The System (16 page)

‘Still not talking to you?’ Milo asked sympathetically.

‘Not even looking at me.’

‘Well, plenty more fish in the sea.’ Milo winked. ‘Let’s have a look shall we?’ He leant in towards Cassandra and moved his hand towards the screen. ‘How about her,’ he said, pulling up an image of a blonde girl walking up some steps. He tapped the screen and some text came up.

Hi, I’m Vanessa. I have 43,689 Watchers. I’m a student right now but I want to be an actor some day. I like dancing, eating out and sexy lingerie. Follow me and I can promise you a good time!

Raffy stared at her; Milo laughed. ‘Your pupils are dilating like crazy,’ he said. ‘There are loads of them. Here, what about her?’

A brunette appeared.
Hi, I’m Sara. I have 506,782 Watchers. I work as a receptionist but my first love is winter sports. Watch me bomb down mountains, then join me for some après ski in the hot tub!

‘She’s nice,’ Raffy said, his cheeks reddening slightly. Then he sighed. ‘Thing is, Milo, you’re out there with these people. I’m not. And if Thomas has his way I’ll probably never be.’

Milo pulled a face. ‘I wouldn’t say that. If he gets his System, he might release you into the wild, you never know.’

Raffy turned sharply. ‘You think?’

Milo shrugged. ‘I don’t know. But I don’t see why not. He likes loyalty. Are you loyal, Raffy?’

Raffy held his eye for a few seconds then looked down. ‘I wasn’t loyal to Evie,’ he said quietly.

‘Thomas won’t mind about that.’ Milo grinned.

‘These girls … they’re really real? I mean, they’re actually out there?’ Raffy asked then. ‘Girls like this? Beautiful girls in hot tubs and dancing in their underwear?’

‘They’re actually out there,’ Milo nodded, peering at the screen. ‘Sara there is in Nantes if I’m not very much mistaken. Not so far away. And she’s got great tits.’

Raffy spluttered. If anyone had said that in the City, or in the Settlement … Well they just wouldn’t. Not ever. Just absolutely never.

‘What?’ Milo asked incredulously. ‘She has got great tits.’

‘But you’re …’ Raffy cleared his throat. ‘You and Frankie. You were in love, right?’

Milo’s expression changed slightly. ‘Frankie? Yeah, we were. Of course we were. I’m just trying to move on, you know?’ He moved his mouth to one side, then sat back on his chair, his arms cradling his head. ‘Trying to ease the pain a bit.’

He didn’t sound entirely convinced, but Raffy played along anyway. ‘Must be hard,’ he said. ‘So you reckon Thomas might let me go to this Nantes place if he gets his System?’

‘I reckon he might,’ Milo nodded. ‘But are you going to be able to deliver it? That’s the question. I’m guessing that whatever your friend is producing isn’t going to amount to a crock of shit.’

Raffy met his eyes. ‘I can do it,’ he said. ‘I know I can. But I want to go free afterwards. I want Thomas’s word.’

‘I’ll see what I can do,’ Milo said, standing up. ‘And you’d better get back to work. No ogling girls when you’re meant to be building the System, mind.’

Raffy nodded firmly. ‘Wouldn’t dream of it,’ he said, a little twinkle in his eye. ‘Oh, and Milo, one other thing?’

‘What?’ Milo asked, frowning.

Raffy looked at him cautiously. ‘It’s Benjamin,’ he said.

‘What about him?’ Milo asked, his eyes narrowing.

‘I’d like to spread his ashes. He meant everything to me. He was a good man, a great man. I know Linus and Evie would … well I know it would help. It would help wounds heal, if that makes sense?’

Milo sighed heavily, then rolled his eyes. ‘It’s unlikely,’ he said, ‘but I’ll see what I can do. Just don’t get your hopes up.’

‘I won’t,’ said Raffy. ‘But I really appreciate the effort. I really do.’

‘Good,’ said Milo, then he looked at his watch. ‘Right, got to go. Things to do, places to see.’

He patted Raffy on the back, turned and left, his polished shoes tack tacking on the floor as he walked out of the apartment.

Raffy watched him go, then turned back to Cassandra and started to type.

Evie heard Milo leave, then she stood up and padded over to Raffy’s cubicle. She’d told herself not to, told herself it would achieve nothing, but she couldn’t help herself, wouldn’t either. She didn’t knock; she just opened the door and stood there silently until Raffy turned round, his eyes wide in surprise.

‘I’m saying this because of what we used to mean to each other,’ she said then, the words that she had rehearsed falling away, forgotten. ‘Because you used to be someone I cared about. Whatever that man is saying to you, you can’t listen to him. He’s like Thomas, Raffy. He’s evil. They all are. You can’t give them what they want. You just can’t.’

She felt her bottom lip start to quiver and stopped talking.

Raffy raised an eyebrow. ‘Is that it?’ he asked.

Evie nodded.

‘Right,’ said Raffy. ‘So you want me not to help the one person who can help us get out of here, do you?’

‘He’ll never help us escape,’ Evie said incredulously. ‘Are you mad?’

‘I don’t mean he’ll help us escape. I mean we might get out of here. When Thomas has what he wants. Evie, there’s a world out there full of people I want to meet and places I want to go. In the City, in the Settlement, we thought the rest of the world didn’t exist. We thought we were it, fighting for survival. But we’re not. The world is amazing and I want to be part of it. Linus can’t see that because he’s too old, too entrenched, too bitter. But I’m not. You’re not. We’ve got our lives ahead of us. And people here live well. Better than we ever have. They’re happy, Evie. We could be too. Imagine that. Happy!’

He shot her a smile that she didn’t return. ‘I don’t want anything to do with Thomas’s world,’ she said quietly. ‘Don’t you get that? Don’t you see that he’s the one who blew up the Settlement, the reason Benjamin’s dead? He’s keeping us prisoner, Raffy. Why would you want anything to do with him?’

‘Because he’s all there is,’ Raffy said then, his tone suddenly cold and angry. ‘Because Linus and Benjamin failed. Thomas won. He was always going to win. And I’m not fighting Linus’s battles anymore. I want to live.’

‘Then you do what you want,’ Evie said, shaking her head in despair, in dread at what Raffy was going to do. ‘But know that I will hate you, Raffy. Know that I will delete from my mind every memory, every smile, every touch, every conversation we have ever had. Everything.’ She turned and left, allowing the door to close behind her.

‘You do that,’ she heard Raffy call after her. ‘You do that from your glass tower, while I’m out having a good time with Sara from Nantes.’ But she’d stopped listening; tears were cascading from her eyes as all her pent up rage and desperation flooded out of her. There was no hope anymore. Thomas was going to win. Benjamin had died in vain. And she was never going to see her beloved Lucas again.

Lucas looked around the room, breathing in, wondering if any of her breath remained here, whether there was something of her on this chair, on the keyboard that she used every day.

Evie wasn’t here; she was long gone and he knew it. But of all the computers in the City that were connected to the System’s now-defunct mainframe, he still chose to use the one that she had worked at years before, changing labels, dreaming of something better. She had despised him back then; had believed the lies that he had told in order to protect himself and Raffy. But he didn’t care; that’s what he had fallen in love with, Evie’s strength, her defiance, her quiet confidence. Everyone else in the City had been seduced by his A label, his position of authority, the armour he had built for himself. But not Evie. She had seen only his cold, hard exterior and had shrunk from it. It was only when he had revealed the truth, revealed his ulterior motive, his pain, that she had looked at him differently. He had always loved Evie, but when he had seen her eyes change, seen her hatred dissolve into something warm, something intoxicating, his life had changed. He’d known right then that he would never be happy until he held her in his arms, until he lay with her on his bed, until he knew that the two of them would be together for eternity. And yet he’d known that it was impossible, that she loved Raffy, that there could never be anything between them, that he was destined to die alone, just as he had always been alone, confiding in no one, revealing himself to no one.

He closed his eyes, remembering the night Evie had come to him in Linus’s cave, the night Raffy had betrayed them all, the night she had answered his prayers and told him that it was him that she loved, only him. He heard himself cry out, felt his fist slam down on the desk in front of him, Evie’s desk, because it wasn’t fair, because she had been wrenched from him again, because he hadn’t protected her, hadn’t been there when she needed him.

Then he took a deep breath, calmed himself, forced his mind away. Martha had been right; self-indulgence had no place now. He had a City to defend, friends to track down and bring back, and as for Thomas … He felt his chest clench with anger and he breathed in slowly again. He would leave Thomas until last, but he would make sure that he suffered. For everything he had done.

Outside the window Lucas could hear children laughing, playing, their parents chastising them gently as they talked freely. Things that should have been commonplace but which, until recently, would have been unheard of in the City. Where once people feared the judgements of the System, were afraid to speak their minds or reveal too much of themselves, now they were free to talk, to argue, to laugh. Mostly argue, Lucas had to concede; the end of the System had unleashed a million and one plans and ideas for how to organise the City, and passionate debates that sometimes spilled into fights were now commonplace. But Lucas would take disagreement any day over fear. And he’d upped the police guard presence on Saturday nights just to make sure that things didn’t get out of control.

He turned back to the screen in front of him, feeling a surge of pride as he moved his fingers to the keyboard. The fact of the matter was that it was worth fighting for. The City was worth fighting for, just as it had been worth sacrificing everything for when he was a boy, taking on the responsibilities of his father, handing his own father in to the Brother to ensure that his integrity and loyalty would never be in doubt. Lucas had lost so much that day, but he had gained so much too, including strength of mind and patience that he would utilise now, that would help him stay focused.

He typed quickly, finding the connection that Linus had hidden so cleverly, that had taken him over a week to find, desperately searching his memory for everything his father had taught him about the System, about Linus, about how to cover your tracks. They had been comrades, his father and Linus; when the Brother had suspected him, he had sacrificed himself and handed the baton to Lucas. And now … now it was up to him. The connection was embedded in code, almost impossible to find, but Lucas had followed the path of the original connection, the secret messaging post that had enabled him to communicate with Linus all those years ago. Now he was connecting to a world so much bigger than he’d ever thought imaginable; a world that had been hidden from him, from everyone. Lucas could see nothing of this world, could only imagine what it might be like. But that didn’t matter. What mattered was that he made sure the rest of the world knew of the City’s existence, knew the truth about Thomas. What mattered was that he found Evie, wherever she was, brought her back and never, ever lost her again.

‘You’re sure this is a good idea?’

Thomas smiled. ‘Milo, we wouldn’t be doing this if it wasn’t a good idea. And if I remember correctly, it was your idea.’

Milo pulled a face as he watched Linus, Evie and Raffy standing together, minders positioned around them. He blamed himself for even mentioning it to Thomas and had been baffled when Thomas had immediately agreed. But that was the thing with Thomas; you thought you knew him and … Well, you never did. Which was why they were on the roof of the building, a spot chosen by Thomas for the funeral Raffy had been so desperate for. Was funeral the right word? Milo didn’t know. Scattering of ashes. Linus was apparently going to say a few words. To be honest he didn’t really care; couldn’t be sure the ashes he’d given Raffy were even Benjamin’s. ‘Yeah, I guess,’ he said. ‘It’s just, you know, being out in the open like this? These people are supposed to be a secret.’

‘On the roof,’ Thomas said. ‘Where there are no cameras. Where we are many, many stories higher than any other building, where no one can see us unless they decide to fly overhead in a helicopter, which they won’t because there is a no-fly zone. Why do you think we are up here?’

‘You’re right,’ Milo said immediately. ‘You know me, I’m too cautious sometimes. But with Frankie still missing … after everything that happened … I guess I’m just a bit paranoid.’

After what had happened … After what hadn’t happened, more like. He folded his arms, tried not to think about it. But he couldn’t do it. It was meant to have been simple. Just like all the others. Chip removed, new identity, damage limitation exercise, all done and dusted within twenty-four hours. It was what happened to people who crossed the line, who threatened the status quo. Even Frankie. Even his girlfriend. Thomas had talked him through the plan in detail – how she would be de-chipped, left to wander the streets of Paris for a while, to watch the new Frankie on screen, to realise that she wasn’t as important as she’d thought, to learn a little humility. It was only meant to have lasted a day or two. But things hadn’t gone according to plan. Not at all. Frankie was meant to be licking her wounds, feeling aggrieved, but also realising the error of her ways. And instead she’d gone AWOL. And now the new Frankie had been ‘killed off’ because Thomas said it was too risky having her around, because people would start to notice it wasn’t the real Frankie. It all made sense when Thomas explained it; it was only when Milo was left on his own, trying to work it out, that nothing seemed to fit together anymore. Still. He’d find her. He’d find her eventually. And then everything would make sense again. Everything would be fine.