I force the thought from my mind and go through the unlocked gate. As I take my first steps into the Munitus secure zone, it feels as if the ground sends electric waves up my legs. Despite my attempt to focus on the outer doors, my curiosity draws my eyes away when walking through the field. To my left, the Solar Panels tower above the garden. They are arranged in a similar pattern as ours, only there are far fewer of them.
To my right, the view is significantly different than anything we have at Securus. Rows of green plants speckled with different vegetables extend far into the distance. In between each row, small dirt channels serve to funnel water to the plants. With so many people working in the fields, it feels weird to see the Leadership overseers not helping at all. They all stand back to supervise, leaving the labor to the workers. Next to the field is a row of various fruit trees lining a significant section of the outer fence.
As I near the entrance, the further right edge of the fields come into view. The security fence ends, giving way to a sharp decline. The plummeting hillside has massive steps carved into it. Apparently, the people of Munitus are farming the side of the mountains. The enormity of their efforts is remarkable.
So far, no one has paid any attention to me. Everyone appears to be preoccupied with their own jobs. That is a good thing because I would have no idea what to say if someone did stop me. Just as the thought crosses my mind, a man comes out from the outer steel doors, heading toward me. I avoid looking at him and keep my focus on the doors. The scars marking the surface of the steel are even deeper than those on our bunker. The modified biohazard symbols boldly ingrained into the steel are nearly as big as I am.
From the corner of my eye, the man continues coming toward me. He positions himself in my path, stopping right in front of me. I alter my steps to walk around him, but he sidesteps to block me. This is not good.
Chapter 13
I look up and abruptly stop, pretending to have barely noticed the man blocking my entrance to Munitus. The bright Leadership insignia on the chest of his bio-suit almost glows. With the burnt orange stripe displayed on his sleeve, he must be a mid-level member of Leadership.
“Where are you headed? The morning shift isn’t over yet,” the man demands of me.
“I’m following orders, sir. The controllers called me in,” I answer with a rigid cadence.
He looks at me with disbelief. “You didn’t even ask why they instructed you to abandon your post when we have those animals prowling our borders?”
“It’s not my place to question them, sir. Only to follow orders,” I reply.
“Guards,” he mumbles. “Barely have any brains at all.”
The man stands between me and Munitus. Even worse, another Leadership member approaches us from inside. The second man stands much taller than this one and has a golden stripe adorning his uniform, indicating a higher rank. This was supposed to be the easy part. So far, it is anything but easy.
“What’s going on here?” the taller man asks.
“Nothing, Rylan,” the first man answers. “Just trying to figure out why this Guard’s abandoning his post.”
“That’s none of your concern. I instructed the controllers to call him in. I require his assistance for a special task,” the tall man says.
Unless I am hallucinating, it almost looks like Rylan winks at me as he motions for the other man to leave. When we are alone, he turns back, scrutinizing me. Unsure of his intention, I simply return his stare. Through his visor I see a neatly trimmed, light brown beard set on fair skin. The one thing that stands out is the kindness in his light blue eyes. Then again, even those with kind eyes can betray you, just like Wakil did.
“Shall we go inside, Kagen?” Rylan offers with his hand extended toward the outer doors.
Without saying a word, I force my legs to move. I really hope this is the man Auden told me about and not another Leadership member who discovered out plans. If he is the latter, my visit to Munitus will be very short lived. The area inside the outer doors is rather bare. There are shelves and dividers lining the walls, but they are mostly empty. Like we do in Securus, they must keep their equipment in here. Right now all their tools are in use.
We head for a staircase set into the floor in the middle of the room. From here, the bottom of the stairs lies below my line of sight. A few people walk out of the six foot wide opening, engaged in a spirited conversation. They walk past us, not paying any attention to me. Standing next to the stairs are two more people. One of them looks to be Auden. He has his back turned to me, but the man is the right size and has the crimson stripe of a Guard. The person next to him stands nearly a foot shorter, and like Rylan, wears the markings of a high-ranking member of Leadership.
I follow Rylan to them. Auden turns around with a nervous smile to greet me. The shorter woman looks up to me with a mischievous, yet warm smile. For some reason, something about her puts me at ease.
“Hi, Kagen,” the woman says. “I’m Bynah. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“Let’s go inside so we can talk,” Rylan suggests. “Have you been through a decontamination chamber before?”
“Once or twice,” I answer. “Before we realized they aren’t needed for the most part.”
We go down the stairs, into a standard decontamination chamber. Auden does not follow because any further absence from his patrol would soon be questioned. The decontamination is the same two-step procedure we used when coming in from the Death Detail. When the dreadful process ends, we enter the main facility. The first room we go through is long and narrow with a low ceiling. Rylan’s head almost scrapes against the ceiling as we walk. Numerous changing stations line the entire length of the right wall. On the left are more bio-suits. They have a lot of them, but there seems to be a limited number of life support systems.
After changing, we drop off the suits and exit through the door at the end of the room. Once inside the main facility, the difference between Munitus and Securus is obvious. Instead of exposed steel, they have warm colors covering their walls. We step onto a padded flooring that is much more worn than the one in my and Talia’s private hallway. Despite that, it is definitely more comfortable than the general walkways in Securus. Having access to the surface must give them more materials than we have available to create these amenities. For us, it would be too much a waste of resources and time to collect the items needed to color the walls or cushion the floors like this.
Even though the walls feel busy because of the decoration, the walkway is not. We are able to reach the stairs without running into anyone else. In the stairwell, we are surrounded by the same plain, steel walls as in Securus. Three floors down, we exit the stairs. When we do, the friendly smiles on Rylan and Bynah’s faces change instantly into a determined focus. Their suddenly rapid strides become stiffened by apprehension. I really hope they are worried about getting caught and not feeling regret for leading me into a trap.
Before getting a chance to take in any more of my surroundings, I am rushed into a small office in the middle of the corridor. Once we are safely inside, their shoulders relax, but the worried look on their faces remain. The room inside has two desks, each set against opposite walls. A light green hue has been painted onto the side walls, with a slightly darker tone covering the back wall. The colors give the space a much warmer feel than the offices I am used to.
“So what’s the plan from here?” I ask.
Rylan drops down into a chair at one of the desks. “Honestly, I didn’t really think we’d make it this far.”
“I’ve been anxious to hear about this Securus place,” Bynah says while sitting down and leaning toward me, intently waiting for some information.
“Sure, we can talk about that. But first, may I ask a question?” I ask timidly, not wanting to seem overly suspicious.
“Go ahead,” Bynah replies instantly.
“What made you believe Auden when he told you about me? I know it’s a wild story and would be hard to digest, especially for someo
ne in Leadership.” I watch carefully for their reactions.
“Truthfully, I wasn’t really sure what to make of the story when Auden told us. But I’ve always sensed those in the highest levels of Leadership were hiding something from the rest of us. As the years pass, they’ve become unnecessarily forceful. Their actions have created a divide in our ranks that goes well beyond the worker-Leadership separation,” Bynah answers.
“That, and the fact that Bynah’s parents mysteriously came down with a rapidly terminal illness immediately after she overhead them talking about some Leadership secret they discovered,” Rylan adds, finishing the explanation for her. “We always suspected Leadership was involved but couldn’t understand what secret would be worth killing for, until now. We needed to know if what Auden told us was true. Then we would finally know what really happened. More than that, we realized if this was true, we have a duty to help our people.”
I go to sit in a chair next to them, convinced by the sincerity in their eyes. “Thank you for your honesty. I can offer as much of the truth as we have learned, but Caelum is quite skilled in deception. As far as Securus goes, it’s a lot like Munitus, except all the walls are bare steel and no one goes to the surface. We don’t have the gardens you do, although we do have much more expansive Solar Panel fields. We thought we were all alone until recently. It wasn’t even part of the plan when we stumbled upon Munitus and Auden.”
They both listen quietly while I explain what happened in The Caves and everything that has followed until this point. I feel their anger when they learn of how Aamon used his virus to eliminate some of our people. That part hits too close to their hearts with what happened to Bynah’s parents. I leave out some of the details, like how we hacked Caelum’s computer files and how much the general population knows, just in case. All they need to know is the truth about Caelum. If they betray me, hopefully they will believe I am acting alone. Then again, it is doubtful Braeden would be so easily fooled if he found out. When I am done explaining, they both stare at each other for a while before turning back to me.
“So you guys go into The Caves all the time?” Rylan asks. For some reason, he sounds as if that part were harder to believe than the rest.
“Well, not me personally, but our researchers and general workers go out there daily,” I answer. “Why does that surprise you?”
“Because I had my bio-suit malfunction once while in The Caves. It nearly killed me,” Rylan says. “When I took off the helmet, I couldn’t breathe. If it weren’t for Bynah getting me back inside Munitus after I passed out, I would’ve died.”
His experience puzzles me. There is no reason their portion of The Caves should be uninhabitable. The only possibility I can think of is some kind of toxin seeping into their caverns. Our system is separated from theirs, so it would be possible. Even so, it does not make sense to me since we did not have any problems being in the tunnels near here when we came back from Munitus before. At least we know that whatever the cause, it cannot be from the poison boxes because nothing would have saved Rylan from The Agent.
“Any chance we could go out there?” I ask, curious to see for myself. There could be another mechanism in The Caves or the air purification systems Caelum has employed to subtly control the people of Munitus.
Rylan looks ready to say no when Bynah interrupts. “We can go tonight. No one will be there during free time. By then all the Guards should be near the surface.”
She beams an excited smile, instantly melting away Rylan’s hesitation. While we talk, they are both summoned to some sort of emergent meeting. Apparently those tedious meetings are not unique to Securus. They apologize repeatedly for having to leave me here alone, but I understand. Before leaving, Rylan gives me access to his computer so I can read the history of Munitus. Having him trust me enough to leave me here alone with access to their computer system is encouraging. Honestly, I would not have allowed the same access in their place.
As soon as they are gone, I turn to the computer and scroll through the files. From what I see in the governing policy section, Leadership has passed newer regulations to exert a much tighter control over their people. Non-Leadership personnel have severely restricted movement outside of their work assignments. They are not allowed on the surface or in The Caves except for work related activities. Free time must be spent in their quarters or their dinner halls. Unfortunately, that means sending word through the population will be very difficult because they are relatively isolated from each other.
While there are many files concerning the facility’s regulations set forth for the workers, there is a complete lack of any historical record. That part seems weird. Why would they not have any history available? We teach our history early in schooling, but here they appear to avoid the subject completely.
With nothing else of substance to read on the computer, I am stuck in this room alone with only my thoughts and worries. I hope Hadwin and Sayda are okay out there, especially with the threat of predators being ever-present.
My foot repeatedly taps on the floor despite my efforts to keep still. The wait makes me restless. The longer Rylan and Bynah are away, the greater the possibility that something went wrong. I know Leadership meetings can drag on for a long time, but this is getting excessive.
Instead of going mad from the agonizing wait, I try to visualize what to do next. My head rests in my hands as my mind analyzes the most prudent next steps. I am deep in thought when the door opens. Not knowing what to expect, I jump to my feet, ready to defend myself. Rylan walks in with something in his hand.
“An unfortunate event has provided us with an opportunity,” he says handing me a Leadership uniform identical to his own. “Put this on.”
Judging by the size of the uniform, this must be Rylan’s spare. I have to fold the legs and sleeves since they are far too long for me.
“What happened?” I ask while adjusting the fit.
“One of the workers was killed by the mountain lions. We’ve spotted them in the forest recently, but this is the first time they’ve made it inside the fences,” Rylen explains. I am not sure how this helps us, so I wait for him to finish explaining. “Because of the attack, there will be a full investigation. All spare Guards have been called to patrol the gardens. So no one will be paying any attention to The Caves tonight. We’re gonna go down to my quarters to meet Bynah. We’ll wait there until after dinner. Then we’ll head to the lower levels.”
I follow Rylan into the brightly lit hallway. We pass a few workers as we head down the stairs. One thing that immediately strikes me is how markedly different they appear compared to the other people I have met so far. The pale skin and lethargic affect gives them the appearance of someone who has been stuck in the Detention Center for too long. At first I think their appearance is just an oddity of one group, but when we pass more people, they look the same. What are they doing to these people for them to look like that? I ask myself.
When we leave the stairs, a vibrant yellow corridor awaits us. It is almost as if the brightly painted steel walls have decorated themselves with the color and life from the people, leaving them with its former cold, lifeless exterior. We pass a food hall with more worn down people preparing food inside. Now that I think of it, the reason for their downtrodden exterior is obvious. They are given almost no freedom. Most of them never see anything outside the facility unless they are placed on the surface work detail. These colorful walls cannot keep Leadership’s oppression from overwhelming them.
Seeing the state of Munitus’ people makes me question whether they are capable of helping us at all. Other than the few people who work on the surface, no one else seems to have any fight left in them. I tear myself away from the depressing view and follow Rylan to his quarters. The setup inside appears identical to ours except he has more blankets. My hands run across the blankets as I sit down. Just like the uniforms, the fabric is much softer than ours.
“There’s something else I wanted to ask you about,” I tell them,
pulling my attention away from the comfortable bedding. “Do you have any weaponry that we could use against Caelum?”
“Not really,” Bynah answers with a frown. “The only weapons we have are held by the Guards and overseers. Even those would not be useful against what you described. Most of our resources go into food production. Our research department focuses solely on identifying ways to increase the efficiency of our gardens.”
Hearing her explanation also tells me this must be the burden placed on them by Caelum. They supply food. This could be useful, but not likely to win us our freedom. If they stopped supplying food to Caelum, the consequences for their people would be dire. Not to mention the probability that Caelum would have planned for a backup food source in case Munitus ever tried to cut off their supply.
Bynah’s answer may be disappointing, but it does make sense. The only reason Caelum allows us to have our research department is to keep our population healthy and to improve the electronic pieces we supply them with. They must think indulging our creativity and curiosity helps our production. It is painfully obvious the people of Securus are in a much better position than the people here are. Even so, we are all firmly under the control of Caelum.
We spend the next few hours exchanging information but in the end, nothing of real substance evolves. It is heartbreaking to discover the extent of oppression they are under. My only solace is if we are successful, we may eventually be in a position to help them.
*
Later that night, after dinner has been served, we sneak our way to the stairs and keep moving downward. Auden is supposed to meet us on the bottom level, but he has not yet arrived. While we wait for him, I peek out the stairwell door. On the other side is a small room with a single Guard posted near the closed external door. The Guard is a massive man who continuously fidgets with something in his hand. I am glad Rylan and Bynah are ranking members of Leadership because getting past him by sheer force would be impossible.
The Seat of Power (The Securus Trilogy Book 3) Page 14