by Eliza Green
Finally, Max stood up and spoke. His voice sounded different to how Jason remembered it: louder and more confident. He could tell Max was someone important around Foxrush. Anyone with the title ‘colonel’ had to be.
Max’s words fluttered against Jason’s mind like a bird’s wings. He couldn’t latch on to any of them. But then, he heard ‘infiltrate’ and ‘enemy’ used in conjunction with Arcis and his mind sharpened.
‘Wait...What?’
Max flicked his eyes to him, and then away.
‘I said Charlie and I targeted each of you because you have the skills we need. Runners, mechanics, electronics experts, gun operators. All of these skills will help us to infiltrate the one place we’ve tried to get inside for months.’ His gaze found each of them in turn. ‘Some of your parents were helping us in our efforts and may have pushed you towards a particular skill in school. You are more valuable to us out here than in there.’
Foxrush, the town flagged to be showing signs of crop recovery, crawled with dirty rebels. The vertical farms were in tatters. He took a wild guess that nobody had checked the radiation levels in the soil.
Jason pushed his long brown fringe out of his eyes.
Infiltrate Arcis? Why?
His lips mouthed the questions, but his voice didn’t deliver them.
Max continued. ‘We have tried to access their systems from inside Essention, but their force field and tech-dampening equipment has made that next to impossible. So we need to attack Arcis from out here. The Copies don’t venture beyond the perimeter because they’re safer inside than out. And Compliance controls the residents’ actions, so they are not a danger to them.’
‘Hold on. Back up just a minute.’ Jason finally found his voice. ‘Why are you looking to infiltrate Arcis?’
‘Because Arcis is dangerous.’
Jason’s throat tightened, making it hard to breathe. He croaked, ‘What about Arcis? My sister’s in there. What’s wrong with it? ’
Others began making similar demands.
‘I thought you understood—’
‘Are you telling me I encouraged her to... Jesus. She’s in danger?’ He backed away as far as the edge of the tent.
Max perched on the edge of the trestle table again. ‘Your sisters and brothers are tied into Arcis’ programme. They’re safe, for now.’
Jason refused to believe anything a rebel leader said. ‘You’ve done nothing but lie to us since Essention, Max. I’ve seen first-hand what happens to people when they disobey you.’ His thoughts flashed back to his parents.
Max worked his jaw.
‘You’ll hear many things about the rebels. Some will be true, others are lies, made up by those who hold greater power than us. But what we have done, and continue to do, is in the best interest of the people.’
‘And that includes lying to us?’ said another boy. ‘Killing the people we care about? Why not tell us out straight who you were?’
Max glared at the boy. ‘Would you have come with me if you knew who I was? You believe the rebels killed your parents. But we didn’t kill them. Copies from Praesidium did.’
Jason gritted his teeth at hearing these lies. ‘Praesidium has been good to us. So has Essention.’
‘Up to a point, yes.’
‘And the radiation?’
Max nodded. ‘That was us.’
‘Why?’
‘Our target was the Copies, and the machines that are part organic. The towns were an inevitable casualty. We had planned to pull you out of the towns and treat you for the sickness, but Praesidium beat us to it.’
‘Why wait until now? Why not trust us from the beginning?’ Jason shook his head. ‘And what the hell are Copies?’
Max turned his stern blue eyes on him. ‘What would you have done if I had told you? Would you have listened to me or blabbed to the first person in Essention so they could deal with us?’
Probably the latter.
‘To answer your other question, Copies are the machines that look human. They’re part AI, part organic, built to look like us so we can relate to them easier.’ Max frowned at the stunned faces. ‘They’re all over Arcis. I thought you knew. They came to get you from the towns? They treated you at the hospital in Essention?’
Heads shook all around Jason. He remembered a man and woman at the hospital dressed in black tunics with gold neckbands. They had injected him and Anya with their location chips. But there hadn’t been anything odd about the pair.
Max rubbed his chin. ‘I guess it makes sense that Praesidium would keep that quiet. Why ruin a good illusion? The Copies from Praesidium are far easier to relate to in Arcis than the wolves are.’
Wolves? In Arcis? His mind raced from the absurdity of it all.
Max stood up straight. His broad shoulders and height gave him a sense of command.
‘I know you have questions, but things will be clearer after a good night’s rest. We can pick this up in the morning. Thomas will show you to your dorms.’
A slim boy had appeared at the entrance and stood beside the woman with the gun. He was about nineteen, with short brown hair and dressed in green fatigues. Jason didn’t think he looked much like a soldier.
‘We can talk more later,’ said Max. ‘Please give all your food to the kitchen.’
The sky brightened as night turned into early morning. Jason and the others followed Thomas through Foxrush. Jason considered making a run for it, but gun-toting rebels lining the perimeter changed his mind. Beyond the main tent pitched in the centre of town was a large farmhouse made of flat, grey stone, with an adjoining building. Thomas showed them into the kitchen in the farmhouse, where Jason emptied his bag of food.
By the time Thomas reached the adjoining building, Jason felt numb. Dozens of ‘beds’—green material stretched across horizontal poles—were laid out neatly in the large square room. Jason’s nose caught the faint smell of grain in a space that may have been a barn once.
‘Just pick a free one,’ said Thomas. ‘We don’t have any favourites around here.’
Jason dropped his empty bag on the floor. He lay down in his mud-caked clothes closed his eyes. But he was too wired to sleep.
Ω
In the cold light of early morning, nothing had changed. They were still prisoners and Jason had left Anya in a place the rebels were trying to infiltrate.
He had assured his sister she would be safe in Essention.
Could he even trust Max? Or Charlie?
If he was a prisoner in Foxrush, he didn’t feel like it. No shackles, no rough treatment. But Jason wasn’t ready to hand over his trust to Colonel Roberts just yet.
Anya was his priority. He would do as Max asked as long as it helped her. If Arcis was dangerous, he needed to know how much.
Jason whipped off the blanket. His boots, hands, tunic and trousers were covered in dried tunnel mud.
He found the bathroom, which had just a sink and a toilet, down a small corridor. He pulled off his tunic and kicked away his boots.
Jason ran cold water from the tap. He washed his face, neck and hands, then dressed in his dirty clothes again. Next, he hit the kitchen and ate a meal of chicken-flavoured meat, an apple and a wedge of bread.
With food in his belly, he was ready to ask more questions.
Jason returned to the main tent, half-expecting an armed soldier to shadow him, but no one followed. The tent was empty. He found a rebel soldier in one of the smaller tents testing a weapon. He jerked to a stop when the soldier cocked it.
‘Colonel Roberts has gone out,’ said the soldier without looking up. He aimed the gun at the tent wall and fired with a small click.
Jason watched him slide back the empty chamber. Anya had shown him how to fire a gun once. His hands had shaken from the vibration of the shot leaving the barrel for ten minutes after. He hadn’t picked up a weapon since. But now he thought he should learn. An array of guns was spread out on the table. Would the soldier even notice if one went missing?
&nb
sp; The soldier gave him an odd look and Jason left the tent empty-handed. He spent the next hour wandering around Foxrush, looking for an alternative way out. In addition to the armed rebels protecting the perimeter, the corrugated steel surrounding the town was too high and too slippery for him to climb.
More houses near the steel fence had been gutted and blackened from fire.
Had the rebels done that?
Praesidium-run schools had warned of the rebellion. The rebels were marauders who gutted and burned any property they looted, and killed whoever got in their way.
But something bothered Jason about this particular rebel camp. He felt too comfortable here.
Ω
An hour later, Max and several others came through the main entrance, holding what looked like a cache of weapons. Max handed his haul over to a twenty-something soldier.
‘We found them in the next town over,’ he said to the young man. ‘They were just lying there. I’ve sent Louise and Kelvin to monitor things. It’s closer to Essention than Foxrush.’
Jason’s stomach turned. Brookfield was close to Essention. Were they talking about his old hometown? Why had they found guns there?
Max strode over to him. Jason stood his ground, his fists tight by his side.
‘You look like you’re ready to talk some more.’ Max nodded at the main tent. ‘I promised you answers. Come on. I’ll tell you whatever you want to know.’
As Jason followed, he saw the others from his group exploring Foxrush as he had done. Did they believe Max?
In the tent, Max pulled forward a couple of chairs and sat in one. He gestured for Jason to take the other.
‘I’d prefer to stand.’ Jason folded his arms. ‘When are we going back to Essention?’
‘Soon.’
‘But not as soon as you led us to believe?’
Max shook his head.
‘What about my sister? If Anya’s in danger like you say, I could have brought her here.’
Max relaxed his stiff posture and leaned forward in his chair. ‘She has a different chip in her wrist. It will kill her if she tries to leave Essention. All the Arcis participants have them.’
Jason remembered Charlie’s tech that masked their location. ‘But not our chips?’
‘Charlie didn’t want to take that risk. All I know is the chip will only release its hold on her when she completes the programme. Anya is safe as long as she believes she is.’
Jason stared at the wall of the tent, remembering the man and woman at the hospital asking their ages. Were they the Copies that Max was talking about? Had Jason been too sick to notice they’d given Anya a different chip to him? His stomach twisted.
‘Don’t give in to the guilt, Jason.’ Max watched him. ‘You couldn’t have done anything to change the outcome.’
Perhaps not, but Jason wanted to know something else. He dropped into the chair, an action that forced Max to sit up straight.
Almost as if he’d read his mind, Max said, ‘You’ve seen the gutted houses near the perimeter and you want to know if we came by this town peacefully.’
‘It had crossed my mind.’
‘There was nobody here when we took over. The towns closest to Essention were all cleared out. Their residents are living in Essention now.’
‘Let’s say I believed you and what you said about the Copies from Praesidium. Why did they kill our parents?’
‘They wanted to separate the teenagers from the adults. Would your parents have let them take your sister if they were still alive?’
Jason shook his head. ‘Praesidium was saving us from you. From your attacks.’
‘Yes, we were responsible for the radiation attacks. But it was to halt Praesidium’s control over the towns.’
‘Control of what?’
Max stood up and paced the room. He stopped and turned round.
‘We don’t know why they want the teenagers, or why you and I are too old for their programme. But whatever it is they want, it has something to do with the ninth floor.’
‘What about the ninth floor? What proof do you have that there’s anything going on?’
‘A huge power surge occurs there when rotation happens. Nobody’s ever completed the nine floors and come out of there to explain why.’
Jason frowned. ‘What, they just disappear?’
‘Yes. Never to be seen again.’
Jason stared at Max who held his gaze. He appeared to be telling the truth.
‘Why do you and Charlie care so much about what happens in Arcis, anyway?’
Max sat back down. ‘Several months ago, when Essention was first built, I lost my wife to that place. At the time they passed Arcis off as a place to learn how to use the latest Praesidium technology.’
Jason remembered. He had been refused entry into Essention at the time.
‘There was no programme then, just the promise of work,’ said Max. ‘The former idea came later to motivate the teenagers it was so desperate to attract.’
‘And she never came out?’
Max shook his head. ‘The very same thing will happen to your sister and hundreds of others if we don’t figure out the purpose of Arcis. We don’t know what’s on each of the floors, but we do know that the participants must complete the programme without fail.’ He leaned forward, his gaze wary. ‘Our success hinges on your help and the help of the others I brought here. I’m sorry for lying to you, but with so many adults gone, we need to make things right. Things should never have gotten this far.’
Yet their current location took them further away from the problem. ‘So why not stay inside Essention? Why bring us all the way out here?’
‘Compliance. How would you have reacted if I’d told you this when you were coming off the drug? Angry, resentful, on a hell-bent mission to rescue your sister? We couldn’t take the risk. We operate freely inside Essention but our equipment doesn’t. Arcis emits a jamming signal that renders any non-Essention equipment useless. We’ve been trying to monitor what happens during their power surges. Our equipment seems to work better the further we are from their signal. Less interference.’
The chips, the scanners, the shiny orbs. Jason had seen plenty of visible tech that could be disrupting their attempts to monitor Arcis.
He wasn’t sure what to make of Max’s story—or if he could trust him—but his thoughts returned to the one person who mattered. He examined the pearl-coloured disc attached magnetically to the chip beneath his skin.
‘How long before the disc stops working? Before they know we’re not still in Essention?’
‘A few days, a week, indefinitely. I don’t know. Friends in Praesidium smuggled the tech out of the city, so it should be powerful enough to fool them. Charlie will keep intercepting the signal and updating your location for as long as he can.’
‘So your plan is to keep us here until we agree to fight with you?’
‘Actually, I was hoping you’d help us to figure out the rotation pattern.’
‘Pattern?’
‘The length of time that passes between each rotation cycle. They use a lot of power during rotation, enough for the energy levels to spike and dip. The power surges weaken their defences. We need to manipulate weak spots in Arcis rather than challenge the whole system. I was hoping you’d help us on your own if you saw what we have so far.’
Jason leaned forward in his chair while Max sat back. ‘And if I want to return to Essention now?’
‘That’s not possible. Getting out of Essention is easy. Going back will take careful timing.’
‘We can use the tunnel.’
Max shook his head. ‘The tunnel is gone. Charlie will have seen to that. We can’t risk the orbs’ finding it.’
Jason dragged a hand through his hair. ‘You don’t think the Copies are smart enough to know the rebels are out here?’
Max smiled. ‘Oh, they know we’re out here. But they don’t run the show. They are workers, drones. We’re hoping Arcis has yet to figure out our numb
ers or our focus.’
‘Essention isn’t that big a place. You could probably take it.’
‘You’ve seen how the people act when they’re under the influence of Compliance. While they’re on the drug, they are drones, just like the Copies. We wouldn’t stand a chance against everyone. Essention isn’t the only urbano with an Arcis at its core, but if we take down one of them we might weaken the network.’
‘You mean Praesidium?’
Max nodded. ‘Something happens in Arcis that draws power from the urbano’s supply. It disrupts the power to the guns and sensors on the perimeter wall, and, I’m guessing, the force field around Arcis itself. We have people monitoring the power levels and how often they drop, but we need to learn more about the cycle, predict it. That’s where you come in. With your analytical mind, you might see new markers that will give us an early detection. You understand electricity, right?’
Jason snorted. ‘As far as circuit boards and resistors are concerned. I don’t know much about Praesidium technology, though.’
Max stood and clapped a hand on Jason’s shoulder. ‘It will be enough. Whatever Arcis is doing, it needs a hell of a lot of power to do it. It’s where we’ll strike when the time’s right. Until then, we must wait and plan our way back in to Essention.’
26
Anya had learned a simple way to avoid the worst of the shocks: drop the scanner. The electricity still caught her, but at least she could function after. Why didn’t she just leave Arcis and Essention? And then she’d remember. Because of the chip in her wrist. Her mind was clearer than it had ever been.
Why were the controllers of Arcis trying to electrocute her?
Because they were testing her.
‘If you can’t handle a little pressure,’ Supervisor One had said to her, ‘how can you expect to survive in the real world? Arcis is preparing you for adult life. Stop being a baby and get over it.’
She would cope. She wasn’t a baby. And Dom was still here. Clearly he was stronger than she was, able to cope with these strange tests without complaining.
Maintain a cool head and keep going. That’s what he had said to her.