Hardin's Dilemma

nice evening overall. The sun slowly sank and though my stomach was growling I enjoyed the calm before the inevitable storm that was to come when we arrived in Azureland.

  The train arrived just after dark. It was a small train with only a few passengers on board. We found a quiet spot in the very back.

  “We will only have eight days left by the time we get to the city.” I whispered, looking out the window. All I could see was my reflection in the dark window.

  “Don’t worry.” Theen whispered back. “Things can move pretty quickly in Azureland when they want it to.”

  “I’m just afraid they won’t do anything.”

  “You should sleep. When you wake up we will be in Wall City and everything will seem just a little bit better.”

  I took his advice and closed my eyes, my head resting against the cold window. The darkness outside gently lulled me to sleep.

  XVIII

  The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes were the empty fields of Azureland. The city loomed in front of us. The train began to slow. It was morning. The bright sun shined off the buildings and into my eyes. I turned from the window to see Theen with his hand on the back of the seat in front of his, ready to get off.

  The train stopped at the station and we got off, heading for the government building. We had eight days left until the bracelets were useless. That meant only eight days to save Humurom. And then I could forget about what was in that wall forever.

  We briskly walked to the government building. The work day just started and large groups of people were still on the streets. In twenty minutes we were at the steps of the building, and a few minutes after that we were outside of Gilik’s office. Nara sat at the secretary desk that morning.

  “Hardin! You’re here, what happened? We lost all contact with you.”

  “Can we see Gilik?” I said harshly.

  She became serious. “Yes.”

  Theen and I entered his office. Gilik sat behind the desk reading the paper.

  “Well here you are.” He put the paper down and stood up. “Find anything out?”

  “Quite a bit.” Theen said.

  “And we have to hurry.” I added.

  We told him everything we could about what we had been doing the past few days. Starting with the necklace and ending with the family that was stowing away on the train. We stressed the importance of the bracelet switch over and made sure to include the dark room training. By the end he nodded slowly and shook his head.

  “So only a handful of days until the bracelets are obsolete.”

  “And a few more until Humurom is.” I said.

  He sighed. “I see. That is a shame for many reasons.”

  “What will you do?”

  “I’ll have to think about it.”

  My mouth dropped open. “There isn’t any time. You need to send someone, an army.”

  He looked at me as though I was saying something completely outlandish. “No Azureland army will ever be sent to Dizuria or the wall, I’ve told you that. Besides, I can’t authorize that and I don’t see the need to contact the president. He made it clear to me the last time he was here that he only wants to be disturbed when Azureland’s safety is in question.”

  My temper was rising fast. “What about the other countries? Get them involved.”

  “With what proof? Those outfits?”

  “You can give them bracelets and they can see for themselves.”

  He looked at me pityingly. “If others get the bracelets then we will have a problem with Dizuria.”

  “You already have a problem with Dizuria!” I shouted. This was my last chance to do something and it was being taken away by the only person who could help.

  “I don’t see one.”

  “You are being completely unreasonable.”

  He banged his hands on the desk and became very serious. “I suggest you leave this office Hardin before I decide to do nothing at all. I am not going to risk the lives of hundreds of Azures in a war with Dizuria over some Humurom’s who clearly don’t want to leave anyway.”

  I calmed myself down a bit. “If we can just have some weapons–”

  “Nobody is going to go in until I make a decision. Now get out and let me.”

  “Yes sir.” Theen said. He had backed up all the way to the door.

  I forced myself to turn around and leave. I walked straight down the hall, not even acknowledging Nara as I passed. Theen walked beside me.

  “He’ll come up with a plan, I promise. Now you should go see your mother, she is probably worried sick.”

  He went off to the right and I continued to the next left. When I turned the corner I saw Historia halfway down the hall, leaning against the wall. When she saw me she quickly removed something from her ear. I was so mad I didn’t even care what she was doing there.

  “Things don’t seem to be going your way, do they?” She said as I approached.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I passed her. She followed.

  “The people I am with might be able to help.”

  “I doubt it.” I made it to the elevator and pressed the button.

  “Why don’t you come by sometime?”

  She handed me a small card. I took it but didn’t look at it.

  “Thanks for the offer, but I’m fine.”

  The elevator came and we both got in. She pushed the button for the floor directly above mine.

  “There is too much here for one person to deal with.”

  I didn’t know what she was talking about. Could she know what I was going through?

  “Look,” I said, finally turning towards her. “I’m not feeling that great right now. Is there any chance you could start making sense and tell me how you know so much?”

  “No.” She said with a smile.

  “That’s great.” I said quietly.

  The elevator doors opened and I got out.

  “Only eight days left.” She said.

  I flipped around. She was smiling and pointing to the card I still had in my hand. Before I could say anything the doors closed and she was gone.

  I looked at the card. There was an address printed on it for someplace in Wall City. I didn’t recognize where it was.

  How could she know about that? There wasn’t any time for Gilik to tell anyone. I suddenly felt like I was being watched. I looked all around but nobody was there. It was the same feeling that I had while hunting in Humurom, and I remembered how well that turned out.

  I opened the door to my room and was surprised to see it empty. Mama must have been at her treatment and I figured the hunters were in their own rooms. I didn’t much want to talk to anybody just yet.

  I was very hungry. I found quite a bit of food in the fridge. Mama must have been shopping. I made myself a couple of sandwiches. When I was finished I sat on the couch and found myself falling asleep.

  I got up a few hours later to the sound of someone coming into the room.

  “Hardy! You’re back! We were so worried.” Mama said when she saw me.

  Nobody came in with her. I was glad that she was the only one, but I didn’t like the idea of telling the story again and again.

  She sat beside me and I went over everything that happened from arriving in Diz City to arriving in Wall City that morning. She didn’t make a noise while I was talking.

  “So what are we going to do?” Mama asked.

  “Gilik is thinking about it.”

  “He’ll come up with something.”

  Was everybody being overly optimistic or did they really think that Gilik would save everyone? He hadn’t done anything for the Humurom’s yet.

  “I want to talk with Stud, where is he?” I figured Stud wouldn’t judge me like the others would.

  “He’s still recovering downstairs.”

  A minute later I was entering the Care Wing and asking a nurse where Stud was. He had been transferred to a different section
where they could watch his progress better. I found it with some difficulty. Stud was in a small room with a bed and a chair. He was rolling around the room in a wheelchair. He looked a lot better than I had seen him in a while.

  “Hey, Stud.” I took a seat in the chair.

  “You’re back. How did it go?”

  Once again I told the story. He nodded and frowned, but let me finish. “Oh.” Was all he said when I finished.

  “I thought you might tell me how things were when you left again.”

  “Terrible, it was worse than ever. A lot of people had just given up.”

  “Any deaths?” I asked.

  “Yes. Aren’t there always?”

  “Hmm . . . do you think it’s gotten worse since then?”

  Stud looked at me for a long time. He rolled himself over and put his hand over mine. “What are you going to do with this information?”

  “I just, I don’t know. I figured if they were all sick –”

  “Don’t rationalize it that way. You can’t think that they will all die anyway. That’s not the way to handle this.”

  “I don’t know what else to do. Gilik said that nobody is going in. He’s given up on it. What if us going in doesn’t change anything? Then we would probably be killed by those vicious wall guards for no reason. We are never going to get them all out. I figure if it’s all going downhill anyway it might as well without more people dead.”

  Stud rolled around the room. “Just don’t give in.”

  The nurse came in to give him his medicine and I left. I really didn’t know what to do. I was beginning to think that Gilik was right not to let anyone in, especially now. There was no way to keep people from being killed with the wall guards. If I could just let it go then everything would be better. It didn’t dawn on me that the hunters would be a harder