Chapter 19
The doctor’s explanation slammed into me, shattering my beliefs. “Uppers are only allowed one child?” The foreign concept refused to find an empty seat in my logic.
“Yes. We have limited space, so the Travas have made it a law.” The doctor peered at me in concern.
Perhaps if I broke down her information into manageable bits. “You mentioned the couple having an accident. How can getting pregnant be an accident? If you have sex, you’re bound to have a baby in time.”
“We have birth control, Ella. Women can choose if they want a baby or not. I’m guessing by your horrified surprise, scrubs don’t have that option.”
The revelation made perfect sense and yet made no sense at all.
My mind grappled with it. It explained why Riley only saw his brother once, why he had said you don’t have to have a child, and it meant perhaps my mother hadn’t abandoned me.
I could have been a second or third child—an astounding notion!
Finally Domotor’s comment about my blue eyes made sense.
“Those drops?” I asked.
“Drops?”
“In the baby’s eyes.”
“Oh. To change the color so the babies blend in with the scrubs and don’t get teased for being different.”
It didn’t always work. I mulled over what she had said about birth control. Why not let the scrubs use birth control? With the overcrowding conditions getting worse every hour, why not limit the number of children born?
“Ella, are you all right?” Doctor Lamont stood beside me. She placed a cold hand on my forehead. “You lost all color in your cheeks. Take another sip of your drink.”
I gulped the spirits, welcoming the harsh sting as it ripped down my throat. I asked Lamont why scrubs didn’t have birth control.
“Truthfully, I’m surprised they don’t. The uppers have assumed scrubs don’t cherish their offspring.
That they keep having babies because they don’t have to care for them.
Basically, we all thought the crowding in the lower levels was your own fault.
” She returned to her seat. “Interesting how certain facts have been ignored in the computer. Or deleted.”
I mulled over the ignorance on both sides. The results created two groups of people who distrusted each other, which would be ideal if you didn’t want them to join forces. Again my contemplations looped back to why they let the scrubs grow in numbers.
We did the grunge work, but even if we limited births, there still would be plenty of scrubs to work. Another theory popped into mind. “Is the birth control hard to make? Or of limited quantity?”
“Not really. It’s grown in hydroponics. You only need to ingest it when you’re planning to be intimate.” She jerked her head as if struck with a sudden thought. “You didn’t seem concerned about your damaged ovary. Was it because you don’t want children?”
“Yes. I’m not going to be intimate with anyone so that,” I waved toward the infirmary, “doesn’t happen to me or to a child.”
We discussed various reasons the Trava’s would allow the scrubs to increase in number, but we couldn’t find a logical explanation.
“I’ll ask LC Karla next time I see her.” I joked.
But Doctor Lamont’s demeanor turned to ice. “If that woman was injured, I would not save her life. In fact, I would happily feed her to Chomper myself.” She stood and strode from the room, claiming she needed to check on her patients.
While I agreed with the doctor about Karla, I wondered what the LC had done to cause such a strong reaction from a caring individual.
The meeting with the uppers who agreed to help us convened in the doctor’s sitting room at hour sixty.
Riley and Doctor Lamont stood apart from the group, who talked among themselves in low whispers, getting acquainted and reminiscing about prior events.
Riley’s father, Jacob, kept peering at his son as if amazed the boy was there.
After learning about the upper’s birth control, I had wanted to discuss so much with Riley, but the group arrived and we had limited time.
Takia Qadim was the most vocal and spoke for the group. “Why will this attempt work when our first one failed?” Her sharp and intelligent gaze focused on me.
I willed my heart to stop its panicked thumping, and focused on the need for full disclosure. “First we already know where Gateway is.” A mixture of expressions spread over the four uppers. I waited for the information to sink in.
“Second, we have access to the other hidden files. One led us to the location, and I’m reasonably sure the others will tell us how to open Gateway and what to expect on the other side.”
“Why do you need us?” Hana Mineko asked. Her black hair had been piled on top of her head in a pleasing twist of curls. She fiddled with a curl hanging by her ear, pulling it straight and releasing it. The hair sprang back each time.
“When Gateway is open, it will alert all the systems in Inside, and we need you to cover the alert so the Controllers and the Travas don’t know. Once we know exactly what to expect on the other side of Gateway, then we can plan how to use it.”
“Why don’t you know what’s in the rest of the files,” Takia asked.
“They’re protected by passwords. We haven’t figure out the rest of them yet.” A rumble of alarm rolled through the uppers. “We have the password clues, and I hoped as a group we could deduce the answers.”
“Let me get this straight,” Jacob said. “Provided you open the files, we then have to hide your activity from the Trava family while you open Gateway.” He looked around. “You’re going to need to recruit more uppers.”
“We have two scrubs willing to ghost through the network and aid in hiding data. And don’t forget Domotor.” As long as he listened to Logan’s instructions.
Breana Narelle pulled her shirt down over her pregnant belly. “Four people were recycled last time because Domotor was caught. This time we all know who’s involved. What if someone here is the person who ratted us out?”
“We know who spied for Karla and she hasn’t been invited back. Obviously you don’t say anything to anyone, but especially not to Kiana Garrard,” I said proud I didn’t stutter over her name. It’s possible she hadn’t abandoned me, but she still caused much pain and suffering.
Most of the group nodded with understanding, but Jacob flashed the doctor a strange, pain-filled look, which she returned. I wondered if they both knew Kiana.
“Why should we risk our lives for the scrubs?” Breana asked. “They hate us and are jealous of us. They won’t do anything to help us, why should we help them?”
I counted to ten before answering her. She had been fed lies about the scrubs all her life.
Then I explained to the group just how much the scrubs have done to get me here.
The ghosting through the network, Cog’s sacrifice, and Jacy’s risks as well as the amazing fact that not one scrub has yet to provide information to the Pop Cops despite the fantastic rewards offered by the LC.
“The Travas are our mutual enemy. They have lied to you and to the scrubs to keep us from joining together. Think about it. The scrubs outnumber the uppers ten to one. But you have control of the systems keeping us alive, and the Travas have control of us both. Teaming up takes the Travas out of the equation. We can return to the times where each family had an equal say.”
My speech worked and the uppers set about planning. They wanted to hear the password clues and I read them aloud. Two questions produced answers right away. Six left. I repeated the first question and everyone brainstormed.
During an unusual lull in the conversation, LC Karla spoke from my pocket. Terrified faces turned to me and I hurried to explain about the listening device and Riley’s receiver. I retreated to my room to listen.
“…another busted scanner? That’s three this shift. Something is going on,” the LC said. Her voice strained with frustration.
“It can’t be sabotage. No scrub was allowed near them. They were guarded the entire time by my people,” a man said. His voice sounded familiar.
“Eyes on the devices? Or an ensign stationed outside the supply cabinet?”
“Why would it matter?”
“The scrubs are using the air shafts to get around you idiot!”
“Lieutenant Commander, no one is in the shafts. The RATSS have found no evidence.”
“I saw her with my own eyes, Commander.” Karla’s tone was even, but each word had a little kick to it as if she bit back her anger.
She was talking to Vinco, the knife-wielding bastard.
“I believe you. But she’s not there now. She’s hiding with this Broken Guy. We need to entice her out,” Vinco said.
“I’ve tried. I promised to not recycle her friend if she turned herself in. It didn’t work.”
“Perhaps we need to find someone she cares for more,” Vinco said.
“She has no other friends. The general opinion is she’s a loner and detests being among the scrubs. Not that I blame her.”
“She might think you’re bluffing about her friend. Schedule him for execution. Parade him down through the lower levels on his way to Chomper’s Lair, take him inside and kill-zap him if she doesn’t give herself up.”
“And if she does?” Karla asked.
“Contact me and I’ll interrogate her.”
I shuddered at the delight in his voice.
“What about her friend?” Karla asked.
“Keep him alive for now. He’s fun to play with.”
“What time should I schedule the execution?”
“Before the hundred hour assembly.”
“All right. Go spread the word, Commander.”
The sound of a shutting door echoed through Riley’s metal box. I stared at the clock. Hour sixty-two. Thirty-eight hours to turn myself in. Yet another count down. But this one didn’t produce blind panic. Was I more confident of our success? Or was I just used to being in a constant state of panic?
I re-joined the others. They had answered another two questions. Four left.
“What’s the one about turning something in?” Takia asked me.
“Oh. It’s question number six. It’s, ‘What do you turn to get the outside in?’”