"Mari, recall the layout of the air barge."
Immediately my mind fills with diagrams and designs. I glance around and can imagine the structural organization of the barge, its technology and architecture. I look down and see the fissures in the floor, and with the aid of my Amplifier, recollect that they open up into large compartments. I further recall that the deck panels are controlled by a lever on the Northwest corner of the barge.
A bullet flies by my face and incites me to action. I run toward the site where I just pictured the lever, dodging bullets and screaming trainees on my way there. I have to jump over a few people lying on the ground, either too injured or too stunned to move. A building explodes to the right of me, and I'm knocked to the ground by a chunk of cement that hits me in the shoulder. I know I'm bleeding badly and likely have one or more broken bones, but I'm determined to follow through with my plan.
"Mari, keep running to the lever."
My body fights through the pain and I'm up and going again. Finally, I see the small building that houses the controls. There is an electronic lock on the door. I'm not keen on giving my Amplifier complete control again, but I feel like this is an emergency.
"Mari, find out the passcode."
I vaguely recognize my brain going through thousands of algorithms and probabilities, along with an analysis of the wear on various numbers on the lock. Within seconds, my fingers are punching in the code: 479902. The doors spring open and I rush inside. There are a number of other controls and monitoring screens along the walls, but I go straight to a large lever at the back of the room and pull it down. On some of the screens I see the various panels of the deck are opening up, sliding apart to reveal the compartments below. I run back outside.
"Everybody get yourselves and everyone around you into the compartments!" I'm screaming at every person I pass, careful to avoid the panels that are open. Some people have already fallen into the holes, some immediately obey, and some stare at me in bewilderment so I have to point animatedly at the openings until they catch on.
One girl gives me trouble.
"Why would we want to get in those? Won't it just be easier for them to shoot at us if we have nowhere to go?"
She does have a point. That's why we need to hurry so I can close the panels again. Luckily, the concept seems to be catching on. I look down the expanse of the deck and see that almost everyone has escaped into one of the compartments. I run back to the small building and pull the lever back up. On the screens I can see the panels closing slowly. Painstakingly slow. But eventually all the compartments are sealed again and everyone is safe. Everyone except for me.
As if validating my thoughts, the roof on the building I'm in suddenly explodes. Through falling debris, I glance up and see a ship hovering over my location, its guns repositioning themselves to find me. I scramble out of the damaged building and start running toward the edge of the barge. I can hear the bullets ricocheting off the floor of the deck behind me, perhaps some of them even hit me, but I'm so full of adrenaline that I don't feel them. I'm about 20 feet away from a free fall and I've got to decide on a plan of action.
"Mari, flip over the edge and grab hold of the underside of the barge."
I don't even think I know what that means, but I'm hoping the Amplifier will pull through. I reach the end of the deck and my body twists into a sharp back flip off the edge, ironically the very move I was fighting against the night before. My back arches enough to let my hands connect with the bottom of the barge, and the next moment I'm inexplicably grasping on to two of the many small crevices on the vessel's underbelly. The rest of my body swings around and slams into the barge, testing the limits of my already precarious hand holds.
There's a set of protruding bars about 10 feet in, and my body works its way slowly over to them, my hands maneuvering expertly along a dozen almost imperceptible cracks until they're able to get a firm and lasting grip on the bars. I know my fingers are going to ache later, but for now, I just hang underneath the barge until the terrifying sounds of the sleek air ships fade away.
_________
The face of the air barge looks like something from the ancient war films they would show us in school. About one-third of the buildings are destroyed, some still smoking from the explosions. When I finally climbed back on deck, I saw that everyone was already out of the compartments. Apparently Justin pulled the lever to open up all the floor panels. I wonder where he and Talina were during this disaster. It looks like most of the trainees have come back to their senses. Roughly half of them are using their Amplifiers to treat their own and others people's injuries. When I walk by, trainees are either staring at me in awe or giving me small, grateful smiles. Altogether I feel really awkward.
"Mari! I'm so glad you're okay!" Joby shouts as he comes running up to me. I realize that I'm glad he's okay too. "I was so worried about you! Where did you go?" He continues, wrapping his arms around me. I return his hug hesitantly as I answer his question.
"I went underneath the barge. Luckily there was something under there to hold on to."
"You're amazing, Mari."
"Thanks, Joby. I appreciate that." And I do. I know any moment I'm going to get a lecture from Talina or Justin about my rash behavior, so I decide to take as much praise for my actions as I can get right now. I gently shrug out of Joby's embrace in time to see Alia running into our dorm, which was thankfully spared from the destruction. When I look back at Joby, he's frowning at something behind me.
"Hey Mari, you got a hero complex or something?" I turn around to see Liam approaching. He's grinning, but I can tell that underneath he's a little shaken - he's more jittery than usual.
"Either that or a suicide complex," I respond, a little more seriously than I would have liked.
"Well, that was pretty awesome what you did back there," Liam admits. "I don't know if anyone else here would have had the presence of mind to pull that off." Out of the corner of my eye I see that Joby has stomped off. But before I can counter Liam's comment, I hear the voice I've been expecting to hear since I climbed back up on deck.
"Mari, I need you to come with me." Talina's voice punctures the small amount of self-assurance I had built up. I turn to face her, but to my surprise, she doesn't look upset. She looks drained.
"Follow me."
She leads me back to the control room where I went the first day of training to defend my actions of saving Tristan. I wonder how I'm going to defend myself against this. A part of me doesn't even want to. We descend the stairs to the small, dark room where I'm met with the unwelcome sight of Governor Plenaris.
Chapter 22
"Miss Quillen, have a seat," the Governor says smoothly, as if we were sitting down for a friendly chat. He looks severely out of place with his gray suit and calm expression. Sometimes I wonder if his face is made out of plastic.
"Miss Quillen, I have been monitoring your behavior these past few months, and it seems you have only increased your efforts to set yourself apart from the others, this recent instance being the most grievous of your actions." I feel an exclamation of defense rising up in my throat, but I silence it. "Talina has been sending me written reports, but I've found the video footage of your conduct to be much more illuminating. Let's review it, shall we?"
He presses a button on the wall and several screens light up, showing me in the Coliseum attacking the manikin by combining the bow staff skills with acrobatics. Next, I watch myself heal my ankle in minutes, with Talina looking on. I wince as I relive that episode, remembering the intense pain that made me wish I was dead. Next, the screens show me in the hover chamber, defeating the three other trainees by ultimately shutting off the anti-gravity switch. I gasp as I suddenly recall what happened just after that event, and before I can stop myself, I speak up.
"Do you happen to have the footage from a few minutes after - ?"
"I will let you know when you are permitted to ask questions," Governor Plenaris cuts in sharply. I close my mouth and stare
at my hands. I rub the stunted end of my seared-off finger, trying to get my anger to subside. I wonder what would happen if I stood up and attacked the Governor right now. Would all my other finger tips be burned off on contact? I wonder if he has as many security measures surrounding his actual body as he does his hologram. Probably. Probably more.
I look up in time to see the end of my over-the-top entrance into the lecture room last week. It's almost comical watching the reactions of the other trainees, I guess I really surprised some of them. Finally the view switches to today's disaster. The terror returns as I watch people being shot at and buildings exploding. I can see now that a few trainees were attempting to use their Amplifiers against the attacks, but their actions were largely ineffective. I don't care to watch myself dodge bullets and open up the panels. It's fresh in my mind, there's no need to review. Instead, I feel myself growing more and more indignant. What is the Governor playing at? People have been injured and buildings have been destroyed and he's choosing to review all of my stunts? Shouldn't he be addressing this unprecedented attack? Doesn't he have more pressing concerns than watching videos of an insignificant girl make innocent mistakes? Just how much of a threat am I?
I snap out of my thoughts when I realize that the video has ended and the Governor is addressing me again.
"Obviously, you have a habit of stepping out of line and using your skills in reckless and irresponsible ways. This footage displays an instability that, if left unchecked, can be hugely detrimental to the Amplification process, and that doesn't even include your direct attempt to overcome your Amplifier last night."
The shock on my face must be evident, because the Governor pauses momentarily, then adds:
"You were smart to find an area of the barge that is not covered by our cameras, but every command you give your Amplifier is tracked and the time of its completion recorded. Therefore, we saw that you commanded yourself to do a back-flip almost 40 times, and the speed with which your body responded on each one. On the last, you held off for almost 2 minutes, which is the longest anyone has ever resisted their Amplifier."
I stare at Governor Plenaris. He's stated it so indifferently, as if it were to be expected, but the fact that every Amplified act is documented makes me shudder.
"You needn't be shocked, Marianna," Governor Plenaris explains,"it's simply a safety precaution."
More like a sick way to be inside everybody's heads, I think.
"In any case, I think you need to reevaluate the way you have approached your Amplification," he continues, "particularly instances in which you have violated the Equality Movement..."
I can't take it anymore. The rage I feel toward this man is suddenly so acute that I abandon all civility and explode.
"If there are lives at stake and there's something I can do about it, I will not stand idly by for the sake of equality!" I yell at him. The Governor is silent, so I continue. "What just happened out there? Where did those ships come from and why were they trying to kill us? Why are you wasting time with me down here when something catastrophic has just happened up there?"
Talena looks shocked at my outburst, but Governor Plenaris' expression, as always, is unchanged. He takes a step forward and clears his throat.
"What you just witnessed was merely a simulation," he states, "a test of the effectiveness of your training."
I picture the demolished buildings and all those trainees stumbling around, wounded and bloody. I simply cannot believe it was a simulation. I look over at Talina for confirmation. At first she looks bewildered, but a moment later her face smooths over.
"That is correct," she says automatically. "In every Training cycle there is at least one instance of violent simulation to mimic real life experience. In the event that the simulation becomes truly dangerous, we institute the Override."
When she finishes speaking, she blinks several times and then looks almost angry, but she doesn't say any more. I catch the slightest movement of the Governor pressing something on his wrist. I'm more alarmed at this exchange than by anything else that's occurred in this meeting. I don't know how he did it, but I'm pretty sure Governor Plenaris forced her to say those words.
"So you see, Marianna, that your performance today was unwarranted and unnecessary," the Governor remarks with a note of finality. "The Restrainers will review your case and we will come to a decision concerning your future in the next few weeks. Until that time, Miss Quillen, you will continue with your training as normal, and I advise you to correct your irrational tendencies. You are dismissed."
_________
It's dark when I come out of the control room, I must have been in there for hours. I'm seething from the whole exchange. I guess I knew from the first time I met with the Governor that I wasn't really going to change, but listening to his idiotic accusations just makes my blood boil. And to think at one point I revered the man.
He can lie all he wants to about what happened this afternoon, but I don't buy it for a minute. I know it wasn't a simulation, so I don't regret my "irrational tendencies" one bit. But now I'm consumed with who it was that attacked us and why Governor Plenaris is covering it up. What is he hiding?
And then there's the looming prospect of my life being decided by the Restrainers. It seemed like Governor Plenaris had already made up his mind about me, and I'm sure my emotional explosion just now didn't help much, so why prolong the inevitable? I suppose they have to take it to the Restrainers so that it satisfies the Equality Movement. I'm nearly ready to be done with it all anyway, with all the protocols and the limitations and the unnecessary invasions of privacy. If only I didn't enjoy being Amplified so much. Isn't there a way to keep my Amplifier and still make my own decisions? To not have my every move monitored?
Of course, there is the possibility that they'll decide to go beyond just the removal of my Amplifier. I've heard of the prisons, but I can't imagine that my actions would be considered criminal. Then again, I never imagined that the Governor of our entire Community would spend so much time worrying about a nobody like me. Great, now I'm going to have nightmares about being imprisoned.
When I walk into my dorm room, I hear that Alia is crying again. I'm about to tell her off, tell her that her problems are probably minuscule in comparison to mine, but then I realize that this is much different from her normal crying. She's sobbing. It's a heart-wrenching, gasping-for-breath kind of weeping, the kind you hear from someone who is utterly broken, the kind you don't interrupt. As my eyes adjust to the dark, I see the other girls are only pretending not to hear her. I catch Janet's eye, she shrugs and gives me a hopeless look.
I tip toe over to my bed and quietly lie down, resolving that I will find out what's wrong with Alia in the morning. I still have thoughts of Governor Plenaris and prison in the back of my mind, but they're overshadowed by my worries of what could possibly be ailing my friend. Somehow, I'm able to fall asleep while listening to Alia whisper, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," over and over again.
Chapter 23
"That was some kind of crazy simulation the other day, right?" Derek comments, almost dropping his hammer again.
"I know!" Hannah exclaims. "If they hadn't told us otherwise, I would still think it was a real attack."
"That's because they were real bullets and real explosions and they did real damage, which suspiciously doesn't happen in a simulation," I retort. I adjust the board I'm propping up with my shoulder and try to ignore the strange looks everyone is giving me. I should probably give up on trying to convince people that the attack wasn't just an elaborate training exercise. Why would they believe me anyway after they heard the explanation coming from Governor Plenaris himself?
The morning after the attack, they gathered all of us together and the Governor personally addressed us, spouting off the same crap about how the incident was actually a simulation, and how for the most part, we had failed. Everyone was so thrilled to be seeing Governor Plenaris in person that they didn't seem to mind that our punishment for "fa
iling" was to reconstruct all the damaged buildings. So Talina and Justin divided us up into our animal tagging groups and for the past few days we've been rotating between building the destroyed structures and trying to train for our final assessment. Needless to say, tensions have been a little high.
Currently, we're working on putting one of the boy's dorms back together; its south-facing wall was blown off in one of the explosions. The dorm is still being used, despite the damage, and we can see into one of the rooms.
"Hey, whose bed is that with all the crumpled papers on it?" Todd asks.
"Ah, that's Tristan's bed," Liam answers, "he's always drawing stuff and throwing it away."
"That's weird," Hannah comments. "What's he drawing?"
"I don't know, looks like diagrams or something most of the time," Liam shouts over the sound of his drill.
"What's he trying to do? Escape from training?" Joby jokes. Everyone laughs and I laugh weakly along with them, but I'm afraid Tristan might actually be planning something far more catastrophic. I'm still wondering what it was that he accidentally commanded himself to do.
"Hey, is it okay if I work with you guys? My group is a little too much for me to handle right now."
We all look up from our work and see that Alia is standing behind us.
"We'll always welcome more help, just as long as your group is all right with it," Liam offers.
"I think they'll manage," Alia replies as she glances back at the recreation lounge. I can just barely make out the form of Jaren. It looks like he's giving orders while everyone else is hard at work. I don't blame Alia for leaving, Jaren's a jerk all on his own, even without whatever fallout the two of them had.
Alia immediately bends down and starts reinforcing some of the supports. I'm amazed at the way she's changed over these past few days. She's definitely not back to her old self; there's a profound sadness about her, but she seems stronger somehow and more determined to take charge of her life. I never did ask her what was wrong the other night, even though I promised myself I would. I guess I'm afraid that if I bring it up, she'll relapse into the empty listlessness that has conquered her life for the past several weeks.
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