by Greg Dragon
He pulled me into his arms again, and I tried not to stiffen. “I think I do.”
40
Please whisper,” my father said, his own voice definitely louder than a whisper. He was speaking to a group of twenty block leaders standing uncomfortably packed together in the small showroom of a shoe store where a screen flickered in front of them. But the arguing continued as if he hadn’t spoken.
It was the second night of briefing, and Dresden’s camera had already been put to good use. We’d shown a recording of my father’s confession to a dozen groups so far. I had expected Mills to send out the information to his followers quickly, but apparently the empress’s new location law made communication much more difficult. Their solution was to show the recording to the neighborhood heads in each area and allow them to spread the word.
And since Jasper, Keri, and I were among the few who couldn’t be punished—Keri’s techband had no punishment mode, either—we were the chosen emissaries.
No, that wasn’t it. They wanted to show me off. I was their showpiece, their crowning jewel. It was just a nice convenience that I couldn’t be zapped.
Zapped. The memory the word conjured up made me cringe. Everything reminded me of Vance now. Certain faces in the crowd, a whiff of pine, a head of dark, messy hair. My mind knew that if he were alive, he’d be here; my heart refused to accept that he was gone.
Focus, Treena. I forced myself to look around, taking in the anxious faces of reds and yellows, all standing around nervously because there was nowhere to sit. The racks of shoes had been pushed to the walls, and any chairs or benches had been removed to make room for more people. It was unbearably hot. More so for me because of the protective vest I wore under my uniform.
“Just start it already,” an older man spoke up, his voice carrying above the others. He was in the middle of the pack and probably sweating horribly by now. I was in the corner by the door and could barely breathe the air was so stale.
“The time has finally come,” Jasper began. “The empress and the Council have overstepped their bounds and begun attacking their own people. And now we finally have proof. Remember, this information is absolutely classified and top secret. Everyone involved is receiving the same information.”
He nodded to me, and I hit the Start key on the glass screen. His face filled the screen and he began telling his story. Since I’d seen it several times, I let my mind wander. Dresden had looked grim when delivering the camera to our meeting place yesterday, his usual smile hidden by a deep concern. I think he knew there was no going back now. If something happened to him, it would be my fault.
The crowd was starting to react now. The recording only specified that the successor was female, not who it was—at Jasper’s insistence they’d find out later, once they had committed—so they didn’t seem to notice me. But they did keep staring at Jasper. Their faces showed cynicism at first, sometimes disdain. After the first minute, though, their reactions weren’t as pronounced. A couple of the women shook their heads. A man coughed. Finally it ended, and there wasn’t a sound.
The older man in the middle was the first to speak. “All right, we agree that the empress has to go. Everyone knows she’s a weasely little rat messing with people’s lives. But what’s the plan? The recording didn’t tell us.”
“Wait,” a woman said. “If anyone doesn’t want to be a part of this, they should leave. Right now.”
My father nodded. “Actually, that’s what I was about to say. If you stay, your participation will be expected. For obvious reasons, I’d recommend that those who would like to leave do so now.”
I expected several to leave, like in the first group, but no one did. The woman’s jaw was firmly set. Finally Jasper spoke again. “Thank you. If you could please file out of the room and make your way upstairs, Mills will explain the plan there.” He opened the door and stood aside for the crowd to file past.
I watched them carefully as the room emptied. One man, his hair slicked back to reveal a yellow Rating, held back. Finally the crowd was gone, and it was just the three of us.
“Did you have a question, sir?” my father asked, making his way over to the man. The stranger’s face darkened at his approach. My heart sank when I saw the glint of metal in the man’s hand.
“Wait!” I shouted, but it was too late. The man leaped forward, grabbing my father’s shoulder with one hand and plunging the knife deep into his stomach.
My father gasped, a horrified expression frozen on his face as he fell to the ground.
“No!” I closed the space in two steps. The man was aiming the bloody knife for a second thrust. As it fell, I redirected the knife back toward the attacker’s thigh. It sank deep. He gave a sharp intake of breath and bent over, clasping his leg. I swept his other leg, throwing him roughly to the floor, and yanked the knife out. The man’s startled yelp instantly ceased as I aimed the bloody knife at his throat. “Don’t. Move.”
His eyes were wide and full of pain, but he froze. Rage pulsed through my body, along with a strong desire to hurt him back, to tear from him what he’d torn from my father. Instead, I asked, “Why?”
His chin lifted a little. “The empress rewards loyalty.”
I glanced at the Jasper on the floor. His face was turned toward me, losing color by the second.
“Someone help!” I shouted. “Is anyone there?”
The footsteps stopped in the doorway, and there was an exclamation of surprise. Then everyone in the building swarmed us and time seemed to move in slow motion—Keri letting out a horrified gasp, and someone else checking his breathing. A group of men with grim expressions surrounding the man who had probably murdered my father, rolling him onto his stomach and locking his hands together.
A soft hand brushed my shoulder. “You can put that down now, sweetie.” I realized that I still held the weapon and that I was shaking. It clattered to the floor as I sank down.
The man examining my father frowned and stood. “He’s breathing, but it’s faint. He needs a doctor.”
“He’s a fugitive,” I said. “They’ll kill him.”
“He’s at the brink already, love,” an older lady said.
“My brother runs a red hospital out of his house,” a man spoke up. “He’ll have some blood in storage. Someone help me carry him. You, there.”
With that, my father’s slumped body disappeared down the road. Keri and a couple of men tied up the attacker and led him out. He glared at me as he left. I just avoided his gaze. What he’d done was unforgivable, but I did understand his reasoning—he’d been desperate for a higher Rating, willing to sink to anything to get it. I had been that way once, and I hated myself for it.
The next group of people waited outside the open door, shifting uncertainly and wondering what they had just gotten themselves into. I stood mechanically, ignoring the blood on my uniform, and forced myself to usher them into the viewing room. There was lots of whispering, but I didn’t care. My father’s face was frozen on the glass screen, ready to be replayed.
With a sinking feeling in my heart, I realized that all of this wouldn’t be enough. The Rating system was too powerful. Greens were too comfortable with their lives to take a chance. Yellows wanted to become greens, so they’d do whatever it took. And reds? They were too dangerous, too unreliable to be taken seriously. We were going about this all wrong.
Mills wanted a face for the people to unite behind. Well, he was about to get it.
“I want to say a few words before I play this video for you,” I said to the waiting group. They shuffled their feet and seemed ready to bolt, but they were listening. I reached into the bag I’d left in the corner and pulled out the camera, turning it on and handing it to a girl close to my age. “Just keep that on me.”
“Got it,” she said.
I turned to the camera and spoke loudly. “I know I’m young and small. You’re probably wondering why you’re listening to a teenage girl. Up until a week ago I was just like you—going about m
y life, following the rules, and trying to make the best of things. But something happened.”
It was quiet now, the shifting and movement completely gone. Keri had stepped back into the room and was leaning against the doorway. Good. I wanted her to hear this too.
“The Rating I earned was taken from me,” I continued. “The empress tried to have me murdered to cover it up.” There were a few gasps and whispers, but I plunged on. “We also have evidence that she has staged the deaths of multiple others she felt threatened her position. My father once called the Rating system a sophisticated and chilling method of control. I would have argued with him once.” I paused. “Now, after what I’ve experienced, I know he’s absolutely right.”
“We agree,” another said. “But what can we do about it?”
I paused. “Get rid of the Rating system.”
There was silence, then murmuring.
“So this meeting is about overthrowing the Ratings?” someone said, the skepticism in his voice heavy.
“That’s blasphemous,” a man said. A green. One of only a handful who had dared come. “I’m not surprised about the empress, but the Rating system is the foundation of our nation. The system works when the ruler follows the laws.”
“The system fosters competition,” I said. “Initially the kinder, more society-minded citizens were supposed to be rewarded. Now we’re killing each other, threatening one another, scrambling for the slightest edge over our friends and family. It just isn’t working anymore. Now, I understand your desire to protect your families. As you just saw, the Rating system is a powerful tool in the empress’s hands. Our plan is risky and dangerous. It’s probably downright crazy, actually. But if it works, your children will grow up without fear of pain and punishment in a world where a leader serves her people without using, manipulating, or murdering them. A world where everyone has an equal chance of succeeding.”
“We’ve heard all this before,” someone said. “The empress herself said such things when she was crowned, and look at her now.”
“Is this really possible?” a woman asked.
“I don’t know,” I admitted.
The voices came fast now, and I simply listened.
“The leaders are always the same,” a balding man with a huge nose said. “They promise change, then cave to whatever the Council wants. Our situation never improves, regardless of who rules.”
“If we’re to risk our lives over this, we have to know what the outcome will be,” a younger woman said in a quiet voice.
Baldie humphed. “We all know what the outcome will be. Not a thing. These rebels will take everything and give us back nothing.”
The quiet woman spoke more loudly now. “But if we don’t try, we’ll never know.”
“True,” a tall, slender man said thoughtfully.
“And what if, by some miracle, we do succeed? Fates!” Baldie was yelling now. If the neighbors didn’t hear, it would be a miracle. “Don’t you people remember your history? Look what happened to Old America. Our life here isn’t perfect, but at least it’s better than that.”
“For you, maybe. You’re a high yellow!”
The room exploded with noise, some yelling questions and others shouting at their neighbors. I hit Play on the screen again and slipped out the door before anyone could see the emotions struggling to the surface.
A world without numbers, I thought. For a moment I listened to the voice on the recording and mourned the thought of losing the father I’d barely begun to know—and all because of the stupid Rating system. I’d caused quite a stir in there and hadn’t even known what I was about to present before I’d done it. But if someone had asked me to take it back, I wouldn’t. The empress was a huge problem, but the Rating system was what enabled her abuse of power. In that moment, a world without numbers was the closest thing to perfection I’d ever imagined. Determination flared up within, and for the first time in a very long while, I felt what Tali had described. If there was a cause worth dying for, this was it. She’d fought the system in her own, small way, but I had a chance to make a real difference. I was the only person in NORA who had the potential to change the system completely. Maybe that was her final message—choose to fight, and never give in.
“I’ll do it, Tali,” I whispered. “Better late than never.”
><><><><><><><
I couldn’t sleep that night. The smugglers had added a couple of bedrolls to the attic for us, but looking at Jasper’s empty bed was too painful. They hadn’t let me visit him last night. “He’s in surgery,” they said. “Come back tomorrow.” But the look they gave me was one of pity, and I knew. They didn’t expect him to make it.
It shouldn’t have bothered me that much. He’d thrown away his chance to participate in my life already. It wasn’t like I needed him now. For some reason it was hard to convince myself of that.
When the first rays of light finally came through the tiny round window, I sat up. Dust particles floated slowly in the sunlight, a colorless glitter of lazy specks. It reminded me of the dome at the Block in Olympus. Except that the cold white building hadn’t been filled with the song of birds. The sound was so ridiculously happy, so carefree. What did these birds eat, anyway? Surely whatever bugs they ate didn’t live in plastic grass. And yet, here they all were, defying order in their own way.
I tried not to think about the second phase of the plan that would occur tonight. My legs felt restless and cramped. I missed my early morning workouts. This was probably as good a time as any to do some training. It was what Vance would have done.
Stop it, I thought. I had to stop torturing myself with recurring thoughts of him.
It felt so good to stretch my muscles. I put my hands to the floor, breathing in deeply, forcing my brain to turn off for a while. A few stretches with my arms and I felt like a new person. In the quiet of the morning and with the approval of the birds just outside the small window, I decided to practice the kata Vance had taught me.
A sweep step to the right, with a block and a punch to my invisible assailant’s jaw. I lifted my leg in a kick to his head, then brought an elbow down into his chest to send him toward the ground. I could almost feel Vance beside me as he had been at our daily training sessions, directing my wrist to make a straight line, my skin tingling at the roughness of his fingers against mine. It was almost as if I could smell the wildness of his essence when I did this.
Stop it.
Right kick to the groin, sweep of the leg, hammer punch to the nose. I was working up a sweat now. The floor beneath my feet creaked, but I barely noticed, completely lost in the movements. It was a couple of minutes before I noticed the figure at the top of the stairs.
“Look behind you at the back kick,” a familiar voice said.
My heart leaped in my throat. I turned, and there he was, an easy smile on his face. I pushed down the thousands of emotions that hit me then, forcing myself not to run into his arms. Instead, I stepped slowly toward him. “I did look. You’re just underestimating my peripheral vision.”
“Ah. So you see invisible men, but not real ones,” Vance countered. His hair was tousled and unkempt, and his uniform was wrinkled, but he was clean-shaven.
“If I see a real man, I’ll let you know.”
He smirked, ready to retort, but my restraint finally burst. I leaped toward him and let him catch me in his arms, allowing myself to melt into his chest. As he pulled back to look at me, his smile disappeared, and he softly tucked a wayward piece of hair behind my ear. “Sounds like you’ve had a rough couple of days.”
I pulled away. “You mind telling me where you’ve been?”
He raised an eyebrow, his mouth twitching. “Why? Were you worried?”
“You idiotic piece of slimy—”
“It was a simple question,” he said, his tone light, but he watched me carefully. “Were you worried?”
I looked away, the fight draining out of me. “Of course! I thought you—you know . . .”
�
��Got blown up?” His words were playful, but his expression was grim.
“I saw the explosion,” I said quietly.
“Got out just in time. Daymond wouldn’t jump until I put a pack on, and he yelled something about kicking the fates out of the empress for him, then shoved me out the door. He probably tried to maneuver the chopper away from us before impact to give us more time.”
I tried to imagine Daymond, with his thick arms, shoving Vance out the door. I would have loved to see that. “Not Daymond.”
“It was his choice. He knew what he was doing.” His words were certain and sure, but his lips pulled into a frown. Daymond’s death had obviously affected him more than he wanted me to know. “Your dad survived the surgery, by the way. I checked on him on my way here. He’ll have a rough recovery, but they say he’ll probably make it.”
I let out a long breath, feeling my shoulders sag. “Thank you.”
There was a long silence neither of us wanted to break. Finally he spoke. “So. I’m gone for three days, and suddenly you’re overthrowing an empire. I wouldn’t expect anything less from you.”
I shrugged. “It hasn’t happened yet.”
“I heard about your recording and the support you’ve helped gather. Mills’s followers seem to really like you. Very impressive.”
“Not really. They wanted a change, and I’m just a means to get there.”
“You sound bitter about that.”
“Vance, I thought you were dead.”
His smile faded. “It doesn’t look like you ever needed me here.”
“You went to find your family?”
His hesitation was all the answer I needed. I watched his face closely, looking for something. The soul I’d caught a glimpse of before was locked away again under those dark, unreadable eyes, but there seemed to be a crack in the wall—a tiny trickle of uncertainty. He looked away. “Yes.”
“Did you find them? Are they all right?”
