I blinked a few times,but the words remained on the screen.
All access denied by order of the Controllers.
“Please tell me it’s a joke,” I said to Riley. “Or Logan’s idea of a sick prank.”
“Wish I could. But this is the third system that has disappeared.”
A dizzy weakness swept over me. “Critical systems?”
“Not yet.”
“Yet?”
“I can’t stop it. Takia and a few others tried as well.”
“Does the Committee know?”
“Yep. They’ve been getting kicked out, too. Mostly informational systems and not mechanical or life systems.”
Good thing. “Can Logan bypass the Controllers?”
“I would think so. Why else would they have targeted him?” Riley swiveled around to face me. “We need to find out who has hacked into the network.”
“How?”
“I don’t know. I need to talk to Logan and maybe Anne-Jade. She might have a few ideas.” He rested his elbows on his legs andput his forehead into his hands. “It wasn’t supposed to be like this.”
“What?”
“We reclaimed our freedom and we have all this room to spread out and grow. Yet some group is hijacking the network and blowing holes in our world. Why? Why are they destroying things when they could be building levels and using their computer knowledge to help Logan?”
I knelt down, pulled his arms away and met his gaze. “Because of fear. Fear of the unknown. Fear of change. Fear of the Committee’s decisions.”
“Fear can be a big motivator.” Riley tucked a loose strand of my hair behind my ear. “Did you think our new life would be like this when we were fighting the Pop Cops?”
“No. I thought we’d be lying on that big green carpet under that huge blue ceiling in Outside relaxing.”
He laughed, but sobered. “We won’t ever see the real Outside. We have to make the most of what we have Inside. We can’t let fear ruin it.”
“You’ve convinced me. Now you only need to convert nineteen thousand others.” I joked.
But he wasn’t amused. “No, Trella. You’re not convinced. If you were, we wouldn’t have half these problems.”
An icy chill zipped through me. “So I’m to blame for half of these new problems?” I kept my voice even despite my desire to scream at him.
“No.” He slid off the chair and knelt in front of me so we were eye to eye. “I didn’t mean it that way. It’s just you gave up too soon.”
“Gave up what?”
“Power. You handed it over to the Committee without thinking about how the Insiders would react.”
“The Committee members are Insiders. And they have more experience.”
“This is all new toeveryone.”
I balled my hands into fists, tapping them against my thighs. “Yes, but they’re older and more knowledgeable. All I know is the internal structure of Inside. Good for moving around unseen and planting mics, but little else.” My knuckles knocked against my pants' pockets. The discs inside jingled.
“Planting mics for who?” Riley asked in concern.
