My eyes darted about, reading the complicated scripting. It branched up and outward in structures known only to exist in this language. I muttered to myself as my finger traced the source code, reading, adding, and jumping around. These columns contained the most complicated structures I'd viewed. After a few moments, I highlighted a secondary line branching off from the main code.
"This, is it the allotment coding for each outlying station?" My father nodded. "This is how the system determines how much water is needed at each control point." He nodded again. Understanding dawned like a flame lit anew. "You tricked the algorithm into thinking we need more?"
He smiled. "Better. Keep going."
I went back to the coding, following each line back to its connection to the main control code. Then, I saw it.
"Here." My finger hovered over a key connecting symbol joining one random code line I'd passed over at first. "This is code for another control point." My father raised one eyebrow but remained silent. "But we're the end of the line. Why does this have another control point beyond us?"
He just sat there, not answering. I stared, then looked back at the code. "Oh, brilliant, Father. You tricked the system into thinking there's another control station beyond us that needs more. Not much, as we don't want it to stand out."
"Exactly." His grin split his face open.
"So, what do we do with the extra water?" I asked.
"For now, nothing." He used his fingers to grab a different section of code and pull it to the front. "My calculations show that even with the new water rations, it will take close to a cycle before our storage tanks are back to what they were before the decrease began."
"And what then?" I looked down at him, one eyebrow cocked.
He shrugged. "Either we find some new storage, or we adjust the rate again."
A map of the settlement appeared at a touch of my finger. "New storage won't be easy to hide." I pointed at the four main tanks distributed around the settlement, each branching out from one main line that left the control station. "Those are the largest structures around. If we add another, someone is bound to notice."
The screen went clear. My father's hand lifted from the only button on the desk before him, the control switch.
"That's a problem for another day," he said, standing. "Go. The core won't dim for several hours. You need some light."
I stood, staring at the translucent screen. "Father, what you just did. I’ve never seen such complicated coding." He nodded once. "You've been teaching me the code for years, but I only barely grasp it."
"Don't sell yourself short, my dear," he said, leaning close and placing a hand on my shoulder. "You've got just as much of a knack for this code as me."
I shook my head. "Oh no, not nearly as much as you. It's like you can see where the code is going before it gets there."
"Remember your studies." He grinned at me. "Don't neglect the connecting symbols. Where they go and what they are play a key role."
I stuck my tongue out at his reminder of my weakness in the language. "They don't teach this stuff in school," I pointed out. "Where did you learn how to do that?"
He met my gaze for a moment. His feet shuffled, as he ran his thumb and forefinger through his black and white mustache.
"Let's just say I had a good teacher."
"Out here?" I asked, not bothering to hide my doubt. "Where most people avoid using the network machines when they can?"
It was his turn to rest his gaze on me. "Just because you think we're alone doesn't mean we are." He held up his hand to forestall my response. "Now, go. I need some time to myself."
#
My father never answered that question, and not for lack of effort on my part. I brought it up at every chance. Never where my brothers could hear, just in case he didn't want them to know. Surprising him with it didn't work, nor did dropping it in an otherwise normal conversation. Confronting him failed as well. He would just smile and change the subject.
One day, I managed to corner him. Anger twisted that conversation, as I insisted he stop hiding whatever he kept secret and opined that he didn't trust me. The look he gave me at those words—well, let's just say I never tried that line of reasoning again.
Still, something must have gotten through, because one day, instead of employing his normal evasive tricks, he turned the tables on me.
"You're asking the wrong question, Micaela," he said before slipping away.
From then on, that was his response, one that infuriated me even more. I got so fed up with this answer one day, it drove me out to the desert. I stormed right out of the control station and, without realizing it, found myself out in the open away from the settlement. I pulled my cloak scarf around my head and torso and stared up at the very same rock outcropping I’d come to before. Glancing down, the gully stood below. Curiosity compelled me down out of the ever-present wind. The rock face felt rough under my hand. Near my feet grew the only plants that managed to survive the desert: yucca and small cacti. The crevice extended several hundred meters in different directions, a spider web of stone hallways hidden from sight below the outcropping visible above. Keeping it in view, I made my way inside the crevice to the nearest point below the rock formation. There, it ended in a wall of rock, forming a small circular alcove with a large stone surface jutting up from the middle of the floor.
To this day, I'm not sure what possessed me to do what I did next. Stepping near the stone jutting up from the floor, I unclasped the necklace given to me by my mother on my last birthday before she was taken. I placed the piece of jewelry on the center of the surface, rested my hand on it for a moment, my eyes closed, then turned and walked away. Inside, a small piece of me fell away, like a feather falling from a bird one might see in a zoo. It's not that my spirit felt lighter or happier. It just felt...different. Settled. Maybe a bit more complete.
That feeling ended when I returned to the control station.
#
"Why do I get the feeling another member of your family is about to vanish?" I asked, holding a hand up for Micaela to stop.
"Sensing a theme here?" Her voice took on a sour tone.
I stood up and stretched. "Who is it?"
"Guess."
I yawned, brushing some hair back out of my face. "This is where you really grew up, isn't it?"
She nodded once, very slowly. Her eyes moved away, looking around the room.
"I suppose I already had. It's not like life gave me much of a choice." She looked back at me. "They needed me, so I stepped in."
I looked at her, but my mind wandered to the Queen. Someone else who'd been given no choice.
"I see why you are friends with the Queen."
She smirked a bit. "The Queen has no friends. Just people she tolerates." The smile faded. "What friends she did have left her long ago."
I moved back to my seat.
"The control station?"
#
When the door slid open, I noticed several odd things. The network station stood empty. That was the first thing I found odd. Donovan sat on the floor beyond the chair. That was the second. Maryn was not with him. The third.
"Where's Father?" I asked, the door closing behind me.
Donovan just stared at the screen, not answering.
"Donovan?" I waved from behind the panel. Nothing. "Donovan?"
I moved around the panel to stand next to him. He just sat there, eyes locked on something. Following his gaze led me to a small flashing icon on the screen. I touched it with my finger and my father's face appeared, dominating the room.
"If you're looking at this, someone has discovered us. Micaela, forget your question. Forget the right question. Forget about all of it. Look after your brothers. They need you, now more than ever. Take care of each other. I hope to return, but I doubt I will and I'm sorry for that. I love you all."
His face vanished from the panel, which returned to the blinking icon. We waited in
silence. After several moments, my brother managed one word.
"Seekers."
Chapter 6 - Too Clever
I must preface the next part of the story with this: usually, I listened to my father. This time, however, I did not. I let it lie for a few days, more out of concern for my brothers than anything else. Donovan, after recovering from his initial shock, took to being very angry. Maryn became distraught and nearly unmanageable. Trips out into the desert with Donovan seemed to be the only thing that would calm him.
Walks only sated Donovan’s anger so much. Once back and with Maryn tucked away in his room, he would go down on the work station and begin searching. At first, I left him to it, however after several days of him doing this, I began to grow suspicious of what he was doing. When I asked him, Donovan would mutter to himself and walk away. If I tried to peek at what he was doing, he would turn it off, changing to some mundane task we both knew he wasn’t the slight bit interested in. Trying to find my way to what he was doing on the terminal proved frustrating. He may not have always enjoyed working on what my father had trained us to do, but Donovan had learned well enough to hide his work.
After several days of growing frustration, I cornered Donovan before he could escape with Maryn. Our brother slipped out the door, oblivious he was alone.
“What are you doing, Don?” I asked.
“Nothing!” he retorted and tried to go around me.
I put a hand on his chest. “Donovan, please. I just want to know what it is.”
For an instant, he made to push past me. I held my ground, though, and he stopped. His jaw tightened and he breathed hard through his nose. After another few moments, his body relaxed and he leaned away from my hand, which I let drop.
“I’m looking for them,” he whispered.
“Who?” I asked, frowning.
“Who do you think?” he barked, glaring at me.
I looked back at the station. “Father?”
“And Mother,” he added. “And Jyen.”
His voice lowered as he said the last name. I felt my heart skip and my face go numb.
“Donovan, she’s gone,” I whispered.
“And who told us that?” he asked, looking up at me. “Who took them away from us?”
“The Seekers, but that doesn’t mean they lied,” I said, knowing I didn’t believe the words myself.
The glare returned as he puffed up his chest.
“Well,” he state, “until proven wrong, I’m not trusting the word of a Seeker.”
After that, he stormed out. I didn’t notice him on the station that evening, but I knew he would return to it. Once he got something in his mind, he didn’t let go of it. I had other more pressing things to worry about, but somehow I knew his search was going to come back to haunt me.
We also faced the predicament of whether we should stay in the control station. Donovan thought it would be best if we moved back to our house, an idea Maryn agreed with wholeheartedly. I was less sure. We agreed we couldn't continue living in the station, but I argued the house seemed even less secure. We remained at an impasse on this point for several nights before Maryn, of all people, stumbled on the solution.
We sat around the table, munching on a light meal. Maryn sat chattering about his day and the grand adventures he and his brother had gone on. I listened, sort of, preoccupied with the problem at hand, when something he said caught my attention.
"Wait, you went where?" I asked, interrupting his chattering.
"Which part?" He screwed his face in thought, trying to remember his words.
I searched my memory for his words. "Just before you battled the giant lizard dragon."
"We assaulted a guard tower protecting a secret tome," he said, grinning. "Donovan stunned the wizard, and I snuck the old book out the back door."
"Tower?" My eyes shifted to Donovan.
He furrowed his brow. "I think we were near one of the outlying water stations."
Maryn shook his head. "No, we were right under the giant pipe, remember? The lizard dragon used it to hide behind when he sprouted wings and took off."
"So, a relay station?" I looked between them, both nodding in answer. "And you got inside?"
Donovan shifted, spooning some pea soup into his mouth. Maryn grinned.
"Yep, Dono used all those pretty drawings you've been working on to make the panel slide right open," the youngest boasted, pointing at his older brother.
"You weren't supposed to tell her that part."
"I don't care how you got in. Just tell me what's inside and if anyone saw you." The two shared a look. "Now, out with it."
"It looks like this place," Donovan said, looking around the facility. "Control level, second floor living space, only two rooms above that instead of three and they're on separate floors." He shrugged, spooning some more soup into his mouth before adding, "It's taller than this one. So it has two floors more than this station."
Maryn nodded, his eyes big and a smile splitting his face. "We climbed all the way to the top floor. That's where the wizard hid the tome. While Dono fought him, I stole the book so we could get out of there."
I arched one eyebrow at Donovan, a smile tickling at the corners of my mouth. He hunched over and concentrated on his almost empty bowl.
"Can you remember which one you were at?" I asked.
Donovan nodded, looking up from his bowl. "You're not thinking of moving there, are you?"
I shrugged. "It's a possibility."
"That's pretty isolated," he countered, pointing a spoon at me. "If they came back, you'd be setting us out pretty far from any help."
"What help do you expect to get from these people?" I asked, pointing in the general direction of the settlement. "They move out of the way whenever the Seekers come."
Donovan opened his mouth to respond, then snapped it shut. The spoon remained pointed at me. "The settlement will see us," he said, dropping the spoon in his bowl.
I smiled. "So we make ourselves invisible."
#
Pulling off that stunt proved far more simple than it sounded. The people only took notice if something changed. When we moved to the control station, people were bound to notice because everyone notices what goes on around water stations, for good reason. Moving back out of the facility would get attention. We just needed to make it look like we were moving somewhere different.
We concocted our ingenious plan. Each day, Donovan and Maryn would continue their excursions into the desert. Every time they went out, they snuck a few supplies each with them. At some point during their day, they would stop by the relay station and stash our supplies in the upper chambers. Meanwhile, I returned to our house with obvious bundles designed to look like I carried more on the way to the house than on the return trip. In truth, unfolded blankets filled my pack, making it appear overstuffed. At the house, I refolded the blankets to be smaller and put some supplies and things from the house in to sneak back to the control station and out to the relay tower. While at the house, I made a point of going for some supplies in the settlement, taking them back to the house. Those, too, made their concealed trip to the relay station.
This ploy took a lot of time to pull off. All that while, I followed my father's warning. The problem we'd discovered remained untouched. At least, on the computers it did. My mind rarely focused on anything else beyond our smuggling operation. The same was true for Donovan and his search. We were so busy smuggling our stuff away, I never saw him on the terminal in the water station. That didn’t mean he wasn’t busy out at our soon-to-be new home doing the same, but I couldn’t control that. I just had to hope he was smart enough to not poke around in places he might get caught.
Several days later, Donovan, Maryn and I gathered around the oval table for one last meal in the control station. Once done, we left the tower and returned to the house. Core-set was still an hour or so off, and the citizens could not help but notice us. We made our way, loaded d
own with bedding and a few prized possessions, back to our home.
That night, we kept the windows closed and sealed against prying eyes. Just past core-set, we dimmed the lights and gathered in an upstairs room to watch the settlement. Here and there, lights in windows began to go out. Maryn curled up at my side, head on my lap. He soon fell asleep as my hand stroked his hair. Donovan stood leaning against a wall, arms crossed, his forehead creased as his eyebrows furrowed.
"I'd ask what you're thinking, but I could probably guess," I whispered, running a finger over Maryn's forehead.
Donovan didn't answer, but looked down at our brother before returning his gaze to the window. "You know I think this is your fault." I looked up and held his gaze, staying silent. "Well, yours and Father's."
"Which part?"
"Why we're forced to abandon another home." He nodded out the window. "Why we're standing here waiting for them to go to sleep. This predicament."
"How is it my fault?"
He turned his head back to me, eyes on mine. His jaw clenched and, after a moment, he looked away.
"You two just had to go meddling with things you didn't understand," he whispered.
“You’re going to lecture me about meddling?” I retorted.
“The point is you were digging around with something you knew they had to be watching,” he stated, waving a hand at me. "Just had to keep digging for an answer you didn't need."
"The problem we found is a lot more important than you think." I nodded out the window. "To all of them, too. Not that they know that, of course."
"And didn't you think about what might happen if someone noticed? Or hadn’t you had enough of Seekers meddling in our lives?"
"Father was so secretive about it," I muttered, shifting to rest my back against the window frame and stretch my legs out across the window seat, Maryn sound asleep on my lap. "Is it that far of a stretch to assume he'd taken care to hide what he was doing?"
"Clearly, he didn't."
I glared at Donovan. "You could have said something to him, instead of taking it out on me. Did you bother bringing up your little theory to him?"
Rise: Tears (Future Worlds Book 1) Page 5