Part 3
Freedom
For over a year I’ve felt completely helpless and alone. I couldn’t remember the last time I had a dream that didn’t eventually turn into a nightmare. I came to dread sleeping long ago; it didn’t allow me a break from the horrible things I saw every day. They would all come rushing back, moments after I closed my eyes.
To see Kayin, Sara, and so many others ready to take action against the ACI almost made me fall to my knees. I knew there had to be others that wouldn’t be able to stand by and let this happen. As I looked around the room I could see the same pain and anger in their eyes that burned inside me every day… At the same time I also started to think about what we were up against.
There were well over 500 members of the militia division on this ship, all with advanced training and big paychecks at stake. I had to question Kayin “I can’t tell you how happy I am to be here with all of you right now… but I also can’t see how this can work with so few people…” Kayin got a wild look in his eyes and smiled.
He stepped forward – “We’ve been working at this for some time Atlas. This isn’t everyone involved… not even close. Remember, we have to be as secretive as possible. Can’t make our little gatherings too large… Atlas, there are hundreds of people from every division standing by, ready to go. We’ve actually got really good odds, and I have a feeling when we do act, the others will follow.”
I suppose it was just like Kayin to organize something like this. I’m not at all surprised that he would want to take action against the ACI for what they’ve done; he’s a good man… The best I’ve ever known and I know why anyone would want to follow him… I guess I had been running short on hope and faith for the past year.
I could feel myself coming back to life. Almost as if an invisible force had been restraining my very essence. Whatever it was… it was gone now. If it were up to me we would act immediately. The longer we wait the more natives will die… Just thinking about how much Cyrus enjoys his deity status infuriates me to no end.
I looked Kayin in the eyes and said “I believe in you Kayin, I always have. You’re the best guy I’ve ever known. Just tell me what to do and I’ll do it… no matter what it is.” I looked over at Sara and I could see that she was completely confident about the situation. I knew right then, looking at her and Kayin, that we would succeed in freeing the natives.
Kayin continued to explain that he and the other militia guys were shocked and angered by the plan from the very beginning. Unfortunately, Commander Neros has a lot of influence and quite a few men who are loyal only to him. Kayin is convinced that even they will turn once they realize what’s taking place. He also claimed he was going to kill Neros with his own hands…
I stopped Kayin and said “Then I’ll be the one that kills Cyrus. That man is a monster and he doesn’t deserve to be alive… He doesn’t deserve to go on and tell his story to anyone… you have no idea what he’s done. Even if I were to describe some of it…”
Kayin stopped me – “I already planned on having you take out Cyrus, that’s one of the reasons you’re here… Though there’s a lot more to this plan than just a takeover and bringing those two criminals to justice. It will all be about timing. You’re going to have to be patient and continue what you’re doing.”
Kayin explained that he was slowly organizing even more people to join the resistance. He planned on having 5 of the mining sites sabotaged with explosives in order to spread out the militia. The men down on X-451 would secure every site by any means necessary as the rest of us took the ship.
The ship was mainly occupied by technicians, along with a few hundred scientists and the flight crew. They wouldn’t put up much of a fight. He even claimed to have several people on the flight deck involved as well. The more he explained his plan the more I knew it would most definitely work. It almost seemed too easy, but I guess no one would ever expect an attack from within.
It seems as though time had worn away at everyone’s conscience. According to Kayin almost anyone he confronted about this was immediately on board with the idea. From what he said more than half the ship wanted Cyrus and Neros dead, and the natives freed. When Kayin was done, he turned around and addressed the room – “Ok everyone this will be our last meeting for some time. The day is coming and we can’t risk anyone finding out. It could be a week or a year… You will all be contacted for one final debriefing before we act but be ready at any time. Just a handful of errors in timing could ruin everything…”
He paused and looked down at the ground – “You all know what we’re doing, don’t let anyone get in your way… Try not to kill anyone but do what’s necessary; there is no one innocent here, even us! So we must all be ready to give our own lives for this as well… it’s the very least we can do.”
They were harsh words, but they were true. None of us were innocent, even though we were eventually going to try and help; we let it happen in the first place. We could have all refused and started an uprising right then but we didn’t… because we were afraid. Of course I wouldn’t ever say that, but I’m sure some of them had come to the same realization… This was almost directly our fault as we made it all possible by cooperating.
It’s the reason I couldn’t sleep, and the reason I’ve had countless nightmares… It’s because I know that I LET this happen. 100’s of men and women were tortured and killed before my very eyes and I did nothing… In fact I was helping the man in charge of it all… I thought to myself – “Am I the guiltiest one in the room?.. Do I even deserve to kill Cyrus after all I had done?..”
In reality, I’m a monster just like him, only selfish and afraid as well. There was no doubt in my mind that I would die for this if need be. I just hope I can do even better and give them back their freedom… Then maybe one day, I’d be able to forgive myself.
Once everyone left the room, Kayin lightly slapped me on the side of the head and started laughing – “I can’t believe what you got yourself into! What are the chances Cyrus would pick you of all people… You’re lucky I’m here to save you brother… This is exactly the kind of thing that would happen to Silas or Zara!” He continued to laugh.
The laughter and happiness in his eyes quickly faded… “There is another part of the plan… this is where you come in… I came up with a crazy idea and I’m interested in your opinion.”
He went on to present the idea of me stealing at least 2 of the injections from Cyrus’ lab. His plan was to use some of his militia contacts to further advance a few of the natives. When Cyrus originally advanced a few of them to act as leaders, they formed a rebellion… Kayin wanted to have the natives coordinate an attack alongside ours.
He had the idea of immediately overwhelming the militia in the hopes they would all surrender and join us. The only problem that could arise is the fact the native’s view the militia as their creators. There’s a possibility they could refuse to attack them… but he’s confident he can inspire them to revolt again.
He made a good point. They had already come up with a simplistic language, displayed the want to be free, and the ability to coordinate… I know it sounded like a wild idea but at the same time is seemed like it could really work.
I said “Kayin, like I said before; I trust you…and yeah I think it’s a great idea… I’ve looked into their eyes while Cyrus was drilling holes in their heads… they want to be free and they’re smart enough to recognize us trying to help them; I know it.”
Kayin nodded – “Alright then, I don’t know how long it will be until we’re ready but the faster you act, the sooner we can do this. I said “I know exactly where he put them… I remember the day perfectly because he was really upset he couldn’t see how far he could take the experiment...”
I could see the disgust on Kayins face as he closed his eyes and shook his head… - “I have to get back Atlas. Be ready… It was great to see you… I’ll send someone to contact you about the injections. And next time we meet will be the day we all mak
e up for what we’ve allowed to happen.” We shook hands and he walked out. I could tell all of this had changed him… I’m sure it had changed all of us in one way or another.
Only Sara and I remained. I didn’t know what to say so I stood there hoping she would talk. She stepped forward and touched my arm – “Atlas I’m sorry it had to be like this. We couldn’t risk telling you too soon…” I smiled and told her it was fine.
We didn’t speak for quite some time and just looked into each other’s eyes. Eventually Sara said “The effects haven’t gone away. I still feel like I miss you…” I felt relieved to know I wasn’t the only one and replied “I thought about you almost every day. All I wanted to do is take you and get away from here…” She smiled and said “Once this is over we’ll have to get to know each other.” We both laughed and headed back to the elevator.
On the way down I could feel the excitement building… I wanted nothing more than to kill Cyrus that very moment. I looked at Sara and she put her finger to her lips to remind me to be quiet. There was so much more that I wanted to say, but now wasn’t the time. Like she said… After this is all over we can get to know each other.
As happy and optimistic as I was, I had to remember there was a very good chance it wouldn’t work at all. Commander Neros has great influence over the militia and many men may back out when it comes down to it. There’s no way to know what will happen. We may all be killed or executed for treason… In fact that could happen at any moment. If Neros got wind of a resistance group on the ship I’m sure he would show no mercy.
It’s funny… One day I read a book about the history of Aeris that spoke of a time, many thousands of years ago. It had detailed accounts of several decades in which private corporations and the military secretly took over the government and almost lay waste to modern society as we know it. They started false wars and were largely responsible for the deterioration of the atmosphere… all for profit.
It was said that they committed horrific crimes all around the globe and specifically preyed on those who couldn’t protect themselves… It would seem as though history has repeated itself. This whole situation begs to suggest the ACI has a lot of power over our government; it’s the only way they’d get away with this… and I really do have a feeling it’s all about money.
As the elevator came to a stop, Sara walked over an embraced me. At first I was shocked and had to keep telling myself to put my arms around her. We stood there for a few moments before she let go. She quickly walked out of the elevator… I thought I saw a tear stream down her cheek.
Then I realized this whole time I was being selfish… Sara had to directly perform deadly experiments on the natives almost every day... All I had to do was watch, assist, and take notes. Whatever sadness and anger I was feeling was probably much more intense on her end. She was probably devastated… I could only imagine what her nightmares were like… If only I had been able to comfort her…
There was nothing I could do now, we had to continue our normal relationship, or lack of one… I’d have to continue watching Cyrus inject more natives with his miracle potion every day. A plan that might take place a year from now was little comfort at the moment… but it was something. I just hoped I could successfully steal some of the injections without him noticing.
As I headed back to my room I started to try and come up with a plan. If Cyrus notices the missing injections he’ll know something is wrong. It might not be a big deal because I couldn’t see him possibly connecting me to the theft. And there’s no way he could foresee what Kayin is planning… At the same time I couldn’t risk it, I had to come up with something.
When I put my hand out to open my door it hit me… I started heading for the medical center. I had a feeling the injectors being used on this ship were all the same. I just need to steal a few, fill them with water and do a switch. This way no suspicions would be raised whatsoever.
I had a plan; I just hope it will work… As I entered the medical center I clutched my stomach and started moaning. I even staggered a little to really put on a good show. Two medical techs immediately ran over and helped me to a seat. They started asking me all kinds of questions so I just moaned and acted confused.
One of them gave me something to inhibit vomiting and they led me to one of the back rooms. Just as I had hoped they told me to lie down and wait for the doctor, then left the room. As soon as the door closed, I jumped up and started looking through the drawers for injectors.
After a few minutes of searching I finally found some and as I predicted they seemed identical. Kayin had only asked for 2 but that meant there would only be 2 natives to lead the others. There were over 10 mining sites… I say the more the better, so I grabbed 6. The drawer was full so I doubt anyone would notice.
Just as I stuffed them into my pocket the door knob started to turn. So I quickly got back on the table and started holding my stomach. When the doctor walked in he asked some more questions and started preparing an injection. He said a few people had come in with stomach problems today and he thought a virus was going around. I guess I picked the perfect thing to fake… After a few minutes I pretended like I felt better and he sent me on my way.
As I walked back to my room, I couldn’t believe how easily I was able to get the injectors. Maybe it was a sign of things to come… I could only hope making the switch in Cyrus’ lab would be just as easy. Now that I think of it he rarely ever leaves me alone… there’s no reason to. I guess it’s just going to have to be a waiting game. I’ll have to bring them with me every day and wait for my chance. Eventually I’ll get it.
Over the next 6 months I heard nothing from Kayin, and Sara rarely even glanced over at me in the lab. I had finally managed to steal 6 injection treatments a few months ago and get them into the hands of Kayin’s contacts. It seemed like an eternity before I finally got the chance. Cyrus rarely left his lab unattended and the man could literally work for 20 hours straight.
During this time he was able to create almost 1000 more workers for the mining camps. Over the last two months it’s been reported that the mining sites have produced more chrysos than in the last year. Apparently a group of the natives had found a large deposit right near the surface.
Instead of being happy with the immense progress and stopping the procedures, Commander Neros demanded another thousand workers. The head of the mining division claimed that with another 1000 workers they would hit 7,000 tons within another 3 years. As usual, it was nothing to kill more natives, even though most of us would all be happy to stay longer to prevent it…
Every day the militia was delivering more natives to Cyrus’ holding rooms. The cramped conditions were getting worse by the hour and sickness began to spread. In one of the holding rooms over half the natives had to be “removed”… I don’t know for sure but I can only guess they were dumped back on X-451 to die.
The only thing I could be happy about was the fact that I no longer had to watch them dying on those tables with tubes and wires coming from their heads. There were no more exploratory autopsies and inner cranial examinations… It had actually been quite a while since I’d seen native blood. They may still be dying and slaving away at the mining sites, but the real torture was over and it was only a matter of time before they would be free.
After another 14 hour day I was up on the observation deck looking down on X-451. It looked so similar to Aeris, there were just no signs of civilization. It was such a beautiful sight, but that only hid the sickening reality of what’s taking place on the surface.
I sat there for what seemed like hours, looking out and thinking about everything that had happened… and everything that was about to. I wanted to kill Cyrus more than ever before. Every day I could see the fear in the native’s eyes. I could see them staring at me as if to ask “why are you doing this to us?” I could just be my imagination, but I could see it…
Just as I was about to leave and try to get some sleep, someone sat down a few feet away from me. It was
Kayin. He immediately said “just look forward and listen to what I have to say… I don’t have much time.”
He went on to tell me that he they had successfully enhanced 5 of the natives and have them gaining control over the others. He had spent the past months on X-451 secretly attempting to communicate with them. Their language only consisted of around 60 words now but it was enough… According to Kayin they still viewed all of us as supernatural deities and he had to use that to our advantage. We’d sort out that problem once they were free.
What he said next was exactly what I wanted to hear – “Atlas, I think we’re going to be ready in a few days. I have at least 50 militia and miners on our side at each mining camp and I think I’ve almost convinced the 5 native leaders to start a revolt. I’m pretending to be a messenger from their creator and telling them they are meant to be free… It seems to slowly be working as I gain their trust. We’ve been sneaking them food, water, and helping out with medical problems… So be ready Atlas, it really could be any day now.” Before I could say anything he got up and walked away.
Now that it was really going to happen I was almost scared. Not so much for myself, but about what might happen to everyone involved. Kayin could be totally wrong, the militia and miners still loyal to the ACI and this project might really fight back. Not everyone is a good person and according to history, money can make people do terrible things. There was a good chance we could end up having to kill hundreds of our own… but like Kayin said - no one on this mission is innocent.
The Sirius Chronicles Page 6