Betrayed: Book Five of the State Series Page 12

  Having seen a different side of the State while in the mountain, where resources didn’t seem to be as precious, the request surprised her. She thought they would hold the value of making the dome indestructible in higher regard than the cost of resources it would take to do so.

  Hope wondered if this project was as high a priority as they made it out to be, but it also made her wonder if the colonization project was bleeding their resources dry. She hadn’t been inside the mountains since she was a young woman. Maybe common practices were different now. What if the State and its civilians would continue to be spread thinner and thinner in preparation for the new colony world?

  “Should we begin?” One of Hope’s team members asked, snapping her out of her thoughts.

  Hope nodded and squared her shoulders. “Of course. Why would we delay? This could be the big moment we’ve all been waiting for.”

  A few of her team members nodded, and another gave an excited cheer.

  Hope moved closer to the console. “It appears all systems are on-line.” She placed her trembling hand over the red button. “Commencing in three, two, one.”

  At first it appeared as though nothing happened. The machines looked the same, quietly performing their task. The machines compressed for fifteen seconds before they could hear a creaking noise promptly followed by an explosion of glass.

  “Twenty seconds,” Hope reported. Another horrific creaking sound followed by an explosion of glass rang through their ears. “Twenty-five seconds, only two planes down.” The team watched intensely, nearly holding their breath until the one-minute mark had passed.

  “That’s time!” One of her team members yelled.

  Hope activated the kill switch, and the machine reversed. Two planes of glass remained unharmed which meant this treatment would allow the glass to stand the specifications of any storm or a blunt force striking the dome. There were still experiments to be conducted regarding heat and cold but as far as withstanding pressure and force, they were successful.

  The team members broke into applause and cheered.

  Hope did her best to force a smile. “Well done to all of you. Let us return to our computers and get started on the reports we need in order to put this substance into production.”

  There were grumblings amongst her peers and Hope gave a soft chuckle. “I know, I know. After all these years it would be gratifying to take a moment to celebrate. But just think of how much more gratifying it will be when we have implemented our substance, coating the glass above us that keeps us alive, knowing that it is indestructible.”

  Her words hit their mark. Her team shifted out of their jovial frivolities and cleared the room.

  All these years, she had played her part. She hoped the military, her superiors, even the Head of State himself had been listening to her little speech. She held an even deeper desire that it would be enough to save her from her looming retirement.

  Hope reviewed the data processed from the testing. She made notes in her tablet as she worked and jumped as a notification came through her tablet. The message opening before her did nothing to calm her nerves.

  She was being summoned to report into the military underground. Apparently, the results of her testing were sent outside of her department. Her initial response was to assume she was being removed from the program.

  How tacky. The moment I lead my team to victory, I am no longer of use to them.

  Hope decided it best to sneak out while her team was distracted so she wouldn’t lose her nerve if someone asked her where she was going. She gently placed her tablet on its docking station and slipped out of the room undetected. She maneuvered her way through the clinic and into the military underground passage. To her surprise, a soldier was waiting to greet her at the bottom of the stairs.

  “Hello, Hope?”

  She flinched at hearing her own name, then nodded in response.

  “Follow me please, ma’am.”

  His manners were polite, even warm. It was not what she expected from someone who was potentially leading her to her execution. Then again, he was just the messenger.

  They walked past the regular door used when she met with her project supervisor, deeper into the military underground than she had traveled before. He led her to a door and opened it, standing off to the side and waiting for her to step inside.

  She swallowed the dry air in her throat, stifling a cough, and smiled at him politely as she stepped inside. She was immediately awestruck by the room’s simplicity.

  There was no torture devices nor anything which looked threatening; it was simply a large table surrounded by chairs. She was alone in the room, so she sat at the table, her hands folded in her lap.

  She closed her eyes and focused on her breathing, working to keep it even. The last thing she wanted was to be soaking in a puddle of her own perspiration before the interrogation began.

  She took deep cleansing breaths with her eyes closed, envisioning the green rolling hills on the surface, the sensation of a breeze tickling her skin. She saw the mountains and felt the cold earth between her toes.

  She brought a natural smile to her lips right as the door opened and a man who appeared to be around her age entered the room.

  “Hope,” he extended his hand to her, “it’s nice to meet you, properly.”

  She didn’t need him to explain; she knew this was the man hiding behind the monitor she was reporting to all these years. “Likewise.”

  “I heard you had a monumental success today.”

  She nodded respectfully. “I would say so.”

  “I don’t want to be a killjoy, but I need to give you a few new specifications to test for.”

  Hope let out the air she had involuntarily held onto. She tried to cover it as feeling annoyed—as most people in her position would feel—when she really felt relieved her project was still in need of her.

  “Oh? And what are the specifications for? I have already stated, there is nothing I can do if a meteor strikes. Any type of storm or natural disaster short of a meteor, our modifications should hold strong.”

  He leaned back in his chair, blowing out air. He looked up at her after a long drawn out pause. “What if I told you, I have deeper concerns than mother nature?”

  The coloring drained from her face. “Oh?” She looked away. “Why did you wait until now to make this request?”

  “I needed to ensure you could succeed at your commissioned task.” He leaned back in his seat. “I am not asking you to change direction, simply to test a few more impact scenarios, now that you’ve accomplished your initial assignment. I want to ensure that glass can withstand anything humans might attempt.”

  Hope swallowed hard and fought to keep her voice even. “I mean no disrespect to you or your authority—you have the right to request anything you please—but I can assure you, no one will be able to break that glass. Most civilians don’t even come close to the perimeters of our dome. There is no place Security isn’t monitoring.”

  She shifted, forcing her posture to appear more confident. “If you were to have some sort of rebellious group attempt something, the glass is stronger than any gadget they could build. It can even withstand gunfire. I understand the State has concerns about a rebellious uprising, but I can assure you, they need not concern themselves with any person or group of people succeeding in damaging our dome.”

  He sat and nodded, remaining silent, letting her finish her thought before he interjected. “But what if someone builds something? What if they weren’t being monitored and had the space and the resources to build something that could damage our dome?”

  Hope flinched. “Are you saying, there are large areas under the dome where people are not monitored?”

  He maintained a polite, neutral expression as he said, “No, there is not. There is, however, a rather large space outside of the dome which contains a multitude of resources, and space we can’t monitor.”

  Hope heard an electric humming; her vision blurred. She foug
ht to keep her head held high as nausea washed over her. “I don’t understand. You make it sound as though there are people living outside of the dome, building an army.” She held her breath.

  He activated his tablet. “You know, it’s the damnedest thing. We’ve been suspicious for many generations, but now, we have more conclusive evidence. We think there are some humanlike survivors out there.”

  “Humanlike?”

  “Yes, you see, I think they evolved into something else. I know you are rather smart; I don’t need to explain genetics to you. We think some people survived by going underground until the worst of the radiation had subsided, obviously enough of them to evolve into this new species that can live on the surface.”

  “Do you?” the dryness of her throat became too much to bear, and she gave into a coughing fit. He pushed the water jug towards her. She poured a glass and sipped slowly. “Do you see these creatures as a threat?” She strained to finish through her cracked voice.

  He shrugged. “That’s the big question. We don’t know anything about this breed of creatures. We’ve never been able to find where they live. We don’t know how intelligent they are, if they are territorial, or if they have any intelligence or ethics. All we know is they have survived in that toxic environment. I would love to have one to study to see if we could unlock a gene or protein that would allow our people to return to the surface. But since we need the dome to survive, and they don’t, let’s just say I’ve lost sleep knowing they are out there.”

  Her head was spinning. She took another sip of water. “Do we have any reason to suspect they are aware we are here? Or that they understand there is a species dwelling inside our dome? Have they ever done anything which could be perceived as threatening?”

  He blew out a heavy sigh. “That’s the strangest part of this entire situation.” He leaned in a little closer. “They were documented many generations ago by some of the scientists in the field from Cheyenne. After they were discovered, the State spent years trying to find them but never could.”

  He picked up his tablet and typed into it and then turned the screen towards her.

  “I’m sorry. I don’t understand what I’m looking at.”

  “This is a map. I guess you were never trained to use them as you always had a military escort when you were brought out in the field.”

  He hopped up from his chair and moved around the table to peer at the tablet over her shoulder.

  “You see, this is the dome,” he dragged his finger down the tablet, “and here is Cheyenne Mountain.” He traced his finger off to the side and pointed once again. “And that is the test site. When one of our teams discovered a small group of these creatures, it was close to the test site. We think they must live around there,” he drew a circle with his finger, “but it’s like searching for a needle in a haystack. We’ve never been able to figure it out.”

  Hope stopped listening. Now that she understood how to read the map, she focused on memorizing every detail. She recognized the landmarks—such as the river where she was baptized—and knew exactly where the town would be in correlation to everything on the map, she felt she could find her way there on her own. Now that she knew how close the river came to the dome, she could stay off the path the military used to travel between the dome and the mountain.

  Venturing to Joshua’s village would be a dangerous trip to take—if she could even get clear of the dome at all—but now she at least knew how to get there. She gave herself one more moment to etch the patterns in her mind before she looked up at him, returning the tablet.

  “That is a reasonable journey from here. Possible in what, a few days’ time? How does the State not have more information about them?”

  “That, my dear, is exactly what keeps me up at night. Maybe the reason we’ve never seen them again is because they wandered far from their home. But what if they are intelligent enough to hide from us until they have the means to destroy us?”

  Hope shook her head. “Have they given us reason to believe they could be a threat? I mean, didn’t you say we’ve never seen them again? If they are hiding from us, I would presume they are frightened and won’t try to engage in any sort of conflict. I know I am not privy to the level of information you are, sir, but I have been on the surface. Most people who have spent their entire lives in the dome can’t fathom the size of the world outside. I can’t comprehend that if this group knew of us, they would pay any attention to us whatsoever. We take up such a small plot of land. How could they possibly be interested in our tiny speck of geography?”

  He typed into his tablet once again, turning it towards her. This time, she didn’t need him to explain what she saw before her. She gasped and tears instantly stung her eyes. Displayed on the tablet was an image, most likely from Security footage, of a man pressing his face up against the dome.

  No matter the distance of the camera nor the glass blurring the image, she knew in the depth of her soul that the man on the other side of the glass was her husband.

  Joshua.

  Chapter 19

  Victor

  Victor placed his tablet in its charger on his desktop. He pushed back against his chair, raising his arms into the air as his back cracked. After some neck rolls and stretches, he rested his head against the back of the chair. He rubbed his eyes and groaned in exhaustion.

  Although he was ready to die for the State at any time, he would not allow anyone—neither rebellion nor military—to fool him. The people that made him the most vulnerable were the ones who had the easiest access to him. Those who worked around him every day, who served his food, who attended his gardens, who cut his hair or tailored his suits.

  He had already made his convictions clear with the High Council; they didn’t need to send someone to kill him to enforce his retirement. What concerned him was if the rebellion became strong enough to overtake him before the High Council intended for him to step down. He needed to continually have each member of his household thoroughly investigated. He needed to know who he could trust, and who he needed to control at all times.

  He got out of his chair, secured the door, and crouched on the floor. He wasn’t dressed for physical activity—nor would he take the time away from his office to change or to go to the exercise room—he laid down on the floor and did a series of crunches.

  His time in the military had taught him not only the importance of physical health but how exercise made his mind stay focused. Something as simple as stepping away from his computer for a few minutes to perform a series of short spouts of physical activity did wonders for his mental clarity.

  As it was entering the twilight hours, he had to push himself to stay alert and to keep working. He had done a thorough read of the State House personnel files; everyone seemed to check out perfectly. Top grades, excellent behavioral patterns, perfect examples of compliance.

  Their files were so exemplary he was almost satisfied—at least he would have been satisfied had he not probed into the State’s selection procedures. Once he contained the knowledge that the State only investigated the individual, not their heritage, he knew they could have missed something.

  The first thorough background check he wanted to perform was on his cook. She posed the greatest threat if she wanted him dead. She could easily slip something into his meal that would kill him or render him unconscious.

  His current cook seemed to be a compliant citizen who had long ago been invited onto the Council. He searched her parents’ records and found nothing to cause concern. It appeared he could trust his cook as much as he could trust anyone.

  Next, he investigated the Head of Security, Wesley. His file seemed standard for a man of his stature—a file similar to his own. Wesley had a long, outstanding term in the military, performing multiple successful missions under cover. Eventually, a path was set for him to rise in Security rankings. Once Victor investigated his family, he felt confident that Wesley’s loyalties were true.

  Now that Lenora was retired, he fel
t there was no longer any kind of threat coming from his administrative help. Chastity was young and impressionable. She was so eager to please him and seemed to blush at any praise. Her partner Lance was equally compliant—so much so, he would have been selected for the military had it not been for his hot temper.

  Chastity was the last person on his team he would suspect of treason, which is why he knew he needed to investigate her next. She was precisely the type who could slip under the radar undetected. Her file had been as pure and upstanding as expected, he needed to ensure her lineage matched.

  First, he retrieved her father’s file. “Hmmm, he died young,” he muttered to himself, “unfortunate he didn’t make his way to the breeding center.”

  He reflected on Chastity being raised without a father. He made a mental note to remember this piece of information about her. He could act as a father figure in order to manipulate her if needed. As her father died young, he didn’t feel there was any more information which could be gleaned from his file. He backtracked on his tablet and retrieved her mother’s file, Hope.