If I’m successful, it will inhibit the enzymes from breaking down the neurotransmitters and help rebuild the severed connections.’”
He looks at Aris.
“She was working on Absinthe’s formula here. Aris, this is from the beginning of the Four Cities. When she was human.”
He goes through more pages and stops.
His clear voice fills the cave. “‘Word from Callisto says Eli is planning on making a fail-safe for Tabula Rasa. He believes that for his plan to work, everyone in the Four Cities must have their memories wiped at once. The Resistance has been recruiting people. More planned to refuse Tabula Rasa. The network inside Elara is working on hiding places so that people will not be collected and forced
