Anne-Jade left muttering about smoke damaged wits. I had told her the truth about Zippy, but not the entire reason I kept the little cleaning troll near my bed. He's been with me through some tough times. And he filled the void left by Sheepy.
At hour sixty, Anne-Jade returned with Zippy and the glass detector. Although her surprise inspection had netted her an interesting and scary array of illegal devices, weapons and contraband, she didn't find a computer linked to the network.
Which meant another person or group were the Controllers. Not good. Two hours later, I hurried over to Logan's room.
Faint voices rolled through the shaft as I neared his vent. I slowed, keeping as quiet as possible as I slid the final meter. Logan's aggravated tone was easy to recognize. The other two sounded calmer and were harder to discern.
“...long are you going to keep me here?” Logan demanded.
“...safe...saboteurs...life,” a man's voice said.
“I'll stay in the control room. No one can get in there.” Logan's anger rang clear.
“...rebellion...easy...”
“That's because we were all helping her. Besides Trella's not a danger to me, you unrecyclable idiot. She's my friend.”
More murmuring and I strained to hear the rest. The voices stopped and the door clicked shut. Metallic snaps and clangs followed before silence filled the room. I waited a few minutes until I was certain Logan's keepers had left, then I dropped down to the floor.
Logon stared at the closed door, hugging his arm to his chest.
“Logan, if you want to leave here, just say the word and I'll find you the perfect hiding place.”
He spun around. “No worries, I'm fine. I just have to whine and complain to my captors or else they'll suspect I'm up to something. Did you hear my little tantrum about being bored to death?”
“No.”
“Too bad, it was quite the performance.” He crossed to this computer and pulled the keyboard out from its hiding place. Tapping a few keys, the screen lit up and displayed the picture of the hallway. The two guards walked down the corridor.
Still impressed by the moving pictures, I asked, “Do I even possess the rudimentary knowledge to understand how you invented a device that sees?”
He puffed up his chest. “No. You need to be a genius like me.”
“I’m glad your sense of self-worth hasn't changed.” I teased.
“If you must know, I found the information and schematics in the computer. It's called a video camera. Seems there were a ton of these all over Inside, and a room full of computer screens for watchers to keep an eye on everyone. The video cameras were about fifteen centimeters long, by five centimeters wide, by three high. Bigger than mine and easier to spot. About twentythousand weeks ago, there was a riot or rebellion, and the video cameras were all destroyed.”
“I don't blame them. It's creepy having someone spying on you.”
“Not that different than the mics we're using.”
“I disagree. It's a big difference.” I shuddered.
Logan shrugged. “I was hoping to make more of these, but...” He closed his eyes and touched his eyelids with his fingertips, smoothing the skin as if he could wipe the injury away. “There are a few video cameras pointed toward Outside. They hadn't been damaged by the riots. I'd show you the pictures, but access to them has been blocked. Too bad as they're really fascinating.”
Another shudder shook my body. “No thanks. I've already seen Outside and I'm not fascinated at all.” Horrified would be my word of choice. I studied the screen. “The big guy on the left seems familiar,” I said. “Too bad I missed their faces.”
Logan's fingers danced on the keyboard and the guards walked backward, disappeared and appeared again, but this time facing forward. They continued to walk backward for a few steps, then froze.
“How's that? Or do you want them closer?”
“That’s good.” I leaned forward and peered at the monitor. “The guy on the left reminds me of...someone. I've seen him before, but I can't place him.” I hoped his name would eventually click.
In the meantime, I updated Logan on the search for the computer linked to the Controllers. “Not in the Trava Sector. Where should I look next?”
He drummed his fingers on the edge of the keyboard. “Every Inside computer is suspect now.”
“That's...” I couldn't even calculate a number.
