Falling & Uprising Read online

  Sophos rolls his eyes as he sits across from me. One tap on the end table’s screen summons a snifter of brandy up out of the coffee table. “Compared to previous candidates, she was incredible.”

  “They set a low standard.” Low enough that he should stop expecting the city to provide him with anyone but brainless, insignificant people. One worked out last year, and two the year before. He’s pushing his luck with continued attempts, but here we are again. Even in his position, it’s difficult to identify candidates that meet his requirements. My objections are noted and ignored.

  “Oh, come now, Bram.” He takes a sip of brandy. “You expect too much from them.”

  “Do you honestly think the Leadership program could have molded what you need out of that?” I knew her name when Sophos told me he was bringing her in. Me knowing who she is was enough of a red flag, but then I started checking her out on the buzzChains. She is the definition of a Kaycian. Self-important, frivolous, a façade of perfection which Sophos thinks is concealing something deeper. Wishful thinking.

  “At the academy level, the Leadership pre-program teaches how to maintain a public image. People who come out with more than impeccable manners and mastery of polite conversation do so because they went in having more within themselves. You saw how suspicious she was of me. That was exceptional. She recognized the crafty questions and danced around them beautifully.”

  The optimism amazes me. Sophos knows too much to have a positive outlook on the world, and he’s only scratched the surface with this girl. “A knack for deception is common in the Establishment. She could just as easily use that to continue covering their lies rather than help you.”

  He shakes his head. “I have a good feeling about this one. The important conversation is tomorrow. We’ll know then. In the meantime, she did swimmingly today.”

  “She held it together, but that’s the act she’s trained to put on.”

  “I should hope so. If Serenity isn’t unnerved by this, then nothing else about her matters. She must be a good actress. I’ve been hoping she inherited her mother’s mastery of the craft.”

  Acting genes would be the single recommendation Serenity Ward would get from her family tree. Her parents’ fame will make it even more challenging to work with her. Choosing someone high-profile from the cream of society sounds like a terrible idea. The last thing we need is prying eyes around us, and she tends to attract attention.

  “Did you notice all of her nervous tics on the way out?” I ask. “She’ll be in a puddle on the floor when she gets home.” Seeing the shift from composed to panicked was entertaining, at least. Her fingers wouldn’t stay still. She tapped them against each other, her arms, her lips. Her face didn’t give anything away, but her hands are her tell.

  “As long as she can keep herself put together when she has to, that’s fine. She can fall apart once she’s alone. There were glimpses of it in the office, and if she can manage this onslaught of information with only hints of her mind’s workings, then nothing will phase her again after she knows it all.”

  I raise one eyebrow in a suspicious glare. “Do you enjoy crumbling this girl’s world and making her stony?”

  Sophos sighs. “We’re going to have to crumble everyone’s world to change it, and it will change us all right along with it. Whoever she is in this fantasy world may not be the person she truly is anyway. People can’t know themselves if they don’t know anything real. I’m not trying to spoil her innocent happiness; I’m giving her an opportunity for introspection.”

  Oh, good. The poor little pampered princess can go on a journey of self-discovery. Gag me.

  A grin spreads over my face. “I don’t care if you traumatize this girl.”

  “I know you don’t, but I do, and I didn’t appreciate your remark.”

  ***

  Two quick knocks sound on the office door. Confused, Sophos and I both look at our cuffs. Nine o’clock. The building should be all but deserted at this hour. Sophos raises one eyebrow at me in a smug look. I roll my eyes as I turn to open the door. Serenity Ward steps in, and I step back into the corner. My shift from normal human to robotic wall fixture is effortless. As with any marshal, she doesn’t even glance my way. The same floral smell as yesterday drifts off her as she passes me.

  With each quick, confident step, her silver heels click against the smooth stone floor. Her long hair is down today, draped over one shoulder. A dark green dress hugs her slight frame before flaring out; its skirt sways back and forth as she walks.

  It’s an effort to repress the bitterness I feel around people like her, even after almost five years here. Everything about her screams vanity and frivolity, same as the rest of them: her heels are too high, her hair too shiny and perfect, and her skin is too smooth and even to look real. At first, Kaycians seemed godlike in their beauty; now, they all look like porcelain dolls. They may not think I’m human, but I’m not convinced they are either.

  “Good morning, Sophos,” she says when she reaches his desk.

  “Good morning. What a surprise to see you so early.”

  “If I’m too early, I can wait elsewhere until you’re ready for me.”

  “Not at all, please sit.” He gestures toward the sitting area on his right. “I’ll be right with you.”

  She sits in the same armchair as yesterday while Sophos closes floating holoScreens at his desk. She seems to have recovered well. Her gray eyes are bright and alert, and her expression is calm and collected. She stares out of the window, with the posture of a ballerina and her ankles crossed gracefully.

  She may have prepared herself for today, but she can’t be ready for what’s coming. If she weren’t so damn Kaycian, I might pity her. Since she is the poster child of the city’s shallowness, this will be amusing.

  Chapter Five

  SERENITY

  “I’m glad to see you so chipper today.” Sophos sits on the other side of the coffee table where the map floated yesterday. I’m tempted to believe I hallucinated our last meeting. His calm is so out of place with the insanity of yesterday’s presentation. “The information I shared with you yesterday is difficult to absorb when we first learn of it. Did you compile your questions?”

  “I did.” I tap my cuff, projecting a holoScreen.

  “Please list them all. Then I can answer in an order that will make sense for continuity.”

  “Of course.” I nod and look at the list. Understanding this will help me calm down. I take one deep breath before taking the plunge. “How are the resources from the islands transported here? How do people travel between the islands? Who is on the islands to oversee the production of our resources? Are they citizens of Kaycie, governed by the Establishment, or a foreign entity?” I glance up at Sophos periodically to see him nodding along. “Do they know about the other islands, including ours? Does everyone in the Establishment know about the islands?” I press my lips together before listing the last question. “Why are we told there isn’t anything beyond the sea?”

  Relief washes over me. Those questions were weighing me down more than I realized. My lungs breathe more comfortably now.

  Sophos smiles. “That is an excellent list.” He clasps his hands together on his armrest. “Are you prepared for the answers?”

  “Yes.” I hope.

  “Excellent. Let’s jump in.” With a tap, the map appears.

  I thought the map burned into my brain yesterday, but it looks new again. My heart speeds up, but I take care to control my breathing. It may not be a surprise, but it’s still fresh—Kaycie surrounded by seven other islands. Some are larger, and some are smaller than ours. They’re all undeveloped compared to our city. Several appear to be mostly green space. What does it feel like to be surrounded by endless greenery?

  “Movement of goods and people between the islands.” His hand raises the map revealing a maze of underwater tunnels connecting all eight islands. I lean closer to examine it. It looks like a wheel with Kaycie and one other island in the midd
le of the spokes.

  “Cargo trains run through these tunnels, as well as water lines and electrical conduit. The tunnels are only accessible to the Establishment. They are as unknown to the people on the islands as they are to your friends and family here. Kaycian officials and marshals are stationed on the islands for management purposes, but the islanders know little of Kaycie or the Establishment.

  “No island can be entirely self-sufficient, so we act as a distribution system. We collect resources from each island to supply the city and distribute the remainder among the islands.”

  I lean my chin on the back of my hand. It sounds innocent enough. Will he dive deeper into this without prompting, or do I have to ask? His pause tells me this is to be a conversation, not a lecture. “All eight islands share our resources. Why conceal it? Here, we get along well, knowing we all contribute to society. Why not let everyone know we are all contributing to a bigger society?”

  “To be honest, the division of resources could come into question if the truth were known.”

  “But we have plenty.”

  “We do. However, the islands do not have as much. Per capita consumption of resources is far higher here than on any other island. Managing the distribution process has afforded Kaycie a higher standard of living. If the islanders knew this, it would be to their disadvantage not to participate in the system, but unrest could make managing their production difficult.”

  “It isn’t equal? But that’s the whole point of the system.” I clasp my hands together to restrain them. “We all contribute, and we all share equally. If these islands are a part of the system, it should apply to them too.”

  Sophos acknowledges my statement with a somber nod. “Yes, in a perfect world.”

  I cock my head to the side. My mouth opens, but I stop myself and close it. I thought this was a perfect world.

  “What resources are provided from Kaycie in this system?” I don’t suppose the islanders are trading their food and goods for our arts and fashion.

  He presses his lips together, looking like he’s suppressing a smile. I’m following the path he wanted me on. I’m not sure if it’s a safe path to be led down, but I can’t turn back now.

  “In addition to our management of the distribution, we share technological advances to improve the islands’ work.”

  “That’s all?” I narrow my eyes in disbelief. We give them some technology to help them better provide for us, and in return, they give us most of their resources? My heart is racing again. My self-control is slipping from my grasp. I press my lips together to physically restrain my words.

  “Actually, there is more. In addition to their primary industries, the islands also provide us with laborers.”

  I squeeze my hands tighter. “What laborers?”

  “The jobs Kaycians don’t care to do. Manual labor such as construction, maintenance, sanitation. Though mostly, marshals.”

  Impossible.

  “No. No, this one I do know. The marshals are demi-sapiens, made in a lab, partially robotic. They are not human.” The Establishment couldn’t be audacious enough to tell us we are alone and then sprinkle people from other places around the city as law enforcement.

  “And Kaycie is the only land on earth.” A smug reminder that I don’t know anything. “Our technology isn’t quite that advanced as of yet. We still need humans for certain tasks.”

  “They don’t act human. I’ve never seen one show any emotion or hardly even speak. Is that how all of the islanders are?” Is that why they keep up the secrecy? There is another species of humans scattered around on other islands, and they think that would disturb us. My fingers twitch around each other in my lap. It’s disturbing me, all right.

  “No. The islanders are as human as you and I. Similar to our placement system here, there is a selection done among the islanders to place children into these roles.”

  “And they are just trained to be so perfectly mechanical?” I look up at the marshal in the corner in his crisp navy-blue uniform. Marshals are practically invisible to me. Part of the scenery—expected, but not requiring my attention. Now that I’m looking at this one, his face looks like it could be carved out of stone. How could he be as human as I am?

  “The perfection acquired by the training is aided by the use of a substance to make them forget their lives on the islands and become pliable and submissive students.”

  My jaw drops. Did he actually just say what I think he said? I can’t… he couldn’t have. We drug them so they can be mindless drones, doing our bidding? What the hell is the Establishment?

  “No. But that… they aren’t… that can’t be.”

  The walls I had rebuilt around myself to appear professional and composed are ash. My hands shake as a chill rises through my neck. Reality shouldn’t be able to shift this much in twenty-four hours. Were my years of instruction designed to make me capable of lying about this? I thought I was learning to make myself appear perfect to keep my own image up, but I’m to be a face of the city—they expect me to hide this.

  Sophos smiles. Why is he smiling? Was this what he wanted? For me to completely lose my mind?

  “This particular marshal, however,”—Sophos gestures toward the corner—“avoided that with my assistance and is not the robotic demi-sapien you’d expect.” He nods at the marshal, and the stony, vacant expression melts from the young man’s face. His mouth relaxes, but his strong jawline maintains his emotionless look. His dark eyes go from blank to stern as they drill into me. Everything about him intimidates, making me feel small as my pulse pounds in my ears.

  “This is Bram,” Sophos says.

  They have names? I’ve never heard a marshal referred to by name.

  Bram walks toward us. I’ve spent hours in the same room as this person, and I didn’t even realize he existed.

  “You can blink now.” Bram’s voice is deep and raspy. He takes a seat adjacent to Sophos.

  More important than blinking, I should consider breathing. I feel Sophos examining me from my periphery, but my gaze remains locked on Bram. His glare oozes animosity.

  A glass of water rises from the table, and Sophos offers it to me. I take it absentmindedly and look at Sophos as I take a sip. My heart rate speeds out of control, and my rapid, shallow breaths leave me needing air. I blink away the obscurity descending into my vision, blurring edges as dizziness creeps up on me. I cannot faint.

  What about Kaycie hasn’t been a falsehood?

  Knowing all of these secrets feels dangerous. It makes me a risk, which has to put me at risk, and I’m not sure if I’m hiding my horror. I can’t appear to disapprove of the Establishment. I don’t know that it’s ever been done, but I don’t want to be the first to find out what the ramifications are.

  “Does everyone in the Establishment know all of this? Is Rollin learning about this now?” Rollin Karan was my only classmate in my pre-program. I can’t imagine how he’ll take this. Having someone to talk to about it would be nice, though.

  “Only at the highest levels. Rollin will learn of it. His mentor is waiting, I believe. I could have waited a little longer with you.” Sophos says.

  “Why now?” I have to guard my emotions better. I can’t look like a threat.

  “I want to know how you feel about all of it.”

  “I don’t have feelings about it.” My words do nothing to convince me. Will they work on Sophos? “The system has run smoothly for generations. Now I just happen to know how it does that. It doesn’t change anything.”

  My gaze falls on Bram. But he’s a person. My parents have always made it clear that the city isn’t perfect because of its outward appearance, but because it values people. I squeeze my eyelids closed and try to will away the tears building up behind them.

  Sophos leans toward me. “You can be honest with me, Serenity. I brought you here for your real opinions. You can trust me.”

  I should say those are my real opinions. Instead, I blurt out, “How do I know I can trust you?�
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  “Because I’ve told you about Bram. No one else realizes that he isn’t like the others. I could be arrested for this. Perhaps executed.”

  Executed? There aren’t executions!

  Though there also aren’t seven other islands beyond our horizon, or underwater trains, or brainwashed laborers, or a web of secrets from the Establishment! I drop my face into my hands and let the tears fall out. I didn’t ask for any of this. Why is this happening to me? Being placed in Leadership always felt peculiar, but this? How could the test have determined that I could be involved in this?

  “Serenity, I am taking the risk on myself. You are not in any danger. If you report me, they can wipe your memory of these two days. Or I could relieve you of these memories now.”

  I have no desire to get Sophos executed, but the part about wiping my memory of this is enticing. The ability to erase memories should be shocking, but if they can do it to the marshals…

  “Why are you telling me this?” I say into my hands.

  “I think you could be helpful here. If your opinions on the matter are what they appear to be, you could be a useful ally.”

  I wipe tears from my face and look up. “An ally? What do you think my opinions are?”

  “I think you believe this to be an injustice.”

  “You can’t believe that, though. You’re a high ranking official in the Establishment. You perpetuate this system.”

  “If I believed in this system, why would I have saved Bram from his fate of becoming another mindless slave?”

  Bram’s expression has softened from his glower. His eyebrows furrow in confusion like I’m a puzzle he is trying to figure out now. “Sophos inoculated me against the drug when I went in for selection,” he says. “He was the one prepping me for the body scan and blood work. He gave me the vaccine, claiming it was standard, but then after I was selected and received the extirpation drug, I got dizzy and confused, but I was still me. My training officer was working with Sophos. She told me how to blend in with the other recruits. I had those two years to perfect the act. Now I’ve been Sophos’ security detail for two and a half years.”