The Grid 3

by Paul Teague

  She trained with the Centuria, but never became one. Delman moved her to his side where she’d been ever since. She had no memories of their journey through The Grid and no idea what their return would entail. She knew it would be the only chance she’d get to see her father again. But his final warning to her was sounding loud in her ears. It was a nagging doubt which was building to a crescendo inside her.

  She’d been warned not to trust Delman, but he seemed to be on her side. There was no suggestion that he was not going to reunite her with her father. Would he turn at the last moment? She was covering herself, just in case. Hunter was in position. She hadn’t told him anything, he was still clueless, but like an unfed dog he continued to follow her on the off chance she might throw him some scraps to eat. If Delman tried to betray her, Hunter would be only too happy to move in and challenge the President. She also had the documents. She’d study them later, but they should reveal what was going on.

  Teanna could feel that events were moving to a conclusion, though she was unsure exactly where they were heading. The storm clouds were gathering, but the rain had not yet begun. It would come soon enough and she would be ready. When the time came, she would need to decide quickly whose side she was on, who she could trust.

  President Delman was working up to something. She could always tell when he was about to make a special request.

  ‘Teanna, before we leave, I need you to take care of something for me. It’s an extremely sensitive job and you’ll need the utmost discretion.’

  This wasn’t unusual. Teanna was an expert at discretion, she’d performed many covert operations on behalf of Josh Delman.

  ‘It concerns Damien Hunter’s family. They’re in the Umbilica, as you know, but we’re going to need to set up some insurance for our passage through The Grid. I want you to do some reprogramming for me. If Hunter catches wind of what we’re doing, it may be necessary to remind him of the small print in his contract. Any nonsense from him, and we’re terminating his family.’

  Haven

  Wiz was relieved to be in the rebel HQ. He couldn’t quite believe he’d managed to escape from Harry’s tower block. There had been several times when he’d expected not to make it out alive. He was relieved too that Dillon was still breathing. Wiz had crossed a very dark threshold when he’d begun to squeeze that trigger.

  They were in an underground medical area, still somewhere in The Climbs. It was lit, they had power. Wiz wasn’t used to that level of lighting, it was daylight or darkness if you lived in The Climbs, artificial light was a rare experience. They’d sorted out his sore ankle, and he was feeling much better.

  He’d never seen such plentiful medical supplies. Wiz was accustomed to trading on the black market in The Climbs, but most medical supplies were smuggled in from Silk Road; they were difficult to source, whatever you were trading.

  He was pleased to see somebody attending to Dillon – his wounds were being taken care of and he was showing signs of regaining consciousness. Wiz was covered in small cuts, scrapes and bruises. He hadn’t noticed them as they’d been fleeing for their lives, but now they were being cleaned he could feel each one as the disinfectant entered the broken skin.

  Jody had handed them over to the medical staff. She was keen to update Leo on her progress. All Wiz wanted to do was to sleep, but he knew he’d have to keep moving. He allowed himself a few minutes to get cleaned up and sorted out. He figured it would help him to carry on in the hours ahead. He’d seen all the tech as he’d walked through the Control Room area. He still had the remnants of what Mitchell had brought over from Silk Road – they’d managed to retrieve the bag that was taken by the Centuria. Before he’d even entered the doors of the medical area, Wiz’s mind had been racing.

  The aerials on the tower blocks were still in place. The Centuria had been onto them in the apartment, but it was unlikely they’d figure out that he was hopping signals across The Climbs. All he had to do was to get wired up in the Control Room and he’d be away. He would be able to monitor the external feed from beyond The City’s walls and interrogate Matt’s data card. He’d have no power issues either, there appeared to be everything he’d need in the rebel HQ.

  Wiz wasn’t sure of their location. The van had careered from side to side and he’d lost track of the turns. He was well away from his own neighbourhood, that was for sure, so they might need to hop the signals over a few more tower blocks. With what Wiz had seen on his way through the rebel HQ, they weren’t short of resources. He’d be able to make himself immediately useful.

  The medical staff were doing their final checks on Wiz when the door opened. It was Jody and Leo. They were followed by Talya.

  ‘Talya? How the hell did you get here?’

  ‘Good to see you, Wiz.’

  Talya walked over to Wiz and hugged him. She looked towards Dillon whose eyes were just beginning to open.

  ‘Is he okay?’ she asked.

  ‘Just a bit shaken, he’ll be fine,’ replied the doctor who was attending to him.

  ‘You did well, Wiz, thank you. Thank you for keeping Dillon alive.’

  ‘They’ll have smashed up the tech, Talya, but I think the masts will be safe. We should try to use those.’

  ‘What happened to Jena? Did you know that she’s been thrown into The Grid?’

  ‘I haven’t been able to see what’s going on, Talya. Are Joe and Lucy still okay?’

  There were many questions to ask and be answered, it took some time to work through everything that had been going on. Wiz took a few moments to let it all sink in. Everything had flipped while he and Dillon had been trying to escape from the Centuria. The stakes had been raised even higher. It sounded as if Mitchell was getting what he deserved though.

  Wiz thought about Mitchell a while longer. He wasn’t sure what to make of his friend. His former friend. Had he really betrayed them? Mitchell had sent a warning message and without that Wiz and Dillon would have been captured, maybe even killed. But had he caused all of the problems in the first place? Wiz hadn’t a clue what to think about Mitchell. He decided he’d have to postpone judgement on that.

  Leo and Jody were concerned about their own friend too. Wiz had been uncertain about Julia. He was pleased she was the one in The Grid, rather than Leo or Jody. He felt that he knew where he was with them, Julia had been a little harder to read.

  So many lives were exposed, the hurdles seemed overwhelming to Wiz. Yet here he was in a rebel base surrounded by friendly faces. Perhaps things weren’t so bad after all. He would never have thought a resistance movement to be possible.

  ‘Leo, I want Wiz to be able to continue the work he was doing. Can you facilitate that?’

  Talya was already beginning to assert her authority, Leo didn’t challenge it.

  ‘We’ll get onto that straight away, Talya. I can also deploy some tech people to assist with any additional masts. Wiz, we need to know what’s going on beyond the walls.’

  ‘Talya, I have to tell you about Matt,’ Wiz began. ‘I think he’s still alive, he recorded a message for Joe. When I get the tech area set up, I can show you, but he wanted Joe to come and find him.’

  For a second Talya’s heart jumped. Matt alive? Surely that was impossible? But she hadn’t seen him die, just as she hadn’t seen Joe and Lucy’s final moments. She’d never seen Tom’s body either, the Centuria had denied her that. Was it possible they were both alive? She dared not even think about it.

  ‘I need to see that message as soon as you can restore it, Wiz. Could we use it in the address?’

  Leo considered it for a moment, then nodded.

  ‘That would be an amazing thing to show,’ Jody picked up. ‘If we could prove that Matt didn’t die in The Grid, it would convince people that they’ve been deceived all along.’

  Leo could see how this might play out, it was the best opportunity they’d get to ignite a rebellion.

  ‘This might be just what we need. Wiz, make that your priority. We need to kn
ow who’s sending those messages to Delman from outside The City too, let’s get those masts set up as soon as we can.’

  ‘I think we should delay my address on the screens until Wiz can replay Matt’s message,’ Talya suggested. ‘It’s so powerful, I really think this could force people into action.’

  ‘How long will it take, Wiz?’ asked Leo. They needed to make the broadcast as soon as possible. Fortrillium knew they existed now, they wouldn’t let that rest. They’d try to flush them out and finish them, there would be no delay. Damien Hunter would find the nest and exterminate the infestation.

  ‘Give me a power source and my bag of tech, I can have it done in no time—’

  Wiz didn’t get to finish his sentence. Sivil had just walked into the room. His face was grey.

  ‘You need to see what’s happening on the screens. We’ve just lost another Justice Seeker.’

  The mood changed in an instant, another life lost, another casualty. When would it stop?

  ‘What happened?’ asked Talya.

  Like everybody else in the room, she knew there was a good chance it would be somebody she cared about.

  ‘I don’t know what happened, I thought he was dead,’ Sivil continued. ‘But he’s back, somehow he’s returned from the dead. Schälen’s back!’

  Recovery

  It was not the family reunion Joe had been expecting. He’d dreamed about his father being alive, that it might have all been some mistake. He was no different from anybody else who’d lost a loved one. The fantasy that it might be possible to wake up and find that it had never happened was a strong one. Certainly Joe had succumbed to it on many occasions. The dream had come true, but it was far from what he thought it would be. This was not how he’d imagined it.

  He’d got his reunion, but all around him there was the threat of death and destruction. Neither Matt nor Joe could savour the moment, there was simply too much to do, too many lives at risk. Much as Joe yearned to spend more time with Matt to talk about what had happened and how he’d survived, he understood that it would have to wait. Dillon was still out there somewhere, as was Jena, and there was Lucy to take care of too.

  If he thought about everything that was going on, it felt too overwhelming. Wiz, Mitchell, Chris, Clay, Ross, Miron – they all depended on him now.

  ‘Dad, can we check in on Lucy?’ Joe was resolved to focus on the mission ahead. ‘The sooner she’s patched up, the faster we can get back into The Grid. Do you have any way of monitoring what’s going on in there?’

  ‘No, we’re blind to everything in all three Sectors. We see nothing, we can’t enter without implants. If someone exits any of the Sectors, the alarms go off here so we know they’re coming. We didn’t know it was you and Lucy coming down in the elevator, your implants set off the alarms. I’m almost ashamed to admit that we’d hoped it would be Delman.’

  ‘How often does it happen? Does anyone ever exit the Sectors?’

  ‘It’s never supposed to happen, Joe, but it has, of course. I’m here, just like you. I came down in the elevator the same way that you did. As for Delman, he seems to be able to come and go almost as he pleases. He’s the real mystery, he doesn’t trigger the alarms. He exited Centrum without raising any alerts.’

  Matt still seemed to be holding back, his mind appeared to be processing what it was safe to say and what had to remain hidden. He was cautious as he spoke. Joe thought there was another question that needed to be answered.

  ‘How did you get down?’

  Matt was about to give his reply when he was paged via the intercom.

  ‘We’re all clear in the Med-Centre now, the patient is conscious and mobile.’

  ‘That’s Lucy,’ said Matt. ‘It sounds like good news, follow me.’

  Joe hadn’t got his answer. He was intrigued though. He and Lucy had been shown the exit by someone or something. How had Matt made his escape from The Grid?

  ‘How did you get out, Dad?’

  Joe pushed the issue, he wanted an answer. If he and Lucy were going back into The Grid, it might be the only chance he got to ask.

  ‘The truth is, Joe, I don’t know. I thought it was over for me, I really thought I was dead. We’d stayed alive for so long in The Grid, but towards the end it felt as if somebody new had taken over the trial. Everything changed, I couldn’t fight back anymore. I thought it was over – then something changed in front of me. One moment I was looking at a concrete wall, the next it disappeared, it pixelated, and all I could see was the door to the elevator.’

  Joe looked at his father. They’d had very similar experiences but he felt that the truth was on the tip of Matt’s tongue, and that something was holding him back from sharing it with his son.

  ‘Did President Delman intervene to give you a warning? He tried to stop us leaving The Grid.’

  ‘No, it was as if someone had suddenly opened a door and given me a way out. Tom and I had known all along that there was an outside force at play. I left a lot of the information encrypted on that data card I handed you. I’m assuming you figured it all out if you’re here?’

  ‘Only some of it, but we found the outside source. So it’s not coming from here?’

  ‘You’re thinking the same way as I did, Joe. When I came down to Centrum, I assumed this was some kind of control area. It isn’t. Wherever that data stream was coming from, it’s not Centrum. It may be one of the other Sectors, I just don’t know.’

  Delman and the data source were linked, they had to be, but what was going on? Joe felt as if he’d taken a huge step forward, only to be sent hurtling backwards once again.

  ‘Tom and I believed there was something at the heart of The Grid too. It’s hard to figure out when you’re in there, everything is so disorienting. But we’d seen that from watching the trials. Whenever a Justice Seeker got close to the end, there was always an intervention, it was as if somebody wasn’t letting them cross a certain point. I confirmed that when I was in The Grid. They were trying to finish me, then the doorway opened up. I still don’t know why I got out. I’m an Immune, just like you, so it let me through.’

  ‘None of this seems to make a lot of sense, Dad. Can Delman be behind all of this? How is he doing it?’

  ‘I think we’re going to find out soon, Joe. This whole situation is one big stalemate. We can’t leave Centrum without the implants. Nobody can come down the elevators unless they’re Immunes and have the implants fitted. That’s if they can even access the doors like we did. If the three populations in the Sectors come together, the plague will fire up again and finish us all off. The few Immunes that are still alive may well perish alongside everybody else, we just don’t know.’

  Matt seemed to hesitate on these last words. He didn’t seem entirely convinced as he said them. Again Joe felt he was holding back.

  ‘We’re immune to the second strain,’ Matt continued, ‘but I don’t know if you or I would survive if exposed to the strains in the other Sectors. It’s all locked in, Joe, there’s no way to move. Delman is the key to it all. We have to get to him and put him in a position where he has to speak with us. Unless we can achieve that, we’ll have no control over Catharsis.’

  Joe allowed Matt’s words to sink in. Only he and Lucy could re-enter The Grid. They were both Immunes and they had the implants fitted. It had to be them. How would they get to Delman? They still had to exit The Grid. He’d have to wait for that information. They’d arrived at the Med-Centre. What was it that Matt wasn’t telling him?

  Joe had been taking in Centrum as he and Matt walked through. The technology was extremely advanced, like nothing he’d seen on Silk Road. It appeared to come from another time and place. The environment was clean, fresh and modern. On every wall there were the digital screens. The countdown continued, purposefully and seemingly unstoppable, getting closer and closer to the eight-hour mark. Whatever information Matt was withholding, Joe had no doubt the deadline was for real.

  They walked through the doors of the Med-Centre
. Lucy was sitting on the side of a couch, ready to get going again. Her wounds had been cleaned and dressed, she’d been reclothed and looked like a new person to Joe. He’d not yet had time to get cleaned up. He was sweaty and bloody, his overalls ripped and smelly. Matt took the lead.

  ‘You’re looking better, Lucy. I’m pleased you’ve decided to work with us now.’

  Lucy smiled sheepishly, embarrassed by her previous attempt at escape.

  ‘You’re very much like your mother, Lucy. Extremely capable and impressive, but that fiery temper can get the better of you at times.’

  Matt smiled as he said that. The Parsons and the Slaters had been good friends once upon a time. It felt too long ago to Joe. They had seemed such carefree times. How had it all turned so sour?

  ‘The doctor has been bringing me up to date with what’s going on, Matt. If you escaped from The Grid, do you think there’s any chance that … is there any way …’

  Joe knew what she was trying to ask. Of course she needed to raise that question. They’d all thought that Matt was dead, could there be a way that Tom had survived? Matt was as gentle as he could be, but that flame had to be extinguished.

  ‘I’m sorry, Lucy. Tom is not in Centrum, he didn’t make it this far. What happened to him after I was arrested? I always thought they would finish us together in The Grid.’

  Lucy explained how Tom had been killed in The Climbs. No body recovered and no evidence provided. Matt was upset by the news. For six years he’d kept the hope alive that maybe Tom had been given a way out too.

  Lucy recovered herself. Her eyes had begun to fill with tears when Matt revealed that Tom was not at Centrum. While she was in the Med-Centre she’d allowed herself to think of the possibility that her father might still be living.

  ‘We never saw a body. If Matt is still alive, then I think my dad might have made it out too. I don’t know how, but we never saw any real evidence, Joe. I still believe my dad might be out there too.’