As I scrolled down the page, Riley asked his father why he was late.
“I visited your brother,” Jacob said. “The Committee heard rumors of the kitchen workers threatening to cook only enough food for themselves. I thought I’d check into it and see if I can resolve the issue.”
I tuned out their conversation, glad I no longer had to deal with the Committee’s problems. Concentrating on the list, I thought there must be a reason why the names had been put in this particular order. It wasn’t alphabetical, by barrack location, birth week, by Care Mother, or by care unit. At the end of the stats for each was the same letters: AS.
When my name jumped out, I stopped. Did AS mean air scrub? I didn’t recognize the other names with AS, but I hadn’t learned the names of my fellow workers either. After I scrolled a few more pages the AS turned into a CS and I found my Care Mother’s name in that section.
The list had been organized by work area and they had been alphabetized. I quickly bypassed the other workers until I reached the hydroponics scrubs. Sure enough, Ivie was listed. After I wrote down her stats on a wipe board, I found Kadar and copied his as well.
They had been care mates. No surprise. They were also a few centiweeks older than me, putting them closer to Cog’s age. And they slept in Sector D1, Jacy’s barrack. I tapped the marker against my teeth. This information didn’t mean anything other than they existed. Bubba Boom could have picked their names at random.
To really find out what was going on, someone would need to follow those two around. I couldn’t do it as I was too recognizable with my blue eyes and small stature. The best way would be to recruit someone not in Jacy’s network and who I could trust.
“Trella?” Riley interrupted my train of thought. “Did you hear what’s going on in the lower level kitchen?”
I turned. “A little. I found those names, and I think we?—”
“There might be a food strike. Don’t you care?”
“Of course I do, but your dad and the Committee knows about it. They can deal with it. Plus they have Blake to…”
Riley crossed his arms. A danger sign. “To what?”
“To warn them.” And he would be perfect to spy on Ivie and Kadar for me. “Does Blake come up here often to visit?”
“Why?” When I hesitated, he said, “I recognize that look. Tell me what you’re planning.”
By the tension rolling off Riley, I knew to tread carefully. “We need a reliable person to keep an eye on Ivie and Kadar for us. I thought Blake cou?—”
“No. You’re not putting him in danger.”
“It won’t be that dangerous.”
“What if Ivie and Kadar are the bombers and they notice Blake’s interest in them? He could be their next target. Besides, he’ll be needed to report to the Committee about the food situation. Trella, you’ve got to keep in mind the big picture, not just the next thing you want to do.”
The big picture. I almost laughed, remembering what I had said to Jacy about being a big picture girl. Drawing in a deep breath, I held it along with a sarcastic reply. My search for the saboteurs was important, but I suspected his ire went deeper than the recent kitchen crisis, and I had no energy to fight with him. The climb to the ceiling of the Expanse had sapped my strength.
Instead, I swiveled back to the computer screen. Not sure how to log out, I picked up the wipe board. Before I could stand, a bright whiteness flashed on the monitor, erasing the list. Then it faded to black. It seemed odd, but when I glanced at Riley, his attention remained on me.
I stood and waved the wipe board. “I’ll find someone else to help me with my problem.” Hurrying toward the door, I had almost reached the handle when he called my name.
“Who are you going to recruit?” he asked.
“I’m sure Anne-Jade knows a trustworthy person. I’ll see you later.” I slipped out of the room before he could say anything else.
When the door clicked shut, I leaned against the hallway’s wall and considered my next move. No one was in sight. The corridors in the upper living sectors never had much traffic and they tended to be a bit of a maze. I was already on level four and Anne-Jade should be working in her office in Quad A4. Pushing off the wall, I headed to the right and froze.
Gray smoke rolled along the thin carpet. I recovered from my shock and ran, following the clouds. They thickened and blackened as I drew closer to the air plant in Quad I4. Half way there, the shrill fire alarm sounded, assaulting my ears. Soon shouts and shrieks joined in the cacophony.
The smoke blocked my vision as it stung my eyes. I dropped to the floor and crawled to the entrance of the plant. The heat reached me first. Then I gawked at the fire. Erupting from the units that housed the air filters, flames licked at the ceiling. Water rained down from the sprinkler system, the streams hissed and steamed on the hot metal, but nothing sprayed from the nozzles directly over the air filters.
A few workers ran past me, emptying the room. About to do the same, I spotted a figure sprawled on the floor near the control panel. His legs draped over pieces of a broken chair. It looked as if he had fallen backwards. Dead?
I strained to hear any sounds that meant the fire response team had arrived, but the roar of the blaze dominated. Then he rolled to his side and I recognized him.
Logan.
CHAPTER 7
