Rebellion (22 page)

So when we pull up a camera in the Square and see the body hanging from the beams of the grandstand, I can't even figure out how I feel, let alone know what to say.

My fault
is the only thing that comes to mind. She killed again and it's my fault. Because I didn't think it through. I reacted instead of being proactive. I didn't take her claws away. I just pissed her off.

I should have anticipated this. I should have known she wouldn't go after me personally. She'd use innocent people to draw me out. I've backed her into a corner. What choice did I give her?

I turn and walk from the room. Away from Asher, and Nadia, and Evangeline. They're all waiting for me to do something, because I'm supposed to be in control and know what to do, but I can't. Every decision I make leads to someone's death.

Hell, I've essentially killed
two
people in less than twenty-four hours alone.

I don't know where I'm intending to go. I head toward the bathing area, but part of me wants to march straight up to Mother and just take her out. Like Father wanted. Like maybe I should have done in the first place. Another part says that by doing that, I'm playing right into her game. And yet another part of me reminds me that sometimes the only way to win a game is not to play it at all.

I have to be honest, that part of me is looking more and more right. Yeah, people would still be locked in their gilded cage and the people that have died over the past week or so would still be dead, but if I gave up, Mother would regain control and eventually people would forget what she's done and move on. But most importantly, they'd live.

I can almost hear what Gavin would tell me if he were here right now. That it's too late. Even without me, the people have seen Mother's true colors. The rebellion would continue without me.

“Good,” I mumble. “Let them continue it. I can't take making any more deadly mistakes.”

“But that would be your worst one yet,”
the shadow of Gavin's memory says.
“Without you, they'd lose. They're counting on you. You've become more than just a leader to them. You're their symbol.”

“Yeah. A symbol of death,” I say and listen as my voice echoes back at me.
Of death. Of death. Of death.

I sigh. I'm talking to myself. That's fantastic. Keep that up and soon I'll be as crazy as Mother.

I stop then and pause as I realize how dark it's gotten. The lighting that's usually in this section stopped a little ways back. I can see it a few meters behind me. Where am I?

I was heading to the bathing area, but obviously wasn't paying attention, so where have I ended up?

For a moment, panic tingles in my veins as scenarios of me lost and running around endless tunnels here swirl in my mind. But then I notice a big sign nailed to the wall.

W
ARNING.
D
O NOT PASS THIS POINT.
E
LECTROMAGNETIC FIELD ENDS IN FIFTY METERS.
Below it is a small yellow triangle with a picture of a magnet inside it.

I stare at it. I know what it means. If I keep going, my nanos will hardlock again and my memories will disappear. But what's past that point? Why is this even here? A memory hits me almost between the eyes. How Gavin got down to Elysium in the first place.

An emergency exit.

It had been what we were looking for when we'd tried escaping Mother the first time. Even Father's journal mentioned that there were other ways to escape besides the submarines, he just didn't know where they were. We'd assumed they were all in Elysium because we obviously hadn't even known the Caverns existed, but is it possible this is what he meant?

Obviously the workers would need a way into the Caverns as they were working. I'd thought everything had been brought down by submarine, but how much cheaper would it have been if they'd just been able to bring their machines down through tunnels? Tunnels that could then be used as ventilation and an emergency exit during the construction phases, and then again after it was built. You wouldn't want only one way out. You'd want several, so people weren't trapped.

A buzz tingles through me and I turn around, a smile splitting my lips. If I'm right, then I may have just found how I'm going to remove the thousand-plus people from Elysium right under Mother's nose.

I retrace my steps until I'm standing back in the yawning Caverns where our dugouts are. Nadia is speaking with one of her people: a man with skin darker than the color of Dr. Gillian's on the Surface and hair the color of steel. I've seen him around. He's at least thirty centimeters taller than me and his arms are twice as large, but he's soft-spoken and one of the only people here who hasn't completely shunned me.

I don't know his name, but that should change. I need to know the people here. Maybe if I made more of an effort to get to know
them,
they'd be willing to get to know
me
.

As I approach, Nadia holds her hand up to me and I wait impatiently for her to finish speaking with him. I catch something about the crops he's been tending in the very small section by the bathing area. I don't know how they've been feeding everyone here with that small amount of food, but I determine that that will be another thing I will learn before the day is out.

When they finally finish speaking, Nadia turns to me with raised eyebrows. “You were not gone as long as I expected. Have you remembered you are not responsible for Mother's actions?”

I smile at her and bow my head in a nod. “Who is that?”

Her eyes widen and she turns her head toward where the man walks to the small agriculture area. “Jayden? He's in charge of food rations.”

“And that small section is enough to feed everyone here?”

“We've kept our population small on purpose, but yes. Mostly. Although sometimes we have to pilfer from the Agriculture Sector.”

Now it's my time to be surprised. “And Mother's never caught on?”

“Not that I'm aware. There are no cameras there and we go only after the workers are gone for the evening. We're careful not to take too much.” She sighs. “We've gotten quite adept at ‘borrowing' things we need. As I mentioned when you first arrived, the life support system was meant only as a temporary measure. We've kept it alive by stealing parts and tools from Sector Three, but eventually it will fail. I'm not sure what we'll do when that happens.”

“I think I can help with that,” I say, smiling, and start to walk toward the War Room. “Where do the tunnels by the bathing area lead? I saw a warning sign.”

“We believe they once led to the Surface,” she confirms. “The old maps say that they're ventilation. Of course, we have no way of knowing for sure. The only thing we know is that anyone who gets too close to the edge of the field—”

“—loses their memories,” I finish for her.

She nods. “I have five people that Eli has repaired from that. All were sent to see if we could escape. One even tried twice. He never came back. We hope he made it out, but…” She splays her hands out and shrugs. “We tried giving them printed instructions after that, when we realized what was happening. But they just got lost and eventually found their way back. So unless Lenore returns and can make that a nonissue, we're stuck.”

I furrow my brow. She speaks about Lenore with such familiarity. “You knew her?”

“Of course. Who else would have given me nanos?”

I nod and glance around the Caverns. “How much room do you have here? If food weren't an issue, how many do you think you could accommodate?”

She shrugs. “We never came up with a capacity limit. We dug out enough cutouts for fifty people. I suppose there's probably about twenty or so more rooms in the empty buildings.”

I purse my lips. “What about this space here?” I gesture to the space between the empty buildings and the end of the Cavern where the bathing areas are.

“Depends on how much room you want to give them, I suppose. If I had to put a number to it, I'd say between the rooms and this space here, two hundred would really be pushing the limits. I wouldn't personally want to go over a hundred.”

“Less than a tenth of the population of Elysium, then.” I press my lips into a thin line. It's not ideal, but Gavin should be coming with Lenore any day now. With any luck, we could have the people out of here and on the Surface before we ran into capacity issues.

Nadia tilts her head. “What are you planning?”

I don't say anything, I just continue leading the way to where I left the others. Everyone is still there. Asher is talking with Father through the vid screen. A huge weight lifts off my shoulders. At least that part works. No more having to pass around notes that could possibly never make it to their intended recipients.

Asher glances up when I step in. He closes his eyes in relief. “Are you all right?” he asks when he opens them again.

“Yes. And I have an idea I want to run past all of you.”

Evangeline gestures to my seat. “We're all here. Even Father.”

“It's not safe in Elysium anymore,” I start.

“It never was,” Asher says.

I ignore him and continue as if he didn't say anything. “Mother's already proven she doesn't care who gets caught in the cross fire. She isn't even bothering to hide it's her anymore.”

“She's unstable.”

“She was
never
stable,” Asher says. I scowl at him and he shrugs. “It's true.”

“She's more now than ever. The Guard that was killed was the one in the control room,” Father says. “She killed him ‘for the breach of safety in the Palace Wing.'”

“You heard that from her?” I ask.

“Everyone here did. She tore into the Enforcer that killed the boy. I was in this office with my door closed. She was at the other end of the hall in the control room with
that
door closed. I heard her clear as a bell. I wasn't surprised to hear the gunshot. I thought for sure she'd had the Enforcer killed. But I risked a peek out of my door and saw her at the end. She told the Enforcer to collect the body of the Guard and hang him from the Square with a noose. He was the one in charge and he's the one who had to pay the price for the breach of safety in the Palace Wing.” He rubs his hands over his face. “I've only seen her lose her cool like that once before. That was when she realized Lenore and I were together.”

I remember how Lenore described it, but still. “She didn't kill the Enforcer though. She hasn't gone off the deep end completely, but it's probably only a matter of time. Which means that my plan is even more important. We
have
to start removing people from Elysium and bringing them here.”

“I must object,” Nadia says. “It is an unnecessary risk to my people. Not to mention yours. If you're caught…”

“It's a risk we have to take. I can't have any more innocent people on my conscience. All I'm doing is provoking Mother with these raids. I'm at a crossroads. I either do nothing or I keep going. If I keep going, she's going to find us here eventually anyway.”

Nadia doesn't look happy about it, but nods.

“Why here, though?” Asher asks.

I tell them about my discovery of the possible escape tunnels and that when Gavin gets here with Lenore, we'll be able to just escort them out.

“Will they go?” Evangeline asks.

“Mother has done a good job of terrifying them about the Surface, but that commercial we aired from when this was a resort was ingenious. It has a few questioning what the Surface is really like. If we start handing out information about the reality of it, it shouldn't be that hard to persuade a lot of them.”

That could of course cause Mother to kill more in the meantime, but I don't see another way. “So we continue to do our normal maskings, but with pamphlets about the Surface…”

“Since we have control over the network now, we might as well use it. We could show them some of these pictures and stuff.” Asher gestures to the artifacts still spread around the room.

“It could be a good distraction, too,” Evangeline pipes in. “When you finally get a few people to leave, just make sure the Enforcers are occupied with a masking.”

“I'll keep my ear to the ground and see who's ready to go,” Father says.

“Kara and Tate could help find out who's ready to leave, too.”

“Slow down. There's nothing in place here to make sure people aren't working with Mother,” Nadia says.

“Blindfold them so they can't see the way. Once they're here, they can't leave,” Asher says. “And maybe we do a security screening. Check them and their belongings. I'd also suggest that we confine them to an area constantly watched by one of us so they can't escape.”

“No!” I slam my hand down on the table. “These people aren't the enemy. If we do that, they're just trading one cell for another. The point is to give them freedom.”

“It only takes one person to screw everyone else,” Asher says quietly. “Are you willing to risk everyone? It's only for a short time.”

I glare at him. “No imprisonment.” But I do see the point he's trying to make. “But fine on the not going back. We can set up a guard at the entrance to the tunnel.”

“And the search,” Nadia says. “Just to make sure.”

I don't like it, but I'm sure she's not going to budge on it, so I nod. “A search. Once. When they get here.”

“Then it's set,” Father says. “I need to make my breakfast appearance with Mother.”

He disconnects and Nadia excuses herself to explain the new situation to her people. Evangeline, Asher, and I put together our first advertisement for the Surface.

We start that day, using the Guard's death as a reason for leaving. Still, it takes four days before we get our first couple to join us. Kara's the one who tells me about it. They're friends of hers. They're already members of the Underground, but the woman is pregnant. She and her husband are willing to risk the Surface if it means her daughter living in freedom.