The Controller (The Securus Trilogy Book 2)

by Anthony Maldonado

  With all of this, it is abundantly clear her case is different than the others. She was the only one who was not getting adequate nutrition. Even so, this still should not have happened. Her son has an odd taste for the artificial gruel and nutrient mix, but other than that she has been eating all of the natural food we have offered. The limited portions of food she did consume should have been enough to prevent this specific deficiency, although she would have eventually developed other signs of malnutrition.

  Warra’s case may be unique, but it is still vexing. I have pulled her from her duties today. She has been instructed to make a detailed list of what she has eaten and what she gave to her son. Maybe comparing that list to the other patients will give me some lead to pursue. With no common exposures and with her never setting foot on the surface, more than ever, I believe the food must be the key to this disease. It remains the one thing that could be a connection.

  While making the list, Warra will be returned to her quarters, and more importantly, to her son. Warra has agreed to return to a normal diet. It will take some time before she will be able to tolerate the increasing amount of food, so until then she will also get the same infusion as the others. She also agreed to let us send our rounding Healer come to work with her and her son to help them deal with their grief.

  By lunch time, I have run out of questions and need a break from the frustration. I go to the lunch hall and join Hadwin, who sits alone at one of the tables.

  “Hey, how’s it going?” he says as I sit down. Conspicuously absent is his typical joking jab at me.

  “Except for not discovering the cause of the new Pellagra, I’m fine. Things are getting a little hectic again though.”

  As we talk, Sayda joins us, sitting across from Hadwin and next to me. Not long after we start eating, Sayda’s attention becomes distracted. This time I am not the only one who notices it.

  “What’s on your mind?” Hadwin asks her.

  “Oh, nothing,” she says. I follow her absent stare to find her distraction. Radek stands near the entrance, speaking with another Guard. With both of us looking past him, Hadwin turns to look as well. He looks annoyed when seeing Radek. Hadwin is finally catching on.

  “So, any progress in Research?” I ask Sayda, changing our focus.

  “Not at all,” she grumbles at the reminder.

  “I may have something,” Hadwin says with a self-satisfied smirk.

  “And when were you planning to share?” Sayda asks him.

  “Hey, I have to space this out. I can’t spoil you guys with my amazing intellect, or you’ll become overwhelmed by it!” Hadwin fights to keep a straight face.

  “Spit it out, what do you have?” I ask.

  “Well, I wanted to redeem myself for that little incident with the box, so I took part of the receiver to work on. I was using some of my work equipment to tap into its signal. If I get it right, we can have the receiver send a signal back to us on demand,” he tells us. Sayda looks intrigued, but I am not sure what use this will be.

  “Okay, then what?” I ask.

  “We follow the signal to the box. This could also help us find any other hidden boxes if they’re using the same frequency,” he explains.

  Now I understand why he is so proud of his work. This could be a significant step for us in our path to freedom. My optimism is tempered by a nagging thought. If there are multiple different signals being used, this could end up luring us into a false sense of security. Even so, it is progress, which is something we desperately need right now.

  “Good job, Hadwin. Who did you get to do the work for you?” I chide him.

  After a few more minutes we all get up to leave the hall. I notice Hadwin follows Sayda even though his work is not on the same level. Hopefully, now that he sees her response to Radek, he will stop procrastinating. With them gone, it is time for me to get back to work. I want to get the list from Warra and compare it to the ones from the others. Before reaching the stairs, Janae comes running down the hallway.

  “Kagen! Where were you?”

  “What are you talking about?” I ask, confused by her sudden appearance.

  “The review, you never showed up,” she explains, pulling me back to the other stairwell to return with her.

  I stop her in place. “What review?”

  “Didn’t you get a copy of the schedule? They moved up Ardal’s review. We’re already halfway through,” she says.

  That’s impossible, I shout in my mind. The reviews for both Aamon and Ardal were taken off the schedule. I was there when Talia sent the update. She would never have allowed them to proceed with the review imminent. Janae must be mistaken. I pull out my Coden and scroll through the schedules. There was indeed an update. Ardal’s review was moved to today and Aamon’s to tomorrow.

  I sprint to the stairs and speed upward, too fast for Janae to keep up. My legs burn, but not as much as the anger fueling me. This change cannot be a simple mistake. Whoever is responsible is blatantly attempting to sabotage us. I exit the stairs on the lower level of the Leadership offices and pushing past the scattered people outside the entrance to the side corridor where the reviews are held.

  Once inside, I slow to a brisk march. The hallway I am in is exactly like our personal quarters and offices above, except the decoration is less ornate. The walls are covered in a warm orange tone without any paintings adorning them and the cushioned flooring is much more worn. Near the end of the hallway is my target. I stop to catch my breath before carefully moving to the doorway. My hand nearly crushes the partially retracted steel door as I look inside

  Only two men are in the room right now. They huddle together in the far corner of the room, speaking in low tones to each other. From here, the outer door mostly shields me from their sight. I fully intend to keep it that way. One of the men is an older member of Leadership with hair nearly as white as Wakil’s. He is the assigned overseer in change of Ardal’s review.

  Even though the other man faces away from me, his relatively short stature and greyed temples are all too familiar. It can only be Cale. I should have known he would be involved. This overt action is new for Cale. He typically covers his tracks well, making any proof of guilt elusive. The only thing keeping me from losing control is the realization that this subversion may be exactly what we need to remove him from Leadership. Still, allowing Ardal to spew his lies right before Braeden’s arrival is troubling.

  Barely able to restrain myself from bursting in to demand answers, I stay quiet and watch them. The two men seem friendly to each other. Unfortunately, I cannot decipher the content of their discussion from out here. Soon, Janae catches up to me. Unfortunately, Danyor is not far behind. She stops to speak to me while he enters the room with an obnoxious grin.

  “Did Cale change the schedule?” I ask her.

  “I don’t know, I didn’t even check,” she admits.

  “How’s it going so far?” I ask, realizing in my anger I did not even think to ask about the review itself.

  “Slowly. The overseer is dwelling on every single detail. I wasn’t even able to present everything during the morning session because of his nitpicking,” Janae throws her hands in the air from frustration as she answers. “Hopefully we’ll finish soon. I just want this day to be over with.”

  I lower my voice, so the men inside cannot hear. “As much as I want to, I can’t stay. This schedule change was not authorized. Talia needs to know about it.”

  Janae’s eyes widen with surprise. “Should we cancel the review?”

  “It’s too late. It would look like an abuse of power if I came in and canceled the proceedings now. We have to let this one play out. But Aamon’s review will not happen tomorrow.” I say before turning to leave.

  It pains me to walk away now, especially since Ardal has proven to be a skilled liar. I want to be there to make sure he never steps foot outside the Detention Center again. Only, with the review happening tomorrow, I cannot afford to let my personal desire for vengeance sto
p me from doing what is necessary to protect Securus.

  Speak of the devil, I think to myself as another group comes toward me. Ardal is being escorted back in by Ettor, the Guard from the Detention Center, along with another Guard. Ardal is more energetic than when I saw him last, but in the bright light of these halls, he appears as frail as ever.

  “Couldn’t stay away, could you?” Ardal says as he gets pushed past me.

  Too enraged to speak, I wave him off while stomping down the hall. My heart pounds through my chest. I need to get away from here before my mind is no longer able to contain the anger screaming inside for me to attack him. The last thing Talia would need is to clean up after me on top of this mess.

  I keep going all the way until bursting into Talia’s office. The Leadership member she is meeting with immediately gets up to leave when seeing the look on my face.

  “What’s going on?” Talia asks calmly.

  “They changed the dates for the reviews!” I shift my weight from foot to foot, to upset to sit or be still. “Cale and Danyor were both up there. Ardal’s review is nearly over.”

  “Did he order the change?” Talia’s voice remains even, but the fire in her eyes startles me for a second.

  “I came straight here after I found out. Janae didn’t know who changed it,” I tell her.

  Talia accesses the schedule on her computer. After checking through the master files, her anger changes to confusion. “The log says it was changed by me. That’s impossible. The time stamp is from when we were at dinner last night.”

  We both know Talia did not change the schedule. That means either someone came in here to change it, or they hacked the system from somewhere else. The worst part of this new wrinkle in the deception is the time it will take to trace the hack. We need proof before inviting the culprit to the Detention Center.

  “I’ll have one of the Guards follow Cale constantly until we trace the hack.” Talia says, already forming a plan more diplomatic than my desire to beat the truth out of him. “He won’t be able to do anything else while being monitored. I will personally speak with the men in the Detention Center to make sure they understand Aamon is not to leave until I personally say so.”

  “Okay, what do you want me to do to help?” I ask.

  “Until we identify the culprit, there’s nothing else you can do. We still need you to work on the Pellagra cases. I know you would rather go to the review, but this does not change what’s happening tomorrow or what Securus needs to survive in the future,” Talia reminds me. “Did you make any progress this morning?”

  “Not really, but I have a lead,” I say, looking down and searching my mind for a good reason the review should take precedence. Only, deep down I know there is none. Talia is right. Janae is capable of taking care of the review and the overseer has proven to have good judgment with the other trials. My presence would not change anything.

  Talia comes from behind her desk. “Are you gonna be okay, Kagen?”

  “Not really, but you’re right.” My anger drains away with Talia’s hug. She will make sure this does not go unpunished. More than that, as a Healer, I have a duty to our people to stop the spread of this disease.

  *

  Times like this makes Securus feel even more tight and cramped than it already is. These constricting walls keep everything in, good and bad. No matter how hard we try, we will never escape the despicable actions of the bad people until we break out of this place. If we are to make it through this review and ever get out of here, I must keep my personal feelings under control. After taking the time to finish calming my emotions alone in my quarters, I go to the stairs with a renewed determination.

  My legs carry me to an empty hallway that looks identical to every other one in Securus, except for the different white numbers on the wall. Near the end of the hall is a metal door exactly like the others except this one has the numbers I am looking for painted on its surface. My knuckles pound on the door, sending a pinging echo through the narrow halls. The door retracts and Taig appears, inviting me inside. His quarters are even more bare than most. Only a single bunk, a cabinet for his clothing, and the door to the bathroom break up emptiness of the room.

  “Hey, how are you feeling?” I ask while sitting on the bunk. Not many people in Securus have sleeping quarters all to themselves like this, but Taig no longer has any family left.

  “I feel like myself again.” He remains standing, poised like he was ready to sprint out the door at a moment’s notice. “I’m ready to get back to work as soon as you clear me. You are going to clear me, aren’t you?”

  “Consider yourself cleared.” Taig has risked too much for me not to accommodate him on such a small request. Besides, I know from experience how quickly sitting in a room alone becomes maddening. “I know we already went over the details of your scouting mission a few times, but there are some things I want to go over again.”

  “Okay,” he says, even though I sense his reluctance. The constant reminders that he cannot recall what really happened wear on him.

  I ask about Warra, but he does not ever recall seeing her. I suggest they should speak in person. Maybe that would trigger some sort of memory. As I propose it, he becomes even more animated, ready to go speak with her now.

  “Before you go, I have a few more questions,” I tell Taig. “You said you scavenged some food while on surface. Do you remember what it was?”

  “My memory’s still hazy. I remember some kind of tree and grabbing something from it,” he answers, closing his eyes in an attempt to recall. “But whenever I picture it in my mind, the memory goes dark as soon as my hand reaches out.”

  His recollection is the same as before. I doubt it will ever return. With the degree of confusion and delirium he suffered, we never really expected he would recover all of his memories, but we had to try anyway.

  “That’s okay, don’t worry. You’ve already remembered more than anyone expected, considering how sick you were,” I tell him. He will not be able to add to his food logs, but there is one other piece of information that could be useful to Securus. “Let’s talk about something else. Do you remember the area you described in the Coden, with the symmetrical logs near the stream?”

  “Yeah, that I do remember,” he says, happy we have found a question he can actually answer. “We didn’t stay very long though. Oren swore something was stalking us in the forest. We meant to return there on the way back, but I don’t remember if we did. I thought the area may be a good place for a settlement. The smaller trees will be easier to clear and there’s a water source nearby.”

  “That’s what I was hoping you would say.” It is far from a definitive answer, but will give me something to point to when the rest of Leadership presses for more details of the trip. Of course, potential settlement locations will not matter if I do not figure out the cause of the Pellagra cases.

  “Did you ever figure out what was in the forest that scared you off?” I ask. “You mentioned some strange animal activity in the Coden, but there were no details.”

  “My guess is it was the bear you saw before. After what you told us, we were focused on safety, so we didn’t go looking for it,” Taig says. “We never ran into it, but I think we went through its territory because we found a shredded deer carcass. It was torn in half and picked to the bone. I can’t imagine anything else capable of that.”

  “Did you come across any other animals?” I keep asking questions, hoping that talking about the trip will jog more of his memory about the food.

  “There were a lot of smaller creatures in the trees. We ran across a few deer and some slow moving things covered in spikes,” he says. “We did have a more interesting encounter too. One of the first nights we saw a pack of wolves, at least I think they were wolves. We hid in a tree and watched as they ran by us.”

  “You guys didn’t have a fire going?” We had gone over all of the survival techniques we could find on the internet before they left. One of the things we learned was kee
ping a fire helps deter animals.

  “No,” he says sheepishly. “We had a hard time with making a fire at first. It’s harder than it sounds. That’s why we climbed the tree when we heard the wolves. There were six of them. We didn’t see them for very long, but they seemed to be running from something. Whatever was chasing them was big and fast. We could hear it moving through the forest, but never saw it. The whole thing felt so weird at the time. Now that I think about it, maybe we were already hallucinating. But I didn’t feel sick then.”

  That is interesting. It is doubtful he was hallucinating before the sickness kicked in. I never read about anything that would chase after wolves like that. Whatever the creature was, it must have been really big to be able to intimidate a full pack. While we talk about the wolves, I imagine him having to lug his supplies up and down the tree. It would be hard to keep his pack from getting stuck or damaged up there.

  With my wandering thoughts, something else pops into my mind, stirring up excitement from the possibility. I remember his scuffed pack and broken containers inside. Could it really be that simple? I think to myself.

  Chapter 17

  With cautious optimism, I ask Taig, “When exactly did you spill the gruel?”

  “The second day. But like I said, we had more than enough to make up for it,” he reminds me.

  “I know, but not eating the gruel is the only common factor between all of the people with Pellagra. Tailyn and the other research workers were only eating food from the surface garden. Warra gave all of hers to her son. And you dropped yours,” I say, thinking out loud. “It still doesn’t make any sense since there isn’t an unusual amount of vitamin B3 in it. Even so, this can’t be a coincidence.”