by K. Weikel
Twenty-Three
Murkas
“President Murkas,” Lease runs up to me.
“What is it, traitor?” I spit. She had been working for the Rebellion all along, no doubt giving them all of the information about the Domes and the plans the Government has had tucked away from prying eyes.
“About twenty minutes ago, every camera in the Domes went out. I’m guessing they were hacked by former Computes. Most likely Techers, mixed with some Watchers. They just rebooted, and the Computes found the girl. They found Eenralla Land.”
“They did? Or are you just pulling me into a trap for the Rebellion?”
She exhales and glares at me. The action sparks up a memory of a little girl, mad at me because… because…
“I’ve always been against them,” She hisses. “If you don’t come with me, you’ll miss your moment to bring the girl down.”
I follow her down five flights of stairs and through the passageways, and then back up five more flights of stairs to the Computes’ office. She holds the door open for me.
It’s quite a large room, what with the seven hundred screens placed on the walls to watch every part of the Dame’s Dome. Most of the children going in to choose a job choose to be either a Mechaneer or a Compute, making it one of the highest-demanded jobs. Because of that, one of the many screens is assigned to five people in the Watchers category under the Compute name. They carefully watch the footage and make sure everything is going well.
The Techers, the second branch of Computes, each have a desk to work at for simulation work in the center of the room.
There have always been more Techers than Watchers, considering the amount of panels that are on the Dome walls and the amount of children choosing jobs, which they operate the tests for that as well.
Whenever any of the screens the Watchers use need to be repaired, there is one Mechaneer assigned for every ten screens.
The Compute Watchers all sit with their noses to their screens, and every now and then they type in something on their clear tablets to move the camera or to send a message to my office. The Techers type faster than the speed of light on their keyboards, not noticing me as I enter with Lease.
One of the Computes looks up, a few strands of her black hair falling into her eyes. She pushes up her glasses and stands, straightening out her bright red clothing. I walk up to her and shake her hand.
“I was informed you found the girl I was searching for. Eenralla Land.”
She nods. “Yes sir, she’s on HomeCamera number fifty-nine.” She lifts a hand to point at a screen right above our heads. “There’s a boy with her. She looks like she is in a lot pain, and we’ve been wanting to call a Doctor for her for a few minutes now. She also noticed the camera turning on. She was looking straight at it as the screens popped back up. As you have most likely been informed, the cameras had been hacked into and shut down temporarily, but we all worked together in here and turned them all back on in about twenty-two minutes. We believe something big is going on, Mr. President.”
I look at her and nod. No one inside of the Dome has the intelligence or curiosity to hack into anything, not even the Computes themselves. They only know how to make the cameras work and how to send messages to and from places, as well as make holograms project things. It has to have something to do with the Rebellion. Whatever is going on, Eenralla Land should know. If she doesn’t, I know Peter Hemmings will. He will if he wants her to live.
“Yes, thank you. Keep up the great work,” I nod, and turn back to the door.
Eenralla Land won’t be able to take all of the pain soon. She’ll be begging me to help her. She’ll be dying to rid of the pain.
I chuckle to myself.
It’s such a nice picture in my head. The girl who went against everything the Dome’s stood for crawling on her hands and knees crying and screaming in pain for me to save her. The girl whose mother has defied every part of what I, and what every other President has worked so hard to achieve since the beginning of the Domes.
“Lease?” I say as she closes the door behind us, a smile stretching across my face. “I think it’s time we pay a visit to our sick friend.”