The Liberty Box Trilogy

by C. A. Gray

  Charlie watched me for a long moment. Finally, he asked, “Kate, what happened?”

  So I told him. I told Charlie about the memories coming back to me after I found out about my former roommate Maggie’s death, about Will’s digging for me leading to his supposed death, my flight to the cave communities and the story they told me of what had really happened in the old United States, and the rise of the Republic all those years ago. I told him about the hunters’ raids to rescue citizens marked for extermination, how the Potentate realized our existence as a result of them and bombed the caves, killing off most of our community, and how Will had shown up incognito with the soldiers to rescue me and as many of us as he could. The rest of us were now on the run, while attempting to come up with a strategy to fight back. I told him that Will had found out the Potentate was building more control centers in New Estonia now —that he had plans to expand his power internationally. This wasn’t even just about the people in the Republic anymore.

  “But I thought the only real obstacle was getting people to believe that the government signals existed,” I added. “Some people already suspect it, and those are the ones who are the easiest to convince. They’re also the most likely to be slated for execution. Everyone else though…” I shook my head. “I’d thought that with a signal disruptor, everyone would see the truth. How could they not? If the government signals can’t even get through anymore, how can they still see the illusions? How come the disruptor worked on you, but not Mom and Dad?”

  Charlie didn’t respond right away, like he was still trying to digest what I’d told him. At last he said, “You must be right.”

  “About which part?”

  “About only those of us who had already started to suspect being able to see clearly.” He shifted in his seat on the supposedly plush couch and turned to look at me. “When Will died and you disappeared, I knew something was wrong. I mean, you were always a little suspect, but Will seemed like a really rational guy—no offense.”

  I made a face at him, but I knew what he meant. I’d been sent to McCormick as a kid, which had pretty much called my judgment into question from that point forward.

  “I couldn’t get over the idea that Will, of all people, could suddenly become an EOS. There had to be more to the story. I paid more attention after that, I guess. And then… I don’t know, I just started to notice things that didn’t add up.

  “But Mom and Dad never questioned anything, I don’t think. Maybe because they didn’t know Will like I did. I knew he wouldn’t just turn like that, not without a damn good reason.”

  I wasn’t surprised that Will was the one who’d convinced Charlie. Charlie and I had never been close, but when I’d started dating Will, we became a little closer because of him. The two of them hit it off, and were more like brothers to one another than Charlie and I ever had been.

  Probably shouldn’t mention we’d broken up, then.

  Charlie went on, “I wonder if brainwashing has a sort of… self-perpetuating aspect to it? After awhile we just see what we expect to see, regardless of signals or no signals?”

  “If that’s the case, then why do we still—”

  I stopped, and caught my breath. For a flash, I saw the dungeon again, and I shivered in the draft. Then it was gone—like the flashes I’d once gotten in my apartment.

  “Why do we still what?”

  “See luxury,” I finished weakly. “Charlie, concentrate. Meditate on what you know is there, not on what you see.”

  “Meditate?” he repeated, and I could hear the scoff in his voice.

  “Yes. It just means to concentrate intensely on a single idea, or point of focus. Here, I’ll show you: close your eyes to shut out their visual signals. Now, just focus on your breath. Every time your mind starts to wander, bring it back to your breath.” I said this as much for my own benefit as for his, trying not to let my thoughts stray to the familiar hill outside the dungeon, and the firing squad that would likely be standing there waiting for us tomorrow at sunset. Traditionally executions took place at sunset. Did they always occur the same day as the trial? Frankly I wasn’t even sure if everyone got a trial, and I was certain they were a farce of justice anyway…

  Focus, Kate.

  The voice in my head was Jackson’s.

  “Why are we doing this again?” Charlie interrupted.

  “Because the more you focus on something you know to be real—like your own breath—the easier it will be for you to tune in to other things that are real.”

  I felt my brother looking at me, and I opened my eyes to meet his gaze. I saw the dungeon now, and wrinkled my nose against the intense smell of human suffering.

  “Man,” he said at last. “You’ve really changed.” He said it with admiration, though.

  “Thanks, Charlie,” I said, and meant it.

  Chapter 22: Jackson

  Now what? I wondered.

  I stood outside the bullet train station staring at the empty streets, trying to decide which way Kate had gone. I couldn’t be that far behind her, but in a concrete jungle like this, tracking became impossible. And she’d never given me any further directions about where her family lived. I’d counted on following her after this point.

  If I just picked a direction, I had a fifty-fifty shot. I couldn’t think of a better plan, unfortunately. So I went left.

  When I got to a part of the Republic where the crowds thickened again, I got even more stares than I had earlier, and people gave me a wide berth. I realized then that I probably needed a disguise after all, but I didn’t want to veer off course and risk losing Kate’s trail… on the off chance that I was even on her trail to begin with.

  After a few hours of fruitless wandering, I started to lose hope. I needed a better strategy. Could I just ask someone where Kate’s family lived? Would anyone know? I wasn’t sure exactly how big a celebrity she’d been. And if I essentially announced where I was going, would that be even worse, for all of us?

  Just as I thought this, in one intersection, I saw a large silver screen crackle to life. Everyone came to a stop as the seal of the Republic appeared to announce the beginning of a broadcast. My heart sank: I’d been waiting for this ever since the incident in the bullet train station. I was almost surprised it took them this long.

  Jillian’s concerned image appeared, her blond hair plastered perfectly in place like a wig, and her full lips drawn together.

  “Breaking news,” she announced, and paused. For a moment, I thought she had tears in her eyes. “It is with a full heart and deepest regret that I bring you this announcement.” Kate’s image appeared on the screen, in her former glory days, and my stomach did a backflip. If she was up on that screen instead of me… that couldn’t be good.

  Also: man, she cleaned up well.

  “My former coanchor, Kathryn Brandeis, was arrested today, along with her brother Charles Brandeis. As you know, Kate vanished shortly after her fiancé, Will Anderson, was found to be an Enemy of State. Her disappearance cast Kate’s allegiance to the Republic into question as well, but I’d held out hope that we would eventually clear her name.” Jillian paused and took a deep breath, biting her lip. “Unfortunately, Kate reappeared on public soil today, incognito.”

  I closed my eyes. No.

  “She fled from authorities, along with her brother Charles, and so far her behavior has confirmed that she and Anderson were in fact in league with one another against the Potentate and our Republic. She and Charles have been taken into custody, and will await trial by the Tribunal tomorrow… for treason.”

  Where? I thought desperately. Where will she await trial?

  “In other news, terrorist Jackson MacNamera—”

  I wasn’t even listening to this part, as my own image flashed on the screen, and Jillian launched into the story I’d expected her to air in the first place.

  “Where do trials by the Tribunal typically occur?” I asked the man standing beside me. I lean
ed in toward him but didn’t look at him, hoping that he’d reply without looking at me either.

  Unfortunately I guess the question was so strange that he did glance at me, as he replied, “The Potentate’s Palace, of course.” Then he did a double take, looking at the screen, and back at me. His eyes widened.

  I could flee, and then the man would make a scene and the agents would be after me again… or I could capitalize on his fear. I chose the latter. I leaned in to the man, lowering my voice.

  “Tell me what I need to know, do not make a commotion, and you’ll live,” I growled. “How do I get to the Potentate’s palace? Where is it?”

  It took the man a moment to find his voice. “Countryside!” he finally said, “A few hours’ drive from here!”

  “Can you get there by bullet train?”

  He shook his head frantically. “N-no, I don’t think so!”

  I sighed. I hated to do this, but I didn’t see that I had much choice. “Take me there,” I demanded, pushing the barrel of the agent’s gun I had stolen into the man’s stomach. I hid it with my other arm so that it would be less visible to the rest of the crowd. “I want safe transportation and directions. Now.”

  Chapter 23: Kate

  I woke at dawn with a start, surprised for the second night in a row to find that I’d slept at all.

  In a strange way, from the moment I started to consistently see the dungeon for what it was, I felt a sort of peace about the day ahead. I would die, yes… but at least I would die seeing the world as it really was. I’d die having finally become the girl I should have been all along. That gave me some small comfort.

  “I’m sorry, maybe you’re resigned to death, but I’m not!” Charlie snapped when I expressed this to him. “If the world isn’t what it seems to be, surely we can… use that to our advantage somehow. To escape. I just can’t figure out how…”

  I sat on the windowsill, ignoring its mold and unidentifiable slime. The bars were too close together to even fit my entire hand through them, but I could see the sunrise over the hill where we would most likely face the firing squad at sunset.

  I turned to look at Charlie, who sat on the edge of his bunkbed in the darkness, his head in his hands. I felt a stab of pity for him. We’d never gotten along, and we’d never really even been friends before. But he was my brother, after all, and I loved him.

  Wow, I thought. I’d never, in my whole life, thought those words before about Charlie. I guess impending death has a way of producing clarity.

  “I know this is unfair to you,” I said aloud. “I’ve had a few months to get used to it all. I’m still not used to it, but I remember how much worse it was at the beginning. I’m—sorry I dragged you into all of this.”

  Charlie gave a little snort, but then his face settled into seriousness. “Thanks, I guess.” Then he sat up with a sudden spark of hope. “What about Will? He’s alive, so surely he’ll come and rescue you?”

  “Will doesn’t know I’m here. None of the refugees do.”

  “Why the hell not?”

  I almost hated to answer. “Because… they wanted to try and wake everyone up by slowly disrupting the government signals. Like with the signal disruptors we carry, but on a mass scale. They’ve come up with a series of strategies on how to do that. I just think that’s necessary to help people wake up—but not sufficient.” I laughed weakly at my own use of a phrase I’d borrowed from Will and Charlie both. They always talked in logic terms like that. “I’m even more convinced of that, now that I know the signal disruptors don’t automatically work on everyone. Disrupting the signals gets people back to neutral, and it gives them a chance. But someone has to tell them the truth too, I think. Most people won’t just see it on their own. Not after a lifetime of brainwashing.”

  “You didn’t answer my question,” Charlie growled. “Why did you come here without at least telling Will what you were doing?”

  “He would have stopped me. They all would have stopped me.”

  “And maybe he should have, huh? Considering how things ended up?”

  I couldn’t argue with him—he was obviously right. More than anything, I wished Jackson knew where I was and what I was doing. Jackson, who had singlehandedly taken down the entire Council… who seemed to have an innate understanding of exactly what to do in any life-threatening situation… what would he do when he found out I’d died, I wondered? I didn’t know what I hoped for exactly. Of course everyone would be sorry. Would he be angry that I’d gone without telling him?

  “Who’s Jackson?” said Charlie.

  I looked up, startled. “What?”

  “You’re muttering over there. Who’s Jackson?”

  I felt myself blush, but it was too dark for Charlie to see.

  “You don’t mean Jackson MacNamera? The terrorist? Do you know him?”

  I nodded. “He was in the refugee community.”

  “So… not a terrorist, then?”

  I shook my head, and gave a bleak laugh. “I guess it depends on what you mean by terrorist. He’s on our side, if that’s what you’re asking.” I turned back to look out the window, at the hill now bathed in morning sunlight.

  The door to our cell swung open, and three agents stood in the frame. “Kate and Charlie Brandeis. Come with us.”

  I’d never seen the Tribunal in real life before. They all sat in a room I’d seen only in pictures, behind a high mahogany wood paneling with unlit torches in wall sconces. Level with the torches were long horizontal windows, covering the length of the room’s upper perimeter.

  I had never fully appreciated the height disparity of the prisoners compared to the Tribunal before, from the photographs of trials I’d seen. Charlie and I must’ve been a full six feet below them. I felt like a grasshopper.

  The center of the panel remained empty: it was the Potentate’s seat, I knew. I’d never seen him in the flesh before, but I knew he liked to make an entrance.

  “All rise for our glorious Potentate,” announced a bailiff.

  The Tribunal stood to their feet, and Charlie and I did too—it somehow never occurred to me to refuse him this small honor.

  The man who entered wore the black robes of a judge, to match his slicked back black hair. I was somehow a little surprised to find that the Potentate was just a man. I wasn’t sure what I was expecting exactly—he’d just been so built up all my life. But here he was, with a receding hairline, lines on his face, and wicked black eyes that looked even more frighteningly intelligent than they did in the posters.

  “Miss Brandeis,” said the Potentate. He ignored everyone else in the room, and looked at me with a sort of jovial confidence. “I’m pleased to finally meet you, though not pleased about the circumstances, of course. I hardly recognize you with all the makeup!”

  A hand fluttered absently to my face—I’d completely forgotten about the disguise. The makeup was all that remained of it, but I hadn’t washed my face the night before.

  “Be seated, be seated,” said the Potentate, and the entire room obeyed, including Charlie and me.

  Ben Voltolini, I told myself. If I stopped thinking of him as The Potentate, perhaps I’d feel less intimidated by him.

  “So, Kate.” Voltolini continued, as if he and I were alone in an intimate sitting room together. “Tell me your story. I understand you disappeared after the untimely death of your fiancé, which I’m so sorry about, by the way. Where did you go, and what brought you back to the Republic?”

  The apparent friendliness of the question disarmed me. How was I supposed to answer that?

  “I just… needed some time away,” I said.

  “I’m sure,” murmured Voltolini sympathetically.

  His false charm set my teeth on edge. But two can play that game, I thought. So I poured it on thick, too.

  “At first, when I heard Will was gone, I couldn’t believe it… I couldn't function. But then I heard he was an EOS. Of all people… my fiancé!” />
  I risked a glance at the faces of the Tribunal. Most of them were etched in stone, but I thought I caught a few head shakes. Beside me, I felt Charlie stiffen.

  “I just… needed some time,” I finished, my lower lip trembling.

  “But you vanished from the Republic entirely,” Voltolini reminded me, folding his hands on the absurdly high podium before him. “Why was that necessary, Kate? Where did you go?”

  I was sure he saw through every word I said, but at least I wouldn’t make it easy on him. “I had to investigate a little bit. It was Will, after all. I thought I knew him. If he could turn Enemy of State, I had to at least understand why, and consider it.”

  The Potentate nodded, but I saw the black eyes sharpen. “And where did you go?”

  I didn’t have a good answer to this. He had me now.

  “Just… on an extended camping trip.”

  Voltolini pursed his lips. “You’d never been much of a camper before, Kate. I find it hard to believe you’d suddenly camp for months following Will’s death, especially if you intended to do any research regarding his traitorous leanings. What research could you possibly do without access to the net?”

  “I… accessed the net occasionally. From abandoned homes on the edges of the Republic.”

  “Did you?” Voltolini looked at me sideways. “Because I understand you’re not especially tech savvy, Kate. That was your late fiancé’s forte.”

  I bit my lip, tired of this cat-and-mouse game.

  “Here’s what I think.” Voltolini leaned forward, peering down at me. “I think you joined a group of refugees who are now on the move. I think you have already been reunited with Anderson, and he’s likely the reason why you survived the bombings in the caves. And I think you are all under the leadership of Jackson MacNamera.”

  I still said nothing.

  “I like you, Kate,” Voltolini went on, sitting back again. “I always have. You’re one of the Republic’s brightest stars, and, if I may say so, one of our most beautiful women. Although you’ve looked better.” He chuckled at his own joke. “So here’s what I’m prepared to do for you.”