The Rainbow Maker's Tale (12 page)

“I’ve barely done half of mine.
It’s
so
dull!” Olivia sounded whiney, like a child. But, she
did step away from me, providing enough space that I could push the
last tube of liquid out of my palm and into the sleeve of my
clinic-suit. It reassured me that Olivia was just bored. I was
actually more grateful that she hadn’t seemed to wonder why I was
so interested in chemicals we weren’t even using.

Smiling automatically, as the
effects of my adrenaline rush began to fade away, a new plan was
forming in my head. The vials of liquid were safely hidden inside
the sleeves of my clinic-suit and the testing kit was in my pocket.
I’d gotten what I came for.

“I’ve already finished mine.
Why don’t I help you with yours?” I offered obligingly, not
expecting Olivia to refuse. I was right. Her face illuminated with
a bright smile, that looked well practised, and it made me believe
that she was accustomed to people doing things for her.

Moving away from the storage
bank towards Olivia’s workbench, I lined up the tiny plastic test
tubes and got to work. She hovered around my shoulder chattering as
I ran through the various tests and completed the subsequent
analysis. They’d given us really basic things to work with today,
so it was not at all taxing and I finished the task with time to
spare.

“You seem really good at this
stuff,” Olivia noticed as I cleared away the empty tubes and
equipment. “Why are you on an early rotation?”

Her observation surprised me.
So far she’d appeared far too self-centred to take in anything
anyone else might be doing or saying. It was just my luck that she
would spot this anomaly.

“Don’t be fooled,” I laughed,
dismissing her words with a wave towards the items on the bench. “I
can play with test tubes well enough, but that’s pretty much it. I
don’t recommend that you let me operate on you anytime soon!”

Without further questions
Olivia accepted my explanation and began giggling along with me: a
tinkling soprano vibrating above my own fake laugh. Happily
distracted – and with our work now completed – Olivia began
babbling once more, maintaining a constant stream of noise until
Medic Levi returned after exactly sixty minutes and dismissed us
from the lab for the midday break.

We were barely out of the door
when Olivia pounced on me.

“Do you want to get some
lunch?” she asked eagerly, her eyes intent on my face.

The small plastic vials of acid
I’d hidden up the sleeves of my clinic-suit were dangerously close
to one another, and I was critically aware of the tiny clinking
noises they made bumping into each other as I moved. I wished –
more than anything right now – that this girl would leave me alone.
Of course, life would not be that kind and so it was up to me to
find some way of distracting her. Again.

“I’m not really that hungry,” I
said, just as my stomach gurgled loudly in protest.

“Sure you are!”

Olivia overruled me, linking
her arm through mine and pulling me away with her along the
corridor. Resistance was futile and so I was limply dragged beside
her as she started chattering once more. My initial assessment of
her had been right: she was so confident (and a little controlling)
it was becoming obvious that she wasn’t used to being refused
anything.

My main concern was keeping
Olivia from feeling the lumpy shapes of the tubes inside my
sleeves, and so I did not pull my arm away from her, as I wanted
to. But, I still needed to get away…time for an excuse.

“I, er, need to stop back at
the orientation reception. I left something in my bag.” I struggled
to lie. My excuse sounded lame, as Olivia dragged me into one of
the numerous lifts that would take us back to the ground floor of
The Clinic.

“No, it can wait,” she assured
me, smiling prettily from beneath her lashes in order to cover her
domineering assertion. That must normally work on people as she
appeared very surprised when I became insistent.

“It can’t actually,” I said
through slightly clenched teeth, irritated by her but still trying
to remain polite. “You can go ahead for lunch without me and I’ll
meet you later.” No such luck.

“Oh I couldn’t do that – and
leave you to have lunch on your own on the first day? Don’t worry
I’ll wait for you.”

Olivia’s words were coupled
with a dazzling smile that irked me even more. However, I was in no
position to argue: the thin vials were pressing into the flesh on
my arm and it wouldn’t be long before Olivia felt them too, if I
didn’t extract myself from her grasp.

“Sure – that’s really nice of
you – thanks,” I smiled, turning to face her as the doors of the
elevator opened at the main reception. My abrupt show of
friendliness was intended as a diversion and it worked. Pleased by
my response, Olivia was happily distracted for a few seconds and I
used the opportunity to unwind her arm from mine in a way that
protected the tubes, but still released me. “I’ll be back in a
minute,” I assured her and dashed away towards the orientation area
before she could think about joining me.

The small reception room was
empty as I entered. Even the administrative clerk, who had been
busy behind the desk that morning, was absent. I had the space to
myself, but moved at a pace; not completely sure that Olivia
wouldn’t follow me, even with my promise to return fresh in her
mind.

The compact male changing room
was empty, as expected. I hurried to the hook where I’d left my bag
and eased the fastening open a few inches. My day-suit was inside,
still arranged neatly. Pushing my right arm into the middle of the
folds, I eased the tubes out of the end of my sleeve and hid them
among the creases. Copying the action with my left arm, I then
emptied my suit pockets. It took only a few moments to deposit the
contraband, then I closed the bag securely, after ensuring that the
vials could not be seen beneath the clothes.

With my objective achieved, the
anxious cloud of air that I’d been holding inside me gushed out and
the tension evaporated. I only had silly things to worry about now:
like the temptation to remain in the small changing room rather
than returning to find Olivia. Unfortunately I could not do that.
The sigh that escaped through my lips this time was one of
resignation, as I thought of who was waiting for me outside. And
who I wished it could be instead.

Leaving the room, more slowly
this time, I passed through the still empty reception space and
entered the busier foyer of The Clinic. I saw Olivia at once,
standing by the main entrance running her fingers through her hair.
She was glancing slowly from one side to another as she waited,
appearing quite casual, although I wondered whether she was looking
for me or looking to see who was watching her. Maybe that was
unfair. It didn’t stop me thinking it though.

“Hey,” I said as I drew closer,
attracting Olivia’s attention.

“Hi,” she smiled, dropping her
hand immediately. “There’s a cantina over there,” she pointed
across the plaza and I saw the medium-sized eatery I’d passed
numerous times that morning while completing my circuits in front
of The Clinic.

“Sounds good,” I agreed,
working to sound enthusiastic. Olivia showed no sign that she
detected any false note in my voice.

A new – and pleasing – thought
came to mind as I surveyed the number of people heading towards the
cantina.
Perhaps Cassie would be there
. Setting off across
the square I managed to stay slightly ahead of Olivia as she
trotted to keep up. My speed was partly related to the anticipation
of seeing Cassie, but was more to prevent Olivia the opportunity of
linking onto me again and dragging me along like a floppy fool, as
she had before. It had not taken me long to deduce that her
overbearing nature was one of her least attractive qualities. What
was that old Earth saying about beauty only being skin deep…?

As we walked towards the
entrance we passed the café’s panoramic windows and I glanced
inside. At one of the tables Joel sat close beside Cassie and was
running his hand slowly up her arm to her shoulder. I was caught
off guard by the surge of emotion that crashed over me when I saw
this. Without thinking for one second about what I was doing, I was
lunging towards the entrance like a madman, my eyes locked onto
Cassie and Joel through the window. Fortunately, a group of people
were coming out just as I shoved my way toward the door. They
blocked both my view and my path for a few torturous seconds.

I froze in place, my previous
momentum evaporating, and when the group moved past me I stayed
where I was, rooted to the spot. Staring back through the window I
watched Cassie pull Joel’s hand away from her arm shaking her head
and frowning. That wasn’t what I expected. Then she repeated what
Joel had just been doing: with short, practical movements her hands
gently but swiftly examined his shoulder, before she elevated his
arm and had him take hold of his own elbow with his other hand,
pressing it firmly into place. They were practicing something they
had learned that morning, I realised with relief. At least, that’s
what Cassie was doing.

Joel’s disappointment was
obvious to me – I snickered at his expression – apparently his
affection was lost on Cassie, as she turned back to her lunch. I
only had a second or two to enjoy the moment before I realised what
I had been about to do.

What the hell was wrong with
me?
I meant nothing to Cassie – we’d barely spoken to each
other four times in our lives! There was no reason for me to
feel…how
did
I feel? Irritated? Or was furious closer to the
mark? To my rational mind it made no sense at all.

“Whoa! Where’s the emergency?”
Olivia appeared at my side. “You can’t possibly be
that
hungry.” She smiled up at me, as we began moving with the other
diners towards the main entrance and the queue.

“No,” I agreed, not really
giving her my full attention, “I just thought I saw someone I knew,
that’s all.” Thankfully she accepted my lame response.

Reaching the doorway of the
canteen, I merged into the stream of people heading inside, Olivia
squeezed in next to me. She was already talking again. I gazed
around me, not hearing Olivia’s babble. None of the Medics appeared
to be eating here: their distinctive dark blue clinic-suits were
notably absent from the queue and tables. It was odd, as I couldn’t
recall seeing a canteen inside The Clinic that would cater for
them, and there were not a huge number of other dining spaces
nearby.

Perhaps, once you’re an adult,
there’s no one to rigidly manage whether or not you have your
assigned meals, I mused, as we joined a short queue to be
served.

My back was towards the tables
as we waited. I really wanted to turn around and find Cassie again,
but could not do that without being rude to Olivia, who was – of
course – gabbing away at that moment in time and demanding my
attention. The other pair from our placement – Karl and Rachel –
appeared behind us in the queue and I nodded politely at them as
they recognised us. Olivia was in the process of flicking her hair
across her shoulder to emphasise some point she was making, when I
caught a glimpse of Karl’s face as he watched her.
Oh yes, he
was a fan of hers all right
.

Realising that my best chance
of escape would be to involve Karl and Rachel in the conversation –
or at least incorporate them into Olivia’s monologue – I held out
for a suitable lull to draw them in.

“How’s your day been so far?” I
asked both Karl and Rachel in the single question, focusing on each
of them one after another, hoping that they would answer fast
enough to stop Olivia starting again.

Karl was too distracted to be
any use at all: he barely looked at me to acknowledge that I’d
spoken because he was so busy gawping at Olivia. Rachel was better.
She smiled shyly at me as soon as I looked at her; delight obvious
on her face at having been brought into the conversation. Once
animated her plain features blossomed warmly into a friendly, open
expression, and after initiating this as a distraction I felt like
I actually might be interested in Rachel’s answer. I smiled my
encouragement and listened carefully to the shy girl as she began
talking, ignoring the palpable displeasure I felt radiating from
Olivia as the focus of attention shifted away from her.

The queue moved forwards at
that moment and I found myself standing before one of the service
points. I held my wrist over the scanner, which tracked my presence
and brought up a menu plan for the server to respond to. He worked
swiftly, gathering the required items from heated gourmet stations
and chilled cabinets to meet my pre-selected options, finally
handing me the tray filled with food.

“Thanks,” I took the offered
tray.

“No problem, you can have
unlimited juice or water to accompany your lunch today and don’t
forget to collect your vitamin from the auto-vendor.” The server
replied helpfully, pointing out where each was.

“Thanks,” I said again, turning
away at the same time as Rachel and Olivia received their meals. We
walked towards the drink station together, giving Rachel the chance
to finish answering my previous question.

“It’s been really interesting
so far,” she breathed, her voice much softer and less shrill than
she had sounded under the scrutiny of Medic Karlina. “I’m glad I
opted for this earlier rotation though,” she blushed lightly at the
admission, her dark curly hair nudging automatically forward to
shield her face, like some form of integral protection mechanism.
“Science isn’t a natural strong point for me and I think I’ll need
all the help I can get on this placement.”

“I’m sure you’ll be fine,” I
smiled in response to her words, trying to be reassuring. Her
nervous, but grateful, smile convinced me that I had struck the
right balance. Maybe I was better with people than I gave myself
credit for? I glanced at Rachel again. Or perhaps, I was only good
with the ones who were even bigger nervous-wrecks than I was!
Whatever the reason, it felt right to try and continue the
conversation; I might as well continue pretending I’m a real human
being while I’m on a roll. We collected our drinks and I was about
to ask something else when I recognised a booming male voice behind
me.