The Circadia Chronicles: Omnibus: The Complete Colonization Sci-Fi Series

by Heather Heckadon

  I hesitated. "Smith, honestly, I'd rather you didn't." The pang of rudeness wasn't lost on me, but I didn't want him in my room. Not since he made his comment back on Circadia. He said it wasn't true, designed to make me hate him, but I couldn't get it out of my head. I knew in my mind that everything he’d done on Circadia was in our best interest, but the memories would always be there for me. There was a small part of me that would still always hate him even if he did it for me.

  "Okay. Really?"

  "Yeah. I'd kinda like to be alone tonight."

  He twisted his head and squinted at me. "Are you okay?"

  "I'm fine. I want to be alone, okay?"

  He snorted. "Is this about Garrett?"

  My blood boiled. "Good night, Smith." I slammed the door in his face.

  I made my way back to the bed and slung the covers over myself. I laid there for a moment and shook with anger, then grabbed my pillow, pressed it to my face as hard as possible, and screamed.

  EVERYTHING WAS A BLUR in the morning. I was tired and confused from last night. What happened? It didn't matter. I quickly dressed in the clothes I was given and made my way out to the facility’s main room. The Herrold brothers and Jane waited for me. No Smith. "Are you ready?" Phillip asked.

  "I guess so. Where's Smith?"

  Jane piped in. "He wasn't feeling well. Something about the smells from last night getting to him or something. He'll be fine."

  "All right, let's move." The brothers made their way out the front door toward an all-white private jet as the wind threatened to blow them over on the open runway.

  "What's this?" I asked. "I thought they were coming here?"

  "No, we don't allow anyone at our facility. We must go to them."

  "Where are we going?" I asked.

  They laughed. "Canada."

  I couldn't help but laugh as well. "Um, why?"

  "The geography's changed, remember? The huge news broadcaster is in Canada now. It was far enough away from the blasts, so there's a lot of people there now. That's where we gotta be," Herrold said. "I hear it's a lot warmer than it is here, currently." He laughed.

  "What?"

  THEY WERE RIGHT. ONCE we landed in Canada, the first thing I noticed was the climate. It was hot. Like, desert hot. All the trees had burned up, and the soil had cracked with dehydration. The air was dry and crisp, except for the small outcroppings of old lakes, where there were vegetation and life. The surrounding cities were built around these areas and thriving. It was completely different than how I remembered Canada. It reminded me of Vegas. What used to be old farmland was now a desert oasis.

  We were immediately escorted from the private jet to a black SUV with tinted windows, then driven down winding roads through insane traffic to a remote building.

  Once we parked next to the curb, men in suits greeted us. "Miss Toms, please accompany us to the interview area. Mrs. Brach will be waiting for you," they said.

  "Mrs. Brach?" I asked. Mrs. Brach was the lead interviewer for CNSTV even before I'd left Earth. I turned to Jane. "Did you know?"

  Her eyes were wide. "No idea. This is huge!"

  We walked with the suited men up the sidewalk toward the concrete building. The windows were black and showed no sign of life. Once we were at the entrance, the men typed a code into the lock, and the door opened. One held it open while the other led us in.

  The lights inside were bright and the rooms modern. We walked down a hallway with lighted areas on every side of us as we went forward. "Wait here." The man held out a hand. We stopped, and he entered the room in front of us, then disappeared for a moment as he closed the door behind him. We stood silent.

  After a short moment, he reappeared. "Ms. Toms, are you ready?"

  I stood dumbfounded. "I guess?"

  "Follow me then," he said. He opened the door, and we all followed.

  He stopped in front of me once more and turned to address the party behind me. "Aella only. Thank you."

  Goosebumps.

  "You'll do fine, Aella!" Ross hollered as I entered the room and closed the door behind me.

  Upon entering the room, I did a short survey of the area. It was a quaint setting with light grey walls. The space was relatively empty except the front, which featured two beige chairs with a plant in between. Tall stands held large lights that illuminated Mrs. Brach sitting in one of the seats.

  She was beautiful. Bleached blonde hair tumbled over her electric blue tweed dress. Mrs. Brach exuded polish from her head to her toes. "Aella! Come on in and have a seat!" She patted the seat next to her in a clear invitation.

  I drew a deep breath. She seemed nice enough.

  "I'm really nervous," I blurted. I didn't mean to say it. I reached out to shake hands. She chuckled and returned the gesture.

  "Have a seat." She showed me the chair. "There's nothing to be nervous about. I'm going to ask you questions you already know the answer to, and you're going to answer how you want to answer. Simple as that." She flashed a bright white smile and sat back in her chair.

  "Will I have a warning before they start recording?" I asked.

  "Of course." She looked at the camera. "The cameraman will count down from three after we’re all ready and I'll start by introducing you."

  "Okay." My reply was flat since I was scared of looking too inflated or too shy. How was I supposed to look?

  "Are you ready to begin?" Mrs. Brach asked.

  "Ready as I'll ever be, I guess."

  She looked out toward the camera. "Let's do this then!"

  The cameraman held up three fingers and counted down with them. As soon as he held a solid fist with no time remaining, Mrs. Brach began her spiel. Her voice took on a different tone than the one she'd used to talk to me earlier. More assertive and excitable.

  "This is Sarah Brach with CNSTV, and this is The Hour. We’re here with Aella Toms, our neighbor Circadia's rebel leader, and Earth's revolution catalyst for an interview about the current state of the global war and what the future is poised to hold. Aella, how are you?"

  I sat in shock and silence. How had she described me? Did she really introduce me as a revolution catalyst and rebel leader? Yikes. I didn't have time to process what she'd said before she asked, "Aella?"

  My subconscious took over. "Yes, Mrs. Brach. I'm well, thank you."

  She returned a tight smile. "Wonderful. Let's begin with the interview then! So my first question is, how big of a shock was it to come back to Earth from Circadia? I know you came back after the nuclear winter and lots of changes. There had to be tremendous differences from when you left, right?"

  "Yes, of course! It was a huge shock. When I left, we’d barely started to recover from Circadia’s approach so close to Earth, so things weren't perfect, but they weren't like this." I caught my mind wandering to the imagery outside the compound from the other night, and quickly noticed I sat in silence again. "So yes, there were a lot of changes I wasn't prepared for."

  "You weren't prepared for them?"

  "I mean, I knew a general idea of what had happened, but you can't prepare your mind for seeing something like that until you've seen it. We didn't have access to a lot of news from Earth on Circadia, so a lot of the information I learned once we landed on Earth was all new."

  "So you didn't have access to news on Circadia, but you did have access to transmit information and video clips here? That's strange."

  I wasn't sure what she was getting at, but I immediately felt defensive. I smiled anyway. "Apparently. It was harder to receive information than to send it. It still took lots of time to transmit info, but it took less time than receiving."

  "Oh, I see. So it was fairly easy and simple for you to send the video that started our revolution?"

  That took me back. "First of all, I didn't know they sent the video. Second, it wasn't intended to start a war here. It was a call for help."

  "A call for help from what?"

  "From Leslie Marshall. I'm sure you saw the video."


  She gave a small laugh and composed herself before answering. "We all saw the video."

  I couldn't figure out what she was trying to say. She was beating around the bush, and it was pissing me off. "What are you trying to say? I was there. Leslie ordered innocent people to die and unfairly took over Circadia. We were practically slaves. We had to rise and fight back. We had no other option." I eagerly waited for her answer.

  "Slavery? Is that what the rebels of Circadia called it?"

  "What would you call being forced to work for an unwanted and unappointed ruler with minimal food and tiers of citizenship? I call that slavery or at the very least, communism!" The words came out louder than I expected, but I was furious!

  "Most on Earth call what happened on Circadia selfish."

  "How so?" I asked.

  "People on Earth were down here suffering. Starving. You had bounties of harvest on Circadia. Leslie Marshall was appointed by the global government to aid us here on Earth, and you fought him. Some would say you fought back against Earth by not helping us."

  I was shaking and had to take a moment to calm myself. My mother always said, “Don't let your emotions eat your intelligence,” but I was close. A deep breath in and out and the shaking stopped. I looked back at Mrs. Brach with a clear mind. I hadn't realized this was a setup, but I was ready to fire back. "If most people thought that, the way you said, we wouldn't have a revolution on Earth. When my team and I landed, we would have been captured and incarcerated, but we weren't. Probably because the government knows if they touch me, they'll only make me a martyr for a cause that is just and right. Everyone knows I wasn't fighting against an appointed leader. We fought a tyrant. The same kind of tyranny was happening here on Earth. When people saw that video, they saw someone with courage and reason to rise against it. It made them feel empowered. You tried to take away that power they felt by confiscating their guns because you were scared, but that won’t help. It only made matters worse. That's why you have a war on your hands." I sat quietly and waited for her reply. Her eyes were wide, and her face wore a shocked look.

  She composed herself and looked at the camera. "Thank you. I think we're done here." I watched as the light on the camera faded.

  "That's it?" I asked.

  "Yep! That's all we needed. Thank you so much for coming out here, Aella! We really appreciate it." She shook my hand and walked out of the room. The camera crew wouldn't look at me as they filtered out behind her. I walked out to see the Herrold brothers and Jane seated on the bench outside the room.

  "How'd it go?" Jane asked.

  "I think we need to leave," I said.

  ON THE JET RIDE BACK to India, one of the brothers approached me with a video on their phone from CNSTV. I took it in my hands and pressed play. It was my interview with Mrs. Brach, but it was edited and cropped. It was exactly as it was, with the major difference being when the interview ended. On the video, it ended with her confronting me about people being upset. They had completely cut off my rebuttal. Then the video cut off and switched to other newscasters who said, "Looks like someone finally called Ms. Toms and her team out and she didn't like it," while the other newscaster lightly laughed at the scene. The entire snapback from me was missing.

  I shot a sideways glance up at Ross, who stood beside me to watch the video. The frustrated tears welled in my eyes. "I said more than that," I choked out.

  "We know. We didn't realize the mainstream media was controlled by the government now. This was our fault, not yours." He rubbed his forehead with his hand. "We have to figure out another way to get your name out there."

  "I know a guy," Jane said.

  CHAPTER SIX

  We gathered around Jane holding Ross's phone in her hands. She’d already pulled up YouTube on it and typed in “Axel Cason.” A man in his late twenties with an athletic build and three days worth of stubble appeared on the screen after a distinct tech intro complete with flashing lights and flying words ending with his name on the screen and fading to black. He stood in front of an enormous riot with hundreds of people behind him screaming. "Hey guys, this is Axel Cason, and I'm here at the Capitol to record the riots and interview people from both sides of the onslaught. Let's go!" The man led viewers through the riot with him and conducted interviews without bias. He talked to riot control from the Divinity and the rioters equally. He didn’t ask leading questions. He asked the hard questions and did it with class. I was amazed and amused. Compared to what I'd just gone through, he seemed perfect. Axel wasn’t scared to say what needed to be said. That was all we asked.

  "I used to watch him all the time before Circadia. He's super interesting and somehow always seems to be wherever something is happening. I thought he would be a good way to get the cause out there to the people," Jane said.

  "He's perfect!" Ross exclaimed. "I've been doing research. Looks like our guy has become extremely popular after the government uprising. Everyone is calling his channel the only honest source of news. We need to find him."

  "How are we going to do that?" I asked.

  Jane looked at me. "Uhhh... I commented on one of his videos that he should interview Aella Toms from Circadia, and he replied. He said he would get in touch with me."

  "How's he going to do that? Did you give him your info?" I asked.

  "No, I didn't. I don't know how he—" Jane stopped and looked at the phone she held. "There's an e-mail here from Axel Cason. It says confidential."

  "Go ahead," Ross instructed. "Open it."

  "It reads, Dear Ross Herrold. Sorry for the intrusion on your email, but I’m very interested in your comment. You said I should interview Aella Toms. Do you happen to have contact with her?" Jane read the email aloud. "If you do and she’s agreeable to an interview, please reply promptly."

  I looked around the cabin to see everyone was as shocked as me. "Whoa. That was quick."

  Jane snorted. "He isn't news leading for no reason. He's always on-site, pronto. I guess now it makes sense." She looked at Ross. "What should I reply?"

  Ross held out his hand for the phone. "I'll tell him where we’re located and see when he wants to meet and where." Jane handed over the phone and Ross began typing.

  "This is a good idea, right?" I looked at Jane and Ross sitting next to each other.

  Jane pressed her lips together, then spoke. "I heard what you said past the video clip on your last interview. I had my ear to the door. People need to hear what you have to say. It's not about you anymore. Do you understand?"

  I let out a big sigh. "Not really."

  "The fact she tried to twist the words on freedom and tyranny is enough reason for everyone here to rise up. It's not only about Circadia anymore. Of course, Circadia will be a big part of helping people, but if we solve the problems on Earth, we solve the problem on Circadia. This is for everyone." Jane sat still and held my gaze until I couldn't take the intensity of the moment anymore.

  "Okay, he knows where we are in India. He says he'll be in contact shortly," Ross announced.

  I found a seat and settled in for the ride “home.” My mind played over and over what Jane said. I had to make sure everyone heard my voice. Even if it only affected one person, the right person, it would be worth it.

  WHEN WE ARRIVED BACK at the compound, the Herrold brothers’ staff ran out to greet us. They took our belongings and offered drinks and food. I took a few sips of water and a snack to go. It was pieces of their gourmet space food, but I was still grateful and enormously guilty. Once I finished, I felt drained. My bed was calling my name.

  I slipped through the hallways down to the basement where my quarters were. Once I reached my door, I paused and closed my eyes, then tried to physically and mentally drop everything from the day in the hallway. The mindful moment was supposed to bring peace to my room and leave troubles outside. Once I felt a little more relaxed, I opened the door and stepped over the threshold.

  Once collapsed on the white duvet of my bed, I made a conscious effort to keep my min
d clear until I drifted off to a gentle sleep. My anxiety usually got the best of me at times like these, but not this time. I felt my body slowly relax and my mind ease until I heard the knock on my door.

  My head lifted, and I listened to see if there was any clue about who was at my door. "It's me." Smith.

  I begrudgingly pushed off the bed and went to the door. After cracking the door open, I glanced out to confirm what I'd heard. It was him. "What's going on?"

  "Nothing. Just wanted to see if I could visit for a little."

  I opened the door and let him in.

  His stride was slow and contemplative. I watched as he made a small loop around the room as if assessing the space. I sat on my bed, and he took the cue to sit in the chair across the room, kitty-corner to me. "You doing okay?" I asked. The place was eerily quiet.

  "Yeah. I've been thinking a lot lately. I can't get my mind to shut off. You know?" He looked at me for reassurance.

  "What are you thinking about, specifically?"

  He rolled his lip around with his teeth for a moment. "Guns."

  Against my better judgment, I felt my face scrunch up a little. I'd never been very good at hiding what I thought, and he noticed. "What about them?" I asked hesitantly. I knew this was a touchy subject for some, and I wasn’t sure about Smith’s stance on the issue.

  "Well, the government took them away, right? I don't think that was right. Do you think in a perfect world it would have made things better?" He shifted in his chair, then looked at me.

  I thought for a moment. It was an interesting question. There was no doubt a tyrannical government removing any type of threat to their regime was wrong, but what about in a perfect world? Were guns asking for trouble? After a moment of contemplating, I spoke. "No. I don't."

  "Why not?"

  "We've seen it. There's no such thing as a perfect world, and there never will be."

  He seemed incredulous. "How can you say that? We've been to Circadia."

  I raised an eyebrow. "You think that turned out perfect? Then why are we here?"