After a few hours, Sapphire and I were back in Damien’s lab. He was going back and forth, calibrating various pieces of machinery and checking on a number of systems. It was a process I was familiar with. Everyday, he went through the same process, but today, he seemed to be taking extra care. 

“Alright,” he said at last, stepping away from the main monitor. “We’re ready to go. Are you ready, Sapphire?”

“Yes,” she nodded. 

Damien guided her to the full body scanner he had. When she stepped in, he shut the glass door and went to the controller attached to the scanner. It was a common enough device. Many hospitals and medical facilities had one as well as security checkpoints. Damien’s, though, had a few extra features put in.

I went over to take a look at the controller with him. A little hum radiated from the scanner. I could see Sapphire in there, looking around with restrained curiosity. 

“Interesting,” the doctor murmured. 

“What is?” I asked, peering over his shoulder. “Find something?”

“It’s more about what I’m not finding,” he replied with his eyes glued to the screen before him. He hit a few settings as he spoke. “The sensors are having a hard time detecting anything.”

“Why? Your sensors should be sensitive enough to detect a cybernetic leg on a fly.”

“That, ironically, is the issue. The sensors are too sensitive. You remember that little metal object under Sapphire’s eye?” he said.

“I do. I don’t it’s function.”

“Well, I do. It’s a flare, so to speak. You know what those are, I assume?”

“Little thing that you shoot to mess up heat tracking. I’m familiar.”

“That metal device is essentially a flare. It’s extremely absorptive in regards to electromagnetic waves. Any type of metal detectors or receivers will get disrupted and the more sensitive, the stronger the effects. It’s basically causing interference with everything.”

“Is there anything you can do?” I asked with a frown.

“I’m lowering the sensitivity. I won’t be able to see anything within her, but surface level modifications just below the skin should be discernible.” He tapped a quite noticeable button with the words start labeled onto it. “There. That should give us something at the very least.”

A few seconds later, a map of Sapphire’s body was created. Damien looked at it with narrowed eyes, muttering to himself. 

“Odd,” he said at last. “Something is still blocking the scanner. Something in her skin. Interesting.”

“Any ideas?” 

“None yet. But whatever technology is at work here is quite sophisticated. Whoever gave little Sapphire here her augments knew what they were doing and didn’t want anyone else finding out what that was.” He squinted at the scan a bit more. “There is a little something here. In the back of her neck, there’s a small metal object.”

“Her hair must have been blocking it. I never noticed anything.”

“Or it’s hidden. At least there’s something. Let’s get her out of there.”

Damien opened the door and Sapphire stepped out. He waved to her to sit down beside his workbench where his computer was. 

“I’m going to take a look at your neck,” he said to her. “You don’t mind, do you? Or would you prefer it if Fae here does it?”

 Her eyes flicked over to me. Damien backed away and I stepped behind Sapphire. Lifting up her hair, there, in the nape of her neck, was a small metal panel thinner than a pinky and about two centimeters in length. I brushed against it with a finger and gave it a small push. When I felt it give, my hand jerked back.

“Sapphire, are you okay?” I asked.

“Yes. What’s wrong?” she replied.

“Nothing.”

The metal opened up to reveal a data port of sorts. Not an uncommon sight around these parts. It could have various functions from allowing someone to directly download data into a person’s mind to just being a battery to charge a flashlight. 

“Damien. Come here,” I said. He got out of his seat and examined the port, stroking his beard as he did.

“Intriguing. Let me get a cable and a computer and we’ll take a look.”

He rummaged around the corner of his workshop and came back with the items. He plugged in one end of the cable to a small laptop and held out the other end to me. 

“Standard port. This should work,” he said. “She won’t feel a thing.”

I nodded and gently put the cable into the port in Sapphire’s neck. I glanced over at the laptop screen as Damien tried to access whatever the port was connected to. A second later, his eyes widened and he yanked the cable from the laptop and power.

“Now this is a problem,” he said. I took the plug out of Sapphire and gave it back to him. 

“What happened?” 

“Someone doesn’t want me in there,” he replied. He stared at the laptop, now seemingly dead. “There’s some sort of virus in there that gets transferred when an unrecognized device is plugged in. It deletes everything on the device and takes control of it, locking anyone using it out. Quite crude, but effective nonetheless. I’m not certain on the legality of it all, though. I understand wanting to keep proprietary software underwraps, but effectively destroying devices doesn’t seem to be in the realm of the law.”

“That means that something must be there,” I said. “Something important.”

“It could be. It’s promising at the very least. I can break through, given some time.”

“How much time?” I wasn’t certain how much I could give. If I hid my trail as well as I hoped, then there should be at least a few weeks before the police found any sign of me. I would need to go out for supplies routinely, though, if Sapphire and I were to stay in the safe room. “If it’s over a month, that might be a stretch.”

“A few days, if I put my entire focus on this. I just need to bypass the virus and everything else will open up. If it takes longer, I’ll notify you.”

“Is there anything you can ascertain right now?” I asked. “Some instinct telling you something. Your intuition as a man of the sciences?”

He barked out a laugh at the last statement.

“I might. Just general observations. Do you want to hear them?”

“Hit me.”

“These modifications were put in at quite the young age by my reckoning. Whatever is blocking the scanners is in the skin and the most efficient way of doing that would be to implant those at a young age and letting the skin grow with it. However, I’m not sure what kind of technology is at work here just yet.”

“Young, hmm,” I repeated, staring at Sapphire as she gave the two of us curious looks. “Not that uncommon. I’m more intrigued about the sophisticated nature of these mods.”

“That’s important as well, yes,” Damien nodded. “This much care being put in to keep anyone from discerning how the technology was made or where it originated from is quite telling.”

“A gang?” I wondered. Even as I voiced that possibility, I knew how farfetched that was. 

“If one of the gangs in the Outer Districts has access to this level of technology, I would be extremely worried about the well being of everyone living here,” Damien said. “I’m leaning towards City technology. Either that or someone from the City is living out here and experimenting.”

“I would prefer the second scenario.” I had considered Sapphire being from the City in some way, but that opened up a whole barrage of issues. “Going to the City would be less than ideal.”

“I can imagine, given your history,” Damien nodded. “We can’t say for sure yet though, so give it some time before you begin your planning.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” I nodded. “We’ll be going then. I’ll do some digging around while you handle the virus thing.”

“Don’t get caught,” he said. “I’ll do my best to finish this quickly, but no promises.”

With that, I motioned to Sapphire to follow and went back down the tunnel to the safe house. She began asking me questions along the way about my conversation with Damien which I explained to her as best I could. There was one question that gave me pause.

“What did the doctor mean when he said, ‘your history’?” For the last two words, she deepened her voice, trying to copy Damien’s tone. Normally, that would have gotten a smile from me.

“That’s quite the question,” I replied. “I’ll have to get back to you on that.”

I expected her to push more, but she just nodded and moved on to her other questions and observations. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to tell her anything. It’s more like I didn’t know what to tell her. What exactly did she want to know about my history? There was just too much to choose from.

“What are we doing now?” she asked, drawing my attention once more. We had just reached the safe room.

“We might need to find another place to hide for a bit. I’m not certain on that yet,” I said, sitting on the lone bed. “There’s nothing here to store food since this place wasn’t meant for a long stay. I’ll see what I can do. I have a few places we might be able to hide in.”

“Oh. Okay.”

She looked down, ruminating over some unspoken thoughts. Her worry was as clear as day. I didn’t know if it was because of our situation or if it was because of her unknown history or even if it was something mundane like the color of the walls. I didn’t push it. If she wanted to voice her concerns, that was up to her.

I picked up the guitar that was placed neatly beside the bed and began humming an old song. The worry on Sapphire gradually melted away as she listened until she was moving her head side to side in time with the music. After a few more minutes, I paused and gave her a small nudge to get her attention.

“Don’t worry yourself over these things. That’s my job,” I said. “You just sit tight. Alright?”

“Alright,” she replied.

“Good.” I handed her the instrument and got up. “Now. Stay here. I’ll be going out for a bit to get some supplies and look around for information. If you need a bathroom, Damien has one, so go over to his place and knock. I’ll be back before lunch.”

I left the room as she gave me her understanding and began the trek back to the surface. The priority right now was food, shelter, then information. The last one was going to be easy. The first two were another situation altogether. 

I really need a weapon.