Variant

“It was some kind of damage report. It listed a bunch of code numbers—I don’t know what they meant.”

He turned to the computer and touched one of the keys. The screen flickered and then lit up, as though it had only been on standby.

I stepped closer to read it, looking over Mouse’s shoulder as the five leaders clustered around the screen. Hector, behind us, asked what it said.

“Just numbers,” Curtis answered. “A list of codes.”

The entire screen was filled with the same types of numbers I’d seen before, when Jane had first plugged herself in. Except for the last line. “At the end,” I told Hector, “it says ‘Recommended Action: Transfer and Permanent Deactivation Due to Extensive and Irreparable Damages.’”

Carrie breathed a soft, heartbroken moan and put her hand to her eyes.

Suddenly Mason gasped. “Holy—Guys, you’d better look at this.”

We all turned.

He was facing the tall cabinets, staring at something inside.

Mouse was the first to cross to him. “What is it?”

He swung the door open. “See for yourself.”

It was dark, but the shape inside was unmistakable. It was a person.

Dylan. He was strapped against a board, almost vertical, with thick nylon belts holding him up—wrapped at his knees, waist, and chest. His eyes were open, but they were as lifeless as Jane’s. A cable ran from his ear as well, plugged in to a small digital panel on the side of the cabinet. However, unlike hers, his ear looked as though it had been cut away carefully.

Oakland swore again, but it was Isaiah who seemed the most distraught, stepping forward and peering closely into Dylan’s face, inspecting the hole in his head.

Mason, suddenly shaken into awareness, began throwing the other cabinets open. There were four of them, and two had the same board inside, with leather straps ready to hold another person—another android. The other two cabinets were locked.

“What about Laura?” Isaiah asked, looking at us, dumbfounded. His mouth hung open slightly, and his eyes were wide and expectant.

“Maybe she wasn’t one of them,” I said. The presence of Dylan destroyed my old theory. Dylan was relatively new to the school. I’d have to check my chart, but I was pretty sure he’d only been here eight or nine months. “Not everybody is, I don’t think.”

Mouse’s lips curled into a disgusted snarl. “Well, I’m not.” She slammed the cabinet closed on Dylan and spun to face the other leaders. “What about the rest of you?”

They began to protest, but I shouted over them. “There’s no way to tell,” I said. “I’ve been thinking about this for weeks. Jane could bleed. I mean, I kissed her and never had any idea that she was . . . like that. It’s not like we can cut off everyone’s ears just to check.”

We stood in silence for several seconds. I thought I saw Carrie’s eyes flick nervously to Curtis, but then she just stared at the cabinet.

“Anyone know how to make a metal detector?” Mason asked.

No one answered.

“There are all those old textbooks in the basement,” I said. “Maybe there’s one on electronics.”

“What about the X-ray machine?” Curtis asked.

I shook my head. “We have to send the film off to get developed. The school does that.”

Isaiah nodded absently, deep in his own thoughts. Mouse’s eyes were fierce, her teeth clenched. Oakland just looked mad, like he wanted to hit something. Carrie seemed dead, no emotion at all, and Curtis’s face was contorted and distraught. As I watched him, he stared back at me for a long time. Finally, he spoke.

“We need to talk to everyone.”

Isaiah looked up. “But what do we tell them?”

“The truth,” Curtis said.

Isaiah took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. “No one is going to trust anyone now.”

Oakland snorted. “Like they really did before.”

Curtis’s eyes met mine. “The V’s trust each other,” he said. I nodded, even though it was more hope than truth. Oakland was right. No one could trust anyone anymore.

I went back up the hallway. Outside, the sun was beginning to rise. Most people were out on the track, having moved out of the building’s shadow and into the warm light.

We walked in silence, everyone but Carrie and Curtis separate and alone. And even the two of them, though their hands were still together, seemed farther apart.

Becky came toward us, speaking in an injured whisper. “The school’s locked. Even the V’s can’t get in.” She looked at me, her eyes swollen and red. She wanted to say something. I wanted to say something, but didn’t know what.

I turned away and looked back at the door. The brown paint now bore long white scratches and dents. It swung in the gentle breeze, closing but then bouncing open again without anything to latch it shut.

Mouse emerged slowly, gazing at the waiting students. After a moment, she walked over to us.

“Oakland’s trying to work on the computer,” she said blankly, not really directing her words to any one of us in particular.

Isaiah seemed to be waiting for something, but when no one said anything, he turned to the group of students.

“First of all,” he began, “there is no reason to panic. What we’ve seen is strange and different, but it doesn’t—” He was cut off by the shouts and jeers from the crowd.

“Shut up, Isaiah! You’re probably one of them!”

Mouse and Curtis looked at each other, and then Curtis pointed at me. “You might as well go ahead.”

I frowned, but Mouse seemed to have no objection. Isaiah was obviously annoyed.

I stepped forward. “We don’t know much about what’s going on. When I first found out about Jane, I thought she might be the only one. But, just now, Mason found Dylan. He was one, too.”

There were gasps from the crowd, and a few people began talking. But the conversations seemed to stall and end quickly, as though they were wondering whether they were actually talking to friends or enemies.

“We don’t have any way to tell if there are other androids among us,” I said. Several visibly flinched at the word. “I don’t suppose anyone knows how to build a metal detector?”

I scanned the crowd, but no one raised a hand.

“We can’t tell,” I said, “but I don’t think we can let that stop us. I think it’s time that we got out of here for good. I’ve always thought that we could do it if we worked together. Let’s all go, now, today. We can get over the wall easy enough—through the culvert or knock down some trees.” I looked over at Isaiah. “I’ve got the security contract right now and I promise you it will not be enforced.”

No one seemed to jump at my suggestion, but no one protested it either, so I continued, “The highway is maybe fifty miles from here, and if we keep moving we can cover that in a couple days. From there we should be able to flag down some help.”

Skiver shouted, “Any one of you could be robots. The minute we try to leave, you’ll kill the rest of us.”

Joel was next. “What about water? Fifty miles without any water—that’s suicide.”

Others were yelling, but I waved my arms to shush them. “Our only other option is go back inside, if they let us. Don’t you guys get it? Whatever we’re here for is ruined. We’ve always said they’re either training us or testing us. Now we know about the androids, and that screws up whatever experiment they’re doing. Do you think they’re just going to let us go back to normal?”