Streets and buildings remained in disrepair to remind people of wars of the past. Beautification was withheld so people would feel the hardship of life and be reminded that this was what war brought them, even though it was their parents and grandparents who fought it. Every aspect of living for the average citizen of Mainland was a controlled, thought-out method created by the Mainland government to maintain and enforce complete control over its people.
The Outlanders got it the worst. According to one video, Nolan was having a conversation with President Godfrey about the Outlanders. The two of them had been alone and were at what looked to be a kitchen table. Both of them had drinks in front of them that were filled and refilled throughout the conversation. And the more drunk Godfrey became, the more he talked.
To Des, the president must have had some unspoken respect for Nolan, who hadn’t been in the government for very long but was close enough to have private meetings with him. In this particular one, Nolan brought up the issue of the Outlanders, and asked him who they really were and why they deserved such treatment.
“It’s not so much about what they did, rather it’s what they represent,” Godfrey said after taking another swig.
“What do you mean?” Nolan asked.
Godfrey smiled. He was drunk enough to talk, but lucid enough to at least consider his words before opening his mouth. “Let’s just say, people need somebody to hate. The Outlanders are the ones to hate.”
“Because they started the Great War?” Nolan asked. He sounded naive and maybe even stupid, but Des knew he was just trying to get something out of Godfrey—a sound bite that would work in his case against the man.
Godfrey shook his head and finished off another glass of the dark liquid. He winced and set the glass down hard before pouring it half-full again. “The Outlanders are victims of the Great War as much as we are. Worse really. They just happened to be set apart enough to not have the resources that we have.”
“So, they didn’t start the Great War?”
Godfrey laughed. “Honestly, I wish they had. But they are just people. Savages. But just people. They drew the short stick. We didn’t. We live on resourceful land. We have the power and technology to leave and gather fuel supplies. We let them cherry pick off of us every so often so they don’t completely die off, and then when things get dire, they attack.”
“So, why let them live?”
“I told you. People need someone to hate. They need an enemy. If there is no one to fight, then what’s the point? The people can feel good and justified that there is a monster out there that caused this whole mess that we call life now.”
“So, if they didn’t start it then who did?”
Godfrey waved Nolan off. “A lot of people. And they were a long way from here. The war took years, you know. Nuclear blasts caused famines and diseases. It’s the sicknesses that killed off most of the world. The nuclear bombs get most of the credit because they’re so scary. Have you ever seen footage of one of those things going off?”
Nolan didn’t answer audibly.
“Nasty stuff,” Godfrey said. “You don’t want to be anywhere close to of one of those things when it blows up.”
“Okay,” Nolan said, sitting up in his chair. “You say the people need an enemy, but not long ago you talked about the silo, the bomb. You talked about using it against the Outlanders. Wouldn’t it all be over then? There wouldn’t be an enemy anymore.”
“Things change,” Godfrey said. “The Outlanders can’t be the enemy forever. While we can, we have to make them seem bigger and more threatening; the Mainlanders would then follow blindly once we finally destroy the group that has so long been against us.”
“I don’t follow.”
“It’s about creating a legacy, Nolan. Sure, the Mainlanders need an enemy, and we have one. But what happens when we defeat that enemy?”
Nolan said nothing.
“We gain the public’s unwavering adoration,” he said. “The leadership can become gods among them. They will worship us for defeating the savages. So, we get the Outlanders to a point where they bring everything they have against us. We get them to come at us and hurt us. They get desperate enough to embrace that savage image that we’ve painted of them. We get the people of Mainland to fear and hate them so much that they would do anything to be rid of the Outlanders.”
“So, you use the bomb.”
“As a last resort. First, we try the robots.” Godfrey’s eyes lowered and his grin deepened. “When the robots destroy the Outlanders, we use them as our own law enforcement.” He shrugged. “Your common soldier won’t be able to beat one of those things. Not easily.”
“You’re talking about a police state with citizens that already worship you?”
“The police state is for the future security of our government. They won’t love us forever. They will naturally need someone else to hate, and if there is no one else, then they will turn on us.”
“And how does the bomb factor into all of this?”
“Like I said—a last resort against the Outlanders,” Godfrey answered. “The people will forgive it if it means defeating their enemy. But we will see how the robots do first.”
If Des had the ability to feel sick, he probably would have thrown up after watching the video. He hated all of it, but it was enlightening at the same time. There was nothing within him that could ever go along with the Mainland government. However, to know that he was meant not only for the destruction of an innocent group of people, but also the security of future monsters, it made him want to deactivate himself. It was an impulse reaction that he knew would produce no beneficial results, but it was his first thought regardless.
When he heard a noise from the other end of the room, he looked up to see Hazel and Nolan walking in. He stood abruptly and so did the men at the table. Nolan held up a hand and nodded to them assuringly.
“Des,” Hazel said. “You’re walking!”
“Thanks to Phil.”
“We need to talk.”
“I know,” he said. “You’ve seen some of the proof that Nolan told you about, but there is so much more. I want you to see all of it.”
“Oh,” she said. “That’s actually what I wanted to talk to you about.”
“Hazel,” Des said. “This is bigger than you know. Bigger than I thought.”
“So,” Nolan said, “you’re ready to hand over the files?”
Des kept his stare fixed on Hazel. She seemed so innocent in all this, but at the same time she was a tool the Mainland government had used to start the process. What he felt for her, he could not understand. Part of him wanted to hold her in his arms. He wanted to protect her at all costs. Though the Outlanders had been dealt a heavy hand, that didn’t mean they were all good people and wouldn’t kill Hazel. Des felt the responsibility to protect her over everything else. A human’s life was lost so easily. He would help the Outlanders so long as they helped Hazel and felt the same urgency to keep her safe as he did.
“I will give you the files,” Des said. “But first I want you to assure me that the two of us have a place among you.”
“What?” Nolan said.
“What are you talking about, Des?” Hazel asked.
Des stared into Nolan’s eyes so intensely that the man took a couple of steps backward. “I don’t think you realize the brainpower you have with her. She is smarter than you or anyone here. If you’re going to succeed you’re going to need her.”
“She’s not going anywhere, Des,” Nolan said. “I know you don’t trust us, but we aren’t here to hurt either of you.”
Des considered the man’s words. He tried to detect any abnormalities in his demeanor—a spike in blood pressure, any change in breathing. He detected none. Either Nolan was a master liar or he was telling the truth. Though, being a recruit of the Outlanders and remaining close to President Godfrey meant he was at least a good liar. Whatever the case, Des believed him. He reached a hand out for Nolan to grab. Though it was t
rue that he didn’t fully trust them, the gesture was there all the same.
“Then you have my full support,” Des said.
Nolan slowly accepted Des’ handshake, his skin colder than the metal it embraced.
36
Nolan watched the others as they took in the information. Des sat in a chair as a thin wire ran from the back of his head to the front of a computer terminal. From there the information displayed on a giant screen on the wall by a projector light. They were in their fourth hour of watching videos and reading documents that Nolan had gathered over the years. There was no way that they would get through everything in a single day, but Nolan was able to direct Des in what to show them, and Des even made his own suggestions about clips that Nolan had forgotten to mention.
Hazel sat in a stunned silence. To Nolan it seemed that she hadn’t blinked the entire time. Lester and a few of the others in the room like Phil and Gus watched in the same manner. They all saw the truth unfold in front of them—a truth that each of them already knew, and that was confirmed by the documentation. But it was more about affirmation than anything. Each of them could finally say without a doubt they had been doing the right thing this entire time and there was no one who could tell them differently.
In a way it made Nolan happy that they were seeing the truth, and he felt validated even in the eyes of those who believed in him. In another sense, however, it was sad to watch all of this again. Most of it he hadn’t seen in years. Some of it he’d never even had the time to review before locking it away in his hidden files.
The most ironic and strange feeling about all this was having Des not only in the same room with him, but that the robot was streaming the information for them. It felt good in its own way like it was a small victory over the enemy.
When the next video finished, Lester called for a break. The lights flipped on and Phil turned on a smaller screen to catch the video feed coming from Mainland. It was the news. Always the news.
Nolan glanced at Hazel who still seemed to be in a daze. He understood her feelings. He knew she had just witnessed things she might have rather not seen. But like the rest of them, the proof justified both her past and her future actions against Mainland.
Nolan sat next to her and thought about resting a hand on her shoulder, but decided not to. “You okay?” he asked.
It seemed like there was a struggle within her, a fight between expressing herself and keeping herself closed off from the rest of them. “I can’t believe I helped them for so long,” she finally said.
“There was no way you could have known what they were planning,” Nolan said.
She continued to stare at the floor. Nolan guessed she was silently thinking about all the events in her life that led up to this moment as he often did with his own life. Going from a high position in the Mainland government, to assassin, to a key player in the Outlander rebellion had turned his life into a chaotic mess over the last couple of years. But only now was he able to see the endgame, the progress they had all been striving for.
Des stood from the floor and disconnected the long cord from his head. The screen behind him turned blue and Lester shut it off for the time being. “So, your mission is to show all this to your people?”
Lester scratched at the back of his head and cleared his throat. “That’s right.”
“How do you plan to do that?”
“A composite video,” Nolan said.
“But you can’t show them everything,” Des said. “You wouldn’t be able to hold their attention for that long.”
“Of course not,” Nolan said. “We’re going to splice together some key clips and put it all into a ten or fifteen minute video, then broadcast it.”
“Then,” Lester said, “we’re hoping we can rally them together.”
“What’s your plan after that?” Des asked.
There was a long moment of silence in the room. Each man looked at another, waiting for someone to answer. It was Lester. “Then we attack.”
“But you already know that it won’t work,” Des said.
“I don’t know about that,” Nolan said abruptly.
“But you do,” Des said. “Surely, you’ve run the numbers already. I’m not entirely sure how many Outlanders there are, but according to the data provided to me by the Mainland Military, your total population counts as only a third the size of Mainland’s. I’m also assuming that the ratio of fighters available isn’t any better. Maybe worse?”
Nolan exchanged glances with Lester who nodded at him. Nolan looked back at Des and took a deep breath. “That’s the goal, yes. But the fight is supposed to be more of a distraction, while we try to get a team in to the broadcast tower.”
“What then?” Des asked. “You’re going to play the same video you played for your people?”
“Yes.”
“Why don’t you just sneak in and do it?” Hazel asked. “You’ve done it once. You could do it again.”
Nolan and Lester glanced at each other again. This time Lester took the lead.
“We have no access to the broadcast tower in Mainland. It’s deep within the city and it’s guarded.”
“Well, we did,” Nolan said, looking at Gus.
“What about sneaking in again?” Hazel asked.
“We don’t have that kind of time,” Nolan said. “We’d have to wait for things to cool off in Mainland’s security. For the next few months, if not years, they’re going to be checking every vehicle that goes through the gates. They hadn’t really anticipated me sneaking back into Mainland, but now they know I can. That’s why we need a large enough fight at the border to get a team in there.”
“The broadcast tower is miles from the border,” Hazel said. “Quite a few of them actually. How do you think you can get there safely?”
“We’re hoping Bracken is going to send everything he’s got to the border to fight us,” Lester said. “I don’t think we will make it without meeting any resistance, but our chances are good.”
“And you know how to override the systems to broadcast your message all over the city?” Des asked.
“We have a good idea,” Nolan said. He nodded at Gus. “He used to be a newscaster. He’s the one that set up our own communications system.”
Gus gave a short salute with two fingers with one hand and with the other he pulled a flask from his jacket.
“Just one bullet,” Des said.
“Pardon?”
“One bullet is all it takes, and you’re entire revolution is over.”
“I don’t follow.” Nolan squinted his eyes at the robot.
Des pointed at Gus. “If one stray bullet goes through this man’s brain, then you can’t get the broadcast out to the Mainlanders. And the broadcast is the most important part of your operation. Without it, you will never gain sympathy from the public, and will therefore be left to die out in the wilderness. Or worse, more robots like Esroy will be after you, and your people will be annihilated in a matter of weeks.”
“Everything we do is a risk,” Nolan said.
No one offered a response to this and the room was silent for a long time as they stared at each other, the floor, or at screens across the room. After a minute it started to feel awkward.
“I uh, hate to break this wonderful moment of silence,” Phil said, “but isn’t that your dad?” He pointed at one of the screens.
Hazel’s head jerked upward and focused on the screen showing the news. There it was, the image of her father, his unseeing eyes focusing on nothing in front of him. Tears fell down his face as he slumped forward in a chair, his hands bound together by handcuffs. Commander Bracken and a large metal robot stood on both sides of him. Esroy’s red armor was a shiny metal mixed with scrapes and scuffs from his confrontation with Des.
All the eyes in the room were fixed on the screen as Lester turned up the volume. They caught the clip mid-sentence, with Bracken saying something about Outlanders and their unwillingness to give up their savagery.
&nbs
p; “So, today we arrested John Hawthorn, father of Hazel Hawthorn, for harboring our enemies and hindering the investigation of Mainland soldiers.”
Gus shook his head, raising a fist. “What good is arresting a blind guy? He looks helpless.”
Hazel shushed him as she stepped closer to the screen.
“Yesterday, the robot you saw betrayed us under Hazel Hawthorn’s direction. A rogue agent of the Outlanders, Hazel programmed the robot to turn on us and steal secrets to our most vulnerable defenses. May I reiterate that there are few vulnerabilities, however, it is possible the Outlanders will try to exploit them.”
Phil gritted his teeth. “That son of a—”
“Shhh!” It was Lester this time.
“That’s why we’re prepared to make a deal,” Bracken continued. “We will allow this man to go free in exchange for Hazel Hawthorn and her robot. In making this exchange, the Outlanders will be showing good faith and we will not feel the need for retaliation. Otherwise, this man will receive the penalty that he rightly deserves, and that of any traitor to Mainland: death.”
The picture cut away to a broadcaster and Lester turned the volume down. Nolan walked up next to Hazel, this time placing a hand on her shoulder. “It’s just a ploy,” he said.
A tear rolled down the side of her face as she stared at the screen. “To what purpose? How would this benefit him?”
“It’s more of a way to get information from you,” Lester said. “They would take you and ask you about what you’ve seen. The conditions of the city, the number of soldiers we have, where our leadership resides, that sort of thing.”
“But they would let my father go?”
“They would kill both of you,” Nolan said.
Hazel turned her head toward him sharply. “I can’t let him die like that. I have to help him.”
“Then join us in the fight,” Nolan said. “The best way you can help him is to take down the very people who have him.”
Hazel looked away from him and up at Des who had a concerned look on his face. Nolan didn’t want to see the old man die any more than the rest of them, but it was clearly a ploy to draw Hazel out, or more than likely, to capture Des so they could extract his data and see the intricacies of the Outlanders’ interweaving tunnels.
Prototype D (Prototype D Series Book 1) Page 28