[Contributor 02] - Infiltrator (2013) (20 page)

“Hard work is rewarded, as you know. Dedication, commitment, these are the attributes Magnum values most.”

“I strive to prove myself, sir, to both you and Magnum.”

“So it would seem.” Standing, he leaned over his desk, towering over her, and she fought the urge to cower. “Keep up the good work, Dara. Much is riding on your performance. In a few months it will be up to me to decide where you should be placed within Magnum. Be sure to make that decision easy for me.”

“I will, sir.”

He said nothing more for a long stretch, continuing to lean over her, making her sweat, until he stood upright again. Her chest eased with each inch of distance he put between them. “I’ve sent you some tasks to complete. There’s a possibility that we will begin work on another project in the next several weeks, at which time you’ll have a new set of tasks.”

“I look forward to it. Please let me know if there’s anything else I can do to assist you.”

“You may start with getting Head of Accounting Adams off my back.”

“Yes, sir. I’ll be certain to make the message clear.”

The predatory smile was back. “Excellent.”

“Is there anything else?”

“That’s all for the time being.”

Confident she’d passed the test, she returned to her terminal and spent several minutes crafting a message for Adams that she hoped would have an appropriately subtle hint of threat. Andersen was the Creators’ darling, everyone knew it, and Adams wouldn’t dare take issue with the message. Even if he did, Andersen would be able to claim Adams had read too much into it, she made certain of that. Self-loathing boiled within her as she sent it.

It didn’t matter. She wouldn’t get anywhere if she continued to try to chip away at the edifice of Magnum’s security. Andersen would never bring her wholly on board, but whatever special project he had in mind would get her one step closer to the truth. She’d gone this far already, and she wasn’t about to stop now.

Things calmed down at last, though it didn’t set anyone at ease, Dara least of all. Tension was an everyday part of life in the domes, so integral to the fiber of her world that she had hardly noticed it. This, however, was different. No one said anything. Business went on as normal, and the social networks contained the same mix of boasting, safe gossip, and boring poetic descriptions of Magnum’s many virtues, but she felt the undercurrents. Magnum had taken things just far enough to make people wonder, pushed just hard enough to intimidate most people into thinking they’d better not push back. Many had lost friends and family members to the raids against the black market and weren’t eager to become Magnum’s next target. Some, though, would feel they had nothing left to lose, and Magnum’s implied threats would roll off them. The dome had become a powder keg waiting for a spark.

It didn’t strike her as coincidence that things had settled down the moment the tension approached the breaking point. With time, the anger would fade, and all that would remain was the fear of offending the Creators. Memories would be altered, people who were bereaved over the loss of loved ones would find their sadness turn to anger, anger they would direct at those loved ones. How could they betray Magnum? How could they betray their own families? These were two separate issues for Dara and her father, but for most others they were one and the same. People might have forgotten that temporarily, but in the long run they would remember. Their allegiance was to Magnum, first and foremost.

The next time she saw Jonathan, all she felt was a dull ache, and that surprised her. Examining her feelings, she found that they had shifted. Her experiences of late had made her ever more aware of the depths of corruption within Magnum, increasing her conviction that she’d done the right thing by breaking up with Jonathan. As bad as things were, as black as she felt she was on the inside, it would have been even worse if she had given up on the Free Thinkers, put the blinders back on, and followed him on his path. The petty part of her scorned him for his choices, but the weary smile he gave her, the dark circles under his eyes, softened her a bit. He was a pawn, more fit to be pitied than despised.

“How are you?” he asked. She had gone to the cinema alone, but he had several of his fellow logistics Contributors in tow. The pretty girl who had been eyeing him at the Assignment Ceremony was there too, but this time the twinge of jealousy was absent. Dara felt nothing as the girl narrowed her eyes and glared.

“I’m well, thank you.”

“It’s been rough lately, hasn’t it?”

“For Magnum, certainly. The scale of this betrayal is unimaginable.” She threw the words down like a gauntlet.

If he was aware of the challenge, he showed no sign. “It is, isn’t it? Several of my colleagues were taken in by the Authorities. To think I was working with those people, and all the while they were…” Shaking his head, an expression of mingled disbelief and disgust spread over his face. His choice of words, his reaction to what she’d said, they all confirmed for her how deeply indoctrinated he was.

“Magnum will emerge from this trial stronger than ever.”

Something else flickered in his eyes, and he took a small step toward her. “Yes, that’s what I think too.” Glancing over his shoulder, he noticed his friends’ impatient shuffling. “I should go. Maybe sometime you and I could—”

She cut him off. “I’m very busy right now, assisting Head of Engineering Andersen.”

“Oh. Oh, of course. His project… Yes, I guess you must be very busy. Well, maybe some other time then. It’s been good talking to you, Dara, really good. I’m glad to know things are going so well for you.” Admiration shone in his eyes, and she felt sick.

“Have a productive day,” she said, giving him a frosty smile.

“You as well.”

When she got home, she told her father what had happened with Jonathan.

“That boy is so lost, isn’t he?” Joshua sighed.

Barking out a terse laugh, Dara said, “He’d think we’re the lost ones.”

“Life is funny that way, isn’t it? Perspective is something you’re aware of, a concept you’re familiar with, yet it still manages to punch you in the gut when you least expect it.”

“It does, doesn’t it?” She flopped down on the couch and rubbed her forehead.

“You okay?” Taking a seat next to her, her father put his arm around her and she leaned against him, resting her head on his shoulder. Gratitude for his presence spread warmth down to her toes.

“Not really. I’m responsible for so many terrible things: the attacks against the Free Thinkers, the raids…” Tears sprang to her eyes and she let them flow while her father rocked her and kissed the top of her head.

“You’re not responsible, Dara. You’re a small part in this whole machinery. You should know that when one small part breaks down, when it doesn’t fit just so, it can disrupt the entire machine, but that doesn’t make it responsible for the performance and fitness of all the other parts.”

“I’ve gone over it in my head a million times and there’s no good solution, none. Anything I could have done would have been wrong somehow.”

“That’s how life is. We believe that if we’d done things a little differently, everything would have worked out fine, but that’s not the truth. We delude ourselves. It’s the only way we can live with the choices we make.”

“Do you think I’m doing the right thing?”

“What I think doesn’t matter, but I know that’s not what you want to hear, so I’ll tell you. Yes, I think you are doing the right thing. It’s not the easy thing, but the right thing rarely is.”

“I don’t want to be a pawn anymore.”

“I know, sweetheart, I know, but the fact is you’ll always be someone’s pawn, no matter what you do. The real question is what will you do about it?”

“I need to make Andersen my pawn too. He trusts me as much as he’ll ever be willing to trust anyone. I’m useful to him. Someday I’ll outlive my utility, but I don’t intend to be around to see what he does then. For now, I’m going to stay the course and follow along with his ploy. I’m close to learning something important, I can feel it.”

“Go with your gut. You’ll make mistakes. We all do. But if you follow that voice that insists you have to do something, you’ll at least know that your life hasn’t been a lie. It’s hard to be satisfied with the idea that our intentions were good, but we have to settle for it sometimes.”

“Thanks, Dad.”

It was hard to hear these truths, but she was glad he didn’t try to offer her platitudes or false solutions. It felt good to know he understood the difficulties she was facing and that he wanted to help keep her as grounded as possible. Having him tell her everything would be all right might have brought her temporary relief, but her long-term peace of mind depended on knowing she’d done what had seemed the right thing at the time, even if it resulted in disaster. She was getting good at learning how to pick up the pieces. What she never wanted to get good at was living a life like Jonathan’s, living a lie because she didn’t have the courage, the strength, to open her eyes and pay attention to what was going on around her.

Three weeks later, Andersen summoned Dara to his home. He didn’t tell her ahead of time, instead sending her a message in the expectation that she would drop everything and come to him right away, which was exactly what she did. Before she left, she ran through the extraction drill with her father one last time. They could perform it in their sleep, and she clung to the illusion of control the deftness provided her. She had become almost superstitious about it, as if making sure they knew every last detail of their extraction plan inside out would guarantee that it would go off without a hitch.

“Be careful,” her father said, trying but failing to conceal his worry. She hated making him look like that.

“I will,” she promised. With every step she took toward Andersen’s apartment, the lead weight on her chest seemed to grow heavier.

“Your promptness is welcome. Would you like coffee?” he asked as he let her into his apartment.

“Thank you, sir.”

She took a seat, deliberately choosing an armchair so that she could maintain a safe distance between them. In some respects she’d become used to him, and the terror he had once inspired had dulled with exposure. But being close to him always made her want to shudder. There was something reptilian about him that made the bile rise in the back of her throat. She’d seen reptiles only in pictures, but their shiny skins and scales, their cold eyes, reminded her of his slick exterior.

“The information I’m about to share with you is confidential.” His icy fingers brushed hers as he handed her the cup, and she was sure the contact was deliberate. Staring at her with an intense gaze, he continued, “The Creators and I have been meeting for several months, discussing my design and refining it. I’d suspected it had numerous applications, but thanks to the genius and expertise of our Creators, it has become apparent to me just how revolutionary this design may prove to be.

“The domes are in need of attention, attention we’ve been unable to devote to them. We’ve reached the limits of what can be done with our current population, and if we hope to make further progress, we will need to expand. Constructing new domes has been a long-cherished hope of the Creators, and it appears we’re on the verge of realizing that dream.”

This came as a surprise. She hadn’t expected construction of new domes to begin in the near future. “We are?”

Andersen smiled. “It is astonishing, isn’t it? I hadn’t expected such results either, but analysis of the plans made the benefits of new domes apparent. We’ll first start with one prototype and expand from there.”

“What will happen to the current domes?”

“They will be improved as well, once the technology has been tested in the new domes.”

Dara had anticipated the reverse, but she tried to conceal her confusion. Why wouldn’t Magnum first want to improve the dome they already had? “The project is the new dome,” she said, hoping to deflect his attention.

“Yes, it is.” He was the picture of contentment as he settled back in his chair and sipped his coffee, radiating a sense of satisfaction. Taking a sip of her own coffee, she realized he had given her a cup of the brew usually reserved for people in positions of greater authority than her, and she could almost feel the hook as Andersen subtly worked it deep within her, snaring her.

“This is delicious. Thank you, sir.” She widened her eyes and fixed an expression of awe on her face, staring at him as if she worshiped him. The coffee was delicious, though there was also an unsettling bitterness to it. Her churning stomach protested, but she forced herself to take another sip, fluttering her eyelids.

It was the right move. His smile grew. “New domes mean more space, and more space will enable Creators such as Zhang Agritech to develop technologies that will lead to a wider array of choices for all.”

“That’s wonderful, sir.” It was, but it was also sinister. More crumbs for the Creators to scatter at the feet of their Cores and Ballasts, more means for them to exert control over the people who depended on them. “How may I assist you?”

“As I said, this project is confidential. Very few people are aware of its existence.” The implication was clear. If the information should somehow leak, it would be easy to trace it back to its source. She was careful to maintain her eager expression.

“I’m honored to be a part of it, sir.”

“You should be. Due to the secrecy surrounding it, you’re forbidden from working on the project while at headquarters. I will provide you with secure equipment so that you may work on the project at home. The Creators will install security equipment in your apartment, to protect the data. I’m sure you agree that they can’t be too careful, in light of what happened with the black market.”

Panic made it difficult for her to breathe. She and her father would be under constant surveillance. They could never again talk freely in their own home, and they would have to maintain their charade constantly. It was difficult enough to keep up the front during shift. Could she do it at home as well? Could she ask that of her father?