Sabine nodded, finding that she had nothing to say to add to 4052’s assessment. It wouldn’t be better until they were out. Giving him a short nod, Sabine set about collecting what little was left to pack away or take with them; Mundy had been effective, and there was little left for her to do in the end before everything was ready to go. The last part was something that Mundy couldn’t do, however, and the one that she was least looking forward to.
The only thing left unpacked in the end was her datapad, with all of the information that she had collected during their time there. Sabine peeled the glove from her prosthetic arm and shoved the sleeve up to above the elbow, grimacing. She had always hated the look of it; dull and gunmetal grey, the replacement mimicked the look of an arm without skin, patently obvious and unnatural. Nestled in the underside of her forearm was a flat, rectangular shape the size of a gun clip, which stood out noticeably against the fine metal threading of inorganic musculature.
That done, Sabine opened the back of the datapad and removed the data memory chip upon which everything had been saved, setting it on the table. Digging her fingers in on either side of the rectangle set in the prosthetic, she did something that caused a shrill beep to sound, followed by several small panels in the rectangle's face to slip back and open.
Sabine inserted the chip into a cradle within, then closed the compartment up in the same way she had opened it. In two beats her sleeve was rolled back down and she was in the process of yanking the glove back in place, tossing the datapad through the sliding door that led to the rubbish incinerator. When that was done, there was nothing else left to do but get out.
“Lets go,” she said, waiting a beat or two for Mundy to collect the bags despite her urge to collect one of them herself. One more reason she would be glad to leave this place; she hated watching 4052 still stuck in the position of slave, and serving her no less.
Sabine forced herself to keep an even easy pace from their quarters to the garage where their vehicle waited. All she wanted to do was run, but anything more than a brisk walk would look suspicious, and they were far too close to getting out to risk it. She half expected problems in that stretch, eyes lighting vigilantly on every branching corridor, on every person they passed, but no one stopped them or bothered them. Few even bothered to look at them, and those that did acknowledged Sabine’s presence with the salute that a Director would expect and nothing more. Mundy seemed completely invisible altogether.
When they reached the garage, the mechanic on deck indicated which vehicle had been prepared for her use and wished her safe travels to the next compound, and Sabine got into the drivers seat, waiting for Mundy to load up their wears and join her.
Snow was visibly falling outside when the door slid open to allow their exit, and it wasn’t until they were well outside of it and through the gate that Sabine let out a sigh of relief and relaxed a touch more.
Their meeting point with Zyad, Malek, and 60 was not far, just out of range of the compound where nobody would see a vehicle idling and wonder. Sabine pulled off to the side of the road when they reached it and leaned a little closer to her window, scanning the bright white immediately visible to her for any sign of the others.
--
Malek waited in silence as the last of the sensors was removed from Emily. His eyes slid every so often to the door, watchful of anyone that wasn’t Zyad coming in. At the last, the doctor bandaged Emily’s arm where the last IV had been, got up, and left the room to carry on with his business, completely unaware of what he had just done.
“Malek, please speak to me,” Emily whispered hoarsely as Malek bent to help her out of bed. Her legs were unsteady and weak, having been forced abed for much of her pregnancy so far, hooked up to so many things that she could hardly move. He kept a steady arm around her, while his other hand helped to pull a thin hospital robe over her.
“We’re getting out of here, Em. Zyad will be here any minute now, and then we’re leaving. All three of us.” He paused, resting a hand briefly on her distended belly. “All five of us.”
