I nodded realizing how the Magistrate had manipulated Susie to start with.
Susie continued. “I agreed against everything I believed in, but then when I met Dr Liverfield and she explained to me what she was doing I finally understood and I volunteered to help her. I mean humanity had a chance of getting its voice back and I wanted to be a part of it.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Susie had actually volunteered to help the monster! She had been successfully brainwashed by Dr Liverfield.
“Dr Liverfield is not the person you think she is who is trying to save the world,” I motioned.
“She said people always misunderstood her intentions,” Susie tried to defend Dr Liverfield.
“Did you know she was killing parents who had given birth to their children?” I gestured.
Susie look stunned. “I didn’t … didn’t know that.”
I continued. “She is killing parents who are in the process now because I am able to make sounds. Did she tell you this part of her operation? I met those parents and I saw it with my own eyes how a group of parents were put into a room and some kind of gas was released on them. If I hadn’t been there to stop them they would be all dead.”
Susie stared at me.
“Don’t be fooled by her words Susie,” I signalled.
“She told me she was helping society get back the ability to speak and she had been doing this for years,” Susie signed.
“Three minutes left,” Lara highlighted.
“Yes, she is doing all of what she told you, but there is more to her evil plans,” I signed and shared with her what she did to a young woman right in front of me. “Do you think there is any reason to justify what she did to that innocent young woman?”
Susie looked down at her feet without saying a word and I hoped I was finally getting to her.
“Who are you working with here?” Susie motioned.
“Some people who are trying to stop Dr Liverfield and her plans,” I signed.
I wasn’t sure I wanted to say more because my trust in Susie had taken a beating with her betrayal although I knew to some extent why she had joined with Dr Liverfield. Dr Liverfield had been clever enough to take Susie’s hurt and channel it for her own gains to hurt me in turn and I hated Dr Liverfield for it and one day she would pay for it. It also meant I was pretty sure Dr Liverfield had been waiting for the opportunity for me to meet Susie so I would feel the pain of betrayal.
“Is it the Resistance?” Susie indicated.
“Did Dr Liverfield talk about them too?” I signed refusing to answer her question.
“She mentioned them and other people, Marinette,” Susie gestured. “You cannot trust them either. I admit I don’t know everything going on here in Vinder. You are being played by the Resistance too. There are many people who want to stop Dr Liverfield’s work in Vinder for their own reasons. You must be careful.”
Seriously, what was Susie doing again? At one moment she wanted me to be careful and was the old Susie I had always trusted, but her alliance with Dr Liverfield made me doubt everything about her.
“Are you telling me to trust Dr Liverfield after everything she did to me?” I signed in frustration. “She doesn’t care about human beings and will sacrifice anyone for her goal which is wrong. Getting our ability to speak back is great, but not at the expense of innocent lives. I would rather stay unable to speak than have blood on my hands.”
Susie didn’t answer.
We were going off track and I didn’t have the time to share with Susie the truth about what I had been doing here.
I decided to take a risk with Susie. “Susie I trusted you then and I trust you now. You may not believe me, but this is the truth. We have been through so much in Thomson and I don’t care about the Council, the Resistance, and whoever else there is in Vinder and their games because, to be honest, I also don’t know everything going on here. The only thing I know is that I know you, you were always there for me and I really need you now because I can’t do this alone. All I need to know right now is: are you with me?”
Susie stared at me in silence as I returned her phone. I wasn’t sure if my speech had made a difference, but it was from my heart and I wanted Susie back on my side.
“One minute,” Lara highlighted. “Black out now.”
The lights in the back room went off and we were both consumed in darkness as I grabbed Susie by the arm and whispered into her ear using my voice. She held me tightly as she listened to every word I said.
TWENTY-ONE
The Council guards escorted Susie hurriedly out of the cafe, across the square and back into the building and, although I didn’t show it to Lara standing beside me, I was upset I had hurt Susie badly when I had left Thomson. At the time in my eagerness to find the truth about the process I hadn’t thought about how much it would affect her or even Oliver, but now that I know I don’t think I could do it again. Susie saw so much worth in me and for me to turn and abandon her must have been devastating. No matter what happens going forward I needed to give her a chance.
As Susie disappeared into the building several more Council guards walked into the cafe and I guessed they were there to fix the robots. By now there was a large gathering of people standing around outside the cafe and some of them were indicating to the guards of what they had witnessed.
Susie wasn’t just another person who had been there for me; she was much more than that to me and her reaction of me abandoning her showed she deeply valued and cared for me. It wasn’t something I had expected from her because I had never been in a situation where someone felt I had betrayed them and it was new territory for me and I didn’t know who to ask for advice.
Confiding in Lara was risky because there was a distance between us and I couldn’t figure out how to bridge it and I may not even want to find a way to do it.
“Did you put the tracker on the phone?” Lara signed as we watched Susie enter the building.
Lara, as usual, was all about the business at hand and didn’t seem to be worried about my feelings at this moment.
I nodded. “She won’t expect it on her phone.”
“Which is the point,” Lara motioned. “Dr Liverfield isn’t stupid at all. She will know something happened and will question Susie who will have to tell her that she met you and everything the two of you talked about. Then Dr Liverfield will check Susie out for any kind of tracker, but most likely not on her phone. Anyway, we will know if they found the tracker in time to come. You did the right thing Marinette.”
I didn’t like putting the tracker on Susie’s phone, but I had no choice and although it seemed like I was making an excuse to feel less guilty about it, the tracker was a sign I didn’t trust her enough. I hated feeling this way and using my friends like this and I hoped this wasn’t a sign of the adult world ahead for me.
Lara continued. “We only have this one chance to find out more and this is it Marinette. Our people inside have reported Dr Liverfield is very good at brainwashing people. So, I am not surprised with what Susie told you. Don’t be upset with her okay? It has happened to many of my people.”
I was surprised by Lara’s attempt to comfort me, it showed me how complicated she was and I had trouble understanding her and wondered who the real Lara was.
“We won’t know if you were able to convince your friend yet,” Lara pointed out.
I nodded, but didn’t want to talk about all this anymore. “Give her some time. It’s the least I can do.”
“It’s time we get back,” Lara signed.
As we both got on the bus, my mind was still stuck on Susie’s words about how she felt and I knew what she said was true to her. Susie had always been loyal to me despite the great opposition she faced at school and home and if I were her I would never trust someone like me again because I had been a horrible friend who had not trusted her enough. I began to feel bad about this whole mess and I wished I hadn’t gotten Susie involved in it at all since I had badly hurt such a genuine and nice pe
rson like her and she didn’t deserve this kind of mercilessness from someone like me.
We were still three stops away when Lara looked out the window and her facial expression was strange.
“What’s wrong?” I signed.
Lara didn’t answer, but kept looking outside the bus window in either direction and I didn’t know who or what she was looking for.
“I am not sure,” Lara motioned. “I thought I saw one too many military guards walking about just now, which is unusual for this part of Vinder at this time of the day. Maybe, I am just being paranoid.”
The bus was one stop away from where we should be disembarking when Lara grabbed my hand tightly. “We aren’t getting off at our stop, okay?”
I nodded, tried my best to stay calm knowing something was happening outside and it must be bad to have spooked Lara who rarely displayed any signs of being stressed.
As the bus started towards our bus stop I realized what was going on. Outside on the road there was initially one, then two and then several military guards walking about and I didn’t need Lara to tell me that the Council had found the Resistance’s latest building.
The bus rolled to our stop, one woman got out, one military man got in and looked around at everyone in the bus for a few seconds. He stayed in the front of the bus as his head turned from left to right a few times. Fortunately, we were seated in a corner in the back and I stared down and waited for him to leave. I only looked up again once I felt the bus moving and, as I was about to say something, Lara squeezed my hand and I glanced out to see a sea of military men, several military trucks and a large fire in the distance, which could only be the Resistance building.
In the distance, several people were being handcuffed and shuffled into one of the trucks and Lara was using her hands to clear the window probably to get a better look. Then, to my horror, I saw two armed men carrying a stretcher with a body on it covered by a white sheet. A few seconds later I saw two more bodies covered by white sheets on the ground.
My thoughts went to Claire who I had been the closest to you and I wondered if she had made it out. I couldn’t ask Lara because of something between the two of them.
The bus was still half full as it rolled into the next bus stop, I looked at Lara to see whether we were getting off, but she hadn’t moved at all and I decided to wait for her instructions. Lara’s facial expression had changed to one of anxiety, but I didn’t know what to say to her right now.
After three more bus stops Lara waved for me and we both got off the bus.
“What happened back there?” I signed. “Was that what I think it was?”
“It was a Council raid,” Lara motioned and seemed a bit upset. “I didn’t expect them to find our building for at least a few more months. Let me try to contact Sam.”
I watched as Lara desperately tried to contact Sam, but she couldn’t get through to him and I noticed a few tears in her eyes which she tried to hide from me.
I tried to touch her shoulder, but she shoved me away and walked further from me and I decided to give her space to think.
I hoped Claire, Tom and the others who I had befriended over there had been able to get away before the raid, but knowing the ruthless nature of the Council I was holding onto a thin strip of hope.
Lara turned to me. “I still cannot get through to anyone.”
I had never seen Lara like this and I suspected she was trying to control herself from having a complete breakdown.
“They could be staying low you know until it is safe again?” I signed, in the hope of trying to comfort her.
Lara nodded. “You could be right. There is a backup place for us to meet in a day or two if something like this happened, but it’s too soon to go there now. So, now what do we do?”
“I know what we need to do,” I signed.
Lara stared at me.
“It’s time we follow Susie, find Dr Liverfield and confront her,” I signalled.
TWENTY-TWO
“What do you think of my new disguise?” I motioned smiling.
It was my best effort to kind of distract Lara from the Council raid.
“It is perfect for you,” Lara indicated. “The wig helps and I don’t think Susie will be able to recognize you again at all.”
Lara seemed to be better now after we had discussed confronting Dr Liverfield and I was glad we were able to focus on this instead of what happened back at the Resistance building.
“Has she started moving yet?” I signed, checking the time.
It was nearly 6pm and Susie should be about to leave the Council building at any minute now.
“Not yet,” Lara gestured checking her tracker. “Our spy reported she would sometimes leave alone and sometimes with Dr Liverfield.”
“Do you think she will lead us to Dr Liverfield?” I signed.
“It is highly likely Dr Liverfield will be keeping Susie as close to her as possible,” Lara signalled. “I am still not sure why this is so, but Dr Liverfield obviously has some plans for Susie.”
Lara’s questioning of Dr Liverfield’s plans for Susie made sense since Dr Liverfield wasn’t the type of person to bring someone close to me here to the city to get to me only; there was more to this than I could see.
We had been waiting at the bus stop three blocks away from the Council building for Susie to make her move and I watched as people stood in line to get on and off the different buses. I realized most of the people in this area were young and nicely dressed and I didn’t notice any elderly people among them. This was the power of being in a city, which attracted the best of the best from the surrounding towns; the rest of the people were left to fend for themselves in the towns.
A bus came up to the bus stop and I blinked once. “Is that what I think it is or am I dreaming?”
Lara grinned. “No, you are not dreaming and yes it is a robot bus driver. These are quite common here, but this initiative was only started a year ago. The Council keeps a mix of human and robot bus drivers until they have created enough robot drivers to replace all the humans.”
“Then, what happens to the human bus drivers?” I signed.
Lara shrugged. “I am not sure, but most likely they take on other jobs. In Vinder, this is a common sight these days. Robots are becoming more commonplace and replacing humans faster than ever.”
The use of robots at Vinder was moving at such a fast rate and I wondered how long before all this came to Thomson.
“She’s on the move,” Lara highlighted. “And from how fast she is moving it looks like she is on a bus, which could mean she is alone.”
We got on the next bus travelling in the same direction and after about fifteen minutes got off at a bus stop.
“This way,” Lara waved to me as I followed her.
We walked for about five minutes before Lara stopped and pointed ahead. “Susie is in the next building.”
“Do you recognize the building?” I signed.
“Not really,” Lara gestured. “I am quite unfamiliar with this area too.”
“Could this be Dr Liverfield’s home?” I motioned.
“It is possible because most of the high-rise buildings here look like apartments,” Lara pointed out. “We have never been able to find her home, but it also wasn’t our focus before this. Then again we had never been able to get to someone close enough to Dr Liverfield until now. Are you sure this is the best plan?”
I nodded. “Where is Susie now?”
Lara looked at the tracker monitor. “The tracker has stopped at the third floor.”
“That should be the apartment where she is staying at then,” I signed, not sure what to expect, but knowing this had to be done to find out what Dr Liverfield was up to.
“I will monitor you from here,” Lara indicated passing me a small black device. “If you need urgent help take this device and press the button twice. Then, I will quickly come over to wherever you are.”
I gave Lara the thumbs up, started walking, entered the high
-rise building and noticed there were no security guards inside. I found it a bit odd since these high-rise apartments should have a high level of security, but then I spotted multiple small cameras all over the ceiling. The cameras seemed to be sweeping the area below and I guessed it would have spotted me by now. There was no point turning back.
There were three lifts in front which was surprising considering this was only one building. I walked into the center lift and pressed the button for the third floor.
As the door opened on the third floor a short corridor extended out with a single door at the end. Reaching the door I discovered it was slightly ajar and decided to try my luck.
Emerging Above the Silence Page 9
