Once again, Opal’s thoughts drifted to Garrett. In the time span of a week, he could be living on this side of town. The thought was enough to make the color drain from Opal’s face.
Chapter 6
Garrett entered his room and haphazardly dropped his backpack in the corner. Without breaking stride, he continued to his desk and opened the sciorb. After logging in, Garrett clicked the spiral icon for the dataweb and waited for it to load.
Although, Opal had refused to help him investigate the origins and true existence of The Council, Garrett remained determined. He’d spent the ride home from academy trying to figure out why he couldn’t locate anything about The Council on the dataweb. The dataweb connected everyone in the world. It was a network of collective knowledge and resources. How could it harbor no information about The Council?
With Opal going to volunteer with the Undecided, he knew by the time she returned it’d be too late to pester her again for help. He’d have to continue researching without her help.
Garrett straightened in his chair. The Undecided. They were rumored to have an old library in the Undecided sector of the city that held very old books. Ancient books. Books that just might reveal the origins and workings of The Council.
Jumping to his feet and refolding the sciorb back together, he picked up his backpack and slung it over his shoulder. Racing out the door and down the stairs, his mother interrupted him right as he reached the front door.
“Garrett, where are you going?” Mrs. Gibbons stood in the kitchen pulling out the pots to cook dinner.
Without breaking stride, he shouted, “To the library, Mom, I have to look up something.”
Before she could respond, he was out the door. Garrett headed for the nearest transport station only two blocks away. When he got there, he checked the city map and instantly felt stupid. He had no idea how to get to the Undecided sector. None of the stations had it listed as one of the locations. He could ride around the entire city for days looking for it.
Noticing a man sporting an immaculate brown suit disembarking the transporter nearest to Garrett, he grabbed his arm. “Excuse me, sir, but do you know which line will take me to the Undecided sector?”
The man wrinkled his brow, staring at Garrett for several long seconds before inquiring, “Why would you want to go there?”
Garrett decided to lie. “I have a friend who’s volunteering down there. I’m looking for her.” Well, it wasn’t a complete lie. He did have a friend volunteering there.
The man sighed and replied, “There are no transporters to that part of town. I believe transport line number four goes in the direction, but it ends about half a mile before that section of the city.”
“Thank you, sir.” Garrett nodded at the man and reexamined the map, searching for where he could catch transport line four. After examining the map for a few minutes, he realized he’d have to connect with line five and three to get there, but it didn’t matter—he was determined.
Throughout the transporter ride, he absentmindedly watched the different parts of the city whisk by. His thoughts were occupied with what he would find once he arrived at the Undecided sector. He hoped the Undecided sector would have signs like his part of town, but what if they didn’t? Mentally, he kicked himself for not bring his sciorb along so he could search for directions. In the three years Opal had been volunteering at the shelter, she’d asked thrice for him to come along. After he’d waved off the suggestion over and over, she stopped asking. Now he wished he’d taken her up on a visit to the shelter. A bit of experience would have kept him from sticking out like a sore thumb.
The transporter slid to a stop and he switched from line three to four, finding a seat near the door so he wouldn’t have to wait long to disembark. He had no idea when the library in the Undecided sector would close. He wanted as much time there as possible in case the library proved difficult to find information on The Council like the dataweb had been.
The ride was short and Garrett soon found himself at the end of the line. Everyone on board disembarked and took a left from the station. Guessing the other passengers were going in the opposite direction of the Undecided sector, he went right toward the deserted pathway that led through a walking tunnel underneath a gray-brick bridge. Once inside the dimly lit tunnel, he took off at a run, wanting to get to the other side in a hurry.
Garrett was disappointed when the Undecided sector wasn’t directly on the opposite side. Instead, wide fields stretched far into the distance on either side of the increasingly narrow walkway. From the transport station, the walkway had been large enough to harbor four people walking abreast, but it had narrowed to the point where two people would struggle not to trip each other.
Curiosity overruling his desire for speed, he continued to observe his surroundings. At first, the fields had appeared to be homogenous, but upon closer inspection, he recognized differing rows of crops and flowers. Confused, he kept walking, trying to visually measure how far apart each type of crop was. Based on the haphazard growing pattern, he wondered if anyone cultivated them or if they grew wild. This was a far cry from the well-maintained crops underneath the protection of the Cultivation Dome.
Shaking off his curiosity, he increased
