The Deathless Trilogy

2.23. Nate

Celia straps me into Mitchell's Immersion program computer. She tells me about all the time Mitchell has been spending trying to break into one of Nate's files without any success. "I think you need to try to open it. I think you might be the key," she says.

"Why?" I ask, pulling the visor strap behind my head.

"Because the file is called 'Isla.' Nate must have really liked you," she smiles, plugging a computer chip, Nate's chip, into Mitchell's machine. "Was he nice?" she asks as she pulls the visor over my eyes.

"Not really," I say, "but he saved mine and Daniel's lives. I wouldn't be here without him."

"Okay, good," I hear her say as my visor connects into the Immersion program, "because I'm starting the program in three, two, one."

The pixels fill in before my eyes, and I'm immersed in a white space with file folders lining the vertical plane in front of me. I read the titles: Strategies, Immortal Daily Life, Leadership Team, Refugee Camp, Medical Experiments, Biological Experiments, Chemical Experiments, Physics Experiments, Mechanical Experiments, and finally, Isla.

I take a deep breath, and press my hand against my name. It darkens before opening onto a second blank white plane. A command in Nate's voice sounds around me: "State the password."

The password? I have no idea what it could be, but in front of me, I see seven blank spaces waiting to be filled in. Seven letters? I count the letters in all of our names, and highly doubt that Nate would have chosen Winston's name as his password. It will be a word that means something to us, I think.

I remember all the times he told me to remember the numbers 358. I thought it was just the room number, but could it have also been part of this password? That would leave four numbers or letters... Could it be that simple?

His command sounds around me again: "State the password."

I bite my lip, and try it out: "3-5-8 Isla," I say.

There's a pause before I hear, "Incorrect. State the password."

"Isla 3-5-8?"

There's a pause before Nate's voice returns, "Correct."

I laugh, "Seriously?"

The white plane in front of me breaks apart into thousands of pixels, piecing together a still image of Nate, sitting at his desk in the medical lab, just like he was when I went into the lab to check on him after the Immersions. The night he kissed me... and stabbed me.

He's looking out of frame, his eyebrows up in anticipation. I wait for a minute to see if he moves at all, but when he doesn't, I reach out my hand to touch the flat plane before me. The scene comes to life.

"Is it ready yet?" Nate asks. His voice sounds like it's echoing in a tunnel.

"Yep, now it is," the person from out of frame says, and even though I can't see him yet, I hear it's Declan. And then his whole face fills the image as he inspects the lens. Declan's so close, I can see the hairs up his nose and the blurred pores in his skin. He backs up and pushes his glasses up the bridge of his nose, so before I lose him again, I touch the screen to pause the image.

I sit on the blank floor, and let Declan's goofy expression shine over me for a few minutes while I collect myself. All my nerves are tingling in anticipation. What is this video for? When did they film this?

I take another deep breath, and press my hand to the screen again to start the video. Declan steps back behind the camera, and Nate grimaces in annoyance. "All right. Thanks. You can get out now, Kunkle." He catches himself and looks straight into the camera: "Dr. Kunkle."