Read Online Inside the Palisade by K C Maguire - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: K C Maguire
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blocking me out. Something passes between the two of them. I can tell by Ma Temple’s expression and the sudden hard set of Gamma’s shoulders.
“Maybe you should share that story with Omega,” Ma Temple says. Gamma turns hesitantly to face me, her skin pale. I have a bad feeling about this. If the story upsets Gamma so much, do I really want to hear it? A breeze blows a tree branch against thewindow, startling me. I reach for the table and accidentally bump my hot chocolate, causing it to drip over the mug and down one of the table legs. The sludge begins to soak into the white carpet.
Embarrassed, I glance at Ma Temple.
“Don’t worry about it.” Ma Temple stands. “I’ll take care of it. Gamma, why don’t you tell Omega what I told you?”
Gamma doesn’t seem so angry anymore. If anything, she looks sad. Ma Temple goes to the kitchen so the two of us are alone now.
Gamma inches a little closer. “Can I see your eyes again?”
I turn to face her. She exhales loudly as she presses her fingertips on the tops of my cheekbones directly below my lower lids.
“How have you hidden them?”
“Contact lenses. Little pieces of plastic I use to cover them.”
Gamma’s lips form into a round “o”. Then she asks, “Are they painful?”
“No, only if my eyes get dry. I’m used to it now.” I pull further away. “What did your mother want you to tell me?”
She blinks and straightens. “Honestly, all my life I thought it was just a story Mom told me, to scare me out of ever thinking about trying to get outside the palisade. Remember how adventurous I was back then?”
The memories of her plans to do death-defying stunts flood back. I don’t know why I ever thought I could be an explorer. She’s the one with the adventurous streak.
“I don’t know why I never figured it out before,” she says. “I mean, that the story was true.”
My hands begin to shake and I rest them against my knees.
“My mother used to tell me about a woman who had been Called to motherhood,” Gamma says. “It was a while back. She was planning to have the Procedure but she couldn’t go through with it. She was worried about the society inside the walls. Worried about the kind of world her child would grow up in. Shedidn’t think we could sustain ourselves forever, and she wanted to go outside. To see if there was anything out there. People to trade with, to help us grow.”
“Sounds like my mother,” I start to say. The words die on my lips.
Gamma collects my hands between hers, pulling me forward. “This woman – she snuck outside the palisade. Only once. That’s all it took.”
It feels like a heavy weight has descended on my chest.
“She was attacked?” I say.
“She went missing for several days. Her partner was wild with fear. The Protectors were planning a search party, but it ended up not being necessary.”
“Why not?” My voice sounds tinny in my ears.
“This woman, she had left her communicator behind. It looked as if she didn’t want to be followed. But no one realized she had taken an emergency beacon with her. A few days after she disappeared, the signal was activated. From outside the palisade. The Protectors found her near the boundary, badly injured and unconscious with no memory of activating the signal. The Med-Techs assumed her memory had been affected by the trauma. Later, she was able to recall some of the things the
deman
did to her. Her physical injuries were healing, but the Med-Techs discovered something else.” Gamma sinks back into the sofa, releasing my hands.
I barely hear Ma Temple enter the room. She walks over to us and pats my knee before wiping the spilled chocolate from the glass table and leaning over with a rag to mop up the stain on the carpet. When she’s done, she perches on the arm of the sofa.
I speak more to myself than to anyone else. “So, that’s why my eyes are like this?”
Ma Temple nods. “When a woman has the Procedure the Med-Techs can
“Maybe you should share that story with Omega,” Ma Temple says. Gamma turns hesitantly to face me, her skin pale. I have a bad feeling about this. If the story upsets Gamma so much, do I really want to hear it? A breeze blows a tree branch against thewindow, startling me. I reach for the table and accidentally bump my hot chocolate, causing it to drip over the mug and down one of the table legs. The sludge begins to soak into the white carpet.
Embarrassed, I glance at Ma Temple.
“Don’t worry about it.” Ma Temple stands. “I’ll take care of it. Gamma, why don’t you tell Omega what I told you?”
Gamma doesn’t seem so angry anymore. If anything, she looks sad. Ma Temple goes to the kitchen so the two of us are alone now.
Gamma inches a little closer. “Can I see your eyes again?”
I turn to face her. She exhales loudly as she presses her fingertips on the tops of my cheekbones directly below my lower lids.
“How have you hidden them?”
“Contact lenses. Little pieces of plastic I use to cover them.”
Gamma’s lips form into a round “o”. Then she asks, “Are they painful?”
“No, only if my eyes get dry. I’m used to it now.” I pull further away. “What did your mother want you to tell me?”
She blinks and straightens. “Honestly, all my life I thought it was just a story Mom told me, to scare me out of ever thinking about trying to get outside the palisade. Remember how adventurous I was back then?”
The memories of her plans to do death-defying stunts flood back. I don’t know why I ever thought I could be an explorer. She’s the one with the adventurous streak.
“I don’t know why I never figured it out before,” she says. “I mean, that the story was true.”
My hands begin to shake and I rest them against my knees.
“My mother used to tell me about a woman who had been Called to motherhood,” Gamma says. “It was a while back. She was planning to have the Procedure but she couldn’t go through with it. She was worried about the society inside the walls. Worried about the kind of world her child would grow up in. Shedidn’t think we could sustain ourselves forever, and she wanted to go outside. To see if there was anything out there. People to trade with, to help us grow.”
“Sounds like my mother,” I start to say. The words die on my lips.
Gamma collects my hands between hers, pulling me forward. “This woman – she snuck outside the palisade. Only once. That’s all it took.”
It feels like a heavy weight has descended on my chest.
“She was attacked?” I say.
“She went missing for several days. Her partner was wild with fear. The Protectors were planning a search party, but it ended up not being necessary.”
“Why not?” My voice sounds tinny in my ears.
“This woman, she had left her communicator behind. It looked as if she didn’t want to be followed. But no one realized she had taken an emergency beacon with her. A few days after she disappeared, the signal was activated. From outside the palisade. The Protectors found her near the boundary, badly injured and unconscious with no memory of activating the signal. The Med-Techs assumed her memory had been affected by the trauma. Later, she was able to recall some of the things the
deman
did to her. Her physical injuries were healing, but the Med-Techs discovered something else.” Gamma sinks back into the sofa, releasing my hands.
I barely hear Ma Temple enter the room. She walks over to us and pats my knee before wiping the spilled chocolate from the glass table and leaning over with a rag to mop up the stain on the carpet. When she’s done, she perches on the arm of the sofa.
I speak more to myself than to anyone else. “So, that’s why my eyes are like this?”
Ma Temple nods. “When a woman has the Procedure the Med-Techs can
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