Riley’s father sighed. “You both know about the Force of Ten and Domotor. What you don’t know is exactly how the group was betrayed nearly eighteen hundred weeks ago.”
“Nolan…my mate…” A hitch interrupted the doctor’s words before she continued. “Nolan grew too confident. He had discovered the information about Gateway and Outside and was putting it into protected files when the Travas found out. He was…arrested and tortured, but refused to name anyone else as an accomplice even when the Travas threatened me and our daughter.”
I turned my head to stare at the wall, bracing for the rest of the story.
“I wasn’t so strong. Lieutenant Commander Karla, who was an ambitious lieutenant back then, merely threatened to recycle my daughter and I blabbed. Told her about Domotor and agreed to spy for them to keep my mate and daughter alive. When the arrests were made, they…”
Silence. Then Jacob picked up the story. “Karla didn’t keep her bargain. Father and child were recycled as well as three others. Riley, you should know Domotor named me as a member, but your mother convinced the Travas she used my port and was working alone.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Riley asked.
“She made me promise to keep you safe and to not put crazy ideas into your head. Ramla didn’t want you to know.” He huffed in tired amusement. “She knew any more attempts by the uppers would fail. Yet look at what has happened from a chance encounter.”
I glanced at Jacob. He looked hopeful.
“Why don’t you call yourself Doctor Garrard?” Riley asked.
“The name is too painful for me. After Karla recycled Nolan, I returned to my mother’s family and used her name.” She met mygaze. “I’m trying to amend my past deeds by helping you. I knew once you heard my real name, you wouldn’t listen to me. That’s why I invited Riley and Jacob here.”
I mulled over their story, searching for hints of deceit. “I’m not so sure about the chance encounter. Domotor did seek me out in the lower levels.”
“That’s because you knew how to travel through the pipes,” Riley said.
The others nodded as if this explained everything.
They didn’t know I was Kiana’s daughter. They didn’t know I was alive. Still, the story seemed too pat. “But what about the loose vent cover in the storeroom? Someone had to sabotage it.”
Riley flushed. “That’s my fault.”
We all stared at him and his cheeks reddened.
“Uh… I wanted to meet one of the cleaning scrubs, so I… I did push the couch underneath and you didn’t get hurt…well, not too bad, and…” At a loss for words, he finally stopped.
I glanced at them. But couldn’t decide to trust them or not. Not like I had any other options at the moment. Although I planned not to share the information about my birth parents. Even with my new blue eyes, Kiana hadn’t recognized me. For once, I knew something the rest did not.
When I had healed enough for the doctor’s approval, I entered the air shafts and headed toward Domotor’s room. I brought as much food as Lamont could smuggle without raising any suspicions. The duct was free of RATSS because the scrubs kept the Pop Cops busy with small revolts.
Jacy relayed the details of the resistance to me through the earring/receiver. Interesting how the Pop Cops generated moreproblems when they clamped down harder on the scrubs. The scrubs also stopped working and cleaning. Dirty laundry spilled over bins in Sector B1, piles of fertilizer and items to be recycled grew into large mounds.
I arrived at Domotor’s room without any trouble. The prophet sat on the couch surrounded by bits of metal. Anne-Jade and Logan worked together at the table. They all stared at me as if seeing a ghost.
Logan whooped and ran over to me. “You escaped!” He hugged me.
“Easy,” I said as his arms brushed several healing cuts.
“We thought you didn’t. What took you so long?” Anne-Jade asked.
“Overprotective doctor.” I tried to explain about the uppers and the Force of Sheep, but they already knew more than I did. “What’s been going on?”
“I’m getting good at traveling through the ducts,” Logan said, “and Anne-Jade’s been wearing the Pop Cop uniform so much the others are calling her Ensign Mineko.” His brow creased. “They keep close track of the scrubs, it would makes sense that they would keep even closer track of their own people.”
“They’re glad to have the extra help,” Anne-Jade said. “Besides, just because the Travas have control of Inside, doesn’t mean they are smart enough to know all their weaknesses.” She smiled with a predatory glint in her eye. “Weaknesses we can exploit to the fullest.”
“But don’t get too cocky,” I said, thinking of my father. “The Pop Cops have, and see what’s happening?”
“But it’s all noise,” Domotor said. “Travas control the computer systems. Despite these anti-stunners…” He flourished the metal piece in his hand. “Another outright revolt will fail again. Although this time they might use poison gas instead of sleeping gas to subdue us.”
“Won’t happen,” I said. “They need us.”
