Escape to Exidion

Bailey Benton was getting ready for work when her PMP blipped. She flipped it up. “Dad!” she said happily. She was finally mending bridges with her father. He seemed very proud that she was given this ‘great mission’ as he called it. When she had kept getting reprimands for her behavior as an agent her father had showed his displeasure and their relationship had become strained. But now he seemed thrilled that she had received this appointment. Bailey had understood that the way to her father’s heart was to gain an honor, medal or special appointment. He hoped she would get all three from this mission. “How’s everything going?” Bailey looked at the proud, foolish grin on her father’s face. They had not had a meaningful conversation in years. As a matter of fact, she had not laid eyes on him in at least seven years, but for the past two months they had become almost bosom buddies. It was a bit sad that it had to take an appointment to Exidion to gain her father’s attention and approval, but Bailey would take whatever she could get. It had been too long. At least, they were talking. “The mission is going ‘great’ Commander.” They both laughed at the double entendre. “I mean, really Dad, jellybeans? You sent me jellybeans? I haven’t eaten those since I was a little girl in pigtails, and I haven‘t eaten them since the… since the…” “I know. Since the divorce. You can say the word. I’m a big boy. Besides that was so long ago.” “It was ten years ago.” “Enough time for us all to move on, don’t you think? How’s your mother?” “On her third marriage. Anyway, thanks for the jellybeans Dad. They bring back memories.” Her father grew solemn. “I want things to be like how it used to be, Bailey. I sent them because it’s the one thing that I remember you loved more than anything.” “I’ll be fat by the time I get home.” “No you won’t. Just don’t eat them all at once. Eat one every day, so you’ll remember me every day until you get home. The colors always reminded me of you. Vibrant and cheerful. Besides, it‘ll add some color to your life, I hear even the food up there is gray.” “That’s not true Dad, and you know it.” She grinned at his teasing. It was refreshing. “Take care, my little jellybean.” Tears filled Bailey’s eyes at the childhood nickname. “Take care of yourself too, Commander.” She saluted him, because he was her superior officer, but all she could think of was their healing relationship. His little jellybean. He hadn’t called her that in twenty years. Bailey left her apartment and sauntered out into the sunlight, well artificial sunlight to be exact, but it wasn’t a bad replica of the real thing. She shielded her eyes and reminded herself to walk with sunglasses. Having just come from earth and underground living, she had to readjust herself to walking in sunlight. Her work station was only three buildings away from where she lived. She knew from her research that the Guru had implemented this zoning system to ensure that workers lived as close as possible to their workstations to avoid the use of too much transportation. Didn’t he know that this system had been tried in many cities around the world, and had never worked? It probably never worked because there had been too much circumventing of the system, such as the bigwigs who never used the zoning system themselves. Much like the Guru, always whisking around in his heli-glider. Such a frivolity. He was just like a third-world ruler. And like a third-world citizen she had to walk to work. And it was work, work, and more work. ΩΨΩ Bailey was getting tired of scanning leaves. She had never done a job like this in her life, and she had been on many assignments around the world. It was tedious work, and no one seemed to be in charge of her, or cared to show her what to do. She did notice however, that one of her supervisors was watching her. It was a woman. It had to be Diane Strong. She had been advised to befriend Ms. Strong, who, because of her psychological profile, fiercely loyal to Exidion, hard-working and compassionate, was more likely to assist without asking questions. Bailey decided to put her plan into action. Slipping into character, she sauntered over to the woman and asked rudely. “Why do I have to scan every single leaf? Makes no sense to me.” The woman looked her over, probably making a mental assessment of her. Then surprisingly, she put her head back into the ledger she had been reading. Bailey didn’t understand. This behavior didn’t fit the profile. She decided to press harder. “Can you explain why I got to scan every leaf? They all say the same thing.” This elicited a response. “You got a manual. It explains everything.” With this, the woman, so-called friendly Diane Strong, walked away leaving Bailey standing with her mouth open. Bailey trotted after the woman. She had to get through to her. “Manual? What manual?” At this, the woman shook her head unbelievingly. “There was a manual on the table in your quarters. All new Exits receive a manual outlining everything they will ever need to know on Exidion.” Bailey squirmed. She felt like a chastised schoolgirl. She had flipped through the manual, but she had been so busy doing reconnaissance, that she hadn’t been able to study it as carefully as she would have liked. Apparently, she hadn’t yet got to the scanning leaves part. “You don’t.” offered the woman. “Don’t what?” This earned her a look like she was daft. “You don’t have to scan every leaf. Two or three should give you a good reading. They don’t teach you anything in school anymore?” The only thing that pleased Bailey was that she was able to fool the woman into believing that she was a petulant eighteen or nineteen year-old. She was actually twenty- eight years old, but with her ponytail and youthful face, she had been able to pull off being much younger. “They don’t teach you to scan plants in school. As a matter of fact, we don’t even have these types of plants on Earth. Whose dumb idea was it anyway to scan the plants?” “Listen here, girlie.” Girlie? The woman was priceless. “First of all, they are called super plants. If you had done your homework, you’d know that it’s because of these plants we are able to breathe up here without face masks.” Bailey shifted impatiently, but the woman continued, “Secondly, this job was created by the Commander, himself. He wanted to ensure that every single plant be up to standard. Efficiency. And, in order to ensure that efficiency, we all have to do our parts, even if it means reading tedious manuals.” Bailey decided not to answer. She couldn’t. The woman who she felt was Diane Strong was not turning out to be the fount of information she had hoped. Worse yet, she appeared to be an adoring worshipper of the Guru.