[Contributor 01.0] Contributor

by Nicole Ciacchella

  Chapter 25

  When Dara opened her eyes, she took in the sight of the sterile, featureless walls and felt a rush of sweet relief that she was in familiar territory.

  "Happy to be back?" a voice asked.

  Turning her head, Dara saw a doctor smiling at her, and she smiled in return. "Yes."

  "Do you feel up to a visitor?"

  "Yes," she repeated, struggling to a sitting position.

  "Good," the doctor said approvingly. "You were badly dehydrated and suffered some minor bruises and strains, but you're fit to return to your shift tomorrow."

  "Wonderful," she said, though she wasn't sure it was. "What about my master, Letizia D'Angelo?"

  "She'll be fine, but she'll need to stay here another day, for observation."

  "That's very good news. Thank you, Doctor."

  "I'll go get your visitor."

  A moment later, the doctor escorted Andersen into the room, and Dara's eyes widened in surprise. Andersen regarded her with a grave gaze as the doctor discreetly withdrew.

  "Apprentice Morrow, how are you?"

  "Much better now, thank you, sir."

  "I'm glad to hear it. We were quite alarmed when you and Letizia went missing."

  "It...it was awful," Dara replied honestly, her voice wavering.

  "I imagine it was. There are many anxious to hear your story. Do you feel up to accompanying me? We have a joint force of Magnum and Zhang Agritech Systems Authorities assembled in one of the conference rooms."

  "Oh, of course," she said, confused.

  "Normally this would be a matter solely under the discretion of Magnum, but as the transport belonged to Zhang Agritech..." he said, gesturing.

  Understanding dawned on her: Magnum wanted to ascertain Zhang's level of responsibility in the accident.

  "Understood, sir."

  "I'll be waiting for you in the corridor," he said, leaving the room.

  Dara rose from her bed and dressed quickly, happy to find that someone had left her new clothing. Hopefully they'd incinerated what she had been wearing during her ordeal. She tugged a brush through her hair, tied it back, and went out to meet Andersen.

  When they arrived at the conference room, the sheer number of people surprised Dara. The representatives from each Creator sat on opposite sides of the long table, the air thick with tension.

  "Esteemed Contributors, this is Apprentice Morrow," Andersen announced. He pulled a chair out for Dara and she sat gratefully, her knees shaking.

  Things were turning out to be both better and worse than she'd imagined. The tension between the two Job Creators was worrisome, but it was a relief that they were so distracted by their mistrust of one another. It would take the edge off any skepticism they might have felt about Dara's statement.

  Authorities on both sides questioned her, and Dara told them the story Letizia had instructed her to tell. She kept her answers short, afraid that using too many details would give the lie away. It took several hours, but when the Authorities ran out of questions Dara felt reasonably assured that she'd provided them with a believable story.

  "That will be all, Apprentice Morrow," Andersen told her. "A Magnum transport is waiting to return you to the dome. I will see you tomorrow morning."

  "Good evening, sir," she said, as she rose from her chair, trying to conceal her eagerness. She couldn't escape the room fast enough.

  Four representatives waited for her, two from each Creator. No one spoke as they escorted her to the transport bay. She and the two Magnum representatives boarded, and she stared out the windows into the darkness rather than look at them.

  "You must have had a trying ordeal," the male representative said gently.

  "Yes, I did," Dara said, her tone indicating she wasn't up for further conversation. To her relief, they left her in peace.

  When the transport docked, she hurried out. Her father and Jonathan waited for her, and they both rushed over, each hugging her tightly in turn.

  "First your mother and then you. I thought..." Joshua began, his eyes bright with tears.

  "I'm okay, Dad," she assured him. "Can we go home, please?" She wanted to ask about her mother, but not here, not in front of the prying eyes and cocked ears of the other Contributors.

  When they reached the apartment, Jonathan arranged pillows on the couch while Joshua made tea. It was so good to be home, so good to be back with them, that she let the tears flow, taking sips of her tea between bursts of tears. Neither her father nor Jonathan said anything, but their silent presence was reassuring.

  "Sorry," she said, when she'd finally managed to collect herself. She wiped tears away with her sleeve.

  "Don't apologize," Jonathan said softly.

  "It...it was horrible," she told them, bursting into tears again.

  It wasn't simply thinking about the experience that made her cry, though; it was the uncertainty about whether she could afford to be honest with the people she loved most. For the time being, she decided to stick to the official version of the story. When she finished, her father left to make her another cup of tea while Jonathan held her, stroking her hair.

  "You were so brave," he said.

  "I never...I never realized how hard life could be. I was so hungry and...and it was so terrible in the wasteland and..."

  "If not for the Job Creators, we would all be stuck out there."

  Something in his voice chilled her and she shivered, prompting him to drape a blanket over her shoulders. She clutched it as her mind raced with thoughts she preferred not to have.

  "How's Mom?" she asked, as her father returned, holding a mug out to her. She felt ashamed of how relieved she was to have an excuse to change the subject.

  "She's doing better," he said, rather evasively.

  "I know you don't want to worry me right now, but one of the things I worried about most while I was out there was you and Mom."

  He sighed, his eyes troubled. "Her recovery is moving along much more slowly than the doctors would like. In two more days, they'll have to release her, and they weren't shy about telling me that they're concerned."

  Dara winced, taking a sip of tea in an attempt to calm her nerves. "We'll just have to work really hard when she comes home."

  "Please, let me help as well," Jonathan offered.

  "I can't let you do that," Joshua replied, shaking his head. "You've given so much of your time to us already. I can't let you jeopardize your apprenticeship."

  His tone brooked no argument, and Jonathan didn't try, though he didn't look happy about it. "If there is anything I can do, please let me know."

  "Thank you, Jonathan. We will," Joshua responded.

  Having Jonathan's help would have been a relief, but Dara was as reluctant as her father to be the cause of any setbacks for him, and she knew her mother would feel the same way. If things did not work out well for the Morrows, it would be best if they didn't take Jonathan down with them.

  "For the time being, I think it would be better if we don't tell your mother about your accident," Joshua said.

  Dara nodded. "I don't want to worry her."

  "I don't like the idea of concealing things from her, but until we have her home and have a better idea about how well she's...functioning, I think it's best we keep things light."

  Though Dara frowned, she agreed with her father. Neither of them had spoken of their fear that Leona wouldn't recover, as if refusing to speak of it would ensure that the worst couldn't happen. Dara knew this was naive, but she could not imagine what she would do if her strong, vibrant mother turned out to be a broken, shattered remnant of her former self.

  There were so many things to discuss, but Dara's eyelids became unbearably heavy. Keeping so many things secret wore her out. It had never been in her nature to conceal much, and she found herself wondering if she'd become hopelessly tangled in the web of her own lies.

  "I should go," Jonathan said. Joshua rose and collected the tea things, taking them into the kitchen.

 
; While she was happy to see Jonathan and her father, she now wished for nothing more than the solace of being alone in her room. "I'll see you in the morning," she said, her voice thick with fatigue.

  He leaned over and kissed her forehead, the side of his index finger brushing her cheek. "I never want to have to walk to shift without you again."

  "The feeling is mutual." She pressed her cheek into his caress.

  "When I found out that you were missing, I thought..." he paused and swallowed convulsively, and Dara placed her finger over his lips.

  "Don't. I'm here. I'm okay."

  He nodded, and she could see tears in his eyes. Tenderly, he kissed her, his arms encircling her, wrapping her in his warmth.

  "I love you," he said, caressing her face and looking deeply in her eyes.

  "I love you too." She reached up for another kiss.

  When it ended, he gave her a brief smile and said goodbye, lingering at the door for a moment before letting himself out. A few seconds later, Joshua emerged from the kitchen, and Dara knew he had been waiting until Jonathan left.

  "Are you going to bed now, sweetheart?" he asked, worry lines appearing around his mouth as he studied his daughter.

  "I'm fine, Dad. Really." She rose from the couch and went to him.

  He reached out and cradled her head in his hands, something he hadn't done in years. "I know. I just...if there's anything at all that you want to tell me, Dara, I hope you know you can come to me."

  Biting her lip, she looked at him. His eyes were troubled, but she couldn't say if it was because he was still caught up in his worry over what had happened to her, or if there was something more behind the words. "Of course I know that."

  "Okay." His tone was careful. "I just don't want you to think that you need to...protect me."

  Comprehension dawned on Dara. "Oh, Dad, it's okay. I swear, after we heard those people outside of the transport, Letizia and I didn't see a soul until we got back to the Zhang dome."

  "Yes. Just if you...if you think of anything else you need to tell me, I'm here for you."

  Puzzled, Dara nodded. "Thanks."

  He hugged her and she headed off to her room, wondering all the while what was going on in her father's head.

  Chapter 26

  For the next couple of days, Dara felt like she was constantly holding her breath. No one questioned her again, but she couldn't help but worry that someone would start interrogating her about the holes in her story.

  Her return had obviously set both her father's and Jonathan's minds at ease, allowing them to sink back into their private concerns. Dara didn't mind; it made the necessity of lying a little easier. She could justify it by telling herself she was protecting them from additional stress.

  Letizia returned to work, and though her behavior toward Dara didn't differ from what it had been before their accident, Dara had a hard time bearing it. After all they had been through together, it disappointed her to have to go back to the master/apprentice dynamic.

  Dara noticed that Letizia now studied everyone else with a new degree of coldness, but Dara doubted anyone else noticed the change. As always, Letizia was a consummate actress. Dara, however, had learned a lot about how to read her master, and she grew increasingly concerned.

  "Jonathan isn't meeting you?" Letizia asked, as they exited headquarters after shift.

  "He has to stay late tonight."

  "You're free to walk with me then, I assume?"

  "Of course." Dara tried hard not to look as perplexed as she felt.

  "Should we take a short detour through the gardens?"

  "That would be...um...nice."

  Nodding briskly, Letizia led her through several twists and turns, until they reached a small, secluded alcove. The stream of other walkers thinned to a trickle. Though Letizia's face looked serene, her eyes moved around rapidly, and she seemed to be examining the other walkers, making silent assessments.

  When they were alone at last, Letizia stopped and looked at Dara. "I got a message from Mal."

  Dara's stomach cramped. Did Letizia really mean to embroil her in this? She had been hoping to forget about what had happened out in the wasteland.

  Letizia must have seen some sign of the storm of emotions that passed through Dara, because she hurriedly clarified. "It's about the transport malfunction."

  "Oh," Dara said, surprised. "I didn't realize he had the...resources to look into something like that."

  Letizia ignored the comment. "What happened wasn't an accident."

  "What?" Shock froze Dara in place, and she felt the fine hairs on the back of her neck stand on end.

  "Mal's hackers found evidence of a virus. Whoever planted it didn't fully scrub it from the system."

  "A virus? Why didn't Zhang find it?"

  "They weren't looking for it. They're so busy diagnosing their own systems, thinking they're the cause of the failure, that they missed the signs."

  "That doesn't make any sense. Why target a random transport?" Dara asked.

  Letizia glanced around quickly. "The virus didn't target a transport. It targeted a person: you."

  It seemed like the dome had tilted, everything was so off kilter. Dara stumbled, and Letizia reached out and steadied her. Her face was concerned, but her eyes were steely.

  "Me? Why would the virus target me? I haven't..." Dara's voice trailed off as her mind short-circuited, refusing to deal with the terrible implications.

  "I'm sorry, Dara. It definitely targeted you," Letizia said, studying her apprentice's face as she spoke. "Not only was it attached to your biometric signature, it was first released when we left for the Zhang dome, but the sender didn't anticipate that we'd take a Zhang transport. The virus was capable of penetrating Magnum's firewall, but not Zhang's, which is why it didn't work the first time."

  "So the sender figured out how to breach Zhang's security." Dara felt oddly detached, as if they were discussing something that had happened to someone else.

  "Exactly. Whoever sent it also accessed the signatures of everyone on board our transport before sending a more sophisticated version of the initial virus."

  "Meaning what?"

  "The first virus was intended to delay the transport. However, when it was sent the second time, it had been modified to cause a total systems failure."

  Dara's mind reeled, and she had an irrational urge to turn and flee, as if she could somehow outrun what Letizia was telling her. "No. No. There's some mistake. There has to be."

  "There isn't. Mal sent me a message two days ago and I asked him to verify the results. He had three different specialists analyze the data, and they all came to the same conclusion: someone deliberately caused the transport to fail."

  "You're telling me someone tried to kill me? Why would someone want to do that?" Dara's voice rose, taking on a semi-hysterical note.

  "Why do you think?" Letizia barked out a short laugh before dragging a hand over her face, and Dara finally noticed the tension in her master's taut features, her choppy gestures.

  "Who did it?" As she looked around, Dara had the disconcerting sense that she was seeing everything for the first time. The park, its sculptures, the metalwork of the dome's ceiling: all of it seemed suddenly alien.

  "I don't know yet. Whoever did it did a great job of covering their tracks, but I can assure you the specialists won't rest until they figure it out. You have no idea what Mal's like when...when something like this happens."

  "Why does he care?" It amazed Dara that Mal would go to such lengths for her, but when she saw the expression on Letizia's face, she realized how dense she was being. "He cares because you were on the transport."

  "It's not that he's indifferent. But his resources are limited and I'm uniquely positioned to gather a lot of valuable information—"

  "I get it. I understand."

  How ironic that she'd been angry with her master for dragging her into the middle of something she hadn't wanted to know existed when, had it not been for Dara, Letiz
ia would never have been stranded in the wasteland in the first place.

  "I care, though," Letizia said fiercely. She stepped closer, seizing Dara's hand and squeezing it. "I try so hard not to get involved, but I do care about what happens to you. Mal thinks I'm an idiot, risking exposure without even knowing where your sympathies lie, but I don't care."

  Dara had no idea what to say. She found Letizia's confession touching, but she was also strongly tempted to reject the show of friendship because some part of her insisted that nothing good could come of trusting this woman. But would ignoring Letizia guarantee she would be safe, or had her ignorance just been willful blindness?

  "What now?" Dara asked.

  "Zhang would probably have stumbled on it eventually, but I asked Mal to make it more obvious. It's only a matter of time before they figure it out—they have a vested interest in solving the mystery. This whole incident has caused a lot of mistrust between Zhang and Magnum."

  "Mistrust between Job Creators could undermine the whole system."

  Letizia looked surprised by this insight. "Well, yes. I mean, their immediate concern is preserving the link with Magnum for business purposes, but of course it's also in every Job Creator's interest to preserve the illusion that the system is without flaws."

  Abruptly, Dara realized she was tired of every last bit of it. She wished she could leave the dome and flee, but to where? As her eyes met Letizia's, she saw recognition there, and she remembered what her master had said to her in Raj's makeshift med center. There was no escape from this trap. She would have to learn how to survive within the system.

  Mal doesn't think it has to be this way...

  She pushed the thought away.

  "Ryan did it," Dara said, certain. "Javier may want the position, but he wouldn't kill someone to get it."

  "Because he's too noble to commit murder?" Letizia asked, her brows arched. Though the question held some irony, Dara knew her master was serious.

  "Maybe. Or maybe murder's just too messy and makes things too complicated. I don't know. But, either way, it's not something he'd do. I'm sure of it."