City Center, The (16 page)

The Battle

“Let me take
him out before you kill me. My last request,” David yelled out, aiming his gun at Joseph.

“Make it quick. We’re in the middle of a battle,” the Officer said, keeping his weapon trained on David.

“Why, David? For five years we followed you. We trusted you,” Joseph said.

“Who are you to question anything? You’re just a villager who thinks he got the girl. Look around, you got nothing.”

“After you’re done with me, then what?”

“I’m a dead man, obviously.” David looked at the Officer.

“You’re not a man,” Joseph looked toward the Officer. “You’re like him. Programmed to kill.”

David laughed. “That’s supposed to make me feel bad about what I did?”

“I don’t have time for this,” the Officer stepped closer, taking aim.

“You don’t want to do that,” Joseph held up a small device—a powerful pocket explosive. “You know the range of one of these, David.”

David stared at Joseph. “Stand down, Officer,” he called out.

“I follow orders from Morray only.”

David rubbed his temples. “That device will take down all of us. What do you want, Joseph? You want to go free? Go after Ava and try to save her from her fate? Not gonna happen.”

“You didn’t answer my question. What’s next?”

“After I kill you, that Officer is going to take me out, then Morray is gonna level the coastal villages. All the work your people did for hundreds of years dies with you today.”

The Officer backed away and ducked behind the hovercraft, aiming at Joseph.

“You shoot, we all die,” Joseph yelled.

The Officer set down his weapon in surrender.

“What are you trying to accomplish, Joseph?” David started walking toward Joseph, raising his gun.

“I’m gonna make this right.”

The Officer grabbed a small sonic pistol from behind his belt and ran toward Joseph. Shots rang out and the Officer went down. Joseph and David looked around, confused. Thomas ran out from behind a tree and headed toward the cabin. Joseph ran toward the hovercraft. David fired his gun—the bullet seared into the flesh of Joseph’s right leg below his knee. Joseph dove to the ground and rolled behind the craft.

“Alert the men. Order them to move to Plan B,” Joseph yelled out to Thomas.

“You touch the wire, Thomas, and I’ll shoot you down,” David called out.

Joseph took the Officer’s sonic weapon and aimed at David. “I’ve got you covered, Thomas. Hurry. Do it!”

“You don’t know how to use that technology, you idiot,” David laughed.

“Surrender, David. I’ve got you tracked. You won’t survive.”

“You don’t have it in you,” David shouted, aiming his gun at Joseph.

“You’d rather die than surrender?”

“I’m a dead man anyway.”

“But you have a chance to work with me, for real. We can bring down Morray together. Save yourself, the Insiders and the villages.”

“You’re a dreamer, Joseph. It’ll never work.”

David set down his gun and began walking toward Joseph. He started laughing hysterically. Something was off in his eyes—he looked like a watch that had been wound up too tight.

Joseph held up the weapon. “I warned you, David. Stop where you are.”

David kept walking and laughing. He was glitching out. His sturdy façade was cracking. His eyes spun in circles. Joseph backed up slowly; he didn’t want to accept the man he had supported for so many years was a traitor and now a madman. But the closer David got, the more Joseph realized he wouldn’t be killing his commander. He’d be taking down one of Morray’s men—an Insider planted on the Outside. David was a programmed killer at the end of a mission. There was no point in trying to reason with him. Joseph didn’t have a choice but to detonate the weapon. He pressed the switch, releasing a sonic blast that pulverized David in an instant.

Joseph climbed into the hovercraft and examined the system panel. He had spent years studying the engineering of Morray’s ground vehicles, but this machine was like nothing he had ever seen. He attempted voice command but the craft remained motionless. He touched the panel. Nothing. He assumed the craft wouldn’t start without microchip recognition. He limped over to the dead Officer and used his knife to cut off the right index finger.

“Sir,” Thomas called out. “They’re coming in, you gotta move.”

“Get out of there, Thomas,” he yelled.

Joseph pried off the bloody appendage and jumped back into the craft. He heard the whizzing of hovercrafts approaching. He used the Officer’s finger to initiate system panel. The screen lit up.

“Fly,” he said.

“Voice command not recognized,” the system announced.

“Override,” Joseph blurted out, not having a clue what terminology he needed to use.

“Voice command not recognized,” the system repeated.

A hovercraft zoomed down and lowered in front of the cabin. Joseph hoped that Thomas was long gone. A blast shot out and the cabin crumbled to a pile of flaming rubble.

A voice came through the system. “Unit 17XRA, our system says you’re offline.”

“Affirmative. We have an Officer and an operative down, and my voice command is glitching out,” Joseph said.

“Why don’t you switch to manual drive?”

“Already attempted, but system is unresponsive.”

“I’ll sync you up and reboot your system. You’ll be good to go on manual.”

“Roger that.”

The system panel flashed off; then lit up again.

“Looks like it worked,” Joseph said.

“Good here. I’m off to zone five. Notifying clean-up unit.”

Joseph pulled up a screen with all the targets Morray had sent his men—the exact same locations he had mapped out with David in the days prior. He selected the area surrounding his village and the craft locked in and whizzed above the treetops across the valley.

“Whoooah,” he yelled.

The valley stretched out below. Smoke rose from a few areas where the Officers had already attacked. He needed to get to his village before the next round hit. He slowed down and came up behind a formation of hovercrafts. He selected a launcher missile on the system panel and discharged it their direction. He missed, but this created a distraction.

“Unit 17XRA, why did you discharge prior to command? You almost took us out,” a voice came over the intercom.

“My system is malfunctioning,” Joseph said.

“We’ll need you to lower down and work with ground units.”

Joseph pushed forward and took aim. He discharged another round, hitting one of the crafts. The explosion took out another.

“We’re being attacked,” a voice announced over the system.

Joseph zipped toward the east, hoping they would follow. He wanted to draw them farther away from the village. Sonic booms rang out from behind. Without his command, the craft lowered to the ground. He pressed every button on the system panel, but it didn’t respond—the Officers had commandeered his craft. He jumped to the ground and ran into the woods. The adrenaline started to wear off and he fell to the ground writhing in agony. Using all his strength, he pulled himself up and limped onward.

One of the hovercrafts lowered down. Joseph dove behind an oak tree. The Officer aimed the launcher and fired—the shot hit the tree, thrusting Joseph into the air. He slammed to the ground and remained still. He couldn’t feel his body. He closed his eyes and prayed, waiting for the final blast to take him out. A missile hissed through the air. An explosion shook the ground. He opened his eyes—he was still alive. How could that be? He sat up and saw one of his men holding an emptied rocket launcher. The craft was in flames.

“Are you okay, sir?” the man ran over to Joseph.

“I’m injured,” Joseph took the man’s hand. “Also, David was an enemy operative.”

“We heard. Thomas released the news.”

“Is Thomas still with us?” Joseph asked, holding himself against a tree.

“We’re not sure. The transmission cut out.”

“Where are the other men?”

“They moved to Plan B as you ordered. They’re along the perimeter and taking down Morray’s grounders.”

“We need to take out the remaining air units. We still have the bird, but they shut down the system panel. If we get it working again, we can go after the others.”

“I can help, sir. My background is in tech.”

“Let’s go then.”

“Can you make it, sir? You look pretty beat up.”

“What’s your name?”

“Peter, sir,” the young man reached out to shake his hand.

“Peter, if we don’t take down those air units, there won’t be a bunker to go back to. We might have bought some time, but they’ll regroup and counter attack.” Joseph leaned on Peter’s shoulder and limped over to the craft.

“I used this to pull up a screen.” Joseph held up the Officer’s finger. “But they disengaged the system so nothing’s coming up. When it was working, I used that screen to fire the weapons.”

Peter examined the system panel. “I can get it back up. I need to jailbreak us off their mainframe. Then we’ll have control.”

“Once you get it back up, I can actually fly the thing. But I’ll need you to manage the defense panel.”

“Affirmative, sir.”

Peter opened the panel and looked at the hardware. He fiddled with the wires and yanked out a yellow cord. The screens blinked “no signal” warnings.

“All right, let’s go,” Peter said.

“That’s it?”

“Morray’s systems aren’t that complicated. It’s what he does with them that is.”

Joseph maneuvered the craft upwards above the tree line. When he had a clear view, he zipped across the valley toward the ocean. “There are only two left and they’re gonna hit all of the locations I plotted out with David, so we know where to go.”

“Let’s get the bastards,” Peter said.

Joseph stabilized their position and they waited for the Officers to move in for the next attack. The Pacific Ocean glimmered far below. From their vantage point they could see all along the coast and beyond the Los Angeles basin.

“That’s next,” Joseph said, looking toward the City Center in the distance.

“Sir, they’re moving in. Lower down. We need to get in range.”

Joseph lowered. One of the crafts zipped in out of nowhere and circled them, then discharged a launcher. Joseph maneuvered out of the way and zoomed up above into the clouds. He flew around behind the craft.

“Let’s take him down!” Peter triggered the weapon. He missed.

“Now what?” Joseph said.

“Okay, move in closer. I got it,” Peter yelled, firing again.

The craft exploded in the sky.

“One more to go,” Joseph followed the other Officer.

“He’s fast!” Peter shouted.

“He’s been doing this a lot longer than us.” Joseph pushed forward, but the Officer disappeared.

“He’s behind us, sir,” Peter yelled.

Joseph reversed direction, almost crashing into the other craft.

“Stay on him, sir. I’m going to fire.” Peter punched commands on the panel. “Got him!”

The missile discharged and hit the Officer’s craft. The blast from the explosion sent their own vehicle into a tailspin. They were in free fall, heading right to the ocean’s surface. The impact would kill them.

“Try the top right corner, sir,” Peter yelled.

Joseph touched the upper right corner of the system panel. He tapped every option on the screen and nothing worked. He punched the panel and the craft halted just inches above the water.

“Close one,” Peter laughed.

Joseph flipped around and they flew across the water and toward the village. They landed at one of the checkpoints.

“I’ve gotta take care of this leg.” Sweat dripped down Joseph’s forehead. He was trembling and about to go into shock. Peter helped him out and assisted him to the cabin.

“Peter, you did well. I’ll let the men know you’re in command.”

“Command, sir?”

“You earned your rank. Be careful out there.”

Inside the bunker, the men were on the wires shouting and giving instructions. They looked relieved to see Joseph alive.

“Grounders are everywhere, sir. They keep coming.”

“We’ll be okay. We just took down the last of their air units. Peter has one of the birds and he’ll take out the remaining ground troops. Get our men to pull back and find shelter.”

“Affirmative, sir.”

“I need some help with this leg.”

Joseph sat on a cot and inspected his wound. A good chunk of his muscle was gone. One of the men came over to assist. “You’re gonna be fine, sir. Nothing’s broken.” The man took out a first-aid kit and handled Joseph a bottle of liquid codeine. “Here you go, you’re gonna need this.”

Joseph took a few hefty gulps and sank back onto the cot. The throbbing in his leg dulled a bit. He closed his eyes and started to devise a plan. Going up against Morray on his own turf would be an astronomical challenge, but he now had a craft. He could fly to the Royal Palace where Morray was keeping Ava. He was willing to risk his life to get her back. Had Morray already erased her memories? There was a strong possibility that by the time he got to her, she wouldn’t remember him or anything. He had to be prepared.

The Room

The view from
Ava’s chambers at the Royal Palace overlooked the Los Angeles basin all the way to the ocean. She sat inside a glass cocoon receiving laser therapy and detox treatments to repair her wounds. Ava watched the ocean glimmering in the distance and thought back to the day Joseph took her to the beach. Did he survive Morray’s slaughter? She tried not to blame herself for the battle—it was Morray’s nature to destroy—but she was a fool to think she could outsmart him. The cooling vapors penetrated deep into her pores, regenerating new skin. The marks on her wrists faded away, her time on the Outside erased, as if she had never been there. Thomas said she’d have scars, but the only scars remaining would be on her heart. She felt helpless. She wanted to be with Joseph fighting for freedom, but she wasn’t going anywhere.

The thick crystal doors to her chambers opened and Morray entered. He walked over to examine her condition. “The treatments are working. You’ll be presentable in time for Graduation Day tomorrow.”

“It doesn’t matter what you do to this body.” She looked at him, shaking her head in disgust. “This is just a shell. You’ll never own the real me.”

“Is that what the Outsider told you?” He adjusted the settings to increase the reviving agents and neuro-inhibitors. Ava floated into a trance-like state. She tried to stay focused, but the dose was too strong, and she started to drift. Morray stared at her, smiling. He removed his black-framed glasses and tucked them into his jacket.

“Such perfection. I find it hard to believe I almost lost such a fine specimen.”

“I don’t belong to you,” she mumbled.

“That’s where you’re wrong. I made you.”

“You made this body.”

“And look at the way you treated my masterpiece. I should have you stand trial in front of the entire City Center. Show the people what happens when anyone tries to defy me.”

“Why don’t you? Are you afraid I’ll tell the truth?”

Morray leaned down closer. “No one would believe you, Miss Rhodes. This is my game. Even the Queen is a pawn on my board.” He smiled and increased the dosage. She closed her eyes and floated into nothingness.

*

Strapped in a lounger next to the wall of windows, Ava gazed at the pastel clouds stretching across the golden sky. This would be her last sunset. She wanted to remember every formation and ray of light.

“Magnificent, isn’t it?” Morray’s voice came from behind, startling her. “Just like you, my dear.”

Ava looked down at the gown of jewels she wore—she glittered from head to toe. The Beautifiers had gotten to her while she was under sedation. Morray held her right hand and kissed it. She jerked it away. “Right now, there are people watching the same sunset. People you’ll never control.”

“Oh, I control them, they just don’t know it,” Morray said. Ava wondered how many men, like David, were embedded throughout the villages.

“You think you have control, but you can’t control what truly matters,” Ava laughed.

Morray grabbed her hand again and held it tight. He injected her index finger with something. “A new microchip. To prove you wrong. I do control you, Miss Rhodes.”

“Only a part of me,” she said, looking toward the ocean. Tears rolled down her cheeks. Soon he’d erase her existence and hand her off to one of his elites.

“I’m going to miss our conversations, Miss Rhodes.” He sat down in the lounger facing her.

“I’m sure you will. I can’t imagine how empty your life must be, co-existing with the same twisted people decade after decade, the same deranged minds, the same agenda, the same thing over and over, ad infinitum.”

Morray looked at Ava, his pale gray eyes cutting into her. “You’d best keep quiet, Miss Rhodes,” he warned.

“I’d think someone as powerful as you would want more. You might have control over everything, but you’re living inside your own prison.”

He walked over and raised his hand to strike her, but he stopped himself and stroked her cheek. She turned away. He grabbed her chin, forcing her to look at him. “You bring up an excellent point. I’ve been thinking it’s time for a change. And you’ve inspired me.”

“I don’t care what you do. I’d like to enjoy my last sunset.” She jerked her head away, but he held on.

“I’m going to present you with three options.” He went to the windows and stared off.

“I’m sure they’re all equally horrible.”

“The first one is obvious. You participate in Graduation Day and become Queen, meaning your consciousness will be wiped clean and only your body will remain for the current Queen to take up. Two, you stay intact—with a few minor procedures to erase this last week from your memory—and live as my companion in perpetuity, uploading our minds into new bodies when we grow tired of our current ones. Or three, you’re reported dead and I send you off to Ret-Hav for research experiments until you have so many holes in your brain you’re deemed worthless and tossed to sea.”

Morray turned around and faced Ava, blocking the last rays of the sunset. She closed her eyes and retreated into her mind—she didn’t want any of those options. She wanted to be with Joseph, living out the rest of her life in his village. She remembered the night in the forest when she couldn’t walk another step; she had seen the moonlit clearing in the woods where she found shelter against the rocks. She leaned on that memory—it rekindled an inkling of hope.

“You can’t run from your fate,” Morray said.

Ava opened her eyes. “You’re absolutely right about that.”

“I’ll give you an hour to decide. Any final requests, my dear?”

“How very thoughtful of you.” She glared at him.

“Well, you worked hard to get where you are, you do deserve something.”

“How about bringing in Delilah? I want to see that she’s okay.”

“I’m offering you the chance to request your heart’s desire and you ask to see a low-level entertainer? You are intriguing,” he laughed.

“You’d never understand.”

“No, I don’t think I would.” Morray stood in the doorway. “If that’s what you want.”

After a few minutes, the lights came on and the door slid open. Two guards brought in Delilah. Ava’s insides swelled with joy and relief to see her friend alive.

“Ava,” Delilah cried out. She tried to break free, but the men tightened their grip and escorted her to the lounger opposite Ava. They secured the straps around her wrists, ankles and waist.

“I guess we require top security measures.” Ava smiled sadly. “Are you okay?”

“I’m alive, but I’ve seen some things. Some awful things.”

“I was worried about you.” Ava tried to maintain composure, but the tears came anyway. She felt responsible for putting Delilah in such a vile position. “This is all my fault.”

“I didn’t know what to believe. Morray informed everyone you had been taken hostage, but something didn’t add up.”

Ava looked at the men standing close by. “Can we have a little privacy?”

“We can leave, but it doesn’t matter. You’re being monitored.”

“Then it shouldn’t matter if you leave,” Ava said. The guards looked at each other, confused.

“Leave them,” Morray’s voice came over the intercom. Of course Morray was listening in. He couldn’t risk losing Ava a second time. Ava and Delilah stared at each other, not saying a word, communicating the best way they knew how—with their hearts.

“What did you think?” Ava asked.

“At first I thought you were taken hostage by the Outsider. Then the news feeds didn’t mention your name after that first day. A bunch of us thought that was strange. A lot of us started talking—the people who know the real you, Ava—and I started to remember all the times you mentioned Dickson’s news feeds and how you thought they were fake. I thought about our conversation and how you kept talking about the Outside. Then we got attacked. Almost like you predicted the future. Or sensed something. Then you didn’t leave when we were ordered to get to our dwellings. And later that night you asked me to get you reading instructions. I figured if you needed to read, you had something from the days before. As crazy as it sounded, I just knew the Outsider gave you something before he was captured.”

“I can’t believe how perfectly you put that together. You’re like one of those detectives in the classics.”

“I know you better than anyone. You’d never leave the City Center unless you wanted to. Even if the Outsider took you hostage, you would’ve fought your way out of it.”

“I wasn’t taken hostage. I escaped, just like Princess Anne in
Roman Holiday
. Only I didn’t have as much fun. I almost died a few times.” Ava laughed, but Delilah looked away.

“You left me behind,” Delilah said.

“I was coming back for you, but I needed to find out the truth about our people.”

“What truth?”

“The book Joseph gave me was a journal from the days before. It told how the elite class destroyed civilization and built the City Center to create a new one by breeding a race of perfect humans.”

“But we already know we were created to serve the City Center. I was designed to entertain and you were designed to serve in Royal Court. That’s no secret.”

“But everything is designed to keep us distracted so we never want to leave. So we keep following the rules, without question.”

“We don’t leave because it’s dangerous on the Outside.”

“If that were true, do you think I’d still be here? I’ve been on the Outside for almost a week. It’s so beautiful out there—the trees, the ocean… There are so many amazing things we could experience together, but we won’t because after Graduation Day you’ll never see me again.”

“But we’ve known that since we were kids. Those are the rules. Royalty cannot mix with anyone outside the noble class.”

“I don’t mean see me, you’ll see me, but I won’t really be me…”

“I don’t understand,” Delilah said. Ava looked toward the entrance. Morray stood at the door and cleared his throat.

“I’m afraid we’ve run out of time. Unfortunately, Miss Rhodes won’t be able to share the entire story, my dear.”

“See, Delilah. There’s more.”

“Yes, much more, but I can’t have Miss Rhodes giving away my secrets. Not when I have so many plans.” He walked over to Delilah and brushed her cheek. “For instance, wiping your mind clean and setting you aside for the new King. We think you’ll better serve as his personal servant rather than performing in the Royal Troupe.”

“No, you can’t. You said if I returned, you’d let her go!”

“I’ve misinformed you, Miss Rhodes. Something I’ve perfected over the years. Guards, take Miss Delilah back to her chambers.”

“I’ll help you, Delilah. I promise,” Ava called out.

Morray stood next to Ava, stroking her hair. “Such a beautiful creature. It’s been a while since I’ve experienced anything like you. And to think, you almost shared my biggest secret.”

“What are you?” Ava asked.

“I’m your Creator.”

“No you’re aren’t. You don’t create. You destroy.”

“Such lofty ideas. Must have gotten them from your little tryst with the Outsider.”

“You don’t know anything about him.”

“I know he’s dead.”

The air siphoned out of her chest. Joseph was gone. The inkling of hope vaporized. She closed her eyes to hide her tears.

“Your decision, Miss Rhodes?”