Laura Jo Phillips (16 page)

“Is this house, or the compound, under any kind of electronic surveillance?” Hope asked.

Berta smiled.  “It used to be, but no longer.  One thing about us
berezi
, and many of the near
berezi
, is that we have psychic abilities.  I’m able to disrupt electronics.  I can’t control them, I’m not nearly strong enough for that, but I can sense them and short them out.”

“Do they know you do that?” Grace asked.

“Sure they do,” Berta replied.  “But what are they gonna do?  Kill me?  I’ve been a prisoner in this damned hell-hole for over sixty years.  The loss of my life is no threat to me, and they know it.  They also know that in all the years this compound has been here nobody has ever escaped.  It’s not possible.”

“Yes, well, we’ll see about that,” Hope said.  She looked at the other three women.  ”What about it ladies?” she asked.  “Do any of you have psychic abilities?”

“I can put people to sleep,” Karma said.  She hesitated, then shrugged.  “Well, sometimes.  But even if I can’t put them to sleep, I can usually make them very sleepy.”

“I think we can use that,” Hope said.  She turned to the other women with a questioning look.

 “If I have any psychic ability, I’m not aware of it,” Aisling said, her head bowed slightly so that her hair hid most of her face. 

“That probably means that you are not a
berezi
,” Berta said. 

“Grace?” Hope asked. 

“I can move things,” she said. 

“Such as?” Hope asked.

“Just about anything that doesn’t weigh more than a couple of pounds,” she replied.  She turned her head and stared at the empty chair next to Berta.  After a moment the chair jerked, then slid away from the table until it hit the wall. 

“Great,” Hope said.  “Between you and Karma, I think we might be able to get past those two guards.”

“Getting past the guards isn’t going to do any good,” Berta pointed out.  “You’ll still be stuck here.”

“There isn’t a ground-car?” Hope asked. 

“Oh no, they would never leave transportation here,” Berta replied.  “They probably have a vox, but if they do, it’s going to be blocked so that it will only call one number, just in case we prisoners get hold of it somehow.”

“But you could short that out, right?” Hope asked.

“Sure,” Berta replied.  “Or, if you disable the guards, you could just break the thing.”

“So the guards are just as stuck here as we are,” Hope said thoughtfully.

“That’s good to know,” Grace said.  “But Berta’s right.  Once we get past the guards, we still won’t have any idea of where to go.  Unless you want to just pick a direction and start walking.”

“No, Berta’s already tried that,” Hope said.  “I think I might be able to point us in the right direction.”

“I thought you might,” Grace said with a smile.  “So what is your ability?” 

While they’d been talking Hope had been trying to make up her mind whether or not to reveal the fact that she had two psychic abilities, and which of them, if either, would help most in this situation.  She had learned at an early age to keep both abilities secret, but she was going to have to make an exception now.  Besides, these women had revealed their abilities without hesitation.  She had to do the same.

“Astral projection,” Hope replied, making up her mind.  The other women looked at her blankly, except Grace, who was frowning. 

“Isn’t that where you send your mind out of your body?” she asked.

“Yes, that’s close enough,” Hope replied.  “I can’t do it for very long, and I can’t go very far.  A couple of miles is usually my limit.”

“There’s no need to bother then,” Berta said.  “A couple of miles is not going to do any good at all.”

“It will if I go straight up,” Hope said. 

Berta grinned, revealing several missing teeth.  “Clever girl,” she said.  “Yes indeed, that should work.”

“Okay, give me a few minutes,” Hope said.  “I need to focus.”

“We’ll be quiet as mice on cotton,” Grace said, earning startled looks from the other women.  She shrugged.  “I’m a southern girl,” she said simply.

Hope laughed.  She was liking Grace more and more.

“Okay, here goes,” she said, composing herself.  She laid her hands flat on her thighs, leaned back in the chair and closed her eyes.  She pictured a silver and gold owl in her mind, a replica of the one tattooed on her wrist with the turquoise eyes.  She imagined it in every detail, down to the tiny feathers around its hooked beak.  When she was satisfied that the owl was complete, she launched it high into the sky. 

The owl seemed to shoot from her mind, to the ceiling of the dining room, through the roof and into the sky in a moment.  Once it was free in the warm desert air, it spread its wings wide and soared for a moment as it gazed around itself.  There was sand, rocks, cacti and brush as far as it could see, and it saw far in the clear desert air.  But not far enough.

The owl lifted its wings and began stroking them powerfully as it flew in a spiral pattern, rising higher and higher into the sky.  Now and then it would pause to gaze at the desert below, then return to its spiraling climb.  As it got further and further from Hope, it had to flap its wings harder to continue its climb.  Before long it reached its limit.  It hovered one last time, searching the horizon for any sign of life.  Just as it was about to give up, it spotted an unusual collection of shapes in the northwest.  It focused on the spot, widening its eyes in an effort to see better. 

Yes
, it thought. 
Buildings.  Those are buildings
. 

The owl marked the spot, noting the shape of the mountains nearby.  Then it saw another area, further to the west, that appeared to have a few geometric shapes that might be buildings.  It looked back to the first spot.  This was clearly the better choice, with many more buildings set closely together.  Satisfied, it tucked its wings close to its body, pointed its beak toward the Earth, and plummeted.

Hope opened her eyes and blinked rapidly in an effort to dispel the strange disorientation she always felt when she returned from her owl.  She had never pushed her owl so far, or so hard before, but she was more than happy with the results.  She doubted she would be able to call her owl again for at least a few days, but it had been worth it.

“You okay?” Grace asked, genuine concern in her voice.

“I’m fine,” Hope replied.  “Just a little dizzy, but it’ll pass in a minute.  What’s important is, I found it.”

“Excellent,” Grace said.  “Let’s get out of here now.”  Grace suited actions to words and stood up as though ready to run out the door. 

“Not so fast,” Hope said.  “Berta was right, that town is about a hundred miles from here.  It’s going to take us a few days to reach it on foot.  If we don’t plan this right, we’re not going to get very far.

“We’ll need food and water, as well as a way to carry it.  We’ll also need something for shelter, and a way to start a fire since we will be spending several nights out in the desert.  And we need to decide how to deal with the guards.”

“There’s another problem too,” Aisling said hesitantly.

“Yes?” Hope asked.

“I’m not going to be able to go with you,” she said.

“Why not?”  Hope asked.

“Because she’s not a
berezi
, there’s no reason for her to take the chance,” Karma said scornfully.

“That’s not it at all,” Aisling replied calmly.  She didn’t sound angry or defensive, nor did she raise her head.  But she clearly was not going to allow the comment to go unchallenged.  Hope was intrigued by this young woman.

“Berta said it means I
may
not be a
berezi
, so there is still a chance that I am,” Aisling continued.  “I would prefer not to take that chance if I could help it, but I can’t.”

“Why not?” Hope asked again.

Aisling stood up and took a few halting, limping steps away from the table before returning to her seat.  “Back injury.  I can walk, but I walk with a limp, and I can’t walk for a long time.  If I went with you, I would slow you down too much.”

Hope arched a brow at Karma who had the grace to blush.  “I didn’t know,” she said.  “She was already in here sitting down when I came in.”

 “I can’t go with you, but I can still help,” Aisling said.  “If you can restrain the guards, I can try to keep them from coming after you, or calling for help.”

“Thanks, Aisling,” Hope said.  “That would be a great help.”  She turned to Berta.  “Will the Brethren hurt you or Aisling when they find out we’re gone?” 

Berta shrugged.  “They like having me here to explain things to the new women.  I doubt they will hurt me, and I don’t really care much if they do.  As to Aisling, if she is a
berezi
, they won’t harm a hair on her head.  The worry is if she isn’t a
berezi
.  Then, they might be angry enough to harm her.  These are not nice people, make no mistake about that.”

“How long will it be before others come?” Hope asked.

“I don’t know.  Could be any minute, could be days,” Berta said.  “But, I think there is something happening that is out of the ordinary, and if that is so, all the better for you.”

“How do you mean?” Grace asked.

“The way this usually works is four or five women are brought here and left with me.  Then Stalnek comes.  Stalnek is the leader of the Brethren.  Stalnek and his son, William, are the only two Brethren that I know of who can scent a
berezi
.  In all the years I’ve been here, I’ve never seen them use any other method of identifying a
berezi
, so I think that’s the only way they can do it.  William is no longer on Earth and hasn’t been for a long time, so Stalnek is the one that has to come and test for
berezi
.  I don’t look forward to his visits, that’s for sure,” Berta added with a grimace.

“What’s different this time?” Hope asked, trying to nudge Berta back on track.

“Well, there’s the two guards, Garid and Lenny, and the one in charge, Darck.  Garid and Lenny are the ones who abducted you, drugged you, put you all on an air transport and flew you out to this end of the country somewhere.  Darck met them with a ground-bus, they put all of you in it, and he drove you out here and dropped all of you off.  Then he left.  That’s when I overheard Garid and Lenny talking about a mess-up.”

“This whole thing is messed up,” Karma muttered.

Grace shot her a look, but Hope kept her attention on Berta.  “What kind of mess up?” she asked.

“I’m not really sure,” Berta said slowly.  “They were talking about how much trouble Darck was going to be in when it was discovered he’d made a mistake, and they were wondering how long it would take for the discovery to be made.  They made a bet.  One of them said he thought nobody would figure it out till Stalnek got back to Earth, the other one said different.”

“Back to Earth?” Hope repeated. 

“That’s what they said.  I don’t know when he left, or how long he’ll be gone, but it sounded like they don’t expect him any too soon.  If they’re right, that is.”

“If Stalnek is not on Earth, and someone else comes out to check on us, they won’t be able to tell whether or not Aisling is
berezi
, is that right?” Hope asked.

“That’s right,” Berta replied.  “If the guards are correct, then nobody is going to come here because you aren’t supposed to be here.  And Darck doesn’t know that.  Yet.  If he figures it out, then I think he’ll get here as fast as he can.”

“Without Stalnek, they won’t dare to touch Aisling, and that’s all I care about,” Hope said.  “Of course, there is still a chance that the guards were wrong, and that Stalnek will show up.  Is there any way to hide Aisling from him if that happens?”

“Maybe,” Berta said thoughtfully.  “I could hide her in my room.  If she is a
berezi
, he won’t be able to scent her in my room as I am a
berezi
as well.”

“That will only work if the guards we leave behind don’t talk,” Grace pointed out.

“Yeah, that’s a problem,” Hope said.

 “No, its not,” Aisling said, her voice firm though she remained hunched over.  “If the guards are restrained, and blindfolded, I’ll just stay real quiet so they won’t know I’m here.  They’ll think we all left.  Don’t worry about us.  Berta and I will handle things here.”

Hope stared at Aisling for a long time, then nodded.  Aisling was right.  She couldn’t manage everything.  They all had their risks to take in this. 

“All right,” she agreed.  “As soon as we reach a town, we’ll call for help.  I promise that the first thing we’ll do is come back for the two of you.”

Berta’s eyes brightened at that.  “Do you mean it?” she asked softly.

“Absolutely,” Hope replied.  “I have a cousin who works for the Directorate.  Once I call him, there will be more than enough help to handle anything the Brethren could possibly throw at them.”

“Thank you,” Berta said, her voice trembling.  “I’d given up the idea of ever leaving this place before I die.”

“We’re going to do everything we can to get all of us free,” Hope said.  “I can’t promise more than that.”