“I don’t know. I think you should risk it. After all, you owe me. I saved your life in that forest by discovering Munitus with my amazing tree climbing skills!” Hadwin says, becoming his usual animated self again.
“Hey, I remember having to haul you across the forest and through the tunnels,” I counter.
We talk for a bit longer, but the serious Hadwin has retreated. After a while, Hadwin reminds me he cannot allow his loyal minions to roam free for too long. I take the hint and leave while he checks on their progress in the production rooms.
My side trip took longer than expected, leaving me no time to search for any boxes today. Instead, I head back up to the Leadership level to see Talia. Thinking about Hadwin’s situation with Sayda makes me appreciate what I have with Talia even more. When entering the main corridor on the upper level, Cyrina, Talia’s close friend and advisor, spots me. Her hand rests on her hip as she shoots me a sideways stare.
“There you are! I’ve been looking for you everywhere.” She extends her hand to give me something. “You left your communicator in Talia’s office again.”
“Oh yeah.” I retrieve the device from her. Keeping this thing on me is not high on my priority list, especially since its main use seems to be calling me back to whatever urgent meeting pops up during the day. Since this communicator’s signal runs through the general system, nothing else of substance is ever spoken through it in case Caelum decides to monitor our conversations.
“Well, you’re just in time anyway,” Cyrina says with a shrug.
“Awesome,” I mutter while following her into the already full meeting room.
Talia nods to me as I sit down. To my surprise, Tailyn sits in the front row, just a few spaces down from me. Are we already meeting about the potential Pellagra cure? I did not expect that meeting to take place so quickly. When the hum of conversations in the room ceases, Talia starts the meeting.
“I know how anxious we all are to move forward with liberating ourselves, and in line with that, we are making progress. Tailyn thinks she may have found a way around the poison we have become dependent upon.” Talia motions our lead researcher to get up.
Tailyn steps to the front podium and explains to the council what she has already told me. A nervous excitement fills the room with her words. They all know if this works out, it would be one of the biggest steps forward we have made yet.
“When do we start testing?” Janae asks from the back of the room. Ever since the disaster around the Detention Center trials she has become much more outspoken and unfortunately, very impatient.
“We can start now if Leadership approves it. We have a small group ready for the initial trial,” Tailyn says.
“How do we know we can even trust you? After all, everyone knows what happened last time we trusted one of your family members. For all we know, you could be trying to poison us,” Janae says, referring to Wakil’s betrayal.
“One thing has nothing to do with the other,” I answer, standing up to defend Tailyn. “If you’re going to accuse someone, base it on their own actions. It’s not like she let a conspirator like Ardal go free into the general population.”
Janae’s thin glasses do nothing to conceal the redness filling her cheeks at my admonishment. She adjusts her short, blonde hair while sitting back down. Despite knowing Cale was really the one who manipulated the trial, she is still ashamed of letting it happen. Bringing this up in front of the entire group may have been harsh, but I have grown tired of the petty squabbling that happens far too often in these meetings.
“That’s enough,” Talia says sternly. “Please take out your Codens and enter your vote. Yes to continue with the trials, no if you feel more testing is needed.”
Even with the concerns expressed by Janae, the vote goes overwhelmingly in favor of proceeding. Apparently, the main question on everyone’s mind is how long before we can distribute the cure to the rest of Securus.
“If there are no other concerns, we can end the meeting,” Talia says.
“There’s one other issue we need to discuss,” Janae says, standing back up. “We need to keep moving forward in every way possible, and that means contacting Munitus.”
“That’s on the agenda, but Kagen needs some time to recover from the last trip before we send him out on another,” Talia replies.
“Why does he even have to go? He’s not the only one in this colony capable of leading a surface mission. I appreciate what you and Kagen have done for us, but we can’t all be expected to put everything on hold while waiting for him,” Janae adds.
I stand to answer her, intentionally facing toward the rest of the council, and away from her. “So far, we have only made a single contact in Munitus. Radek and I are the only people from Securus he has ever met. As we can all understand, he had a difficult time processing the truth. Finding out they were not the only survivors and that The Agent is inactive goes against everything he knows. During our conversation, I warned him there are sects in Leadership actively plotting against us. With that in mind, imagine how he may react if completely new faces were to show up for the second meeting. If it was me, I would suspect a trap and not cooperate at all.”
The majority of the council nods their heads when hearing my explanation. They know I am right, and so does Janae.
“Okay, then when can you go?” Janae says.
With Cale’s dissenting voice silenced by the Controller, I thought our council would become more unified, but in a way we have only exchanged one problem for another. While the vast majority still supports Talia, some of them are becoming quite impatient. We no longer have a group pushing for transparency with Caelum, just one that has become too overeager to free ourselves immediately. Much to my surprise, Janae is becoming one of that group’s leaders.
“Kagen will go when I clear it, not a second sooner,” Talia snaps.
The sharp tone in her voice quiets Janae. Even though she is impatient, Janae knows when to hold back. With that, the meeting ends and everyone disperses. After a few minutes, Talia and I are left alone in the room. She crosses the room to sit next to me.
“I won’t let them rush you into danger just because they’re impatient,” she says. “But it wouldn’t hurt for you to be a little more diplomatic.”
“I know. The bickering just gets to me sometimes. It’s so easy for them to demand action when they’re not the ones in danger.” I reach out to hold her hands in mine. “I don’t know how you manage to keep everyone from tearing each other apart.”
“It’s not easy, that’s for sure,” Talia says with an uneasy laugh. She puts her hand on my cheek and looks me in the eye. “It helps to have your support.”
I lean forward to rest my forehead on hers. “You don’t have to worry about me though. I can go in a day or two, after my hands heal up a bit more.”
She is not encouraged by my reply, and I know why. Talia does not like the idea of me leading another expedition on surface. This last trip was my best, and even then I ended up in the infirmary. Despite her worry, we both know it needs to happen. Even if we are able to escape our subjugation to Caelum, we would always regret it if we did not at least try to help the people of Munitus.
*
The next morning I head down to breakfast with my family. On the way, I am greeted with smiles and curious looks. The attention is much different than the scrutinizing stares that have followed me lately. Most of the people here are even acting like they forgot what happened when we were leaving the breakfast hall yesterday. In a way I understand their frustration from being in the dark most of the time, but it is difficult not to be affected by the fickle nature of their behavior. The change today comes from the news Talia sent out last night. Even though we would have preferred to delay the announcement until we were sure Caelum did not know of the location of the past settlement, because of the recent decline in moral, Talia had messengers spread the word that we may have found a viable settlement site. She felt the chance of giving them hope and buyi
ng their patience with it was a necessary risk.
I pass through the food dispersal area, carrying my food with me toward Arluin and my mother. Today, we are given a mixture of natural food harvested from The Caves and our surface garden. Conspicuously absent are any of the artificial nutrient mixes. Hopefully, this will be a more common occurrence very soon. Once Arluin sees me coming, his eyes follow me the rest of the way. As I get closer, the tilt in his brow concerns me. Instead of the usual prying curiosity he employs to get information from me, he appears bothered. With the positive atmosphere in the hall, his concern is an unexpected development. Even more worrisome, he has not even touched his meal yet. The naturally grown food should have nearly been gone by now.
“Good morning,” I say while sitting down across from my family.
“Are you feeling better today?” my mother asks, watching me carefully. She has not forgotten what happened yesterday and is reminding me of that.
“Yeah, I’m okay,” I answer before turning to Arluin. “What’s on your mind lil’ bro?”
“A lot,” he says with one eyebrow raised.
“You two can talk after breakfast,” our mother interrupts.
This is getting weird. Not only is Arluin restraining himself, our mother already knows why. This is not at all what I expected today. The mystery of their behavior stirs my curiosity. We eat our food in relative silence. The whole time I watch them both, looking for any clue to the secret they hold. After a while of seeing me struggle to decipher this conundrum, Arluin cracks a small smile. That is more like the brother I know. He finds it entertaining for me to be the person kept in the dark for once. After finishing our food, we head toward the exit. Thankfully, no snide remarks follow me out the door this time. Instead, I sense the renewed purpose building within our people.
“So, now do I get to find out what’s going on,” I ask them both as we walk down the hallway toward the stairs.
“Soon,” Arluin says with a smug smile. Seeing how close I am to running out of patience, he adds, “Trust me, it’ll be worth it.”
My mother goes down the stairs while I follow Arluin to the Learning Center. Since we arrive before the classes have begun, the main hallway is filled with children of all ages along with their boisterous laughter. Arluin and I make our way through the crowd. As we do, the conversations and laughter cease. I feel their collective gaze following us. The voices of the youngest children restart, except this time they are all in a whisper.
“Don’t let that go to your head,” Arluin tells me as we near his classroom. “I don’t hear much from the teenagers, but the younger kids have wild imaginations. You should hear some of the stories they’ve come up with about you. I swear some of them think you’re some kind of superhero.”
“Think? You mean know, right?” I say, holding in a laugh. Being in here makes me feel so much different than I have as of late. Surrounded by the children’s curious eyes is much better than the suspicious stares of adults. I wonder if our mother set this up to remind me how most of our people support us.
A low tone comes from speakers built into the ceiling. The children automatically funnel into the different rooms to begin their day. Arluin and I are left alone outside of his classroom. I do not want to interrupt again, so he goes inside without me. After a couple of minutes, he returns with Seonah.
“I gave the students an impossible task. They’ll be busy all morning,” she says, walking past me, down the hallway.
I follow her, becoming increasingly anxious because of the gruff greeting. When we first met, Seonah was not interested in leaving her classroom, and now she sounds as if she were planning on taking the entire morning off. She carries a Coden in her hand that looks markedly different than the ones the rest of us use. Instead of the single cylinder on either side of the central screen, hers has a secondary octagonal tube attached to both ends. Unlike Seonah’s unique appearance with her partially shaved head and microchip decorations, this change is definitely more than cosmetic. I can only assume she has found a way to increase the Coden’s capabilities.
“Where are we going?” I ask as we approach the main entrance to the Learning Center.
“I have a small office set up over here,” she answers, pointing to a narrow hallway off to the side.
We pass three doors before coming up to the end. She uses her Coden to open the last door with a remote signal, similar to how we access the hidden railway entrance. Inside waits a cramped room with a single desk. On top of the desk sits a computer with double screens. The sophisticated set-up is surprising, since I know Leadership would never have granted a single person this much equipment unless it was absolutely necessary for the progress of Securus.
“Nice, office,” I tell her, leaning against the inside of the now closed door.
“I may have borrowed a few things,” she says unapologetically.
“So, what’s going on?” I ask, barely able to mask my apprehension.
“We found something,” Arluin says. “After going through a ton of useless files, these caught our attention. We figured it would be better if you read them for yourself.”
Seonah hands me her Coden to read before sitting down at her desk. Arluin bites his nails, waiting for me to read the file. I have never seen him this way. Their behavior almost makes me hesitant to find out what they discovered. When I do look down at the screen, there are four files on it. The first is labeled ‘Securus’ and the second ‘Munitus’, but that is not what catches my attention. The next two are completely unexpected. The first is labeled ‘Castellum’ and the last one ‘The founding of Caelum’. Deep inside me swirls the same ominous feeling as when we learned we were not alone. Castellum has to be another facility. That means there are three colonies under Caelum’s control. This discovery is already more than I hoped for. I expected any files on Caelum itself to be on a separate database within the sealed off Seat of Power. For some reason, the others are not so excited by this. I calm the questions jumping through my mind and open the Securus file first.
The initial entries are full of data already known to us. Our facility is listed as the designated colony for energy generation and crude electronics fabrication. The file then details how Caelum was forced to add the secondary Solar Panel fields when the original field and Thermal Vents became insufficient for their needs. There is a list of the heads of Leadership since the very beginning of the colony, along with schematics of Securus’ structure. I skim past this section and move to the sub-files. Two in particular instantly grab my attention. One is labeled ‘Uprising’ and the other ‘Methods of Guidance.’ I pause for a moment from disbelief. Could I really be holding a record of what happened to Securus’ past attempt to escape? Is there something in here that will help us flee Caelum’s control for good?
Chapter 5
The words on the Coden sear into my eyes. This could hold everything we need to free ourselves. My finger automatically opens the Uprising file first, only to find a much shorter than expected document.
So far, Securus is the only facility to learn of The Agent’s inactivity and of Caelum’s existence. How this came about remains unclear, but is assumed to be linked to a disgruntled member of Leadership. Despite considerable efforts to gain the cooperation of the occupants’ Leadership, an uprising was attempted. Prior to this, our Agents of Guidance were able to distribute sufficient misinformation throughout the colony to cause a divide in their population. Still, the occupants managed to avoid our scrutiny long enough for many of them to flee onto the surface.
We were forced to resort to actions two through six listed in the Methods of Guidance protocol in order to contain the situation. Each method proved effective. Shortly after enacting the protocol, all defectors were eliminated. Our Agents of Guidance were able to convince the remaining occupants that they were wrong about The Agent, and the others all succumbed to the bio-weapon. All records of the uprising have since been purged from the Securus system. The remaining members of Leadership forbad
e any mention of the perceived tragedy. The Agents of Guidance remain in place, although their direct link to Caelum has been severed to prevent anyone from learning of their presence in the future. If they ever need to be reactivated, the Controller of Settlement Resources will be dispatched.
We have since placed a biological life monitoring system in each facility, so any attempted mass exodus will be immediately detected. As with this incident, any future uprisings will be individually assessed. If the situation can be contained, these methods will again be employed. Otherwise, it is recommended to proceed to actions seven through nine of the Methods of Guidance protocol.
I feel lightheaded from the shock and nearly drop my Coden. According to this document, there are spies in Securus. Braden was not merely checking on his poison boxes when he was here, he activated the Agents of Guidance. The Controller must have used some predetermined signal or marker on his uniform. He could not have spoken to them directly, otherwise we would have noticed. That is probably the only reason we are not dead already. With Talia’s recent announcements, the Agents of Guidance know exactly what we are up to.
The only good news in the entry is the mention of the Agent of Guidance’s direct communication to Caelum being severed. We must be diligent to keep anyone within Securus from reestablishing the link. Ardal already found a way to send a message to Caelum, Securus would not survive if one of these Agents of Guidance did the same.
My body wants to collapse to the floor because of the stunning discovery, but I force myself to stay upright. There is more to read. I go back to the prior section and click on the Methods of Guidance link. Instead of another file opening, the screen goes blank.
“We haven’t decrypted all the files yet, but I didn’t think you would want to wait to see that entry,” Seonah says in a monotone voice.
“At least we know those Guidance guys haven’t contacted Caelum. We double-checked, there are no other signals going in or out other than the ones we already found,” Arluin says. Like usual, he can read the concern on my face and is trying to make me feel better. “And besides, when we get the rest of these decrypted, the files should provide everything we need to get out of here.”
The Seat of Power (The Securus Trilogy Book 3) Page 5