Numbers Raging

by Rebecca Rode

  I ran my fingers through my hair, suddenly feeling weary myself. Sleep was a distant memory, a luxury I wasn’t sure I’d ever be able to afford again. “Go back to bed, Selia. I’ll figure this out.”

  She ignored my order. “Did they offer supplies, at least?”

  “They offered a piece of land covered in tarps. That’s about it.”

  She deflated a little. “I know you’re not thrilled about moving back, but we’ll be closer to finding a cure. Your father would have done the same thing. I’m proud of you.”

  “My father wouldn’t have let any of this happen in the first place.”

  Selia nodded. “He was a good man, indeed. As one of those who knew him best, I respected him and admired him.” She was still out of breath, but she seemed to have recovered from the climb somewhat. “That said, your father was far from perfect. He trusted the wrong people, punished the innocent, and made terrible mistakes. Do you remember the alliance?”

  I stared at her blankly.

  “No, of course you wouldn’t. You couldn’t have been five years old. Well, another clan wanted to join us, a group of several dozen teenagers—children, really—who had lost their parents to war. Your father decided against the circle’s advice and chose to allow them entrance with the condition they’d agree to our laws. They’d gone wild out there in the forest. We could all see their violent natures right off, but your father wanted to give them a chance.”

  I did remember, but it was hazy. A boy with his head shaved and tufts of a new beard. A girl with a hard expression and a round, protruding stomach. Others who spoke loudly and harshly. They’d met at our home for the negotiations. My mother had slipped me food and asked me to go play outside but stay close to home. I’d sat outside the door to listen.

  Yelling and fighting. A single shot, a body carried away. My father’s mouth set in a firm line as he watched them leave.

  “What happened?” I asked Selia.

  “As they negotiated their terms, the conversation escalated to an argument. I’m pretty sure some of them didn’t like their leader’s agreement to our strict laws. One boy drew a knife, another a pistol. I’m sure you can imagine what your father did about that.”

  My dad’s training would have kicked in then. I could see it now—him leaping from his chair and disarming the teens before they knew what had happened.

  “A third was taken by surprise as she cocked her gun, and she accidentally shot Mother Orwitz as she sat quietly in her chair. The girl cried and insisted she hadn’t meant to do it, all while the poor woman bled out in your father’s arms. He ordered them to leave his home, and the circle escorted them out without further incident, but old man Iron never forgave himself for Mother Orwitz’s death.” She gave a rueful smile. “I think the Hawking family has an overdeveloped sense of guilt, personally.”

  I shoved away from the wall and headed for the door. “That wasn’t even really his fault.”

  “Exactly.”

  I chafed at her words. “I know you mean well, Selia, but it’s a long trip to NORA, even by air. We’ll probably lose settlers along the way. Are you asking me to tell these people to risk their loved ones’ lives and then sleep huddled together in a tent without medical care? What’s the point if I can’t guarantee things will be any better there?”

  “I have a sense about things, and I’m absolutely certain they’ll have a cure for us. At the very least, I bet they’ve seen this thing before.”

  This thing. There had to be a name for it. A compound that attaches to water molecules.

  I turned to the lightning in the distance, brilliant in its intensity. Unusual to have lightning in the morning like this. It hadn’t always been green, some people said. It was the residue from the bombs, the weapons Old Americans used against each other. As the water had dried up, crops and livestock died. The war’s few survivors followed soon after.

  The weapons they’d used . . . the bombs . . .

  “Have any of our scientists spent time in NORA?” I found myself asking.

  “No idea. Why?”

  I brushed past her and started trotting down the steep trail.

  “Vance?” Selia called after me. “What are you doing?”

  I was too focused to answer. I sprinted down the straight areas and jogged where the rocks prevented speed. It was a few minutes before I reached the lab deep in the mountain’s walls.

  As expected, Coltrane was bent over a microscope. Several others stood around him, arguing with each other. When they saw me run in, the room went silent. Coltrane looked around him before noticing my presence.

  “Oh,” he said. “You’re back.”

  “Any NORA scientists here?” I asked. “Or anyone who’s lived there, even for a little while?”

  “Afraid not,” Coltrane said. “NORA spends a lot of time training their scientists. They wouldn’t let them just walk out with the Integrants.” He frowned at my expression. “What’s the matter?”

  “I just need to talk this through,” I said. “That residue in the air, the pollution Peak was running from after the Great War. He settled NORA in the desert valley because the air was better there, right?”

  The scientists looked bewildered. They stared me like I was speaking Portuguese.

  “I only know what Ruby told me,” Coltrane said slowly. “The desert was the least affected area, true. But the air was bad everywhere.”

  “So how did they survive when nobody else did?”

  “Um, I’m assuming they still had to take some precautions.”

  “What kind of precautions?”

  “Well, the bombs essentially removed all water from the atmosphere and dried up lakes and rivers. Ruby said the water also made people very sick. Broke down their bodies after awhile, even. So Peak created a substance that counteracted the bomb’s effects and put it in their water system, then kept it tightly recycled. That’s why NORA citizens have been drinking water packets for ninety years—it’s the cleanest, purest way to get the antidote.”

  A sickening realization had begun to hit now. “So people who’ve lived in NORA for any period of time would be more resistant to the compound’s effects.”

  “If they drank the same water, sure. Although the antidote’s effect would grow weaker over time—Holy stones and rocks. I see where you’re going with this.”

  I spoke even faster. “Do you think someone from NORA could compress the damaging compound itself into a concentrated form? Say, a liquid or a powder? Something you could put into water?”

  “I—I suppose so. Are you saying it was someone from NORA who did all this?”

  The other scientists stared at each other, their eyes wide in horror. One sat and covered his face with his hands.

  “Probably,” I said. “I think someone is trying to drive us to NORA, and they were desperate enough to risk losing a huge percentage of our settlers. Someone who couldn’t wait until winter for us to starve.”

  “The Eastern Continental Alliance?” Coltrane asked quietly.

  “I don’t know. Maybe. But there are easier ways to take this land, and I’m not sure why they would still want it anyway.”

  “Treena said the emperor was gathering the outer cities,” Coltrane said. “Maybe now he’s trying to bring us in too.”

  The question was why. What did Bike Boy gain by having everyone in one place?”

  We already knew what faced us here. Selia was right. NORA was our only chance regardless of Bike Boy’s motives. But he didn’t know we were on to him, which gave us an advantage. We’d just have to find out what was going on before he could initiate his plan.

  “What now?” one of the scientists asked.

  “Start packing up the essentials,” I said. “We’re going to NORA.”

  The dome felt strangely empty as I walked in. It wasn’t because of the suitcases near the door. A part of me, the joyful part that was always excited to see Vance, felt numb and dead. There was so much I wanted to say to him—that he was right, that
I should have trusted him more. I wanted to tell him how sorry I was for sneaking out and keeping secrets. Now I was the one left behind.

  Someone cleared their throat. I whirled to find Chan standing in the corner of the kitchen, peeling a banana.

  “Chan. You’re here.”

  “Came straight here after I left your note. The guard gave it to you, right?”

  “Yeah, she did. Thank you.” I felt his folded note in my pocket. “I will need that recording, too, if you have it.” On the way back, I’d decided to make several copies of the recording and distribute them. It was worth a try. At the very least, it would keep the world’s eyes on us a little longer and hopefully ensure we had a few contacts in the future.

  “I’ll get it to you tonight. Your dad is out searching for a new place to live. Ours isn’t secure and only has one bedroom. He wants everyone under the same roof this time.”

  Probably safer that way, but I felt that familiar resentment at having decisions made for me. I would never get used to the life of a councilwoman.

  “Ambassador, there’s something I need to tell you. I swear, I didn’t know what was going on. This is a surprise to me too.”

  “What is?”

  He shuffled his feet, the half-peeled banana in his hand forgotten. “Chiu’s call to the Russian president wasn’t the only conversation I’ve overheard in the last two days. He also made a call in Mandarin to someone I’m pretty sure was a spy. A woman. He was giving her orders and telling her to pass along some correspondence.”

  “A woman. Okay.”

  “And then he called the spy by name. He called her Nuwa.”

  I stared at him. “I don’t understand.”

  “The spy helping the emperor negotiate with the Chinese,” he said. “I think it’s my mom.”

  Negotiate with the Chinese? He was making no sense. “Dresden isn’t negotiating with them, Chan. He’s preparing for war.” Or rather, he was supposed to be. I was still confused why he’d hide in his room. The guy was a coward to his core, but why allow riots and fighting to go on in the streets? Didn’t that undermine his already precarious position?

  Unless . . . unless he was just waiting for something.

  Gathering the people in from the outer cities.

  Horror slammed into my mind. I stumbled over to the sofa and sank into the soft cushions, too numb to speak.

  Dresden had gone behind the council’s back and contacted President Chiu.

  I could only imagine his words. Here’s a country, free for the taking. You want it? All you have to do is let me serve under you.

  “Holy fates,” I murmured. “He thinks we’re safe. He honestly thinks making a deal with Chiu will solve everything.”

  All this time I’d been trying to keep my country out of Chiu’s hands, and Dresden had been trying to hand it over. No wonder we were such a mess of a country. Why hadn’t I wrestled the power out of Dresden’s hands when I had the chance?

  Because I was too trusting. Too naive. Too everything. Ruby was wrong—I wasn’t meant to lead a nation. I made a mess of everything I touched.

  “I’m sorry for my mother’s actions,” he said. “They are shameful. I would have told you sooner if I’d known.”

  I forced a smile. “Oh, Chan. I’m not upset with you, but I am curious. If your mother is so clearly on Dresden’s side, why are you helping me?”

  Chan watched me, expressionless. His voice was quiet when he finally spoke. “She gave birth to me, but I am not her son. We have different beliefs about what our country should be. Our views could not be more different.”

  I caught a glimpse of the tiny scar on his forehead, the only evidence of his NORA heritage. When we returned, Dresden would slap a new number on him, just like he would the rest of us. He didn’t care what happened here. The only reason Dresden had agreed to let me come was to remove me as a threat to his plans. The lower colors would rally around me if I asked, and he knew it.

  It had come down to nation versus family. Chan against his mother, me against my great-great-grandfather. Our nation’s future against its past. My hands trembled.

  Everything would be fine once Chiu was gone.

  “There’s something else,” Chan said. “I think you should tell your father about all this—the recording, the new evidence. The emperor and my mother. Let him help you devise a new plan. Don’t do anything rash.”

  I glanced up in surprise, but he just nodded grimly.

  “It’s clear you hate the ECA leader, and from what I’ve heard, he is an evil man with a ruthless nature. But he is also the loving father of a young daughter.” I started to interrupt, but he held up a hand. “Hear me out, please. You see me as your ally, trustworthy and obedient, but I’m a criminal. I lived on the streets in NORA for months and stole whatever I could to survive. Emperor Wynn is seen by many as a brilliant leader while we know him to be as great a threat as our enemy.”

  I raised an eyebrow. The guy had never said this much at once before, not that I could remember.

  He continued, drawing himself together, somehow seeming more a man than an awkward teenage boy. “You see Vance Hawking as a good man who loves you. Others are terrified by the outlander’s wild, spontaneous nature. It is how we choose to see others—as either good or bad, but not both—that can sometimes blind us to the truth.”

  I lifted my chin. Vance was good, no matter what people believed about him. “A leader willing to exterminate an entire nation to take their land is not a decent person, Chan. It’s not how I see President Chiu that’s the problem.”

  “What I mean is that people who see each other as opposites, as black and white, are often surprised to find they live somewhere in between—that perhaps we are all a little gray.”

  “Why are you telling me this?”

  He sat on the couch opposite me and leaned forward, elbows pressing against his thighs. “Think about it. Assigning your enemy the label of evil means that you, as his opposite, must be good. But I don’t think anyone is truly, 100 percent, good. Do you?”

  I shook my head. This philosophy stuff was nice on paper, but I didn’t have time to understand President Chiu. Not when our problem would be solved with him gone. Chan was trying to be helpful, but he didn’t carry the lives of five million people on his shoulders. Chiu had already slaughtered hundreds, and I wasn’t about to step back and let him finish us off, no matter how young his daughter was.

  “Has anyone ever told you that you sound like a sixty-year-old when you spout off?” I asked with a teasing grin.

  “No.”

  I pressed my lips together in what I hoped was a smile, then stood and grabbed my suitcase.

  “What are you doing?” Chan asked warily.

  “Getting dressed.” I pulled out my dark street clothing and headed for my bedroom. The door hadn’t been replaced yet, and the gaping hole in the door seemed wider than yesterday. Maybe I’d change in the washroom.

  “You’re leaving again,” Chan muttered. “You’re going to see President Chiu.”

  “I’m guessing you’re pretty tired,” I told him, ignoring his question. “Go ahead and rest on the sofa if you want. I’m going to finish packing.” I closed the door and changed, then checked the wall screen on my way out again. 18:02 p.m. It would be dark enough soon.

  When I came out, Chan stood by the door. “Are you taking guards with you?”

  I shook my head. No use risking their lives as well. I was determined to end Chiu’s life secretly, but I wasn’t stupid enough to think it would go smoothly. The chances were very good that once I snuck into his quarters, I wouldn’t come back out.

  It was a numb, cold realization, as if a stranger had mentioned it in passing.

  I will probably die tonight.

  A life for a life. Kill or be killed, as Richard kept saying in his journal. In this terrible political game, that was the way it worked, now and always.

  “Do you think murder is ever justified?” I asked thoughtfully. “Like if you
give a life for the one you take?”

  “I think you should talk to your father about this,” Chan said, panic rising as he searched my face. “Or maybe you can send someone else to do it.”

  I had signed up for this long ago. Somehow, I’d always known it would come to this. It was no time to fear death, not when going home meant eventual death anyway. But if I succeeded—well, it was worth the risk.

  I shook my head. “You know Jasper wouldn’t agree to this, Chan. And I’m not risking someone else’s life because I’m afraid to do it myself. I came to keep my people safe, and I won’t hesitate to take any action that ensures peace.” I sat on the sofa and rested my feet on the armrest, my heart hammering wildly. “You don’t have to understand it. Just promise not to tell Jasper, and you’re free to leave.”

  He was quiet for a long moment.

  Finally, he drew a deep breath. “Fine, but here are the terms. I’m coming. If you leave without me, I’ll tell Jasper and we’ll come find you and drag you back. Otherwise, I’ll meet you here at 23:00.”

  I tended to Mom. That basically meant positioning her blankets for the twentieth time and trying to force some cold broth down her throat. Her breaths came quickly and more shallow. My mother’s face was skeletal now, her skin thin like paper. It was as if this lung thing was sucking the life right out of her. I was completely powerless to stop it.

  Parents were just putting their young kids to bed when the thunder rocked the mountain. People shouted to each other outside as they ran to their tents. But the rain never came. Just flashes of brilliant light and the ground-shaking thunder. The lightning lit up the tent with that eerie green hue. I peeked outside and sure enough, each flash of light was tinged with a deep green. It was as if we’d left Earth and landed on a strange, foreign planet where even the laws of physics betrayed us.

  Just then, Mom started choking.