“The Insiders. Xander and I coordinated the escape, the day after I took command of the city.” He heaved a sigh and replaced his glasses. “Not everything went according to plan.”
“Xander died.”
“And you got caught,” he said. “But at least you were out of that capsule. Jeffries had been promoted, and I got Rancho Port.” He kept working on his tech, welding this or sparking that.
I wish he’d look at me again. “What’s going on here?”
“Stick around, and you’ll see for yourself.”
“I heard all your people are asleep.”
“You heard?” Irv paused in his welding.
“I’ve got a mind reader on staff.” I leaned back and chewed on my thumbnail.
“Where’s the rest of your ‘staff’?” Irvine asked.
“I sent a team to Grande to check on Laurel Woods, who manages an underground—”
“I know who Laurel Woods is,” Irv said. “We’ve been working together for months.”
A flash of annoyance shot through me. As the cracking leader, I should’ve known all this. If Irv was a Director, why hadn’t he notified Indy—who had been leading the Resistance while I’d been detained—two months ago?
“Great,” I said, my voice hollow. “We’ll send word to them when we launch the attack, yeah?”
I wasn’t really asking, but Irv said, “Yeah,” anyway. He finished working on his gadget and set it in a row of identical weapons. “My people wake up between four and six,” Irv said, grinning. “The night show is fantastic.”
Irv never was a liar. The night show was spectacular. The people slowly got up, at all different times. Some went jogging. Some slept in. Some made breakfast, and some stood on balconies and sipped coffee.
Near nine, most people left their apartments and went to work. By work I mean that they went to different buildings and performed jobs like making soap and sewing clothes. Some worked in the fields, preparing the ground for planting. Some collected water, some canned food, some fiddled with tech like Irv.
I stood in Irv’s monitoring room with Vi, Raine, Gunner, Thane, and Isaacs, watching. Their emotions blended with mine, but it didn’t matter, because we were all feeling the exact same thing.
Shock.
Sure, I’d imagined what a free society might look like. It wasn’t this. In my dreams, there was unrest. Disease. Destruction.
But this society, these people, operated almost like the brainwashed. Irv hung out in the back of the monitoring room, his arms crossed. Several minutes into the whole they-all-perform-a-job-they’re-good-at thing, he spoke.
“So, what do you think?”
Truth was, I didn’t know what to think.
“It’s unbelievable,” Raine said. “Do you tell them all which jobs to do?”
“At first I did,” Irv said. “I matched everyone with a job I thought they’d be good at, based on their Citizen profiles.”
“And then?” Gunn asked.
“Then I let them pick,” he said. “People are more productive when they’re working a job they like. Some kept the same job, but as I interviewed each person, some adjustments were made. Most jobs have been filled, and those that aren’t get done on a rotational basis.”
“Wow,” I said, unable to think of anything more intelligent to say. I turned to Irv. “So what do you need us to do?”
The next five days were a whirlwind of activity as I oversaw what Irv had planned and, with Raine, carried out interviews with possible Resistance recruits. Gunn and Vi were assigned to gather as much tech as possible, as per their technopathic abilities, and I didn’t get to see my girlfriend very much.
By the end of the fifth day my nerves were frayed. “Well?” I snapped at a possible recruit. I took a deep breath as Raine pinned me with a glare.
We needed people to manage communications, people to help transport the tech, people to bring and prep food. The list went on and on. We’d fulfilled nearly all the assignments and sent the willing recruits to Thane for further instruction.
I let Raine finish the interview with the man and extend the invitation for him to join us on the tech transportation team. Our plan was to leave at nightfall, with a midnight stop-off in Grande. We’d make it to Freedom by daybreak.
After the man had his instructions and left, Raine put her head down on the silver table and closed her eyes. We hadn’t slept much over the past few days, and I didn’t even have the energy to breathe. Good thing it was an involuntary action.
I would’ve fallen asleep if an alarm hadn’t shrieked. Outside the door the communications hub went wild with flashing lights. A couple of engineers rushed into the room to receive the message.
I didn’t care. The world could come to an end, and I’d be fine. At least then I’d get to sleep.
Vi entered the room, and shook my shoulder. “Jag, wake up. This is important.”
I opened one eye to look at her.
“Darke has left Freedom. So has Zenn. Intelligence says Zenn will be back in the morning, but Darke won’t be back until tomorrow night.”
The thrill of opportunity shot through me, breaking through my exhaustion. “Nice,” I said.
“We’re leaving early,” Vi added.
“Define ‘early,’ ” I said.
“One hour.”
My groan mimicked Raine’s.
One hour later I was on my hoverboard, face braced against the wind that howled through the sky. It began to pour, and my hair was slicked to my forehead within seconds. Water weighed down my clothes, and the driving rain made talking without a cache impossible.
Maybe for the first time, I wished I had an implant. I pulled my jacket tighter and endured the silence within myself. We hit the outskirts of Grande just as the rain tapered off. Laurel sent her team into the sky before I could say anything.
“Take the lead,” I told her, as if that was the plan the whole time. She smiled sweetly, looking very much like Vi. “How’s Saffediene?” I asked in an attempt to regain my leadership role.
“She woke up the first day,” Laurel said. “She’s made a nice recovery. Irv had just sent a shipment of medical supplies, so that helped.”
“How come you didn’t tell us Irvine was Director of Rancho Port?” I asked, looking over her shoulder as if something more interesting was happening behind her. “Indy’s been looking for him for almost a year.”
“I didn’t know Irvine was lost,” Laurel said.
“Right. Don’t people bring
Laurel matched my ascension. “Plenty of news travels through the underground. My daughter’s sacrifice for one. My older daughter’s death.” Her voice chilled like the wind. “But sorry, I didn’t know his status was in question.”
“I didn’t know he was a Director either,” I said.
“Maybe you should take that up with him.”
“Maybe I will,” I said, just to be spiteful. She knew how to make her words hurt; that comment about Ty’s death unsettled me. I’d been close with her; she’d taught me subtle mind control and sacrificed everything to get me the best voice coaches.
Laurel flew away, settling into a conversation with Thane. Vi joined me. “What did you say to her?”
