“He could have been killed. People can die from blanks, from the impact if they’re too close.”
“We can’t all be shooting experts like you.”
He ran his hand through his hair. He looked awful, with bags under his eyes.
“Have they hurt you?” I asked.
“They’ve been treating me like a prince.”
I glanced around the room. I assumed cameras and listening devices spied on us everywhere.
“Who are these people?” I whispered.
He rubbed his forehead. “I’m not sure.” He kept his voice low. “They want the chip, my chip. They’ve figured out how to use it. So they’re competitors.”
He covered his mouth with both hands so a camera could not read his lips, and whispered, “The question is, are they my father’s men?”
I hadn’t even thought of that possibility. That would explain why they had mastered the transpositions.
I remembered what Hyden’s father said to me. Trust no one but yourself, and then question that.
Not long after our conversation, they finally brought in some food and water. It was just bread and a thin soup, but we were starving.
“Where’s Michael?” I asked the Ender guard who brought the food.
He ignored me.
“What could they be doing to him?” I asked Hyden.
“It could just be tactics. Keeping us separate. Who knows? Maybe he’s getting a cheeseburger and fries?”
He smiled a little, to try to cheer me up. It didn’t work. My mind went to the worst places, worrying about Michael. I didn’t know why they’d want to interrogate him. Of the three of us, Hyden had the most to reveal. Was it possible they didn’t know who he really was?
I looked at him.
“What?” he asked quietly.
“Nothing.” I didn’t want to risk even whispering it.
After we finished, the same Ender guard who had brought the food returned. “Hold on,” Hyden said. “Be strong.”
I gave him a half smile. He nodded.
The guard escorted me down the hall to a small, stark room with a table and two chairs. A female Ender entered, wearing a white turtleneck and pants. She nodded to dismiss the guard.
“Hello, Callie. Please sit down.”
She sat in the chair opposite me. She turned on her palm airscreen so it could transcribe our conversation. I could see the letters, backward, as she spoke.
“So, Callie, how long ago was your chip implanted?”
“Three months, two weeks, and five days.”
“Do you have any physical problems that you can attribute to it?”
“Headaches.”
“Is that all?”
I thought about not telling her. But I could see something else on the airscreen—a moving meter that looked like a graph. It was a lie sensor, and it now wavered just because I was thinking of a lie.
“I have memory episodes.”
She leaned in. “What are those?”
“Times when I relive a memory from my renter, when she was in my body. When I was unaware. They come back to me, out of the blue.”
“How does it manifest itself ?” Her words flashed across the airscreen.
“It’s like watching a holo,” I said. “A short holo. It only lasts a minute.” I shrugged to try to make light of it. But she was far too interested to buy that.
“And you say it is a memory from your renter’s experience? How do you know that?”
“Because …”
I hesitated and the graph spiked.
“Just tell the truth,” she said.
“I knew who she was. I recognized the places in the memory, her room.”
“And is there some emotion that comes with this?” Her brows raised. She licked her lips and drew closer.
“Yes. It’s like I’m reliving her experience at that time. But I don’t know why. It’s not like it answers any questions. Or like I can explain why it comes on. There’s no revelation, just this stupid holo in my head, and then it’s over.”
I saw my words form on the screen. It was strange.
“So who is this surgeon you have here?” I asked.
She looked up at me. She didn’t deny his existence; she didn’t answer. She just kept on quizzing me.
“And what do you know about Hyden?” she asked.
My muscles tensed. I heard her device make a high-pitched sound like a bird.
“Relax, please,” she said.
“I think you should ask him that,” I said. I relaxed my muscles and the sound subsided.
“But I’m asking you.”
“And I’m saying you should ask him.”
Her machine went silent. So did she. She wrapped up her palm airscreen and stood. Without another word, she left the room.
Dawson entered. I hadn’t seen him face to face for a while. But having him in my head was a creepy experience. It felt almost embarrassing to see him in person again.