Outside In

by Maria V. Snyder

  I slowed as I reached the ducts over the infirmary. Looping over the patient area, surgery and exam room, I noted how the two men had positioned themselves on either side of the door to our suite. Lamont had been strapped down on the exam table. White medical tape covered her mouth, but she had the best view of the air vent.

  Potential rescue scenarios raced through my mind. I could find Anne-Jade and a bunch of ISF officers. Except they were unarmed and these two not only had stunners, but the one on the right side carried a kill-zapper. Who else could I trust? Logan might have some gadget… Zippy!

  Sliding over to the vent above my room, I lowered myself down and grabbed Zippy from my bed. I hefted him up and into the shaft without too much noise. Hopefully, they’d think the few thuds meant I had returned.

  I tucked Zippy under my arm so he wouldn’t rub against the metal shaft. Back at the exam room, I removed the cover with care. Lamont’s eyes widened and she gestured at the men with her head. I nodded and put a finger to my lips before lowering Zippy just enough so he cleared the shaft. Flipping the switch, I hoped he would do his silent electronic pulse thing.

  Once I pulled Zippy back, I swung through the vent and dropped to the floor. I had the element of surprise and a stun gun. In the second it took for them to react, I shot them both. The sizzle slaps rang, but they didn’t fall down.

  The man on the left pointed to his belt buckle. “Anti stunners.” He aimed his weapon at my chest.

  I flinched but nothing happened. Good job, Zippy. Then I realized it was me against the two of them. I bolted toward the patient area. And I would have escaped, too.

  Except one of them yelled, “Stop or we’ll hurt Doctor Lamont.”

  Damn. I turned. The right side goon held a scalpel to Lamont’s throat. Her angry eyes aimed a clear signal at me to keep running. They were probably bluffing, but I couldn’t take that chance. Not with her life.

  “Drop your weapon,” Right Goon ordered.

  An odd request considering I couldn’t hurt them with it. I placed it on the floor and Left Goon picked it up. Before I could even say a word, Left Goon stunned me with my own gun. The sizzle slap hit me in the middle of my chest, knocking me back.

  15

  AS THE PULSE FROM THE STUN GUN TRAVELED THROUGH my body, it left behind a stinging pain as if thousands of needles jabbed into me. The numbness followed, but it seemed slower. Eventually I couldn’t move, or think clearly, or talk. Voices reached me, but their words were jumbled. My vision blurred and I was unable to focus on one person or thing. I’d never felt so helpless and uncaring at the same time.

  Encased in something white, I sensed movement. I concentrated on the sounds around me. After a while, I heard the washers slosh and spin. Then the hum of the power plant dominated as the laundry noises faded.

  The crunch and clink of the recycling plant grew louder and I smelled the hot, sweet scent of the glass kilns. The light changed to bluelights and all sounds were cut off.

  The white material disappeared. The two goons talked and my view changed to a lower point. They fussed with things around me, then left.

  Time passed until pain pricked my feet, then sizzled up my calves. Sensation returned with agonizing slowness. When the effects of the stun gun finally wore off, I felt relief that the fuzziness had lifted from my mind. It was quickly followed by panic.

  I sat in a chair, but my wrists were clamped to the armrests with metal cuffs. A hard ring bit into my ankles, and I guessed they were cuffed to the chair’s legs. My waist was strapped in, as well. The chair wouldn’t move when I squirmed. I considered screaming for help, but the walls had been sprayed with insulating foam, which scared me more than being secured to a chair.

  Taking deep breaths, I calmed my terrified thoughts and focused on the positives. I hadn’t been recycled. I wasn’t in the brig with Karla and Vinco. And Logan knew about Inside’s top level. What else?

  I glanced around in the dim bluelight. Shelves full of metal parts lined two of the walls and half of the wall with the door. A storage closet for maintenance was my first impression, but this chair didn’t fit. And the work table filled with half completed gadgets meant this could be where the goons had built the anti-stunners.

  I looked for air and heating vents, but didn’t find any. That would explain why I didn’t know about this room. It also meant the only way out of here was through the door. A gap under it let in daylights and air.

  It didn’t take a genius to guess Jacy had ordered my abduction. Although I was unclear on the why. Sloan obviously had informed him of my visit to the recycling plant, so Jacy knew I had tricked my tracer. Why would that goad him into doing this?

  A couple of hours later I still didn’t have any answers. Or food and water. My stomach grumbled. Finally, the door opened and my two goons and Jacy slipped inside the room, closed and then locked the door.

  Clearly unhappy, Jacy studied me for a while.

  I stared right back. “What’s going on?” I demanded.

  “You tell me. What have you been up to?” he asked.

  “I helped lance a boil—that was gross. I stitched a patient’s hand, I disinfected every surface of—”

  “Stop playing around, Trella. You know what I mean.”

  Like I would tell him. “This isn’t the right way to ask me, Jacy.”

  His scowl deepened. “I needed to get you away from the infirmary and Bubba Boom.”

  “And you couldn’t have asked me to meet you somewhere else?”

  “Would you have come?”

  “No.” A wave of pure exhaustion swept through me. “What do you want, Jacy?”

  “I need to know what you and Logan have been doing for the last few weeks.”

  He knew about Logan. Not good. “Why would I tell you?”

  “Because we’re on the same side.”

  I made a show of looking at my restraints. “Is this how you treat all your cohorts or am I just that special?”

  “I know Bubba Boom fed you a bunch of lies. I didn’t realize what he was up to until too late. And I couldn’t think of another way to make you listen to reason,” Jacy said.

  “So you attack me and tie me to a chair and I’m supposed to believe you’re the voice of reason?”

  “Yes.”

  I laughed at the pure ridiculousness of the situation. “Save your speech, Jacy. I saw you with Sloan and James Trava. I heard you plotting.”

  “Did you hear the entire conversation?”

  “Doesn’t matter.”

  “Yes, it does.”

  “Fine. I heard the last ten minutes or so.”

  “And Bubba Boom told you about the meeting, right?”

  “Yes, but don’t try to twist it back to him. You were with Sloan and Trava.”

  “For a good reason. We—”

  “Jacy, I’m not going to believe anything you say. So there’s no sense trying to convince me.” As soon as the words left my mouth I realized my mistake. I had messed up any chance to pretend to believe him in order to get out of here. I could blame my lack of sleep or the side effects of being stunned, but sheer stupidity was the culprit.

  “All right, Trella. We’ll do this the hard way. You’re usually pretty smart so I’m going to give you time alone to think about everything that has happened.” Jacy conferred with his goons before leaving.

  Right Goon crouched in front of me and rested his hands on my legs as if balancing himself. A sudden surge of fear flooded my body as I met his gaze. A hideous thought surfaced. Would Jacy’s men resort to… Unable to even consider it, I shied away from that terrible scenario.

  “I suggest you tell him what he wants to know,” he said.

  “Why?” I was proud my voice didn’t shake.

  “Because he’s going to get our world back.” He stood and left with the other man.

  I remembered to breathe when they didn’t immediately return. But the muscles in my legs still trembled from the goon’s touch.

  In order to p
ass the time and distract myself from my dry throat and empty stomach, I considered Jacy’s argument. The meeting with the Captain and with the bomber had been pretty damning. What other evidence did I have?

  Sloan. He pulled me from the duct and we started the riot. Why? To empty the waste handling plant of workers so one of his buddies could plant that bomb.

  But Bubba Boom disarmed the bomb…well…sort of. It didn’t matter how it had been stopped, just that it did stop. And Sloan knew right where to find me in the air shaft. Or did he? My tool belt had clanged.

  Jacy wanted to plant those mics above the Control Room and Anne-Jade’s office. Which made sense if he was worried about what the Committee was up to. Except he was on the Committee so why would he need to bug those areas unless he was more concerned about the Controllers?

  And the whole situation with the Transmission hadn’t added up either. Everything I learned about Jacy had come from Bubba Boom. Then again, Jacy had cuffed me to a chair in a locked room. And time remained critical. What if the Outsiders came in?

  Logic remained on Jacy’s side if he told the truth, but I just couldn’t trust him. As the time passed and I grew hungrier, thirstier and stiffer, my inclination to believe Jacy diminished with each minute.

  When the door finally opened, I wished I could strangle him. He slipped in with Sloan and another goon. A visit with Sloan—now my week was complete.

  He approached me warily, which, considering the circum stances would have made me laugh, but I glared at him.

  “Did you think it through?” he asked.

  “Yep.”

  “And?”

  “I’ve decided I’d wrap my hands around your neck and crush your windpipe first.”

  “Not helping, Trella.”

  “That’s the point.”

  He sighed. “I’d hoped my involvement with the Force of Sheep rebellion would have earned me some of your trust.”

  My gaze flicked to Sloan. “Why did he pull me from the shaft?”

  “At first, I was just playing around,” Sloan said. “I heard you up in the duct. I planned to let you go, but when I found out about those mics…I lost it. It was like the Pop Cops all over again.”

  “Captain Trava?” I asked Jacy.

  “We need to get the Transmission fixed. He knew the right people and he knows the Controllers are not… They’re…”

  “Outsiders,” I said.

  “I should have known you’d already have that figured out. Who told you—Bubba Boom?”

  I kept my mouth shut.

  “James Trava is helping us. He knows what Inside can do. How fast we can travel, how to maneuver our world. It’s probably too late, but something had to be done!” He pulled in a few breaths as if to calm down. “That’s why I need to know what you’ve been up to. You could be compromising our efforts.”

  He had explained the two inconsistencies, but still. “I’m not.”

  “What about Logan?”

  “You should know better than me. He’s in protective custody by order of the Committee.”

  Jacy stepped toward me, balling his hands into tight fists. I feared he would strike me.

  Instead, he uncurled his hands and tapped his fingers against his thighs. He looked at Sloan. “Last try?”

  “Don’t bother. She doesn’t believe you, boss. We don’t need her. She can stay in the Pit until we have the situation under control,” Sloan said.

  The Pit? That didn’t sound good.

  “I would, except we do need her. Go.” Jacy cleared a spot off the work table and sat down.

  “Is he bringing food and water?” I asked, trying to keep my voice steady.

  “No. But if this doesn’t work, I’ll make sure you’re fed.”

  “Nice of you,” I said with a flat tone. “Since we’re having this lovely chat, did someone rescue Doctor Lamont?”

  “Yes. And Bubba Boom, Hank and a bunch of the maintenance workers have been searching for you ever since, causing us trouble. That’s why it took so long to get back here.”

  “Too bad.” Sarcasm laced my words. And when the silence lengthened, I asked about the Pit.

  Before he could reply, the door opened. I braced for their “last try” by clamping my lips tight. But when Riley stood there with Sloan, a little yelp of surprise escaped me.

  Riley turned on Jacy. “What’s this?” He gestured toward me. “You said you were going to talk to her. Let her go. Now!”

  Not what I had been expecting. Maybe Riley’s anger was part of the ruse.

  “She thinks we’re the saboteurs,” Jacy replied mildly. “How was I supposed to get her to sit down with me for a nice conversation?”

  I noted the use of “we’re.” Nausea rose in my empty stomach.

  “That’s why I wanted to be the one to convince her,” Riley said.

  “You’re needed elsewhere. We’re running out of time.” Jacy jumped to his feet. “This has been a total waste of precious time. Sloan, take her to the Pit. We’ll manage without her. Riley, are the wires in place?”

  “Not yet.”

  “Then go. Get it done. They’re already attached to us. Sloan’ll deal with Trella.”

  Riley didn’t move. He met my gaze. “Did Logan find a way around the Outsiders?” he asked.

  I might not trust Jacy, but despite Riley’s belief, I did trust him. I should have trusted him with the bomb, and I should have tried to figure out what he’d been doing all these weeks. But my own hurt feelings had kept me away from him. Now though, if Riley thought Jacy’s gang was doing the right thing, then I had no qualms. “No. Not yet. We think we have one last chance, but it would require a coordinated effort from a bunch of people.”

  Jacy and Riley exchanged a look.

  “I have the manpower,” Jacy said. “We can combine our efforts?”

  That last bit sounded like a question. “I thought your sources dried up when you joined the Committee.”

  “Things have changed.”

  Riley knelt in front of me. “Will you help us, Trell?”

  Looking into his eyes, seeing the concern on his face, I couldn’t resist him. “Yes.”

  Free at last, I stood and rubbed feeling back into my muscles.

  “What do you need from us?” Jacy asked me.

  “We have to confirm that our plan can work first, and then we’ll need a few workers we can trust from every system.”

  “Okay, I’ll find you three for each. Is that enough?” Jacy asked.

  “Yes.”

  He nodded and turned to leave.

  “Jacy, you said you needed me. What do you want me to do?” I asked.

  He glanced at Riley. “You might as well tell her everything. Then get back to those wires.”

  Riley gave him a mocking salute. “Aye-aye, Captain.”

  Jacy smiled and left the room.

  “Can you tell me in the cafeteria?” I asked. “I’m starving.”

  “No,” Sloan said. “You’ll have to be rescued by maintenance. I’ll go get everything set up and come back for you.” He shot me a sour look before leaving.

  “I have a feeling I’m not going to like this,” I said.

  “I don’t like it at all, but it’s our best chance,” Riley said.

  “Just start from the beginning.” I sat on the table in the place Jacy had cleared. No way I would sit in that chair again.

  “Here’s the condensed version. Bubba Boom is working for the Outsiders. He built those bombs and attacked Logan. We don’t know how he contacted them, and we don’t know who else is helping him. We suspect Hank, but have no proof. Jacy and I are trying to bypass the Outsiders by building another computer network independent of the existing one. Then we’ll switch controls over to the new network. But we can’t do that if Bubba Boom is just going to hijack the new network. We need to know more.”

  I connected the logic. “You want me to get closer to Bubba Boom and find out how he is communicating with the Outsiders?”

  “You�
��ve been hanging out with him so…yeah.” He didn’t look happy about it.

  “He’s supposedly helping me with finding the active link to the Outsiders. And searching for Sloan and company. But he doesn’t know about Logan.”

  “That’s good.”

  “Yeah. I guess he wanted to make sure I didn’t join Jacy.” Fooled me big time. Why was I so easily convinced? Perhaps because I had lost faith in my own judgment.

  “He did save your life,” Riley said.

  “So did you. I’d never have washed off the chemical so fast.”

  He shrugged. “If you had trusted…never mind.”

  I grabbed his arms and forced him to look at me. “I do trust you. I would have told Jacy to go recycle himself if you hadn’t come in here. I didn’t trust myself. I now know I made a mistake by listening to Bubba Boom. A big…huge mistake and I paid dearly for it.” I huffed. “That’s why I didn’t want to be in charge. What if I make another wrong decision?”

  “Then we’ll deal with it. I’d rather have you make a mistake then have Outsiders tell us what to do.”

  “Are you sure? I’ve made some doozies.”

  “I’m positive. Besides, you’re not the only one to mess up. Jacy screwed up your recruitment, I’ve done and said things I regret and your mother has had a couple lapses in judgment. Hopefully, Bubba Boom and the Outsiders will make mistakes that we can take advantage of.”

  He made me feel better, but I didn’t fully agree with him. “You shouldn’t have anything to regret.”

  A sad smile touched his lips. “I regret my harsh words. I regret my anger.”

  “You shouldn’t. I needed to hear those words and to be woken up to Inside’s problems. Although, I don’t have a death wish!”

  “I know. Just voicing my frustration. You’d dash off to the rescue, but couldn’t see Inside needed more rescuing.” His smile reached his eyes this time. “If I only knew to tell you to not get involved, it would have saved us a lot of trouble. Plus, Sheepy’s been miserable these last few weeks.”

  Sloan returned. “The room’s ready. Let’s go,” he said to me.

  “What’s going on now?”

  “I’m gonna lock you in a maintenance closet, we’ll tip off Bubba Boom to your location and he’ll sweep in for the rescue,” Sloan said.