The Variables (22 page)

“Yes, it was my choice.” Huck’s voice was stern, clipped, and perfunctory.
 

Scott opened his mouth to reply, but Huck leaned forward, his eyes narrowing, and he spoke before Scott could answer.

“It might interest you to know that our rangers found
survivors
.”

Scott felt sick. He felt his stomach tighten, but he tried to keep his face incredulous and calm. He knew where this was going.
 

“That’s...wow. Why weren’t they brought to me?” Scott asked, understanding in an instant the best way to navigate the news. He picked at a cuticle on his right hand and tried not to stare at the table.

“As prisoners?” Huck asked, shocked.

“As
bodies
,” Scott clarified. “For
study
.”

“Why is this the first we are hearing about this?” asked Claude. “News about the Islands shouldn’t have overshadowed news about survivors.” The architect turned his attention to the conversation, keenly interested.

“We always knew there would be survivors. Pockets of people who escaped our reach...that’s why we had the plan for the rangers...but it isn’t that we found people that shocks me, Scott. It’s that these people were living in a city. They had not evaded exposure, which was always our biggest fear. No, they’d been exposed and they had survived. A
family
.”

The implication was clear and Scott waited for the other shoe to drop. He kept his mouth shut tight.

“We sent the bodies to Seamus in Brazil—” Huck continued. And Scott groaned, slapping his palm against his forehead. His palms were sweaty.

“Seamus?” Scott threw up his hands in the air. The man had been an original scientist on the release team, but he frequently contaminated the lab and reported incorrect data. Scott spent more time cleaning up Seamus’s mistakes than receiving any benefit of having him assist. He had personally requested to send Seamus to the EUS One to get him away from his lab in Nebraska. “You sent Antonio to Russia. Why not send the bodies there? You know Seamus is a sub-par scientist...”

“He said they all had a linked genome. They were immune.”

Scott nodded. “And he had the benefit of having multiple bodies to test. You wanted me to test Grant with whom? Against whom?”

“Against anyone...clearly...Seamus said the marker was clear.”

“Seamus is a moron,” Scott mumbled.

“I asked if there could be more like him. You said no.”

“I did the best I could. I thought—” he started, but he couldn’t think of anything else to say. “I believed Grant could have been an anomaly. Without proof otherwise,
I
made the best decision I could with data...”

“Now we have all the data,” Huck answered. “And it’s settled.”

“Does everyone agree to this?” Claude asked. He turned his attention sharply to Gordy who shook his head and rolled his eyes toward his father.

“We do not have to agree on this. It is my decision and I have decided he goes to Copia. He doesn’t belong on Kymberlin or anywhere else. He belongs on Copia,” Huck said, giving the conversation a feeling of forced finality.
 

“You’re right that he doesn’t belong here,” Scott pushed. “But I have vouched for him. He is good for my family, for my
daughter
. You think that’s easy for me to admit? Look, if you send him to Copia, you risk more that just a random teenager muddying the purified waters...”

“Scott is right,” Claude interjected. “Cass, too, is fond of the boy. They have become friends.”

“My dad’s decision is final,” Gordy said, yawning. “Trust me.” He turned back to the screens and prepared for their meeting.

“He’s one boy,” Claude said, waving his hand like he was swatting at a fly. “I agree that you should reconsider his placement—”

Huck raised both his hands in the air. “Quiet,” he said in a smooth, calm voice. “We will deal with this later. I have a Board meeting to run.” He turned the volume on his monitor to high and began to speak to the Elektos in a booming voice, his eyes twinkling, his mouth upturned in a brilliant smile. It was amazing how fast Huck could transform his moods.

“Good afternoon, morning or evening,” he said, his voice chipper, warm. The timbre of it sent a tremor down Scott’s spine. “Thank you for congregating. It is with great joy that I tell you that we are ready. We may begin our evacuation of The Systems and our journey to the Islands. Have you been sent your itineraries? Our pilots have been trained for our beach landings. The runways are short, so be prepared for an intense drop. Everyone will land on the east coast and then be transported to their respective Islands. It is so exciting to know that our dreams are becoming a reality. And I’m thrilled to meet all your constituents in person. Our time has come.” He bowed to the camera, his hands prostrate.

Roman cleared his throat and leaned in closer to the camera. “That’s good news, Huck. But where are our Saudi members? You brought them back online; they were presented their Island manifests? So why haven’t they been invited to the table?”

“There must be a technical glitch,” Huck said breezily. He looked to Gordy and snapped his fingers. Gordy examined the monitors and shrugged. “They were invited, clearly. We are all one...our differences have been put aside. They have agreed to the plan in its entirety...we have most certainly been in contact with them.”

“We’ll wait for them,” Victor announced. “We don’t wish to proceed without our full board.”

The room went still.

Huck leaned over to his son and whispered in his ear. Gordy continued tinkering with the panel; all eyes of the Elektos were trained on him.

“They aren’t logged in to the chat,” Gordy said after a second.

“Get them,” Huck demanded. “Hack in.” Gordy grumbled, but obliged and in less than a minute the EUS Four cameras clicked on.

They displayed an empty room: an empty table and two empty chairs—the EUS Four boardroom behind them, dark, and still.

“Well?” Roman asked.

“Can you call them?” Morowa joined in the questioning.
 

“I can also hack into the announcement system. We did it for the first broadcast,” Gordy said.

“Do it.” Huck crossed his arms and waited.

“It’ll broadcast to the entire System—”

“We’d like them to be present. It’s just like a page,” Victor said. “My people are used to System-wide announcements.”

Gordy clicked more on his computer and then leaned close to the attached microphone. “Calling Muuez and Shay to the boardroom. An emergency Elektos session is in progress. Calling Muuez and Shay to the boardroom.”

Then they waited.

Five minutes passed. Then ten. And still the room remained empty. The Board members talked amongst themselves. Some looked anxious, but most were disinterested.

“Page them again,” Huck demanded when enough time has passed, and Gordy went to send the message again, but as he began his second attempt, the door to the boardroom burst open and Muuez stumbled forward, his face white, and his clothes askew. He propelled himself to the monitor and his fear loomed in front of the Elektos board. With wild eyes and shaking hands, he shocked them all to attention. Every face on the monitor watched him with confused concern.

“I don’t know how much time I have,” Muuez said, his breathing ragged.

Huck stood up and leaned down at his monitor. “What is going on there?”

“After the energy was turned back on,” Muuez replied, “the people...they were mad. They’ve been plotting to overthrow the leadership. They wanted to get to the surface, Huck. And this morning,” his voice broke, “they revolted.”

“Revolted?” Claude asked.

The Elektos whispered among themselves, then they began a barrage of questions.

Finally Kazuma’s voice rose above them all, “Where is Shay?”

Muuez shook his head and looked down. He balled his right hand into a fist and covered his mouth. “They’re determined to escape...Shay tried to intervene, speak for you...”

“Dear God,” Gordy said and he slumped backward in the chair.

“They are going to get to the surface. I won’t be able to stop them. We have all our armed guards at the elevator, but it won’t be long—”

“How many are revolting?” Huck asked. He turned to Gordy, “Get the General. Get a team.”

“To go to Saudi Arabia now?” Gordy asked with great incredulity. “Dad—”

“How many?” Huck asked again, his voice tense.

Muuez shook his head again. “There’s no use, Huck. The Islands hold no hope for them. Our Copia crowd convinced the others, you see? And they weren’t impressed with future promises. Punishing us punished them! Can’t you see? You lost them after we lost power. You lost their trust. You can’t get them back.”

It was the wrong thing to say and Muuez knew it, but despite the fear on his face, Scott also noticed the man’s resolve. He wouldn’t lie to save his life because Muuez already knew the outcome to his own story. There was no way Huck would let the Saudi System fail. There is no way he’d let a group get to the surface. With the end near, the truth was all Muuez had left. Still facing the camera, he closed his eyes and began to pray. He mumbled his prayers at first and the Elektos strained to hear. The computer microphone picked up on the distant cries and shouts of people in the hallway.

Muuez opened his eyes as people began pounding on the door.

“Shut them down,” Huck commanded. “If we shut them down before they breach the elevator, they’ll never get to the surface. Shut them down.”

The Elektos erupted.

“We must vote!”

“There are still our men inside that EUS!”

“We have specialists there! People worth saving.”

“I demand a vote!”

Huck cried above them all. “So, then vote, dammit! Vote! All in favor of terminating support to EUS Four say aye.” A chorus of ayes. “All opposed?”

Gabriel and Claude voiced their disapproval. Victor chimed in late. No one had noticed that Scott remained silent.

“Muuez?” Huck demanded, looking into the camera. “Your vote?”

The man buried his head in his hands. “My vote is worthless—”

Huck didn’t try to disagree. “Then we proceed. Claude?”

“Muuez,” Claude said. “Cast your vote.”

Muuez looked to the camera and said, “Aye. I vote in favor. Don’t let them get to the surface, Huck. Protect the future.”

The board members paused to let Muuez’s sacrifice register against the chaos of the moment.

“Without my men at the ready there, you’ll have to shut them down remotely,” Claude said, turning to Huck. “Here.” He motioned for Gordy to move away from the controls. “I can do it. Thirty seconds.”
 

Muuez looked straight into the camera. Tears rolled down his cheeks. Then he looked upward and said, “Ash hadu ana la ilaha ila Allah, wa ash hadu ana Muhammada ar rasoola Allah. Ash hadu ana la ilaha ila Allah, wa ash...”

The screen went black.

The Elektos Underground System Four was gone.
 

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Lucy leaned her head on Grant’s shoulder; he kissed the top of her head and let his lips linger on her hair for a long time. She had taken her five-minute shower earlier in the morning and washed her hair with the rest of her mother’s honey-scented shampoo from back home. She hadn’t even bothered to ask for permission, despite the fact that there would be no more honey shampoo. It was a final scent of the old world; linked to memories of her mother’s embraces and the special treat of bathing in her parents’ master bath. Now it was gone. Poof. Irreplaceable.
 

“You look beautiful,” Grant said. She sat cross-legged on her bed in her sundress; her unshaved legs scratched against the bare mattress. The short showers and busy mornings with Cass prompted her to eliminate needless grooming. Her leg hair had grown back in soft and blonde, but it didn’t bother her a bit.

“Thank you,” Lucy said. She sighed. She reached around with her free hand and tried to pull Grant closer to her. Sometimes she felt like she couldn’t be close enough to him, that no matter how tightly she wrapped her arms around him, it wasn’t ever enough. He took her hug as an invitation to kiss her, and Lucy pressed her lips tightly to his and just held him there, wishing that time would stand still. There was something exhilarating in the simplicity of a kiss. When they stopped, Lucy’s heart ached. She would never get tired of kissing him, she thought. She wanted to kiss him forever and time was running out.

Unwilling to untangle themselves, Lucy and Grant didn’t even blink when Galen threw open the door and began to haul out his single backpack, the same one he had packed for himself when they were heading to a different island, the Seychelles, what felt like years ago. Back then, everything felt so simple, so clear. They were just a family going on vacation: homework and girlfriend problems were the extent of their concerns. Their parents were normal parents, just plugging along from day to day trying to run the household with efficiency. There was no way they could ever go back to the blissful ignorance of an average life. Lucy knew she would be haunted forever.

“Ew,” Galen complained, rolling his eyes. “Mom says ten minutes.”

She watched Galen shut the door behind him, leaving them alone for just a little bit longer. Her mother wouldn’t bother them; she’d send the kids to do her bidding—and Lucy expected it. The twins might come in next, and then she’d send Harper. It was an old trick, one that she used to employ when Ethan brought Anna home and they would hide away in his bedroom.

No locked doors. That was the rule.

Then send in the kids.
 

Some things never changed.

Galen grabbed his backpack with a loud huff and it brought her out of her moment with Grant. Watching Galen reminded her of listening by the staircase as their mom ran down her printed list of to-dos on Release Day. Her mom had been so naïve, so duped, and yet she slid right into her life in the System with purposeful resilience. Now, her mother treated their move to the Islands with the same sort of calculated efficiency. If Mama Maxine had any reservations under that calm, cool, and collected exterior, she put forth an airtight façade.