BOOK OF MIA: 2081

Chapter 27: Salvation

"Wake up, sleepyhead!" a guard roars, with an added nudge to my ribs using the butt of his rifle.

I wake to see the same old guards in the same old canteen. I rub sleep off my eyes and yawn. No idea when I fell asleep. I blame it on my lack of sleep over the last two murderous days I've had.

"Are we there? Wherever there is?" I ask.

He smiles a haughty smile at me and walks away. "We disembark in five. Thought you princesses might like to stretch your legs and take in the view."

At the word 'view', my ears perk up. We have had no view for the last, however-many-hours in the windowless canteen. I turn my wrist and eye my watch. Its faint amber glimmers through my skin, telling me it's six am on the first of November 2081. Fudge. The new year is nearly here. A handful of weeks and Nate and I would graduate... or should graduate. Now, I don't know what our future holds.

Are we fugitives? It feels like we are.

I shrug off the feeling and turn to see Nate and Dev already up on their feet, waiting for me. Nate looks a little green.

"You okay?" I ask.

He gives me a tight-lipped nod and grips the bolted-down table next to him for dear life when the vessel rocks.

"He's got no sea legs." Dev smiles and gives Nate a pat on the back as consolation.

"Sea legs?" I grin. Never would have thought Nate couldn't tough out motion sickness.

"Shut up, Mia!" Nate manages as a guide gives me the dirty eye.

"Up we go. Let's move."

The guards flank us like we are some Elite Hiver and they are our security escorts. I fall in line, feeling a chill rush up my legs and crawl over my body as we ascend the stairs, one floor, two floors, till we reach the deck.

The brightness makes me squint. Sunrise — and I look right into the big blob of fire accidentally. I'm not used to seeing the sunrise, and it has nothing to do with being a teen. I've lived in a bunker nearly my whole life.

When my eyes adjust to the morning, I look around us, only to see water everywhere. So where are we disembarking in five minutes? I see nothing.

I can't help myself. I ask, "Where are we disembarking, as you say?"

A few of the guards around us chuckle a little.

One says, "Turn around Goldilocks!"

"I'm more Belle than Goldilocks!" I sneer as I turn. I don't even have blonde hair.

The sight makes my jaw drop. "You've got to be kidding me!"

"Is that an intact oil rig?" Dev asks.

Nate eyes me sideways. We are both thinking the same thought. We've both seen the old classic movies like Blue Water Horizon — set on an oil rig out in the ocean — and we know they never end well for people there.

"We are going there?" I ask, alarmed.

"How is it still intact?" Dev mutters beside me, staring at the rig floating out in front of us. At its ominous form.

"What do you mean?" I ask him since I know so little about rigs. I should've paid better attention in my history class. I should've paid attention in a lot of classes...

"Thought they all got damaged in the blowout of forty-nine. At least that was the news back then." Dev glances at me with a worried look.

"They were nearly all destroyed in the blowout."

It's Captain Light. He joined us like a stealthy spy, while we've been distracted by the big platform-of-doom on the calm seas. Another larger, rolling wave on the water sends the boat rocking side-to-side and Nate grips my shoulder tight.

"Don't you throw up on me!" I low-key growl.

"This rig sustained some damage then, but it was repairable, being so far out from all the nuke sites. ShahAmour Industries fixed it up before taking up residence."

"Your last name is Shah too, right Dev?" I ask and Dev meets my eyes.

"And Amour is your grandfather's, Mia." Nate throws in. "Could it be? ShahAmour has something to do with—"

"Both of us?" I interrupt, almost snorting a laugh. Or is that fear? Too many odd things have happened in the last couple of weeks, so I can't rule out another odd thing, but Dev knew my name that night — how?

Our boat pulls up along a dock, and the guards rush about, securing it against the rig. Before long, a gangplank bridges the gap and they lead us onto the rig.

"Was anyone in your family a scientist, Dev?" I whisper as they make us climb ladders up to the main deck.

"Both my parents were," he replies cautiously. "The name Amour sounds familiar to me too," he adds.

"Apparently he was my grandfather," I respond and I hear—

"I am your grandfather!" he, yes, HE, sounds in my head.

"Did your parents ever work for Amour or his company, CodeTech?" Nate, bringing up the rear end, asks Dev as we near the entrance to the death trap.

"Halt." The order comes.

We do. In fact, they line us up as if we are facing an execution squad. I hope no one fires at us. I quietly try to see if I can get Survival Mode on again, just in case.

"Activate Survival mode," I whisper, hoping no one hears me. Nate gives me a look, the what-the-fuck-you-doing-look, but then I see he's changed his mind. He too whispers the same command.

We get nada. Bupkis.

"You?" I ask.

"Nothing. You?"

"Nothing," I reply.

Fudge! Hell, I'm gonna say fuck. What mum doesn't know, can't hurt her? "Fuck!"

Nate nods at me with a smile. "You know she asked me to keep a tab of how often you swear, right? You've racked up at least a half-hour docking of your air time."

I scowl. "Tattletale."

The giant entrance to the rig opens slowly — watertight gates, I assume. A woman's silhouette, flanked by two guards, appears at the gate, approaching us.

As she comes out in full view of the sun, I see she is a smallish woman, maybe around my height. The closer they get, the more agitated Nate gets. He keeps shifting his weight from one foot to another. And I, well, I feel — I don't know what I feel.

I whisper, "Activate Survival Mode," once more, and nothing. Silence — when I would have loved to hear that mechanical voice otherwise. Of all the times to have my only defence down.

"It's not the only defence you have," Granddad chimes in quietly. I don't know why he thinks he needs to be quiet. It's not like anyone else can hear his voice from inside my head.

"Go on." I prompt him when he says nothing more. You can't just leave it at 'it's not the only defence' — does he know nothing?

The woman is meters away from us. I hear her heels clapping on the concrete. Her white lab coat ignites a round of goosebumps up and down my body. It reminds me of Hill. I try to throw out the notion that Hill has anything to do with this outfit on the rig — whoever they are — from my mind.

"What other defences?" I grumble.

"You are bulletproof to an extent, are you not? If I remember correctly, you should be able to turn invisible. You have an adaptive combat defence system..."

He is talking about Survival Mode, prompting me to ask, "Why is that down right now? Survival Mode. Why can't I bring it up again?"

I get funny looks from a nearby guard, who probably thinks I'm talking to myself. I flash him a nervous smile.

The clicking of heels stops two meters from us. She is keeping a safe distance, whoever she is. She turns to Captain Light and asks, "Her tech status?"

Her voice is instantly familiar to me. She is the woman who has been guiding me — and Nate — since Camp Sweep. The woman who claims to be our mother. I severely doubt it.

Captain Light looks from me to Nate before answering, "Deactivated combat mode, but the rest should still be on." He leans in and whispers something we cannot hear while eyeing Nate from head to toe.

Nate and I exchange glances. They are talking about me, about us, and suddenly I feel self-conscious.

She approaches us. Her eyes are warm enough. But I thought the same about Hill, hadn't I? — before the woman wanted to chop me up for science.

She studies me with a smile, this new woman. "We finally meet, Mia."

"Um." I swallow. Do I say 'nice to meet you,' to a stranger?

She turns to Nate, not bothered by my lack of communication. "And Nate. Gosh, you look just like—" she stops, her voice catching. Her eyes glisten a bit.

"And you are?" I ask, hoping she won't mind the question.

"Billie?" It's not she who speaks, but Dev, who's been watching the woman approach us like a hawk — a kind hawk, not the hunting kind. He's looking at her as if he's trying to dredge up memories from his past. "Is that you?"

The woman turns with surprise at being addressed thus. It's all over her face. Her mouth opens as she scrutinizes Dev standing beside Nate.

Captain Light takes a step towards the woman and explains, "He claims to be your brother, Dr Shah, but he's got nothing that identifies him as—"

Dr Shah holds up her hand to shush Captain Light, her sole attention on Dev. "What's your name, soldier?"

Dev squirms under her gaze. "Devendra Quinton Shah?"

She takes a step closer to him, looking him straight in the eyes. "What's your mum's name?"

"Alisha Shah."

"And your dad?"

"Narendra Shah. And my sister's name is Billie Quinn Shah, named after a renowned scientist our mother admired, but dad despised, Billy Love. We always laughed about that every time your birthday came around. He used to say if she loved the guy so much, she should've married him instead."

Dr Shah smiles and nods in agreement. "She did. In the end."

Dev's mouth falls open at those words.

Dr Shah turns to us next and smiles. "We have much to talk about. I'm sure you have a ton of questions, as do I." She eyes Dev as she says that last bit. "Let's get you settled in and feed, then we can sit and chat."

"Sit and chat? You're not cutting us open to study us and shit?" I ask, unable to help myself. It's a system flaw, I swear.

"Heavens no, girl, I don't need to cut you open to know how you work. I know exactly how you work. I made you after all."

I think my jaw just hit the ground. Yup, it did — it's on the bloody floor. What in the what now?

"Did she just say she made me?" I turn to Nate. He nods. I turn back to her, trying to scrap my jaw off the floor — but barely managing. "What do you mean you made me?"

She smiles at me again. It's not an evil smile like Hill had — after the initial short and 'sweet' smile days, pun intended. Dr Shah's smile is warm and reminds me of Mum's. In fact, the whole of her reminds me of Mum. Her complexion, her stature and height, the cut of her face — all similar to Mum's and mine.

"Why don't you come in first, love, and we can talk about it inside? I'm sure you're hungry and tired. You might be keen on a shower and some clothes." Dr Shah eyes my gown.

Fudge. I'd forgotten about my gown. I check the underwear line again beside my hip to make sure it is still there.

"Food and clothes sound good," I say as we follow them in.

"Do you have coffee?" Dev asks, all hopeful. "And I mean, real coffee? Like we used to have, Billie?"

"You will call her Dr Shah!" Light interjects, but she holds up her hand.

"It's okay, Captain. After all, Billie is my name." Dr Shah eyes the guy claiming to be her brother. "Coffee like that is rare these days, but I believe we have some. Do you still take milk and sugar with yours?"

The way she looks at him as we enter a large service lift tells me it's a test question. She's waiting to see how Dev answers it — if he answers at all like her brother would have.

The corner of Dev's mouth lifts as the doors close and we descend into the ocean — a thought that traps the air in my lungs and lodges a lump in my throat. This rig better not be the end of me. I swallow, trying to focus on Dev and his answer.

"—and a half sugar, but I never take milk with my coffee, and neither do you."

A flicker of a smile lingers on Dr Shah's lips. "Just like dad."

"But mum hated coffee, for some reason..." Dev seems lost in some memory and I wonder. What happened to him? If he is who he says he is, how did he end up with Hill?

I look from Dev to Dr Shah, and though my heart beats fast in my chest, I feel at ease this time. At least Nate is with me and not stored in some other room, having his code corrupted. Nate is not leverage, and there's no way I'll let it happen again. But something tells me Dr Shah is nothing like Dr Hill. Or I hope. I can't tell.

As we continue descending — in one of the slowest frigging lifts — I grab Nate's hand. "We stick together, you and I. No matter what happens."

Nate nods and squeezes my hand, mouthing, "Always," and I feel the air burst from my lungs. Whatever happens next, at least we are together, and there's some comfort in that.