by V. St. Clair
At the last moment, Ana gave him a hug that seemed to surprise her as much as it surprised him. Then she pulled back and said, “Take care of yourself until I see you again.” And then she was gone.
18
Ana Crumb
Ana couldn’t remember ever feeling more frustrated. It should have been such an easy task, making one phone call, telling the stupid government in no uncertain terms that, at a minimum, Major Fox was hoping for the Viceroy’s death, and then she could be done with it. But no good deed ever went unpunished, especially where the government was concerned. As a member of the Gifted, and one who was wanted for the assault of a Provo-Major, she would be lucky to escape such a courtesy call with her life.
I’m trying to help you stupid bastards! Why is this so difficult?!
She wondered if it was worth the effort of helping them at all. If the situation was reversed and they had to go to exorbitant means to assist the Gifted, she could guess how that would go.
I have to be better than them. If Jessamine has her father convinced they need to make peace with us and try for a normal society, then we have to keep her alive at all costs.
She didn’t want to have to explain to the next generation why she had been too lazy and stubborn to help end the segregation and hostilities between the Gifted and everyone else, why they still had to be contained within the Academy all the time to be watched like prisoners.
Strange thought, a world without the Academy…or without it being compulsory, at least.
It was a world she wanted to see. But how to get there? If there was corruption at the highest levels of the Augenspire, should she try submitting an anonymous tip through the Provo-Minor, or one of the other administrative branches of the government? There were several mechanisms for doing such a thing, and if she was crafty enough she could probably find a way to keep it truly anonymous.
But that meant her words would be read by some low-paid administrator who wouldn’t possibly be able to understand them or act on their importance. They would probably regard the entire thing as a joke and write her off completely.
The Provo-Minor were another option, higher than common clerks but still accessible. There were thousands of Provo-Minor working within the Augenspire alone, and it would be luck of the draw on whether she got a competent one or a stupid one—or worse, one of the conspirators. She had no idea how infected the government was with traitors, though according to Max at least a few Minors were involved in the falsification of the evidence leading to his arrest.
But did that make them party to the plot to overthrow the Viceroy and his family? Not…necessarily. If Major Fox convinced them that Max would be able to get them to Hera, and if they believed Hera was still trying to destabilize the entire government, then maybe they thought they were genuinely helping the Viceroy’s cause with their little bit of fakery.
Why did people have to be so messy? All of this would be so much easier if she didn’t have to factor in the motives of everyone involved. The extent of the treason within the government was vital information, and she had no way of getting it. If a large enough group within the military and the Provo had turned against the Viceroy, then nothing she did would matter; it would take a civil war within the government itself to sort things out one way or another.
She couldn’t believe so many people would be willing to turn on the Viceroy. From their perspective, he had done great things for the economy and the infrastructure of Silveria. True, some people probably weren’t wild about the idea of reintegrating the Gifted into society, but at least everyone who worked in the Augenspire had gone through a battery of psychological tests and interrogations to determine their allegiance, and had been cleared to work there.
No matter how many different ways she thought about it, the answer came back to Major Topher Augen. After going her entire life without ever encountering a member of the Provo-Major in person, it was daunting that she was now seriously considering calling one on his personal, top-level-clearance communicator. It wasn’t that she trusted him—quite the opposite, she thought he would imprison her without a second thought given the slightest provocation—but she believed he was competent, and loyal to the Viceroy, and high-ranking enough that the Viceroy might actually listen to him.
And he let us see Carl.
But why should Topher listen to her? After all, she could hardly tell him that Fox wanted to see the Viceroy dead without him knowing she was the girl they were searching for.
It’s not like Major Fox would have sat around chatting with me in a coffee shop about how he wants to overthrow the ruler of the planet.
Even if Topher believed she was psychic—which irritated her because she wasn’t at all psychic and was itching to explain the difference to her would-be captors—she was accused of attacking Fox and stealing his Talents and ion-sword. Would Topher even believe anything she had to say, or would he just assume she was trying to divert blame from herself by making up lies about his colleague instead? For all she knew, he and Major Fox were great friends, though Max seemed convinced that wasn’t the case and she trusted his judgment.
My head hurts.
She got out of bed and sat down at her desk, logging on to the interweb and searching for news coverage of the attack on Jessamine a few weeks ago. There were a few press conferences held immediately after the fact, including one led by Jessamine herself, a mere two days after being hit by razor-spikes. Ana watched it from start to finish, not for the first time, focusing intently on the Vicerina and trying to figure out what kind of person she really was.
Well, she’s tough as hell if she was able to put on armor and give a press conference after getting dozens of razor-spikes fished out of her back and having part of her nervous system rebuilt.
She was probably pumped full of the best painkillers money could buy, but Ana didn’t discount the effort it took to get out of bed and look strong when she was doubtlessly feeling terrible. It seemed like the assassins’ attempt had officially failed, since by now Jessamine should be past the stage of worrying about infection setting in on her wounds.
“—want to emphasize that we have not yet confirmed who hired the two men who attacked me, despite several news reports I have seen to the contrary,” the Vicerina said calmly. Ana envied the woman for being able to look regal and authoritative and beautiful even after nearly being murdered.
A reporter asked her if she thought Hera and the Gifted had anything to do with the attack.
“May I repeat that we have not received confirmation on any of the leads we are currently pursuing,” Jessamine reiterated patiently. “I would like to take a moment to say that I believe this is an isolated incident and retaliation against an entire group of people because of the work of a few goes against everything I believe in. Whether or not the Gifted were involved in this is immaterial; I do not judge any group of people based on the actions of the few. Neither my father nor I condone any retaliatory acts of violence against anyone, especially as nothing has been proven yet. I would ask now, more than ever, for us to strive for peace and compassion for all people on Elaria.”
Ana flipped to another old broadcast, sighing inwardly and thinking Jessamine would probably be a good Vicereine, if they could just keep her alive long enough to ascend to the role. When her father spoke about a lessening of tensions between the Gifted and the military, she could tell he was more interested in reducing the likelihood of assassination than in actually seeing society reintegrated, but it was obvious that Jessamine meant what she said from the bottom of her heart.
Could we actually have a ruler someday who is a decent human being? Well, she supposed after so many terrible leaders, they were bound to get lucky eventually; perhaps Jessamine was their salvation.
The next video was of the Viceroy addressing the media directly after the attack, which was void of most of the interesting details, so she skipped ahead to the conference where Topher appeared with him.
The Major looked appropriately stern
, not basking in the attention he was receiving as he stood beside the Viceroy in his light armor, the height of professionalism. Even while being held up as an example of the might of the military elite, he seemed as cool and collected as ever, his thoughts just as unreadable as they had been when she met him in person.
I have to find a way to talk to him again, preferably without getting myself killed or experimented on in the process.
She stopped the videos and stood up, itching to do something useful to take her mind off of things until she came up with a solid plan. As Max said, this was not something she could rush into if there was any hope for success, though she was half-tempted to just show up at the Augenspire and demand an audience with the Provo-Major to see what happened.
Max would slap me for being an idiot if I ever got out of prison.
It would be nice if she could speak to him right now, but his inability to come to the Academy put a real damper on communications. She wished the dinner with Hera the other night hadn’t been so gloomy and disappointing, since she typically enjoyed his company. She didn’t think he got many visitors, which was like being in a different kind of prison, and she hated that her visit was marred by Hera’s sudden onset of self-doubt.
And what had caused such fear and confusion in their once-glorious leader? The woman was almost as hard to read as Topher, though Ana was sure something had happened to make Hera question herself so abruptly.
Just one more puzzle to solve.
She could visit Risa, but that was bound to be as depressing as her last meeting with Hera. Though her friend was coming to terms with the fact that Carl was bound for the military—assuming he passed the psychological testing—she was still upset about the betrayal and was taciturn and moody. Ana couldn’t really blame her, but it wasn’t exactly helpful to run ideas by someone who didn’t care about the outcome.
Not knowing what else to do, she decided to go see Carl. Since he hadn’t officially been hired on by the Augenspire yet, he still resided at the Academy in the Deco-Reco dorms. She had no idea when she would see him again once he moved to the Augenspire, though she assumed he would still be permitted to visit the Academy if he chose to during his off time.
If he can work for them without completely betraying us, it might actually be a good thing for the reintegration in the long run, Ana thought privately. She would never say that out loud to Risa, or not until her friend was feeling better about things, at least. Having a Gifted Ground-Captain was no small feat, and as long as the Viceroy didn’t do something colossally stupid, like use him to help wage war on the rest of the Gifted like his foolish ancestor, then it could show everyone the benefits of working together as a unified people once more.
It took her a long time to walk from Building-9 to Building-6, but she had time to kill and didn’t feel like taking the bus. Besides, the weather was nice, and the fresh air helped clear her head.
When she got there, she finally wondered if Carl was even home right now, but it seemed stupid to call him from the lobby and ask after she had walked all that way, so she checked in with the security officers for the building and went upstairs to find out if she had wasted her time coming here.
She knocked twice on the door, pleasantly surprised when Carl actually opened it a moment later.
“Ana,” he lifted his eyebrows in surprise.
She had obviously caught him doing schoolwork, because he was wearing loose shorts and an old T-shirt, a heap of clothing waiting to be washed on the floor behind him, with his laptop and a bunch of papers spread out on his bed. “I wasn’t expecting you.”
“Sorry, I should have called first. I was going stir-crazy in my dorm and wanted someone to talk to.”
He looked pleased she still considered him worth speaking to and opened the door further to let her in. As an unusually powerful Gifted, he had the enviable privilege of a private room, so they didn’t have to worry about a roommate overhearing their conversation.
“Is Risa with you?” he asked hopefully, frowning slightly when she shut the door behind her.
“Sorry, no,” Ana replied. “I haven’t talked to her in a couple of days, actually.”
Carl tried to look nonchalant and unaffected when he said, “Does she still spit venom at the sound of my name?”
“Not really; it’s more of an irritable twitch now,” she admitted. “I do think she’s starting to calm down a little. I know our friend has talked to her a few times about the possible benefits for all of Gifted-kind, but I think she needs a little more time before she can be friends with you again.”
Carl sighed, running a hand through his blond hair until it stuck out at odd angles.
“I hate doing this to her,” he sighed regretfully. “And not just because I miss picking on her constantly,” he added. “I know she’s lost someone before, but this is my chance to do something real and meaningful with my life. If I can show people that the Gifted and the military can work together—and not just for the destruction of the Gifted—then maybe the nut-jobs who keep trying to off Jessamine will realize we’re better united than separated. Hell, we might be able to finally find a way off of this planet and back into the intergalactic network, if we could just put aside our petty infighting and work together.”
“Wouldn’t that be nice,” Ana huffed. “I wonder how much the rest of humanity has changed in the last two hundred years or so. Have they forgotten about us completely, or are they still trying to reach us and wondering why they can’t get through? Do they even still look human or have they begun evolving into something entirely different?”
“At a guess, I would say they are still at least passively aware of us and are trying to make contact, since the wreckage from that one spaceship came crashing down onto Elaria’s surface ten years ago.”
“It was so burned up and distorted it hardly counted as wreckage,” Ana acknowledged. “You’re right, though; I doubt a communications shuttle just happened to stray into our orbit since we’re quite far from the next habitable planet.”
“As to the humanity of the rest of…er, humanity…two hundred years isn’t such a long time, from an evolutionary perspective, so I doubt they have gills or tails or anything like that just yet,” Carl continued.
“Not on their own, maybe, but with enough science and genetic manipulation…”
“True,” Carl allowed. “I guess there could be a planet full of gold-skinned, water-breathing humanoids out there who have adapted themselves to fit their new environment. Isn’t there a planet near here that is covered entirely in water, except for the one iceberg near the top?”
“Gibbos-9, I think,” Ana strained her memory of history. Even though they couldn’t get off Elaria, they could still build telescopes powerful enough to see other planets around them. “And if you call a few trillion miles away ‘close’ then yes, I suppose it is quite near us.”
“How weird would it be if we were suddenly able to communicate off-planet again, and the President of Earth just showed up all of a sudden and started giving orders?”
Ana frowned and said, “Well, last I heard, Earth was a barren wasteland and people were fleeing it in droves, so I doubt the ruler of mankind would still be called the President of Earth, unless they just kept the title as a nod to history. But you’re right, it is strange to think our Viceroy is really just meant to be an extension of Earth’s government, that we are part of a unified whole that’s spread out across galaxies. What if the President came here and wanted to change everything about the way we’ve been living for the last three-hundred-and-thirty years? What if we are horribly outdated on technology and science, and they think we’re simpletons who need to be conquered and ‘enlightened?’ ”
“Almost makes you wish we’d stay cut off from the rest of the universe forever, doesn’t it?” Carl suggested gently. “I’m not sure I want a bunch of strangers showing up and telling us how to live our lives, not understanding the first thing about us after all this time.”
“I
’m sure the Viceroy wouldn’t be wild about it, either. Imagine being in charge of everything and then suddenly getting demoted to taking orders from an outsider; even worse, think of the taxes we must be in arrears on! When the outsiders show up and demand all our missed payments, it could be enough to start a planet-wide rebellion against the President, assuming our space fleet can still fly after all this time.”
“So,” Carl changed the subject abruptly. “What has you so restless that you came across campus to see me in the middle of the day, aside from the prospect of two-hundred years of owed taxes to an intergalactic government?”
Ana frowned and said, “I need to do something important, but there doesn’t seem to be a good way of doing it that doesn’t end with me in prison or dead.”
Carl looked grave and said, “I don’t suppose it’s something you can discuss with me in more detail?”
“I’d like to, but given the circumstances, it would be better if you didn’t know anything about it. Sorry.”
“I understand,” Carl sighed. “Well, since I can’t give you proper advice without understanding the problem, I will generically wish you luck and hope you don’t get arrested or killed.”
“So you think I should do it anyway?” Ana asked skeptically.
“Oh, definitely.” Carl nodded without hesitation. “In my experience, the greatest rewards come from the greatest of risks. If you told me you were doing something that entailed no danger to you whatsoever, I would say you’re wasting your time. We aren’t trying to bake cakes here; we’re trying to change the world.”
Ana raised her eyebrows at his view on things, but was strangely comforted by the advice all the same.
“You’re right, of course.”
“I know,” he answered immodestly. “And I think you already knew that, too, or you would have picked someone other than me to come to for advice. You and I have never been people of inaction.”
“I mostly came here to take my mind off of things and kill some time, with the hope that my back-brain will think through a magical solution for me while I’m focused elsewhere. But if you’re still working on homework, I can leave you to it and check on Risa instead…”
