Content Warnings: reference to suicide attempt
As Tazina worked on restoring my number, Al and I continued our work on the System device. And it turned out to be much more work than we’d thought. At some point we’d realized the images and videos had been shuffled. We’d already asked Tazina to uncover the timestamps but she couldn’t find even a hint of any. Whoever had helped 327480 was an expert at covering tracks. But that also gave Al and I the nearly impossible task of trying to piece together a timeline.
Al swiped to an image of yet another doorway. “Huh,” Al said.
“What?” I asked, glancing from him to the picture. It didn’t look much different from any of the other doors. Cleaner, maybe. And a bit more well lit.
“I’ve seen entrances like this before,” Al said.
I raised an eyebrow at him, half-expecting him to make some sort of joke about all the other images we’d looked at.
“No, really,” he said in response to my look. “Itjeoilmtkaejhdfuijked in shuttle maintenance and thewjiotkelmie a door he showed me.” Al zoomed into a plaque bolted beside the door. “See!”
After giving him a skeptical glance, I leaned toward the device and squinted to read the plaque. “Maintenance Entry 503B,” I read out loud.
“This is our entry point,” Al said excitedly. “We can make a map with this! Finally!”
“Dax?” Tazina called from across the room. I looked over at her, my heart hammering at the sound of worry in her voice.
“Are you sure you can do this?” she asked.
I walked over to Tazina’s work station in confusion. What exactly had she found? Then I saw it. The records she had pulled up on her computer: System notes on changes in my mood and behavior after I’d entered what had turned into my final year of law school. And the last line stated I was placed in confinement for attempted self-destruction.
No wonder Tazina was concerned. “I’m sure I can do this,” I replied, meeting Tazina’s eyes. “It’s only a year.”
Tazina scoffed. She rolled her wheelchair away from the computer, angling it slightly so she could face me. “Only a year? Look what ‘only a year’ did to you before!” she yelled, gesturing at the computer screen.
“I- That’s different,” I replied. “The pressure that year was overwhelming.”
“And you think there’s no pressure for this mission?! Failure isn’t an option.”
I flinched.
Slam! Tazina and I turned at the sound to see Al glaring back at Tazina.
“Don’t do that,” Al said quietly. “Don’t quote her.”
Tazina remained silent, her jaw clenched. Al walked over, peering over my shoulder at the records on the screen.
“Spending a few years in confinement to recover from that sort of thing isn’t unheard of,” Al stated stiffly. “It actually makes your job easier, Taz. Make sure her reassignment is in shuttle maintenance. Ttjeiowtmflsdkajthiewoajklfdmskanjhtuieojwklsds.”
Al returned to the counter. Taz gave me a concerned look before turning back to her computer. If she really didn’t think I could do it, I’d prove her wrong.
To be continued…