The State Series Box Set

by M. J. Kaestli

  Something about the way he spoke sent a jolt of fear throughout his core. James signaled, and four soldiers appeared in the cell. One held restraints, and another a hood.

  “No, you can’t do this. I did everything you asked of me!” Colin said, pleading.

  “Yes, you did. But I also know what a slow learner you are,” said James. “I thought perhaps you might need to repeat a lesson I taught you. I need to know that you really got it.”

  The men moved on him so fast; he cried out, screamed, kicked, but they were too strong. He knew he couldn’t plead, couldn’t reason with James. There was nothing that could save him from his fate. The routine was identical to the torture Lewis had previously performed, and Colin hoped that the knowledge of knowing what was coming, knowing that he could endure it, would ease his suffering. The hope was very quickly extinguished. It didn’t help to prepare himself. It didn’t make him stronger; it made it worse. The anticipation combined with memory; he questioned how he had survived the first time, and whether he could survive again.

  ***

  All ambition was lost. Colin lay in his cot, unable to exercise; he even refused his meals. He had met the devil, and knew he was no match. No matter what he did, James would not let him have Freya back. He had become a target of James’s evil; he would ensure his suffering. There would be a new city built, but Colin was not to be a part of it. He would rot there in his cell, he was certain of this in the very depth of his soul.

  He didn’t know how long it had been since he had eaten or drank anything, but in his torture-weakened state, he couldn’t survive much longer. Colin slept more than he was awake, feeling great disappointment each time he awoke and found himself still alive.

  After a few days of his refusal to eat, he awoke in restraints. They had put an IV in his arm. It was probably too late for him to be replaced on the mission—they had to keep him healthy. Whatever was going to happen was coming soon, yet Colin felt nothing. It no longer mattered whether he lived, because his life was owned by the State, and James was his puppeteer.

  His mind suddenly drifted back to his father, and the situation that had gotten him mixed up in all of this. The corners of his mouth upturned into a soft smile as he realised the gravity of his actions. So people can survive on the surface now, which was why James had made me the target of his cruelty. There are people up there who could cause some damage to this project, and I’m going to find them.

  ***

  “It’s time to wake up, Colin. You have work to do.” James gently slapped his cheeks with the back of his hand.

  Colin opened his eyes, and quickly shut them again. He was restrained, sitting up in a chair. The room was impossibly bright. How he could have been moved there without waking, he could not comprehend—they must have drugged him.

  “Look, you and me need to have a little talk.” James pulled up a chair, so he was sitting so close to Colin that their knees touched. “I could torture you again, but I don’t think it would be effective as you have lost your will to live.” He paused. “So I have decided instead, I will make you a deal.”

  Colin’s eyes had not fully adjusted to the light. His cell had been so dark, the light was causing him actual pain, trying to adapt. He managed to open his eyes into tiny slits, just open enough to see James.

  “I don’t know what you want, but there is nothing you can offer me, so you might as well just kill me.” Colin tried too hard to sound confident in his broken voice, but James simply began to laugh.

  “Oh, on the contrary, I do have something you want: Freya.” James chuckled.

  A jolt of electricity shot through his body. He instantly tried to jump and fight the restraints. “What have you done to her! Where is she!” he yelled. “I’ll kill you, you bastard!” James began to laugh again, which would have made the old Colin angrier, but he was different now. “What have you done to her?”

  “I haven’t done anything to her, Colin,” he said after a long pause. “She is working in the grounds at the State house. I assure you, she is quite healthy and safe. She has, however, been rather melancholy in your absence.”

  Colin couldn’t hold back any longer; he broke into a full sob. He cried harder than he could ever remember doing. James simply just let him be, sitting in silence until Colin could gain some control of himself.

  “Are you ready to hear our deal?” James asked.

  Colin nodded. He didn’t care what the deal was; he was just so desperate to hear more news of Freya.

  “Good. You have come a long way, Colin—there is hope for you yet. I need you to do something tomorrow, something incredibly important. You have always been a clever boy. I suppose you have guessed what this has all been about?” Colin nodded, but it wasn’t enough for James. “I need you to tell me why I have brought you here.”

  “The State is ready to build aboveground. You want me to set up communications, and then to help in the general labor of building a new civilization, or city.”

  “Very good, Colin,” James replied in a patronizing voice. “I am glad to see my faith in you was not misplaced. Can you tell me why it is that we would need someone to set up a communication device?”

  “You need to keep most of the population here while we build. You will want someone to send progress reports and updates, so we can schedule migration of the civilians, or possibly establish trade.”

  “Again, well done, Colin.” James paused again, which Colin found unnerving. “You see, Colin, I need you to perform tomorrow. I need you to pull off just one simple task, but I need you to act a certain way while you do it. You see, we are making history, so naturally, it will be recorded and broadcasted. I need you to put on a suit, go to the surface, and board a vessel. I need you to do all of that, of course, without making a scene. A smile might even be a nice touch. You should look excited—this is a big step for us, after all.”

  “Vessel? Where are you taking us? If we need suits to go to the surface, then how can we build aboveground?” Colin shot the questions out like gunfire.

  “Yes, you put that together rather quickly. You see, the area that we currently occupy was one of the more damaged areas on our planet. The environment immediately around us is still uninhabitable, but we have found a space much farther away that will be suitable.”

  “So we are going far? How far?” Colin asked.

  “You need not worry how far; it is a trivial matter. We will transport you, and the vessel will return to pick up others when the new colony is ready.”

  “So that’s it? I go, get on like a boat or something, smile and wave to the cameras, and you send Freya on the next boat?” Colin asked. There was something he was missing; it couldn’t be that simple. James must be hiding something.

  “Oh Colin, a boat? How archaic. No, since you paid attention in your history classes, your transport will resemble something much closer to an airplane, but you can call it a ship if you like, you get the idea.” James paused with a soft smirk. “I can’t promise you that Freya will be on the next vessel. All I can promise is that she will be given the choice to go.”

  “I don’t understand; why would you think she wouldn’t want to go?” Colin asked.

  “I didn’t say she wouldn’t. I simply mean you are commanded to this project, but she is not. She is quite content working in the State house. I also don’t take Freya as the type of girl who has much of a sense of adventure. It might be difficult to persuade her is all.”

  “She’ll come.”

  “For your sake, I hope you are right,” James replied.

  “You’ll see, she will be there,” Colin said, more to reassure himself than to prove a point to James.

  He was right—Freya didn’t have much of a sense of adventure. Living aboveground would not only be difficult, it could be downright terrifying. All he could do was to work hard so that he could build them a home in which she would be happy living in.

  Another thought struck him, and it took all of the self-control he possessed to not
react. If they were to go and live aboveground, Freya should have been the first agriculturalist selected. This was all either a punishment, or a sick and twisted form of motivation. He wondered for a moment whether he would be the only person on this mission who would have a carrot dangled in front of their face the way they took Freya from him.

  Perhaps James never really busted him; maybe, just maybe, he was going to find that most of the people sent on this project had undergone something similar to what was happening to him.

  He knew it would be imperative to live by the rules, yet he had never hated the State more. He may be able to control the outcome of whether he saw Freya again, but he knew at that moment, he would never see or speak to his parents again, and it filled him with shame. They had been right. It was right to fight the State; he was right to fuzz the cameras. He would find Freya again, but it wasn’t enough to just find her—she needed to understand. This all came down to exactly what his mother had said: she needed to love him enough to trust him.

  All he could do was hope. He hoped James would follow through on this deal they were making, hoped that being separated for so long would anger Freya, that she might have a more open mind the next time he saw her. Freya was on the side of the State, but she also believed in the State. Maybe, just maybe, this could open her eyes to the truth. She was not adventurous, but she was strong, and would make a fierce opponent to the State.

  “Then do we have a deal?” James asked.

  “Yes,” Colin answered.

  “Good.”

  ***

  The line was longer than any Colin had ever seen. There must be at least two-hundred, if not more, people all headed for the new colony. A nervous energy was present; everyone seemed agitated. No one spoke to one another; they all just took their place in line.

  It was finally Colin’s turn. He was brought into a room, where he was outfitted into a suit. He had worn this suit before, the first time he had ever seen Freya. A pain tore at his chest—the memory of her, her absence—and then it grew deeper. When he had been on that skylight cleaning, the purpose was just. He had broken a rule and was paying the consequences. This—being sent away, taken in for a mission he didn’t sign up for, and them holding her on the other side as a ransom—was almost more than he could bear.

  Once in the suit, he was brought to a series of hatches until he was finally walking aboveground. He could see what had to be their airplane, or whatever they were calling it. It was so much larger than he had expected it to be.

  Once his mind adapted to the size, it was the general shape of the thing that had him puzzled. It stood upright, nearly as tall as an apartment building. He could not comprehend how it would take flight, but then again, it was a long time since airplanes had been used. The State was so obsessed with conserving resources; they must have found a better way to travel. He walked until he entered a new lineup outside of the airplane. In the distance, he could see men with cameras—the broadcasting James had mentioned.

  It was a good thing Colin was wearing a mask. He didn’t feel he was capable of smiling if the cameras got close. Fear coursed through him, but he didn’t understand why. Maybe it was the size of the airplane, or maybe it was not knowing how long it would be until the airplane came back for Freya.

  He kept telling himself Freya would come, pleading with himself to believe, but he was not certain. James had spoken the truth; that girl didn’t have a sense of adventure, and she did love the State house. The real question he was not sure of was whether she loved him enough—he wasn’t certain. All he could do was get there, work as hard as possible, and try to convince her.

  The line progressed slowly. He reached the decontamination area and stripped off his suit. There were so many stairs to climb, so far to go to get into this airplane. He got into another lineup, but this one aggravated him. They had not let him eat or drink anything, saying he might get sick on the flight. Hunger gnawed at him, lowering his patience with all the lines. It was finally his turn again, and that fear he had felt earlier was only aggravated at the end of the line. He was asked to strip into nothing but his underclothing. It just didn’t seem logical to need to be almost naked to travel.

  He climbed another set of stairs, only to find yet again, another line. He was mere seconds from saying something, from yelling out in aggravation, but there was a camera there, and he wanted to make sure James held up his end of the bargain. He would have no way to communicate with Freya. If he agitated James, who knew what he was capable of, what they could say to her in his absence—they could poison her mind.

  He saw some strange chambers that people were getting into. His temper was so close to the surface. Why was this necessary? Why must everyone have room to lie down? It was all so ludicrous to him. The crew waved to him, and he stepped forward. He was aware of the camera on him but was unable to smile or look excited. It was not just his anger; a large part of him was terrified.

  Once he stepped into his chamber, the technician strapped him in. He nearly jumped when he felt needles pierce his skin. The camera had moved to the next person in line, and so he risked speaking to the technician.

  “Is this all really necessary?”

  “Yes. It is for your safety,” they replied, almost robotically. The technician finished off and shut the door. The oddest sensation came over him mere seconds after the door was closed, and then he was asleep.

  Chapter 23

  Colin

  “Colin. Colin. Can you hear me?”

  Colin tried to open his eyes, but his eyelids had never felt heavier.

  “Are you Colin 485?” asked the strange voice.

  “Yes,” he said in a barely audible whisper.

  “I have been instructed to wake you. Can you open your eyes for me, please?”

  Colin tried again to open his eyes but was unsuccessful. A hand was on his forehead, and pried his eyelids open. If that mere thing had not been enough of a shock to his system, a bright light was shone into his eyes. He jerked his head away wincing, and closed his eyes tightly.

  “I need to examine you, Colin. Please let me check your eyes,” she said. Colin moved his head back, and prepared himself for the bright light again. “Follow the light with your eyes if you can,” she said, and moved the light around. “Tell me your name and ID number, please.”

  “But you just said it,” Colin replied.

  “Tell me your name and ID,” she said in a more commanding voice.

  “Colin 485, happy?”

  “What is your duty here?”

  “I am to set up communications,” he answered.

  “Can you move yet?”

  Colin raised his arms first. It was much more difficult than he could have imagined. He was lying on his back, still in the chamber, yet the needles and straps had been removed from him.

  “Take your time. Don’t rush it. Try moving each of your limbs for me.”

  He did as ordered, continuously surprised by the strain. Never before had he felt so weak, but everything worked.

  “Alright then. Keep moving slowly. I don’t want you to faint or fall.”

  Colin worked to sit up, aided by the person who woke him. Once he was standing, she helped him climb out of his chamber. It was a young woman helping him, and she was much smaller than he was. Unfortunately, she was not much help to him when he lost his balance and toppled onto the chamber beside him.

  “Oops,” he said, nearly lying on top of the neighboring chamber. “Don’t suppose you were going to wake them up next. I can be so helpful at times.”

  “Are you hurt?” she asked.

  “No.”

  “She will not wake up until her chamber is deactivated. If you are not hurt, then there is no harm done. Just take it easy. What you are experiencing is normal. You will be dizzy and disoriented.”

  Colin steadied himself. This chamber had created a new obstacle for him. He decided it would be easiest to lay face down, and then push himself up on all fours. As he got onto his hands and
knees, he looked down at the lightly fogged glass seeing the face of the sleeping co-traveler. Colin drew in a sharp breath.

  “I know her,” he said.

  “Of course you do. You are coupled, are you not?”

  “No,” he blurted.

  “Oh, must be my mistake. Are you ready to stand yet?”

  “I think so. Maybe you should stand clear though. Don’t want to take you down with me if I fall.” He then pushed himself off Ida’s chamber.

  The small woman unlatched a compartment on the side of his former chamber and retrieved a tablet. “Here, this is yours. It has been preloaded with your instructions. You will also find a map of the ship, and where you can find clothing and rations. I have much work yet to do. I will leave you here.”

  “Leave? Don’t you just wake up the next person in line?” Colin then looked around, getting a grasp of his surroundings. Not a single chamber that he could see had been opened, other than his own.