“Mop.” Harmony said laughing.
“Of course. You’re going to make me work out in the cold.” Arrow said in mock horror.
“Maybe.” Harmony tried to seem serious, but when she looked up into his imperfect face she cracked a smile.
“I’ll help with the furniture.” Pat said suddenly at Harmony’s shoulder.
“Thanks, Pat.” Arrow said. “Harmony here doesn’t want to work hard.”
“I do. Just not outside.”
Arrow dismissed her with mock disappointment and led Pat outside where they began working on the furniture. In a few moments, Clive approached Harmony as she was mopping.
“Do you need help?”
“I couldn’t find another mop.”
Clive turned on his heel and went back to the supply closet. In a moment he was back with a mop that Harmony hadn’t seen at first.
“I found another one. It wasn’t immediately visible.” Clive dunked the mop in the water and wrung it out. As he started mopping she thanked him. “It’s fine. I won’t let others work while I relax.”
This was something Harmony could respect about Clive. Even though he was generally very arrogant, he was trying. It seemed like without the other guys around he was less competitive.
“So, have you noticed a difference since getting the chip?” Clive asked, suddenly in doctor mode.
“Yes, I have.” Harmony said honestly. “I used to be afraid of so much. Now I can live my life.”
“That’s great.” Clive dunked the mop again and slapped it down to scrub a particularly difficult spot. “Do you see hallucinations?”
Harmony continued scrubbing her part of the floor and thought about this question. She hadn’t dealt with hallucinations when she first was being treated but had been seeing an awful lot of them lately.
“I didn’t at first, but now I’ve been seeing apparitions a lot lately. I think it might be just what Zion told us about though. I don’t think I ever hallucinated”
Clive nodded thoughtfully.
He didn’t ask any more medical questions but he still seemed deep in thought as he worked. Harmony was certain he had chosen the right profession because she could tell he genuinely cared about the people he was helping. Harmony wished she knew what she was best at. She had never found a dream career to pursue and was not currently working at a place she felt was her “calling”. Although, she didn’t even know if she believed in having a “calling”. People that generally used those sorts of terms were religious and Harmony never thought of herself as religious.
As they neared time for the meeting, Harmony realized she was hungry and had missed dinner. Cleaning the floor had taken hours and Pat and Arrow hadn’t even finished all the furniture. They covered up the remaining pieces outside with a couple of tarps and closed up the clean pieces in the building, deciding that they would organize them tomorrow.
“I hope they have some leftovers from dinner.” Harmony said as they all walked inside together.
“I hope so too.” Pat chimed in.
Everybody whipped around to look in mild surprise at him. This was the first time that Pat had truly interjected something that could be considered small talk.
“Are you, string bean?” Arrow said with the warmth of an older brother.
“I might be the youngest here, but string bean? Really?”
“Oh-ho!” Arrow laughed in surprise. “Forgive me, Mr. Sherwood.”
Clive was noticeably pleased that the teasing had shifted to Pat now. “No matter how old you are, you’re still pretty skinny.” Clive added.
“I realize this and no matter how old you are, you are still an arrogant…”
“Welcome!” Zion greeted them as they all entered the conference room.
Food was laid out like it had been last night and Rachel was bustling around to make sure everything was easily accessible. She was so beautiful and petite. Today her white-blond hair fell in waves down her back and she wore a yellow floral dress and a knee-length blue cardigan. There was another person there though that Harmony did not recognize.
“This is Dr. Preston Winston, President of Kimber University.” The man stood and straightened his black shirt and jeans. His clothing was casual on its own but on his body they became elevated. Everything about him was straight lines and formality.
“Dr. Evers, good to see you again.” Preston said kindly.
Everybody looked to Clive and it was apparent that this was not what he was expecting. He had a split second where he was unable to hide his surprise, but when he realized people were observing him he put on a mask of confidence.
“Good to see you too, Dr. Winston.”
“We know you don’t mean that. I apologize for our last meeting but I couldn’t be myself.”
“Preston has been gathering some intel for us at the higher education level so he is essentially undercover.” Zion added.
“You’re very connected, Zion.” Arrow said, already digging into the food.
When Harmony saw this she walked over to the food and began to load up a plate. Pat was close behind her. Rachel touched her shoulder slightly and whispered “hello” and Harmony returned the greeting.
“I have to be. There is so much going on and it does us no good if we don’t have people in our corner. The government may run things in an official capacity, but it is truly the schools and the hospitals that control most of our society.” Zion said passionately.
“Truer words were never spoken.” Preston agreed. He was directly behind Harmony and loading up his plate with food. “On the surface, Kimber University will be utilizing the data they collect for research and managing potentially violent persons. Ultimately, it is just about control.”
