Beat

by Jared Garrett

  “What are you doing?” A balding man, his face round, shouted at me. “Who are you?”

  “I’m the guy who will shoot you if you don’t shut up,” I said.

  “He’s just a kid!” This was the tall man I’d ordered back into the room.

  “A kid with a Keeper,” I said back to him. I heard Koner and Pol arrive behind me. “Go clear the Speekers away from their desk. Bring them here.” Koner’s footsteps faded quickly. Pol squeezed around me. “I want you to show my friend how to work this. How to get a broadcast out.”

  “What?” This was the first time the only woman in the room had spoken. “Why?”

  “Just do it and you’ll see,” I said.

  “No, I don’t think so,” she said.

  I thumbed the drum, held a breath against the imminent arm pain, and fired rubber bullets just above her head. She yelped. “Yes, I think so,” I said.

  “Nik?” Melisa’s voice sounded strange. I realized I’d heard it through my EarCom and in my other ear.

  “We’re here,” I said, raising my voice.

  I glanced down the hallway. She and Devera appeared at a run. “Did you see anyone?” I turned back to the three adults.

  “No,” Devera said. “That was fun.”

  “Great. You two get to the Speeker desk,” I turned back to the woman and man. “Show my friend how to record a broadcast. And how to program it to be broadcast at a certain time to all the Skreens.”

  “What is this about?” The tall man.

  “It’s about the truth,” I said. “It’s about not killing people.”

  “You kids are crazy,” the balding man said.

  “You’re right.” We didn’t have time for this. I thumbed the drum and shot the balding man, electrodes embedded into his chest. The tall man screeched and fell back and the woman cried out again, going to the balding man, who was already slumping to the floor. “He’s fine. But you two had better start teaching!”

  Pol had been studying the monitors and keyboards and other equipment. “What does this do?”

  “Tell him!” I gestured with my Keeper again.

  “Nik, we’ve got them,” Koner’s voice said. I stepped into the room to make space in the doorway. The tall man and the woman exchanged a look. The woman stayed with Baldy, but the tall guy went to Pol and started pointing and talking.

  The Speekers, their hair perfect but confusion and fear making their faces ugly, stumbled into the room, Koner close behind.

  “You two sit over there.” I pointed at a corner of the room. “Koner, there are flex-cuffs in a pouch on my right hip.” Koner dug through the pouch and restrained the Speekers.

  “Do you have any idea how much trouble you will be in?” the male Speeker said, his voice unnaturally smooth. His name was Jon Jening, as everybody in New Frisko knew. “What is it you’re trying to accomplish here?”

  Rebeka Wake, the female Speeker, put her flex-cuffed hand on his arm. “They’re insane, Jon, don’t try to reason with them.” She sounded like she was almost singing.

  “I’m just trying to understand here, Beks.”

  “Beks, Jon, shut up. Unless you want to find out what a Keeper feels like, like that guy did.” I pointed at Baldy.

  “What have you done to Mark?” Rebeka’s eyes were wide, her mouth an almost perfect oval.

  “Koner, come here,” Pol said. “I’ll need your help.” The woman was talking to Pol now too. Koner gave me his Keeper and joined the group.

  “We’re ready, Nik,” Melisa said through the EarCom. I looked through the windows of what I guessed was the control room into the room where the Speekers sat. Devera and Melisa sat there now.

  “I’ve got the analysis and the clips,” Pol said.

  “What?” Melisa said. “The clips were in my IM-box.”

  “I hacked in,” Koner said. “Sorry.”

  “He’s not sorry,” I said.

  Koner shot me a crooked smile. “I’m not.”

  “Okay. Start with the story they’ve been telling. Then tell the truth of what happened. Show the clips. Then the analysis. Then show Devera’s arm. She has no Papa mark.” This was it. “Pol, ready?”

  “Let’s go.” Pol looked at the skreens above the windows. He rolled a ball in the console in front of him and the image of Melisa and Devera widened, a space opening up to the left of Melisa. “We’re recording in five,” Pol nodded to Koner, who hit a button I couldn’t see, “four,” Pol typed quickly on keyboard, “three, two, one.” He hit a series of white buttons.

  Melisa stared at the camera for a long moment, then began talking. “People of New Frisko, your life has been a lie. The latest lie is the one about how Bren Radklif died.” She paused. I stared at her, willing her to keep talking. She swallowed a few times and wiped at her eyes. “Bren Radklif was murdered. But here’s the lie you were told.”

  I forced myself to look away from her as she continued. The tall man and the woman stood next to each other, listening.

  “That’s all a lie. The Bug is no longer in the air. Nik Granjer isn’t a danger to you or me. Watch these surveillance clips taken from New Frisko’s camera system.”

  I watched the tall man and the woman, as well as the Speekers, as the clips played. They understood what they were seeing when they saw both Bren and I racing full speed through Hope Park. All four of them looked from me to the skreen in front of them a few times while the clips finished.

  “Bren Radklif died that night, but Nik Granjer didn’t. Why? Not because the Bug is in the air, but because it’s in your blood. It’s put in your blood every day, but Nik Granjer hasn’t had the knockout for nearly a year. So the Bug wasn’t in his blood. Want proof?” Koner hit a button and a series of skreenshots from the analysis appeared next to Melisa’s head.

  Now the tall man and the woman fell into some rolling chairs, shock obvious in every part of their body.

  “People of New Frisko, you are given the Bug every night when you are put to sleep by the knockout and every time the knockout “saves” you from a dangerous heart rate. You’re not being saved, you’re being herded, controlled. And sometimes, you’re being murdered. Like Bren Radklif. And like Devera’s people.” Melisa turned to Devera. “Devera, will you tell them about your mother?”

  Devera sat still for a long moment, eyes straight ahead. Melisa had been amazing, but this would be it. This would finish off the New Chapter.

  “They shot my mom and my baby brother. They shot Wendy. They burned the forest.” Devera stood and kept speaking, describing the attack on the Wanderers. While she spoke, she took off her grays, revealing her Wanderer clothes under them.

  She finished simply. “I’ve been a Wanderer all my life.” She raised her arms, letting her sleeves slide to her elbows. “I’ve never worn one of those things you call a Papa.” Pol focused a camera in on Devera’s wrists, which also meant we were looking right into her big green eyes. “My whole life is proof that your life is a lie.”

  Tingles shot from my scalp down my neck and all over my body. Had Melisa coached her? “Stop there.” I said.

  Pol hit a button. “Wow.”

  “Get ready to broadcast, but save it to a stik.” I turned to the Speekers, then the man and woman. “Any questions?”

  “You have to go,” the woman said. “We haven’t broadcast a story on the explosion yet; an Admin will be here any second.”

  Relief flooded into me. She’d believed us. Judging by the man’s expression, he had too.

  “We have to send this out; then make sure nobody can do any more broadcasts,” Koner said.

  “Can’t be done from here. You could send your clip out, but blowing up this room wouldn’t be enough,” the tall man said. “There are two more control rooms.”

  “Well send it out now,” I said. “Then we shut down the power grid for the entire dome.”

  “Got it,” Pol typed fast, then hit a green button. He scowled at his monitor and hit the green button again. “Somebody knows we’re
here. I can’t get the signal past the firewall.”

  “Frag it.” I thought fast. “Can you splice or hack or whatever into a Skreen and send the signal all over the city?”

  “I could get it onto one Skreen,” Pol said. “Probably.”

  “I can help,” said the tall man. “We have to go now. The network is one enclosed thing, totally interconnected. I know how it works.” He stood and walked toward me. “You have to trust me. I have two young kids in the Nursery.” He met my eyes. “I don’t want them to ever get the Bug. Ever.”

  I studied his face, understanding what he was saying. I had no choice. “What’s your name?”

  “Nate.”

  “Go. Help them get out,” I said.

  Pol and Koner joined Nate, Pol gripping a z-stik. “You coming?”

  “Melisa and I will kill the grid. Pol, give Melisa the card. And take Devera.” Melisa and Devera showed up at that moment, carrying two Keepers. Melisa had her Enforser uniform back on. “Devera, go with them, okay?”

  Shouting carried through the hallways.

  “You have to get going! Act like you’re scared. We’ll get their attention.” Melisa said. Nate took off running, the others streaming behind him. “Keep your heart rate down!” Melisa shouted, pocketing the little green card.

  I glanced at the woman and the Speekers. “Will you help?”

  All three nodded.

  “We’re going to make it look like we came here to send out a broadcast, but failed and got frustrated. We have to help them get out,” I said. “Step back.” I aimed my Keeper at the control consoles.

  The woman grabbed Baldy, who was beginning to stir, and dragged him to a wall. “Melisa, find the power grid. It’s got to be on the ground level. Shut it down, blow it up, whatever. Don’t let them catch you.”

  She caught my gaze and held it. “What about you?”

  “I’ve got this.”

  She nodded and ran out of there. “Pol, Koner, Melisa, be safe, don’t get caught,” I said through the EarCom. “Meet at Brown Park. Wait a reasonable amount of time, then get the CyJet and go. Even if someone doesn’t make it, go. They’ll be coming for us.”

  “What? What do you mean?” Melisa asked.

  “Just hurry up,” I said. I fired my Keeper. Sparks and small fires erupted from the consoles, glass shattering and scattering all over. I waited for the bound Speekers to scramble out of the way, then blasted the skreens. The windows to the Speekers’ room came next. They exploded, showering everything with glass. I glanced over my shoulder and nodded at the three people, then ran.

  “Lies,” I shouted. “It’s all lies!”

  I tore down the hallway, kicking open doors and shooting at walls and windows, aiming high, screaming my head off.

  CHAPTER 34

  I made it, limping slightly, through three rooms and into a second hallway before Enforsers swarmed the hallway in front of me, all of them shouting and firing their Keepers. Rubber bullets, electrodes, and real bullets filled the hallway. I threw myself at the floor, dropping the Keeper I held. I was nowhere near fast enough. My left shoulder exploded in pain, followed immediately by my stomach and both legs. On my knees, another bullet tore past my ear, maybe taking part of my ear with it. Two more bullets pounded against my chest. The armor of the Enforser uniform stopped the deadly things, but it still hurt.

  Falling forward, I covered my head with my hands.

  Silence invaded the hallway. It worried me more than all of the Keepers in the world. I looked up. The Prime Administrator, wearing a new cream-colored suit, walked toward me, parting the group of Enforsers at the same time that I felt a knee slam into my back and yank my hands into some flex-cuffs. My right arm screamed in protest.

  “Nik,” the Prime Administrator said. “I’d hoped you would just leave, go into the wilderness, but I had a feeling you might make the wrong choice. I wish I were surprised.” He knelt in front of me and reached for my wrist, his empty eyes on mine. “You and your friend should have done as we asked. We will find her too.”

  “It’s all a lie!” I shouted. “He’s lying to you Enforsers, too!”

  “Ah. 160 or so. We must wait,” the Prime Administrator said. “Take him.” He stood and walked back the way he had come. Two Enforsers hauled me to my feet and dragged me behind him. I shouted the whole way.

  When we got in the elevator, my two Enforsers plus four others joined the Prime Administrator. Nobody spoke. I decided to fill the void. “You know it’s a lie, right? The knockout has the Bug in it. He’s killing people, controlling people. It’s a lie.”

  “Silence him.” The Prime Administrator didn’t move as he spoke.

  A tall Enforser slapped his hand across my face. The now-familiar sensation of the gagging tape covered my mouth and part of my cheeks.

  The rest of the ride passed in silence. It occurred to me that I might not get away this time. Didn’t matter; we were about to win.

  When we got into the Prime Administrator’s office, he held my wrist again. “130. Better.” He smiled at the Enforsers. “Better calm than dead, right Nik?” He pulled a capped syringe out of his jacket pocket. I knew what it was and shouted against my gag, trying to pull away from him. The Enforsers’ hands felt like the vises in the Enjineering Dome. A poke against my wrist.

  I felt myself falling.

  When I woke up, I sat slumped in a chair in front of the Prime Administrator’s desk. The tape was gone from my mouth and my hands lay in my lap, unrestrained. Confused, I looked at the tall man with empty eyes. He had given me the Bug again. And I didn’t have a Papa with a knockout to save me.

  Sweat broke out on my scalp. My heart kicked up a notch; I willed it to slow, trying to breathe slowly. Please no. Not like Bren. Strangely, the thought of Bren’s death helped me pull myself together. I felt my heart slow.

  “You were right about the Bug, Nik.” He stood, came around his desk, and sat on the corner. “I’m impressed with your determination. But you should not have come back. You have made things difficult.” Difficult? Good.

  The moment stretched. Anger filled the silence as we stared at each other. The Prime Administrator’s lips stretched in a joke of a smile.

  I kept quiet. I needed to give Melisa as much time as I could. The others too. He had to keep focusing on me. I looked around the room; it was just the two of us.

  The man’s wobbly face shook and the smile dissolved into a glare. A strange glare, with those empty eyes. “You think that you can stop this? This is evolution, Nik. This is progress.”

  Rage nearly choked me. I had to strain to breathe. But I had to stay calm. I had the Bug. “Progress? Evolution?”

  “We destroyed ourselves. Humanity made a mess of existence.” The Prime Administrator stepped from behind his desk. “You want that cycle to repeat itself? We finally stopped it, finally fixed it.”

  “Fixed what?” I had to hear him say it.

  His brows furrowed, but his eyes remained empty. “The problem.”

  “What problem?” I willed myself to stop shaking. This man had killed Bren. The Wanderers. I pictured my heart slowing, beat by beat.

  “The problem of choice, Nik. Of individuality. Society must be united for it to survive.” His gaze wandered for a moment. “That doesn’t work if everyone thinks they have a voice. Too many voices . . . all that does is make noise. Destructive noise.” He stepped toward me and, almost lazily, slapped me. The sound surprised me almost more than the pain. My heart rate jumped. No. I stared into his dead eyes as he moved away from me again. He knew exactly what he was doing.

  I remembered what he’d said. “Noise?” Who did he think he was? Why did he think he was the one who could run the lives of all the people of New Frisko?

  “One voice keeps societies on track. One authority.” He smiled again, this time condescendingly. “You can’t deny that the New Chapter has no crime, almost zero disease. People are happy.”

  “Who’s happy?” I sucked in a ragged breath. “
You?”

  My EarCom buzzed to life. “Nik, I can hear you.” It was Melisa. “I’m at the power grid. They think I’m an Enforser. So far.”

  “We hear you too, Nik,” Koner said. “We’re almost at the nearest Skreen. Keep him busy.”

  “Everyone is happy, boy.” The Prime Administrator’s nostrils flared. “Or almost everyone.”

  Keep him busy. “I’m not happy.”

  “So you would selfishly try to bring down humanity’s New Chapter, because you, Nik Granjer, are unhappy with your lot?” He seemed to be warming to his lecture. “This is the problem. One loud, angry voice thinks it can change the world for everyone else.” He wandered behind my chair.

  The next moment, I felt the chair falling backward. I jerked, grabbing the arm rests. The chair tipped forward again, settling on all four legs. I concentrated. If I was under 130, I’d be surprised.

  He came into view, a small smile on his face. “How’s that heart rate, Nik?”

  Bugging spammer. I forced myself to focus, breathe. Not now. Not after all of this. I thought about what he’d said. He’d been talking about angry voices and me trying to bring down the New Chapter.

  “Fine.”

  “As I was saying,” he continued to pace. “The few, loud voices must not be allowed to derail progress.”

  I had to admit he sounded good. But he couldn’t be right. He, this man, had killed Bren. Had killed the people who had helped me. Sure, they’d betrayed me too, but they hadn’t tried to kill me. No matter what the reason, murdering people was wrong. “When you murder people to make something good happen, the good is wrong. That’s the problem.”

  “It is for the greater good. Whatever the greater good needs, we will do.”

  “But you’re deciding what the greater good needs. By yourself.”

  “With the wisdom of history,” the Prime Administrator stepped closer, one hand grabbing my wrist. “The wisdom of history.”

  “Who made you the one who gets to decide?”

  He looked around. His face suddenly reminded me of pictures of lizards that we had seen in Ecology class. “130. Your control is good, but you will fail. And I will tell you, Nik. Because you will not be leaving this room. And you will die of the Bug, as the people of New Frisko are expecting, now. It’s a sad story, but it will help.”