daynight (51 page)

“Because Ted Rosenberg is a true traitor to Thera. He played both sides, trying to set himself up well with the eventual victor. So he’s the one who should have a date with the firing squad,” she says, loud enough for him to hear.
 

Apparently Ted’s not ready to say goodbye. He makes a run for it, darting between two solar panels. I can hear his hefty breathing as he hikes his heart rate beyond acceptable levels. The security guard dashes after him.

Vienna is chuckling at Ted’s flight. “Isn’t Ted a little touchy tonight. I wasn’t serious about the firing squad. He’s headed for Exile.”

“That should go well,” I say. “I’m sure he’s far more hated there than here. I’ll go help round him up.” I head down a parallel row to try to corner him from the opposite side. I’m sure I can run double his speed without even trying.

I keep light on my feet and listen for his shuffle. He appears to be zigzagging between panels in an effort to hit the outer edge where he’d hope to disappear into the canyon. I make some calculated turns to reach the edge before he does and then slow my pace so I can determine exactly which row to intercept him. His shuffles have slowed. If he’s smart, he’s stopped to gauge where the guard and I are. Perhaps he’ll even climb up into one of the panels to wait us out. There must be ten thousand or more of them in this field, so it’d take forever to check them all, without bringing in every troop in the city.
 

I slowly crouch down and look through the rows for his feet, betting he’s not so smart after all. I’m right as I see him ten feet in, five rows up, trying to blend into the base of a panel. He’s probably just catching his breath before making a run for the canyon. Kira would get a kick out of watching Mr. Potatohead try to escape. I can understand why he’d try, but the odds are not with him. Of course, Ted Rosenberg’s as arrogant as they come, so he has likely convinced himself it is possible.

In less than twenty-seconds I’m in the row next to him. I slowly and weightlessly inch to the panel in front of him.

“Give it up, Ted,” I say. I hear the click of the guard’s gun, indicating the guard has him covered on the other side. Rolling towards Ted, I clip his feet and send him barreling backwards.

Between belabored breaths, Ted says, “Vienna’s lying. I never betrayed the SCI. It was your father and the Exilers I deceived. That was my job. Brad Darcton assigned it to me.” As Ted nervously twitches, I see his chin fat jiggle. I remember how Kira used to joke about using liposuction on Spud’s fat chin and wish I was back with her and not here.

“You should be ashamed of yourself on all accounts. I hope you had a good meal tonight, Ted. How do you feel about slop?” I say. He’s up on his knees now and begging the security guard. He still thinks he’s going to be executed. The SCI, however, will be kinder than my father would have been—my father would have put the bullet through his brain. Ted lured my father and the Militants into the city, knowing they’d be ambushed. Knowing they couldn’t win.

“Please, please, please spare my life. I’ll tell you everything I know about the Exilers. Everything you need to take them out,” he says, whimpering and sweat pouring from his face. “I’ll do anything you need. Anything.”

Vienna walks up behind him with a second security guard and says, “Shut up, Ted. I said that you
should
face a firing squad, not that you were going to.” Ted sucks in a chest full of air and then bows down at her feet. She steps back and says, “Instead, I have a bright orange jumpsuit and nightpack with a night’s worth of food. Nathaniel’s going to take you outside the city. Good luck, Ted. I hope the Exilers are as forgiving for your trespasses as we’ve been.” I watch as Nathaniel, the security guard, cuffs and blindfolds Ted. Ted’s screaming as he’s dragged off. Before they get to the edge of the canyon Nathaniel tires of the wailing and uses a piece of duct tape to quiet Ted for the rest of their journey.
 

Ted probably does deserve Exile. He flagrantly broke dozens of Canon rules with his attempt at being the double-agent. My problem is that there’s no due process to the SCI’s law. Ted had no trial, no jury of his peers, and no due process. As crappy as the American government can be, democracy still has merit. The SCI assumes that the few know better than the masses. They test their methods on unknowing and unsuspecting Second Chancers. As with any dictatorship, they need to be stopped. I just have to figure out the best way to make that happen with the information Kira gave me.

My mother approaches me. She says, “I need your decision, Blake.” I know what I need to do, but it’s still hard to do it, as it is any time you have to pick in a lose-lose scenario. As much as my choice sucks, the alternative’s unbearable.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Ethan

“You never had a heart defect, Son.”
Dr. Christo has never been one to mince words, but he’s never managed to utter a doozy like this one. He’s dressed head to toe in such a dazzling white that it blinds me. I struggle to suck life-giving air into my lungs.

“That’s impossible,” I finally manage to say.

“Thera’s at a critical juncture. The Ten and Council have been decimated, leaving the most extreme in place. It’s time you know the truth.”

“And you’re telling me the truth is that I had a dozen surgeries for a non-existent heart condition?” I ask incredulously.

“It was necessary to make it
appear
that you both had a defect and needed constant medical care. For your protection. And to give me complete, unquestioned access to you.”

“
You’re
the one who had me locked up for ten years?” I accuse.

He begins to pace back and forth in my living room. Like, Jax, he too has the capability of blocking surveillance, so our conversation is secure.

“The Grand Council and the Ten had lost focus. They were perverting the purposes of the grand design behind Thera and the Second Chancers. I had to take action. At the time, I ran the Assisted Pregnancy lab. Your mother and father had ‘won’ the lottery and were due. I used your mother’s egg, but… fertilized the egg with… I’m your biological father, Ethan. You have both ARB and pure Dark DNT in you. But your parents couldn’t know. And the ARB and DNT don’t always co-exist well, so I needed to treat you. Hybrids are… rare and exceptional. You have… undeveloped talents.”

He lets the news sink in. I sit down on the couch and bury my head in my hands. Brad Darcton, the man presumed dead in the attack on Headquarters, is not my father? Dr. Christo is? Which would make Jax… my brother? I’m some sort of DNA hybrid concocted in a lab?

After a minute taken to get my breathing under control again, I ask, “Why? Why would you do that?”

“You’re destined to realign the Ten and Grand Council to their intended purposes. It’s almost time to right the wrongs of the Ten. To be trusted by the SCI, you had to be a pure Dark. To be trusted by me and the rest the Arbiters, you needed to have the ARB marker. I trained you from your youth for this purpose.” He looks so proud of his accomplishment.

“And if I say no to being your ‘sleeper agent’ in the SCI?” I ask.

“You won’t. You can’t,” he says.

“Are you threatening me? If so, you’re no better father than Brad Darcton was,” I say.

“I’m nothing like Brad Darcton. Given what you know about the SCI… what they are doing to the Second Chancers… to the Exilers… to the people you love… Can you turn your back on a chance to fix it?” he asks. He’s right. Kira would never forgive me if I had the opportunity to repair that which is broken.

“All those couples are carrying Kira and my children? What happens when my ARB-marked blood mixes with Kira’s?” I ask.

“Not for you to worry about” he says. “You have other concerns. From here on out, things will move quickly. Your Uncle’s in town and they are scrambling to fill spots on the Ten and Council. If offered a spot, you’ll take it without hesitation. I will advise you as I am able and Jax and I will train you to develop your latent… talents.”

“Jax knows?” I ask. “For how long? And what talents?”

“He’s always known,” he mumbles. “It would be impossible to keep from him. As for talents, it’s unclear what you are capable of. We’ll have to run tests.”

As disturbed as I am by the turn of events, I’m equally intrigued. If I could do a fraction of the things Jax is capable of, it would be amazing. Life changing.

“And, Ethan,” Dr. Christo says. “You’re to keep this to yourself.
No one
can know. The future of Thera depends on it.”

“Hey, bro. I hear a Cleaving
may
be in your future,”
a very smug Jax says, arriving uninvited and announced as always. Kira’s been staying with me, but is taking a longer-than-approved shower.

“You bastard,” I reply. “You knew about me all along and never breathed a word.”

“You,” he says, poking me in my chest, “did not have clearance. Besides, all the clues were there. You just failed as detective.”

“We’re brothers,” I say as a statement, still unbelieving. “I seem to be accumulating those lately.”

“So I’ve heard. Half-brothers, though,” he corrects. “I’m anticipating a few half-brotherly quarrels in our future.”

“Well, then I guess nothing will change,” I say. As much as Jax riles me up, it’s hard to stay mad at him. “We’re always arguing.”

“Over trivial things, thus far. Imagine what happens when brothers clash over important things,” he muses. What, like Blake and I have been doing over Kira?

“Then we’ll have to hope blood runs thicker than hostility,” I say, unconvinced that if they Cleave Blake to Kira that I’ll be able to get past it and forgive him.

“About that Cleaving… Think they’ll pick you?” Jax asks.

“I have no idea. If they don’t I’ll be in no condition to help you, your father, my Uncle, or anyone else for that matter. I’ll find some remote area on Earth and curl up in a ball and wither away.”

“Dramatic as always, Ethan. Have you talked to Kira?” he asks.

“She knows how I feel. I can’t force her to feel the same,” I shrug.
 

“She does,” he says. “She’s got a big heart. Big enough to love more than one man utterly and completely.”

“Don’t remind me,” I say. I stuff my hands into my pants pockets and rock back and forth to calm my nerves.

Jax pats me on the back. “Got to run, bro. Kira’s done showering and I’d hate to meet her for the first time when she’s in… compromising attire. It’s almost show time. May the best man win and I think we all know who the best man is.” Well, I know Jax always assumes that
he
is the best, but I’ve got to think that between Blake and me that he’d support me.

“Thanks, Jax.”

“Ethan, do you know where my brush is?” Kira yells. I turn around to say goodbye to Jax, but he’s already vanished. So, I do the only thing I can. Go to spend what may be my last moments with Kira before the Ten’s decision comes down.

We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the life that is waiting for us.
— Joseph Campbell

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Kira

The knock comes at 0300 hours. Two armed guards tell us that the Ten has requested Ethan and my presence at Headquarters immediately.
We oblige and follow the men. Ethan holds my hand the entire way, and I’m not sure whether this will be the last opportunity to do so or not. Vienna Darcton visited me earlier to tell me Blake would be given a choice to stay or leave and the Ten awaited his decision before choosing my Cleave.

I stress over what Blake decided the entire way to the Headquarters building. How will he use the information I passed to him? I—and now Blake—are in possession of a whopper of a secret. The clues came unwittingly from Brad Darcton. I’m sure he’d be rolling over in his grave if he knew that he’d led me to the information.

Even though I didn’t figure it out right away, the key was an offhand comment Brad made the day he showed us the city models. He bragged that the SCI could never be defeated because of the power within a giant, wheel-shaped structure in the model. It helps with “resource allocation and management for the city” he’d said.

The resources are people, the structure—a portal. A mega-portal leading to Earth and every city on Thera. That’s how they could have security forces arrive on demand when Exilers attacked. And how the city heads arrived for their meeting. The spokes of the wheels are tunnels—the individual portals. When Ethan and I left Earth we arrived at Earth’s mega-portal. The circular room had been paneled, but I’d seen the seams to dozens of doorways.

Without the capabilities of their mega-portal, the SCI would appear weak and scattered. With it, they can transport goods and people quickly from one place to another without the need of airplanes or complex transportation systems. The ships could be used for large shipments and serve as a great decoy, hiding the SCI’s true capabilities.

I repeat the million dollar question in my mind. What will Blake do with the information? Will he stay here so that we can formulate a plan to immediately decentralize the SCI government? Or will he choose Exile? Albeit unspoken, we both know our best chance of getting back into the great hall of city models is to stay on good terms with Vienna Darcton.
 

Ethan and I are screened at the Headquarters door and then separated. I’m taken to a small room where two armed female guards watch over my ‘care’ given by my regular doctor and nurse. They give me a full physical with more shots. I still hate the needles, but since I seem to encounter them nightly, I’m used to the pain. Once the shots and medications are done with, the doctor gives me another full abdominal ultrasound. Are they going to take more eggs so soon, I wonder? I don’t ask.

Following my medical checkup, I get moved to a giant dressing room where my escorts ask me to dress in a shimmering gold gown in preparation for my Cleave ceremony. I guess the Ten’s wasting no time Cleaving me off now that the decision’s been made as to who. Although I’m hardly ready to be Cleaved to anyone and what that entails, I’m ambivalent about the ceremony itself.