Shouting in the Silence
This is Olivia Chronicles, Vol. 1
By Malcolm Rhodes
This book is dedicated to all the dreamers. We make the world go ‘round. So, keep dreaming, and keep building.
After you are finished enjoying Volume 1, don’t forget to read Volume 2:
Perilous Choice(This is Olivia, Vol. 2)
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All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means, including scanning, photocopying, or otherwise without prior written permission of the copyright holder. Copyright © 2013 Sweet Tea Publishing
Table of Contents
Chapter One: An unsettling awakening
Chapter Two: Investigating a murder
Chapter Three: Help from an unknown source
Chapter Four: A truth that changes everything
An unsettling awakening
Olivia Hernandez opened her olive green eyes wide. Her regular time in her sleeping chamber had been disturbed by a blaring siren that she hadn’t heard in many years. Her mind flashed back to her academy training when her instructor had drilled into her and her fellow trainees the dire necessity of responding when the siren went off. In the years since she had achieved officer status, she had never had the siren go off and knew of nobody else who had either.
“What in the world?” Olivia’s speech was slurred as she tried to make sense of what was going on around her.
She instinctively hit a button that raised the covering on her sleeping chamber and stepped onto the floor. Her information panel was flashing on and off and the siren continued to blare. She sat down at the panel and entered her identification code which thankfully stopped the blaring sound. She stared at the panel in front of her awaiting further instructions. For a while she wondered if it might be a system error, but then the information she was waiting for appeared on the panel.
“16500 Market Center.” Olivia read out loud.
She waited for more information. The more time passed, the more uncomfortable she was becoming. Her heart was beating. Something was wrong and she couldn’t figure out what it was. She had to act; even if it was against department protocols. She tried in vain to contact any of her superiors, but her attempts were in vain. She took a deep breath. Olivia understood that this was one of those moments that define a life; one way or the other.
“Well, here I go.” Olivia said wistfully as she left the safety of her personal domicile and headed out into the dangers of the city.
Olivia took the moving stairway to the vehicle storage unit. She allowed the unit to scan her eyes and within moments the doors opened and her air cycle appeared. She mounted the cycle, placed her right palm on the control unit, and the cycle slowly lifted up into the air. She programmed in the address and the cycle took off at a steady pace toward her destination. It had only been a few years since all the older air cycles had been converted to fully automatic control and Olivia still was a bit apprehensive about the unit malfunctioning. There was an emergency option to override the system, but every time it was used a full report was required of the operator by the central commander. Olivia took a deep breath and looked about. The city was quiet, but in that uncomfortable way that indicated that tragedy was only minutes away. Her transport deposited her at the main terminal of the downtown central breeding and development center. All children under the age of accountability were under the care of government trained and approved guardians. It seemed a strange place for such a tragedy. Olivia looked about warily as the she stepped up to the welcome console. She had the right under the circumstances to use her override password, but she had learned from experience to use her power carefully and only as needed.
Olivia typed in her code and then announced, “Officer Hernandez responding to an emergency alert.”
She expected an immediate response, but complete silence was all that she received. Everything about this experience was surreal. Part of her wondered if this was all a dream. It felt real, but then didn’t dreams always seem real? She had just decided to use her override code to enter the facility when the gate in front of her opened to allow her in.
“Officer Hernandez.” She announced as she stepped forward through the gate. “Identify yourself.”
As the gate closed behind her, Olivia looked around but saw no one. Whoever had opened that gate had to be in the central office facility room. She headed directly for it. She had never been in this facility, but all official buildings were designed and built using the same plan. As she stepped through the main doorway into the facility room a cloaked figure was just disappearing though a doorway on the other side of the room.
“Stop!” Olivia called out as she rushed forward.
“I had to do it.” The cloaked figure responded before disappearing from view.
Olivia reached the doorway, but it was locked. She tried her override code, but it would not work. She tried it again, but still nothing. How could it be? Her override code worked on every door in every government facility. Something was very wrong. She turned and that is when she saw a horrific sight. She walked to the corner of the room and bent down to get a closer look at a young child; probably no more than three years old. She pulled out her medical assessment device, but she knew it was pointless; the child was clearly dead. Indentations and bruising around the neck region indicated that the child, a boy, had been strangled to death. The cloaked figure was the murderer, but there was no way for her to get to him or her. Olivia needed help. She couldn’t handle this on her own.
“Central, come in.” She spoke into her mobile communicator. “Central, come in.” Her voice was beginning to shake. It seemed all the world had disappeared as she slept.
In desperation, Olivia began to gather evidence. Her training kicked in and she went through the motions as she went around the body, focusing on the area of bruising, but not missing anything. If there was anything that could identify the murderer then she would find it. The deceased boy was a different thing altogether. Individuals were not put in the central population database until that person was ready to leave this facility. Truth be told, she wasn’t completely sure whether or not the cloaked figure could be charged with murder of an unlicensed human being. She had never even considered that it could be possible for someone to murder a small child. As she finished up her work, she shook at the evil of what had been done.
“Who are you?” An officious-looking man demanded as he entered.
“Officer Olivia Hernandez.” Olivia said crisply in response.
The man approached and kept one eye on Olivia as he looked at the body of the dead young boy. She noticed that he didn’t seem shocked at what he saw.
“Why are you here, Officer?”
Olivia struggled to control her emotions. “I should think that would be obvious.” Olivia said with disdain in her voice.
“This is a private matter.” The man declared.
“May I ask who you are?” Olivia wondered.
The man stood erect as he responded, “I am Reginald Cleveland. I am in charge of this facility. Now please answer my question.”
“I came in response to an emergency alert.”
“I sent out no such alert.”
“Well, someone did.”
“Who?”
As I entered this area, a cloaked figure was just leaving through that door. I was unable to make a clear identification.”
“Why didn’t you follow?”
“My override code wouldn’t work.”
“That’s impossible. You must have entered it incorrectly.”
“I did it twice.”
“Then you did it twice incorrectly.” Reginald said as he walked over to the door and entered the override code. He looked at Olivia as the door opened immediately.
“It wasn’t working before.” Olivia said. Nothing seemed right.
“These things don’t just come and go.”
“I agree.”
“Do you have an explanation?”
“None.”
“You must leave this facility immediately.”
Olivia thought to challenge the order, but decided that it was probably to her advantage. She needed to go someplace where she could think and figure out what was going on.
“Of course. I’m sorry to have bothered you.”
Olivia turned to leave, but as she did Reginald asked, “You came in response to an emergency alert?”
Olivia looked back and responded, “Yes.”
“Who sent the alert?”
“I don’t know. All I received was an address.”
“Has that ever happened before?”
“No.”
“Then why did you come?”
“I couldn’t reach my superiors. I didn’t know what else to do.”
“Okay. You may go now.”
“Thank you.” Olivia left the room and then the facility. She felt like a child being dismissed by a guardian. This day was getting off to a very weird start and she doubted that it would get any better.
Investigating a murder
Olivia felt as though she needed to get as far away as quickly as possible. She mounted her air transport and rather than enter a specific address she put it on manual and lifted high above the city lights. She needed to find a safe place. She needed answers. There was only one place for both. She didn’t dare use her guidance system since it would be stored in the memory of the air transport. She was going to have to do it all manually. She took a deep breath and headed for the deepest center of the city. She took a looping path to avoid going near security headquarters. Suddenly her display unit came to life and her supervisor’s face appeared on the screen.
“Hernandez, where are you?”
Kyle Singleton had managed to maintain his youthful good looks as he worked his way up the chain of command. He and Olivia had spent a few months together, but nothing had come of it. She never felt completely comfortable around him and that hadn’t changed over the years.
“I can’t tell you, Kyle.”
“What?”
“You heard me.”
Olivia was carefully looking around her and searching for her destination as she spoke to Kyle.
“You are putting your job on the line, Olivia.”
“I know that.”
“Why are you doing it?”
“I can’t tell you.”
Suddenly she spotted the factory sign she was looking for and simultaneously turned off her display system and made a quick move downward. She barely missed a billboard sign and almost took out a line of people waiting outside a food processing center. When she was safely on the ground in a long alley she took a deep breath. She had almost killed herself and a number of other people. She had seen enough death for one day. Fortunately nobody else was around. She jumped off her transport and walked over to a rear service door. She faced the monitor and said, “Are you there, Philip?”
“Who’s that?” A distracted voice came from within.
Olivia almost jumped off the ground with joy. She knew if she had needed to use her override password that it would alert headquarters to where she was.
“Philip, it’s me, Olivia. Let me in.”
“You are in big trouble, Olivia.”
“Tell me about it. Now let me in.”
The door opened and Olivia quickly scampered inside. As the door closed, Olivia looked at her oldest friend. She and Philip went back so far that she couldn’t remember when they had first met. He was tall and lanky with that kind of bemused look that told you he knew more than you did; which was usually the case. Philip was the smartest person she had ever met and most likely the smartest person in the world.
“Do you have any idea what you are doing, Olivia?” Philip asked as he approached from a work center a short distance away.
Olivia was so happy to see her friend that she rushed into his arms. She hadn’t been aware of how on edge she had been. She buried her head in his chest and let out all the fear and worry that had built up.
“I’m sorry, Olivia.” Philip said in a calm tone. “You know I’m an idiot when it comes to this stuff. I’m just worried about you is all.”
Olivia moved away a little, looked at Philip, and said, “You think I’m not worried. I’m scared out of my mind.”
“Then why are you here?”
Olivia pulled out the data strip with the evidence from the crime scene. She handed it to Philip saying, “I need you to analyze this data.”
“From the dead boy?”
“How do you know these things, Philip?”
“You don’t want to know. Especially now that you have every political authority in the city looking for you.”
“What do you mean?”
“No time. Give me that data strip.” Philip held out his hand and Olivia thankfully placed it in Philip’s hand. She was glad to be rid of it.
Philip started to walk over to his work station, stopped, look back at Olivia and said, “What are you doing?”
“I’m confused.”
“You need to get out of here, now.”
“Why?”
“Did you not hear me? They are looking for you.”
“Who?”
“Everybody.”
“Why would they look here?”
“They are looking everywhere, Olivia. We definitely do not want them to come here. Do you understand?”
“Where can I go?”
“As far away from here as possible. Now go!”
Olivia shrunk back at Philip’s intensity. She had never seen him this scared and it caused her to be very scared as well. She rushed outside, jumped on her air cycle, and took off into the air. The sun shone brilliantly, but all around her she could only feel darkness. She circled slowly as she tried to get her head clear. Down below people moved about their day completely oblivious to the fact that the world was changing for the worse. Something evil had been introduced and they were helpless to stop it.
A siren suddenly broke the peaceful calm in the air and a voice ordered, “Land this craft immediately.”
Philip had been right. She had left him just in time. But now she had to make sure they didn’t suspect he was anywhere close. She paused, then took off away from the air marshal. The air marshal was immediately right on her tail. Attempting to escape from an air marshal was foolish and Olivia knew it. Her only purpose was to take the chase as far away from Philip as possible.
“Stop and land or I will shoot you out of the sky.”
The words sent a chill through Olivia’s body. She had never known an air marshal to take such drastic measures under any circumstances. This situation was even more desperate than she had feared. Immediately she slowed her transport and guided it to the ground. She landed in a clearing in a park and waited as the air marshal landed right behind her. She didn’t make a move so as not to encourage the marshal to do anything violent.
“Smart move, Olivia.” Air marshal Kent Woodard said as he communicated his position to central headquarters and waited for a prison transport to arrive.
“What’s going on, Kent?” Olivia said without moving.
“You can get off your transport, Olivia. I know you aren’t going anywhere.”
Olivia jumped to the ground and looked Kent in the eyes. She knew him only in passing, but she did know that he was a person of integrity.
“Would you really have shot me out of the sky?”
Kent looked away for a moment before responding, “Not until it was my only option. I was told to bring you in at all costs.”
“What did I do?”
“You know they don’t
tell us those things. I actually was hoping you would tell me that yourself.”
“All I did was respond to a flash emergency.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I was awakened by a flash emergency and sent to the breeding and development center.”
“That’s impossible. The whole system was down until about a half-hour ago. You couldn’t have been sent anywhere.”
Shouting in the Silence Page 1