The Compound Read online

possible they had missed something.

  Allia kept going through the second day too, but the different formulas were becoming impossible. Her head had started to buzz and she reluctantly went back to her room that night. The sleep had revitalized her and the third day she started to make real progress. The part of the treatment that was failing was the last part that had to stabilize the candidate’s DNA. She tried tweaking various elements, but the chemicals used should have been working. She studied all the notes the other scientists were making and the results of their experiments.

  Days blurred together as Allia devoted every second she could to testing the different formulas. She didn’t spend as much time talking with the other scientists as she had in the past, but they seemed to understand her drive and left her alone unless it was related to the testing or formulas.

  Then, three days before the two weeks were up she found it. It was so obvious and yet also complex. The problem with the children was that their DNA had been spliced with DNA from animals to produce the right mix of speed, agility, retention of oxygen and any other trait the scientists thought could be useful. And every child’s mix was different. Of course one single cure wouldn’t work, even though the current belief was that one of the first shots every child had was supposed to add a marker that would make every child receptive to the same medicine, but this wasn’t working.

  Each cure had to be specifically doctored to fit that child’s mix of DNA. Allia ran several models based on the children living and then she also ran a model based on Mattai’s collection of DNA. When both models came back positive she thought her lack of sleep was clouding her mind. She had to read it five times before she convinced herself to get up and show it to one of her co-workers. They were skeptical at first and had to go back and read her notes from the last two days, but at last Ninth Official Yama came over and reviewed her work. They would start creating the formula and try it.

  Allia was sent to get some rest and as she walked out of the lab she felt tired, but happy. Her hands ached with early signs of arthritis or from all the hours she spent typing and writing she wasn’t sure. It didn’t matter. She had saved her son. And as her head touched her pillow she wondered if the officials would let her take Brian on a small trip somewhere, just the two of them. Perhaps they would go to the lake and he could skip rocks. If the formula worked, and she was sure it would, then they would want to reward her and she decided that a short trip with her son would be perfect.

  She fell into a deep sleep and dreamed of Brian laughing and running into her arms.

  It was the afternoon of the next day when Allia woke. She wondered why no one had come to wake her and then she was instantly worried that the formula didn’t work. Whipping on a new uniform, she rushed back to the lab. There were more scientists in the rooms than would normally be there, even the room she used. Everyone from labs 2 to 5 if Allia was right. Her heart beat faster when she saw Ninth Official Yama holding up a vial of milky yellow liquid that was then passed to First Official Foreman.

  Was that it?

  Then everyone parted as First Official Foreman walked out into the hallway. He saw her and nodded at the vial.

  “It looks like you might have done it. We are going to try it now and because of your hard work it would be fitting for you to also be present,” First Official Foreman said.

  Allia murmured a thank you and waited for the other officials to pass before joining the back of the line. They all filed into one of the patient rooms and there was barely enough space for all of them to fit.

  Heather, the oldest candidate at six years old, was sitting patiently on the table, her caretaker standing at the table’s head. First Official Foreman handed the vial to Dr. Vos, who then drew the liquid into a syringe and injected it into Heather. Everyone took a step closer as Dr. Vos began running scans and checking vitals. Allia wasn’t sure what everyone expected. They weren’t really able to tell if it was working until the next day, but then again, those past formulas were not going to work anyway.

  “Good,” Dr. Vos said. “Now we’ll just have to wait and see.”

  The collective room seemed to sigh either from relief or disappointment and Allia was the first one out the door followed by others.

  The next day Heather’s results were responsive and Allia heard that Dr. Vos gave Brian the injections tailored to his DNA as well with similar results. The overall feel in the Compound was one of hope. Allia nearly burst with it. She wondered if she could petition the Officials for more time off to spend with her son. Perhaps she could show him the lab she worked in and let him help with some simple experiments. With that in mind, she waited outside of First Official Foreman’s office waiting for him to return.

  After twenty minutes of waiting, First Official Foreman turned the corner to his office’s waiting area. His stride halted as he saw her and then he walked past to his office door.

  “I’m sorry,” he says. “There is nothing I can do.”

  Allia stood to her feet. “It would only be an extra hour a week--What do you mean?”

  First Official Foreman sighed. “I thought you knew. The paperwork placing Brian in the Candidate Program is finalized.”

  “But the injections--You said, you lied....” Her voice nearly trailed up into a shrilled gasp and she could see First Official Foreman’s eyes narrow. He would have her removed from the Compound if she made a scene. She would never see Brian again.

  “There is nothing I can do. We need all the candidates we can get.”

  “But a candidate cannot be entered without the parent’s permission.”

  “Or unless the board deems it necessary and overrules the parent’s right.”

  “The board? You head the board.” Allia wanted to scream. She pinched her lips together and looked down at the floor. Her heart pounded so hard it was difficult to breath, but Allia forced two deep inhales before she said, “I thought if I found the answer to why the candidates were dying that my son would not be put into the program. He was never supposed to be on the list. The contract I signed before he was born--”

  “States that we have the right to determine final placement according to any needs that may arise. I can send you the copy on file.”

  “No, that’s all right.” Allia would look at her own copy later, although she felt certain that First Official Foreman was right. The Compound would never leave out a clause that would give them final say. She was a fool to not remember it or think that they would never use it. When she spoke again her voice came out softer than she wanted. “When will Brian start his training?”

  “On the 12th of January.”

  Three weeks away. Everything was happening so fast and Allia was powerless to stop it. He could not enter the program. She would not allow it and yet there was nothing she could do. Or was there?

  “We do appreciate the sacrifice you are making as a parent, but since he is not in the program he can no longer have distractions.”

  That meant no more parent visits. Allia could barely make herself nod.

  “I also wanted to pass along to you how valuable your work has been. The cure you created has shown more potential than anything we’ve seen. You’ve saved the candidate program and the decades of research that we’ve put into the candidates.”

  “I do my best, sir.” Allia paused. “The past few days have been rough for me. Might I take the rest of the day off? I’d like to have a change in scenery, clear my head, maybe go shopping in the city.”

  First Official Foreman paused, his head tilted. “That might be good for you. Take two days. You’ve been working hard.”

  “Thank you, sir.”

  Allia could hardly keep one foot ahead of the other as she left the waiting area and turned down the hall. The farther she got the easier it was and the more determined she became to figure out how she could save her son. A whole list of possibilities ticked through her mind. Like the ancient slide shows that would show a picture and then click to the next one, she considered her opti
ons.

  The only way she could ensure that Brian was safe was if she removed him from the Compound’s care. The Officials had goals to meet, candidates to train, a world-wide disease to cure. They wouldn’t--couldn’t--put the needs or wants of one person above all the others. Allia knew this too well.

  She had walked candidates to the doctor’s office where they received the shot that would one day end their lives. She’d believed it was the right thing to do too. It wasn’t until she started to have children of her own that she realized how conflicted the parents of her charges must feel. This was why officials and scientists were never allowed to work with their own children. It was a conflict of interest. Brian could not remain in the Compound because his needs would never be first. For the good of all a few must die, but Brian did not have to be one of those few.

  Allia grabbed her blue id, access and credit card from her room and placed it in her left palm where it attached to her skin. She also took the handheld, her personal computer, and started running cleaner apps that would hide her browsing history. Then she took one of the Compound’s speeders to Highton City a two minute flight.

  It was an old model and probably came out the year she was born, if not before. The older models were the trickiest to fly. If the timing of the duel engines from each other were off by a fraction of a second and