Containment (31 page)

But when he struggled with the steps up to the stage, the applause subsided abruptly and was replaced by a confused murmur. The spotlights accentuated Arik's ghostliness. His sunken red eyes glowed against his pale and gaunt face, and patches of baldness showed through his cropped black hair. He shuffled to the middle of the stage, bent with pain. The audience remained standing, bobbing and craning to get a better view.

Kelley had stepped off the stage. Arik touched the podium to open his workspace, then looked up. He saw L'Ree in the front, more confused than concerned. He found Darien further back, standing with Priyanka, Zorion, and Fai. Most of his peers, Gen V, were sitting together to the far left.

"Thank you for coming." He cleared his throat and squinted into the glare. "I think you've already seen what you came here to see today, but I have one last thing I want to show you."

He looked at his watch. By now, Cadie, Cam, and Zaire should have reached the wall, and Cam would be reading his message. He would be learning all about the secrets contained inside the baby, and how important it was to protect her life. He would know how much Arik loved them all, and how sick he actually was. Cam would relay to Cadie and Zaire how sorry Arik was that he would not be joining them, and then he would tell Cadie directly that Arik's biggest regret was that he would never have the chance to hold his baby daughter. They would all be thinking about coming back to V1, but before they could move, the door in the wall would open, and they would begin to understand that they were no longer alone, and that their lives were really just beginning.

Arik touched the podium and cut the power to the Public Pod. The lights went out, and Subha's face flickered and disappeared. There was a moment of silence, and then a tremendous bellow as the shields against the windows detached and fell away. The room was flooded with natural green light, filtered through the lush tear-drop leaves of the thick vines clinging to the outside walls of V1.

The audience began filling the aisles, surging forward, advancing as a group toward the windows and pressing themselves against the glass panes. They climbed the stairs of the stage and spread out along the entire wall to get as close as they could. Nobody noticed that Arik had sat down behind the podium, then laid down facing the windows, then closed his eyes and lost consciousness. They only knew that he had shown them the impossible.