Judging Tailyn’s intent is not my main concern at the moment. The surface garden needs to be reinvestigated, especially since we have already begun disseminating the food to the rest of the colony. If food grown on the surface is responsible for this disease, we are in real trouble. Whatever the cause ends up being, it has to be more than a simple lack of vitamins. That would not explain how the course of the disease is so accelerated.
“This is a big problem. We need to stop the disbursement of the garden’s food until we’re able to reevaluate it. I want a detailed list of everything you’ve eaten over the past couple of weeks, including the normal food from Securus,” I bark at her, intentionally using a harsh tone in my voice. We cannot afford to have the appearance of Leadership taking extra privileges if we are to keep the colony unified.
Tailyn meekly agrees and we go over the rest of the details of her recent work. Through it all, there does not seem to be any real connection shared with Taig. I cling to the hope we are overlooking something, because the alternatives would be disastrous. Right now, it looks like either the surface is poisonous or something deeper is afflicting the colony as a whole. I know all too well, such an affliction could only come from one source.
The possibility too horrible to acknowledge goes from a whisper to a scream in my mind, refusing to be ignored. If this is connected to Caelum and the disease spreads, the Controller could recognize the symptoms during his visit. If he does, all is lost.
*
Later that night, I take my food from the dinner hall back to my quarters. In the private hallway outside my quarters, one of the paintings grabs my attention. It shows a man alone, deep in thought within an enclosed structure. Outside the walls of his sanctuary lies a world in chaos. More often than not lately, it feels like I am that man. Consumed by my determination to discover the true cause of this new disease, and eventually, to free our people. All the while remaining oblivious to what impending dangers await.
“Interesting painting isn’t it?” a voice calls out from behind me. I had not heard anyone coming. Perhaps I am even more similar to the man in the painting than I thought. Standing behind me, Wakil looks over my shoulder at the same piece of art, reflecting on it with fatigue in his eyes. Living in Securus, one can only hold that back for so long.
“I’ve felt a lot more like that man lately, except I know all too well what lies beyond these walls,” I say, motioning to the steel surrounding us.
“Our walls have been threatened before. They’ll stand long enough to face many dangers to come,” he says, continuing his new trend of cryptic messages.
I turn to face him, knowing most people have a specific purpose for entering this hallway. “What can I do for you, Wakil?”
“Don’t worry, I’m not here to question you about your fact finding expedition. I have another concern. It’s been brought to my attention that one of our research workers has fallen ill. Tailyn is involved with very important work on surface. I was wondering if her illness is cause for concern.”
If Wakil knows her work, then he knows the implications of her illness. Despite his benign intention, the question vexes me. The constant reminders of my lack of progress are draining.
“She’ll be fine,” I reassure him. “It’s early enough that she won’t suffer any lasting effects from the illness. As far as the disease’s origin, we don’t know yet. But I truly hope it does have some correlation to her work environment. That would be much less problematic than the alternative.”
Wakil grabs at his beard and raises both eyebrows when hearing my words. Before he asks any further questions, we are both interrupted.
“Wakil, what brings you up to here this late?” Talia asks as she approaches.
“Oh, just an old man wandering about,” he says with a smile. “If you’ll excuse me, I’ll leave you two to your dinner.”
Talia waits for him to exit the hallway before she turns and embraces me, almost knocking my food out of my hands.
“What did I do to deserve that?” I ask, surprised by her reaction.
“I’m just glad you’re back in one piece. Let’s go inside so we can talk.”
I follow her into our quarters, careful to hide the wound on my scalp and swelling on the side of my jaw from her. My stomach growls loudly as we sit down, so I quickly clean my plate before looking up into her patient eyes.
“What was Wakil up to?” she asks.
“He was asking about a research worker that came into the infirmary.”
“What’s her name?” Even as she asks, Talia appears to already know the answer.
“Tailyn.”
“Now that makes sense. Tailyn is Wakil’s granddaughter.” Talia relaxes some, satisfied she has figured out his motive. “How’s she doing?”
“That’s one of the things I wanted to talk to you about. She’s the reason I had to reschedule the meeting.” With my answer, some of the receding tension creeps back into Talia’s posture.
“Oh, no. I assumed you just wanted to stay with Hadwin. What happened?”
“She’ll be fine, but she has the same vitamin deficiency as Taig,” I say. “Her illness isn’t the problem, how she managed to become vitamin deficient is. Especially since she works with the garden.”
“That’s bad if the disease has something to do with the surface.” Talia stares at the wall with a slight wrinkle in her brow, considering the possibilities.
“And even worse if it doesn’t.” I do not explain further, knowing Talia will understand the implication. “I was hoping to find something in common with her case and Taig’s, but nothing has come up yet.”
The fatigue that has been constantly chipping away at me from this only momentarily resurfaces. Knowing I have Talia’s support gives me strength.
“We’ll hold the food supply and expedite further testing of the garden,” Talia says. “I’ll have more of the vitamin supplement produced for an emergency reserve. We’ll make it a priority for the Research Department. What do you think?”
“I was thinking the same thing. I already have Research doing the testing. Another issue is if there are more cases, we may need to implement an isolation protocol. This disease isn’t contagious, but I think it’s the best way to keep it quiet until the review is over.” I was hesitant to consider this at first, given the stress the protocol would place on Securus.
“Isolating too many people will be tricky since it’ll spread workforce thin. Then again, the alternative is much worse. Let me know if the time comes. I’ll enact a selected quarantine if we need to.” Talia pauses, putting her hand on mine. “It’s only a small setback, we can handle it. How about Hadwin? Rana said he should be better by now.”
“He’s back to his usual self.” I suppress my smile while remembering his demands in the infirmary.
Talia urges me to continue. “And The Caves?”
Talia listens intently as I tell her about the metal box I found near the pools as well as the state of the storage room and area around the tracks. She immediately recognizes the danger.
“Was there only one?” Talia asks with skepticism.
“Only one that I could see. We should have another team recheck the edges of all the pools to be sure.” I would like to lead the search myself, but with everything else going on there will be no time.
“Okay, I’ll arrange it tomorrow.” Talia pulls out her Coden to add it to her schedule. “Did you run into the Soldier Guards?”
“Yeah, I had Radek act like he was irritated to be babysitting me. He performed better than expected. The Soldier Guards seemed to trust him and apparently, I’m your boy toy.” Hearing Radek’s description of me brings a smile back to her face.
“Well, now that you know it, you can embrace the role.” Talia places her hand on my cheek. Her touch almost makes me forget what I meant to say, but there is more she needs to know.
“The Soldiers didn’t trust us at all, although it sounded like at least some of the investigators believed our staging. Eit
her way, they made it clear if we go out there again, they’ll shoot first. We sealed off the entrance to Merrick’s chamber so no one can go near the tracks,” I tell her. “There’s one other thing. Did you know there’s an exit hatch in the tunnel? I saw one near the supply room.”
“No, that was nowhere in my father’s reports. It makes sense though. If I were setting the tunnel up I would make sure to have some alternative exit in case of an emergency,” Talia says.
Talia’s reasoning makes sense, although there are a lot of other possibilities. It could lead to another storage area or even sleeping quarters for some of the Soldier Guards. Either way, I have no desire to risk my life to find out.
“I don’t want to talk about that anymore.” I push any thoughts of The Caves or Caelum from my mind while gazing into Talia’s eyes. “All that matters now is you’re here with me. How’d I manage to get so lucky?”
“Well, my boy toy, you’re not without your charms,” Talia says coyly as I lean in to give her a kiss.
*
The next morning after the announcements I head down to the breakfast hall. All the people I pass automatically follow their set routine. Sometimes the monotony in Securus gets to me. The rigid daily schedule we though was necessary for our survival is only really meant to maintain Caelum. Every day we are forced to toil away in this subterranean prison. In one way or another, nearly every aspect of our lives is regulated at some level to maintain the equilibrium of the colony. We cannot choose our own vocations, where we live, or even something as simple as where to eat. Most of us never once get to feel the wind against our backs or the warmth of the sun on our faces. These were acceptable sacrifices in the name of survival, but now we know the truth, our burden has become increasingly difficult to endure.
Once inside the breakfast hall, I redirect my thoughts. As usual, there are only scraps left for me to grab before joining my family, who are already halfway through their meal. For once, Arluin does not even see me coming.
“Good morning, glad to see you waited for me, Arluin,” I say, giving him a small punch on the arm.
“Contrary to what you may think, life in Securus does not revolve around you,” he says dismissively while containing a smile. “It revolves around me!”
“How’d yesterday go?” my mother asks me, ignoring Arluin’s joke.
“Pretty much the same as everything else lately. We’re fine, but things keep getting more complicated.” I keep my reply brief, not wanting to reveal too much with so many ears nearby. As expected, my words catch Arluin’s attention.
He leans toward me. “How complicated?”
“I’ll tell you all about it later. That is, if you can do me a favor,” I ask. My mother immediately looks up to object, but I cut her off. “Don’t worry. It’s not dangerous.”
“What do you need?” Arluin asks, now ignoring his food.
I keep a low voice. “While you’re learning our computer systems, are you able to search through the general network?”
Arluin stares at me with a puzzled look. “I haven’t tried, but I suppose so.”
“I want you to see if you can look for any signals or transmissions between Securus and Caelum. I’m not sure if there’s any communication at all, but I didn’t want to have Talia look into it because an official investigation would alert too many people,” I explain.
“That’ll take some time. I don’t quite know how to set up something like that yet.”
“There’s no hurry, I figured I would tell you now so you have a head start figuring it out,” I say. It is doubtful there will be anything to find, but the task will keep him busy. After hearing the request, my mother returns to her food, satisfied he will not be in overt danger.
I finish the rest of my breakfast and head back to the upper levels. Even though there are so many other things to do, I have to brief the rest of the Leadership council on yesterday’s events. He we go again, more bureaucratic badgering. I really need to find a way out of these meetings, I think to myself while walking up the stairs. Outside the meeting room, Radek waits for me, standing with a rigidly perfect posture.
“You can’t be comfortable like that,” I tell him.
“Like what?” he asks.
“Never mind, you ready for the fun in there?” Before Radek replies to my sarcastic question, another voice interjects into our conversation.
“I hope things went well,” Cale says, circling me while he speaks.
“We’re still here, aren’t we?” I say. Just as he is about to retort, Talia appears behind me.
“The meeting is about to start. Take your seats,” she commands. To my surprise, Cale immediately does as she asks.
Inside, the room setup is slightly different from the other meetings. This time there are three chairs placed up front next to the podium for Nyree, Radek, and I. Most of the other Leadership members are already in their seats waiting for us to start. Apparently they are extra interested in hearing what we have to report today. That is probably in part because of my mysterious postponement yesterday. We walk to our chairs, joining Nyree, who repeatedly taps a fist on her knee. Apparently, she is anxious to get this over with. After sitting down, we wait for Talia to call the meeting to order.
Nyree leans over to whisper to me. “I’m gonna leave this all to you.”
“You’re too kind.” I show her a sarcastic smile. “Maybe we should let Radek take care of it.”
Talia gives me a reassuring look from her podium before turning to the main council. The group quiets immediately at the sound of her voice. I am relieved when she begins to tell the story of our discovery herself.
“There was an unrelated medical emergency requiring Kagen’s attention in the infirmary yesterday, which is why we delayed this meeting. I wanted him to be here to answer any questions you may have.
“As far as the fact finding expedition, Kagen first directed the group to the pools before they went further into The Caves. In there, they discovered a metallic box that our research workers are currently studying. We are not sure of its function or purpose yet. As soon as we learn anything, I will inform all of you.
“After this, they trekked to the supply room and found it empty. Yes, they did encounter the Soldier Guards, but there were no incidents. From what they were able to tell, the investigators have not yet made a decision on whether the original Soldier Guards’ deaths will be classified as accidental or not. Before leaving, the team sealed the entrance to Merrick’s Cavern, so we do not need to be concerned with another incident when we eventually reopen The Caves to our people.
“I believe this is good news. It gives us more than enough reason to believe we will safely make it through this review,” Talia says, being careful to leave out the more subtle details. Her biggest priority for the day is fostering hope in the group.
“May I ask what you thought of the encounter with the Soldier Guards, Nyree?” Cale asks politely.
“I wasn’t present at the time. Only Kagen and Radek were, so you’ll have to ask them.” Nyree gladly defers to us even though she heard every word of the encounter. I would be mad at her for deliberately evading the question if I did not know it was exactly how Talia wanted her to respond. If the others knew how close we were to disaster, they would not be so willing to follow our plans in the future.
“It went rather well. We explained to them our purpose out there, and they understood. Afterward, they gave us warning that any further visits will not be tolerated, at least until after the review is completed,” I tell the group, trying to make the encounter sound as nonthreatening as possible.
“Radek, do you agree with this?” Cale asks expectantly.
“Yes, sir. The Soldier Guards were initially excitable, but the encounter went as well as can be expected, sir,” he answers.
Wakil stands up, interrupting Cale. “What about this box you discovered? Can you tell us more about how you found it?” A subtle glimmer of astonishment crosses Wakil’s expression when Cale sits do
wn, relinquishing the floor. I really need to ask Talia what she did. There is no way Cale would be this passive without a good reason.
“We were not done with our questions yet,” Danyor squeaks. He looks back to Cale for assistance, yet receives none. His complete bewilderment as Cale fails to respond does not stop him from continuing the questioning. “We know your past penchant for undermining authority and how troublesome that can be. Did you manage to provoke them or incidentally reveal any pertinent information?”
“No and no. There, now we can move on,” I say, hoping we have heard the last of his voice for today. He looks again at Cale and when he receives no support, sits down. “Now, as far as the box goes, it was well hidden. It was a stroke of luck we even noticed it at all.”
“Were there any signs of others like it?” asks Janae.
“No, we looked but didn’t find any others. However, since we now know what to look for, we already have a team preparing to double check,” I answer.
“How do we know you didn’t endanger us by bringing this unknown device into Securus?” Danyor asks.
“It’s under quarantine and our workers are following the proper protocol for containment,” Talia assures him. “So, as you can see, the expedition was fruitful in that we have more information than before, and may prove invaluable depending on the contents of the found box.”
The group continues to squabble for a while, asking each of us for more details but little else is revealed. Through it all, my attention continually returns to Cale. He looks like he desperately wants to join the discussion, but keeps taming his emotions. When the meeting is finally over, I find myself drawn to him, needing to know the reason behind his uncharacteristic behavior.
“Are you feeling ill today, Cale. You were unusually quiet?” I ask him with a leery stare.
“Contrary to what you may believe, I do not contradict Talia simply for its own sake. I do so when it’s in the best interests of Securus. Though it isn’t often, when I believe she’s proceeding appropriately, there’s no reason for me to be combative.”
The Controller (The Securus Trilogy Book 2) Page 10