As the lift continued climbing higher Lara grabbed my shoulder. “Marinette, you did a very dangerous and stupid thing and I hope it was worth it. Was it your friend?”
I nodded. “I am very sure it was Susie. I don’t know how it is even possible.”
Lara pointed out. “Let’s get out of here okay? We can talk about this more later, but not here.”
I remained quiet on the bus ride back and I guessed Lara noticed it and took my hand and squeezed it.
I glanced at her and smiled. “I need a bit of time to think about all this.”
My mind was still reeling from discovering Susie here in Vinder and I didn’t know what had happened since I left her and Oliver on the secret farm. Something must have happened for Susie to end up here in Vinder.
Did Susie and Oliver go their separate ways after I kind of abandoned them in the farm? I didn’t want to let this become my fault because I had no choice, but to leave them behind for the greater good. Still, I never expected this to happen.
Or did Susie return to her parents and was this Dr Liverfield’s new move to get to me? If it was, Dr Liverfield must have convinced Susie to join her cause, which is possible since Susie did have that passionate episode to get humanity’s voice back and Susie wouldn’t have known what Dr Liverfield was really doing here.
I wanted to give Susie the benefit of the doubt and not believe she had betrayed me, but the longer I thought about it the harder it became.
“Marinette, you need to focus on being able to speak,” Lara indicated. “I understand seeing Susie here is painful to you because it looks like she may have betrayed you, but her presence here shouldn’t distract you from the objective.”
I knew Lara was trying to make me stay focused on the objective, which was more like her objective or the Resistance’s objective, but I couldn’t shake off what I had seen.
Susie wasn’t the type of person to betray someone; at least, I didn’t think so, but was this why Oliver had warned me about her before and had she done something similar to Oliver. I regretted not asking Oliver more details about his past with Susie and if I had, maybe, I wouldn’t be in this situation now.
Had my leaving Susie changed her in some way? I really hoped her being here in Vinder wasn’t because of my actions in Thomson. I wouldn’t be able to take such a thought.
Lara must have noticed my silence. “I will ask our spy in the Council to find out more information about Susie for you. How about it? Will this help you? Until then can you please get back to learning to speak?”
I nodded. “Thank you.”
NINETEEN
It had been a day since I had seen Susie with Dr Liverfield, I hadn’t been able to sleep much at all and my thoughts were consumed by sadness, betrayal and feeling a sense of loss.
Susie was someone I really looked up to, and after everything she had done for me I had admired her for who she was and the things she stood for, but seeing her in Vinder had made everything I cared about her come tumbling down like a house of cards.
I didn’t know who to trust at all anymore and I knew I couldn’t trust the Resistance or Dr Loft either since both of them were using me for their own ends and I was allowing them to do it for now until I had a better plan.
Claire knocked on the door and peeked inside. “How was the disguise?”
I smiled. “It was perfect. Thanks again for helping me out. I don’t think it’s safe to talk here with you.”
Claire winked. “Glad it worked out well for you. We will catch up again.”
I had gotten close to Claire despite my limited time with her and my connection to her was different from everyone else, including Lara, here at the Resistance building. There was some genuineness behind Claire, but after Susie’s betrayal I had began to have doubts about everyone.
A few minutes later there was a knock at the door and turning around Lara entered the room. “We managed to find some information on your friend Susie.”
I glanced at her in anticipation and braced for whatever news she was going to share. Hopefully, she would have some information which showed Susie was here against her will and rescue me from having so many negative thoughts about her.
“This may not be what you are expecting, but here goes,” Lara highlighted. “Susie arrived at Dr Liverfield’s office two days ago and she came alone.”
“Alone,” I repeated in dismay.
It was the only word I could focus on.
Lara must have read my facial expression. “Yes I know it seems bad Marinette.”
“What else did you find out?” I signed.
“We don’t know how she got to Vinder, but our spy reported Susie is always with Dr Liverfield and walks around with her,” Lara motioned. “Susie goes to a nearby cafe opposite the square for lunch every day and goes off after work with Dr Liverfield. We presume she is staying somewhere in the city with Dr Liverfield.”
My heart was broken because this information was the last piece I needed to confirm Susie indeed had betrayed me. Loyalty had died another violent death.
“Was there any information about her being forced to join Dr Liverfield?” I motioned.
“I am sorry Marinette, but it doesn’t seem so,” Lara indicated. “Our spy also mentioned Susie seems how to say ...”
I interrupted her. “You can say the truth. I can take it.”
My heart knew it was a lie, but I needed to know what was going on.
Lara continued. “Okay. Susie is quite comfortable being with Dr Liverfield and even enjoys her company. Many times they seem to be talking about stuff, but our spy was unable to get close enough to find out about what.”
People are really useless! Why I can’t I find someone decent enough who I can trust like Oliver? I knew Oliver was always special. I had so much hope with Susie. Why did people evolve to such a state where everyone had an agenda? Why did Susie end up being so fake? I still couldn’t believe it. I was fed up of people using me, I was no longer going to take it and it was time to fight back.
“We can use Susie to get the evidence we need to expose Dr Liverfield and the process,” I signed.
Lara looked at me surprised and I knew she hadn’t expected such a reply from me.
“Are you sure about this?” Lara motioned. “This isn’t the time to start thinking about personal revenge.”
I shook my head. “It is an opportunity we shouldn’t miss out on. My feelings about her have nothing to do with it.”
“I don’t know your history with Susie, but we need to stay focused on the objective,” Lara highlighted and seemed unconvinced I was being neutral in this matter.
“If Susie is so close to Dr Liverfield as your spy reported she would be the perfect person to get information from,” I gestured.
“What do you suggest?” Lara motioned.
“Give me a chance to confront and talk to her face-to-face,” I signed.
“I don’t think this is a good idea at all,” Lara signalled.
“I can do it,” I motioned.
“She betrayed you once Marinette,” Lara signalled. “What makes you think she will not betray you again? This is a risky plan. Your time would be better spent learning to speak.”
Lara didn’t understand what I was feeling.
“Everyone thinks I am naive and not street smart to handle situations,” I signed in defiance. “But they have no clue who I am and what I am capable of?”
Lara’s eyes widened. “I think you are still hurt by Susie and we shouldn’t try anything reckless in your current state of mind.”
“I can,” I said and the sound of those two words stunned Lara and she took a step back.
Lara then clapped in delight. “Wow! That was amazing! So, you can really speak. To be honest, I wasn’t so sure.”
I had decided to reveal a bit of my sound-making abilities to convince Lara I was important enough in whatever game the Resistance, the Council and Dr Liverfield were playing. I am sure she didn’t expect me to say a few words
, but I knew it was the only way to show my power and to convince her to follow my plan.
The two words I spoke this time was different from the previous times because, while it had the sound, I didn’t sense any power behind it which gave me hope I could speak normally without disrupting anything or anyone around me and control the raw emotion-triggered power behind my voice.
“Can we keep this between us for now?” I motioned. “I am still learning, but I don’t want everyone to get too excited yet as I need more time to practice how to control it.”
“Of course, I understand,” Lara gestured. “Keep working at it.”
“So, do you believe I can meet Susie and get the information we need from her?” I signed
“Although I still feel it is risky, let's try it out,” Lara signalled although I felt she wasn’t too happy about it.
“I want to meet Susie somewhere alone to find out what she knows,” I signed.
“Wherever it is, you will only have a few minutes with her,” Lara gestured. “She will probably have a way to alert the Council guards.”
I nodded. “A few minutes is enough.”
Lara stared at me. “Let me think of something and come up with a plan.”
TWENTY
Sitting inside the cafe across from the square where Susie normally goes for her lunch was an unusual experience for me, not only because of what was about to happen, but because of the cafe itself. There were small robots manning the cashier and larger robots serving the food; the level of sophistication of the robots was beyond anything I had ever seen in Thomson. They understood each person’s order to perfection and I looked in disbelief at how quickly they made the items by taking the necessary ingredients and mixing them together. Other than the customers there were no human staff manning this cafe.
Today the cafe was half empty, which was expected as this was a work day and most of the people were still inside the buildings doing their work. Lara’s spy had reported Susie always came out around 11:30 to this cafe to grab some food and drinks and took it back with her and didn’t seem to want to eat in the cafe itself. This was unusual for the former most popular girl in high school, who was always surrounded by her minions and at the center of the social universe. I guess the most popular girl in high school in Thomson had become a nobody in Vinder; so much for living in the popularity bubble.
“Are you ready for this?” Lara spoke to me through the voice converter earpiece. The earpiece helped convert Lara’s text messages into voice which was helpful to me and was one of the Resistance’s latest gadgets probably donated to them by their rich and influential supporters.
I messaged back. “Yes. How long do I have? I don’t know how much more I can stay here without buying something.”
I didn’t dare to speak in the cafe because I was among people in a closed space and who knew if the robots themselves were trained to pick up on any sound and report it back to the Council.
Lara was stationed outside away from the cafe to give me a visual on people going in and out of this place.
“Your friend is walking over now,” Lara indicated. “Remember to message me when to start.”
Your friend was an overstatement now because I didn’t know who Susie was to me anymore. Was she still my friend who had sacrificed for me or my latest enemy?
I messaged back. “Okay. Wait for my signal to start the plan.”
One minute passed before Susie walked in, went to the counter and placed her order for her food and drinks. She then looked around the cafe, but didn’t recognize me at all which was how I wanted it. Susie was preoccupied with her phone, I didn’t know if she was communicating with Dr Liverfield or someone else and my thoughts of betrayal began to get stronger in my mind, but I knew I had to control it. I knew I should give her a chance to explain, but it was going to be a struggle for me.
“Now,” I messaged Lara.
It took a few seconds and then there was some noise inside the cafe, a few sparks on the ceiling and all the robots came to a standstill. One of the robots was in the midst of pouring the coffee and most of it spilled onto the bar counter and started dripping onto the floor and yet amazingly no human immediately noticed the sudden disruption. It took a few more seconds before some of the people inside the cafe noticed the outage and stood up looking around as to what was happening while others were lost in their world thanks to their phones and earpieces.
“You have about five minutes before the Council guards reach you,” Lara signalled. “Do what you need to do quickly Marinette.”
I grabbed Susie by the hand and led her into the back room, which was empty at this time. Susie was shocked by my intrusion following the cafe malfunction, didn’t have the time to react and, before she could recover, I shoved her into the back room, closed the door, locked it and blocked her from leaving the room.
I waited as Susie got over the shock of being thrown into the room by a stranger.
“Who are you and what do you want?” Susie motioned.
I didn’t say anything.
“I don’t have much money on me,” Susie gestured trying to take out her purse. “Here is everything I have. You can take what you want.”
I remained silent and pointed at her phone, which she passed to me reluctantly.
I was surprised Susie was giving into me so easily; it really wasn’t her nature, but I suspected being in Vinder had changed her in different ways.
“What do you want with me?” Susie signed again.
I took off my disguise. “It’s me.”
Susie’s eyes widened. “What … what are you doing here Marinette? You shouldn’t be here. The Council will send their guards soon and they will capture you.”
I was confused. What was Susie doing? Was she genuinely concerned for me or faking it again? My thoughts of her betraying me clouded my mind and heart.
I nodded. “I have a few minutes. What are you doing here with Dr Liverfield?”
Susie remained silent.
“I left you and Oliver to help me find more information at Thomson so we could stop the process,” I signed. “I was shocked to see you here!”
“Yes, you LEFT us alone!” Susie gestured and I felt the genuine pain behind her words. “You abandoned us so you could go and be the hero.”
“You knew I had to go it alone,” I signed trying to convince her. “I didn’t want to do it this way, but there were no other options. If the three of us had gone together we would’ve never made it this far. I was not trying to be a hero.”
“Together we could have been stronger,” Susie indicated. “And who knows what we could have accomplished.”
I needed to get from Susie any information I could because this was the only chance I had and I didn’t know if she would report this to Dr Liverfield or not.
“You could have messaged us,” Susie continued. “We were worried sick for you, but after a while we left the farm and Oliver and I just parted our ways. I mean seriously did you think Oliver and I could do anything while you were gone?”
I was at a loss for words.
“I sacrificed so much for you Marinette and you just left us,” Susie signalled. “I was so angry with you because I saw so much worth fighting for in you. This is why I did everything I did. It was because I believed in you!”
I believed in you. The way she said it sounded like I had betrayed her and she had given up on me already. I didn’t want her to give up on me, but I wasn’t sure I could trust her yet.
Susie rubbed her tears away, I knew she wasn’t faking her pain because my leaving her in Thomson had left a big hole in her and I realized this was going to be much harder than I thought and I controlled myself from tearing.
“I did message Oliver once before they captured me,” I gestured.
Susie seemed unconvinced. “Oh, really?”
Now I understood why she was so upset as my message had either never got through to them or Oliver hadn’t shown it to her. No matter the reason the damaged had been
done and I hoped it wasn’t permanent.
“I am so sorry Susie, but that doesn’t explain why you are here?” I signed. “Why are you involved with these people?”
“I returned to my dad and told them you had forced me to go with you, which they believed,” Susie motioned. “Then two days later the Magistrate came for me and I had to help them or they would lock my parents away in prison for helping you. I didn’t have much of a choice, you know?”
Emerging Above the Silence Page 8
