by Meg Buchanan
One spoke to a kid on the end of the first line. He asked a question. The kid shook his head.
The Guard pulled a pistol from his pocket and shot the kid point blank.
“What the fuck?” bellowed Curly.
Ela gasped and looked at the others in the room. They all looked as horrified as Curly did.
“Did any of the feeds pick up what he asked that kid?” Nick asked urgently.
Everyone shook their heads.
“It had to be if he knew anything about what is going on,” said Ela.
Nick nodded. “God, at least some of them in that group will know. Will they talk?”
The silence in the room was heavy. They watched another VectorGuard go through the same routine with another randomly selected kid. Ask a question, get a no, pull a pistol and shoot him.
“We can’t let them do this,” said Ela wildly.
“How can we stop it?” asked Nick. “We’re here, they’re there. And if anyone talks thousands will be killed. Anyone involved. Kids, parents, anyone.”
They watched it happen another six times. And still no one answered the question.
Then the VectorGuards stood in front of the assembled students. Six bodies lay on the grey tiles. Pools of blood spread crimson around them.
One man stepped forward; his black uniform coat slapped around his legs.
He addressed the kids standing there on the quad. “This is your chance to come forward and tell us what is happening. Why there have been raids on Humicrib and the Administration. This is your chance to stop anyone else dying. If you don’t, we’ll come morning and night until you do. We’ll empty another dorm. We’ll ask the question six times, and six of you will die if we don’t get an answer.” He waved his arms at the VTroopers standing alert and still on the perimeter. “There is no chance of escape. Anyone who tries will be shot. This will continue for as long as it takes.” He turned and walked back to the Cobra he’d come in. The others who arrived with him followed.
No one on the quad moved until the hover had gone and only the VTroopers on the perimeter were left.
The silence in the Station control room was deafening. Nobody said anything.
Nick folded his arms and rested his head the way he had when Jake and Tom were killed. He stayed like that. This time Ela didn’t attempt to comfort him. What could you say? Six kids had just died protecting them.
Chapter 16
THEN NICK LIFTED his head. “The only way we can stop this is to get a message to Jacob to do his broadcast straight away. If he can get broadcast to the rest of the Cradles, it won’t matter that Vector want to stop the Resistance. There’ll be no Humicrib, the world won’t need the Cradles. All this can stop.”
Ela nodded. “Can you get word to Jacob?”
“Not until tonight. There’s a small window when he’s monitoring his messages in the morning. We use that.” Then Nick looked at her. “And you need to leave. Get to where you’re meant to be. And don’t come back here. It’s too dangerous. Stay home, go to school, go to Humicrib. Be the perfect Elite. Don’t call attention to yourself.”
“Okay.” She couldn’t help those kids if she was dead. But she had to figure out a way to do it.
She felt like a fraud putting on the blue cloak and walking through the City to the Medical School as if nothing was happening. Vector just shot six kids and was planning on doing it again and again to find out what the Resistance was doing. She hoped Jacob would be able to put an end to this.
After school, she met up with Amon, Lucan and Isabel.
“I couldn’t find you this morning,” said Amon.
“I slept in.” She hugged her Tablet to her chest. She felt like telling them what was going on at the University. What Vector was doing to the Locals. How did they stop the Elite from knowing anything?
She guessed the Administration controlled all the media. The news only showed good things. A medical breakthrough, or a new device that had been invented to make life even easier. They really were wrapped up in a safe little world just like Jack had said.
And had Jack been part of the squad that had cleared the dorm? She couldn’t see anyone she thought might be him, but it was hard to tell when everyone was in uniform.
At the apartment, Ela waved her hand, and the VidScreen on the wall of the lounge turned off. Her mother hadn’t got home from Humicrib yet. Ela watched all the media broadcasts to see if anyone had reported the death of six Local kids. Or the crackdown at the University, or any of it.
But nothing.
It was ridiculous. What was the point of keeping them all in the dark? Were they trying to pretend to the Elite that the Locals were happy with the way they were treated? Were they frightened the Elite would side with the Locals if they knew what was going on?
Would the Elite do that? Everyone she knew was a nice person. But you didn’t have to think too deeply to know the Locals wouldn’t be happy as prisoners in their own country.
When she first met Jack, he’d said the Locals were just breeding stock to the Elite. And that’s the way it was, and no one tried to do anything about changing that.
She wished her mother would get home from work. She wasn’t used to having nothing to do. But Nick had told her to stay away from the Station for her safety and theirs.
She sent a Txt to her mother to see if she’d be home soon.
Nick and Curly and the kids with them underground would be all right. Wouldn’t they? There were kilometres of tunnels for them to hide in and they knew them better than Vector would. And it was all concrete so the heat sensors wouldn’t show Vector where they were hiding.
She waved her hand at the VidScreen in the vague hope she’d be able to find out if someone had talked and the Station had been raided.
Maybe Jack knew something.
She tried to send him a Txt, but it clawed at the shields. Why hadn’t Jack tried to contact her? He could have used Status. She’d put up a veiled post, but he hadn’t responded. Not even with an Emoji. It was so frustrating not knowing and not being able to do anything.
She stood up and went to the fridge and pulled out a dinner sachet.
It didn’t look appetising. She wanted real food. But she wasn’t allowed to go to the Station.
She should have gone to the Vids with Amon like he suggested. But trying to sit still and watch a Vid when she knew only a few blocks away Vector had all the Local kids lined up with VTroopers surrounding them, questioning them and shooting someone when they didn’t get the right answers would have been impossible. But doing nothing was even more impossible.
God, she hated being an Elite. She hated having to watch passively while everyone else got to do stuff.
She sat down again and checked her Com. Nothing from Jack. Nothing from her mother. It was like being in a plastic bubble where nobody told her anything.
Jack walked away from the ReEducation Room. That was twenty-four hours of his life he’d never get back. He felt disorientated. He guessed the Abhor was still in his system. How long did that take to flush out?
He’d tried to do what Jacob had told him too. He’d tried to hold on to what he believed in, but the drugs and the flashing images had taken over, and he had no memory of what had been done to him or if it had changed anything.
He examined the corners of his mind. No as far as he could tell, except for an over-whelming tiredness and this scrambled feeling he seemed to be the same person.
Leach came out of his office, and Jack straightened up automatically, he stood at attention and saluted. Maybe a few things had changed. He’d been ReEducated to show a bit more respect for authority.
“At ease, Fraser,” said Leach. “I told you to keep a low profile.”
Jack shrugged. And he had intended to, things just conspired to stop him doing it. Who managed to get three strikes in a week when they’d been on leave for three days of that week?
“Anyway,” said Leach. “You’re not going to be any use to
me for a while, you’ve got twenty-four hours to recover. Use it. You don’t have to stay on Base. But don’t do anything stupid.”
“Thank you, Sir,” said Jack. He’d known he’d be on light duties for the next day, but he didn’t realise they’d be that light. There was an upside to ReEducation.
Maybe he’d go see Ela.
No, he was pretty sure that came under stupid. He’d check Status and see if she’d left any messages for him.
Then he might sleep. Tomorrow he’d decide how he’d spend the day.
He got back to his room, and Jeron was there. Of course. It was evening.
‘’Do they feed you in ‘the room’?” asked Jeron.
“No idea,” said Jack. He flopped down on his bed and picked up his Com. “Don’t remember a bloody thing about what they did to me.” He checked for messages.
“The Mess will still be serving if you want to get something,” said Jeron.
“No, I’ll give it a miss.” No Txts, but a message from Ela on Status. “Might just have a shower. I’ve been in these clothes for a good twenty-four hours now.” He tried to think how to answer the message. Did Vector monitor the Status pages of their troopers? Would he be monitored more closely now that he had been before? Would it even be safe to send messages to Jacob? The flash and gone system Jacob used relied on a low level of monitoring to be really safe.
He messaged back an Emoji. A smiley face. Nobody could read anything into that.
“I’m headed for the Rec,” said Jeron. “Coming?”
Jack shook his head. “No, I’ll hit the sack.”
“I’m really sorry, Jack.”
“Not your fault. But I might have a serious word to Levi.”
“Yeah,” said Jeron. “I can understand that.”
Jack yawned and put his Com on the Locker. “There is a positive to this though.”
“What’s that?” Jeron turned and leaned on the doorframe.
“I’ve got twenty-four hours to recover. All day tomorrow doing anything I want; I’m even allowed to leave the Base.”
“Nice,” said Jeron. “Are you planning on using it to go see Nobody?”
“How stupid do you think I am?”
“Plenty stupid,” said Jeron and pushed himself off the architrave. “I’ll try not to wake you when I come in.”
Curly spent all night trolling through the Administration records and all their transmissions. There had to be something they could do or some information that would be helpful. Another six kids had been shot last night. They hadn’t assembled yet the next lot yet, but he suspected there’d be another six shot this morning.
Those kids must be so frightened. But so far it didn’t look like anyone had cracked. He hadn’t picked up anything in the messages or on the airway. Nothing in transcripts and he’d had Intercepts on everything. So far, the Station and the kids hiding in here with them were safe. Then he saw something.
“Nick, come and look at this.”
“What?” Nick came over and looked at the Screen Curly was sitting at.
“An order from up high.”
Nick read through the brief directive. He straightened up looking puzzled. “What does that mean?”
“I’m not sure,” said Curly and read through it again. “An order to round up all Naturals living in the City.”
“Yeah, it makes no sense. They’ve got all the Naturals already locked up at the University. Except for us. And do they even know about us?”
“No, I don’t think that’s what this is all about. It’s Elite Naturals.”
“There aren’t any Elite Naturals. That’s the whole point of the Quarantine. Elite can’t have kids, so there are no Elite Naturals.”
“That’s not what this says.” Curly flicked through a couple more screens. “See apparently there’s a Register somewhere listing any Elite Natural in the City.”
“Have you found the Register?”
“Not yet, it seems to be buried. I’ll keep looking.”
Nick sat on the chair beside Curly. “Do you remember when Vincent was Interrogating us?” He scratched the scar on his cheek.
“A bit difficult to forget.” Curly scrolled through endless lists, looking for the Register.
Nick nodded. “Do you remember what he kept asking?”
“Something about an OffGrid girl.”
Nick nodded again. “Yeah. An OffGrid girl, An Elite who was OffGrid. It didn’t make sense at the time. Why would an Elite go OffGrid? They have it made.”
He stood up and hands on hips watched Curly flick through the screens. “Maybe the girl he was asking about was a Natural. Jacob says the effects of Genus6 can be reversed. Maybe it has happened a few times. Maybe there are a few Elite Naturals around. Humicrib wouldn’t want that to get out. It might ruin the baby-selling business.”
‘It’s a theory,” said Curly. He scrolled through a few more lists and then suddenly stopped. “Got you,” he said. He pulled the list up onto the screen.
“A list of Elite Naturals, who would have thought?”
“There aren’t many,” said Nick studying it.
“No, but look who one of them is,” said Curly.
“Fuck,” said Nick. “Do we warn her?”
“No, it looks like we’ve got a couple of hours before it happens, we’ll let Jacob know. He can decide how to get her out. It’s not the sort of message we want in the ether. We can’t just send her a Txt.”
When Jack first emerged from The Room, the noise in the Mess would have been too much to take, but this morning it didn’t seem to bad. No worse than usual anyway. He must be recovering.
Jack reached across Jeron to get some toast.
Levi had been pretty quiet right through breakfast. In the end, he looked up. “I’m really sorry, Jack,” he said.
“You should be,” said Jack. “But you did get me a day of freedom while you lot have to work.”
“All day?”
“Yep, twenty-four hours, Leach said. I just wasted eight of them sleeping. That leaves me sixteen to do whatever I want to.”
“Never heard of that before,” said Gregor.
“Maybe they need their snipers alert,” said Dante. “Different rules for us.”
“Yeah, maybe,” said Jack. Or maybe Leach just felt sorry for him. He knew one of the strikes had been a dud.
After breakfast, he went back to his room. He had a whole day to fill in. Usually the day was timetabled in with training and briefings, and if there was a bit of spare time, there was always the rest of the squad around.
He’d go for a run and see if that cleared his head a bit and then plan. Couldn’t squander a chance like this.
Then his Com flashed. He checked it. Bloody Jacob. He wanted him to make contact. Jack checked the time. He had about fifteen minutes to hit the window when Jacob monitored for messages in the morning. He’d make it.
Jack leaned against the tree and read Jacobs message again. The Administration knew Ela was a Natural. Naturals were going to be rounded up. Get her out of the City now, said the message. Then it disappeared, never to see the light of day again.
He looked around to check whether he was about to be arrested again. Nobody came through the trees, no troopers with lasers at the ready. He was safe.
But how the hell was he supposed to get Ela out of the City?
He put his Com back in his pocket and walked to the edge of the trees and then started to jog. He’d shower, change, catch the MonoRail into the City and start there. Maybe he could use Status to arrange somewhere to meet her. Maybe she would have some sort of escape route sorted. Jacob must have known this was going to happen someday.
He headed back to the Barracks, and an hour later emerged from the lift underneath the Monorail platform in the centre of the City. He checked his Com. Ela still hadn’t responded to the message on Status.
Well, she had to be at home, at the Medical School, or at Humicrib. He’d find her.<
br />
Chapter 17
JACK WAITED OUTSIDE the door of Ela’s mother’s apartment. Twenty storeys up and it looked like it might be huge and have a view. Ela’s mum was a respected doctor, so he guessed she had money.
He checked his Com again. No message from Ela still. Maybe she was busy. Maybe he was too late, and she’d already been picked up.
But that didn’t seem likely. Jacob’s message said that the Administration would round up the Naturals if there was a threat to Humicrib, and everything in the City had seemed normal. The Elite were going about their business, and nobody had been showing any signs of anything being wrong.
He shoved his hands in his pockets. He couldn’t hear any sounds from inside. If no one answered the door in the next few minutes, his next stop was the Medical School. He guessed flashing his ID and the fake warrant on his Com would get him into there too. So far nobody had questioned why he was on his own so maybe just being in the uniform stopped any questions.
He was just about to go back to the lift and try plan B, when he heard movement in the apartment. Finally.
He touched the intercom screen to let whoever was in there know it was him outside the door.
The screen lit up. “Jack?” Ela’s mother’s voice asked.
He nodded. “I came to see Ela.”
There was a long pause, and then he heard the slide of the locking mechanism, and the door opened.
“Ela’s at school.” Dr Hennessey looked exactly the way she had a year ago when she arrived at Jacob’s farm to take Ela home. Tall, slim, blonde, beautiful, and immaculately dressed, with her hair piled on top of her head and makeup on. Not crazy makeup like the Elite girls wore, just enough to look dressed up.
“I need to speak to her.” He couldn’t decide whether to tell her why Jacob had sent him here or not. Ela’s mother knew Ela was a Natural better than anyone else, so she’d know how important it was that the Administration didn’t get her. But which side was she on?