Page 29 of Across the Universe (Across the Universe 1)

I start back toward the Hospital. Eldest follows me.

“You’re forgetting your duties. You have yet to complete the assignment I gave you yesterday. ”

“It can wait. ”

I start to climb the steps leading back to the Hospital, but Eldest grabs my shirt collar and drags me back.

“Being leader of the ship is more important than any girl. ”

I nod. He is right.

“She shouldn’t even be here in the first place,” Eldest mumbles. “What a nuisance. ”

I crush the flower stems into my palms.

“A nuisance?” Now my voice is a low monotone.

“Her presence is bad for the ship. Difference. The first cause of discord. ”

Something roars in protest inside me. This is not the kind of leader I want to learn to be—one so coldly indifferent to Amy. Yesterday, Eldest told me that it was my job to protect the people. I didn’t know he just meant our people.

“Now go back to the Keeper Level and work on that assignment. ”

“No. ”

Eldest’s eyes widen, then narrow. “No?”

“No. ” I rip myself from his grip and head to the Hospital elevator. Before the doors slide shut, Eldest steps inside with me.

“I don’t have time for your childishness. I’ll tell you once more. Go back to the Keeper Level. ”

“No,” I say, still smiling, but it’s all a front to hide my fear. Eldest cannot stand rebellion, and I’ve never pushed back at him this hard before. Part of me wants to take it all back, apologize, and obey him like I always have. Part of me wishes he’d take a swing at me so I could punch him back.

Eldest raises his left hand to his wi-com button.

“Keeper override; Eldest clearance,” he says, and my stomach lurches. This can’t be good. “Command: apply noise modification enhancer to wi-com Elder. Vary tone and pitch. Intensity level: three. Cease at subject’s entry to the Keeper Level. ”

Immediately, a low-pitched buzz fills my left ear. I clap my hand over it, but the noise isn’t coming from outside; it’s coming from inside my ear, in my wi-com. The buzz rises into a screech for a second, dips back into a buzz, then makes a grating, teeth-jarring scratching sound against my eardrum.

I jab my finger into my wi-com. “Override!” I say. “Command: stop all sounds!”

“Access denied,” the female voice of my wi-com says over a sound worse than the squelching noise of a cow giving birth. Augh! This isn’t like the biometric scanner where I have the same clearance as Eldest. Wi-coms are different, unique to each of us. The only thing that can stop mine from bugging out is Eldest’s.

“Make it stop,” I say to Eldest. A burbling sound pops in my ear, which isn’t too bad on its own, but each burble is punctuated by a short high-pitched eep! that makes me jump a little with surprise every other second.

The elevator doors slide open and we step into the common room.

“The noise will stop as soon as you enter the Learning Center prepared to learn and listen,” Eldest says pleasantly. He pushes his wi-com again. “Command: increase intensity to level four. ” The sounds grow louder. Eldest smiles at me. Then he turns and strolls out of the common room toward Doc’s office.

I try sticking my finger down my ear, but it’s no good. The wi-com is wired directly into my eardrum. Something that sounds like glass shattering over a crowing rooster crackles in my ear.

“Nice flowers. ”

“Orion?” Any surprise at seeing the Recorder here in the Ward is replaced by the cacophony vibrating through my left ear. I’d even forgotten the flowers clutched in my right hand. Green plant blood oozes between my fingers from broken stems.

“I needed to get more supplies. ” Orion shakes a small plastic bottle, and pills rattle inside it. He must have swiped them. No one’s supposed to have a store of mental meds—even if you don’t live in the Ward, the Inhibitors are delivered daily, one pill at a time.

“Don’t want Eldest or Doc to catch me. ” Orion pockets the pills.