Cora returned to making her tea, shaking her head. “No. I think you should go to your room and read quietly for the evening.”
“But Mom! You already said I could go.” Ursa’s arms flew across her body in protest.
“Not tonight. I need to talk to Hope before you go over there again. That’s not the kind of story a mother should tell her child. The State has clearly defined which stories are appropriate to help a child’s mind develop.”
“But her stories are more fun.” She whined.
“Maybe her fun stories are why you can’t focus in school. This is exactly why they regulate the activities for children. Your play-time is meant to prepare you for school and your civil duty. If she didn’t have some important job, or if she had a partner, she would have gone through proper parental training from the State to ensure she was both educating and engaging her child in proper play procedures.”
Cora abandoned her tea, throwing her hands into the air. “I should have known! I can’t believe it took me this long to figure it out! She didn’t go through the proper parental training because she was only ever meant to have limited contact with Chastity.”
She turned to Ursa, pointing a finger. “You shouldn’t be going over there at all. It’s her fault you are so troublesome. She’s keeping you from focusing on your studies. I was never like you as a child. I focused and did what my parents and teachers told me to do. I was always compliant. I had no idea where you got your frivolous nature from until today. I worry about you Ursa. If we can’t correct your behavior soon, I worry about how your life will turn out.”
Without another word of protest, Ursa turned on her heel. She marched into her room, slammed the door and flung herself onto her bed, landing on her stomach.
Her mother had always been strict, but this seemed a little much—even for her. She was impossible. As much as she would miss Chastity, she couldn’t wait to move away. Nothing she did was ever good enough for her mother, and she was realizing it never would be.
Her mother opened the door gently. “Ursa, I’m sorry my tone was sharp; I’m just worried about you. The State doesn’t tolerate frivolous behavior once you get to school. If you get labeled a troublemaker, it will impact the rest of your life. You are my child, not Hope’s. She doesn’t have to deal with the consequences of your behavior.”
She wiped away a few of her tears. “It’s not fair to send me off to school without letting me say goodbye to Hope and Chastity. I don’t care if you don’t like Hope, I do, and she has always been so nice to me—nicer than you most of the time.”
Cora stepped back, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Look. I’ll speak to her. I’ll let her know how inappropriate she has been. If you try harder on your studies this week and she agrees to end this treacherous storytelling, I will let you go over there one more time to say goodbye before you leave for school.”
Ursa refused to look at her mom. She kept her face turned to the wall. After a moment’s hesitation, Cora shut the door once again.
Ursa imagined what her life would be like when she went to be educated but realized Chastity would have to deal with her mother alone. The thought was unnerving, but she remembered her mother’s words. Chastity was special. Chastity was clever.
A soft smile crept onto her face; Chastity will handle my mother better than I ever did. She might even teach her a thing or two. Maybe Chastity is also smarter than my mom.
Chapter 3
Hope
Hope squared her shoulders and looked straight at the monitor. It was time for her to report in to her superior about the progress of her project.
“Hope, welcome back.” A male voice said through the monitor.
She gave a curt nod, her lips pursed. “Good afternoon, sir.”
These meetings had never sat well with her. Packed into a small, confined room with nothing more than a monitor on the wall and a chair; it always felt as though she was here to be interrogated—which is exactly what these styles of rooms were often used for.
It had been quite an adjustment from her previous arrangements in the mountain. Lottie and Cameron may have been removed from their education and work, but at least she had seen them regularly, in the flesh.
Never once had she met or seen her project supervisor. For all she knew, she could be reporting to the Head of State. Within her team, she was the project leader. Even high-ranking titles had someone to report to. While maintaining a position of power, her expectations had been a little higher for how information was communicated.
Times like this made her miss living in the mountain, yet comparatively, living under the dome wasn’t as bad as being Miriam’s apprentice. It may have been a bad combination of stress and hormones which caused her to make such a rash decision to leave him, but every time she looked at Chastity, she felt it was worth it.
“I called you in to go over your reports. I can’t and won’t deny, I am disappointed. I expected your team to have made more progress by now.”
It took a great deal of effort to refrain from rolling her eyes. “I don’t see how your expectations could have been higher. My team is… not of the caliber I once worked with.”
“Your team need not be of such a caliber to produce results.”
“I don’t have the same resources here as I did in the mountain. I need better labs, tools, assistants, or how about more hours in each day?”
“Hope, you are brighter than most. Figure it out. You don’t need your team to be your intellectual equals, just a swarm of ants taking orders from their queen. I read a report written about you and your time spent in the mountain.”
Her head snapped upwards. “Oh? Information on our project has been de-classified?” Her heart pounded rapidly. A flush of heat coursed through her body.
“Not your projects, you. The report documented your work ethic, study habits, aptitude.” The monitor fell silent for a moment. “Based on the information in that report, I’m disappointed. That disappointment leads me to wonder if you lack motivation to complete the task at hand.”
Hope gasped. “Was there an accusation in that statement?”
“I wouldn’t say accusation. It’s more an observation—a curiosity, at this point.”
She shook her head. “Well, such an observation would lead me to question your mathematical capabilities. I’m certain that data would have been compiled between the ages of 13 to 20.”
“Is the age relevant?”
“Yes. At that time, I had someone care for my home and laundry, a partner who studied alongside me every waking moment. Our responsibilities were limited to eating, showering, and our project. I wasn’t a parent, let alone a single one at that, and I was over ten years younger. I don’t know if you have come to the same conclusion as I have, but the older I get, the more sleep I need. I do not deem this report to be an accurate representation of the quality or speed of my work.”
Her rant had left her nearly breathless. She clenched her jaw while waiting for his reply.
“I do appreciate how your life’s circumstances have changed. Those matters, while being valid, still do not excuse below par performance. I wanted to warn you, there is concern about the speed at which your project is moving forward. I’ll be adding a military patrol to your workspace.”
“You… what!” She squinted. “How is a military patrol going to help us? Do they have any bright ideas about how to make a material which is flexible, air-tight, waterproof, inflatable, and won’t melt under high heat or break down from UV exposure? Oh, it also has to be small and lightweight. Can they work that out for us?”
“Hope, the military patrol is to ensure work productivity. I am concerned—and I’m not the only one—who wonders if there is something or someone sabotaging this project. Is everyone working to their full capacity?”
“Sabotage?”
“Yes. I question if there is, perhaps, someone on your team who doesn’t want to see the dome become more secure. Could someone be causing a delay in your work, so
meone who may benefit from a postponement of this failsafe? A military presence will cause the team to rethink the use of their time… if there does happen to be any poor time management.”
She looked down, shaking her head. “I don’t understand how you could think that. I understand your train of thought about as well as I understand why the State hasn’t put a failsafe to the dome into place before now.”
She pointed to the ceiling. “If anything happens to that dome, we are done for. People are deluded if they think we could evacuate to the mountain—they haven’t traveled there. They don’t know how far it is or that you can only travel if it’s sunny enough to power the military craft—or how few military craft and hazmat suits the State actually has.”
She inhaled deeply. “We can’t live without the dome. I have been on the other side of that glass. I have seen the dangers first-hand that most people would never even dream of. I can assure you, we are working as fast as we can.”
Hope looked off to the side of the monitor. “I know that I suffer with a mild mental impairment, but I am still the best mind available who isn’t bogged down with multiple children. I’m sure I could work faster with peers who are my intellectual equals, but I can assure you, I am doing the best I can with what I have.”
She leaned closer to the monitor. “I am also a mother. I will do anything, and I mean anything to keep my little girl safe.” She sat back in her chair again. “So, if you have workers to spare, resources to spend, why don’t you give me someone or something that might actually benefit our project.”
Nothing but silence came through the monitor. Hope crossed her arms and slouched lower in the chair, huffing out a heavy breath.
“Hope, you know they have sent your former team members to a breeding center. Your training is so specific—so isolated—even you had to retrain to take on this project. The only resources I have to offer is the military.”
“They are of no use to me.”
“Make them lift heavy things. I don’t care! The point is, I have been asked to provide support to get your project moving. Whether they patrol or sweep the floors is up to you. I have nothing more to offer.”
Hope gave a sarcastic laugh and shook her head. “Alright then. They will mop.”
“Very good then, Hope.”
She stood from her chair.
“Oh, Hope. You mentioned a mental impairment, yet your doctor has recorded nothing on your file. Is there something I should know about?”
She froze. Did I say too much? She dropped back into her seat and raised an eyebrow. “You are aware I was in an accident—the one which killed my partner—are you not?”
“I knew it killed your partner. I didn’t know you had anything to do with it.”
“Yes, well, Weston and I were a team. When he died, I sustained a head injury causing amnesia. I have regained most of my memories but some things, and some days, are still foggy. I’m afraid I’m not as sharp as I once was.”
“I was not aware. My apologies.”
“That’s alright. I was still medically cleared to lead this project. There would be no reason for you to suspect anything was off, nor to be aware of happenings from before.”
“Yes, but it wasn’t fair of me to compare your previous performance and your current work. I’m afraid that not even I have access to the records of your time spent in Cheyenne mountain, other than evaluations of your performance.”
She flinched. “You don’t? I thought you would.”
She could feel his hesitation radiating through the blank-screened monitor.
“Not in this case, no.”
Hope shook her head. “I can’t imagine why. I don’t feel as though our project was superior to any other—then again, I don’t know what else was being worked on. Maybe it was. Or maybe the State doesn’t take kindly the loss of a scientists. Perhaps, it was a combination of the two. It is news to me, either way.”
“It is tragic about your partner, indeed. At least he could pass down his genetics, even if it was just the one child.”
Hope stood once again. “That is my first thought upon waking, and my last before I drift off to sleep. I know how lucky I am to have my little girl.”
“I will check in again in three months’ time to see how well military personnel mop floors.”
Hope almost smiled. “In three months then.”
She bowed to the monitor and took her leave. She forced her facial expression into a neutral mask. Keeping her emotions from showing was a new skill she was diligently working to acquire. She had learned to lie from the master, her former mother-in-law, but controlling her facial muscles at all times was more challenging than anything even Adah had ever accomplished.
She had absolutely been delaying the progress of the dome’s failsafe. There were only two pangs of guilt which haunted her dreams: the hurt leaving would have caused Joshua, and the fact she had abandoned the war efforts. There was nothing she could say or do to heal her guilt over abandoning her husband. But Reuben, she hoped he would continue to communicate with Clint. If she could stall this safeguard, their army still stood a chance.
The problem was, it wasn’t possible to communicate with them if she created a dome failsafe. If their strategy lay simply in bringing down the dome, then all surface survivors were doomed. Clint had said their biggest asset was the element of surprise. If they were to attack and fail, no one would ever be free of the State.
All would be lost.
Chapter 4
Ursa
“Will you come and play with me later tonight?” Chastity asked.
Ursa looked at her mother, eyes pleading.
“Chastity, Ursa has a lot of schoolwork to do. She will move away soon, you know. There is a great deal of preparation needed for her to be ready.”
Chastity’s shoulders slumped, her face hung limp, tears filled her eyes. “You’re leaving me?”
Ursa felt as though Chastity had reached inside her chest and squeezed her beating heart. “I don’t want to leave you.”
Chastity tried to be brave. She nodded, but a few rogue tears escaped, spilling onto her cheeks. “Will I get to see you again?”
“Sure you will. You’ll go to school too. Then, we’ll—”
“Ursa,” Cora cut in, “you will finish school as Chastity arrives.”
Ursa’s head spun around to look at her mother. With indignant eyes she said, “You don’t know that. Not for sure. I could still be there for a bit—”
“No, Ursa. You won’t. With your poor concentration, you will be selected for some sort of menial labor. You will probably do something like laundry or cleaning for your civil duty. You won’t spend long at an education center before your duty begins.”
Chastity looked at Ursa, and then over at Cora. She placed a delicate little hand on Ursa’s. Ursa didn’t cry, she didn’t crack, but Chastity could always tell when she was upset, even when she tried to hide it.
She had gotten used to her mother's cutting words at a young age. However, having an audience for her mother’s shaming made her words penetrate deeper into her soul.
At moments like this, a thought continuously plagued her mind: Does my mom love me? Or am I just another duty the State assigned to her? Ursa lost her composure, a few stubborn tears escaping her eyes.
Both girls sat on the floor holding hands. The dampness of their faces revealed what they dare not speak aloud.
“That’s been quite enough conversation.” Cora spat. “The two of you have not finished your daily studies.” Cora didn’t look up from her tablet as she spoke.
Although Ursa knew it was in her best interest to return to her studies, her heart felt as though it was ready to burst. With her mother's cold tone as a catalyst, her silent tears turned into a full gut-wrenching sob. Within moments, Chastity mirrored her display of raw emotion.
“Girls, I’ve had just about enough of that.”
She wiped the tears from her face and picked up her tablet. Even though she coul
d not read through her tear blurred vision, she hoped her mother would at least leave her alone if she pretended to work.
Chastity also retrieved her tablet, her body continued to convulse occasionally with a rogue sob. Ursa sniffed and continued to wipe away her tears which would not cease. Her mother finally threw her tablet down on the sofa and jumped to her feet.
“Fine! You can play together tonight. But this is the last time. Ursa, you will head to an education center any day now and you need to focus instead of playing make-believe with a girl half your age.”
Cora walked into her bedroom, leaving the girls alone to study. It wasn’t uncommon for her to take a break from the girls yet, Ursa had never felt so relieved to see her leave.
Betrayed: Book Five of the State Series Page 2