Will didn’t spend much time in the office that Nick, Stu, and Syrus shared. It had originally been Malcolm and Kaleana’s office back before Will had started working with them. It didn’t get much use anymore. Given Nick’s exuberant nature, he couldn’t abide spending too much time sitting in a chair at a desk. Instead, he and Stu did their work mostly on the second floor, either in the lounge, the theater room, or the game room. The office was usually reserved for work that needed stronger computing power than a Glass Tab could provide. Nick and Stu had learned how to navigate the darknet and developed lower-level hacking skills. It interested them, and they took to it well.
Nick had messaged Will and asked him and Malcolm to join them in the office. When Will had entered, it had surprised him to see Syrus and Tony there. While Syrus was always available to talk to and get advice from, he still spent most of his time in the library. Tony had his own office that he shared with Carson and Rufus. Whatever Nick had to talk about, it must be serious. Only Carson and Rufus were absent, spending the day at Panacea.
Nick, Stu, and Syrus were all seated in office chairs. Nick’s right leg bounced, as if he couldn’t wait to stand. As soon as Malcolm and Will were situated leaning against the wall facing them, Nick released his energy and stood. “Something’s happened. We should have expected this given the attack the other day. In fact, I did expect it, but I had hoped it wouldn’t happen.”
“Why don’t you slow down and tell us what it is?” Malcolm’s soft voice centered Nick’s attention on him.
Nick took a deep breath. “There’s been some sort of raid. It has to be the government. They’re the only people who could do this. Some of the sites have been shut down. They’re just gone.”
Will’s heart raced. Not now, not when they were so close. “Which sites? Was anyone compromised?”
Nick shook his head. “They only caught some of the lower-level sites, nothing where the real radicals are, nothing too serious. But still, a lot of the sites that the fanatics and even that we used to first meet people have been shut down. As far as I can tell, the more secure sites haven’t been messed with. No one who really knows anything has been found out.”
“But was anyone at all compromised?” Malcolm’s voice had gone cold, clipped with the crisp efficiency of business.
“Was anyone hurt?” Tony spoke at the same time, his warm question countering Malcolm’s.
“From what I’m hearing, the secret police have made arrests. They’re looking for fanatics. When they couldn’t find anything, it looks like they took whoever they could find. The poor people they took know nothing. I expect they’ll be paraded around, a convenient face to put on the bombing, but they didn’t have anything to do with it. The ones who did are too good to get caught.”
Will watched as Malcolm’s eyes slid shut. It was bad enough when the government took action against the people who were trying to make change, but it tore Will apart to know that innocents were going to suffer. The system didn’t care about truth, all it cared about was power, and this was a strong exertion of it. This action would silence the moderates for a time, but it wouldn’t stop the fanatics or the movement.
However, it would make it harder for those who wanted to join the fight to do so. Getting involved with the movement or with the fanatics was a slow process. Online activity was monitored. The movement kept an eye out for those who appeared to have sympathies with the cause. There was no longer a place online for those people to go to. They would simply never come to the attention of the fanatics or the movement, never be invited into exclusive forums, and later, after they proved themselves, the heart of the darknet.
“This is why the fanatics have got to stop,” Malcolm said when he opened his eyes. “I know they’re not reckless enough to get caught, but they are reckless with other people’s safety. You can’t detonate a bomb in front of the Presidential Palace and expect no one will be punished for it. If no one has the courage to step forward and take credit for it, then they shouldn’t be doing it in the first place.”
“Do you think this is it, or is this the start of something more?” Will asked.
“I don’t know,” Nick said. “I’ve never seen anything like this. That’s why I asked Syrus to join us. I thought he might know something, have heard something in the past or seen this before.”
Syrus nodded. “Whenever the fanatics get too big for their britches, the government comes in and takes them down a peg. I don’t know if they’ve ever actually done anything to the fanatics, but they make sure that every Beta thinks twice before whispering about the Spark of Life or even wishing things would get better. In my experience, the government doesn’t take half measures. If they’ve indeed done this, there’s more coming.”
“D-d-does that mean they could c-c-come for us?” Stu asked.
“I won’t let anything happen to you, Stu. But just how vulnerable are these boards in the heart of the darknet, Nick?”
“The government won’t find them. The only way we’d be in trouble there is if one of the posters had been captured. But these people aren’t stupid, Malcolm. None of them would do anything to get caught, and if they did, they’re smart enough to hide any trail that would lead back to the others.”
“It has to be the president who’s responsible for this,” Malcolm said. “He wants to make a display of the people who dared attack him, even if it is a sham.” An idea came to mind, something he had heard whispers about recently but hadn’t really given much thought to. “The elections are coming up. There have been rumors that the president’s lobbying for support in the legislature to amend the charter to allow him to run for another term. He’ll succeed, too. I can’t remember a time when we’ve had a more corrupt president.”
“President Fischer is a horrible man,” Tony said. “I’ve never liked him. Every time I’ve seen him, he’s seemed oily, a snake of a man.”
Tony rarely spoke ill of anyone, even their enemies. Rather than speak a negative word, he usually chose to remain silent. Will didn’t care for the president either, but he supposed they were all the same. Who could replace him who would be any better?
“Why bother making a show of improving things?” Will asked.
“Even a corrupt president derives his power from the people,” Malcolm said. “He wants people to feel good about voting for him. He wants to make the people comfortable as they give him more power over their lives. He’s a very charismatic man. Showing the people that he’s making New Cali safer will convince them to do what he wants. I have no doubt that he’s going to ask that the law be changed to allow him to serve another term. Not only will the people grant his wish, they’ll re-elect him too.”
“You really think he’s going to do that?” Will didn’t like the thought of any Alpha president, but he especially didn’t like the idea of one altering the law to allow himself more power.
“It’s a clever plan. I wouldn’t put it past him. He’s had a lot of power. He won’t want to give it up,” Syrus said.
“No, he won’t.” Malcolm shook his head. “If he really is planning on seeking another term, then I don’t think we have too much to worry about from the government for the time being. This will all be for superficial show, not an actual in-depth investigation. We need to convince the fanatics to keep a low profile for a little while, until we’re more certain of the future. These attacks may be rallying support, but ultimately they’re just hurting innocents. If a Beta feels like the president is going to keep his family safe from random bombings and attacks, he’s going to throw his support behind that man even if it means swallowing policies he doesn’t like. There’s no viable alternative yet. Until there is, people are going to cling to safety.”
“I’ve been w-w-working on a couple d-d-different things to post,” Stu said. “A lot of p-p-people are weighing in right now. I th-th-think if I were to write, we can get them to s-s-see sense.”
Malcolm nodded. “Good work, Stu. I trust you to do what you can, but be safe. If it
looks like there’s even a chance that the forums are compromised, I want you to stop posting.”
“Will do,” Nick said. “You don’t have to worry about us.”
“But we do worry,” Tony said. “Now, Malcolm, has there been any word about the future of the new collars? Carson and Rufus are over at Panacea right now making sure everything is ready just in case. It’d be nice to know what the plans are so I can start scheduling.”
“I haven’t heard anything officially. There also haven’t been any complaints. If there were a problem, they would’ve contacted me by now. That leads me to assume that they’re going to adopt the new model. I’d go ahead and start planning if I were you. The DGI isn’t known for giving us much time. They tend to expect to get what they want immediately.”
Will didn’t doubt that the new collar would be adopted. Surely Walken would have said something to them if there weren’t plans to roll them out. When Nick had messaged him, he’d been working with Oculus to prepare for the possibility of more collars coming online. Already, they were able to track the collars in the pilot program. Walken had sent them a cipher so they could match each collar to the Zed wearing it. It made the data much more valuable to see exactly where it came from.
To test the program and look at some sample data, Will had pulled up Walken’s Zeds. The new sensors on the collars were so sensitive that he could even pick up changes in hormone levels. Then again, Will didn’t have anything to compare them to. For all he knew, the previous sensors picked up the same information. The project had fueled a sudden urge to learn some basics of biology. Looking through the data, he could see that Walken’s Zeds did not express as much stress as the average Zed. Strictly from the viewpoint of the data they collected, it appeared that Walken’s Zeds were well cared for. Will had made sure of it. No matter how much he convinced himself he could trust Walken, there would always be a part of him that remained suspicious of the man.
“I’ll go ahead and start coordinating with Carson,” Tony said. “When they do expand the program, do you think it’s going to be on a mandatory basis or as needed?”
“I’ve been playing around with the data we’re getting from the collars, making sure that the movement is getting everything, and based on what I’ve seen, I believe the Geneticists will want to get them all replaced as soon as possible once they decide to move forward,” Will said.
“Has the movement been able to figure out from all this what’s on the banned substances list?” Syrus asked.
“Yes—might this make it harder for Zeds to provide each other with what little healing we can?” Concern colored Tony’s tone—always worried about taking care of people.
No one really knew exactly what substances were forbidden to Zeds. It didn’t serve the interests of the DGI to make that information public. Will had his own theories as to why. Better to keep Zeds living in fear than to give them the comfort of knowing that this herb or plant might provide them a little relief. Plus, Will suspected that the DGI liked to reserve the right to execute any Zed at will based on a banned substance without being held accountable. Still, Will knew that didn’t keep some Betas and Zeds from trying. Marcy had worked long enough that she knew of some safe substances with medicinal benefits that could be administered. When Will had become ill with a fever after nearly drowning on the beach, Marcy had fed him a soup that helped. Will didn’t ask what was in it, but he suspected Marcy had included some herbs that helped break his fever.
The reality of the situation though, was that even if a list were made available, it wasn’t as if Zeds had ready access to anything that could help them. Most Alphas and Betas had no interest in making life easier for Zeds. Most of them weren’t even provided with actual food, just Vitabars that did little more than ensure that they didn’t die from hunger. In a world like that, where would a Zed possibly get his hands on anything that could ease his suffering?
“The sensitivity is definitely greater. There is the risk that the DGI could start executing more Zeds for banned substances under the new collar, but I don’t really think they’re going to do that. The new sensors pick up more, but the Geneticists have already determined what substances are banned and which aren’t. The old collars could pick up banned substances as well as the new ones do, so I don’t think there’ll be any change,” Will said. He had to believe that. He couldn’t let any thoughts enter his mind of additional harm coming to Zeds because of the collar he helped create. There could be no room for doubt or they would never succeed.
An alert sounded from Nick’s tab. He scanned it and started to type.
“What is it?” Malcolm asked.
Nick looked up slightly startled, as if he had forgotten about everyone else in the room. “A sudden increase in activity talking about the raid and the bombing. I’m trying to monitor it.”
Malcolm nodded. “Then that’s our cue to leave you to it.”
Will followed Malcolm from the office. He wished he could spend the day with Nick and Stu on the darknet. It fascinated him, but he had his own job to do. He’d talk to them more after dinner.
In front of his computer, Will immersed himself in his work just as Malcolm did. Everyone in the family had their own role to play. If they all played them well, perhaps they could create a world where innocents didn’t need to fear.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
The sunlight bathed Malcolm’s naked body through the skylight. Fluffy, white clouds floated along above him. Will’s head lay on his shoulder, his right arm flung across Malcolm’s chest, holding him with just enough pressure to let him know he was there. For the first time in what felt like ages, they had retired to the loft for a little midday tryst. While sex with Will was always wonderful, there was something special about their time in the loft. Here, they could pretend to be separated from the rest of the world. This private place provided an escape from their everyday lives of duty, work, and responsibility.
“We need to do this more,” Will mumbled.
“In order to do that, we have to be willing to take a break from saving the world every once in a while.”
“Sometimes I need you to remind me of the benefits of slowing down.”
“It’s not slowing down; it’s recharging. There already aren’t enough hours in the day to do what needs to be done. We can’t afford to wear ourselves out, especially you. If I get sick, I can pop a pill and keep going. I know you have the energy of youth, but you’re not invincible. There’s not going to be a break, Will. From here on in, we keep going until we reach the finish line. I intend to see you without the collar on sooner than you think.”
Will lifted his head to look Malcolm in the eye. “You mean it?”
“Yes. If I don’t finish it before my tenure as leader is up, I’m not sure it’ll happen in my lifetime. That’s not an option. You deserve better. I only exercised such caution before because I didn’t see a clear route to victory. I was scared of losing you, that you’d charge in head first without thinking it through. I didn’t want to see you disappointed. The Spark of Life Movement is positioned better than it ever has been, better than it will be for the foreseeable future. We have the settlements on our side, a Geneticist, and a family that’s willing to do whatever it takes.”
“I’ve always believed you could do it. I’m glad to see you’re finally realizing it too.”
“Like I always told Kaleana, I’m a bit of a slow learner.”
Will smiled. “I love you anyway.”
“Gee, thanks.”
Will laid his head back on Malcolm’s chest. Malcolm didn’t have everything figured out yet. He knew that finding the truth was the key to their success. Now they not only had the promising collar program but the help of an actual Geneticist as well. The people of New Cali had let the idea of the scientific search for truth enslave them. Malcolm intended to use that search for truth to free them. For now, he believed that the path would be illuminated with each step he took.
“In moments like these,” Will sa
id, “it would be so easy just to lie here with you forever, content and happy.”
“You say that now. It’ll pass. You wouldn’t be happy for long. I can’t help but think that a fundamental change is going to happen when you’re no longer wearing the collar. I expect you’ll be happier than you’ve ever been. I can only imagine how that will enrich our lives and relationship.”
An alert sounded on Malcolm’s tab where it sat in his discarded pants pocket.
“Leave it,” Will said.
Malcolm kissed the top of his head and rose to get his pants. When he pulled the tab from his pocket, a message from the DGI waited for him. He opened it, and excitement crawled in his gut as his eyes scanned the message. “In fact, there’s not going to be a break for a long time to come. Let’s get everyone in the lounge. I have an announcement to make.”
Will scrambled to stand. “Is it from the DGI?”
Malcolm didn’t even try to contain his smile. “Yes, it is.”
Will’s eyes lit with excitement, and the smile that spread from ear to ear mirrored Malcolm’s own feelings.
They both put their clothes on, and Will sent a message to everyone else to meet them in the lounge. It had been such a long time coming that Malcolm couldn’t believe the day was finally here. Their plans were really moving forward and at a quicker pace than Malcolm had ever imagined.
While Will gathered the others, Malcolm stopped in his office on the way to the lounge. He wanted to type off a quick reply and send a message to his attorney to finalize all the contracts with the DGI. By the time he entered the lounge, everyone already sat waiting for him. Will watched him with a mischievous glint in his eye.
Nick spoke before Malcolm could even seat himself. “What’s going on? Is it about the collars? Will wouldn’t tell us anything.”
Malcolm smirked at Will’s fun. “Yes, I just got a message from the Board of Geneticists. Actually, it came from Nicodemus himself. They’re pleased with the results of the pilot program, and they’re ready to move forward with a full rollout.”
[In Distress 02.0] In Pain Page 26
