The Reaping (24 page)

My cheeks redden. Jack laces his fingers into mine.

“Don’t be embarrassed. I would start to worry if you
weren’t
nervous.”

We climb onto the transport, and I squeeze his hand harder. We’re surrounded by people, and the murmur of voices and the glances at me press me into the corner. I look at my feet.

“Can you loosen it just a little?” Jack whispers.

I realize I’ve been crushing his hand.
Sorry.

Jack kisses my forehead. “You’ll be fine.”

When we get off, a few public servants get off with us. I recognize most of them, and one of them even gives me a sympathetic smile. They’ll all know why I’m getting off here. They might not know exactly why I’m talking to the council today, but the looks on their faces make me feel even more nervous. They look like I’m headed for the lions’ den.

The double sliding doors that open into the council’s chamber stand before us. The chrome gleams in the bright lights. I fasten the voice box to my throat. I have fifteen minutes with the council. There’s no time for spelling things out. The council’s aide stands up when he notices us. He’s dressed in gray, just like all the other council members do. Its neutral color signifies that the council loses itself in the service of the colony.

“Welcome, Terra. I remember the last time you came to a council meeting.” His voice is almost squeaky, and I can’t suppress a smirk. Finally something I can smile about. “You were only this high.” He holds his hand about two feet off the ground. His voice was just as squeaky back then as well.

“And you used to give me grapes.”

He beams. “You remember. It’s been a long time since you’ve been down this corridor. A shame you couldn’t come back more.”

If he only knew the half of it.

He shakes his head and puts on his official face. “The council is expecting you. If you’ll wait just a moment while I record the details of your visit.” He gestures to two seats beside the door. Jack sits down and pulls me down with him.

“Relax,” he whispers.

Yeah, right.

The aide presses a few buttons on his tablet then looks up at us and smiles. His gray hair sticks up in every direction and the light illuminates it so it looks like a silver halo. With his wide smile, crinkly eyes, and squeaky voice, I can’t help but like the guy.

A plaque on the wall reads
Vox Populi.

“The voice of the people,” Jack says.

I nod.
Learned that lesson when I was a toddler.

Jack picks up on the sarcasm. “You don’t believe it?”

You know how I feel.

He does. I’ve told him more in the past few weeks than I told him in months of roaming the forest together. Yes, it is the voice of the people—definitely more than the government on the Burn is ruled by the voice of the people. I just didn’t want what the voice of the people wanted. That’s what my dad had such a hard time understanding. If the voice of the people wants it, why shouldn’t I want it too?

Jack squeezes my hand. “You can do this.”

“All finished,” the aide says, gesturing toward the door. I take a deep breath as the door slips open.

The council chamber is dominated by a huge circular table. Ten council members sit around it, and my dad sits on the far side—the spot reserved for the speaker. There are two empty seats at the table for visitors. My father’s hands are folded together on the table, and he’s watching me casually, his eyes guarded. Is he trying to appear impartial? The warmest greeting I get is a hint of a smile from a woman two seats down from my father whose daughter I played with when I was five. So much for not being nervous.

The council aide steps in behind us and guides us to the empty seats. My knees are shaking so badly I’m sure the council member next to me will give me a dirty look, but her eyes are trained straight on my father. I sit down.

My father looks at the tablet in front of him, clears his throat, and then looks up at me.

“The council acknowledges you, Terra, and you’re invited to speak when you’re ready.”

No “Hi, honey.” Of course I wasn’t expecting something quite that personal from him, but I could be any other colonist sitting across from him. Equity for all, I guess. His motto.

“As you know, I’ve lived on the Burn for almost a year now.” My eyes flick from council member to council member, but I can’t bring myself to look at them for long. Why am I so intimidated by them? “You also know that I’ve been helping nomads—those who live outside the designated cities as a means of escaping the government—find their way to the colonies.”

One of the council members clears his throat and raises his hand. The movement catches me off guard and I stutter. I thought I would have a few minutes at least to make my case until the questions started. Maybe not.

“Yes?”

“And how do you know these ‘nomads’ you bring here aren’t spies for New America’s government?”

His tone spikes my anger, and that cuts through my nervousness better than anything could. I take a breath. I’m ready to fling a response at him, but I pause. Something he said doesn’t line up with everything I’ve been taught in the colony. My eyes narrow at him.

“And how do you know it’s called New America up there?”

His face pales and his eyes flick to my father and back to me. My father nods almost imperceptibly. The council member steeples his hands, but doesn’t speak anymore. I take that as a sign that I’m free to continue, and I’m guessing I won’t have any more interruptions. But I file the past few seconds away to bring up later. Something’s going on here.

“I’ve been bringing the nomads to the colonies to get them away from the government. You may or may not know that I was imprisoned in a labor camp while I was on the Burn, so I’ve seen firsthand some of the atrocities the government is capable of. I was imprisoned for nothing more than not being in a designated city. Many of the other inmates there were imprisoned for much less. They deserve a better government—one that will treat them like people.

“What I’m doing on the Burn is important to me, and it’s making a difference in the lives of the nomads who come down here. They’ve become an essential part of colony life. They’re happy and healthy.” I eye the council member over medical affairs. “None of them have brought any diseases to the colony and have never posed a health risk.” I turn back to the rest of the council. “And they all work very hard. But it’s not enough. Up there, the government is working on a loyalty serum, a drug that alters people’s brains. It’s a way to force the citizens to become mindless drones. They’ll never oppose the government, and they’ll never have a voice again. As council members you all know how important it is that the people be heard. And the government is very close. I’ve come to ask the council to help me find a way to stop the production of the serum.”

I sit down and the whispers begin. It starts low, the hum of bees, and then it rises until the council members are shouting at each other. My father’s voice rises above it all.

“Quiet! Now is the time to voice your concerns.”

Starting at my father’s right, the council members speak.

“We can’t make a decision of this magnitude in the time provided this morning. It will take careful consideration—”

“But there is no time!” I say. My father silences me with a look.

The council member continues without even acknowledging me. “We have a strict code not to get involved. It would be dangerous for us to even think about assisting them.”

“Such an act would be a definitive acknowledgement of our existence. It would put us all in danger.”

“If we come to their aid now, they would expect us to help them at every juncture. When will it end?”

I snort at this response. My father glares at me and I glare right back. I’m ready to interrupt the next council member when the doors open and Gaea whisks into the room, her curly hair and long dress billowing behind her.

My father’s face warps from anger to confusion to sadness to shock and back through about five times. All the color has drained from his face and his mouth hangs open. Gaea comes to a stop right behind me and puts a hand on my shoulder.

The next council member in line flaps her mouth. “Who are you to barge in here like this? We are in the middle of an important meeting. There’s a reason you need to schedule an appointment. Who are you anyway? Does anyone recognize this woman?” The council member sees my dad’s face. “Mr. Speaker? Do you know her?”

It’s all my father can do to speak. “Teresa?”

At the name, all the council members shift in their seats and the whispering behind hands begins. I can just imagine the wheels cranking.
Teresa? Wasn’t that his wife’s name? She disappeared years ago, not long after Terra and Jessa were born. Do you know why she left? No, I never heard. Just up and left him. I think it was another man. Well I think she couldn’t live in his shadow, being the speaker of the colony. If it is her where has she been all these years? And
look
at her. Who knows where she’s been hiding looking like that.

My father is still paralyzed, so I stand up. She may not have been much of a mother to me, but she’s helped me more in the past year than this entire colony has in my lifetime, and frankly I’m tired of the pettiness running rampant through the council right now.

“That’s enough!” I’m actually kind of impressed with the way the voice box carries my anger. “This is my mother, and you should show her the same respect you show any other member of this colony.”

Gaea’s hand trembles on my shoulder, and I raise one of my own to squeeze it. I feel Jack’s warmth next to me, and I know that no matter what happens next, I can do this.

My father wobbles to his feet and takes one step around the table. “Teresa, where have you been?”

Gaea doesn’t move an inch as she watches him approach. She grabs my hand with her other to keep from bolting.

“Say something,” I whisper.

“I—” Her voice comes out in a creak and she clears her throat. “I’ve been in the trench.”

My father steps back. “You didn’t transfer to another colony?”

She raises an eyebrow. She’s steadier now. “You would have known if I had. You tried to trace me.”

“You left me. How could I not trace you?”

“I left because of what you did to my children.” Her voice is soft, but there’s so much venom in it that my father flinches back like he’s been slapped.

The council member next to him looks defiantly at Gaea. “Mr. Speaker, what is this woman raving about?”

My father finally shakes the shock off. “This woman is my wife, council member. Her name is Teresa. She is not a raving mad woman. Please correct your tone.”

The council member
hrmphs
, but sits back.

“And everything she says is true.” My father’s eyes fall to the floor. I’ve never seen him look so defeated.

The whispers start again, and my father raises his hands. “We don’t have time to go into details now. This time was reserved for Terra. When she is dismissed, we will discuss this further. Please continue.”

Gaea leans down to me. “Do you mind?”

I shake my head.

“I have access to the satellites orbiting the earth. You’re not the only ones who can spy.”

Two council members glare at her. Spying, huh? If the council members have the same access to the Burn as Gaea does, that would explain the council member’s slip when he said New America. But why would the council lie so much about what they know?

“As such, and you may already know this depending on your dedication to the said spying, you know everything that Terra has presented is true.”

A shrewish woman leans forward. “Regardless, it is not our concern.”

“Silence!” My father glares at her. “This colony may have protocols regarding the Burn, but this council also has protocols regarding these proceedings. You’d do best to remember that.”

The woman eyes him icily and leans back.

“My only question for the esteemed and wise council—” the sarcasm in her voice is unmistakable “—is what will you do when the mindless drones created by the loyalty serum are ordered to attack the colonies?”

I brace myself for more shouting, but the silence is deafening. I lean to Jack and smirk.

“A real stumper.” I feel so relieved to have another ally that all I want to do is laugh, but Jack shakes his head. He’s right. Now’s not the time.

My father crosses his arms. “Did you have anything more to add, Terra?”

“I wish you would help the people of New America because you want to—because it’s what’s right. Not because you’re worried about saving your own skins.”

“It’s not that easy, Terra. You’ve grown up here. You know how difficult the relationship we have with New America is.”

I roll my eyes. “What relationship? You always told me contact was forbidden, and now I’m suddenly learning that you guys know just about everything that goes on up there.”

Gaea leans forward. “If you would just give Terra the access she needs to their computer system, she could get to the government island, and—”