The top of the file read: NOTES FROM SIMIN.
I nodded. Oh right, his name was Simin. I could always remember his name for a few minutes whenever I heard it. I read on hurriedly.
FIND THE BOX ALONG THE WALL RIGHT BESIDE THE DOOR, OPEN IT, AND INSERT THE SMALLEST DRIVE INTO THE PORT TO OVERRIDE THE BODY-SCAN SECURITY.
Okay, so there should be a box close to the entryway. I felt along the wall for it with my telek and frowned. There was a box in the middle of one wall, but it wasn’t close to the doorway at all.
A frantic bubble of fear passed through me, then I gritted my teeth and searched the other walls. Two were covered top to bottom with server consoles. The third wall had some kind of interface area, but it was flat and didn’t seem like the kind of box Simin described. It had to be the one on the first wall.
I made Rowun walk over to the box, flip it open, and lift the tiny drive. I prayed this was the right one and I wasn’t about to set off a ton of alarms or something.
He slipped the drive in.
Max and I waited anxiously. I started tapping my foot until I realized it was making an audible sound and made myself stand still again.
Then, just a moment later, the heavy doors of the full-body scan room opened, and I finally let out the breath I’d been holding. We were in. We hurried through the small passageway to where Rowun stood.
Three hovering console screens were projected over the desk in the center of the room.
I felt Max take out one pendant from his pocket. I pulled out mine and we both moved to the key stations, one on each side of the programming console. We inserted the keys and twisted them simultaneously. The blank console screens suddenly came to life, spooling out start-up data before settling on the main interface screen.
I sat down in the swiveling chair. Halfway there.
I studied the screen for a moment. It looked exactly like the model Simin had provided for me to study. I’d taken basic programming and computer interfacing, but all of this was way beyond my sphere of knowledge. So I’d studied the model for hours and made sure I knew exactly what to do so I wouldn’t make a mistake.
I raised my hand to the projected screen and clicked through several data directories until I got to the central programming vector.
I pulled out the fingernail drive Simin had given me with the rebooted Link programming. He’d worked on it for months. The Link feed in everyone’s head should automatically stop, along with the submission impulse. We’d uploaded simple instructions to broadcast what had been done to them and where they could go to acquire weapons if they wanted to join the revolution. The adults would most likely mindlessly follow the new instructions and fight with us. We’d had qualms about forcing them to fight like that, but it was better than the alternative plan of releasing an EMP. Setting off an electromagnetic pulse in the upper atmosphere had been General Taylor’s plan to destroy the Link hardware in all the drones’ heads Sectorwide. While it would have freed everyone under eighteen from the Link’s control, it also would have killed the millions upon millions of adult drones who had fully integrated V-chips. Making them mindlessly fight was definitely the lesser of two evils—it at least gave them the possibility of a future. Once we’d won, we could begin researching in earnest about ways to free them from their more extensive V-chips.
All around the country, Rez fighting cells were poised at strategic posts, ready for the takeover. With the drones on our side, even if only a third of them fought with us, we’d outnumber the Uppers thirty to one. We’d take Sector Six, freeing all the drones in the second-largest country in the world. And now, finally, we were here.
I slipped the drive into one of the console slots. Blue code started spinning in the columns in front of me. I checked my arm panel again to check Simin’s instructions: WAIT ONE MINUTE FOR THE ERASE OF CURRENT CODE. I tried to wait patiently, but my foot started tapping again. We’d been here too long already. I glanced behind me at the still-open security doors. If anyone came in, they’d immediately know something was wrong.
Finally the code stopped blinking, and a translucent command box popped up.
REWRITE? YES OR NO.
A rush of exhilaration flooded me. This was the day Adrien had always dreamed of. I wished it could have been him standing beside me instead of Max.
With shaking fingers, I clicked Yes, and then waited for the world to change.
I watched the screen, excitement already bubbling through me. A confirmation screen should pop up any second now, letting us know that the signal had been broadcast.
Instead, an alarm so loud it seemed to shake the room went off. Huge metal doors slammed down at every exit, locking us in.
Chapter 5
“NO!” I SAID OUT LOUD. This couldn’t be happening! We’d planned everything so perfectly.
Rowun started laughing. I’d let go of my hold over him in my shock. “You thought you could upload code from one port and affect the entire Link? We have a hundred redundancy systems in a hundred different places.” He laughed even harder. “It’s part of the protocol, so if one station is breached with foreign code, all it does is trigger the alarm!”
“We’ve got to go, now!” Max shouted.
I grabbed the fingernail drive out of the computer, knowing even as I did that the information had probably instantly replicated. I replaced it with the kill-disk drive I’d also brought with me. I could only hope that it erased any of the code that had been logged and copied. Either way, I had to get word to the Rez quick, in case the Uppers could still see the code mentioning the Rez rendezvous sites.
I had an encrypted com, but all outgoing signals were too carefully monitored in Central City, and if the kill disk did work, calling my Rez contacts would give away their location to the Uppers just as quickly.
First we had to get the hell out of this facility.
Max grabbed my hand and pulled me away before I could see if the kill disk worked.
“Open the doors,” he said and I nodded. I lifted my hand, letting the telek build up inside me for a moment and then I unleashed it. The door slid back up in its track, grating with a loud screech as it broke free of the hydraulics system holding it in place.
“What the hell?” Rowun said from behind us. I didn’t have time for him. I threw him backward into the wall of consoles with my telek, then focused again on the blockades in front of us.
We ran through the open space and down the hallway. Heavy metal lockdown doors awaited us at every step along the way, but I felt ahead and opened the blockades before we even got to them. I could only hope it would be quick enough.
When we got past the last one I started heading left toward the shuttle platform. “Zoe, what are you doing? We’ve got to steal the nearest transport we can find!”
“No,” I pulled him near. “We’ll never get out if we steal a transport. There’s no reason we can’t continue with the original plan.”
He nodded, then gripped my hand. The tube shuttle was still working. They hadn’t shut it down yet. We hadn’t encountered any actual Regs yet either. We’d only hit automatic redundancy systems so far. If the alarm in the lab went off, the doors went down. No one expected someone like me, someone who could breech even the widest, heaviest of lockdown doors to escape. Anyone alerted to the situation would still think we were inside. Until they saw the twisted metal of each door we’d broken through.
The hum of the transport shuttling along its tracks would have been comforting if I weren’t so terrified of what we’d find on the other end. My fingernails dug into Max’s palms. The door opened and I breathed out a sigh of relief. We were quickly back in the arena lobby and took the elevator down to the Uppers quarters. We ducked into an alcove, and Max transformed us into Darl and Nihem again.
My hand felt strangely bereft after Max let go of it. Holding his hand had helped keep my terror at bay. But then again, now more than ever, we had to play our parts perfectly, and Nihem and Darl would never hold hands. We walked stiffly togeth
er, side by side but not touching.
We walked straight to the departure bay, and as we saw the attendant valet we started arguing.
“You can’t even let us stop to enjoy the game?” Nihem said loudly.
“I said I want to leave NOW.” I put an angry whine into my voice. “And if you have any hope of keeping our marriage alive and saving yourself from complete and desolate financial ruin, you’ll come with me. My daddy will cut you off as sure as the morning sun.”
“But Darl—”
I turned to the attendant and handed him our passkey. “It’s the pretty one with the shiny silver stripe,” I said.
The attendant stared at me a little blankly.
“Women.” Max shook his head, stepping in front of me. “She means the purple BT6.”
“Nihem!” I said, sounding exasperated. “It’s things like this. You treat me like I’m a child. You are so patronizing I could just strangle you—”
“I’ll be right back with your vehicle,” the attendant cut in, then hurried off.
Max and I continued arguing in case anyone else was watching. Our purple BT6 soon came around the bend.
Max suddenly pushed me against the wall. My eyes instantly widened. Was something wrong? Had someone found us? A quick look over his shoulder only showed the attendant getting out of the car. And then suddenly Max was mashing his lips against mine. I was so stunned by the audacity of it that I didn’t move at all for a second.
And then I felt fury. We had failed in our mission, we didn’t know how many people were in danger, and he was taking this opportunity to steal a kiss when he knew I couldn’t hurtle him across the room like I wanted to? Max hadn’t changed at all.
I pushed him hard on the chest instead, conscious that I couldn’t say everything I wanted because of the attendant. “You act like you’ve been forgiven already.”
“You have to forgive me someday,” he whispered, his eyes searching mine.
I bit my tongue to keep myself from saying more, pushed off the wall, and headed for our transport. I slid into the driver’s side. Max made some joke with the attendant that I couldn’t hear and then jumped in the other door. My telek buzzed loudly in my head now. So much had gone wrong, and so much still could.
But then the doors of the transport garage opened up and we lifted into the sky.
We’d made it out.
* * *
I stood under the allergen wash shower back at the Foundation with my hand against the wall as the heavy spray beat down on my head and shoulders.
I’d failed.
This had been our big plan, and it had failed so utterly and completely that I had no idea what to do next. I’d sent the abort signal out once we were far enough away from Central City, but some cells still may have gotten cracked.
“Zoe, oh my gosh, are you okay?” Ginni asked as soon as I stepped out of the shower with a towel wrapped around me. “Simin said it didn’t work.”
“I’m fine,” I said, gritting my teeth when I saw the rest of my team and several high-ranking Rez soldiers waiting for me. “I’ll debrief everyone later about what happened. But yes, the mission was a failure.”
“What happened?” Ginni asked.
“I’ll debrief you all later,” I repeated, my voice more snappish than I intended. Xona put a hand on Ginni’s shoulder and led her away. I rubbed my eyes tiredly, then went to change in the dressing room.
All I wanted was to sink into my bed and forget the failure that weighed so heavy on my chest it felt like I could barely breathe. But I knew the other Colonels were waiting for me in the Sat Com office, and I was anxious to find out if everyone was safe.
Henk had set up the teleconference room in what used to be Taylor’s office, at my request. I knew the Professor hadn’t wanted me to—he’d wanted to leave all her things just as they’d been. But it was a luxury we couldn’t afford in this underground bunker; space was too precious, especially now that we were flooded with refugees. Every closet doubled as an office, every dorm was at triple occupancy.
And now what would we do with them all? How long would we be able to feed them? I wondered if Henk had been able to get more supplies while I was gone. Another thing I’d have to check on before I slept.
I sat down at the desk with a bay of four projection screens around me, each screen displaying the face of a different Colonel in the Rez. They were camped out at the few other Rez hideouts that were still left scattered in and around Sector Six. None of us knew exactly where the others were stationed. It was safer that way.
I rubbed my face in my hands for a few long moments, trying to gather myself. But they were waiting for me, so I shook my hands out and took a deep breath before clicking on the camera so they could see me too.
“Did everyone get the message to abort in time?” I asked immediately.
“Two cells didn’t, and Reg armadas discovered them before they could flee,” said the redheaded woman, Sanyez. “A high-security alert must have gone out after the central mission failed. Reg armadas have been scouring the skies for hours.”
“Just two cells?” asked Garabex. He was an older man with a thick gray beard. “That’s less catastrophic than I expected, considering what a mess was made of the mission.”
“At least if the cell leaders are interrogated,” Sanyez said, “they were told nothing of Project Reboot or the Foundation. All they knew was that they were to be ready for a planned attack, details to be messaged at the last moment if it was a go.”
“If they only cracked two cells, that means the kill disk probably worked,” I said. “The programmer will tell his superiors what we were trying to do, but they shouldn’t be able to recover any of the code itself.”
Garabex leaned forward. “You fool, why didn’t you eliminate the programmer?”
“That was never part of the plan,” I snapped back.
“Well, nothing about the plan actually worked, did it? Any elementary corporal knows to cut losses and minimize damage.” He directed his attention to the others. “Why are we even listening to this little girl?”
Talon, the next youngest lieutenant, spoke up. “Taylor explicitly left Zoe in charge of the glitcher unit. The plan was solid—we’d all agreed it was the best option.”
“We’ve just never been close enough to gather intel on how the Link programming is disseminated,” I said. “The code isn’t uploaded at a single port in the Central City mainframe system like we thought. Our techers were basing their assumptions on what was probably false intel circulated by the Community, as an added security measure.”
“The girl is right,” said Lonyi, a short-haired woman. “Now is no time to assign blame. We all agreed on the plan. It failed. Now we reassess and move on.”
“Fine,” said Garabex. “But we don’t know how much time we have. One of our Rez spies reported about what we think is a new weapon the Chancellor has acquired. He only saw the name of a file. Something called an ‘Amplifier.’ He wasn’t able to find any more details. We need to go back to the EMP option so we can strike first—”
“No!” I said, then pulled back and tried to mask my emotions again. “We cannot go forward with a plan that kills so many innocent people.”
Garabex scoffed loudly and threw up his hands. “Will someone please remove this child from the council?”
I balled my hands into fists to keep myself from reacting to his words. The only way I’d earn my place at this table was by not letting myself be baited.
“We are all that’s left of the Resistance,” Garabex continued. “Just five command posts and a paltry amount of small scattered cells whose members are often on the run. Any one of us could be cracked at any moment. The Rez is hanging on by the thinnest of threads. We must act before it is too late and that thread snaps. I refuse to let a two-hundred-year-old movement crumble to dust on my watch!”
“The EMP option is unacceptable,” I said firmly. “There’s collateral damage and then there’s mass murder. If we plan to r
ebuild a world better than this one, we better know the difference.”
Talon and Sanyez nodded. Garabex and Lonyi looked unconvinced.
Sanyez addressed the rest of the council. “Nothing will be decided today on this issue. We need to regroup after today’s events, recoup losses, and keep our heads down. As Colonel Garabex said, we’re barely managing to survive as it is. Being too hasty at this point would only jeopardize the tenuous grip we still have. And when we do reach the point where we can consider new proposals on how to proceed, keep in mind the Council must agree unanimously before any action is taken.”
Garabex scowled. “We were in unison about the EMP option before this upstart showed up. It was Taylor’s idea in the first place. It’s her vote that should count, even from beyond the grave.”
“The fact that she appointed me in her place is proof enough that she had doubts about the plan.” I wasn’t sure if it was true, but it sounded good. Besides, I knew some of the others had hesitations about the EMP option. They wouldn’t want it back on the table unless there was absolutely nothing left to try.
Garabex looked like he was about to launch into another tirade, but Lonyi spoke up before he could. “What do we do then? The Rez is the smallest it’s ever been. Underchancellor Bright is cracking safe houses right as we set them up. She always seems three steps ahead of us. We’ve already tried having Zoe crush the V-chips of small populations at a time, but that didn’t work.”
I grimaced, remembering the experiment. With my telek, I was able to reach and crush the tiny embedded chips in about a hundred people at a time. So we’d infiltrated an Academy, hoping we could add to our diminishing ranks, but Regs had quickly descended and captured all the confused teenagers right after I’d freed them from the V-chip. We’d only been able to rescue a few before having to escape ourselves.
“If we don’t do something,” Lonyi continued, her voice impassioned, “then there will be no Rez left to speak of soon. We have to act now before we don’t have the manpower to enact any plans we come up with!”