Chapter 15 #2
“I’m very familiar with the security system, Trella. I don’t need Logan.” His voice huffed.
I tried to reason with him. “I’d rather we be all together when you try to open those files. You only have ten guesses. The reason we figured out the password for Gateway was by all of us bouncing ideas off each other.”
“Fine. I’ll wait. With nothing else to do, I’ve become an expert in waiting.”
I ignored his snippy tone. “What about the uppers? Do you know who would be willing to help us?”
“I can give you the names of those who said they would support me. For security, I made sure no one knew who the others were. But one of them ratted me out, and once I was arrested and interrogated.” He shuddered with horror.
“I couldn’t hold out…I gave her a few names, hoping one of them—the person I suspected was indeed Karla’s spy.
Karla was a power hungry lieutenant then, but she arrested all the people I named and recycled them all.
” A hitch caught his voice, and his eyes shone with grief.
“At least I saved the others, and they wisely stopped looking for the files, keeping quiet.”
“Why didn’t they recycle you?”
“Karla suspected I knew more, but her superior officer was satisfied. I spent two centiweeks in the holding cells before the Travas released me. They claimed I was spared recycling for cooperating with them. I went back to my duties, but no one would talk to me or even look at me. The rumors had spread, and everyone feared I was a Trava spy.” He huffed. “Ironic.”
“When did all this happen?” I asked.
“About sixteen centiweeks ago. After I was released, I played the game, acting timid and obedient. Eventually, the Travas stopped monitoring me. I waited another three centiweeks before searching the network for the location of those hidden files. Guess I didn’t wait long enough.
” He rubbed his back. “Karla hadn’t forgotten about me. ”
I waited for the rest of his story.
“She suspected and had me interrogated again.” He closed his eyes and hugged his chest for a moment. “Vinco broke my back, but I didn’t say a word about the disks I hid. After I recovered, Karla sent me down here as punishment, but also to wait and see what I would do or who I would contact.”
“The spy?”
“I guessed wrong. I doubt Karla would kill her own, so he or she is still spying for her.” Domotor pulled out a wipe board and wrote down five names. He handed the board to me.
I scanned the list. Most of them were women. One name jumped out at me.
Domotor watched me. “Call me old fashioned. When I implicated my cohorts, I named mostly men.”
“Who did you implicate?”
“Do you really want to know?”
“Yes.” The word was a whisper.
Domotor gazed across the room, seeing into the past. “There were ten of us.” He huffed in sad amusement.
“Ten—the magic Inside number. Before I knew about the Trava take-over, I always wondered why there were nine major families. I learned later that Inside’s original power structure had a voting system, which needed an odd number of voters.
” He paused. “I had supporters from each of the eight remaining families. A few were mates.”
He returned his focus to me. “One of the couples was your parents.”
I didn’t care about my parents. To prove it, I imagined a thin coat of metal along my skin. So they tried to help Domotor. So what?
“After being tortured, I named your father, Nolan Garrard as an accomplice.”
His name clanged on my defenses even though I already knew he had been recycled.
When Domotor didn’t see any reaction he continued. “I also named Blas Sanchia and Shawn Lamont. Ramla Ashon was also recycled.”
The other names didn’t clang. “I thought the uppers all had two family names.”
“The children do. Once you find a mate, then you pick one family to be a part of. If you don’t find a mate, then you have the support of two families.”
With this new knowledge, I read the names on the board again. Jacob Ashon was listed. “Is Ramla Ashon…?”
“Riley’s mother.”
“And…Kiana Garrard?
“Your mother.”
Her name stabbed through my metal defense. My parents had tried to change things, and my father had been recycled. But those events happened after I was born. No. I didn’t care. I forced my metal skin to grow thicker.
“Do you want to know about your—”
“No.” I read the list again. Kiana Garrard, Jacob Ashon, Hana Mineko, Takia Qadim and Breana Narelle. “Do you know which one of these uppers is the spy?”
“No. I thought it was Blas Sanchia.”
How would I isolate the spy? My limited knowledge of the uppers once again hindered me. I trusted Riley, but could I trust his father? Perhaps Riley would have a few ideas or Logan could track the uppers’ computer usage and see if one of them could access restricted Trava files.
“What about Gateway?” I asked.
“Find it underneath the foam. Dissolve the insulation and expose the door for now.”
It was hour fifty-two. Eight hours remained before my next shift. I calculated the time needed to sleep, eat and get to the outer wall. Not enough, searching for Gateway would have to wait until my next break. Although, I had time for one errand.
I left Domotor and climbed to level four. Reaching my hidden box, I removed the comb. It was a beautiful gift and should be used and displayed. After counting the teeth—forty one—I pocketed it in my tool belt and headed down.
Finding a warm spot to sleep, I dozed in the shaft. If I was Queen of the Pipes, I should request a better throne. Dreams of Outside swirled through my mind. The doorway hovered in front of me, but stayed the same distance away no matter how fast I ran.
My supervisor waited for me at the beginning of my shift. She scowled at me, and I knew it wouldn’t be good. It wasn’t. She yanked my arm out and slapped a red cuff around my left wrist. It bit into my skin.
“For failure to finish your shift. Explain,” she ordered, “and don’t try the broken troll excuse. Your troll was found in the air shaft in perfect condition, but no one could find you.”
My thoughts raced. “I fell asleep.”
“Where?”
“Air shaft seventeen.”
“You’re lying.” She uncapped a marker and wrote the number ten on the cuff. “Report to Emek in solid-waste for ten hours extra duty. It can be broken into five hours increments during your next two off-shifts.”
“But that’s—”
“Have Emek sign the cuff and return to me after assembly. Failure to comply will result in your permanent re-assignment to Emek’s team.”
Her punishment was extreme for a first offense. “But—”
“My supervisor was not happy over your disappearance. Now I’m on notice. I’ll be watching.”
True to her word she stayed until I hefted the troll into the shaft, and she waited at each transition point during the next ten hours. I thought she would follow me down to the solid-waste facility in Sector H1, but she just made sure I headed in the right direction.
Emek smiled broadly when I arrived. Blood seeped from under the bright-colored cuff on my wrist. “Welcome to the crap suckers. Grab a pair of overalls, a plunger and follow Rat. He’ll be your partner.”
“Rat?”
He pointed to a young scrub. Despite the name, Rat wore clean overalls and his brown hair was trimmed and tidy. His manner remained pleasant even when we unclogged a bilious wad, reeking with the most horrible stench. My eyes watered and I almost lost the contents of my stomach.
I needed a distraction so I asked him, “How did you get the name Rat?”
“It’s my nickname. My real name is Mark.”
“Okay, so how’d you get your nickname?”
“Rats like me. I keep their population down and make sure the rest are healthy.”
“Healthy rats?”
He laughed. “Most people don’t want to know what goes on in solid-waste facility. All they want is clean water and fertilizer. Rats are important to our world. Bet you didn’t know that.”
“You’re right.”
“Bet you don’t know about the bugs either.”
I held a hand up. “I don’t, and I don’t want to. For certain things, ignorance really is bliss.”
My comment turned my thoughts to Gateway.
What if I couldn’t open it? What if I was caught and killed before seeing Outside?
I was a mess. One minute I was convinced Gateway didn’t exist, the next, I waxed maudlin over the possibility of not opening it.
Just because we found a few coordinates in the computer, shouldn’t make me an instant believer.
I forced that line of thought away. It wasn’t helping, and I could ‘what if’ until I was reduced to a quivering puddle. Instead, I followed Rat and tried not to breathe through my nose.
Shoveling black goo from the bottom of the incinerator was my last task.
“Isn’t this maintenance’s job?” I asked.
“Nope. This is good stuff.” He dumped a shovel full into the bin. “That’s it. Take the bin to the recycling plant and then you’re done.”
“Where are you going?”
“To the sheep’s pen. Want to come? I’m good with sheep, too.”
“No, thank you. Ignorance remember? Best I don’t become an expert in waste management.”
He waved as he left. And I realized he enjoyed his work. His job was used to punish other scrubs, but he didn’t see it that way. He knew his job was vital to Inside and was content. Why couldn’t the rest of the scrubs be content? Maybe they were, and I hadn’t noticed.
“Trella? What are you doing here?” Logan asked as I pushed the bin through the sorting piles. Dark half-circles hung under his eyes.
I waved the cuff in front of his bleary eyes. “I pissed my supervisor off. She assigned me extra duty.”
“Anne-Jade will be glad. She’s worried because she fell asleep in the air shaft, but she didn’t see your supervisor, so she hoped it would be okay.”
“She did fine. I’m glad you came over. Broken Man wants to open those files. When can you get the password questions?”
“My next off-shift.”
“Great. Also can you…” I checked for Pop Cops. “Get security information about the uppers?”
“Depends on what you want to know.”
I already memorized the names Domotor had given me. Reciting the list of uppers to Logan, I asked, “Can you find out which one of these people is working undercover for the Travas?”
“If the information is listed in the computer system, but it’s unlikely.”
“Why?”
“Because someone could find it.”
“Like Broken Man?”
“No. You need level nine clearance…oh!”
I smiled as Logan realized only a few Travas had the required security clearance.
“It’s still unwise to have such sensitive information listed,” Logan said.
“I agree, but I’d bet the higher Pop Cop officers feel rather confident about their security network, believing no one, especially no scrub could breach it. So try not to bust their illusion.”
“Oh don’t worry, I’m like a—”
“Ghost. I know.” Two Pop Cops headed in our direction. “I better go. I can’t miss anymore shifts, but I’ll stop by your barrack during one of my breaks.”
Logan nodded and returned to work. I left the recycling plant and hurried to find Emek. Only five hours remained in my off time and I was determined to locate Gateway.
Emek issued orders to a couple scrubs. When they left, I pushed a marker into his hands. “Sign, please.”
“Hold on, you still owe me five hours,” he said.
I met his gaze. “Cogon’s execution is in twenty-three hours. I don’t have time.”
Understanding softened his face; he signed the cuff. “Ever have a cuff before?”
“My first.”
“Put a little sheep’s oil on your wrist under the cuff before the Pop Cops remove it. Otherwise, the sucker tends to grab a hunk of skin when it’s cut off.”
“Thanks.” I strode from the solid-waste facility and headed to the right. My supervisor’s voice called from behind me. She wasn’t kidding about watching me. Suppressing a groan of annoyance, I turned.
My heart dropped into my stomach and ran laps. Lieutenant Commander Karla and three Pop Cops followed my supervisor. The LC’s smug expression and the irate fear on my supervisor’s face told me all I needed to know.
Without hesitating, I ran.