Aakil took a small bite of his stew and chewed it while he contemplated the answer. “That’s a tough call. I don’t know if their technology was advanced enough to program a landing site from earth. But then again, maybe they did. I can’t make heads or tails from that transport device. I could devote the rest of my life to that machine and it probably wouldn’t be enough to reverse engineer it.”
“Well, let’s say the State is ready to launch this year,” Colin conceded. “Are we ready to disassemble the ship? We were planning on using it for food storage and a hospital. How do you think people will respond to taking it apart now when we don’t have enough shelters built and haven’t experienced our first winter?”
Aakil grimaced, then sipped from his bowl before responding. “Fine. But Freya doesn’t get a full 22 years. I’m talking maybe 20, max. We need time to disassemble that ship and send anything that looks suspicious down the river before the State can get here.”
Colin smiled and nudged Aakil with his shoulder. “Thank you. I’ll take it. Twenty years is fine. Freya and I will be the same age then.”
Aakil set down his empty bowl and rubbed his eyes. “Well, since you’re in a better mood now, I think there’s something else we should talk about—something I already know you’ll hate.”
Colin smiled weakly at Aakil. “The thing I’ve learned in my short stint of power is that there is always more news I don’t like.”
“Yeah.” Aakil sighed. “It’s actually about your leadership. I know that you staged this entire thing and your lady was their leader and all, but I don’t think you can handle running the place. At least not the way you’ve been doing it.”
Colin rubbed his face. “You think I’m a shitty leader?”
Aakil’s lower lip pulled to the side. “Shitty, no, unfocused, maybe. I just don’t think you’ve got your priorities straight is all. I mean those people in charge spend a great deal of time sitting around on their ass. I can hardly get you to sit long enough to eat unless I force it on you. You’re a worker, not a leader.”
Colin groaned and laid back in the grass, kicking his unfinished bowl of stew over and spilling its contents. “I know. I don’t know how to just sit. I can’t. I just start to think about everything that we need to do to make it through the winter, and then how to get this place ready for Freya.”
“I know. But can you really sustain this for the next 20 years?”
Colin looked up at the stars, wishing he was as small and unimportant as the vastness of the sky made him feel. “You want me to step down.”
“No.” Aakil threw his hands up in front of him. “I didn’t say that.”
Colin sat up. “Then what?”
“I just think you need some help.”
“I thought that’s what you’re for.”
Aakil barked a bitter laugh. “Yeah, well, I’m also your resident genius and you need me to do a whole hell of a lot of things other than listen to people bitch.”
“But who do I ask for help? And how?”
“A few people made it here who are a little too old to help with all the heavy lifting. What if you formed a Council?”
“No chance. I won’t operate like the State.”
“Okay. Poor choice of wording. How about a group of people to advise you?” The town hall may bunk a lot of people right now, but maybe soon it could be used for what it was meant for, politics. They can sit on their duffs and listen to people bitch all day, then they make a short list and bring it to you. Then you can keep doing what you’re doing and take a lot off your plate.”
Colin nodded slowly, but he couldn’t get past the dread manifesting in his core. “Aakil, part of me thinks that’s brilliant, and part of me finds the idea of forming an official government nauseating. I just don’t trust anyone other than Freya to do it right, even myself.”
Aakil nodded. “Yep. That’s exactly the problem. You want to keep that partner of yours asleep. This place has to run smoothly. The second people get pissed about something, they’ll demand you go wake her. This is a matter of picking the lesser of two evils: form an official government and trust them to do their jobs or lose the woman you love.”
Colin gnawed at his lip. “I know I should wake her up, but I just can’t do it.”
“Then a government it is. I think we should get started on this tomorrow. I’m tired of people giving me dirty looks when I take two helpings of food anyway. It’s time for you to get your own dinner.”
Colin responded with a curt laugh. “Okay. We start tomorrow.”
Chapter 32
Lewis
Despite his efforts, Lewis couldn’t find anything in his tablet pertaining to an additional database. It had to be accessible somehow. He just needed to keep searching. It’s not like he had anything better to do. His life comprised the State trading one prison for another while calling it a promotion.
The solitude didn’t bother him as it should; there was no one he cared to converse with. Cooking was easy enough for him, and the vegetable garden only required maintenance and harvesting. He spent most of his time searching his tablet for information.
It seemed that both military and Security records were available to him, yet it felt like searching for a needle in a haystack. There was too much information. He could spend two lifetimes just trying to make sense of the data. It amazed him the High Council bothered to keep the complete historical database secured from the Head of State, especially since he assumed the former Heads would be too busy to go snooping around as he had done.
An alert chimed on his tablet, something which made him instantly perk up. The only messages he received were from the High Council, and their messages seemed to be sparse since abandoning him to the dome.
He groaned audibly as he read the message. “Apparently the High Council does care if I live or die,” he muttered to himself.
The message informed him a doctor would come the following day. As they didn’t specify if the doctor would travel through the military underground or the walkway, he knew he needed to clear all three State House entrances.
Lewis didn’t feel like doing anything as productive as rearranging furniture at the moment, so his eyes traveled back to his tablet. He had stumbled across a dome strengthening project, something he had never heard of. Curiosity overtook him as he reviewed the information, learning that the dome was indestructible.
He wasn’t remotely surprised that the High Council claimed the rebellion damaged the dome when that wasn’t possible. However, he was surprised the State had kept that information quiet, even inside the military.
There was so much data to sift through, so much information he knew he would never understand. He fumbled through the files until he landed on one in particular. One that he wouldn’t need the aid of a scientific adviser to explain: a picture of a man standing on the wrong side of the dome.
While squinting, he peered closer at the image, trying to take it all in. It appeared the man was trying to see inside. He couldn’t be military, or anyone who was meant to be on that side of the glass as he clearly wasn’t wearing a hazmat suit.
All color drained from his face as the realization sunk in; the surface is inhabitable. Nausea rolled through his core.
What the hell is the High Council up to?
If the surface was survivable, then there was no purpose to colonization—except the High Council had a purpose to every action they took. Colonization may not have been necessary, but it most certainly held a purpose.
Did they mean to send the rebellion to the new world so we can return to the surface without them?
That tactic almost seemed too humane for the High Council. Why wouldn’t they simply kill everyone they identified as rebels?
There was so much he didn’t yet understand and doubted he ever would. The High Council had the mountain while he lived in isolation. He didn’t even know how many workers were left inside the dome.
Another message notification pushed through his tablet. The Hig
h Council was requesting an urgent meeting. Lewis lifted a finger to the screen to reply but paused instead.
An urgent meeting just before a potentially unnecessary doctor’s appointment.
I think my term may come to an end, depending on how this meeting goes. The timing of this can’t be a coincidence.
There was nothing he could do to prepare himself for this meeting. It filled his mind with so many questions, which he doubted he would ever get answers for. He quickly dashed out to change into an ill-fitting suit from his usual military fatigues.
As he pulled the white undershirt over his head, he noted the rapid beating of his heart. So much stress was coursing through his body, which surprised him as he had constantly drifted, uncertain if he truly wanted his life to continue. It seemed the fear of death was still a driving force, something which might motivate him to play whatever game the High Council was conducting.
He checked himself in the mirror when dressed to ensure he looked presentable. If they were assessing his usefulness, he wanted to look the part. It might not be enough to sway their decision, but he hoped it would still the rapid beating of his heart.
With the intake of a deep breath, he straightened his tie and headed for the kitchen to fetch a glass of water. He knew he had to speak eloquently if he wanted to live to discover the answers he so desperately sought after.
Once he was situated at his desk, he followed the instructions to place the call and pulled a deep breath into his core in the hopes it would be enough to keep his hands from trembling.
The monitor flashed on. He nearly lost his composure as recognition set in. The High Council member before him was a young and beautiful woman but it took a moment to realize. Her scalp was showing through her buzz cut, making her hair even shorter than his. It appeared she had taken the clipper right to her scalp without even using a guard.
“You seem surprised. I told you last time we spoke this was the new hairstyle of the State.”
Lewis pursed his lips. “Yes, you did. But hearing it doesn’t prepare me to see it.”
Devina smirked. “It’s all the rage inside the mountain, the dome too. You set quite the trend on your first address.”
“Has it had the impact you hoped for?”
Devina’s eyes flashed with pleasure. “Oh, definitely. People were scared when they got here, but now they won’t even speak to anyone other than their partners or children. All socializing has ended, even idle chatter in the cafeteria.”
Lewis struggled to think of something to say. He felt the right comment would be to offer his congratulations, but he couldn’t stomach the response. The fact the High Council’s goal was to keep all civilians too terrified to speak to one another was disturbing.
Before he needed to respond, another face appeared on the screen. This continued until there were five of them broadcasting on his monitor.
“Lewis,” Devina gestured outward with her hands. “This is my family.”
His eyes darted around the screen as his throat went dry. Seeing the entire High Council together shouldn’t surprise him—he was the Head of State—but it still held an air of intimidation.
He nodded respectfully. “It’s an honor to meet you all.”
“Isn’t it?” Devina replied. “I don’t think you have the slightest clue what an honor this truly is.”
Lewis narrowed his brows. “I’m sorry if I have offended you.”
He nearly choked on his words as his throat grew hot and dry. Keeping his gaze forward, he reached for his glass of water and took a careful sip.
“You didn’t offend us, Lewis,” an older gentleman responded. “Devina is young and likes to have fun with you. What she is referring to is the historical nature of this meeting.”
Lewis gulped down the dry lump as his mind spun, searching for the right response. If he guessed and was wrong, he would make a fool of himself. Yet if he said nothing, he appeared an imbecile.
“Yes,” Devina pressed on. “It’s historic because we have suspended the former protocols of the High Council meetings with the Head of State.”
Lewis raised an eyebrow. “Former protocols?”
“Yes, our former protocols which kept our identities hidden. Not even Victor had seen the faces of each of us, nor did he know that we are related, a family. Our circumstances are different now because of the culling. There are so few of us left that it would be nothing more than a nuisance to operate in secrecy. You are living in isolation. Our secret will die with you as it will with the next after you and so forth.”
“All Heads of State will live in isolation?”
“We may keep the Head of State inside the dome for the soul purpose of leading our people to believe that we will someday return.”
“And will any of our population ever return here?”
The mature gentlemen leaned forward. “That has yet to be decided. We once believed that we needed to expand our population and live in two isolated locations to ensure survival. But after all of these years, we have wondered if it might be better to keep our population at a level that’s easier to control. We might never return to the dome if all traces of the rebellion die out.”
Lewis was at a loss for words. Their plan appalled him, yet his own survival instinct had his mind spinning, searching for a way to live through this. He had so many questions yet knew the wrong question would end his life. “You are all a family? Is the High Council then comparable to monarchies of the past?”
Devina furrowed her brows. “We’ve never seen it that way, but perhaps. It’s a calling we are born into. We are raised knowing from young children that we differ from everyone else.”
The eldest male leaned forward, “We are different, but not in appearance. Each of us are given a special education before we start our public education, and we are trained for civil duty, just like everyone else. Because we have operated in secret, hiding all these generations, we must blend in.”
A female bearing a resemblance to Dr. Rhetta spoke, cutting in before he could ask another question. “Lewis, we hope to have many years with you as our Head of State as you have proven most loyal, especially in your mission with the former Head of State. We will have much time to satisfy your curiosity about our family, but right now, we have but one topic on our agenda: colonization.”
“Lewis,” Devina said, “we wanted to meet with you today to go over the execution of the final tier of the colonization project.”
“Final tier? I thought that was wrapped up.”
They all hesitated for a split second before the older male spoke. “No, Lewis. We have not yet executed the last piece. You see, we are not intending on letting the rebellion live and start new lives for themselves. We will send missiles and bomb their community. It is what we’ve always done.”
Lewis squinted. “Yes, Dr. Rhetta previously informed me that you wanted to get the rebellion together to kill them, but that was before they overtook the transport device.”
A smile instantly spread on all their faces, but Devina was the one who spoke up. “They did exactly as we planned. And they aren’t on a colony planet; they are here, just on the other side of the mountains, actually.”
His skin blanched. “There’s no colony world. This was all the elaborate hoax Dr. Rhetta mentioned.”
“Now you’re getting it.” Devina beamed. “We can take them out at any time because they are here, in an area that used to be called Portland.”
“Well, not anytime,” the older gentleman corrected. “We normally would immediately bomb the area, but unfortunately, we have run into a minor glitch. Through satellite imaging, we found an army of surface survivors marching toward us. We had already made the dome unbreakable, but they could have still caused some issues. We used our supply of bombs to neutralize them before they could get too close to us. It will take us time before we can produce more.”
It felt as though flames erupted in his throat. He reached for his water with trembling hands and sipped slowly before he p
roceeded. “What do you need from me?”
“We need you to keep doing exactly what you are doing,” Devina said. “We need you to attend to your own needs and give monthly broadcasts. But my grandmother had been concerned that living in isolation you may develop suicidal tendencies. We are here to make sure you understand what we are doing and why because it would be best for us if we didn’t have to replace you. This is the cause for changing protocols—your isolation. You should think of us as your family, or perhaps, you are now a member of ours.”
Lewis blinked a few times before he nodded and gave a tight smile. “I will do my best. Thank you for the information. I will keep a close eye on both my physical and mental health.”
Conspired: A Young Adult Dystopian Romance (The State Series Book 6) Page 21
