He’d been on edge all day, he admitted to himself. It was getting close to quitting time and he just wanted to go home and see Penelope and make sure she was all right. In fact, he’d wanted to go check on her during their lunch break but that little orange asshole Poone had gotten a hair up his ass about the placement of the partha roots, which were on the East side of the green house. He had demanded they replant all of them on the West side so they could get better light.
The replanting had taken all but ten minutes of V’s lunch break and he hadn’t had time to get to the Marketplace and back without being tardy and receiving another black mark on his permanent record. Normally, he wouldn’t give a fuck for black marks, of course, but he already had two of them and a third meant instant recycling.
Since he was trying to stay alive until he and Penelope could get out of the Compound, that meant he had to be careful and mind his Ps and Qs in a way he hadn’t had to worry about since his early gang days.
But black marks weren’t on his mind right now—Penelope was. What had they done to her at the Breeding Center, he wondered distractedly? Was she all right? Would she be there when he got home?
“Attention, workers!” Head Gardener Poone called again, cutting through V’s thoughts. “I have an important announcement to make!”
Swear to the Goddess, V thought, grinding his teeth as he stared at the NeverBreeder Supervisor. If this little fucker tries to make us stay late to work, I’m gonna pound him into the ground, black marks or not. I need to get home to Penelope!
“As many of you may know,” the Head Gardener began, once he had everyone’s attention. “Our Glorious Leader has been ill lately—a very sad event.” He bowed his head for a moment in reverence before continuing. “But I’m happy to say, that he has fully recovered now and will be recommencing his inspections of the various production sites around the Compound. And—this is so exciting—he has decided to make the greenhouse his first stop!”
A cheer went up from the hypnotized breeders—a cheer V did not join in on. But though he kept his face impassive, he couldn’t help feeling a thrill of excitement. Finally, that white-wearing fucker was coming to the greenhouse! Finally V would get a chance to pick his pocket and get the Master Control!
“When’s he coming?” someone shouted as the cheering died down.
“This very day! Right now, in fact—can you believe it?” Head Gardener Poone, bobbed his head excitedly. “Of course, this is why I have been so exacting lately—because I suspected we would be honored with our Glorious Leader’s presence. And now we will all be rewarded for our hard work for I am told that he is on his way this minute!”
Another cheer went up and then everyone scrambled to get into position, so they would be ready to greet the GL properly. V cracked his knuckles to limber up his fingers and made sure he was at the front of the group.
The minute the “Glorious Leader” was even a little bit distracted, he was going to make sure that the Master Control found its way out of his pocket and into V’s.
We’ll be out of here by tonight, he thought, feeling a surge of excitement. Can’t fucking wait!
At that moment, the doors to the greenhouse were opened by two NeverBreeder guards and the great man himself came in. He was, as usual, dressed completely in white from his gleaming white collar down to his shiny white shoes. V thought it was a piss-poor clothing choice for a place where dirt was one of the main components, but he kept that thought to himself and cheered along with the others as their “Glorious Leader” came up to greet them. It wouldn’t do to abstain from the general excitement now—he wanted to blend in.
“Well, well—my children!” The GL said, smiling brightly—his teeth were as white as his suit, of course. “I’m so honored to be here today, among all my hardworking breeder workers and our fine NeverBreeder supervisor.”
This was Head Gardener Poone’s cue, apparently. He came bustling up importantly and bowed low before the GL.
“It is we who are honored, oh Shining Star,” he said, looking up at the GL reverently. “Our humble greenhouse is blessed by your presence today.”
“Well, you and your crew are doing an excellent job!” the GL exclaimed. “Why, I understand production of partha roots is up thirty percent since our last quarter!”
They went on trading compliments that way, with the GL standing in the middle of a ring of admiring greenhouse workers. V had positioned himself just behind the great man on his right side. He was eyeing the right outer pocket of the GL’s jacket, where he had seen the cult leader put the Master Control before.
Everything had to be just right before he made the pick, but he could feel the moment coming. All eyes were on the “Glorious Leader” as he extolled the virtues of hard work and told all of them how proud he was of their productivity. The hypnotized breeders were eating it up, the light of fanaticism glowing in their eyes as they gazed adoringly at the GL.
The sight disgusted V. He was pretty sure the “Glorious Leader” could shoot any one of his loyal followers dead right in front of all the others and they would still love and adore him and make excuses for his violence. They were brainwashed—deaf and blind to the awful things their leader had done and was still doing to them and nothing he could do or say would change their minds at this point.
Disgusting, V thought. But actually, their fanaticism was working for his benefit. Since everyone was looking at
