A World of Ash: The Territory 3 (24 page)

“No,” Lynn said. “Not if that’s what she wants. She will be tried in the Supreme Court for crimes against the Territory. Treason sounds about right.”

“Kill her,” the Administrator said again. He turned to face the High Priestess. His face was almost red with the hate he had for this woman. “Kill her!”

Lynn shook her head. “No. She will see the end of the Reckoning and she will know that no one will follow her ever again.”

The Administrator spun to face the High Priestess. “No! You can’t get away with everything you’ve done!”

“She won’t,” Lynn said. “She’ll—”

“No!” The Administrator ran at the elderly woman, growling like an enraged animal. His body slammed into hers and he wrapped his arms around her, tackling her. Together, with the High Priestess screaming in shock and fear and the Administrator continuing to roar wildly, the two of them tumbled over the edge of the Wall and fell out of sight.

Lynn looked to Squid and found him mirroring her shocked expression. They both hurried to the battlements and looked down to see both bodies, one still dressed in black fatigues and the other in a white dress, splayed out across the sand. They had landed next to each other, both on their backs, and looked for all the world like they were holding hands, like a pair of lovers taking a walk. But no matter how they had felt about one another they were so intrinsically linked in the events that had brought the Territory to the very brink of destruction that seeing them like that was fitting, in a way.

Lynn wouldn’t have said that she was happy they were dead. She would never have said that about anyone. But she was happy they were gone, that it was finally over. Maybe deep down she had agreed that the High Priestess deserved to die. But still, she hadn’t wanted it to end that way. She had wanted her to face real justice, to be tried and punished for Alfred Hermannsburg’s death, for everything she had done, and now she had escaped that.

Down below, people from the slums, Outsiders, began to gather around the bodies and look up toward the Wall. Nim and Sister Constance moved among them, waving people back.

“You did the right thing,” Squid said.

Lynn looked at him. “Neither of them will get the justice the people of the Territory deserve now.”

“No,” Squid said. “They won’t. But I’m glad it wasn’t you who took it away from them.”

Lynn took Squid’s hand. Above them, Brick brought the dirigible back in close to pick them up and carry them off the Wall.

Squid sat on the Rock Throne, the seat of the Administrator which was now, as everyone continued to remind him, his seat. Lynn stood beside him, on his right, her hand resting on the back of the chair just as Knox had always stood beside the Administrator, though Squid had no doubt that Lynn and he were not quite as intimidating as the former pair had been for the government ministers seated around the table.

Several of the chairs were empty. No one had seen Colonel Woomera, the man who had replaced Lynn’s father and had been revealed as an agent of the Church, since the Holy Order had seized control of the city. Two of the other ministers’ seats were empty as well. Both of them were alive – all the ministers had been safe in the city when the slum-dwellers had held back the horde – but Minster Roxby and Minister Sweet had refused to accept Squid’s appointment as Administrator despite Knox Soilwork leaving behind sealed documentation proving Squid’s parentage. The documents also contained evidence of Knox’s arrangements for both the relocation of the child to a dirt-farming town called Dust, and his deal with the Church to send Sister Constance to serve as a Black Sister of Pitt. It even revealed the name under which the child would live. The rest of the government had, albeit reluctantly, accepted the proof of Squid Blanchflower’s true identity. If Knox Soilwork’s signed admission wasn’t proof enough, Sister Constance had confirmed the story, and then there was the undeniable resemblance Squid had to a young Administrator.

The days following the battle had been a chaotic blur. There had been initial resistance from the Holy Order still loyal to the High Priestess. She had been right in thinking her death would spark greater passion in them, but as word of what had happened spread, enthusiasm for her cause dwindled away. The last of that passion burned out quickly enough when the Outsiders marched in through the hole in the Wall, bringing their story with them. They were led by Lynn and Squid, who the people of the city had begun to call the Storm Man, just as Nim did. The name seemed to have stuck, although the story had already become a little muddled and differed depending on who was doing the telling. Sometimes Squid was the Storm Man, sometimes he was the Administrator’s long-lost son and sometimes the boy from Dust. In one telling they were all the same person, and in another they were not. In all versions though, Squid was the boy who had saved them from the ghouls.

The reaction to the Outsiders walking into the city was mixed. Many of those inside were stuck in their old ways of thinking and wanted nothing but to keep the Inside and the Outside separate. There were others, though, who Squid was pleased to hear walked the streets of Alice cheering and thanking the Outsiders. They knew what they had done in saving the city and they were happy to welcome them inside the Wall.

As Squid sat on the uncomfortable Rock Throne he knew that whether or not he believed it, part of the prophecy of Steven rang true. The city of Alice had been forever changed, and it would never be the same again. There was celebration in the streets, celebration of what the Outsiders had accomplished in holding back the horde long enough for the vaccine to be released, but sporadic violence was also breaking out as those against the integration of the Inside and the Outside fought for their old, outdated ways. The Holy Order and groups of Sisters stood on street corners, some declaring that the Reckoning was over and that God had forgiven mankind, others spouting the rhetoric of the High Priestess and demanding that the impure continue to be purged from the world.

Squid knew he could not have expected everything to be resolved by the destruction of the ghouls – the future was uncertain – but one thing was clear above all else: the Territory would have a future, and now, with the horde destroyed and people made immune to the bites of ghouls, the future was finally in the hands of mankind for the shaping. The world beyond the Black Stump was no longer a wasteland of endless nightmares and danger but a place of wonder and possibility, a place to be explored.

Squid knew that by rights the position of Administrator was his. He was the previous Administrator’s eldest son. But it didn’t feel right. He didn’t want it. He would never be the Administrator, but there was something he wanted to do first. Two things, actually.

“First thing,” Squid said to the assembled ministers. “I want the Wall taken down.”

“Administrator,” Minister Bourke said, taking his time to say the title, stretching it out as though still trying to make it fit on Squid, “the city is still in turmoil. There is much we need to get under control. I don’t think we should jump to any sort of hasty action.”

“I think this is the perfect time,” Squid said. “The threat the Wall was designed to protect us against is gone, and without it there will be nothing dividing the Inside from the Outside anymore. People will have to get used to living together. It will cause fewer problems, not more. And once the Wall is down, we will take the ghoul-proof fence down.”

“You can’t be serious,” Minister Mintabie said, “can’t be serious at all.”

“Why does the
ghoul-proof
fence exist?” Lynn said from where she stood beside Squid.

“Yes,” said Minister Lyndhurst, “obviously for the ghouls, but we can’t just take it down. There are still ghouls out there.”

“Yes,” said Squid, “and the population of the Territory is immune to their bites. There are also other people out there, like the people of Reach, whole other settlements we should be communicating with and sharing the vaccine with. There’s nothing to fear anymore.”

“I think there is much to fear,” Minister Bourke.

“Maybe you’re afraid,” Squid said, “but it’s not the ghouls that frighten you. That’s fine, though, because soon you won’t have a say unless the people decide it.”

“What are you talking about, boy?”

Squid ignored the man’s sudden shift in tone. “I understand that as Administrator it is within my power to restructure the government.”

The ministers shuffled on their chairs, rubbed their faces, bit their lips and eyed Squid.

“You wouldn’t,” Minister Bourke growled. “At a time like this, when the Territory needs leadership, you wouldn’t.”

“It’s just not done,” Minister Mintabie said. “Ministers are replaced when they retire or when they –” the man glanced at Lynn, “– leave the council for other reasons, but the government is never completely replaced. The Territory needs stability of government, especially now. It’s just not done.”

“Hasn’t been done as long as I’ve been on the council,” Minister Bourke said, the angry tone still readily apparent in his voice. “You can’t just come in and do something like that, boy.”

“That is the second time you’ve called me ‘boy,’” Squid said to Minister Bourke, keeping his voice low and steady despite the way his heart broadcast its nervous beating throughout his chest. “What would the previous Administrator” – he would not call him his father – “have done if you called him anything other than Your Honor or Administrator?”

Minister Bourke said nothing in reply.

“From now on,” Squid said, “the Territory will be a democracy. The people of the Territory will choose their own Administrator. Everyone will get the chance to have a say about who will be in charge and how things will be.”

“You expect dirt farmers and miners to know how to run the Territory?” Minister Bourke said.

Squid nodded. “I expect them to know better than anyone.”

“And how do you think young Bren, the son who was actually supposed to be Administrator, would feel about this?”

Squid didn’t say anything.

“Just not done,” Minister Mintabie mumbled.

“Fine,” Squid said. “Lynn, can you bring him in?”

Lynn walked to the door of the Council Room, exited briefly, and returned leading Bren Millner and Ms Apple into the room. They approached the table where the ministers sat.

“I’ve never been very good at reading people,” Squid said, “but it’s easy to see you don’t want me here.” None of the ministers spoke but each of them seemed to sit taller in their seats. “So, I will step down and let Bren take over as rightful heir to the position of Administrator. As you’ve rightly said, Minister Bourke, he was the one who was always intended to be Administrator. The one his father was readying to take the role.” Squid stood from the Rock Throne, feeling relief at rising from its hard stone surface. “It’s all yours, Bren.”

As Bren walked to sit on the Rock Throne Minister Bourke spoke to Squid. “I apologize for my behavior, Master Blanchflower. As I’m sure you understand these are stressful times, but I do want to thank you for doing the right thing.”

“Come on, Lynn,” Squid said, “let’s go.”

Squid and Lynn walked away from the council table as Bren sat and began to speak. “No matter what happened, I think my father always wanted to be a good man,” he said, “and I want to be a good man too. This is Ms Apple. Some of you know her. She was my teacher, and Lynn’s teacher, and the teacher of some of your sons and daughters. She is wise and knows more than anyone gives her credit for. Because I am not yet of age, I am appointing Ms Apple as my advisor and the Chief Minister of the Territory.”

“A teacher?” Minister Bourke asked.

Squid looked at Lynn as they reached the door. They smiled at each other.

“My first order of business as Administrator of the Central Territory,” Bren said behind them, “is to uphold everything Squid just said. Ms Apple and myself will be overseeing the transition to a democracy.”

Squid and Lynn left the room without looking back.

Lynn sat with Squid and Nim under a gum tree in the park. The three of them had been sitting in silence a long time. Nim was breaking a dried twig and throwing the small pieces out in front of them, trying to hit a lone green tuft of grass in a patch of brown-red dirt.

It had been this way over the last few days. They all felt a sense of great relief that the path Squid and Lynn had set out on when they had first met at the Academy and the journey Nim had joined them on was finished, but there was also a very obvious feeling of not knowing what to do next. They had changed the world, but now they each needed to find their place in the new one.

Squid broke the silence. “I think I’m going to go back to Dust.”

Lynn looked at him. “You’re not?” she said. “I mean, I don’t want you to.”

“I need to go back to the farm,” Squid said. “My uncle’s gone and I don’t know what happened to my aunt.”

“You don’t owe them anything,” Nim said. “They aren’t even your real family. Your family is here now. Your mother said she’s staying in Alice. We’re staying in Alice.”

“So you’ve thought about it?” Lynn said, turning to Nim. “You’re really going to stay too?”

“I’ll need to go home for a while, see my parents, tell the Elders everything that happened.” Nim reached out and took Lynn’s hand. “But I’ll be back. Probably don’t know what I’m going to do, but I hear the Diggers are recruiting again.”

“You didn’t think about the Diggers, Squid?” Lynn asked.

Squid shook his head. “I think it’s been proven enough times that I’m not cut out for fighting. Why aren’t you joining, though? That’s what you wanted your whole life.”

“They’re still not letting girls join.”

“That will change soon though, and if anyone can change that it’s you, the Angel of Alice.” Squid smiled. It was the name the people of the slums had taken to calling her. Lynn hated it.

“I don’t know,” Lynn said. “Maybe I’ll run for government one day.”

“I have no doubt you could be the Administrator if you wanted to.”

There was a long moment of silence again.

“You’re really going to leave?” Lynn said. “You know the engineers are looking for people. That would be perfect for you. You can learn all the stuff you wanted to, help build the vehicles and equipment to go out and find all the other settlements out there.”

“Maybe one day,” Squid said. “But I think right now I need to go home, at least to check on the place.”

“I’m going to miss you, Squid Blanchflower.”

“I’m going to miss you, too, and you, Nim.” He paused. “Wait,” he said, “Nim, I don’t even know your last name.”

Both Nim and Lynn started laughing.

“Squid,” Lynn said, “you’re so weird.”

*

Brick sat in the pilot’s seat of the dirigible that was once, for a brief time, called
Mary’s Revenge.
He flew above the path of the ghoul-proof fence, tracking the line of it across the sand. Captain Pratt, who now just went by the name Campbell Pratt, looked down over the side of the airship at the men working below. They were riding along on the tray of an open-backed bio-truck, jumping off at intervals and working to cut the wire of the fence. Others moved along behind them, extracting the black stumps from the red ground and piling them onto the back of a second truck. Brick wondered what his father would have thought of this, of his son whom he had wanted to follow in the family’s footsteps as a protector of the fence involved in the team of people who were tearing it down. Brick hoped his father was proud of everything he had done, and he hoped he was happy as his ashes still floated somewhere in the air, flying once again.

*

High Priestess Constance, selected in a close election among the priestesses of the Church of Glorious God the Redeemer, stood tall as a shawl woven of golden thread was placed on her shoulders. The ceremony was small; only those at the rank of priestess were in attendance. When the formalities were over High Priestess Constance, no longer forced to wear the dark dress of a Black Sister but instead garbed in a bright white dress of lace with a long tail that flowed out over the stone floor behind her, stood and addressed the priestesses as the new head of the Church, representative of God and voice of the Ancestors on earth.

“Good evening, my Sisters. I am honored to take this role and stand before you not as a dictator but as an equal. My son asked me why, after everything that happened, I chose to remain a part of the Church.”

There was soft shuffling at the mention of the word “son”. No one spoke, but the air was thick with the obvious desire of those who wanted to discuss it. There were many, Constance knew, who could not abide the idea of a Sister who had given birth to a child, especially one who had done so after an illicit affair with the Administrator of the Territory. It stung them even worse that such a scandal had not stopped Constance rising to the seat of High Priestess. For many, though, being the mother of the boy of prophecy made her seem all the more holy.

“I told him I believe there is still a place for the Church in this world. There will still be people who look for the guidance of God and the Ancestors. There will still be people looking to the example of us and our Sisters. But we will let them come to us freely and willingly. We cannot deny that the controlling claws of the Church paved the way for how close we came to disaster. Our Church will never lose its way like that again. We will not influence the governing of the Territory. The Holy Order will be disbanded. Fear is no longer our weapon. Hope will be.”