Now it was Thora gasping. “Selene is in league with the Viceret?” she said. “Then we’re in trouble.”
“Do you think they are giving her the control device?” Gideon asked.
“How can they be?” Lena asked. “I thought Dorry is the one who invented it.”
“He is,” Thora said. “But he gave the technology to Selene.”
“And you think she gave the technology to the Viceret?” Aaron asked.
“Now we’ve eaten we can find out,” Thora said. “Come with me.” She led them across the cavern and to a table on the side of the hall.
Laying across the table sat a large silver box. Lena saw the server sitting in the middle hooked up to a screen.
“This is what you stole from the bombed facility,” Lena said.
Thora nodded. “Yes, I’ve known that Selene had the power to control a person for quite some time. Dorry and I worked together to find where she’d been keeping the information on what happened to his technology. With Aaron’s help, we arranged the bombing of the facility and secured this. Unfortunately Dorry did not provide me with the power to bypass her security system,” Thora said.
“He gave that to me instead,” Lena said.
“As brilliant as that man is, he lacks common sense. Why he didn’t give the technology to me, I’ll never know,” Thora said.
“What do I need to do to open it?”
Aaron and the rest of the group came to stand beside her. Birdee was out of bed now. Tern wrapped an arm around and held her weight as she hobbled over with the rest of them.
“Same as anything. Scan your insignia,” Thora replied. Lena scanned her insignia and the computer immediately granted access. “All that danger just to get her to scan her little insignia,” Thora said. Aaron opened up the first file.
A hologram of Zeke popped open. He looked younger, his eyes full of worry.
“Dad,” Gideon leaned closer as the pre-recorded hologram started talking.
“Marcus,” Zeke’s voice said. “I’m being followed, I hope you receive this before it’s too late. Selene contacted me, trying to get me to lead her Defenses. I, of course, told her no. But now she hunts me, and our son Gideon. I’m afraid. She says she has a way to force me to do what she wants if I don’t comply on my own. I need you to know if that happens, I was not in my right mind. If I ever hurt you or our cause, it’s Selene’s doing. I would never do anything to go against our fight for freedom or the safety of my child.” Zeke looked worried. Sweat dripped from his face. “I’m requesting that you cancel the Founder’s Party. Selene is planning something big. I don’t know how she’s going to do it, but I’m afraid she’s found a way to conquer all of Mir. Selene has always wanted control. She’s used her manipulations for far too long, and now she’s found another way. I’m meeting with a contact tonight in Celano. I think he’ll give me the information I need to fight against her. If I don’t make it back to you. Find her. Destroy her.”
Lena wrapped an arm around Gideon. He looked ill and angry and a million other emotions Lena couldn’t pinpoint.
“Open up the rest,” Gideon demanded.
Blueprints of Dorry’s technology rotated throughout the hologram with instructions of how it worked. They studied page after page, Lena didn’t understand half the words and the information made her head hurt. Stepping away, she found a seat and watched Thora sort through all the information. The others had already found their own chairs to observe from. Gideon and Thora were the only ones who kept searching screen after screen. After what felt like forever, Thora stepped away from the computer.
“So basically, the device captures the subject’s impulses that go to the motor cortex, the part of the brain that controls movement,” Thora explained. “By blocking the impulses to the parts of the brain that control speech and movement, it then generates its own neural impulses, forcing the subjects to speak and act according to the operator’s will.”
“That’s the same device that’s in my head,” Gideon said. He started to pace, his hand rubbing the back of his neck. “That thing is inside of me,” Gideon backed away from Lena. “You need to lock me up.”
“Gid, that’s ridiculous,” Lena said stepping towards him. He held up his hand, urging her to stop. She stepped back.
“This is how he got my father to kill your’s Evangeline,” Gideon said. Shivers went down Lena’s spine. Her stomach knotted at the thought. “This is how she’s going to have me kill you.”
The End of Book Two
Acknowledgments
There are many people to thank who have helped The Mir Chronicles come this far.
My dear friend, and fellow author, Carol Vaughn. She reads my earliest of drafts to the newest and gives awesome feedback—like check all the boxes—not to mention liberal amounts of encouragement.
Tammy Fillerup, she—along with copious amounts of delicious food—sat with me line by line and hour after hour editing my final draft to a grammatically correct copy. I can’t thank her enough.
To my beta readers, in my head my book is a perfect story. This is a problem when the actual story written is nowhere near perfect. So thank you Wade Wallace, Crystal Boyack and Steven Hardman for finding my holes and pointing them out.
Westin Smith’s artistic skills are amazing. He took the symbols from my imagination and turned them into the amazing cover.
Of course I could never pursue such a time intensive hobby without the support and love of my cute little family. Wally, Cole and Avery, you are my world. Go Team Wallace!
The Children of The Resistance (The Mir Chronicles Book 2) Page 24