The Constant Star (19)

THE STORY SO FAR

And a part of that is to find who these dissenters are and bring them to justice. I will do so with your help or not. But I can only help you if you help me. Who contacted you? And what did they tell you?” He hands her the paper, “Who told you you are not alone?”

Siff takes her drawing back and storms into the living room. She sees her father’s workscreen sitting on the table and immediately walks toward it. With her father following her he cannot see the drive she pulls out of her pocket, nor see her place it on his workscreen underneath her drawing, “We need to set them free, Dad. They need to experience life as we do. How can you look at such suffering and be okay with it?”

“I am not okay with it, but I understand the necessity. There is a greater purpose to what we do than the lives of a few people. There must be the occasional sacrifice to ensure the future of humanity.”

“That’s easy to say when you’re not the one being sacrificed.”

“You think I don’t sacrifice every day? The work I put in, the decisions I have to make? The way I saved you twice so far from severe repercussions. Do you think I didn’t have to sacrifice to make that happen? There is a greater purpose and not even your idealism is allowed to stand its way.”

“Idealism? I just want people to be treated like human beings!”

“If there is a halt in their production at any time, this entire ship, your entire way of life, could collapse!”

“If we need to treat people that way to survive, then maybe we shouldn’t survive!”

“But humanity can survive! The Chosen Ones are showing us it is possible. And while we are not them, and never could be, we can see the hope for our species.”

Siff hears a buzz under her drawing and reaches for it. She picks up the drive with her paper and makes her way to the furnace chute, “How can you justify that kind of suffering when you have the power to make it better? How long have you known, Dad? How long have you known and done nothing?” She holds the picture up, keeping the drive out of sight behind it, “My dreams of what humanity could be are nothing, and so are your ideals.” And with that she tosses her paper down the chute along with the drive.

Hearing a faint clink, Jupiter’s suspicions are raised, “What did you just do, Siff? What did you just throw down the furnace?”

“I threw my hopes, Dad. And you were wrong, they didn’t just get in contact with me. They showed me. These bruises aren’t just from my beating at school, they’re from the beating I got this morning trying to save a boy from the security forces your Council send down there. How can you know that such things are happening and be okay with them? Not try to change them?”

“Was it just the paper you threw down there? Or was there something else? Tell me, Siff. What did they make you do?”

“They didn’t make me do anything Dad. It was you. It was you and all who came before you. You made me do it. Your cowardice made me do it.”

“What did you do?” Jupiter rushes to his workscreen and flips it on. A warning light shows files have been copied, “Oh my god. You have no idea…” He touches his comm, “Jupiter reporting a security breach. Lower levels have access to encrypted files. Dispatch security immediately.”

14

Jupiter holds Siff’s arm in a vice-grip as he leads her through the streets. There is a sense of panic in the general population as security forces pour out of their deployment pods and head toward hitherto unthought-of doors, disappearing into mysterious hallways. Siff wonders how many people know about the lower levels. She wonders if even all the security forces know what’s down there. That would be a major mind-job, getting called out to an emergency to find you’re a member of an oppressive regime. Maybe they’ll rebel against their programming. ‘Brainers’. Sheesh. Who would have thought? I hope the truth gets out before Macy’s people can be stopped. I know the people up here will stand up to tyrannical leadership if they only see what’s going on.

A transport pulls up and her father almost throws her into the back seat before jumping in next to her. The military driver turns them around and speeds them through the confusion. Siff has a feeling where they are heading, but asks anyway, “Where are we-“

“The Bridge. Conference room. Emergency meeting.”

She’s never been to the Bridge before, but she knows it’s where her father pretty much lives. A sense of emerging anxiousness starts to build in her gut. She knows she’s in trouble, but she also knows that what she did was the right thing to do. Whatever happens next, she can live with herself. Especially since Macy promised to get her into the Chosen Ones’ environment. How long do you think it will take her to get me out of this mess and into that freedom? Wherever they put me now, Macy can get me out.

The transport speeds its way to the Pilots’ main building where they are met by armed guards who escort them through a foyer and into an elevator. They travel up for several minutes before the elevator reaches its limit and they exit. The guards escort them down a hallway where they pass through a security checkpoint and are taken by a different unit to another elevator. The seven of them stand in silence for another couple of minutes before the doors open and another hallway lays before them. The group walk past several doors toward a large main door that Siff can only assume would open to the bridge. They stop just short of this and open a door to the right. Siff and her

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