“Your one true love?” 62’s voice gave an unexpected crack. “Blue and you...”
Mattie punched him in the arm. “Don’t you even say it. Of course not. But a couple of the guards sneak romance novels out of the library sometimes. I know they can’t resist a good story of star crossed love. And with my birth mom being an outcast, it’s just too easy to see how I could fall head over heels in love with that fast-talking urchin.”
00 shook his head, and his face reflected the odd sense of relief that washed over 62. The lights of the theater dimmed and the voices around them fell to a low whisper. Proceedings were about to begin and a wave of nervous energy seemed to thrum through the group. Nothing like this had happened in the time since 62’s arrival, and he got the sense that rules weren’t broken to this extreme very often. The whispers throughout the room were tinged with excitement. The audience waited expectantly to see what would happen to the accused.
62 leaned over and whispered into Mattie’s ear, “What’s Blue going to do?”
She grinned, the low stage lights highlighting half her face and leaving the other half in shadow. “He’s going to feed us to the wolves,” she whispered back.
There wasn’t time for an explanation. At that moment, several elderly ladies hobbled out onto the stage. They were old. Older than any human 62 had ever seen, in fact. Their hair was white and thin, hanging in long strands around their wrinkled faces or bound back in long, limp braids. 62 marveled at how slowly they inched across the stage. A steady thumping sound crept into the air as several of the elderly Women leaned on canes with each step. Quiet sighs of relief from bodies made up of old bones escaped as they settled into the chairs lined up across the back of the platform for them. The last elder, who looked younger than the others only because of the straightness of her back, carried a heavy, bound book that was easily recognized as a copy of the law book that 62 and the others had looked over in school. They’d reviewed many of the pages during the refugees’ education in the ways of Hanford, but there were hundreds more that 62 had never seen. Laws that he didn’t yet know existed. As the elder placed the book down on the podium with a “thunk,” a heavy feeling fell into his gut.
Her hands remained on the book’s cover as she looked over the crowd before her. Their whispers turned to an eerie silence, not a single breath could be heard in the room. The elder opened her mouth and a strong, melodic voice rang out. “All Rise.”
Every person in the room rose to their feet. The shifting of fabric and movement of feet on the floor rustled like leaves in the wind. Once upright, everyone stood still and silent as they waited for the Woman to speak again. It was a long moment before she did.
“We have been assembled today to discuss the theft and deceit of a child who has lived in Hanford for many years. He was brought to us as a baby, loved by us, and has now chosen to repay us by stealing from us. We come together today to determine the best way to respond to his transgression. Please, be seated.”
Everyone who had a chair sat. Those standing around the edges found a way to shrug their way down the walls and doorways until everyone seemed smaller than before. This was when Blue arrived on stage, escorted by two disgruntled-looking handlers who shoved him forward when they decided he wasn’t moving fast enough. Blue came to a stop beside the pedestal and he looked around until he saw his friends huddled near the stairs.
62 raised a hand in greeting, but Blue’s hands were tied at his waist so all he did was wiggle a few fingers in response. Mattie put one hand over her heart and stretched the other toward Blue dramatically, whispering his name loudly that everyone in the first three rows turned to look at her. Blue gave her a tragic frown, extended his bound hands toward her and his lips trembled. 62 was amazed at the sad expressions that washed over the faces of everyone who witnessed the exchange.
“They really do like that romantic stuff, don’t they?” he whispered.
Mattie shook her head and played at wiping false tears from her eyes. “It’s crazy. Out of all the books in the library, the Romances are the only books that ever get borrowed,” she mumbled back.
The elder behind the podium cleared her throat, redirecting the attention of those who were fawning over the lovestruck pantomime happening before them. She swept an arm behind her and pointed at the row of seated ladies, some of whom seemed to be listing to one side and dozing off in the quiet of the theater. “We elders have convened for the first time in three long years to discuss the fate of this child of Adaline. We are blessed that our community is orderly, with laws followed to the letter. It is through the vigilance and honesty of our citizens that such meetings are rarely needed.” She swung her arm around and over the podium, opening her palm toward Blue. “Now this young citizen has challenged our moral rights by choosing to take what did not belong to him, and then lying about the theft in an attempt to cover his transgression.”
She paused in her speech and whispers flew through the room. The hushed voices vibrated like angry bees, ready to lash out at the lawless youngster in front of them. The elder allowed the whispers to hang in the air, moving away from the podium and helping one of the ancient-looking ladies up from their seat to take her place. The older Woman began to speak, but her voice didn’t carry nearly as far as her predecessor. The crowd shushed until the theater was quiet once more. One of the guards who’d brought Blue onstage scurried off for a moment and returned with a cone, open on both ends. She held it in front of the elder and suddenly her creaking voice was amplified just enough to be understood.
“I was there when Blue was brought to us as a baby. We’d only just begun rescuing Adaline’s castoffs then, you see. And to have chanced across a baby in the disposal, well, it just wasn’t something we’d encountered before. He was so new. So beautiful.” Her voice crackled with age, but there was a tenderness in it. Her small, worried eyes looked over him. She reached a wrinkled hand toward him and touched the hem of his sleeve lovingly. “I cared for him then, and I care for him now. He is a renegade, yes. But a renegade of our creation. We’ve used his cleverness for our advantage, stealing from Adaline and propping up our storehouses with goods he’s pilfered. Did we really expect that he’d only use this talent to steal from our enemies? If the answer is yes, then we are fools. That’s all I have to say.” She patted Blue’s shoulder twice, then turned and extended her arm out for assistance as she waddled back to her chair.
Another elder shuffled to the podium, the voice-amplifying cone already waiting for her when she arrived. She blew the air out of her cheeks and her shoulders shuddered under her cloak, rage filling the eyes partially hidden beneath sagging lids. “This traitor has been raised by us. Has broken bread with us. Has lived a full life that would not have been possible without us. And yet he stands here because he has stolen from us. Not only has he broken our laws, but he’s done so without apology. I asked this lout what drove his compulsion, and he had no answer. He’s a bad seed. A worm in the apple. We must uphold our laws as a lesson not only to this deceiver, but also as a warning to any who would take advantage of our kindness.” Her eyes darted indignantly over the clumps of males huddled around the room. “This is our home and we will not tolerate its desecration!” She balled up her fist and pounded the book on the podium in front of her. Approving voices cried out from throughout the crowd. Women stood up in the center aisles and pointed at the males on the fringe of the crowd, who shrunk into even smaller margins of the room.
The disgruntled elder was ushered back to her chair and the first speaker returned swiftly to the podium. “Silence!” she cried out. “The galley is to remain quiet through the proceedings.”
“They shouldn’t be here!” a female voice from the back shouted back.
Heads bobbed up and down in agreement throughout the crowd. Most of the Women on stage also appeared to agree with the sentiment. 62 leaned toward Mattie. “What are they all angry about?”
“This is the first time males have been allowed in a hearing,” Matt
ie said quietly. “Temperance, the young one up there,” she pointed at the speaker at the podium, “is the one who allowed you all to be here. She figures since one of you is on trial, the rest of you have a right to see what happens.”
“Oh.” 62 squatted down on his heels, suddenly overwhelmed by the angry voices still muttering in the crowd. “You all really don’t like us, do you?”
Mattie shrugged her shoulders. “Refugees aren’t exactly popular.”
Temperance shouted over the crowd again, “Anyone disrupting these proceedings can, and will, be forcibly removed from this theater. Do not challenge me, ladies. I will do it.” The few spectators who’d stood up from their seats begrudgingly returned to them, and the disgruntled voices dropped to such a low hum that it was impossible to identify where they were coming from. “Good enough,” Temperance decreed, and then motioned the next elder to stand.
“It is the nature of the male species to test the boundaries of the law. It has been shown time and again in the history of the world. It is, in fact, the reason for our original separateness,” the rickety voice announced through the amplifier. She coughed loudly into her hand and then continued. “It was stated in our mother’s journal that Men were dishonest creatures who should be kept separate from all female activities. This is merely a new occurrence of an ancient problem. Where both genders mingle, the male class will always attempt to undermine the female class. We have taken control of Hanford, and we must ensure that we maintain our control. Whether we cast off these leeches or allow them to continue to thrive in our midst is not a problem for me to solve. I think we all know which way I’d lean.” She paused, and several nodded agreeably on the panel of elders behind her. “All I will say is that we’ve been inviting this behavior by housing these cast-offs, and it’s amazing it’s taken this long to see the fruit of this historically tragic mistake. Read the history of the world, and the answer of what to do becomes clear.”
When 62 looked at Mattie, her gaze was affixed on the old Woman tottering away from the podium. Mattie’s face was odd, glowing in the lights of the stage, but also deflated in a way that 62 had never seen before. When Mattie turned, meeting 62’s eyes, she gave him a shrug and a tepid smile, looping her finger around her ear in a circle and mouthing the word, “Crazy.”
As the remaining elders took their turns at the podium, it became clear that only the very first of them was a fan of Blue’s in any measure of the word. The crowd became more restless, angry, and demonizing. Several of the males near the exits filtered out of the building to avoid the accusing gazes and snide remarks of the other Hanford residents, and as they left the emotions of the room became even more unbalanced. Soon 62 felt as though he and 00 were the only males who remained in support of their friend, which was bad news for Blue since they were about to make the whole situation worse.
Temperance returned to the podium and addressed Blue for the first time. “Blue, son of Adaline, citizen of Hanford, this is your time to plead for leniency. As you begin your statement, please answer this question: Why did you steal?”
Blue straightened his shoulders. He looked out over the crowd before him for a moment, and then turned his gaze back to the edge of the stage where 62 and the others sat. He took in a deep breath and then spoke loud and clear. “First off, I’ve gotta make it clear that what I stole was garbage from the disposal site. It wasn’t anything you ladies were using, anyway.”
Mattie smacked herself in the forehead while 62 rolled his eyes. 00 groaned.
“I mean, is it really stealing if what you take is garbage?” Blue asked in a baffled tone. “This seems like a whole lotta upset over a bunch of junk.”
Temperance's eyes went wide. Her face drooped, long and slack, gaping in shock at Blue’s casual dismissal of the trouble he was in. Some of the members of the room couldn’t contain their own shock. Someone in the front row stood up, her face a map of confusion. “What did he steal?” she asked with hesitation in her voice.
Temperance blinked twice and shook her head, regaining her composure. She opened the cover of the book of laws on the podium and pulled out a sheet of paper. She read off the list of discarded brackets, ripped wires, rusted bolts, and shattered solar panels.
“He stole garbage?” a young voice from the far side of the building called out.
Temperance frowned. “He stole from the refuse yard, yes. But these are still materials that didn’t belong to him. He didn’t ask to use them. He simply took them and then tried to hide them in his housing unit.”
“Garbage?” another voice asked.
Blue grinned up on stage. “Yup. Garbage. I wanted to do some tinkering with the junk, you know? See if I could turn it into something useful.”
“He was recycling?” a lady sitting near 62 murmured to her neighbor. “We’re arresting people for recycling now? I turned a broken lamp into a coat hook last week. I didn’t ask anybody. Should I be up there?”
More voices rose up around the room. People admitted to taking things out of the garbage all the time. 62 was amazed at the way the crowd was turning. Most of the elders up on stage slumped down in their fury. The angriest of the aged group threw up a fist and shouted, “It’s the principal of the thing!” and then the entire theater erupted. Hundreds of voices shouted out. Mattie, 00, and 62 looked at one another, then looked down at the book in 00’s hand. Mattie shook her head silently, and 00 shoved the book up his shirt, hugging himself to hold it in place.
Blue looked at the stage around him, doing his best to look innocent now. “I didn’t mean to make anyone upset. I didn’t think any of you old bats would miss a bit of junk from the dump, honest.”
The room fell into chaos. The angry elders collapsed on themselves in fury at the insult from Blue. The younger people in the crowd left their seats and rushed the stage, howling at the elders over the unfairness of arresting anyone over a bit of refuse. Voices rang out, chairs fell over, and through it all Blue stood tall beside the podium.
Temperance and the two guards on stage finally came to their senses and began escorting the elders backstage. One of them grabbed Blue’s arm and yanked him behind the curtain as well. Once the stage was vacant, Temperance returned to speak to the crowd.
“Calm down! Calm down!” Her voice was hardly audible over the shouts of the audience swarming around the foot of the stage. “I call the end of this public hearing. The elders shall deliberate and our answer will be announced in one hour.”
Mattie cupped her hand, throwing her voice over the other sounds in the room. “You have to deliberate? Over a bit of garbage? Let him go!”
The crowd cheered. Those closest to the platform hammered it with their hands, demanding to be heard. Temperance’s face was set in dissatisfied irritation. Through gritted teeth she said, “Your concerns have been noted.” She picked up the lawbook roughly, knocking over the podium, and marched off stage.
62, 00, and Mattie rushed down the side wall of the theater toward the exit. Adrenaline pumped through 62’s veins. They put on their masks and raced to a tree a couple hundred feet from the building, away from the rest of the crowd. Once it looked like no one else was going to come out as far from the exit as they had, they burst into chatter.
“Can you believe it?” Mattie exclaimed, “He got them all in a tizzy about garbage!”
“And we were going to turn ourselves in!” 00 cheered. “He turned the whole thing around.”
“I thought we were done for in the beginning. Nobody likes refugees. And then he got the whole crowd on his side!” 62 proclaimed.
The three friends did a little dance, holding hands and spinning around in a circle. The thick book slid out from under 00’s shirt and fell open on the ground. Pages spilled everywhere. 00 looked at Mattie. “Do we need it?”
“I don’t know,” she said through heavy breaths. “We still have to figure out how to get those bot parts, but I think Blue may have solved his troubles without it.”
“But what if he hasn’t
?” 62 said. “I mean, they’re still deciding on a punishment, right? We might still need to come clean.”
Mattie shook her head. “I doubt us coming out with it now would work. You saw how mad everyone was with the males in there. If we put not just one, but three of you up on stage and admit to building a computer? They’ll lose it.”
“What do we do?” 00 asked. He knelt and started placing the fallen pages back in the book.
“Let’s hide it,” 62 blurted. “Better to come back for it later than to chance someone seeing it and starting this whole thing over again.”
Mattie nodded. “We don’t have time to go all the way back to the library. But we could hide it in the school.”
62 shook his head. “Parker keeps it locked. Ever since someone smeared applesauce and mashed potatoes in his desk drawers.”
Mattie rolled her eyes. “And you wonder why everyone hates males so much?”
00 sighed. “Don’t lump me in with that. I don’t get it either.”
62 looked at the book in his friend’s hands. “So, we’re stuck with it?”
The trio looked around for anywhere they might hide the book. They debated climbing the tree and leaving it among the branches, but as soon as they hoisted 62 up the wind blew and they worried it would push the loose pages away. They considered putting it under a rock or behind one of the retaining walls nearby, but they worried they’d ruin the book. Unable to find a suitable place, 62 took a turn with it shoved under his shirt. They made their way back toward the theater. It wasn’t until they’d made it all the way up to the building that Mattie spotted a place.
“The vent!” Mattie sputtered. “Come on.” She led them toward the corner of the building, dodging around gabbing ladies as they moved. The closer to the building they got, the tighter the groups of bodies became. But everyone was so busy shouting their opinions about the trial that no one seemed to notice three children creeping toward the building’s foundation. When they got there, Mattie crouched down and pulled the vent from the foundation. “These are never fastened,” she said. “They’re left loose so they can be used to hide in if there’s a disaster. We can stick it in here.”
The Adaline Series Bundle 1 Page 53
