Authors: Kyra Anderson
“Treatment?”
“Elites aren’t like humans,” Remus
reminded her. “She’s going to need immediate attention to process everything
that happened here tonight. Paul will help.”
Kailynn swallowed hard, letting out a
shaky breath.
“I don’t understand what happened,
either,” she admitted. “It happened very fast.”
“It did,” Remus agreed. He sighed heavily
and fixed Kailynn with a stern look. “Swear to me that you will not leave her
alone.”
“I won’t,” she assured. “I’ll stay with
her.”
Remus nodded once and approached Isa. He
placed a hand on her shoulder and ducked his head down to look Isa in the eye.
The Golden Elite did not respond for two seconds. She then turned her head to
him, as if just noticing his presence.
“I’m leaving,” he said quietly.
Isa’s hand latched onto Remus’ wrist, her
eyes conflicted.
“Do you want me to stay?”
She nodded quickly.
“Alright,” he said. “I’ll stay in the
guest wing.” He took her hand and squeezed it. “I’ll deal with the Officials,
okay? I’ll be here in the morning.”
He backed away from Isa and Kailynn tried
not to be hurt by the way Isa’s hand followed his. As Remus left the bathroom,
Kailynn walked to Tarah and Isa. She waited for Tarah to finish wiping down the
cuts with antiseptic before she placed one hand on Isa’s face, turning her
head.
Isa’s eyes met hers again.
Kailynn’s chest tightened in pain.
Isa’s eyes dropped to the bandaged wound
on Kailynn’s shoulder and the uncovered one on her chest. Slowly, as if moving
through water, Isa reached up, her fingers hovering over the cut. Kailynn took
Isa’s fingers in her hand and lifted them to her mouth, kissing the fingertips.
Tarah finished treating Isa’s cuts and
placing the clear, liquid bandage over the largest wounds. She then turned her
attention back to the cut on Kailynn’s chest.
When they were both treated to the best
of Tarah’s ability, she excused herself, trying to keep her tears at bay. When
she walked out into the living room, she saw the Officials walking next to the
sheet-covered body on the gurney as they left. By the bar, Rayal and Remus were
quietly discussing what had happened.
“Tarah,” Rayal said when he saw her. He hugged
her tightly. She was unable to keep her tears back and began crying into his
chest, shaking and shivering. “It’s alright. It’s over.”
Tarah shook her head.
Rayal rubbed Tarah’s shoulder and back,
trying to comfort her.
Remus stood silently by the bar, his eyes
glancing at Isa’s bedroom door several times. He had to grip the edge of the
bar counter to keep himself from going in to be sure Isa was alright. As much
as he wanted to comfort Isa, he knew it was no longer his place. The trauma
they shared would make the situation worse, and Remus knew that. The way Isa
pushed him away earlier in the evening hurt more than he was willing to admit,
but it told him that he was no longer the one Isa needed.
“It’s not over…” Tarah hiccupped as she
backed away from Rayal. He kept his arms around her, worried about her shaking.
“What do you mean?”
“It’s like before…” she choked. “The look
in her eyes. She’s shut down. Just like with Colonel Amori.”
Rayal looked over Tarah’s tear-streaked
face, his mind turning over the words. Unable to say anything in response, he
pulled her back into a hug and turned to Remus. The Silver Elite closed his
eyes and dropped his head, unsure what to say, either.
Kailynn fell asleep again only one hour
before the sun rose. Isa had fallen asleep earlier, but Kailynn remained awake,
looking over her face, worried about the distant and cold look she had seen on
the Golden Elite.
She slept uneasily and woke after
sleeping only two hours.
Isa was not in the bed.
Kailynn leapt out of bed and darted into
the bathroom. Isa was showering, but she was sitting against the wall under the
spray, her head down, her knees tucked into her chest.
Kailynn opened the shower door and walked
in, hissing at the scorching temperature. Trying to ignore it, she kneeled next
to Isa and pulled some wet hair out of her face. Isa turned her head. Her eyes
were still cold and dark, but she was moving at a normal pace, which eased
Kailynn’s mind a little.
She sat next to the Elite and took her
hand, entwining their fingers.
They sat in silence for what felt like an
eternity.
“I’m sure you have a lot of questions…”
Isa finally murmured.
“I do.”
“Maki…” Isa trailed off.
“He was trying to shut down Venus,”
Kailyn completed. “I thought you said it wasn’t possible, but it sounds like he
made something that could let you do it.”
“Just the power supply,” Isa said, her
eyes distant. “That means we could get power to the cities and shorten the time
to reprogram the planet, but only if she were shut down entirely.”
“And that’s not possible?”
“…anything is possible,” she whispered.
Kailynn looked at Isa in surprise, trying to discern the Elite’s tone.
“You wanted to shut her down when you
were in school?” Kailynn asked. Isa nodded slowly.
“The numbers proved that it was the best
thing for the planet,” Isa said, her voice monotone and even. “Statistics show
that the longer she is in power, the bigger the social gap becomes.” The Golden
Elite sighed heavily. “They make one hundred Elites every six years,” she
explained. “For the first generations of Elites, it was not uncommon for a
Syndicate to remain in power for over a decade. That meant that two generations
of Elites were made and not chosen to participate in the Syndicate. And, of the
generations where there was a Syndicate turnover, only fifteen Elites were
chosen, leaving eighty-five Elites without Syndicate work.”
Isa turned to look at Kailynn seriously.
“These Elites outside of the Syndicate
take the highest-paying jobs in society. If an Elite and a human were
interviewed for the same job, and Elite would always get the position. They
work harder, they are smarter and learn faster, they have no emotions, and they
don’t exhaust the same as a human. For this reason, the humans moved around the
planet in an attempt to get out of the job market where Elites dominated, but
the Elites started moving around the planet as well, because Elites don’t get
fired or replaced the same way humans do.”
“But Dr. Busen is a human, isn’t he?”
“His father was an Elite,” Isa said. “He
had connections that allowed him to study and be employed in Elite Specialty
Studies.”
“I thought Elites couldn’t have
families.”
“Syndicate Elites are forbidden,” Isa
affirmed. “And even outside of the Syndicate, only male Elites have the ability
to have children. Female Elites are barren.”
Kailynn was surprised by the news. But,
as she thought about it, she had never noticed Isa having a menstrual cycle.
“But the planet became so accustomed to
hiring Elites that, now, it’s standard to have an Elite employee for positions
even if there are human candidates. The problem with that is the same problem
with Venus. Humans continue to innovate and change things, it’s part of their
makeup. They’re creative. Technologies are evolving and changing constantly,
but none of those technologies are used when creating Elites. Venus has not
changed her practices or her methods since she took power. Humans have
evolved—Elites and Venus have stayed the same. In the process, the Elites
outside of the Syndicate are causing a severe imbalance in the economy, even as
the number of degenerate Elites skyrocket. That’s forcing humans lower and
lower in the classes, until they finally reach Trid.”
Isa chuckled brokenly, shaking her head.
“And in Trid, it’s amazing, but humanity
starts to show itself again.”
“You clearly haven’t spent much time in
Trid,” Kailyn said.
“You heard what Venus said, when she saw
those children playing,” Isa said, looking at Kailynn. “
Unity
is possible. Humans communicate in Trid, they form bonds,
they help one another, they look out for one another, they fight for one
another. That’s not how it works in Anon.” Isa closed her eyes and leaned her
head back on the shower wall. “And Venus doesn’t realize that the more she
fights against the change, the larger the problem becomes. The Trid population
is growing, and it won’t be long until the Trid population is large enough to
stage a revolution.”
“…you really believe that Trid could
overthrow Anon?” Kailynn asked skeptically.
“No,” Isa said, shaking her head.
“Because rebellion is met with violence. It always has been. Revolution has to
happen from a much higher position.”
They fell silent again as Kailynn thought
over Isa’s words.
“A position like yours?” Kailynn
whispered.
Isa nodded.
Kailynn’s fingers tightened on Isa’s
hand.
“Who was Aren?”
Isa swallowed hard.
“Aren…was a very good friend of mine, of
ours, everyone in the Syndicate knew him.” Isa took a deep breath. “In school,
we were very rebellious. I’m not sure how we managed to survive, to be honest.
My execution was ordered, and when I learned of it, I figured I would at least
let my death send a message. One night, Aren and I broke into the school’s
mainframe and began downloading the security tapes of the Elite prototypes
being beaten at the Academy. We were about to upload them on a constant
broadcast in Anon when we were caught.”
Isa lifted a hand to her head, her eyes
tightening.
“They began beating us, harder than we
had ever been beaten before,” she continued, her voice quiet. “But they stopped
beating me…to this day I don’t understand why. And they held me down and forced
me to watch Aren be beaten. I remember screaming at them, telling them that
they were killing him, but they didn’t stop.”
Isa paused, her hand dropping from her
face.
“When they finally stopped, Aren was…”
Isa shook her head. “He was making these horrible sounds…I can’t even describe
them. All I could do was watch him die.”
Kailynn stared in horror at Isa as she
recounted the story.
“Needless to say, that changed a lot of
things,” Isa murmured. “I was afraid to continue rebelling, so I stayed quiet
for a while. The death sentence was taken off my head, and I was appointed to
the Syndicate. When I was inaugurated, I made a promise to everyone in the
Syndicate that we would fight to make the planet better, but we would do it
intelligently, never forgetting what happened to Aren, because we never wanted
anyone, Elite or human, to be treated like that for standing up for themselves,
or for trying to change things for the better.”
Kailynn moved away from Isa’s side,
kneeling in front of her. Isa looked at her, her eyes tired.
“But I never kept that promise,” she
whispered. “I tried…I really did. But I got tired, and then…”
Her eyes went unfocused.
“Colonel Amori?” Kailynn asked quietly.
Isa nodded slowly.
“What did he do to you?”
Isa shook her head quickly.
“I can’t talk about it.”
“…okay.”
Isa closed her eyes.
“I don’t know what to do,” she breathed.
“I don’t know how to handle what Maki has done…or what I’ve done…”
Kailynn took Isa’s face in her hands,
looking at her seriously.
“Maki would not want you backing away
from this,” she said. “I didn’t know him, and I didn’t know Aren, or anything that
has happened in the past that made you lose sight of what you wanted, but he
believed in you enough to go against Venus entirely. Clearly, he knew you would
figure out what you needed to do, whatever that was.”
Kailynn leaned forward and kissed the Golden
Elite gently. She backed away and her thumbs ran over Isa’s cheeks.
“You’re unlike anything else on this
planet,” she said with a small smile. “Don’t try to change that. Be exactly
what you are.”
Isa closed her eyes, lowering her head.
“I don’t know what that is,” she
murmured.
Kailynn pushed Isa’s head up and looked
at her seriously.
“Yes, you do.”
The house was quite full that morning.
Rayal and Remus had both stayed at Anon Tower—Rayal to watch over Tarah and
Remus at Isa’s request. Isa seemed surprised when she saw the number of people
in the living room. She spared a glance at the floor near the bar, but quickly
turned away, relieved that Remus distracted her.
He pulled her into a quick hug that had
Kailynn scowling.
“Are you feeling alright?”
“No,” Isa said, shaking her head.
“Paul called this morning,” Remus said.
“He’ll be here soon.”
Isa could only nod, looking at the
worried faces around her.
“Does everyone in the Syndicate know?”
“Don’t worry about that right now.”
“Then everyone knows,” she concluded.
“And the people? Have they heard about it?”
“…I’m afraid so,” Rayal admitted.
“How viral is it?”
“Considerably,” Rayal admitted. “But the
information is splintered and very few reports are remotely close to the truth.
Many are saying that he went insane.”
“That’s the best report for damage
control,” Remus added. “If we say that he went insane, then we can discount his
treason against Venus as mad ravings and that there is no means to shut her
down.”
Isa let out a broken chuckle.
“You want to lie?”
Remus blinked at the Golden Elite.
“What are you talking about?”
“Maki created a backup power system,” Isa
said. “I don’t know the details, of course, but he said he created a system—the
Aren System.”
“…do you think he actually did?” the
Silver Elite breathed.
“I don’t know,” Isa sighed. “I’m not sure
I want to know. That’s only a small part of attempting to shut down Venus, and
you know that.”
Remus lowered his head.
“Then he didn’t find a way to save your
life?”
“What?” Kailynn said quickly, turning to
Isa.
“Isa?” Rayal asked, his eyes wide.
“Well done, Remus,” Isa said dryly,
turning away from the group and walking into the kitchen. Everyone followed.
“What is he talking about?” Kailynn
demanded.