The Biomass Revolution (The Tisaian Chronicles) (5 page)

“
I’d be locked up for telling you both, but I don’t care anymore. I have nothing to lose. The State isn’t what it’s cracked up to be, boys. This life as a State worker, it’s all a facade. We’re told lies to hide what is really going on. Do you really think there aren’t survivors in the Wastelands, or in the skeletons of what used to be cities?”

Ing raised his hand to stop Paulo before he could go on any further. “What
you’re saying is bordering on treason. You do realize this, right?”

“And I don’t care, Ing. I’m telling you this because my life is over anyways.”

“Let him talk,” Spurious barked. Ing looked over at his normally quiet friend and quickly nodded.

“Go on Paulo. I
’m listening,” Spurious said.

“I know there are survivors because I have heard the transmissions. I
’ve heard the broadcasts, people on the two-way channels that are asking for help,” Paulo exclaimed.

“Try and keep it down a bit,” Spurious interrupted. “We don’t know who is listening.”

“Radio transmissions? Come on, that’s a bunch of shit. How do you know this?” Ing asked.

“I know because I have a two-way radio. The co-worker gave it to me before he disappeared. He was getting paranoid and
said he needed a safe place to keep it, so I stashed it under my mattress in a metal box that blocks signals from being traced. And at night, I take it into my bathroom, where my AI can’t hear the transmissions.”

Ing slammed his mug down on the
wooden surface of the table, which was already covered in empty glasses. “Man, this is ludicrous. You’re going to end up in prison, or worse, dead! And I could end up there with you, just for listening. Forget this. I’m finding myself a female, and will pretend I never heard this conversation.”

Paulo stood up to stop
Ing as he made his way into the crowd.

“Let him go.
Let’s move to a leather booth. Over there,” Spurious pointed.

Reluctantly
, Paulo obliged and they moved across the room to a booth in the corner. It wasn’t long before Spurious realized he had all but forgotten the message. He sat down in the plush booth, sinking deeper into the comfort of the aged leather. His curiosity was getting the best of him tonight; first the message, and now Paulo’s stories. After living with such a monotonous routine, it was finally good to have some stimulation, even if there was a risk.

“What type of transmissions are you hearing?” Spurious asked.

Paulo looked down at his drink and picked at the wooden table nervously. “Perhaps Ing is right. Perhaps I should not bring you two into this.”

“
Ing just doesn’t care about anyone but himself.”

“That maybe so, but it’s selfish of me to put you two at risk. You don’t know what the State is capable of. What the Knights are capable of.” Paulo paused and picked at the table some more, before his drunken eyes turned back to Spurious. “I don’t know what I would do if I lost you two.”

“It’s going to be all right, you know that, Paulo?” Spurious said, reaching over and patting his friend on the back.

Paulo smiled, revealing a set of per
fectly aligned white teeth. “No it won’t. My life is over. I have nothing left to look forward to, but you…You have so much!”

Spurious
raised his glass to his mouth, gulping down another swig of the sweet nectar. “You’re right. I do have a lot to look forward to. Many years of working for the State,” he said laughing.

“I guess I will drink to that,” Paulo chuckled, polishing off the last of his pint.

As the night wore on and the crowd began to dissipate, Spurious caught a side view of a young woman dancing across the wooden floor. His eyes followed her, watching her graceful moves. She swung her arms through the air, gently tossing her long dark hair up and around her face. When the young woman smiled he instantly recognized her. It was Lana.

Shocked into motion, Spurious slid out of his booth
, patting Paulo on the back once more, and placing his half-full mug on the table. He pushed through the mob of customers, thrusting his way through them before losing sight of her at the entrance of The Cave.

For a split second
, he saw Ing out of the corner of his eye, and he paused to watch his friend flirt with a woman wearing bright red lipstick. A smile curled across his face before he continued on.

The Cave
was dim, save for a few candles burning violently, their white wax bleeding down the stone walls. The music was piercingly loud, the echo of bass pounding in his ears. He rested his back against the rough edge of stone, scanning the room for Lana and watching intoxicated patrons grinding against one another. His eyes stopped on a pair of women kissing in the corner, nothing but the shadows covering his eyes.

And then he saw her, dancing in
the middle of the room with two of her friends. He froze, watching her as she threw her hands into the air, laughing, while her friends danced around her. He smiled as one of her friends softly bumped into her, throwing her off balance.

A
short break in the music revealed the sound of his heart beating rapidly, the pulse pounding in his skull. He wiped a bead of sweat off his flushed face and brushed his hair back into place before making his way towards her.

With a half smile
, he grabbed her softly by the wrist. She paused, turning as her eyes locked with his. Instantly she recognized him. “Spurious, it’s so good to see you!” she yelled. “I didn’t think you would come.”

“Come?”
he asked, a puzzled look on his clearly intoxicated face. “Wait, you sent me that message at work?”

Lana smiled
playfully. “I did, but for now, let’s dance,” she yelled, grabbing him by his hand and pulling him further out on the dance floor.

“It’s so good to see you. I missed you at work this week. Where have you been?” he asked, shouting over the loud music.

He couldn’t stop staring at her. For a moment everything seemed to slow to a stop. The music went silent and the room emptied; in his mind it was just the two of them, shrouded in darkness. It was then he knew that she wanted him just as badly as he wanted her. “Come on, dance, Spurious!” she yelled, pulling him back into reality and leading him into the crowd. She wrapped her arms around his neck and began to move her breasts against his body.  Lana kissed him softly on his cheek and looked at him. “I can’t go back there, Spurious, I just can’t,” she said, in his ear. Spurious looked at her, recognizing the fear in her face.

“What is it? Why can’t you go back?”

Lana looked at her feet.

“I can’t…”

Spurious stopped dancing and nudged her chin up with his fingers so he could see her eyes. “You can’t what Lana?”

“I can’t tell you. Not here.”

“All right, let’s get out of here then,” he said, as he led her out of the darkness.

Time
: 2:35 a.m. January 24, 2071

Location
: Commons Courtyard. Lunia, Tisaia

A soft blanket of snow covered the stone ground of the courtyard outside the Commons Buildings. The enclosure was built in the shape of a rectangle. Each of the four corners represented a stone statue of the burning flame, the symbol of Tisaia’s life blood—Biomass.

At the front gate a
single Knight stood guard, his goggles a cool blue into the darkness. From his viewpoint the courtyard appeared completely empty. Spurious and Lana had evaded his detection by entering the park from the back and sat huddled together on a park bench, facing the memorial fountain. The water was completely frozen over, but the fountain still attempted to work, with the occasional spurt of water exploding into the frothy air.

Spurious held Lana in his arms. For
what seemed like an hour the two of them remained there, shivering. Spurious wasn’t worried about the cold, nor was he worried about being caught in the park after hours. His only concern was what Lana wanted to tell him at The Ale House a few hours earlier.

“What is it
, Lana?” Spurious whispered in her ear. She looked up at him with tears in her eyes.

“I can
’t tell you, Spurious. I just can’t. You’ll never understand and will lose all respect for me.”

Spurious reached over and wiped a tear from her cheek. “
I’d never lose respect for you. Not under any circumstance. Why would you think that I would?”

Lana sniffled, wiping her nose with a quick brush of her hand. “You
’ll lose respect because I should have told someone a long time ago.”

“Lana, trust me, I know what you mean. There are things I have kept in for years—things no one knows and probably never will. I just hope you know you can trust me.”

“Okay, but what I’m about to tell you is something you can’t share with anyone. Promise me!”

Spurious nodded
. “I promise, Lana.”

Lana took a deep breath
. “For two years Varius has treated me like a slave and I have completed every project for him. Lately, he has become even more demanding. He touches me when no one is looking, and gropes me when no one is around. Worst of all, he’s demanded that I sleep with him. He said, if I don’t, he will have me fired.”A pair of tears raced down her cheeks as she pulled her collar down, revealing a dark purple bruise lining her neck.

“Oh my G
od...” Spurious said, choking on his words while imagining the abuse she suffered at the hands of Varius.

“I can’t go back
,” she said, sobbing.

“That bastard, he isn’t going to get away with this,” Spurious whispered
, sliding back on the bench and pulling Lana up from his lap. He wiped another tear from her face. “You must turn him in, Lana. You know you must.”

“He told me
he would fire me if I didn’t sleep with him, and he said he would kill me if I told anyone,” she whimpered. “I don’t know what to do, Spurious. Now that I told you, he’ll kill me for sure.”

Spurious
glanced over at her, his mouth quivering, before he dropped his head into his hands, unable to speak. He ran his fingers through his thick brown hair, raising it into a spike.

“He will never lay another hand on you again
, Lana; I can assure you of this. This is what you’re going to do. For now, you need to stay home until you’re fully healed. Do not go out. Don’t risk being seen,” Spurious frowned. “What were you thinking, going to The Ale House tonight?”

“I wanted to see you," she quickly replied.

“What if someone from work had seen you there? You need to think about the repercussions. Varius is a dangerous man and is well connected.”

Lana looked back up at him, nodding. “I know. I know. It was stupid of me to try and meet with you, but I had to tell you. I don’t know who else to trust.”

“It’s okay. Don’t worry about that now,” Spurious reassured her. “It's obvious he’s infatuated with you, and if you tell him you’re sick, he will more than likely let you stay at home to rest for a few days, am I right?”

Lana nodded
again.

“
Okay,” Spurious replied. “In the meantime I want to see you. We’ll have to do it secretly, but I need to see you, Lana. I need to know there is something more to life than the work we perform every day and the revolution. This war, the death, the pain… sometimes it’s too much to handle alone. I need to know hope can exist.”

Did he know what he was saying? Seeing her could mean a visit from the Justice Knights and his job
, but something about it felt convincingly right.  He wrapped his arms tighter around her, and for a few moments he felt safe, their hearts beating in unison.

Love was an emotion he hadn’t known since the death of his parents. And he knew how fragile love could be in Tisaia. He had seen it ripped from the hands of so many others—had it ripped from his own hands as a child.

Spurious squeezed Lana closer. His heart began to pound faster, deeper in his chest. He wouldn’t let anyone come between them, not even a Justice Knight would take her from him. He wasn’t going to lose her like he lost his parents.

Time
: 9:03 a.m. January 25, 2071

Location
: Rohania, Tisaia

Spurious strolled through the streets of the Rohania market area, his head tucked tightly into the breast of his collar. He wasn’t even sure what had compelled him to get out of bed; usually he would have slept in until at least nine, especially on a day as gloomy as this one. Yet he had risen, showered and forced himself to explore the streets.

Something had encouraged him to come to the area that was off-limits to State workers—something had driven him to take the risk. So h
e told Anya he was working overtime and he took the underground trolley to the last stop; where he promptly got off and headed for Rohania, combing his way through old stone alleyways and ducking under a barbed wire fence. He knew all the portals linking the east and west together, some consisting of nothing more than idle storm drains or broken chain link fences.