Luminary (11 page)
A few people shout, “Hear, hear.” My heart warms at their support.
“We do need a strategy to deal with the Athenians, though.” Carey leans his head toward Gerald. “They are escalating. This time, they cleaned out the storehouse and took half a dozen cows.”
Rumbles begin low throughout the group. Many knew this information already, but it was obvious some were hearing it for the first time.
“I still say we need to build a wall.”
“And I still say they’ll just burn it.”
“Why can’t we try to negotiate peace?”
“Last time we tried that, they sent old Jeff back with a broken leg.”
Carey silences the crowd once more. “One thing we know: They want us to continue our way of life. Our food supplies them as well. They will not destroy us.”
“So we just keep giving them our stuff?” Gerald says. “Because we’re scared of ’em? What’s gonna stop them from taking more and more? Leaving us nothing?”
“Gerald makes a point.”
More shouting and grumbling and arguing ensues.
“What if I go?” I can’t even believe I said it. But the words are out. And the people are quiet. “I can gather information about their plans and report it back to you.”
“Thalli, no.” Berk is beside me, his eyes wide. Now he speaks to me? To tell me no?
“I am new. I am neutral. They will accept me because I am from the State.” The more I talk, the surer I am that this is the solution. One that will help New Hope, keep my friends safe, and give Berk time to spend with Rhen without my having to see them together.
“They’re dangerous, Thalli.” Berk grabs my arm. “You saw what they did.”
“Yes, and I agree they may do that again.” I pull away. “Or worse. Something has to be done. And no one here can do it. I can.”
“Then I should go,” Berk says.
“You are still limping.” I stare at his leg. He could never walk all the way to Athens. “It has to be me.”
“And what if
you
are a spy from Athens?” Gerald steps closer to me. His breath smells like corn. “We just let you go back, tell them what you saw here, and give them the full layout of our land?”
“She is not a spy, Gerald.” Carey’s voice is raised, though still not to the same level as Gerald’s. “You’re the one who saw them come—from the north, not the west. You saw their equipment. It’s not from Athens.”
“How would we know that?” Gerald dismisses Carey with his hands. “We don’t know what they have in Athens. We’ve never been there. And who’s to say they didn’t just come around to the north to throw us off?”
“They’ve been here two weeks.” Dallas steps into the center of the room. “Any of us who have spent any time with them knows they aren’t spies. Am I right?”
Several people cheer, and my eyes burn with tears.
“My friends from the State are all here,” I shout. “They are the guarantee that I’m not a spy.”
The room is quiet again. Even Gerald seems to be considering this.
“All right. You go,” Gerald says. “But if it doesn’t work, we go in my way. With weapons and an army. We fight for our land.”
“Give me two weeks,” I say. “That should be enough time to gather information and return.”
“One week.” Gerald points his finger in my face.
“Then what?” Carey folds his arms.
“Then
I
go in.”
“A week isn’t enough.” I look from Gerald to Carey. “I’ve been
here
two weeks and there is still so much I don’t know.”
Carey nods. “But you haven’t been focused on learning everything about us. You’ve just been living.”
“You’re agreeing with Gerald?” I take in a quick breath.
“’Bout time.”
“I am trying to find a compromise.” Carey raises his eyebrows at me. “Gerald and I have been friends for a long time. He and his family were kind to us when Kristie and I first got here. He has been part of New Hope since before the War.”
“Born and raised right here.” Gerald is softening as Carey speaks.
“I know you want what is best for this village, Gerald.”
“’Course I do.”
“Then let’s do all we can to avoid any more bloodshed.”
Carey places a hand on Gerald’s shoulder. “Give the girl ten days?”
Gerald sucks his teeth, looks from me to Carey and back again. “Fine. But one day you’re gonna see that talkin’ isn’t enough. We’ve got to fight back. And we’re ready. You hear me?”
Voices that have been silent speak out—both in opposition and in support. The noise is so loud, my ears hurt. I look around. There are enough with Gerald to do this, men and women who would die for New Hope. The weight of that reality settles into my heart.
I must go. I must succeed.
Within minutes the crowd is gone. Carey and Kristie tell me all they know about Athens—which isn’t much. They have technology, but no one is sure how much or what kind. They prefer power to peace. Something I already surmised on my own. The Scientists who moved there were experts in pharmacology and anatomy. The current king of Athens is ruthless.
“What do I need to find out?” I ask.
Kristie folds her hands in her lap. “We want peace. We want to know what we can do to make that happen. Our two cities should not be at war. We should be working together.”
I think of the burning house, of Peter’s coughs, and the fear in Diana’s eyes. “And if they want nothing to do with peace?”
Carey stands. “Then we need to discover how to defeat them.”
P
eter is still recovering, but he and Diana are the only two with firsthand knowledge of Athens, and I need to know what they know. Kristie assures me that after a night of good sleep, breathing clean air and being fully hydrated, Peter will be able to hold a conversation. Diana has not left her brother’s side, so I find them both in the medical facility. I open the door and hear Dallas talking to Peter.
“Your eyes look like raw meatballs.” Dallas’s face contorts. “Seriously, you’ll never get a girlfriend looking like that.”
A pained expression passes over Peter’s face. Whether it’s from Dallas’s assessment of his eyes or his relationship status, I am not sure.
“Thalli.” Diana looks up and smiles, though the smile does not reach her eyes. “Kristie told us of your plan.”
“Dallas, get out of here.” Peter’s voice sounds rough, but he speaks without coughing.
“Aw, you know I was just kidding.” Dallas backs away. “I didn’t really mean you couldn’t get a girlfriend because of your eyes.”
“Thanks, but I need to talk—”
“It’s your ugly face that’s gonna keep the girls away.” Dallas races out of the room as Peter lobs a container of food at his retreating form.
“I am sorry.” Peter pushes himself into a sitting position. The movement seems to be painful for him, but Diana is at his side helping him, giving him water to drink.
I watch her kindness and am filled with a mixture of sadness and anger. I would have liked to have had a sister or brother. Although in many ways I did. My podmates were like siblings. We grew up together, played together, cared for each other. My eyes burn as I think of them. All but Rhen are dead now, “eliminated” because they consumed too much of the State’s oxygen. The memory of walking into Pod C, empty of everyone and everything, makes my heart ache.
John tells me I must forgive. But mass murder is hard to forgive. All those lives, all those personalities, those gifts. They were all normal—I was the only anomaly. They didn’t have excessive emotions, didn’t question anything. They all did their jobs and did them well. Faces flash in my memory. All dead. All murdered. Why would the Designer allow that?
“Thalli?” Diana breaks through my reverie.
I look at this brother and sister. “I apologize.”
“Don’t apologize.” Diana releases a shy smile. “We have had to leave our home too. We understand.”
The three of us sit in silence. A bond connects us, a bond of loss and heartache. I do not want to make them relive their hurt. I know they would prefer to forget what happened in Athens, to start over here. But Athens remains a threat, and I need to learn as much as I can about that threat before I walk into it.
“I am going to Athens.”
“Yes, Kristie told us.” Diana looks at the floor. “You are very brave.”
“No.” I lace my fingers together. “I am not brave. Believe me. But I do want to help.”
“Athens is a dangerous place.”
I think again of the house on fire, of Peter being pulled out. The Athenians targeted him, tried to kill him. “Why? Why do they insist on working against us? Don’t they see that working together would benefit us all?”
“The king of Athens doesn’t want to share his power with anyone. He cares only for his desires, no one else’s.” Peter lets out a long breath and closes his eyes. There is more to Peter’s statement than he is saying. Pain etches his face. Diana’s gaze darts from her brother back to the floor, an unspoken something hovering in the air between them.
Diana touches Peter’s arm. “Thalli needs to understand how best to infiltrate the palace.”
“That is easy.” Peter’s face relaxes. “All you have to do is tell them you’re from the State. The king will be desperate to know what you know.”
He speaks after a lengthy silence. “But Athens has intelligent people, good people too. Before the War, our grandparents
said there was a large university not far from there. The first king was a professor at that university. But the War destroyed the university and many of those who worked there. The ones who survived, like the first king, were very smart but also very scared.”
Diana nods. “Their whole world was dependent on technology. And most of those professors were left without the tools of their trades. All their research, their studies, their inventions—everything was lost. The town survived because they were far enough removed from the effects of the War. But they were not sure how to rebuild without the technology they depended on their whole lives.”
“So when our grandparents came, the king immediately brought them into his inner circle.” Peter is speaking faster now, his voice stronger. “He wanted them to re-create the technology. He was sure they could reestablish communications with the State, receive aid. But Grandfather refused. He told them if the State knew survivors existed, they would destroy us.”
“That is very likely.” I nod. “The Scientists believed the old world was beyond help. They created a completely different society. I doubt they would have allowed survivors back into their State.”
Diana and Peter look at each other. Diana’s eyes close. “I always thought Grandfather was exaggerating.”
Peter continues. “The king then decided that if they couldn’t connect to the State, they would create their own State. But he was convinced it would be better, stronger. And that one day, they could overcome the State.”
“So he convinced your grandparents to help rebuild Athens?”
“Convince?” Peter’s laugh is bitter. “The king of Athens
doesn’t convince. He commands. He forced my grandparents to help reconstruct the city. Much of the technology that exists got its start from our grandparents—the electricity, the infrastructure. The other citizens took over once it was established.”
“The rebuilding took years,” Diana says. “Decades, really.”
“The city you will see is just a little older than we are.” Peter coughs.
“Kristie and Carey said the king focused more on technological development than on food supplies,” I say.
“The first king knew that New Hope had also survived the Nuclear War.” Diana twists her hands in her lap. “They had sent out groups scouting all around Athens to see what remained. They found New Hope and saw all its fields were still intact.”
“Before the War, it had been an agricultural community.” Peter nods. “And miraculously the fields survived, as did many of the people.”
“So the king decided that rather than spend time and resources trying to create crops in Athens, they would just take New Hope’s.”
“Didn’t the people of New Hope try to fight him?” I can’t imagine the original survivors would simply hand over their crops.
“No.” Peter sighs. “The king was smart. He told the people here that if they grew the crops, he would supply the technology. He promised they would work together for the ‘common good.’ ”
“But he never meant it.” Diana’s voice is like steel. “He just wanted to keep them from developing their own technology so he could overpower them.”
“Which he did.” I think of the fear on the villagers’ faces.
“Exactly.”
“When the people of New Hope realized the king’s true intentions, it was too late.” Peter spreads his hands. “Athens, with the help of our grandparents, had grown too powerful to resist.”
I shake my head, a question burning in my throat. “But why . . . why would your grandparents agree to help the king? Did they agree with his methods?”
“At first, they were angry enough at the Scientists who remained in New Hope that they cared little for what happened to the people.” Regret fills Peter’s voice. “But after a while they began to feel bad. They were still upset with the others. But they didn’t think it was right to punish the whole village.”
“Besides, they had their own plans,” Diana said. “They wanted to develop pharmaceuticals to help sick people.”
“That was their passion.” Peter nods. “They worked on those every spare minute. For years, the king didn’t know about that. He was only concerned with them completing the projects he assigned them.”
“Electricity and infrastructure?” I ask.
“Right,” Peter says. “But when they finally voiced their concern about this village, our father was born.” Diana and Peter look at each other, deep pain mirroring in their eyes.
“He threatened their son?”
The muscles in Peter’s jaw clench. “The former king and the current king have no problem threatening and destroying anyone who resists them.”
“The king demanded that our grandparents continue their work.” Diana squeezes her brother’s arm. “The city was only halfway built, and he wanted it finished. He also wanted more weapons. When our grandparents refused, he had his guards
capture Father. He released him only after our grandparents promised to obey the king’s every command. Their opinions were not allowed to be voiced. Guards were placed outside Father’s house to ensure they did what they were told and did not attempt escape.”
