Eric and the Quantum Dragon
Chapter 16

Little Angels Orphanage, District Eight

Friday December 21st, V26 (2046)

Seven had hidden her espionage gear in her favourite hidey-hole and was nearly at the Girl’s Dormitory when a shadow detached itself from the walls just in front of her.

“It’s a little past curfew, Selena” Sister Adoracion chastised her. “You should be in bed getting the kind of rest a young girl needs”

Seven was going to barge past the Sister when a surprisingly strong arm reached out and snagged her loose blouse. She stopped in her tracks and glared at the Orphanage supervisor.

“I don’t need more than four hours a night!” she snapped. “And my name is Seven, not Selena!”

The Sister released her grip on the girl’s blouse and regarded her by the lights shining on the outside of the buildings. Adoracion’s eyes were dark pools, her face half hidden by shadows. Seven felt a momentary shiver of fear course through her as she felt the full weight of the Sister’s inspection.

“You are a foolish child, thinking the machine in your skull makes you smarter than everyone around you” the Sister told her. “Even Eric is discovering that Knowledge and Wisdom are too entirely different things. Don’t ruin the chance of a real life you have been given by Jericho-Two just for the sake of some petty revenge”

“I don’t want revenge, Sister” she replied. “You wouldn’t understand what I want!”

Adoracion sighed and laid a comforting arm on her shoulder. Seven flinched and the Sister pulled it away as if the girl had shocked her with her stun baton.

“Just remember you are in my care until you reach your eighteenth birthday” she said. “Until you are released from my responsibility I will protect you with all of my strength”

“Thanks for the pep-talk, Sister” Seven answered. “Can I go to bed now?”

“Of course, Selena” Adoracion relented. “Go in peace my child”

Seven stalked away from the Sister and headed to her shared room.

“My name is Seven you nosy old cow” she muttered under her breath, really quietly as the Sister had exceptional hearing.

=====

Her room-mate Jenny was fast asleep in her bed when Seven crept quietly into the room. A little light snuck into the room via a partially opened curtain, letting her move easily around the shared space. Seven watched her sleeping face for a few minutes, marvelling at how serene the girl looked in her slumber.

Then she stripped off her outside clothes and dressed in her simple pajamas, the nice pair that Jenny had bought her earlier in the year as a birthday present. Seven had a date she was decanted from the Cloning tanks, but the fake records Jericho-Two had concocted gave her a birthday of September Ninth. Apparently that made her a Virgo according to Jenny, usually represented as a young maiden carrying a sheaf of wheat.

This amused her room-mate no end and as a result her pajamas even bore a repeating pattern of wheat stalks. Seven had no idea how she had managed to replace such an obscure item but since she cared nothing about fashion she wore them anyway. They were comfortable, warm and they fit her perfectly so she had no reason not to.

Jenny stirred and mumbled in her sleep, causing Seven to halt and watch until the girl rolled over and went back into a deep sleep, snoring gently in the process. Seven and Jenny had come to an arrangement where her room-mate told no one about her night time escapades and Seven did not break her stuff. It was a good arrangement, forged after some trial and error and now an accepted fact between them.

Ready for bed at last, Seven sat on her covers and checked her phone. She had left Freddy’s phone turned off for now and would examine that in the morning, someplace quiet and out of sight. Right now she was thinking about Eric and before she could stop herself she had recalled his phone number from memory and dialled it.

She was about to hang up when a young male voice answered the phone.

“Hello? Who is this?” asked Eric. He did not sound sleepy or confused so she guessed he had already been awake.

“It’s Nobody” she said softly. “I just wanted to make sure you were alright”

“I’m fine. Thanks for asking, Nobody” he answered and she could hear the smile in his voice. “How are you?”

“Okay I guess” Seven said flatly. “I got into a fight tonight but I came out of it without a scratch”

“Ahh” Eric replied. “Some of the other kids giving you a hard time?”

“Something like that” she admitted, smiling a little herself. “How was your end of year celebration at the school?”

“Great!” he laughed. “I passed Year Seven with flying colours despite my late start. Got nearly one hundred percent in all my theory exams”

“Not exactly one hundred then?” she teased. “I got top marks in all my tests so you must be defective somehow!”

“So you are an Enhanced then?” Eric pondered. “I had a feeling you were like me”

Seven suddenly fell silent and pulled the phone away from her ear. This call had been a big mistake she realised.

“Hey, Nobody, are you still there?” she heard Eric calling out to her. She swallowed and put the phone back to her ear.

“I have to go now” she whispered. “It’s really late”

“Okay” Eric agreed. “It was nice talking to you. If you don’t call again soon, I hope you have a great Christmas”

“You too, Eric” she answered softly and ended the call. She sat silently on her bed, the phone still in her hand.

“Was that your boyfriend?” Jenny asked from the other side of the room. Seven looked up and realised the girl was watching her from her own bed, eyes open as she lay on her pillow.

“No, just someone I was going to work with” Seven answered. “But the arrangements fell through and I ended up here”

“Uh-huh” Jenny said with a knowing tone to her voice. “Sounded to me like it was someone you care about”

“You don’t want me to break your new headphones, do you?” Seven replied warningly.

“Calm down, Seven” Jenny laughed. She was the only person in the whole Orphanage who called her by the proper name. “It just sounded a lot different to your other phone calls in the middle of the night”

Seven managed to control her surprise and said in an even tone “What other phone calls?”

“You know” answered Jenny. “The ones you make on that other phone. You always hide it over my side of the room, behind my wooden trunk”

“Show me!” Seven demanded, jumping up from her bed and balling her fists. Jenny looked confused and got up slowly, stumbling a little to the main light switch. She flicked it on and blinked like an owl in the bright light.

“I think you stash it back here” Jenny said in confusion and rummaged around at the back of the trunk she stored her shoes and boots in. With a cry of triumph she drew out one of those cheap disposable phones, the sort Seven herself had used on many occasions.

Seven took it with trembling fingers and switched it on. The display lit up and announced she had one new message, sender unknown.

“Are you Okay, Seven?” Jenny asked with genuine concern. “Maybe you should sit back down?” She gently guided the girl back onto her bed while Seven stared blank eyed at the phone.

With deliberate care Seven turned the phone off and laid it beside her bed on a set of drawers.

“I’m fine, Jenny” she said to her room-mate. “I am so tired I completely forgot about this phone, but I remember buying it now”

“Okay” Jenny replied slowly, her eyes anxiously watching the other girl. “Is there anything you want to ask me about? Like what you said on those other calls? Because I really didn’t hear much you know”

Seven noticed that Jenny had reached for her new headphones and was cradling them protectively. It had been some months since Seven had maliciously broken anything and she felt bad about worrying the girl.

“It’s fine” she assured Jenny. She stood up and went to the light switch, flicking it off. “Let’s go back to bed and try and get some sleep”

Seven made her way to her own bed, hearing Jenny get into her bed and wriggle under the covers. A silence descended on the room and Seven lay on her back, looking up into the darkness.

“I’m sorry if I scare you sometimes” Seven spoke into the emptiness.

“You don’t scare me, Seven” Jenny answered from her side of the room. “You’re my friend and I worry about you, that’s all”

Seven did not reply and soon she heard the gentle snoring resume. She lay like that until dawn’s light filtered in through the curtains, afraid to fall asleep.

Because if she did, then Nothing might take over again. There were many things she knew were dangerous in this world, but she was beginning to realise that what she feared the most was Nothing.