[Contributor 01.0] Contributor

by Nicole Ciacchella

  "Dad!" Dara called when she arrived home, dizzy with relief at having at last reached sanctuary. Twice Raj had someone sweep their apartment, and both times the sweep hadn't turned up any signs of bugs. Just as Raj had predicted, Magnum couldn't have been less concerned about Leona's disappearance.

  Silence greeted Dara, so she dropped her things by the door and made her way through the apartment, looking for her father. The very lack of her mother's presence assaulted her. They had already packed up her things and given them to the Authorities. After all, resources were scarce, and they were expected to Contribute. Not a trace of Leona remained, save for that precious book, hidden away in a secret compartment in the pantry.

  Dara's stomach contracted with increasing degrees of pain as she made her way around her now-alien home. The apartment gave no indication that Leona had ever even existed. Dara and her father were supposed to act accordingly, as if Leona's absence hadn't left a gaping hole in their lives, as if they cared only about being devoted Contributors to Magnum.

  Crumpling into a chair, Dara chewed at the cuticle on her right thumb until it began to bleed. The metallic taste startled her, and she looked down at her thumb as if it belonged to another person. Never in her life had her nails been anything short of perfectly groomed.

  I can't do this, she thought, as she fetched a clean piece of gauze and pressed it firmly to the wound. No matter how much it's eating me up inside, I can't show Magnum.

  But how, exactly, was she supposed to hide these feelings? How was she supposed to ignore this inner turmoil?

  By the time her father arrived home, Dara had paced from one end of the living room to the other more times than she could count. He looked tired, but his face creased in concern when he saw her.

  "Dara? What happened?"

  "Andersen chose me as his assistant."

  She watched as a thousand emotions played out over his features. Though his pride was plain, so were his anger and fear.

  "I don't know what to say," Joshua finally admitted. He sighed tiredly and turned away to put his things by the door. The stooped way he moved made him look like a very old man, and Dara shuddered.

  "Dad, I..." But she couldn't quite get the words out. It wasn't that she didn't want to tell her father how she felt; she knew he would understand. She was simply unwilling to expose him to the risk.

  "You're going to do it, aren't you?" he asked, turning to face her.

  Dara didn't even pretend to misunderstand him. "Yes. I'm going to see Letizia tonight."

  "Good," he said, shocking her to her core. He folded her into his arms.

  "I was afraid you'd be mad or disappointed or—" she said, her voice muffled as she pressed her cheek against his suit.

  "No, Dara. I've never been anything less than overwhelmingly proud of you," he said in a firm voice, and she closed her eyes, her body relaxing in relief. "If anything, I'm even prouder of you now."

  "You are?" Surprised, she drew back from him.

  He nodded, his eyes serious. "I wish I'd had the courage to act."

  "Courage?" She felt anything but brave.

  "I took the easy way out. I just did what I was told, even though I knew it was wrong. Unlike me, you're brave enough to try to change things."

  "I'm no hero, Dad."

  "You are to me."

  "Well, you're one to me." Tears sprang to her eyes and she hugged him fiercely. "You didn't take the easy way out. You had to pretend to be something you weren't, and you did it because you were trying to protect me and Mom."

  "You and your mother are the only things that kept me going all this time," he said, his voice breaking. "And now they stole her from me, just as surely as if they'd taken her to one of their facilities."

  They stood quietly for a few moments, hugging each other, and when Joshua spoke again, his voice was soft.

  "I failed you and your mother, and I'm sorry for it. I thought I was doing what was best, what would keep you safest, but look what happened."

  "That's not your fault. It's Magnum's," Dara responded fiercely.

  "I can't tell you how difficult it is to look at you and know that I can't protect you any longer. I want to tell you not to do it, that it's not safe. I'm terrified for you. But I know this is what you have to do." His eyes filled with tears as he spoke, and he stroked a gentle hand over her head.

  "It is," she confirmed, her own eyes tearing.

  "Then I'll do whatever I can to support you, no matter what. I mean it, Dara. I've wasted far too many years being passive. "

  Reluctantly, she nodded. Just as he was setting her free to do what she needed, she had to let him do what his heart told him was right.

  The com line rang, and she glanced over at it. "That's Letizia."

  "Go," he said. She gave him another quick, fierce hug before she hurried off to Letizia's.

  Letizia was agitated when she let Dara in. "I should be happy. Things have worked out precisely the way I'd hoped and planned."

  "Congratulations. Let's break out the champagne," Dara said sarcastically. "So what did the esteemed Andersen have to say to you?"

  "I've received a promotion and additional privileges," Letizia replied in a flat voice. "I now have thirty staff reporting to me, which means I'll have far less time to keep an eye on Andersen."

  "Then I'll keep an eye on him."

  "What?" Letizia went deathly still, her eyes opening so wide they looked like they'd fall out of her head. The color drained from her face.

  "I'm going to be his assistant. Who better to keep an eye on him?" Dara kept her voice calm, trying not to reveal her alarm at Letizia's reaction.

  "Dara, no." Letizia began pacing, tugging her hands through her hair. "No, you don't want to do that. Trust me. Andersen is... No, it's too risky."

  "Why don't you let me make that decision for myself?" Dara snapped.

  Letizia stopped, looking Dara directly in the eyes, surprising her with an anguished expression. "All this time, I wanted to keep you safe because I knew Andersen had the power to destroy you. But now that you're his assistant, you'll be under his constant scrutiny. I've just pushed you from the frying pan straight into the fire."

  Dara's face hardened. "What can he do to destroy me? I've already lost almost everything that means anything to me."

  "There are things you don't know, things none of us is meant to know. Things I know only because of Mal and the Free Thinkers. If Andersen begins to suspect you, if he reports you to his superiors, they can make you disappear."

  Though Dara's stomach twisted in fear, she refused to acknowledge it. "I can't go on like this, Letizia, and you know it. I'm no longer one of them. What else do you suggest I do?"

  Letizia began pacing again. "I didn't want this. I swear to you, this was not my intention."

  "I know that," Dara said, placing a hand on Letizia's arm, trying to still her. "This is my choice, and you can't stop me. If you won't help, I'll figure out some other way to get a message to Mal."

  Throwing her hands up in the air, Letizia let out a groan of frustration. "Fine, you're right. I can't stop you, and I shouldn't try. But if something happens to you—"

  "Don't you think I worry about something happening to you too?" Dara asked softly.

  Deflated, Letizia blew out a breath. "All right. I'll send a message to Mal telling him you want to meet with him, but I'm coming with you."

  "I'd appreciate you being there," Dara said sincerely.

  "I want you to listen carefully to what Mal tells you," Letizia said. Dara had never heard her speak in such a ferocious tone. "Before you commit to anything, I want you to listen to him and make sure that you're prepared to deal with the consequences."

  "I promise." Dara's voice was solemn, which seemed to placate Letizia.

  "I'll let you know the details. I'll tell him it's an emergency, so hopefully he'll be able to get back to me quickly. But it could take a couple of days."

  Dara didn't know if she could wait that long, but she n
odded anyway.

  Squeezing her eyes tightly shut, Letizia rubbed a hand over her forehead. "I'll do everything I can to help you, to prepare you, but you have to promise me you'll never let him catch you off guard."

  "I do promise you that. I know this is a bad situation, but at least we have each other now. You don't have to do this on your own anymore."

  Letizia gave her a pained smile. "I'd rather be on my own."

  Chapter 40

  As Letizia had warned, it took several days for the meeting to be arranged. At first, the delay surprised Dara, but as Letizia fed her the details of how they would slip from the domes, Dara realized just how difficult coordinating such a disappearance must be. Unlike Raj, Dara and Letizia couldn't simply walk through the thoroughfares in disguise, due to the risk of running into someone they knew.

  Dara would get no sleep on the day of the meeting, but that was fine with her. She was too anxious to speak to Mal to even attempt to get any rest. Instead, she paced her living room for two hours after the end of her shift, waiting for the moment of her departure.

  "Be safe," her father said in a hushed voice, hugging her tightly before she slipped through the door.

  The thoroughfares bustled with activity, full of first shifters out enjoying an evening courtesy of privilege vouchers, or conducting their normal day-to-day business. Dara did her best to appear natural, walking at a normal brisk pace, her gaze fixed straight ahead of her purposefully.

  To her relief, she made it to the rendezvous point without incident. She looked around cautiously before slipping into the utility hatch. If anyone saw her, they'd definitely find her behavior suspicious.

  "No need for contingencies," Dara told Letizia.

  Letizia exhaled and nodded. "Here's your uniform." She handed Dara the jumpsuit of a Core utility worker, and Dara quickly pulled it on over her normal clothing. It would be uncomfortably warm, but leaving her clothes somewhere was far too risky. If someone found them and scanned the ID tags, there would be questions that would prove difficult to answer.

  "Let's go," Letizia said tersely, the moment Dara finished stuffing her hair up under her cap. Dara nodded and followed Letizia through the maze of access corridors.

  Both women kept their heads lowered as they moved. Mal had meticulously combed the work schedules to ensure no one had scheduled routine maintenance along their route, but there was no guarantee the corridors would be deserted. If they ran into any Cores, their cover would most likely be blown. Even a Core sympathetic to a Ballast's need to escape for a while would likely find the rewards for reporting suspicious behavior too tempting to resist.

  Things went smoothly, though there was one heart-stopping moment when they exited onto a side path shortly after an Authority strolled by. When they made it to the trash collection zone, Dara took a deep breath of relief, which she immediately regretted, thanks to the nauseating stench. Letizia kept walking with swift, sure steps, swinging up into the cabin of one of the trash removal transports. Dara followed suit.

  "Hey, Letizia. Nice night for an assignation," the driver said, giving her a mock leer.

  She made a face at him. "Jealous, Ricky?"

  He sighed dramatically. "Must you drive the knife deeper? You know I'd marry you—if Cores and Ballasts were allowed to get married."

  "Oh, I see. So I'm just a meal ticket for you, then?"

  "You make it sound so...so cheap."

  The two of them smiled at each other, and it amazed Dara to see her master engaged in such banter.

  "Who's this goggling at us?" Ricky asked, jabbing a thumb in Dara's direction.

  "This is Dara, my apprentice," Letizia said.

  "Nice to meet you, Dara." Ricky offered her his hand.

  "N-Nice to meet you," Dara stuttered, taking it.

  "You ever need another ride in my chariot, you just let me know. Any friend of Letizia's is a friend of mine."

  "Um, thanks."

  Letizia and Ricky chatted idly as they left the dome and headed for the wasteland. Dara was sure he would ask more about her or question Letizia about where she was going, but he didn't. Instead, he took them to the appointed spot and then continued to the reprocessing facility with a wave.

  "Ricky never asks. None of the chauffeurs ever do," Letizia said, in response to Dara's unasked question.

  "Chauffeurs?" Dara echoed.

  "That's just a general term we use to describe anyone who shuttles Free Thinkers from one spot to another. Sometimes they're sanitation Contributors, sometimes delivery Contributors... There's a fairly extensive web."

  Head spinning, Dara nodded and decided the rest of her questions could wait. She followed Letizia across the wasteland, paying close attention as her master pointed out the landmarks she used to navigate the seemingly featureless expanse of land. It didn't take long for Dara to understand the system, and she admired it for both its cleverness and its subtlety.

  They arrived at a decrepit building, and Letizia led them through the crumbling structure, cautioning Dara to pick her way carefully. It was soon obvious why no one squatted there. Every few seconds a crash or creak rang through the rickety metal spires, and Dara constantly shielded her head, expecting something to come down on it.

  At last, Letizia paused in front of a steel door. She placed first her thumb and then her right eye over the biometric scanner, before typing rapidly on a keypad; too rapidly for Dara to see the code.

  "The code is a failsafe," Letizia said, as the door's magnetic lock disengaged. "It changes twelve times a day, and there are five different code patterns. They're all literary references."

  Dara shook her head in astonishment. "There's no way I could ever remember something like that."

  "It's overwhelming at first, but you'll catch on." Letizia shrugged. Keeping her doubts to herself, Dara followed Letizia down a set of steel stairs.

  Once again, they stood in a concrete-lined bunker, though this one seemed more formal than the last. Several people milled about, all of them greeting Letizia as they made their way to a central room, which was fitted out like some sort of command outpost. Dara saw at least fifteen people sitting at the banks of monitors, busily typing away. Mal stood in the center of the room, deep in discussion with a gray-haired man of about fifty. As they approached, Mal looked up, relief evident on his face. He said something to the other man, who nodded and walked off.

  "You're a little late," Mal told Letizia.

  "Ricky had a holdup in sanitation."

  He frowned, as if he disapproved greatly of holdups in sanitation. "Come on. The others are waiting for us."

  Dara looked from one to the other of them, but no further information was forthcoming, so she kept quiet and followed them into a good-sized room. It looked surprisingly like a conference room in Magnum's headquarters, with a long table equipped to the hilt with the latest in computer technology. Dara gaped openly at it.

  "Welcome to command central, Dara," said a familiar voice. She turned and saw a brightly smiling Tasha, Raj standing just behind her.

  "I didn't think I'd see you again," Dara blurted. She was looking at Tasha, but she had spoken to Raj.

  "I'm hard to get rid of," Tasha joked.

  "It's good to see you," Raj told her.

  "How's my mother? Is she okay? Has she made any progress? Is she—" The questions poured out of Dara, and Raj held up a hand.

  "She's doing well. I've got a full report for you, and we can talk more about her progress another time, but for now we have to get straight to business. I'm sorry." She could see that he truly regretted not being able to tell her more.

  "Your mother is in very good hands, I can assure you," Mal said. "Thank you for entrusting her to us."

  "Thank you for saving her," she said, surprised at this bit of courtesy.

  Mal looked at her appraisingly for a long moment, then gestured that they should all sit.

  "Letizia tells me you wanted to meet with me," Mal began.

  "Yes, I did. Did she t
ell you why?"

  "She said you wanted to help." Mal's face was unreadable.

  "I do," Dara said firmly. "And did she also tell you that I'm going to be Andersen's assistant?"

  Judging by Mal's reaction, Letizia had not. Tasha gasped and Raj started, and Dara realized that this information was far more significant than she had known.

  "It had to be her decision, Mal, and you know it," Letizia growled.

  His lips pressed together in a rigid line, Mal turned back to Dara and looked at her with renewed interest.

  "I want to inform on Andersen," Dara blurted.

  "Mal, you can't—" Raj began, but Mal shot him a look.

  "Do you have any idea what you'd be getting yourself into?" Mal asked.

  Now Dara stood on shakier ground, but who was he to talk to her like he would a child? "I know it'll be dangerous, but that's not going to stop me."

  "If Andersen finds out about you, he will utterly destroy you and everyone you care about."

  She couldn't help herself, she flinched. "So you want to just pass up an opportunity like this? Letizia isn't going to be able to keep as close an eye on him, you know. He promoted her. She'll have thirty Contributors reporting to her."

  Letizia fixed her stony expression on Mal, and it didn't slip even as he rounded on her. "You should have told me that! It could change everything."

  "Dara, listen," Raj said. His attempt at using a calm voice was belied by the underlying tension in his tone. "Magnum and all other Job Creators have an extensive network of secret prisons. They know about us, and when they catch one of us, that person literally disappears. We don't really know what goes on within those prisons, but it has to be brutal. Some of our cells have been exposed, and we know the Job Creators had to be acting on information gained from captives, captives that used to be extremely loyal to us."

  She shuddered, and she knew he saw.

  "They'll take your father there as well," Tasha added quietly.

  "Not if you get to him first," Dara insisted.

  "We would try to rescue him, I give you my word," Mal confirmed. "But I cannot orchestrate miracles. If you're serious about this, you have to understand the risks."