Deliverance Read Free Page B

soon.”
    I feel more like it’s because I may have betrayed good people, but I keep that to myself.
    “Are you ready to go home?” Sindy asks.
    Home? I wish. “Sure.”
    She helps me off the medical bed and leads me to a room where I can change back into my own clothes.
    The ride home is quiet, and I’m thankful Sindy is leaving me alone with my thoughts. It gives me time to consider what Fischer meant when he said, “Keep trying.” I have no idea what he was trying to tell me, but I will find out.
     
     
     
     

4
     
    Morning light filters through the windows the next day, and my eyes adjust to the changing shade. I squint and study the windows. They are definitely changing—they’re getting clearer, letting in more light, automatically.
    Weird.
    I take a bath as soon as I get up. The feeling of being completely engulfed in gloriously hot water is like no other joy I’ve ever felt before. It almost erases the horror of not knowing what I did or said—what I showed them—in my dreams. Almost.
    When someone knocks on the door, I don’t worry about answering. I know now it is the food service. They will leave the food in the dumbwaiter beside the front door, and I will eat it when I’m finished. The food yesterday arrived three times: once in the morning, once at noon, and once at six o'clock in the evening.
    Today is my first full day in Greater City with nothing to do. My training starts in four days, and Sindy promised to come by tomorrow to take me on a tour of the training facilities. She also warned me not to go out alone. She said Supreme Moon hasn’t given the approval for my total freedom, at least not yet. She assured me it would come. She promised I would enjoy the freedom that everyone in Greater City enjoys, as long as I could prove I deserve it.
    But I don’t really care what Supreme Moon has to say. If I’m going to live here, then there are certain things I want to find—people who believe like I do, for starters. They will have more information about the problems I found in Middle City 3. What are the blinking lights? And is there really a secret prison?
    When my fingers are wrinkly, I climb from the tub. A large, round machine is attached to the wall next to the bathroom sink. It has a curved cut-out that looks like the shape of a head. I think that if I stepped inside, it would dry my hair for me, but that seems way too strange and I’m afraid to try.
    It’s hard to trust anything in this place.
    I stick my hand underneath it, just to see, and it blows to life. The pressure of the air pushes my hand away.
    Why would I stick my head in there?
    I quickly dress in my Greater-wear and towel-dry my hair.
    After breakfast, I look out the windows. Transporters move like magic over the streets, and citizens come and go through doorways that lead into buildings. I don't know what goes on in any of them. Shops? Grocers? Schools?
    I mess with the HELP comp, which I can’t figure out at all. Besides, if they're watching me through it then I don't want it on. I glance at the pillow covering the clock. There is no way I’m taking it off, ever.
    That’s enough of this lonely cage. I slip quietly into the hallway of the building and glide to the elevator. In place of an ordinary button there is a plastic pad. I press it.
    Not Approved flashes across the plastic screen.
    I frown and lean in close.
    I press it again, and this time I notice a thin red line that moves over the pad of my thumb.
    It’s scanning my fingerprint!
    I grind my teeth. Sindy was serious when she told me to stay in. Still, there has to be a stairway. They can’t keep me locked up forever.
    I hurry through the hallways, searching for a door. It sits hidden behind a huge, potted tree. Using my shoulder, I nudge the tree out of the way. The door sticks, but after a few pushes it creaks open. A dim staircase stretches down below me.
    I smile and hurry to follow it.
    Stairs are comforting to me. They remind me of home.
    I hadn’t