Free The Forbidden Zone by Victoria Zagar Page A

enhance." The computer window popped open in mid-air. I held my breath as I spun the image around. I almost breathed a sigh of relief as I saw evidence of bacteria. "Here."
    "Sisters, speculate on origin of bacteria." The Ice Queen was not easily fooled, and I held my breath again as I waited for the Sisters' response.
    "Origin unknown. Advise further research."
    I think One knew that something was afoot, but unable to put her finger on it, she conceded. "Fine. You will be given one more chance to produce results. One more round of sampling and testing after this one. Do not think you can fool me, however. Disobedience brings points to whomever might consider it." She marched away, leaving the drones to clean up the bloody mess.
    Saidan shot me a look of pure relief before walking away. I knew I had saved us, but for how long? One had reminded me how much she and the Sisters controlled our destiny. With one command, the whole house could come tumbling in on us. Our fledgling love could die with our extended separation. The risks that we might take to see one another would surely be our undoing.
    I knew we needed answers, and soon, but I was not sure there were any to be had. I made my way up to my room with the project on my mind. Reflection Time was cut short, but I spent it analyzing the data the Sisters had on file. I saw the tiny, squiggling bacteria that were certainly naturally-occurring human microbes from my hand, and wondered how long we could keep up the ruse. The Sisters might have been fooled by my alien bacteria for now, but the three A.I.s were bound to figure it out eventually.
    When I settled down into my pod, my mind was racing with images of all I had seen. Saidan had become my lover, a terrible accident had shown me the fragility of Valerian life, and I was faced with an impossible, insurmountable problem with the research. I knew both Saidan and I might end up depending on whatever lies I could conjure up. I just hoped that I was intelligent enough to fool the Sisters, or we were probably both in for an extended stay at the Re-Education Building.
    I wished that I had Lankis's help. I felt that he would have known what to do. He would understand my predicament better than any other. He knew the difficulty of balancing love and science. He was the one who had warned me of the dangers of my very human heart. I wished I'd not been so cock-sure in my assessment of myself, but I suppose it's only by experience that we learn. I was learning very fast who I was and what I was capable of.
    *~*~*
    Feeding Time the next day was a grim affair. I had trouble telling the Valerians apart, but even I could sense the emptiness in the room where many of our lab assistants had been. The chatter was muted, and more than one discussed the events of the previous day.
    Saidan sat quietly by himself at a table. I wanted to offer him reassurance and tell him that it was not his fault, but I knew it was not safe to do so. The cameras were always watching us, and I wanted to give the Sisters no reason to look into the lies I had told them.
    After Feeding Time, we headed down to the new lab. Chemistry had been moved down the hall to an empty lab, and so we had a large research room mostly to ourselves. Our lab assistants were not being replaced and so we had to make do with just ourselves and a couple of others. I didn't mind, really. The fewer of us there were, the less chance there was that someone would have a brilliant moment and reveal my secret.
    We analyzed the samples from the beach. They were all dead except for the ones I'd accidentally contaminated. Saidan and I knew that the signs of life were phony, but the assistants were excited. I felt guilty for leading them up the garden path, but it was a necessary evil. The more people who believed our lies, the better it would be for us.
    "We should make another trip to the beach," I said to Saidan. "We should collect more samples and confirm this bacterial find. Then we can start