Original Fiction: The Anarchist's Almanac, Episode 7
Joshua and Adam followed her along what felt like a three block trek to the new computer center.
*If you haven't read the last episode yet, find it here, to begin from the beginning, go here, or to my blog. *
One of the nodes for the Anarchist’s Almanac had been moved here recently and the server room reminded Joshua of pre Abdication systems he had worked with. The almanac was able to be kept up full time here since the structure shielded their activity from observation.
“Lewis has been in contact with Kyle already, and as soon as we let him know you’re here he wants to get the story straight from you. He seemed just as surprised as we are, but he said he would do some research, and hopefully we’ll know something soon."
Jean walked up and put her hand on the shoulder of a man at a computer terminal. He turned his chair to allow Joshua and Adam to see the screen, and another man stepped up behind them with two chairs.
The screen was currently showing the same video feed they had seen earlier of the grain elevator, the smoke, and the exiting Reaper and Seeker troops.
Lewis ran the video back to a point just before the smoke and zoomed in on the hatch they had used to rescue Vernon just hours before. As the video started to play again, there was a flash at the opening as the inside of the elevator was lit by an explosion, and the sheet metal panels along the whole wall rippled slightly.
Then black smoke started pouring out.
“We’ve gone over this a few times, and it seems that your friend Vernon went into the grain elevator about thirty minutes before with the other Reaper and a pair of Seekers. Only the one Reaper came out. It sure looks like they left him for dead,” Lewis explained.
“So, Kyle is doing some research, but it’s not like he can just call up the person in charge of the Magistrate program and ask. Because of that he doesn’t really know what he’s looking for."
"When was the first time you recall seeing the bigger Reapers?” As he asked, Lewis brought up a chat screen with several encoded messages shared with Kyle.
Adam was first to reply. “It was six weeks ago. We were up around Salina, and we saw one from a distance. I remember, because Darian had a pair of field glasses with a distance finder on them. We calculated the size of the thing. It seemed like it was at least one third larger than the standard configuration.”
“Okay, that helps. We started searching from about three months back to see if there are any changes. Since Kyle works in acquisitions and dispatches, those are the only records he has direct access to. He works backwards through that, looking for bar codes, or other clues he can search other files with,” Lewis said.
His computer pinged, and Kyle’s face came up.
“Hey Joshua. I heard about this situation man, how’s he holding up?” Kyle asked. Lewis stood up and gave Joshua his chair in front of the screen.
“Well, he was unconscious when we left him,” Joshua told Kyle. “Doc seemed to think he might be okay, just needs time to heal, I guess. We’re hoping we can get some intel from him that might help you out."
"You should be hearing from our tribe soon. They headed back to the Settling with the armor and Eugene, and John will find out what they can.”
Kyle winced, “That’s a lot of noise for me, let’ do this through just one channel. So, I need you to debrief them and then relay the information to me. If there’s anything I need to see or hear, get that to me. The more different channels these messages come through, the more chances there are for them to notice and break our encryption.”
“All right, so what have you found out so far?” Adam asked.
“Well, there were some unusual orders back about two months ago going out to the regional Consensus hub for some outsized parts. I’m guessing that’s what this is. The codes so far are the exact same as the last generation of Magistrate manufacturing, so I don’t have much to go on. I can tell you there was another strange order for a bio freighter from the hub to out near you.”
Kyle was tapping madly on his keyboard. “Yeah, here it is, about forty miles north of Walton in the middle of nowhere. I think there might be a body farm out that way, but this did not go to the hospital at the hub. It went to Magistrate R&D. I can only guess what that means.”
The bio freighters typically hauled clones. Cloning hadn’t panned out as they had hoped, but, for replacement parts, human clones in various blood types and with other characteristics were generated for organ, and limb transplants, and other surgical uses.
The clones were never fully sentient, but were kept in a type of cryogenic sleep known as "stasis". It was distasteful to many and there had been a movement to give the clones autonomy, but they were never fully functional human beings.
It turned out that the memory impressions gained in normal human development played a much larger part in developing a complete human psyche than anyone could have predicted. There was no way to implant them, or generate fakes convincing enough to work.
“No way to find out what was in that transit?” Joshua asked.
Kyle grimaced, “No, sorry. I am still working on it though. Maybe I’ll have something later. Be sure to send me any bar codes or serial numbers they can find on that armor. Thanks guys, I'd better log back into my social web or my interactions for the evening will be low enough to create suspicion. I look forward to helping you solve this. Good luck.”
With a pop, Kyle’s face disappeared and was replaced by a blue screen.
Adam and Joshua headed back to the medical clinic along with Jean, who was eager to meet Vernon. Vernon was sitting up and appeared alert when they got back. Doc had a stethoscope to his back and was listening intently.
“He had a collapsed lung, but it seems to be doing better, with very little fluid sounds. He can talk, but the sooner I get him sedated, and he sleeps, the better,” Doc said.
“Hi, Vernon. Do you know where you are?” Joshua asked.
Vernon’s voice was weak. “No, he wouldn’t tell me, which is probably smart, they may still be jacked into the auditory cortex. In fact, if you don’t mind, I’ll just look down for now, in case they can see through my eyes. I recognize your voices, but I don’t want to put you in danger.”
“Did he tell you where we found you?” Adam asked.
“In Walton, that’s all I know. I was on a recon mission with the squad they indentured me to. The commander suspected I was a dweller sympathizer, so they blasted that hole in my chest and left me for dead.” Vernon spoke with his eyes looking down at his hands the whole time.
“So, are you? A dweller “sympathizer”?” Joshua grinned as he said it, he thought he knew the answer.
“Hell no, I’m one of you. I’ve just been temporarily detained,” Vernon said, then started coughing. Doc handed him a tissue that he held to his mouth. When he pulled it away a small amount of blood was on it."
Doc insisted that they wait until morning to finish the interrogation, and as much as Joshua would have preferred to finish it and head home, he was exhausted and Adam looked just as tired. The dwellers had a rule. Unless they were running for their lives, they never traveled overly tired if they could help it. Tired people made mistakes and in this world, mistakes got you taken or worse, indentured as a Reaper, apparently.
They’d been offered a bedroom in a house near the clinic, but Joshua preferred his bedroll under the stars.
As he stared up at the sky, he thought about what they had learned. The Consensus had never forced anyone into this type of situation before, and he didn’t like what it might mean for the dwellers. If the Consensus was willing to stoop to this, it would be almost impossible for them to continue Settling the way they had.
They had calculated in the risk that taken dwellers would be interrogated for information, but this was way beyond that. A dweller, either voluntarily, or under some form of electronic mind control, in a Reaper, was a whole new level of threat they were not prepared to deal with.
He fell asleep thinking through all the questions that needed to be asked about recently taken dwellers and their level of knowledge about their current plans. His dreams were fitful and mostly about being pursued by an army of Dweller Reapers. He awoke a little before dawn out of habit.
It wasn’t safe to sleep in the open like that after daylight.