by Melissa Faye
Used to? I thought. If they used to work with someone else, are we stuck with this kid now?
“Ok, that’s good...” Enzo thought to himself, looking at the floor. “I app-approve this.”
Enzo’s evil dictator training must not have covered confidence and presentation.
“Very well, sir,” said Lee. I hid my smile at Lee having to call this child “sir.” Lee shuffled together the papers in a folder on the table and flipped off his holoscreen. “I’ll review the details with Charlie. I’m sure you have other things that need to get done.”
“Yes, well, I’m supposed to –“ Enzo blushed again. “I mean, I guess you can...That is, I’ll head out now. Complete your report and have it to me within...two...eight hours.” As soon as the door closed behind him, I couldn’t stop myself releasing a large guffaw. Lee’s eyes glared at me.
“Don’t be an idiot,” Lee said. His calm tone switched off immediately as he spoke. His voice was low, and he leaned over so his mouth wasn’t visible to the video cameras on the walls. I waited, watching Lee to see what he was going to do or say now that Enzo was gone. Instead, of yelling at me, Lee opened his holoscreen and swiped to some sort of program. He entered a coded button sequence, there was a loud buzz in the room, and the lights on the camas turned off.
“I can talk momentarily but the effect won’t last,” Lee said. I tried to speak but he shook his head and cut me off. “Listen. There are plenty of people here that thing we’re the gods’ chosen population for whatever idiotic reasons someone came up with. I’ve seen Jacob’s file. He was in Leadership. Probably felt like his talents were wasted when he arrived here. Had to find a place to channel that energy.”
I tried to speak again, but Lee held up a hand.
“So he’s harmless. Steer clear, and stay on his good side. Actually, stay on everyone’s good side. People have noticed your lack of enthusiasm. Fix that.”
Lee pursed his lips before continuing.
“There are many people here who want to get out. They have people back home, or they were brought here by bounty hunters. They have some lingering resentment for that part; I’m sure you understand. But you are not the only one who understands what’s really going. The soldiers are realizing that Silver is no longer a status. It’s just Breeder or Non-Breeder now.”
Lee looked at his watch and tapped his foot quickly.
“If you get in more trouble here, you’ll likely be sent to be an NB. Think of those poor conditions. They do all the work of taking care of everything and everyone. Their schedules are tight and nonnegotiable, and there are ways they keep NBs in line. Violent ways. I meant it when you got here, Charlie. You’re the lucky ones.”
Violence. Enzo just swore that it was only us against them. I saw the violence they inflicted on communities. I didn’t understand why almost the entire population deserved that life.
“Why would they do that to me?” I spat. “I’m one of the breeders. They worship us. If I’m an NB, I can’t have kids.”
Lee folded his arms. I stared at him, then realized what he wasn’t saying. There were other ways for the Chancellor’s people to get a sample of my DNA to create an embryo.
“What do we do?” I asked, suddenly panicking.
“You keep your head down.” Lee sighed. “I mean it. Don’t pick fights. Fit in. Last I heard, the Underground is working on breaking in here. There are a few other camps, but they think they can get into all of them. I have no other information, and I won’t talk to you about this again.”
There was another buzz, and the lights on the video cameras came back on. Lee nonchalantly ran his fingers through his hair.
“So what should I-“
Lee leaned over the table menacingly, his jaw clenched tight.
“You do what I just told you to do,” Lee said. “You don’t get in the way of the work that’s being done. If someone needs you, they’ll find you.”
I tried to speak more, but Lee shook his head. He held the door open for me and I walked out.
It didn’t take long to find Mallory and Zheng. They still stood near the lawn where I punched that man. I noticed a medical cart nearby. Yeah, right, I thought. It’s a black eye or maybe a bruise on your cheek. Still, I was going to try Lee’s strategy: I would wait.
I skirted the lawn, keeping my head low and quickly turned onto a nearby street. I walked briskly, distancing myself from the lawn.
My thoughts flew in different directions. The man deserved to be punched, didn’t he? What he was implying...There were lots of ways I could imagine Jacob’s group stealing genetic information. Some more innocent than others. I felt sick. On the other hand, I couldn’t do anything about them yet. I was trapped, watching them in action spreading their arrogant, hateful beliefs. The more I spoke up, the more dangerous things could get.
I took a longer route to get back to my house so I could avoid the park as much as possible, and to give myself a little time before I had to talk to anyone. I knew how people worked – quick to blame, slow to get the facts. I supposed I could be like that sometimes, too. But if they were there, watching a man make a scene out of one punch, they must be furious. And out for blood. I swayed back and forth on a large bench swing on my porch, shielding my face from passersby but not interested in going inside yet.
“Where did you go?” Mallory cried out before she even reached my porch. I didn’t reply; no sense drawing any more attention.
Zheng sat next to me on the porch and Mallory paced back and forth before us.
“All of a suddenly you left, and we didn’t know where you were. Meanwhile that guy is talking about how you’re a monster. And Jacob is saying you were put here as a test, and how we treat you could mean...something...about why we’re here. I don’t know. He was all over the place.” Zheng leaned over and squeezed my arm. “They’re nuts, but people are getting riled up.”
“I don’t believe that group is actually very big,” I said slowly. “Lee hinted that there are people from the rebellion in here as well, and they aren’t happy with what’s going on. He made it sound like wheels are already in motion.
“He sentenced me to community service and mediation. It’s a show – he’ll get in trouble if the punishment is too late.”
“A mediation?” Mallory stopped in her tracks. “I heard of two people having a mediation. Some fight over who was dating some girl. Those are fine, but no one will know what happened. Mediations are confidential.”
“I’ll have to do something sooner,” I said. I flipped open the social calendar on my holoscreen. “Look, they have something tonight at 8:00 pm.”
“No way,” said Mallory. “It’s too soon. They’re going to need some time to calm down. The whole lot of them. We have to wait.”
No more waiting.
“You’re right,” I said cheerfully. I hadn’t felt cheerful in a long time, and pretending to be calm and happy was tiring. My cheeks twitched as I kept the smile painted on. “I need to lay low. I’ll talk to the man in a few days.”
I feigned exhaustion and said good night to the women. Inside my house, I saw the Chosen group’s schedule. No more waiting.
I arrived late to meeting. It was scheduled for 8:00 pm and the calendar called it “Silver Droplet Meet and Greet.” I figured attendance would be higher than normal. It helped that the Hideaway’s schedule activity, duckboat races, was rained out.
This meeting was held in a larger space in one of the elementary class buildings. It was a cafeteria, with linoleum floors that amplified high heels and created a constant white noise of shuffling feet. The space was more crowded than I had hoped. I wasn’t completely sure bigger was better, though.
Jacob was speaking, and few people looked at me once I first entered. Information spread quickly throughout the space until most of the room was looking back and forth between Jacob and myself. They expected a confrontation. The room grew quiet as Jacob saw me.
I took the chance to get everyone’s attention and put on a
show. I never liked acting in school, and worried I wouldn’t be able to sell my deep anguish and pain.
“I’d like to...to talk with the group, Jacob,” I looked down at my feet, my arms clenched behind my back. “If you will allow me to.”
People whispered to one another. A few shouted out. “Get out!” and “You’re not one of us!” and “Take your violence elsewhere!” The word ‘violence’ stunned me the most. I wasn’t violent. I stood up for myself. Well, maybe in a violent way, I thought.
I walked slowly to the front of the room, all eyes on me. Jacob stepped aside and gestured toward the spot he was using to address the crowd.
“I wanted to let you all know how sorry I am for what happened this afternoon,” I said. “I’ve never heard about any of the things Jacob talks about, and it makes me frustrated. I want to learn more, though.”
I paused, glancing at Jacob. A hint of a smile appeared on his lips.
“I got angry when faced with the reality we’re living in. We’re breeders. We need to have children. And we’re not here by chance.”
A few people clapped, but stopped quickly when no one else jumped in.
“I apologize sincerely to the man I hurt today,” I continued. “I will never lay a hand on one of you in violence again. We are all too important to this cause. I understand that now.”
I looked at Jacob again. He pursed his lips then let out a triumphant smile. He put an arm around my shoulder and addressed the crowd.
“Chosen, I was there when Charlie committed this crime against another breeder. I was disgusted by it, as many of you were. But if Charlie is ready to learn more about what it means to be Chosen, I would like to invite him into our circle.”
Someone applauded, and this time it stuck. The group had ruled: I was remorseful. I was a new recruit.
Chapter 13 – Yami
My new schedule and work assignments were harder to live with than I expected. I missed having people to talk to and chatting with Gianna before going to sleep. I wanted to tell her what the Captain said, but there wasn’t time in my schedule to talk to her in private.
A month of living in that room wasn’t hard at first. I was too tired each night to think and usually collapsed into a decent night’s sleep after a day of training. As time passed, the solitude started tugging at my edges. It pulled me with a firm grip, threatening to overtake me completely.
I recited what I knew. I listed the names of all my classmates from high class. I listed every time I had seen the Chancellor and debated back and forth, endlessly, whether they had been clones or the same person each time. Thoughts of freeing the trainees and escaping tumbled around in my head. I had no plan. Just endless days and nights in my little room.
So when my month was up and I was told to pack my things and move back to my barracks, I finally found a little more space in my head to think clearly. Gianna greeted me with a hug, and with my privileges returned, we talked discretely while walking laps in the yard one afternoon.
Gianna sent a coded message to HQ by tapping the tracker on her forearm. She held her hand to her arm and scrunched her eyes up to translate the response.
“Does..captain....work with...chance. Chancellor.” She cocked her head to the side. “Did she say anything about the Chancellor when you were with her?”
“Yes,” I said. “But just what we talked about. She sends reports to him about training progress. She didn’t say how or when.”
Gianna stared off again, tapping her arm.
“Get...close...closer...to...Cap.” She gave an exasperated sigh. “That’s what we were doing, right?”
“I spent a month in solitary to get the information we already have.” I felt my face drop at the thought of returning to that room. “Maybe we can try a different tactic this time.”
“Definitely,” Gianna said. She tapped her arm again, paused, then nodded. “They’ll wait for us to make a plan.”
It didn’t take long to learn more. That evening, Sarge told us during afternoon training, the Chancellor himself was coming to address us.
We packed into a small auditorium to wait for the Chancellor’s speech. He wasn’t anywhere to be seen, though my heart leapt every time I thought I saw someone in a deep black suit. A few people sitting behind us gossiped about his visit.
“I saw him when I first got here. Three months ago,” one man said, puffing out his chest like he had an advantage over the rest of us.
“Then it could just be a quarterly visit,” his friend said. “I heard we’re not doing a good enough job, though. Maybe we’re in trouble this time.”
The man who had seen the Chancellor before exhaled quickly in frustration. “I do my job. I’m not in any trouble from him.”
I had just gotten out of a month without social interaction, and this guy’s attitude was irritating. I couldn’t help stirring the pot. I leaned forward. “Did you see him before, or one of his clones?” The man and his friends snapped their heads back to face me. “You know there are multiples, right?”
“I heard that, but I doubt it,” one of the friends said. “It would take a lot of planning and a lot more power than any one person has. He would have had to been working on it for years.”
“Maybe he has!” I cried. “Who knows? He’s definitely sneaking around. I can just see it on his face. I know it. There are a dozen of them. Or more! Thousands!”
This sent the group into a louder, more vehement debate. Was the Chancellor a clone? If so, how did he do it? What chance did any of us have against dozens of Chancellors making more copies of himself every day? It wasn’t long before he ruled the country, if not the world. Their ranting spiraled out of control.
Silence spread across the room as the house lights dimmed. The Chancellor was finally here. The Captain smiled tightly as she gestured for him to take over the microphone. Polite claps sprinkled the air, but quickly subsided.
“Thank you for having me here, trainees,” the Chancellor said with his usual insincere smile. “Your Captain talks highly of your progress. We have much to be proud of across the UCA. Volunteers like yourselves are stepping up to protect our country from the rebels who aim to ruin our breeding programs and destroy our futures.” He paused to unleash a sneer, letting it sink into all corners of the room.
“Starting tomorrow, your training will be escalated,” he continued. “We have more need for security at breeder camps, at the communities we’re still testing, and at family camps where parents are already raising their children safely. We need more soldiers on the ground.”
Gianna nudged me. Neither of us had heard of family camps before. Etta and Breck! I thought. That’s where they are right now! I watched Gianna tap her forearm discretely as the Chancellor continued.
“I appreciate your hard work, and know you will be well prepared for the work that lies ahead. You’ll find out your assignments within 48 hours and start shipping out within the week. Thank you.”
The Chancellor backed away from the microphone and leaned over the Captain to show her something on a tablet. She nodded politely, her jaw clenched tightly. She leaned slightly back from him as he leaned further towards her.
“Shipping out?” the man in front of us repeated. “I thought training was six months.”
“Where do you think they’ll send me?” one of the friends asked. “A breeding camp?”
“There’s still fighting going on,” another one said. “They’re still weeding out rebel communities. I don’t want to go fight anyone. I’d rather just run security.”
“No choice though,” the man said. “It’s probably based on skills. I have some of the best scores in all training areas. That should be enough to get me a cushy spot in one of those family camps.”
I leaned over. “Maybe your good scores make you ideal for field work,” I snapped. “Since you’re such a great soldier, why waste you on a babysitting job?”
The man clucked his tongue at me and led his friends out of the aisle. I sat back with a smirk.
Gianna was still messaging HQ.
“They said this doesn’t change anything,” Gianna said. “We can still get intel about how the Chancellor interacts with leaders whether we’re at a breeding camp or somewhere else. Stay the course.”
“We’re losing time, though. If they’re sending out soldiers, they’re preparing to destroy the Underground. The more people they have to fight, the easier it’ll be. This might escalate fast.”
“Everyone is unhappy right now, aren’t they?” Gianna asked. We watched as people filed out of the auditorium. Their faces were etched with fear, not excitement. “I know we’re supposed to be learning more about the Chancellor’s location and plans. But we can still cause trouble while we’re doing so.”
“What do you have in mind?”
“We take that unhappiness and turn it into passion for the cause. We go to our assignments and encourage dissension and unrest. We turn people. Send them to HQ or elsewhere. Build up the number of soldiers who can get us the information HQ needs.”
It depended on where we would be assigned, but that information arrived much more quickly than I expected. The very next morning, training groups met with the Captain to hear their assignments.
“Breeding Camp soldiers. Your job is to maintain order within the camp. Protect the breeders at all costs. Ensure no one enters the camp without explicit permission from your superiors or the Chancellor himself. Keep the non-Breeders in line.” She listed the names of the soldiers heading to different camps. Gianna would be at Breeding Camp #1.
“Family Camp soldiers. Same mission. Protect the breeders and their children. Ensure non-Breeders follow directions and administer punitive measures as directed.” She listed the names of the soldiers. It included my own.
“Family Camp #5. Yami.” It wasn’t surprising; the family camps each only had one or two soldiers assigned. I figured I was lucky to at least be away from the fighting. Then I remembered my job was to be part of the resistance. I ran to catch up with the Captain after she finished giving out assignments and made for the door.