by Meg Buchanan
He looked at Ela. “Take Jeron and Levi to the Vault. I’ll fix this and then follow you.”
Ela looked at the two squad members suspiciously. “Are you sure we can trust them?”
He studied his two friends and then nodded. “We can trust them. They’ve got as much to lose as we have now. Vector doesn’t like their troops hijacking Hovers and taking off.
“Thanks for pointing that out,” said Levi.
“You’re welcome.” Jack pulled wire and some jointers out from under the seat where the pliers had been and once the three bikes and four-wheeler were through, he started fixing the wire. He didn’t care if the stock got through into the bush, but he didn’t need to leave any clues for Vector about where they’d gone.
He looked over at Ela. “Do you think the three of you will be able to get the bikes into the Vault.
Ela nodded. “We’ll find a way. You’ll hurry won’t you.”
“Yeah, I’ll be right behind you.”
Ela led the way, pushing her bike through the thick scrub. The other two followed. Jack finished the fence and looked back at the fire in the distance and then he saw the sky change. Above the fire, the stars were blanked out and a line of pitch black was slowly coming towards him. It had to be every StealthHover in the country moving across the sky cloaked to blank out the stars like that.
It wasn’t just Jacob’s place being targeted. This was huge. This was enough firepower and troops to take out everything, everywhere.
He packed the tools away, started the four-wheeler and carefully followed the path Ela, Levi and Jeron had taken.
Whenever they all emerged from the Vault, there might be nothing left of the country they knew.
As he came into the clearing, the line of black covering the stars was getting closer. He hadn’t been able to see it while he was under the canopy, but now looking back he could see its advance.
The door to the Vault was still open when he got there. Ela and the other two had managed to get the three bikes down into the foyer somehow.
Jeron looked up at where he was looking. “Fuck.”
“Yep,” said Jack. “Can you help me get this down there too.”
“I can’t see how,” said Jeron.
“We don’t have time anyway.” Ela was watching the line of black as it advanced. “We need to get inside.”
The four-wheeler was handy transport. There must be something they could do with it. No, it would have to take its chances. He backed it up, so it was hidden in the trees. The canopy was thick. The track was hard to find. Nobody would come across it. They’d deal with it tomorrow. It made no sense to be hanging around outside in the open like this.
Ela followed Jack and his two friends down into the Vault and hit the switch that would make the boulder swing back into place.
Once she’d heard the final groan of the rock settling, she hit the pad and turned on the lights.
Jeron looked around. “It’s like being in a tomb.”
She guessed it was. The solid rock that formed the ceiling, the walls carved out of stone and the heavy steel door that sealed the foyer from the body of the Vault. She was used to it now, but the first time she came here she’d been frightened enough to make sure she memorised the code that would open the doors so she knew she could get out if she had to.
“It’ll be your tomb if Jack’s wrong and you can’t be trusted,” she said as she keyed in the number to open the door to the storage Vault.
She trusted Jack, but these two friends of his were not only Elite, but VTroopers. Well, Jack was a VTrooper and she was Elite so maybe that didn’t mean a thing. Still, she’d watch them, and if they put a foot wrong, they were history.
Chapter 23
THE DOOR SLID OPEN with a whisper, and the seed storage bays stretched out in front of them.
“Welcome to the Vault,” Jack said and followed Jeron, Levi and Ela into the first room.
“What is it?” Jeron sounded puzzled.
“A seed repository. My dad and Ela’s designed it and had it built. We can survive here for a couple of weeks if we need to. There’s an apartment out the back and with beds and emergency supplies.”
“You think we’re going to be here a couple of weeks?” Levi was still looking around.
Jack shrugged. “I’ve got no idea. Pretty much depends on what’s going on outside.”
“They were StealthHovers weren’t they?” asked Ela.
Jack nodded. “Yeah, Mambas. And there had to be hundreds of them to cover the sky like that. I don’t know where they would have come from, I’ve never seen that sort of numbers at the Base.”
“What the hell is going on?” asked Levi. “I came with you because I owe you Jack. But I think my life has just tipped upside down.”
Jack nodded. “You’ve changed sides. There’s no going back from this.” He stuck his hand out to shake Levi’s. “Welcome to the Resistance.”
Levi kept his hand firmly by his side. “Resistance? That’s not comforting, Fraser. Where’s the old man? Jacob?”
He drew in a deep breath. He was still pretty sure Jacob wouldn’t have had time to get away. A little bit of him hoped that in the next hour the door at the entrance would slide open and Jacob would be there, but he was almost certain that wasn’t going to happen.
As for his mother and Fitzgerald. He had his doubts about a Safehouse. He thought maybe they’d decided to be decoys so Jacob would have time to get the message out.
“Jacob said he’d get in his ute and come here when he was sure the Vid had got through.” And now after those StealthHovers that blacked out the sky. Would anyone outside the city be alive when they left the Vault? Because it really looked like an invasion.
“And you came without him?” Ela asked, an accusation in her voice.
Jack nodded. “He wanted me to make sure you were safe. You’re still the proof and the answer to the world’s problems.” The thought of being alone with Ela horrified him. It was good Jeron and Levi had come with him.
Ela sat heavily on a small step ladder. “Not that again. I’m sick of hearing it.” she looked up at Jack. “You left Jacob to die,” she accused.
“He wouldn’t come,” said Jack. “There was nothing I could do.”
“You should have made him come.” Ela could hear the tears in her own voice. She expected Jack to come and put his arms around her. That’s what he always did when he knew she was upset, but this time he stayed standing there watching her.
“Do you really think he got away?” But she knew Jacob well enough to know there would have been no way to persuade him to leave before he’d done what he set out to do.
Jack shook his head. “I don’t think so. I saw the first wave of Hovers about five minutes after I left. The house went up in flames almost immediately. I don’t think he had time. I’m really sorry Ela.”
And still he stayed away from her. He’d just told her Jacob was probably dead, and he didn’t even try to comfort her.
Jack leaned against one of the seed racks. “If Jacob wasn’t killed in the blast, I hope like hell he died before they got to him.”
Ela studied him. Something was wrong. Jack wasn’t cold and heartless. But he’d said that in a matter of fact way.
Levi nodded at Ela. “Why’s she the answer to the world’s problems?”
“I’m a Natural,” said Ela.
“But you’re Elite,” said Levi.
“And don’t say, ‘There hasn’t been a Natural born to an Elite in fifty years’,” said Ela. “That’s all I ever hear.”
“And it’s not true,” said Jeron. “I am too. How did you guess, Jack?”
“You look like your mum, and your parents were in South America when you were born.”
“What’s South America got to do with it?” asked Levi.
She watched as Jack stretched. “Come I’ll show you the sleeping quarters, and then I’ll fill you in on what’s going on.”
He was right, it was time they got mov
ing and started planning what they were going to do next. Standing around in the first bay talking wasn’t getting anything done.
She watched as Jack moved to the door at the end of the bay and keyed in the code.
Ela watched Jeron eat a spoonful of whatever it was he’d chosen to eat. They’d found food in the freezers and heated up a meal each. It looked like Elite food, but not being able to get pregnant was probably a good thing.
“But why?” asked Jeron. “Why wouldn’t the Administration want anyone to know the infertility can be cured?”
Ela put her smoothie sachet onto her plate. She wasn’t that hungry after all. “Money,” she said. Transgene own Genus6 and Humicrib. They own Vector and have the contract to enforce the Quarantine. They make money selling the Genus6 seed, they make money making babies and selling them to the world, and they’re paid by the United Nations to enforce the Quarantine. They stand to lose trillions if there’s no need for Genus6, the Quarantine or Humicrib. And it’s not just here. There are small areas all around the world that are Quarantined. Like where you came from.”
“Why doesn’t anyone else know about this?” asked Levi.
Jack shrugged. “They get rid of anyone who finds out.”
Ela stood up and put her sachet in the WasteErator. She saw the flash as it dealt to the sachet. “They killed my dad when he tried to tell people, they killed the scientist who discovered what was causing the problem. Everyone who knows, dies.”
“Comforting again,” said Levi. “Now we know.” He turned to Jeron. “When did you find out about being a Natural?”
“A couple of years ago. I was starting to kick against Mum and Dad’s rules, so they had to tell me the rules were to keep me safe and why. They thought the best place for me to hide was in Vector, then I’d be untouchable.”
“Jesus,” said Levi. “I’m the only normal one here.”
“What’s normal?” Jack got up and collected up the packaging and ditched it. “Now we need to make a plan.”
“To do what?” asked Ela. “We don’t know what’s happening.”
Jack nodded and grinned. “Maybe that’s the first bit of the plan. Find out what the hell is going on.”
Ela caught the grin. That looked more like Jack. He acted normally when they were all talking, it was only with her he seemed stiff and awkward. “We should go to the Coms room and see if we can pick up anything. Jacob said Curly put good shields on the computer there. We should be able to sync our Coms with it and Connect with someone.
“Nick or Curly?” asked Jack.
Ela nodded. “They’re probably the ones in the best position to know. If they’re still alive. If Vector hasn’t learned about the Station.”
“Station?” asked Levi.
“None of your business,” Ela said to him. “You’re still Vector as far as I’m concerned.” Levi asked too many questions.
“Station?” asked Jack.
Then she realised Jack didn’t know anything about the Cell in the City either.
“Our Base in the City,” she said. “Come on, let’s see what we can find out.”
The setup in the Coms Room looked the same as the one in the Station, multiple VidScreens on the wall and a control panel. Probably because Curly had designed them both. There was a desk in the middle of the room as well.
“Do you know how to operate this?” Jack asked her.
Ela nodded and touched the centre screen. “What do you want to do first?” she asked. An array of feeds from hundreds of DroneCams came up.
“What can it do?” asked Jack.
“Intercept the feeds from the Administrations SpyCams or Drones.” She expected him to stand close and lean over her shoulder to see what was on the screens and turned around to see why and he was standing back a bit. “Sometimes if we’re lucky, we can hack into the Cam in a StealthHover.”
He leaned on the edge of the desk in the middle of the room and folded his arms. “Can you make it do that?”
Ela bit her lip and nodded. “I can try. But what if we contact Nick first? He’ll have been monitoring the feeds all night. He’ll already know what’s going on.”
“Okay,” said Jack.
But when she touched the Icon on the array to Connect with Nick and nothing happened, no shields, no Connect nothing. Then she realised something else, nothing in any of the feeds was moving.
Ela studied the Screen, then turned back and looked at Jack. “The Connect isn’t working, and they’re not live feeds.”
Jack nodded. “Look at the time signatures. They all stopped recording about ten minutes ago.”
“What’s happened?” murmured Ela. “Has everything gone?”
“What’s going on out there?” Nick asked, dreading the answer. Curly had sent Tig to get him, and now he was back in the Control room. He’d given in and decided to get some sleep when Jacob gave up on the broadcast.
“Don’t know,” said Curly.
“Did Jacob make the broadcast after all?” Nick asked. That was why he thought Curly had sent Tig to get him. That something had worked.
Curly shook his head. “We couldn’t get through the shields. It kept bouncing back and then Jacob wasn’t there anymore.” He went back to studying the Screen he was sitting at, the one that usually showed the feeds from the DroneCams that patrolled the Hinterland.
“We’re getting nothing from the Hinterland. Not a single SpyCam or DroneCam is operational. Or if they are, we can’t access them.”
Nick studied the Screen too, usually even at night there was movement, heat signatures from cattle, some vehicles, house lights, but this time nothing. Just blank screens.
The City Cams looked the way they always did, a City more or less sleeping, but some movement. Life in the City must be carrying on as normal, but the Array showed nothing from beyond the Barrier.
“What do the Administration or Vector have to say about it?” Nick asked.
Curly shook his head again. “Can’t get into anything. They’ve shut down or are shielding every frequency they use. There’s no way to find out what’s happening.”
Jack watched Ela stand up and move away from the Screen.
“Do you think we should go outside and try to find out what’s going on? she asked.
He rubbed the side of his neck and thought about that. It would be as dark as hell out there. They didn’t have night vision visors or goggles. What would they be able to see?
It had been an army of Hovers he saw. He couldn’t even say he saw them fly past because when he came down into the Vault, the sky was still just a blanket of dark.
He shook his head. “No, we should stay here, get a few hours’ sleep and in the morning, we’ll make a plan.”
“How can we plan if we don’t know what’s going on?” asked Levi.
Jack shrugged. “In the morning, we’ll try and find out what’s going on and then make a plan.”
“We need to find Jacob’s message.” Ela started opening boxes and looking in files.
“Wouldn’t it be saved to the Cloud?” asked Jeron. He hadn’t said much since they stepped into the Vault.
“No, Jacob didn’t believe in the Cloud.” Ela took opened a tin and looked inside. “Drinking chocolate,” she said in disgust and put the lid back on. “Jacob would have copied it onto a memory stick and hidden it somewhere.”
Jack watched Ela’s search getting more and more frantic. There had to be a more logical way to look for the clue than that. “He’ll have left a clue, so we can find it.”
Ela started leafing through the piles of paper on the desk. “We need to find the clue then.”
But right at that moment, Jack was too tired to bother trying to think the way Jacob would. The Vault was massive. There were a million places Jacob could have hidden a memory stick and he’d hide the clue to it somewhere devious.
“Jack?” said Jeron.
“Yeah?”
Jeron pushed himself off
the doorframe. “If you really think we’ve been invaded, who would have invaded us?” It looked like Jeron hadn’t learned to see the Administration as the enemy yet.
“The Administration is my guess. We’ll just have to hope I’m wrong. Let’s get some sleep. I’ll show you where the bunks are.”
He led Jeron and Levi out of the Coms room and into the sleeping quarters.
“Nothing flash,” he said. Just a couple of narrow bunks, pillows and blankets. But no worse than the Barracks at the Base. “A bathroom through that door.”
“Thanks, Jack,” said Jeron. He seemed to assume Jack wouldn’t be sleeping in this room.
And usually he wouldn’t, he’d be sleeping with Ela. But tonight, the idea didn’t appeal. He’d kept his distance from her since he turned up at Jacobs and she’d looked puzzled.
But being close to her still horrified him. He knew it was the effects of the Re-Education and maybe he should explain that to her.
He found Ela in the living area.
“You need to sleep too, I don’t think tomorrow is going to be an easy day.”
Ela nodded and studied him like she couldn’t figure out what was wrong.
And he found he couldn’t tell her. But she was Elite and so instead of confronting him about what was happening, she reacted to rejection by withdrawing even further.
He felt relief. Because he knew for certain right now, he couldn’t bear sleeping with her. And for over a year, that had been the thing he’d wanted most and the memory of making love to her had kept him sane. Taking that away from him might be the thing he hated Vector for the most.
Chapter 24
JACK WOKE ABRUPTLY and checked his Com for the time. Six a.m. He’d been tired enough that even worrying about Jacob, Fitzgerald and his mother hadn’t kept him awake, and had managed to sleep for a few hours.
He got up, had a shower, put on the compression suit he’d had on yesterday and wandered out to the living area and found Ela already up and dressed.
She smiled at him and came closer. “Good morning.” She touched his arm.