The Significant (38 page)

      
“She will die if we leave her untreated.
She has no one to care for her. She has no citizenship. She will be treated,
her treatment will tell us how to keep this from spreading to the public, and
then she will be taken to the Keeper where she will be fed until she is fifteen,”
Venus repeated. “This is a command, Significant.”

      
“This is why the Trids are so desperate
to kill the Elites,” Kailynn said with an exasperated chuckle. “What choice do
we have to change things for ourselves? We are confined to a place where we cannot
get medical help, we cannot be taught, we are forced to live in filth and rely
on theft just to eat. If you are so desperate to keep your social peace, then
why are you letting this happen to us? We’re human. We deserve to live, too.
Emira has done nothing wrong. Her family was just taken from her, and your
solution is to pretend to help by treating her and then tossing her back here?
How can you call yourself a ruler?”

      
“Venus! Venus, there was a meltdown in
the security coding,” Rayal said quickly. “A virus tore down the blocks. This
is being broadcast.”

      
“How far is the reach?” Remus demanded.

      
“Shut down all feeds,” Venus ordered.

      
Suddenly, everything went very still and
silent.

      
Kailynn stood still, staring at the
terrified child holding her dying sister. For several long moments, she could
not move. She slowly sank to her knees again, her body shaking.

      
“Kailynn, what the hell is going on?”
Raphael murmured, seeing the terrified look in Kailynn’s eyes. “They’re going
to take her to the hospital and treat her? Are they going to kill her?”

      
“I don’t know. I…”

      
As Kailynn kneeled on the floor of dirty,
rancid-smelling flat, she started to realize how powerless she was. Whenever
she had heard her brother talk about how easy it would be for the Trids to rise
up and overthrow the Syndicate, she had felt as though she could conquer the
planet. She felt powerful and smart, knowing the horrible conditions the Trids
lived in and how many Trids were angry with the Syndicate and Venus. She used
to believe that if those in Anon could only see the way the Trids lived, they
would revolt against the Syndicate and Venus, which would allow the Trids to
change their lives and show the power they actually had on the planet.

      
But in those moments, where an eight-year-old
girl, who had done nothing wrong other than be born within the borders of Trid,
was about to be hauled away by Officials to a hospital, Kailynn understood what
Isa meant by carefully playing a game with Venus. Venus did not have the
compassion of a human. She saw everything as a procedure, steps to accomplish a
goal. People were not people, they were numbers. Trids were not humans, they
were statistics.

      
Everything was numbers to Venus.

      
Kailynn did not know how to play the
political game. She was worried that she had made things worse. She had
forgotten that Rayal had broadcast the feed to the Intelligence Agency, meaning
everyone had heard her angry words toward Venus.

      
There was fear and anxiety coursing
through Kailynn like she had never felt before in her life.

      
“Kailynn,” Raphael hissed, “tell me what
the fuck is going on.”

      
“I can’t…” Kailynn said, shaking her head
and swallowing hard. “Not today. They’re coming to take her to the hospital. If
you want to leave, you should go now.”

      
“What happened?”

      
“It’s too complicated to explain now,”
Kailynn said, closing her eyes. “Just get out of here. I’ll explain another
time.”

      
“…I don’t even know you anymore,” Raphael
hissed.

      
The words hurt Kailynn far more than she
should have let them. She flinched away and distracted herself by putting her
hand on Emira’s shoulder.

      
“Just get out of here, Raphael,” she
murmured.

      
“Next time you want to betray all of us
to the fucking Syndicate,” Raphael snapped, “leave me out of it.”

      
He turned and left the flat as Kailynn
wrapped her arms around Emira and smoothed over her hair.

      
By the time the Officials arrived to take
them to the hospital, Annette had stopped breathing.

      
Kailynn stayed with Emira through the
entire examination. The doctors were stumped at the virus that was slowly
killing the child, which made Emira very nervous. Kailynn stayed by her side
and held her hand, telling her that everything was going to be alright.

      
When it seemed like the doctors were
getting angry and frustrated with the lack of results and understanding of the
Wheezing Death, Kailynn asked if she could see Dr. Busen.

      
After pointing out, in a condescending
tone, that Dr. Busen was head of Elite Special Medicine and, therefore, was too
busy to be seeing by a low-ranked, new employee of the Intelligence Agency, the
doctors told her to be quiet while they continued their examinations.

      
However, Kailynn insisted that they at
least call the doctor and see if he would see her.

      
One of the doctors used his in-hospital
communication piece to page for Dr. Busen to respond. When the other doctor
answered the page, the doctor said that there was an Intelligence Agency
employee named Jacyleen that wanted to see him.

      
When he responded that he would be there
as soon as he could, the other doctor’s face went pale.

      
Dr. Busen’s arrival to the examination
room changed the atmosphere drastically. It was clear that he was one of the
most respected doctors in the largest hospital in Anon, and his immediate
response to the request to see Kailynn caused the other doctors great concern.

      
He ordered the group of younger doctors
out of the room and started doing an examination of his own while he asked
Kailynn everything she knew about the illness.

      
Dr. Busen started talking about tests and
large drug names that made her head spin, but she nodded obediently. When he
finished speaking, she took a chance. She started to explain the argument with
Venus and what was to be done with Emira when Dr. Busen held up his hand with a
chuckle.

      
“No need to explain,” he said. “I’ve
already seen the footage.”

      
“How is that possible?”

      
“Someone at the Intelligence Agency
allowed the live feed onto the public broadcasting we have around the hospital
to entertain patients. I happened to catch the last five minutes, or so.”

      
Kailynn’s eyes were wide as she thought
about how many people had probably already seen the footage.

      
“Well…then…did it…are people angry?
What’s the response?”

      
“I’m afraid I’m not a good person to
discuss that with,” Dr. Busen said, shaking his head.

      
“…I don’t want her to go back to Trid and
be with the Keeper. It’d horrible there.”

      
“Yes, I know. I was the one who treated
Tarah when she first came to Anon,” Dr. Busen said sadly.

      
“Is there any way we can keep that from
happening to her?” Kailynn pled. “Can we keep her in Anon?”

      
Dr. Busen smiled. “I’ll see what I can
do. I have some friends in high places.” He chuckled lightly. “Don’t forget, so
do you.”

      
When Kailynn was given a clean bill of
health, Rayal came to pick her up.

      
She got in the car, feeling as though she
had been awake for days.

      
“Why didn’t anyone tell me that Tarah was
a Trid?” Kailynn asked as the car started forward.

      
“She’s not,” Rayal said simply. “She was
granted citizenship when she was eight.”

      
Kailynn closed her eyes.

      
“I knew her in Trid,” she said gently.
“Well, I knew
of
her.”

      
“I know,” Rayal said. “She recognized
you. She knew who you were.”

      
Kailynn turned quickly to Rayal, her eyes
wide.

      
“She recognized me?” she hissed. “Why
didn’t she say anything?”

      
“She’s embarrassed,” Rayal said. “You
know what happened to her when she was with that Keeper. And she knows that the
other children of that Keeper knew what was happening. She is still trying to
work through the trauma. She was not about to bring it up to you when she can
barely talk about it to anyone.”

      
Kailynn rubbed her face tiredly.

      
“Then it was all true?” Kailynn asked. “I
always thought there was some exaggeration.”

      
Rayal sighed heavily. “When she first
came to Anon Tower…she refused to be touched, she could not be left alone, she
just clung to Isa. Even when we took her to Dr. Busen, she would not let go of
Isa.” He looked at Kailynn seriously. “That kind of reaction told me everything
I needed to know about the abuse she suffered.”

      
“How did Isa get her right out of Trid?”
Kailynn asked, confused.

      
“Isa was doing something against the
rules,” Rayal said simply. “She was in Trid, driving around, looking at
everything, and she stopped at the Keeper to see the orphaned children. She
said she saw Tarah trying to run and a man chasing her. Tarah was naked and had
bruises all over her. She was bleeding from her arms and legs. Isa ran to the
man and got him away from her before taking Tarah into Anon without permission
from Venus. She had Tarah treated, kept her at Anon Tower for several months
before granting her citizenship and sending her to school.”

      
“How did Venus allow her to just grant
citizenship like that?”

      
“It was under the guise that Tarah would
replace me when I retired,” Rayal said. “Just like the reason we were able to
give you citizenship was to serve a political agenda.” The former caretaker
sighed heavily and leaned his head back on the seat. “But, I’m sure you can see
why Isa has to be very careful about granting citizenship. She cannot just take
a few Trids every month and give them citizenship. Tarah was a special case. As
were you.”

      
Kailynn looked down at her feet.

      
“I don’t want Emira to go to the Keeper,”
she said quietly.

      
“I doubt Isa will let that happen,” Rayal
assured.

      
“Is Isa alright?”

      
Rayal sighed heavily.

      
“She’s a little weak and tired,” he
admitted. “It’s not normal to have Venus speak through translators like that.
Isa has one implanted, which allows her to understand Venus’ language. However,
the interference between the two translators caused her to get a very nasty
migraine. She’ll have to go to Dr. Busen just to be sure that she’s alright.
Headaches are a sign of great concern since five years ago.”

      
Kailynn just nodded.

      
She did not even have the energy to ask
about what happened five years previous.

      
When they pulled into Anon Tower and took
the elevator up to Isa’s level, Kailynn was sure she was about to faint. She
was exhausted and shaky. She had never felt that way in her life. The stress of
that situation, she was sure, would take years off her life.

      
That is, if Venus did not have her
executed for treason after that day.

      
The two walked into Isa’s home and
Kailynn saw Isa stand from the couch, where she had been waiting for the
Significant.

      
Kailynn’s pace increased as she walked to
the Elite. She did not notice Rayal glance into the kitchen before going into
the guest hall.

      
Isa’s arms secured Kailynn to the present
as she embraced her tightly. Kailynn pressed her face into Isa’s shoulder, her
eyes closing and her body relaxing.

      
Even though they remained that way,
silent, for what must have been an eternity, it was still too soon that Isa’s
head moved back and she kissed Kailynn’s cheek gently.

      
“Are you alright?”