James answered before I could. “I’m anInsider. I don’t want them takingourship. Some Travas are helping, but the rest are being loaded onto the transports with everyone else.”
“Trella, you aren’t going to trust him, are you?” Domotor asked.
Jacy and Riley had trusted him. That was good enough for me. “Do you know where the gas canisters are and how to disable them?” I asked the captain.
“Yes, I do. But I’ll need a few helpers.”
Wera and Cain volunteered without hesitation. The three of them rushed off.
In order for us to be effective, we needed more Insiders. Many of them wouldn’t believe unless…unless they saw it for themselves! “Domotor, can you put together a working computer that isn’t tainted by the Outsiders?”
“If I had the right supplies,” he said with a surly tone, still annoyed.
I turned to Emek and Rat. “Can you fetch for Domotor?”
“Yes,” Emek said.
“Jacob, can you rig the electricity for the computer?”
“As long as there’s juice nearby,” he said.
“Where do you—Quad A1, right?” Domotor asked. He stroked his narrow chin with his long fingers.
“Yep. Call it our headquarters.” Then I had another idea. “Any way to make the monitor bigger? So a lot of Insiders can see it at the same time.”
“We have a projector,” Emek said.
“A projector?” I asked.
“It’s old tech. It has a light and lenses.” When he realized we didn’t understand, he said, “Basically, it takes a small picture and makes it bigger. You can aim it at a wall.”
“I’ll take a look at it,” Domotor said. “Couldn’t hurt.”
They left. Emek pushed Domotor’s wheel chair, Rat wrote down supplies on a wipe board and Jacob added items.
Sloan, Takia, Hana, and Lamont remained. They waited for their orders. I squelched a moment of doubt. This wasn’t the time for second thoughts.
“Takia and Hana, I’m going to need you to be evacuated with the others.”
The women were alarmed and unhappy until I explained why. “I’ll have to find you first, so if you can hide in one of the rooms in Sector F4 that would be perfect.”
They agreed and went to get into position.
I drew in a deep breath. Sloan and Lamont remained. Since I’d been collared, I needed an admiral to bring this whole attack together. Who to trust? My mother, who betrayed us during the last rebellion or the man who started the riot and slapped me?
Deciding I needed both, I addressed Sloan. “You’re in charge of getting recruits. You’ll need to bring them to Quad A1 and convince them about the Outsiders. Then you’ll be needed to lead teams up to level five.”
He laughed. “And then I’ll grow metal skin so I’m invincible. See? I can be ridiculous, too.”
I stared at him until he frowned. “Why areyouhere, Sloan?”
“Guilt. I failed to protect Jacy and the Outsiders got him.”
“Leading those teams will save him,” I said.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
