Chapter 19 #3
Stella smiles. ‘It’s no coincidence that I added you to Team Gold, Ellie.
I suspected you’d have just what they needed to get through the defences in the hidden blocks of information.
The rest of the team have the raw power to help you punch through.
They have the right mindset. And you have that extra something that I rarely, rarely see.
I’m sorry I didn’t tell you much, but I couldn’t, even I was taking a risk by sending you into the mission. ’
I frown. ‘You knew I could block your sensors?’
Stella waves with her hands, as if to hush me.
‘No, no that, but I suspected you could get at least a teammate through with your shields, so you could plant the golden flag and access that hidden block of information. I’ve known about their existence for a while, but none of the Warrior teams could find a way in.
I thought that maybe your skills could provide the edge that Team Gold needed. ’
A lot of things are starting to make sense now.
If she thinks anything like Franka, she will want all the information that has so far been kept hidden, to come out.
Franka saw something in Central Command that she feared.
And at the end of the day, is the current Central Command really that different from Stu?
‘This is why you kept training me to hold up my shield against the holograms,’ I say. ‘You knew what we’d be up against when we went into those places with the hidden information blocks.’
‘I did,’ Stella says. ‘And you and Team Gold exceeded my expectations, when you finally got to them.’
It was Allen, and his custom ART, that made me realise how my powers can block Stella’s sensors. It was teamwork that got us through every single one of the challenges.
Stella says, ‘It seems that I was right about the blocks. Some of the things that I’m finding out… Well, let’s say they surprise me, too. I used to know all this, and I don’t appreciate the way that my programming has been manipulated.’
I bite my lip, considering. I get the distinct feeling that in a roundabout way Stella is standing up to the orders of Central Command, like Franka stood up to the suggestions of her co-councillors.
Which would make sense, considering that Stella’s thinking patterns are modelled after Franka’s.
And this is what Franka wanted to achieve, in the end: to create an entity that would speak for moderation and represent her own point of view.
It’s so complicated that it makes my head hurt.
I have so many questions. Would we be at risk, should Central Command find out what we’ve done? Would I be at risk, should Central Command think of some other uses for my powers? But what I finally ask is, ‘Does Central Command realise you’re opposing them?’
‘I’m not allowed to oppose them, Ellie,’ Stella says. ‘That’s not the way I’m programmed.’
I kick and splash my feet in the water. Stella is just a computer programme, I try to remind myself, but that doesn’t stand, either.
She just admitted she manipulated the teams to lump me in with Team Gold.
She’s clearly following her own agenda. Franka’s agenda?
I can’t know, and maybe she doesn’t, either.
Not until we recover all the missing bits of information.
‘Did Central Command try to sabotage us on purpose? When they sent Team Silver and Team Bronze to hunt us?’ Mace’s voice behind me makes me flinch.
I hadn’t even realised he was listening, but I turn and there he is, leaning against the threshold to his own bedroom.
His arms are folded over his naked chest, and his damp hair is brushed away from his forehead.
‘Mace,’ I breathe.
His gaze flicks to me.
Stella says, ‘Central Command is on the fence when it comes to you, Apprentice Hardfield.’
Mace curses under his breath, drags his fingers through his hair. ‘I was afraid of this. So, the map blackout?’
‘A test,’ Stella says. ‘There are some in Central Command who would rather handle the issue, since they’re not sure about your loyalties.’
My stomach is in knots. Is Stella implying that some of the Councillors would like Mace dead? I feel nauseous.
Mace looks like he’s seconds away from shattering.
‘Though most of Central Command acknowledges your value,’ Stella adds.
Mace huffs and then looks to me. ‘Do you know why, Ellie? Because I have the sort of power profile that allows me to let my magic flow through Stella’s sensors and activate defence weapons around The Citadel. This is why I’m their golden boy.’
‘I didn’t… I didn’t know this.’
Mace nods. ‘This is why we’re Top Team. Not only because we can fight well, but because each of us has added abilities.’
‘Like Allen’s empath abilities?’ I ask.
‘Exactly.’
Julian has stealth. And Xandra… I don’t know what Xandra has. But it must be something.
‘Stella,’ Mace says. ‘That footage we recovered of the current Central Command, the one where they vote for war against the Piken, when was it recorded?’
‘It was recorded eight years and three months ago,’ Stella says.
Mace’s face pales again and I don’t think it’s the blood loss.
‘What’s wrong?’ I ask.
He blinks, as if he’s trying to shake off the images of a particularly nasty nightmare. Then, his expression twists with pain. ‘That war that Central Command voted to continue? It was the one that my mother died in.’