The Perfect World (The Perfect World Series Book 1) (41 page)

“If we’re going to preserve our way of life and end the perfect world, then the people living in the domes need the best information that can be provided. I personally believe most people will make the right decisions when they have the information they need. If people are only given half of a story or only what the people in charge deem that they should know, then the only decisions they’ll make are the ones the people in charge want them to make.”

Victor stopped abruptly as he realized he’d been going on a while. He smiled sheepishly at Cyrus and added, “That’s not much different from the perfect world, is it?”

“No, it’s the same. It’s not at the same level, but the principles behind it are the same.”

“Exactly!” Victor exclaimed vehemently. “I want to help more people recognize that.”

“So, you’ll become a journalist for that reason?”

“That’s the biggest one, yeah.”

“I see.” Cyrus nodded as he connected the dots in his head. “Will you write about our raiding team once we go on a mission?”

“Absolutely.” Victor grinned. “What better way to break into the industry than with a first-hand story like that?”

“I suppose that’s a good motivation.”

Victor’s grin faded a bit. “It’s not my only one, if that’s what you mean. Sure, writing the story of the first raid to be performed in our area after a long hiatus is bound to be a big story. But it’s more than that. I want to go with you to help free those people who are going to die simply because there’s no place for them. Just like I want to become a journalist, to help take down the system that puts them in that position in the first place.”

Victor paused as if he didn’t quite know how to say what he wanted to say next.

“What?” Cyrus prompted when his friend continued to stare at him.

“I also want to write about you, if I get a chance.”

“Me?”

“Yes, you. Don’t act so surprised.”

Cyrus wasn’t sure he liked the idea of somebody writing about him. “Can I ask you why?”

Victor was staring at him like he was daft. “What do you mean, ‘why?’ The question should be why not? You escaped from the perfect world on your own. That alone is noteworthy as so few people do it at your age without assistance.

“Then, when we do get people who have escaped from the perfect world, they typically want to assimilate as quickly as possible and live a quiet life. They just want to forget everything they’ve been through. But you didn’t do that. Instead, you’re devoting your time to reminding people that the perfect world is very real. That people are dying because of it and we’re doing nothing.”

“Even if they get to live, none of them will have any choice in what they do with their life,” Cyrus reminded him, remembering all the time he spent locked in his little white-walled room.

“Again, most people who escape would rather forget that part of their life. They would try to make it like it never existed. You didn’t. You’re different.” Victor leaned back in his chair and gestured to the books in front of him. “You’re the kind of person who will end up in the history books, Cyrus.”

“You mean in a hundred years from now, some poor kid will be bored silly reading stories about me?” Cyrus joked. He adored history, but he knew his passion wasn’t shared by many his age.

“Maybe it’ll be an interesting bright spot in an otherwise dull book.”

“Yeah, especially if it’s exciting for all the wrong reasons.”

The words were out of Cyrus’s mouth before he could stop them. He told himself he didn’t have time for doubts anymore. He knew that what he was doing now might be the only chance he had to save Melody or anyone else from the perfect world. All of that didn’t stop him from recognizing the very real consequences of a failed raid.

Victor’s expression changed to one of sympathy. “Are you afraid our raiding team will end up like the last one?”

“I want to stay optimistic about our chances, but I can’t deny the possibility either,” Cyrus admitted with his eyes focused on the table. He took a deep breath and continued. “If it happens, then history will remember me as the guy who got his friends killed in an illegal raid. They’ll remember me as someone who was used as a propaganda tool to stop more raids from happening.”

Victor quietly listened to him before shaking his head. “Or maybe they’ll remember you as the person who tried to make a difference. The one whose efforts were what was needed to wake everyone else to reality and try again.”

Cyrus considered this for a moment, but he said nothing.

“Cyrus, you like history right?” He nodded and Victor continued. “Think about what history is. History is full of the stories of people who are remembered for what they tried to do, whether for good or evil. It’s those people that we take lessons from when we want to improve and change humanity’s lot. No one remembers the names of people who sat back and didn’t try.”

The words helped settle Cyrus’s worried mind and steel his resolve. “Thanks, Victor. I’ll remember that.”

“Always happy to help,” Victor said as he collected the books off the table. “And you know what else would help your mood? Going to that party tomorrow.”

“Xavier’s having a party tomorrow?” Cyrus ventured, wondering why he hadn’t heard about it.

Now it was Victor’s turn to look dumbfounded. “Didn’t Julian tell you? His mother’s holding a party tomorrow, and he promised her he would bring you. She’s been wanting to talk to you for ages!”

“We talk a little when she sees me at school.”

Victor rolled his eyes. “That’s probably a five-minute conversation at best. She’s been a big help getting petitions going in the different domes. I thought Julian said you promised you’d meet her.”

Cyrus remembered that promise. He had meant to keep it too. “I did, but Julian didn’t mention any party.”

“That’s Julian for you. He’s one of the smartest guys I know. He’s also completely scatterbrained when it comes to things like this,” Victor explained with an expression of extreme patience on his face. “Don’t worry. I’ll remind him about it tomorrow and let him know you’re coming. I’ll be there too, and Sahane should be showing up as well. So you won’t be completely alone with a bunch of old ladies.”

“I suppose that’s a relief. Are these ladies like Mrs. Inez or are they more like my mother?”

Victor laughed at that. “I don’t think anyone else in this dome is quite like your mother, Cyrus. No, most of them are nice and are easy to get along with. They’ll probably talk your ear off and that’s about it.”

Cyrus was relieved. “That’s good to hear.”

“Anyway, the library’s closing soon,” Victor told him as he pointed to the clock on the wall. “I need to put these away and help lock up. I’ll see you tomorrow morning for P.T.”

“And the party?”

“Yes, and the party. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“See you tomorrow. And Victor?”

“Yeah?”

“I hope I get to see what you write about our team someday.”

Victor smiled. “That makes two of us.”

Cyrus was hastily making his way to Julian’s house after a quick stop at his own home to drop off his things. The young man had asked Julian that morning about the party that his mother was having, and Julian confirmed the event, along with several words of apology for forgetting about it.

Scott and Xavier had been invited as well, but both of them had been too busy to come. Priscilla was also going to be absent thanks to working at her parents’ restaurant. It was only going to be Sahane, Victor, Julian and himself along with Mrs. Inez’s other guests. This was fine by Cyrus since he reminded himself that he was there to talk with Mrs. Inez and her guests rather than just socialize with his friends.

Cyrus was relieved when he finally spotted the two-story yellow house with white trim that Julian had described. It hadn’t been as far away as he’d thought though he was sweating from how fast he’d walked. Wiping his brow with one hand, he rang the doorbell and waited for a few seconds before the door opened. He was greeted by Mrs. Inez, who was wearing a bright pink shirt with a long white skirt.

“Hello Cyrus,” Mrs. Inez spoke in the cheerful voice he was used to hearing at school. “You’re a bit early, aren’t you?”

“I thought you might need some help setting up,” he answered with a shrug.

“That’s sweet of you,” Mrs. Inez complimented as she beckoned him to come inside. “It’s just Julian and Sahane at the moment. I’m sure they would be grateful to have another pair of hands helping them.”

Sure enough, as soon as Cyrus entered the kitchen he was greeted by the sight of Sahane and Julian. The former gave him a quick greeting before going back to arranging a large tray of sushi while Julian was organizing various snacks into bowls, occasionally sneaking one for himself.

Seeing that the pair of them had the kitchen more or less under control, Cyrus decided to help Mrs. Inez out with setting up the tables and other heavy lifting.

“You’re quite the strong young man, aren’t you?” Mrs. Inez complimented as she wiped some sweat from her brow.

“Must be all the training I’ve been doing recently,” Cyrus replied with a grin.

He saw Julian’s mother sober a bit at the reminder. “That’s true.” Cyrus started to grab some other chairs, but Mrs. Inez waved him to the nearby sofa. “Sit down for a moment, Cyrus. I’ve wanted to have a proper chance to talk to you since you arrived. Would you like a cup of tea before we get started?”

Cyrus politely declined as he sat down and waited for Mrs. Inez. She arrived with a hot cup of tea and took a seat on a rather worn out easy chair. “I don’t know if you know this, Cyrus, but I grew up in the perfect world as well.”

“Julian mentioned it to me, actually.”

“Did he? Well, then I suppose you can guess why I’ve been so supportive of your cause and getting more petitions signed.”

“I can’t thank you enough for doing that, just so you know.”

Mrs. Inez laughed. “I haven’t done that much, especially in comparison to the training that you kids are going through. Since I’m in no shape to fight, I want to contribute to your cause in any way I can. After all, if it weren’t for the raids I wouldn’t be here.”

“How did that happen if I may ask?”

Mrs. Inez smiled. “Actually, that’s part of what I wanted to tell you. Let’s start from the beginning though. Have you ever heard of early elimination runs?” Cyrus shook his head and Julian’s mother continued. “Before the raids started, the perfect world would often thin out some of the numbers of children they were taking care of. They did this to conserve some of their resources. After all, if they already knew that the children involved were showing signs of being troublesome, then why wait until twenty-five to dispose of them? Their fate is already sealed, and they’re a waste of precious resources or so the perfect world thinks.”

Cyrus suppressed a small shiver as Ms. Inez continued.

“I still vividly remember that night that they came for me. I was sleeping in my bed when they burst through my door and grabbed me by my arms. They gripped my arms so tightly that they left bruises. I was crying and screaming to know what was going on. They didn’t say a word to me. They threw me into a room with a bunch of other crying, frightened children. Then they locked the door and left us to wait.

“When they came back, they surrounded us and led us out of the building. It was cold that night, and we were led out into the street. We weren’t told where we were going or why. No one dared to speak as we were led towards a bunch of black vans to take us away. I remember wanting to run as soon as I saw those vans. I had a gut feeling that as soon as I got in, I wouldn’t be coming back.”

She paused and smiled at him. “That was when the first shot was fired. There was a loud bang and one of the guards toppled over. Some of the other guards moved towards the direction of the sound only for another to be shot from a different direction. Then another and another.”

Mrs. Inez took a sip of her tea. “Of course, not one of us kids knew what was going on. I watched as guard after guard jerked and fell to the ground until six of them were lying dead. One of them started shouting at all of us to sit down on the ground and stay put. We were terrified, so we did what he said.

“It was then that one of the raiders showed himself and got the attention of the guards. Several of them raised their guns to fire at him, only to have him run a few steps back and taunt them. Several of them broke ranks and ran after the one raider, leaving only three guards behind. They were quickly disposed of by the other raiders in hiding. That’s when the raiders rescued us. They gathered us up and told us to move quickly. They got us into the Pittsburgh Dome and the rest is history.”

“That’s really impressive,” Cyrus said appreciatively.

“Yes, especially considering that it was the first official raid every completed.”

“Really?”

“Yes, and you know what else? It was led by John Eldrick.”

Cyrus gaped. “The John Eldrick who’s the leader of the Pittsburgh Dome?”

“The very same.” Ms. Inez nodded fondly. “We’re lucky to still have him at all, actually. That raider who led the guards away from us so that we could escape was John Eldrick. He got shot for his trouble, but the hospital managed to fix him up.” Ms. Inez took another sip of her tea. “He did give them quite a scare at first with the blood he’d lost.”

“I never would have guessed that Mr. Eldrick was a raider.”

“He was. His actions with the first raid led to more raids in America and then the rest of the world. They were so successful back in the day that the early elimination runs were drastically reduced. Even today, after years without raids, they still haven’t returned to the level they were prior to the first raid.

“Part of the reason those practices have been lessened is because the perfect world didn’t want to risk losing more people to us. They didn’t want us to bolster our numbers so that we’d have more people to use against them. Since we’ve stopped doing the raids, they don’t have to worry about that any longer. Thus, they’ve returned to the practice of killing great numbers of troublesome children even before they’ve hit twenty-five.”

Ms. Inez firmly held his gaze. “Make no mistake. The perfect world sees our retreat as a victory. It encourages them to be more aggressive towards us in the future. We are not safer by forgoing the raids. The only thing we’re guaranteeing is the death of more children, who’ve lost their only chance to escape.”

Cyrus leaned forward on the sofa. “Do you think there’s anything more we can do to make people more aware of that? To change people’s minds?”

“It’s not a matter of arguing points, Cyrus. The people who disagree likely have heard those points before. The problem is people in the domes are starting to become comfortable and complacent. When people become so eager to keep their comfortable lives, they’ll do anything to preserve them. Even if it means helping the very people who would take those comforts away, unwittingly or otherwise.”

Mrs. Inez was about to say more, but she was interrupted by the musical chime of the doorbell. She smiled at Cyrus apologetically and got up from her chair.

“Looks like I’ll have to cut this a little short Cyrus. There’s only one more thing I wanted to tell you. More of us agree with you and support you than you know. Whatever you do, don’t give up.”

Mrs. Inez turned away to answer the door, leaving Cyrus to digest his thoughts. He wasn’t able to dwell upon it for long though. Soon enough, the house was filled with guests, and many of those guests wished to speak to Cyrus. He was amazed at how enthusiastic some of them were to speak to him. Their words of encouragement meant a lot to him and, having not known what to expect from the evening, he was pleasantly surprised to find that he was having such a good time.

When the conversations finally lulled, he decided to obey his whining stomach and get some snacks. While there was the typical fare of cheese, fruits and crackers, Cyrus found himself more interested in the sushi he’d seen Sahane lay out earlier. Cyrus took a moment to examine the various cuts of sushi. Each one of them was cut to the same length and was placed precisely on the rice. Every single piece looked fresh, and nothing he tried was short of delectable.

“You like sushi?”

Cyrus turned to his left to see Sahane standing beside him. His mouth was full so he vigorously nodded his approval. Sahane met the gesture with an expression of satisfaction.

“I made the sushi myself, so I’m glad you’re enjoying them.”

He swallowed and asked, “Is it difficult to make sushi?”

Sahane shrugged. “I don’t really know how to answer that. I’ve been making it all my life, so I find it easier than most. Still, making them correctly takes some attention to detail.”               

“Well, no wonder these are so good. You always put so much attention into your work,” Cyrus replied honestly.

“Oh no, it’s nothing,” Sahane protested a little. “If you think that highly of me, you should see my father’s work.”

“Your father’s a sushi chef, right?” Scott had mentioned it to him before. “He owns the best sushi restaurant in town, if I’ve heard correctly.

Sahane laughed at this. “He has the
only
sushi restaurant in the entire dome. It isn’t like he has competition. All the same though, my father is very good at what he does.” The laughter faded from Sahane as quickly as it came. She seemed to be swept up in a sudden melancholy. “He always makes sure to put out his best work. After all, he knows what it costs to uphold his restaurant and his dream.”

Cyrus frowned at the sudden change in her mood. “What do you mean?”

“Getting the fish for our sushi is dangerous,” Sahane admitted with a grimace. “The boats that go out in the waters to provide our restaurant with the fish we need to stay open are a target for the perfect world. They’re easy targets and because of that they often get attacked.”

Cyrus was a bit surprised. He hadn’t heard a single word about this. “Don’t they have any protection from the domes?”

“When it can be spared,” Sahane explained uncomfortably. “Traversing the seas has always been a dangerous business. It’s dangerous enough without having ships out there firing missiles at you, like so many of the fisherman do.” She paused, and Cyrus was startled to see that she looked ashamed. “You know, some people in the domes and in our government believe we shouldn’t be fishing at all. That it’s too dangerous and an unnecessary risk to people’s lives and resources. And when I see news that more boats were brought down or pictures of the grieving family members left behind, sometimes I think they’re right.”

Cyrus didn’t know what to say to that but then Sahane met his eyes with a fierceness that startled him.             

“But then, I remember that I come from a long line of proud chefs. My grandfather made sushi, and he learned that from his father. Our trade has been passed down for generations. Our dream of a family owned sushi restaurant has lived on for generations, long before the perfect world came to be.”

The words were flowing out of her as if she couldn’t stop them. There were tears forming in her dark eyes.

“People sometimes come to my father’s restaurant to tell us that we should quit. That our food isn’t worth anyone’s life. I know it’s selfish what I’m going to say, but we can’t just give up. If we do, that’s just one more victory for the perfect world. If we quit, then the knowledge that my family passed down will die. Another part of the cultures from the past will die off. I couldn’t bear that. I couldn’t.”

Sahane stopped when her lips started trembling, and it was clear she was trying not to cry.

“It’s not fair of them to blame just your family. You’re not the only ones who serve fish in the domes,” Cyrus said as he tried to make her feel better. He knew it was true as well since he had seen fish sitting in the supermarkets before.

Sahane had managed to calm down a bit, but she still seemed emotional. “People do get mad at the other restaurants that serve fish. Of course, nobody working in a restaurant wants people to die for us. Just for going fishing,” she whispered quietly. “It sounds so ridiculous, doesn’t it? Dying for trying to eat fish. But that’s what the perfect world does. It hunts people for trying to gather food for us to eat.”

“And the blame should stay with them.”