"I brought a friend. Jayson, meet Avlyn."
"Avlyn, it's a pleasure." His serious expression returns to a smile. "I've already heard about you."
Smiling man—Jayson‒‒has heard about me? What has he heard? I shift my eyes between the two.
His smile softens. "Sorry. I'm being rude." He extends his hand. "The name's Jayson. I raised Meyer. I'm also here to give you the information needed to join Affinity." He smiles again, this time wider, and drops his unshaken hand. "And… I won't hug you, but I might consider advising Meyer here to at some point in the future."
What? No. Warmth flushes over me.
"Jayson!" Meyer's deep voice scolds. "Avlyn is my assignment."
Jayson's gaze falls on me in a rather fatherly way. He shrugs. "Your loss."
I can't tell if he's speaking to Meyer, or me. His eyes twinkle, and the fear I initially felt toward him melts away. Maybe this is how fathers act in the Outerbounds.
Meyer stands off to my side, hands stuffed in pockets, giving Jayson a slightly perturbed look. "Sorry about that," he whispers.
"Let's get to it, kids. You two can take a chair… or stand," Jayson says while unfolding his handheld into a tablet. He hands it to me, and already on the screen plays a familiar newscast of rebel activity, the kind we've been hearing about for months. As I watch each one, they increasingly get worse. A woman is attacked by a rebel, but escapes. The next shows a group of insurgents taking a child. The scenes go on, all the way up to the Level One bombing, then it pauses.
"None of that happened the way they're showing it," Jayson says. "See that flicker?" He points to the screen and pauses the vid. "That's when they switched the footage."
I stare at the screen. "How do I know you're not the ones lying?"
"You saw it yourself on the street," Meyer says.
I glance up from the pad and lock eyes with Meyer. "What else are they lying about?"
Jayson chuckles. "Well… that's going to take longer than we have."
"Here's one," Meyer says. "Remember that last viral outbreak that killed a bunch of Level Ones?"
"3005B?" My heart races. That's the virus that ultimately killed Ben thirteen years ago.
"That's it. The one they use in all the broadcasts to remind citizens how important it is to get your MedVac updates? It wasn't an accident."
We were always told a virus swept through Level One because they hadn't gotten their updated VacTech yet. Hundreds of people died in the day it took to get everyone up to date.
"My brother died because of that." Everything I've found out over the last week suddenly grips me with fear.
This can't be real.
My breath shortens, and suddenly my head starts slowly spinning. Everything goes blurry. Then black.
* * *
"It's all right, kid," a distant voice, which must be Jayson's, echoes in the back of my mind. The room swirls around me. Their faces blur in and out of focus. "Meyer, get her."
Blinking a couple of times, I try to sit up. I guess I fell. Meyer's warm hands rest on the back of my neck, my head in his lap.
"Don't stand. You could pass out again," he says. He helps me sit up. "Are you okay?"
"No, I'm not okay," I mumble. "This is too much." I feel like I should be crying, but I'm not. The reality is that the anger I feel is so much greater than any sadness.
Neither Meyer nor Jayson speak, and let me mull over what I've just heard.
"Why did they do that?" I eventually ask.
"Two reasons, kid," Jayson says. "To cull the Level Ones, and to scare Elore into taking the VacTech. If viral outbreaks are still a threat, no one questions it, and continues believing inside the perimeter is the safest place for them."
"I'm sorry about your brother," Meyer says as he stands, offering me his hand. His words are genuine, filled with the emotions of someone who has also experienced loss.
"I hate to end this," Jayson interrupts, "but it's time to go."
Meyer eyes Jayson, and then me. "I understand if you're not ready, but you need to choose soon. Within the next few days."
I take his hand and pull myself to my feet. Words catch somewhere between my heart and throat. The old me wants to tell them to get lost and to never bother me again. It's so risky.
Then again, I can't stand by while Manning and Direction kill people to keep us in the dark. Joining is the right thing to do. Feelings I've never experienced before well inside my chest, and I long to shout, When do we start?
Instead, I stuff them down and stare at the ground.
Subtle pressure squeezes my hand, bringing me back to the present. I never let go of Meyer's hand. How long have we been like that?
He releases my hand as he mutters and steps back. The heat from his touch still flickers on my skin.
You didn't have to go.
I clear my throat and turn toward Meyer. Our eyes lock. "I've already decided," I tell him. "I'll do it. For Ben. Direction caused his death, and there's no way I'm standing by and letting them do this to more people." I barely recognize my own voice as I ask, "What do I do?"
A slap hits my back and I choke. Jayson. "Atta girl. Meyer and I knew you had it in you."
"Jayson, you have to give Avlyn some time." Meyer steps toward me and holds his handheld in the air toward Jayson. "I'll bring her up to speed."
"Sure thing." Jayson throws his hands in the air and walks to the other side of the room.
"Sorry," Meyer murmurs. "Jayson is pretty… overwhelming. At least until you know him. Even then…"
"Oh, it's fine." A white lie. "He's a nice guy. Now, why don't you tell me the instructions before I change my mind." My bravery might only last so long.
Meyer chuckles. "To be honest, it's probably not much yet. Affinity keeps its members on a need-to-know basis." He swipes his screen and pokes it a few times. "There. I've activated the account, and instructions will be sent to your device. They're secure, and can't be monitored. I've also deactivated your device for any possible tracking, setting it to always appear that you're in the proper locations."
Panic floods me. My eyes widen. "What about that night in Level One?"
"Don't worry. I deactivated the tracker when I saw you on the street. Unless Direction suspects you of something, you're safe—and they don't yet. It's just a precaution. Also, you can debug your apartment as needed from your handheld. This makes the work you do in there and on the network invisible."
The instructions are simple. I form my own password, put my thumb on the screen, and download an app. Easy. The app launches, and I scroll through the instructions.
MISSION INSTRUCTIONS FOR AVLYN LARK: TBD
To be determined?
I turn to Meyer. "I'll have a mission?"
"Everyone in Affinity trains as a soldier and potential intel. Of course, you'll be tested for your specific skills. They may give you a simple job as soon as tonight." He gives me a tight grin. "Make sure to memorize your password."
"Already did." I close the app.
"Oh, the one thing I can tell you now," Meyer says, "is that you are to have no contact with anyone out of the ordinary. Doing so would only attract Direction's suspicion."
I guess that means I can't contact Bess to try to find out about what happened to Ben and me.
Meyer waves to Jayson. "Time to go. We're headed out."
Jayson stops poking at his Flexx screen. "Good meeting you, Avlyn," he calls. "See you soon."
I nod, and Meyer takes me back up to the ground level.
"Forgot something downstairs," he says. "It's time to split up anyway. You can map the route home."
Before I have time to answer, the doors to the elevator shut and he's gone.
The closing of the doors has a sort of finality to what just happened to me. Terror builds in my gut, but I push it down.
No. This is what I want.
If nothing else, I can help make Direction pay for what they did to Ben… to me. I belong here. I've never belonged. A sense of
excitement starts to grow, replacing the terror.
My handheld vibrates.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR AVLYN LARK: COMPLETE
My heart leaps and I click the link.
Initial Test Mission Instructions:
Contact Aron Barton for a second spouse pairing meeting.
Mr. Barton has potential usefulness to Affinity. You will work to gain his trust and potentially create a contract with him.
This message will delete upon closing.
What? Potentially create a spouse contract… with Aron?
The terror inside me makes a reappearance.
Gathering my wits, I activate the desktop system in my bedroom from my handheld, go to the citizen's account, and select the spouse pairing option. Aron's face stares at me from the account.
He's nice to look at, with his caramel-blond hair and deep blue eyes. His expression is serious on the profile image, but I zoom in and make out where the dimple on his right cheek sits. If I wouldn't have told him Ben was a Level One, I'd probably still like him. He might have liked me.
I suck in a breath. Adrenaline has made me brave today, and I select Aron's profile to request a second meeting.
Even though our first meeting flopped, care to try again?
Before I commit, the memory of Meyer's warm hand on mine trails across my skin, making the hairs on my arm stand on end.
Pairings are about duty.
I throw off a ridiculous disappointment that the message isn't addressed to Meyer. Maybe someday I will enjoy the freedom of choice, but today is not that day.
Meyer is not a pairing. Aron is. And Aron is also my mission.
I send the message and head home.
* * *
This whole rebellion thing is not nearly as exciting as I hoped. Over the next week, Affinity sends me a barrage of coding tests to take every day after work, basically doubling my workload and making finding time to sleep incredibly difficult. The whirlwind of emotions quickly dissipates. Sadly, I don't even hear from Meyer, and Aron doesn't respond to my invite.
As I wind down for the evening and prepare for GenTech tomorrow, my handheld buzzes with a message.
UPDATED INSTRUCTIONS FOR AVLYN LARK
I tap the link and hold my breath for the news.
Mission instructions: Monday morning, link your Flexx as usual at your GenTech workstation. When doing so, an invisible program will launch into their net to gain access and gather intel. There is nothing else you will need to do. The program will work on its own.
This message will delete upon closing.
The download link appears below the message.
While exhaling, my mind reels.
What? So I'm an information security specialist stealing information from my own company?
Pressure wells inside me.
You can do this. You can do this.
I repeat the words over and over.
I sigh, log out, and flick on Direction news on the viewer. There's some sort of activity happening in Sector H of Level Three. I lean in to get a closer look. Through the smoke and flames, drones pull Level Three citizens from a building.
TERRORISM. TEN CITIZENS KILLED.
The words scroll across the screen as the vid pulls back. I squint as if to peer through the smoke on the screen.
Brian Marshall's voice reports over the scene of the incident. "Again, if you have just tuned in, a devastating act of terrorism has just happened in Level Three."
BREAKING NEWS scrolls across the bottom of the screen.
TERRORIST APPREHENDED.
The scene switches to a man's face, his head down and eyebrows furrowed, being escorted away by two burly human guards and a Guardian.
Jayson.
11
I check for the fourth time to see if I've received a message from Meyer. Nothing.
If Direction knew I was involved with Affinity, they would be here already, taking me away.
The thought doesn't take away the tension building in my chest.
After a few moments, I review my instructions in my mind.
Link your device into GenTech network as usual. Affinity will gain intelligence from the connection.
If Jayson is detained, how in the world am I supposed to do this?
After securing my desktop system, I link my Flexx handheld and download the program in an attempt to hack into the Affinity spy program. I know it's wrong, but if I could know what it does, how it works, what files it might be transmitting, I would feel more confident.
From the little I can tell, the person who programmed it is an even better coder than I am. I dig up information specific to a project called Chrysalis, but I'm unsure how the program works and what it does. I'm blocked each time I try. Even after attempting to decompile the program, the variable names are all meaningless jumbles of letters and numbers. Frustrated, I shake my head in annoyance at myself. Maybe if I try again later.
Part of me wished I'd never met with Meyer. I should've deleted his message and told him to go away. Personal curiosity is a self-indulgence. A risk.
But it's much more than a curiosity now… so many lives are at stake.
What do you think, Ben?
Again, he doesn't answer due to the fact he's not alive.
Moonlight creeps over the screen, and I push back from the desk and check the time. Dinner has come and gone. Actually, it's way past bedtime. I unpair my handheld from the system and reset it to normal. There's still nothing from Meyer, and, thankfully, drones still haven't shown up at my door.
Rising, and shaking my head, I drop onto my bed. I should put on pajamas, but instead, I lie there and stare at the ceiling.
Device still in hand, I log into my citizen account and browse through the anti-stress MedTech options specifically for sleep. Knowing what I know about Direction, I don't want to, but living on the little sleep I've been getting can't go on. The med downloads to my account. Instructions pop on the screen.
Place your palm flat on the screen of your Flexx. Hold until the vibration stops.
Before I can stop myself, my hand is touching the screen. When the pulsing stops, there's no change in my body.
The MedTech transmits to your internal nanobots and modifies your bodily function to release the proper neurotransmitters for sleep.
In short, I can get some rest. Finally.
I blink. Nothing happens, but before long, my eyes droop and I barely have energy to dress for bed, let alone worry about Meyer, before a dreamless night of sleep envelops me.
* * *
I drag awake full of cloudy, gray memories of seeing Jayson arrested. I run a hand over my face and squint at my handheld. Still no answer from Meyer. Slowly, the natural stress chemicals kick back in and a tightness in my chest builds. I throw off the blanket, spring from bed, and activate my media viewer.
"This is Brian Marshall reporting from Level Three…"
Doesn't that guy ever take a break?
"The body count from yesterday's explosion is now twelve, all Level Three citizens. Names are still unreleased."
The camera pans to the partially destroyed building, sending my heart into my stomach again.
"Director Manning will be taking the podium this evening at eight p.m. for an important mandatory watch announcement."
Mentally exhausted, I flick the screen off and message Meyer again. Nothing. Instead of a response from him, the MedTech screen presents again from my motion, as if the device knew what I wanted and brought it up. I stare at the options. A tightening in my chest forms, making breathing more work than it should be. How am I supposed to do my job at GenTech, let alone be an asset to Affinity, if I can't even function?
The one for sleep worked last night.
Just this once.
So many people take them, and they seem fine. With no idea which one would be best, I pick the first one on the list for stress and anxiety relief.
The stress and anxiety relief option will naturally increase your serotonin levels an
d assist your nanobots in returning your stress levels to normal.
Naturally? It can't be that bad.
I download it and press my palm to the screen. A sick feeling seeps into my stomach.
* * *
At GenTech, I make my way to floor eighteen. Along the way, I avoid other employees for fear they might spot the anxiety in my eyes.
When is that MedTech going to kick in?
I clutch my wrist where my handheld sits.
When I link this there's no turning back. I'll have officially begun work for Affinity.
"Evelyn, right?" a voice asks, catching me before I enter the InfoSec suite.
I turn around, clearing my throat. The voice belongs to Daniel Carter, the guy from my placement orientation. He's even taller than I remember, almost a full head. I'd hoped he'd forgotten about me.
He eyes me and blinks twice rapidly. "You look more… together."
He stares as if his eyes are boring through me, remembering my disheveled appearance on our first day at GenTech. Whatever he's doing, I won't play into it.
"It's Avlyn." My focus never sways from his face. "And yes, I am. GenTech suits me."
Stay calm. It's always worked before to keep from people asking too many questions. He'll go away.
Daniel's eyebrows furrow, and he steps uncomfortably close to me. "No… something tells me otherwise, but until I'm sure... We'll see who gets advanced first."
His cold gaze shoots from mine to the InfoSec suite, and he goes around me.
I straighten, but my head spins. From the MedTech? Even so, I whip around to follow close on his heels. He turns for his cubicle, but I can sense his stare as I pass.
What does he know? Nothing. A disheveled appearance one time, albeit on the first day, means nothing. It's just his way of finding a weakness to dig at, hoping I'll slip up.
I activate my screen, then link my Flexx. I shut my eyes and exhale. It's an ordinary day, I lie to myself, but my body relaxes, clearing my mind. Things suddenly don't seem that bad. Apparently the MedTech finally decided to kick in.
Configured: (Book #1 in the Configured Trilogy) Page 9