The Forsaken

to understand what’s going on. My teeth are chattering so hard, my jaw hurts.
    I take one step forward and then another, passing through the archway with Gadya at my side.
    Immediately, I sense that we’ve walked into a much larger space. One that is slightly warmer than the outside. But it’s hard to get oriented here. The scattered white lights don’t make sense to me. They seem to float in the air, like fallen stars.
    “Alenna,” Gadya says. I feel her fingers grasping for my sleeve. “I can’t see you.”
    I slow down, and we find each other’s hands. I take one more step and put my foot down.
    I hear a strange echoing click, like I’ve triggered something.
    I stop dead in my tracks.
    A millisecond later, the entire space explodes in a blaze of white light.
    I reel back, as light glares at us from all directions. I press my hands against my eyes and sink to the icy floor.
    For a sickening moment I think maybe I’m dead. That I stepped on a mine or booby trap meant to thwart intruders. Then I realize I can still hear Gadya trying to talk to me. So I can’t be dead. Not yet.
    I open my eyes, but I keep my hands over them, peeking out through my fingers. I still can’t see anything because the room is impossibly, overwhelmingly bright.
    “Alenna—it’s okay,” Gadya tells me.
    I open my fingers a little bit more, still squinting through the gaps.
    As my eyes adjust, I’m surprised at what I see. We seem to be at one end of a colossal semicircular chamber, curving off to our left like a horseshoe. From here, it appears to have no end.
    I turn to Gadya. She has lowered her hands from her eyes. I slowly do the same.
    Along one side of the chamber is a curved white wall with an endless array of video monitors on it. Unlike the ones in the maintenance antechamber, these look unbroken, although none of them is turned on.
    I get up and tentatively step toward the nearest one. Electronic buttons are recessed into the wall everywhere—thousands of them, as though we’re in a gigantic control room. Maybe this is the place we’ve been seeking!
    I realize that the blinding whiteness is emanating from banks of glaring fluorescent lights. They’re on the ceiling, the wall, and even on the floor, encased in translucent tiles underneath our feet.
    Opposite the white wall is a massive curved window made from huge panes of thick glass. I can’t see what’s behind it because it’s so dark out there. All we see are our own reflections. I notice additional computer consoles jutting up from the floor in front of the window, covered with dials and controls.
    “What is all this stuff?” Gadya asks, leaning against the wall to take weight off her wounded ankle.
    Before I can even begin to speculate, I’m interrupted:
    “Hello there!” a female voice crackles loudly above my head, making both of us shriek. The voice ricochets off the floor and the glass wall like a sonic bullet.
    I look up, staring directly into a circular loudspeaker in the ceiling. I see more speakers stretching off into the distance around the curve.
    “Someone else is here!” I yell at Gadya excitedly. Of course I realize that they’ll inevitably want to punish us for escaping our sector and breaking into their city. Maybe they’ll even kill us. But at this point, anything is better than getting massacred by the feelers or freezing to death.
    Gadya tilts her head back. “Help us!” she demands. “We’re from the blue sector!”
    “It’s a pleasure to welcome you to the Silver Shore Terminal on Prison Island Alpha,” the voice replies stridently, loaded with forced optimism. “I was not expecting guests today, but our staff will do our best to accommodate you—”
    “Just send someone down to get us!” I yell, barely listening. “We’re freezing and we’re injured! We surrender, but we need help—”
    The voice keeps talking over me.
    “A staff member will be with you shortly,” it informs us in bright tones. “If you require a beverage, please ask one of our receptionists for assistance.”
    Receptionists? Beverages? I look at Gadya, thinking, What the hell is this lady talking about? There’s nothing here but ice.
    “We need your help, damn it!” Gadya screams at the speaker above her.
    “If you require rest after your journey, you’re welcome to take seats in the waiting area on concourse B,” the voice continues blithely. “Just follow the dotted lights.” As if by magic, a pathway of red-lighted panels