"No, Locke! It's not like that at all. Listen to me. There's something else you need to know. I never said much, but I did keep my ears open. I heard things I wasn't supposed to hear."
She has my attention now. I look at her, waiting.
"Gatsbro couldn't leave programming in you if he wanted to sell his technology. Potential buyers are too savvy and wary of that. But he could make sensitivity adjustments from the very beginning in order to control you. Why do you think you welted so badly with the rogue BeeBots? He wanted to keep you weak in some way--dependent on him and uncertain of yourself. You were six feet three inches of perfect muscle and strength for sales purposes, but he had to have something over you. All he had was your pain." She steps back.
It has all poured out of her in one long breath. It soaks into me much more slowly. I stare at the blank wall across the room. "I see." I put pressure on my forward foot, forcing it to straighten. Pain shoots through me, but I draw my other foot up so I am standing. I pull my breaths in slowly, feeling the pain in a new way. A calculated way. Just the way Gatsbro planned it.
Miesha talks louder, as if I can't hear her. "I overheard Hari laughing with Cole in the lab one day. He said Gatsbro was in trouble if you ever reset your sensitivity levels. I don't know what that means exactly, but it must mean you can change it. Your BioPerfect isn't like human cells--it can adapt. Make it adapt, Locke. Figure out a way."
I shift my gaze from the wall to Miesha, her eyes wide and unblinking. For a whole year, she knew this and never told me? She knew. "Is there a bathroom, Miesha? I need to clean up."
She shakes her head like she doesn't understand me. "Locke?"
I stare at her waiting for an answer. She points to the corner. "Over there."
It's only a dozen steps to the bathroom, but each one is a bolt of lightning trying to take me down. I feel Miesha's eyes drill into my back. I feel the trickle of sweat on my temple. I feel all the pain that Gatsbro wanted me to feel and some that he never could have calculated.
I reach the bathroom, shut the door behind me, and fall against the sink for support. Sweat winds its way down my cheek. I look in the mirror at my cut lip and swollen cheekbone. The room behind me spins, and I grip the sink tighter. We were only products from day one. I touch my face. I'm a person. A human. You can't do this to humans. My head pounds with bloody red rage instead of pain.
Like an egg. That's what I would do if he were here right now. Crush his skull like an egg and laugh while I did it. Kara was right. Do it. Do it. I should have. The manipulation I fell for boggles my mind. A lot of good 500 billion biochips did me. How could I have been so stupid? So naive? Kara never liked him or trusted him. I should have listened to her.
I need Kara.
I lean over the sink and splash water on my face. I will not forget this. Ever. Do you hear that, Gatsbro? Never. There is a hesitant tap on the door. "Just a minute," I call. I shake the water from my hands.
Kara never liked Miesha either. What do I really know about her? When I exit, Miesha is waiting for me. I ask only one thing: "Where do the trains go?"
"Everywhere." And then she frowns, understanding my meaning. "She could have gone anywhere, Locke."
But she didn't. There's only one place Kara would go.
Chapter 27
"California!"
Miesha is already annoyed with Dot, insisting she is not an Escapee every time Dot uses the term. "I'm a fool is what I am!" she says, and I try to understand how that is better than being on the run.
Miesha sits in the front seat with Dot so I can lie down and rest if I need to. How can I rest? Seeing where I'm going is more important. We're on a deserted country road that leads away from the warehouse.
"Are you sure that is the girl Escapee's destination?"
"No, and we--"
"Yes." I override Miesha's response. "I know that's where she'd go. And her name is Kara."
Dot nods. "Kara. Then we might find her in Topeka if we hurry."
"No! Not Topeka. Calif--"
"All roads lead to Topeka!" Dot and Miesha say simultaneously, and they both laugh, which only makes me uneasy. Their mutual understanding instantly shifts me to outsider status.
Dot sees that I am not smiling or laughing. She explains that the major transgrid network is like a giant X crisscrossing the country with the major Train Depot Interchange at its center in Topeka. Smaller grids fan out from there. The small gridline in Boston goes to the major line in Albany, and from there it's a straight shot to Topeka. The trains move fast, but so do the cars that travel on the same grid. Dot says with Kara having to find her way around at the Albany station and then waiting for the next train, we might be able to get to Topeka just ahead of her. If not, we can go straight from there to California.
"No! We have to stop her in Topeka. Whatever it takes. Speed! Just do it! She can't get to California before me."
Dot looks at me in the mirror and then, removing her hands completely from the steering bar, swivels around to face me. Her customary smile is gone. I think she doesn't like my tone. She crosses her arms on the back of the seat and looks directly into my eyes. The car continues to maneuver on its own. "You must understand, Customer Locke, that I will do anything I can to help an Escapee. This is my chance to be somebody too--the most I can ever hope to be. I will have my own story of Escape to share with others like me. And if ... if for some reason I am unable to share my story, then stories will still be told about me. I will always be known as Officer Dot Jefferson, Liberator. I have crossed the line, and for me there is no going back. Because I have tampered with Star Cab property when I retooled this vehicle, I am beyond a simple temporary Release now. I will be recycled. So your success is my success. But there are obstacles that even I can't overcome."
I clear my throat. "Okay."