The Controller (The Securus Trilogy Book 2)

by Anthony Maldonado

  Talia raises her hand to get the group’s attention before speaking. “Thank you all for once again attending on such short notice. I have received a brief update that will have significant consequences for Securus. Caelum has informed me, prior to the final review, Braeden Karun will make a personal visit to Securus. He will tour the facility.”

  Nyree’s eyes widen as the words strike her. Instead of the outburst I expected from the rest of the group, they are held speechless by Talia’s news. Looking around, almost everyone appears shocked by the new development, with only one notable exception. Cale sits calmly, watching with amusement. This is an odd response, especially since Braeden Karun’s presence in Securus could be much more dangerous than the review itself.

  “He will also meet with the remaining Leadership members that are known to have knowledge of Caelum,” Talia adds. Some of the Leadership members who knew of Caelum have been stripped of their privileges and are now held in the Detention Center. Talia was careful with this as to not have it appear like she was abusing her power. They were only removed if we could prove their loyalties were with Caelum and not Securus. “Afterward, he will return to confer with the Patron of Leadership for a final verdict. This will be a delicate situation. We need to decide how much to reveal to the rest of the colony, and more importantly, ensure idle conversation does not condemn us during his visit. As before, he did not give more details, but I had the impression it would be a few more days before his arrival.”

  For a while, no one is able to find their voice, until Wakil once again stands up to speak. “I think we should tell them of the review, but not of Braeden’s visit. There are a lot of strong emotions right now, especially with the suicides that took place after our people learned of Caelum. We cannot risk someone targeting him because of their anger.”

  “We need to tell him the truth and beg for them to let us remain as we are,” a man from the other side of the room calls out. I do not even look to see who it is because the irritating, high-pitched voice can only belong to Danyor. He always speaks in favor of Cale’s views, and the sound of his squeaking words makes him even more annoying.

  The arguments go on back and forth for a while, but Cale remains silent. Now I am really curious what Talia said to him. I did not think it was possible for him to hold his tongue for so long, especially on a day like this one. Without him, his normally outspoken group loses steam. The majority of the Leadership council eventually concurs with Wakil’s suggestion.

  “I can’t believe that was resolved so quickly,” Nyree whispers to me. “Did you put a sedative in Cale’s breakfast?”

  “I wish I thought of it weeks ago,” I reply with a wicked grin, pretending for a second I did. “I’m as surprised as you are.”

  With the focus of the group redirected, Talia continues to lay out her plan for the review. It includes a message to be delivered in person, telling the people to refrain from speaking of Caelum or the expansion efforts because they may be monitoring our security system. She looks right at me during that part. The halt in active discussion of our expansion efforts is meant to help keep Braeden’s visit quiet. But we both know it will also serve to give me more time to work on the scout team’s enigmatic disease since we now have an excuse not to announce the results of the expedition. Before the meeting ends, she has one more suggestion that comes as a surprise to me.

  “We are not going to remain completely passive in the face of Caelum’s threats. We need to send a small team back into the depths of The Caves to survey the area in preparation for Braeden’s visit. They will also make sure the passages leading to the railway tunnel are secured and safe, so none of our people will accidentally run into the Soldier Guards when we do reopen The Caves for permit access,” Talia says, intentionally looking away from me.

  Normally Talia and I keep no secrets from each other, but as soon as her words come out, I know why she did not tell me this last night. She wants to keep me off the team out of worry for my safety. Despite her concern, there is no way that will happen. I refuse to sit here inside Securus, passively waiting for Caelum to decide if we live or die.

  Chapter 4

  The Leadership council squabbles over some details before Talia signals the end of the meeting. With the group of people vying for Talia’s attention, now is not the time to speak to her about The Caves. Instead, I leave the room and walk down the hall. Nyree is already off in the distance, too far for me to catch without sprinting. She always moves quickly, even with the slight limp in her stride. It is a lingering effect of the injuries the Guards inflicted when she was buying time for us to escape on the day we learned of Caelum.

  Like Nyree, I am tired of the people in these meetings and want to get back to doing something more productive. Going to The Caves would be much more constructive, but that will not happen today. Besides, I have something even more important to tend to. The urgency of the review, combined with the limitations Talia placed on openly discussing anything relating to Caelum or leaving Securus, has bought me some time to figure out Taig’s condition. Even so, the distraction will not last for long. The others may not be pressing me yet, but the internal pressure I feel is immense. I see weary people trudging through our halls every day. Like them, I am tired of being stuck down here in these constricting steel corridors.

  Before I head to the Research Department to continue my work, a soft hand grabs my shoulder, pulling hard. My eyes roll as soon as I turn around, seeing a middle aged man regarding me with suspicion in his eyes. “What do you want, Danyor?”

  “What did you do?” he demands, sounding like a whining child.

  “What are you babbling about?” I ask without attempting to hide my annoyance.

  “Play dumb all you like. There’s no way Cale would’ve let you and Talia get away with this unless you threatened him,” he huffs.

  Listening to him makes my head hurt. I step close enough to make him uncomfortable while raising my voice to get the point across. “I’m not the one who’s being dumb. We both know Cale does what he wishes. Nothing I say or do would change his mind. So why don’t you go pester him and let me get to work.”

  Before he responds, I turn to leave. Even with my back to him, his squawking voice follows me until the silence in the stairway saves me. Worried he may decide to follow me, I move quickly down the stairs with my identification ready to scan once the entry to the Research Department is in sight. Luckily, he does not follow. I make it inside without further annoyance.

  Back in the isolation room, there is a chemical smell and orderly arrangement not present before. The blood stains and all other signs of my struggle with Taig have been cleaned from the floor. Over to the left are short, white cabinets that blend into the surroundings. Inside them lies Taig’s pack and remaining supplies. These are the only things left that could be of help since Oren’s pack and Coden were both lost before they returned.

  The plain grey material of the pack has become scuffed and ragged, but remains structurally intact. Like many things in Securus, they were made from recycled material, this one being from an old Leadership uniform. Inside are multiple empty containers along with two broken ones. The other containers which held soil and plant samples have already been taken by the research workers. Everything tested was found to be free of toxins or any other clues to what happened. On closer examination, the broken containers have a thin, dried film on the inner layer, likely from our artificial nutrient mixes. They must have lost the gruel early on his trip, but that would not account for the vitamin deficiency. Vitamin B3 is abundant in the other food sources they had available to them in their supplies and the forest. There has to be something we are missing, especially considering the extremely accelerated course of the disease.

  There is nothing of use here. I throw the pack back into the cabinet, frustrated by the lack of progress. Even though it seems like a dead end, I have the research workers come to pick up the pack. They will test the rest of its contents, including the material of th
e pack itself for any clues to what is going on. My last option is to return to Taig’s Coden in hopes of finding something I missed before. While meticulously reading each passage, one entry written three days into their trip grabs my attention.

  This morning we came across a strange area near a stream. The land looks like it was once cleared and is now being reclaimed by the forest. In between the young trees are fallen logs, which wouldn’t be unusual from what we’ve seen, but these ones line the ground in symmetrical patterns. I’m not sure if there’s a purpose to the arrangement or if it’s simply a quirk of nature.

  There are some smaller trees near the edge of the area that looked mature. They had multiple buds growing amongst the flowering branches. While we were surveying the area, Oren noticed some movement in the forest. He became convinced there was an animal following us. For safety, we decided to leave the location and move further into the forest. We will return on our way back for further investigation.

  It is an interesting entry, but at the moment does not help us. None of the entries give any more clues to what really happened to the men. I have been trying to stay positive, but the cryptic cause of this disease makes me feel like we are returning to our imprisonment from The Agent. We are again stuck deep underground in this facility hiding away from an invisible danger. Unless we figure this out, we will never be safe on the surface. It seems every time we make any progress, something happens to strip it away.

  *

  That afternoon, I receive a message from Jace to return to the infirmary. The message is vague and peculiar to me, especially since it did not come directly from Rana. After finding out my last understudy was sent to spy on me, it is impossible for me not to question his motives.

  Once inside, I find Jace sitting in the hallway. He jumps to his feet when sees me coming. The movement is awkward, and he nearly tangles his spindly limbs.

  “What’s going on?” I ask.

  “The night Healer had a ruptured appendix. The surgery went well, but since we’re so short on Healers, Rana has to take the night shift. So unless you have time to help, I’m the only one left to take care of the scheduled visits. Either that or we pull one of the rounding Healers.”

  This is a problem. Things could be worse though, since being in the infirmary will make it easier to keep up with Taig. I send a message to the research workers to make sure they continue to follow my instructions and know where to find me. I look back to the appointment exam room with a deep sigh before turning to Jace. “Who’s taking care of the walk-in visits today?”

  “Galen. He’s been in there all day.”

  As soon as he answers, my feet are already taking me to my old exam room. “I’ll be back.”

  As expected, the man inside wears a Leadership uniform. He shuffles through the equipment, impatiently waiting for work. Galen is the only one of the Healers who never adopted our uniform. Since he has been around so long, no one really questions it.

  I clear my voice to get his attention. “Hey Galen, I was wondering if you would mind switching assignments for the rest of the day?”

  It is doubtful Galen will object considering how clearly he conveyed his displeasure with being pulled back into the infirmary to make up for my absence after spending years as one of the rounding Healers.

  “Fine, at least I’ll have something to do instead of sitting here wasting my time,” he says gruffly. Galen walks out, continuing to mumble to himself. I hold in a laugh from the predictable response. He never did develop the interpersonal skills to match his impressive intellect. I would go back for Jace but he will understand when Galen walks by. It is not long before footsteps approach from behind me as I check to make sure we have the equipment needed for the rest of the day.

  “Was I supposed to stay with Galen?” Jace asks.

  “I’m not that cruel,” I reply, turning to look him in the eye. If we are going to work together, there is something I need to know. “We never had a chance to talk after everything happened. You know about Kesia, right?” The last time I worked with an understudy, she turned out to be a spy for Aamon. Even though the Leadership investigation said Jace was not involved, the question still needs to be asked.

  “Yeah, Rana told me,” he answers timidly, as most people do when we talk about someone in the Detention Center. Stripped of his outward confidence, Jace suddenly looks so much younger. I have to remind myself that he is not much older than Arluin.

  “How well did you know her?” I ask, watching for his reaction carefully.

  “We first met the day we were promoted to understudies.” Jace appears apprehensive as he answers, but manages to look me in the eyes when speaking. He does not behave like someone with a guilty conscious. “All I really knew is what she told me. I had no idea what she was up to or that she was lying about her past.”

  Before I can ask any more questions, the chime sounds telling us a patient has arrived. He seemed to be telling the truth, and more importantly, Rana believes him. So I will try to put any doubts out of my mind and move on. Jace already looks like he has returned to normal by the time we make it to the waiting area. There are two people waiting for us. One of them is an older man who looks more ill than the relatively young woman next to him, so we have him to come back with us first.

  I let Jace take the lead, only interjecting when needed. He has made significant progress in the time since he started training with Rana. After a few gentle nudges from me, he gets all the important information. The man initially noticed some chills, nausea and some difficulty with his urination. Now he has developed a left back ache as well. Jace diagnoses the man with a kidney infection. He will require a course of antibiotics, but, fortunately, he is not ill enough to require a stay in the intensive care unit. After administering his first dose of antibiotics, we have him return to his quarters. The rounding Healer will check on him there tomorrow.

  This was a good straightforward case for him. Seeing his progress gives me confidence to give him some more independence. As I finish my medical charting, Jace goes to get our next patient. He returns with the younger woman from the waiting room.

  “Kagen, this is Tailyn. She came in because of a rash developing on her hand and forearm. She’s concerned because her work has her on the surface regularly,” Jace says as he escorts her to the gurney. The patient’s work environment catches my attention.

  “Hello Tailyn,” I say, taking a closer look at her. The young woman has a tanned complexion with dark black hair and deep brown eyes that compliment her bright smile well. Overall, she looks to be in good health and is quite attractive. Judging by Jace’s increased jitteriness, her beauty makes him a little nervous.

  Tailyn wears a Leadership uniform bearing our new symbol. More importantly, she has an emerald green trim indicating her status as a research worker. The uniform is old and the sleeves are slightly too small, exposing part of her forearm. A patch of reddened skin traces down to the back of her hand. The rash cuts off just under the edge of her sleeve. It must be irritating because she keeps reaching to scratch it before catching herself.

  “What do you think about the rash?” I ask Jace.

  He peeks at her arm from a distance. “I kinda think it’s an infection, but I’m not sure.”

  “Pull her sleeve up,” I tell him. He hesitantly follows my instruction. A spark of recognition crosses his face when seeing the sharp demarcation under her sleeve.

  “Oh, I guess the rash looks more like a contact dermatitis then.”

  That is exactly what the pattern looks like, but something in the back of my mind making me question it. Something feels off. If our research team were not so busy right now I would add some tests to satisfy my curiosity, but resources are limited in Securus. Those resources are already being spread way too thin with all the extra testing I have them doing already.

  We give her the usual topical cream for treatment and instructions to return later for a recheck. After she leaves, I turn to Jace. “You can’t be shy about e
xposing whatever we need to in order to completely examine our patients. You don’t want to miss something that could have easily diagnosed if you had only looked.”

  “Yeah, I should’ve known better. Why did you tell her to return? Shouldn’t we have the rounding Healer see her?”

  My hand absently tugs at the stubble of my beard as I think about her presentation. “Yeah, but something about that rash bugs me. I want to see what happens.”

  *

  That night, after leaving the infirmary, I head to the Leadership dinner hall. The Guard posted at the entrance strains against his obvious boredom, struggling to keep alert. After swiping my identification, I enter a room that is much smaller than the typical halls. Inside, a muted hum of conversation emanates from the high ranking members who have access here. On my way to the food I pass a deliberately placed, incomplete mural showing Mr. Vaden, The Caves, and the new Leadership insignia.

  I take my food to my assigned table. In all of the food halls, seating is generally open, but because of Talia’s standing in Leadership this is the exception. As often happens, Talia is not here. She must be stuck in another meeting. I make it halfway through my mushroom and nutrient enhanced soup before being interrupted. Wakil puts his tray on the table, sitting down to join me. Despite the haze building up in his deep brown eyes, there is strength and confidence in them. “Kagen, eating alone tonight?”

  “Yeah,” I answer and look down at my food, hoping he will take the hint.

  “I know you have other things on your mind, but I wanted to speak with you about the recent events,” he says, speaking too low for the other people in the hall to hear. “Interesting how Cale was so quiet this morning, wasn’t it?”