Indecision

     Mina had spent the morning sorting through a shipment of chemicals. The purely organizational task was soothing in her agitated state. She could still ponder the arrival of the freaks, but in a detached way, as she checked labels and invoices and catalog numbers. In the silence of the laboratory storeroom, she could deceive herself by imagining that she was still alone in her own home.

     The storeroom, the morgue, the lab itself- all we devoid of motion, of breath, of sound. She was between projects, having wrapped up the latest only two days ago. The results of her most recent experiment now waited to be viewed by her employers- half paperwork squirreled away in her office upstairs, half in the morgue down here with her. They would be pleased with her results, more pleased than ever before- if they ever got to see them.

     What am I going to do about the freaks? 

     Nothing irked Mina more than indecision, be it her own or others’. She liked knowing where she was going, what destination toward which she was hurtling. She could usually select a course of action within moments of acquiring data. She never second-guessed. Why was this different?

     When she meandered back upstairs to make a sandwich, the Leader of the Freaks walked into the kitchen. There was no sense in being cold to him- he wouldn’t understand it. He’d misinterpret her lack of warmth to mean she’d decided against their merry little band. He was large, and looked as though he could be brutal if he wanted to. There was no need for conflict until she’d made her decision. Mina was friendly, and he’d reacted exactly as she’d presumed he would.

     Predictable.

     So very, very average.

     Mina hated “Averages” with a passion she could muster for little else. They ran the world, these completely non-extraordinary people. Their lives were free of any true complications, as the system was built exclusively for them. They had only to be born, to grow a little, attend the schools where classes were tailored to fit their lack of needs, and join a workforce of their equally unproblematic peers. They had everything handed to them by virtue of being born in the proper IQ bracket. Success, popularity, love and leisure were stamped upon them the moment they stepped into the light of society. Perhaps they would be quite so detestable if they didn’t make it their business to torment those less fortunate- the intelligent, the brave, the dim-witted and the psychotic. While those born without the virtue of the median tried to eke out a living in a world that rejected them, the Averages did all they could to ensure that those miserable creatures suffered.

     These freaks in her home, they were all Averages- all but Blue, the strange temple-keeper. He radiated an unnatural serenity, one which needled Mina. As a scientist, she found herself wanting to conduct experiments. If I sneak up behind him and start banging two pots together, will he jump? If I shot him, would he react in the same manner as the other subjects? Would his serenity fail him should I apply torture? If she joined the freaks, she might have an opportunity to study his reactions, if any, to the strain of attempting to save a world which may or may not be in distress. She wanted to take him apart, to gain some understanding of a nature so unlike her own. Perhaps she could learn his trick of shutting everyone away, of not caring. He could be alone in a place overflowing with humanity- a trick she envied beyond measure.

     In the afternoon, Mina unlocked her office where she would do some mind-numbing paperwork. With so much opportunity to think, she couldn’t seem to force a decision to surface. She leaned back in her brown leather chair and sighed. She loved it here, in her home, her lab, her office. It was perpetually quiet. She was surrounded by the dead- the only way that she could find peace. The dead things would never hurt her, not even in her darkest nightmares. Her eyes fell on the orange prescription bottle sitting on her desk. She snorted softly. Never.

     The prescription was a handout from a colleague she’d seen at a conference last month. “Colleagues” were the main reason she hated conferences, anyway. The man, a researcher in a similar field, had insisted that she try the product.

     “Imagine,” he’d said, “being able to live utterly free of the guilt accrued through our work.”

     “I already do,” she’d replied, cynical barbs laced in the words.

     “Oh, be honest. Nobody could… until now. Just pop a pill and bingo- the very memory of the act is no more.”

     “Along with what else?”
     “It’s perfectly safe. The only memories one could lose are painful. It’s based on a specific chemical compound found in…”

     He droned on and on. In the end, Mina found herself holding the bottle. She would never swallow those little pills. She had no reason to.

     The ringing phone cut through her reminisces.

     “Hello?”

     The Champions had gathered in the living room once more. Harata busied himself with Ayame’s necklace, while she snuggled into the armchair, still dazed from her beating. Blue was seated on the floor, seemingly oblivious to the others. With each breath, he seemed to enter and leave the room- in and out, water against rocks. Chieko was poking around the room- there wasn’t much in it, other than the furniture. The books on the shelf had titles that she couldn’t quite understand. There were no knick-knacks, no family photos- no photos at all. The only magazine was a scientific journal. Kat sat on the sofa, playing with her hair- putting it up, taking it down.

     Harata felt as though he was sitting on the edge of a giant razorblade. He was jittery, wound tight. Everyone was awake now, fully clothed but hungry. He wanted out, to get away. In his mind he could see the HeadHunters closing in on the cabin. Every moment bought them closer. While he could accept that they were safer holed up in their unlikely shelter than they were wandering around outside, the Clanless still craved motion.

     He nudged Blue.

     “Where do we go from here?”

     The Night’s Herald returned to the planet, a deflating balloon settling to the ground.

     “We need to see a map,” he replied. “Continuing west seems like a good idea, but predictable. They’ll assume we had some reason for going that way.”

     “North or south, then?”

     “I-“

     Whatever opinion Blue was about to offer was silenced by the ringing of the phone. Everyone tensed- Ayame’s eyes staring wide from the armchair, Kat’s hands in mid-motion on her head. Chi became a statue. The phone ceased ringing- Mina must’ve picked it up.

     Blue and Harata crept to the office door. Chi wandered behind them. Straining to hear, they picked up the Sabian’s end of the conversation through the flimsy door.

     “Yes, this is she.”

     Silence.

     “Of course, always happy to oblige. What can I do for you?”

     Again came silence, occasionally broken by Mina’s voice murmuring,

     “I see.”

      Finally, after another pause, they heard:

     “Well, I haven’t noticed anything unusual. Security here is pretty tight, but you guys are more than welcome to come and check the place out. Actually, I’d really appreciate it if you did.”

     More silence.

     “By the way, who have you got on the case? Anyone I know?”

     Pause.

     “Oh, well then, I’m sure those guys are as good as caught.”

     There was a brief farewell and the sound of the phone being placed carefully in its cradle. Another two seconds passed without sound and then,

     “Shit!”

     The swear was so loud and vehement that Harata, taken aback, stumbled against Blue. Just as he regained balance, the door flew open. Mina seemed to tower there, emitting a violent energy. She glanced down at them, looking disgusted.

     “Seems I’ve chosen sides. We don’t have much time, so-“

     “What is that?” Harata pushed past her into the office. His gut clenched as he was hit by a wave of horror. The room was filled with trophies. They might have been hunting trophies- heads of great beasts fastened to plaques on the wall. Glassy eyes gazed down at him, emotionless mouths forever set with glue. The heads on the wall here were not those of animals. They were human.

     “They were test subjects,” Mina said matter-of-factly from behind him. “Not that one, though.” She motioned to the head of a middle-aged, dark-haired man. “Angemal traitor who got himself beheaded. I won it at auction. He’s the one that got my little collection started. I know someone in taxidermy. Thought it might be fun.”

     Harata swallowed hard.

     “What exactly is it that you do?”

     “I’m in weapons development. I work for the Angemal. I won’t bore you with the details.”

     “These people… you killed them?”

     “Yeah. We need to test. Can’t assume things are just going to work the way you plan.”

     “They’re- they’re Dauern, aren’t they?”

     “You got it. Slaves who were no longer useful. You know, I asked you before if you thought this hole was worth saving. You didn’t bother to ask me back. The answer is ‘no’. I don’t.”

     Mina allowed several seconds of silence.

     “Well, that’s neither here nor there. As it stands now, I’m with you guys for some reason. And we have big problems. The HeadHunters will be here in about twenty minutes. I need all of you to come downstairs. My lab’s down there. We need to hide you.”

     She walked away, muttering swears to herself. Harata, Blue and Chi followed behind. In the living room, Harata motioned to Ayame and Kat.

     “We’ve gotta hide. The HeadHunters are coming here.”

     Ayame’s eyes widened as she scurried to stand beside Harata. The six of them walked down rickety wooden stairs to the basement. Mina’s laboratory took up the whole of it. There was a large room for conducting the actual tests, a room beside that filled with computers that clicked and buzzed, a stock room… and a morgue. It was to the morgue that the Sabian led them, a room lined with shiny stainless cabinets, a sink, a stainless table. There were twelve freezers in the cabinets. Mina was counting on her fingers.

     “OK.” She turned to them, then away, opening several of the slide-out panels. “Get in, one to each. Curl up into a ball, as tight as you can. I’ve got to leave these cracked open. They’re airtight, so you’ll suffocate otherwise. Whatever happens, don’t make a sound, and don’t move. If even one of you screws up, we’re all dead. Go, move it.”

      Blue was the first to comply, crawling into one of the freezers used for storing the bodies of Mina’s “subjects”. Chi followed, paused, and turned to a ghost-white Kat.

     “Don’t be scared,” she said. “We’ll be fine. They’ll come in, poke around, and leave. Besides, we’re still hostages. It’s ok.”

     She took Kat’s arm and helped her into a locker, then climbed into one of her own. Harata turned to Ayame, whose face had gone so pale that the cuts and bruises stood out vividly, as though they’d been painted on. She swallowed hard, gulped air. This was her hell, her own personal Pandemonium. Harata struggled with himself as he realized that this was a very possible glimpse into her future. In this place, scores of her own Clan had suffered and died. In this very morgue they’d been laid to rest. This was the future for people like her. People like me, he thought. Lying on that steel slab would be superimposing herself on the foundation of her every fear. He reached out to her and gathered her toward himself.

     “It’ll be over soon,” was all he could think to say. “I know you’re afraid, but it’ll be over soon.”

     She looked up at him and her sorrow pummeled his heart. He guided her to a locker, hugged her and she climbed in on her own. He balled up in the last one that stood vacant. As Mina slid the freezers nearly closed, he hoped beyond anything that they could trust her. Visions of the trophies in the office nagged at him, telling him that she would, in fact, betray them.