GREEN [complete]

CHAPTER 02: Mars

"Dylan's gone," a keeper said, vibrations cinched by his discomfort. Thompson.

"What do you mean 'Dylan's gone'?" This one spoke sharper, louder. Jones. Mars felt her voice tickling his eardrums, almost clear enough to properly be heard.

Thompson's pulse jumped and the sublime taste of fear washed Mars's senses. "I ... uh ..." He cleared his throat and shuffled his feet. "I mean they got away, ma'am."

Rage. Pure, glass-shattering rage. Test tubes exploded against the white, white floor, spewing vile green in every direction. The scent of it unraveled Mars from his coil and guided him to the wall of his cage. He pressed his hands on the smooth glass, peering through the thick pane that separated him from them. The keepers were on the other side of the laboratory.

Jones stood over Thompson, radiating her anger as heat. The fuzzy edges of her form loomed over the other keeper. He was colder, shrinking beneath her with hands raised to guard his face. If that was his face—Mars struggled to make out their features. The green leaked across the floor, shimmering so hot it hurt.

"How. Did. You. Let. This. Happen." Her inflection was clear: it wasn't a question.

"We ... we tried out best ma'am, but they had the security codes."

His reasoning did nothing to soften her. "Dylan was not supposed to have that level of security." She closed her eyes and pinched her nose. "What did they take?"

Mars's tongue darted through one of the air holes in his cage, sampling the air. Thompson spoke the truth, so far as Mars could tell—Dylan was gone. They had left Mars alone. Mars's rattle shivered and he drew back from the glass, leaving only two of his hands resting on the boundary.

"The plans for ..." Thompson cleared his throat. "The plans for him." He cast a look toward Mars.

Jones followed his gaze. She adjusted herself, then carefully crossed through the space between them. "C9M," she asked, "Do you know where Dylan went?"

Mars blinked down at her. She wanted to bring Dylan back ... and if Dylan was back, they could show him the world. Just like they promised. "Out of containment," he signed, each of his four hands flicking through its own motion.

Thompson started, "Ma'am—"

She silenced him with a snap of her fingers. Her eyes remained trained on Mars. "Where?"

"North."

She so close Mars could make out the diamond pattern of his scales in the reflection of her glasses. "Was they planning to take you with them?" Her tone fell gentler, but she couldn't hide her anger from him.

"They was going to show me ..." He faltered as he realized what he was saying. They hadn't been planning to show him the world—they had been planning to take him from his home.

"What was they going to show you, C9M?" she pressed.

"The world," he answered quietly, only one hand forming his words.

Jones nodded her insincere understanding with a trace of a smile. "You know there is nothing for you outside of this facility, don't you?" Her heartbeat was steady. She was telling him the truth.

Even quieter: "Yes." Mars shrank, wrapping his lower half around and around himself. Safe. Secure. The cage was his home; it protected him from everything on the outside. It was all he'd ever known and all he was ever going to know.

Her smile brightened. "We will get you more books." She looked toward the corner of his cage, to the solitary book that sat in the corner of his cage next tot he pad he slept on. A light embedded beneath the skin of her temple blinked on, flashing red light across her glasses. "I apologize, C9M, but I have a mess to clean up. I will make sure you get those books."

She stalked out of the laboratory, calling Thompson to follow. Mars watched her leave, wondering if he should have kept what he knew about Dylan to himself. He remembered their last day in the facility ... they had been terrified, the most afraid he'd ever seen them.

Mars settled back into his coil, pillowing his head on his arms. Warm light shone down on him from the panels above his cage, bathing him in the kind of comfort he could surely never find outside of the facility. He wanted to see the world, but he could bear to see it within the comfort of his home.