Independent Study (25 page)

“I don’t understand.”

President Collindar leans back. “Don’t you?” Her eyes search my face. “The students who attend the University are the next great hope of this country. It disturbs me when I hear that many of those students fail to make it to graduation.”

She waits for me to speak. Words bubble inside me. I want to explain what I know of The Testing. Expose the brutality Dr. Barnes and his team have advocated. Condemn the process that has been allowed to flourish in the center of a city that was created to represent hope. This is the moment I have been waiting for. That the rebels have been waiting for. Yet, instinct stills my tongue. President Collindar is the most powerful person in this country. If she wants information about The Testing and the University, why hasn’t she received it before now? I shift in my seat. Surely, if the president demanded answers, someone would be compelled to give them. Too many people are involved in The Testing for them all to remain silent. If it is answers she seeks, why is she posing her questions to a first-year University girl instead of to those who have not had their memories removed by The Testing? There is something more at work here. Something I need to understand better before I risk my future and the future of the rebellion.

When I don’t answer, President Collindar sighs. “I don’t expect you to trust me. Not yet. But I hope that by working with my staff, you will realize that I have the best interests of this country at heart. If there is something more about the University program that I should know, I hope you’ll feel comfortable enough to share that information.” She glances out the window as the skimmer begins to slow. “We’re here.”

The door opens. President Collindar walks to the doorway, takes someone’s hand, and gracefully exits. I follow behind and take the hand held out to help me. When my feet hit the ground and I start to thank the person, the words lodge in my throat. Standing in a purple United Commonwealth uniform with a pleasant but impersonal smile on his face is Michal Gallen.

Michal is here. I try to feign interest in the building in front of me as he releases my hand, but I cannot stop the pounding of my heart. Michal said he was being reassigned. If he is here, the rebellion must know what I know about the president’s dislike of Dr. Barnes. Symon’s faction should be in a position to end The Testing. But if the president is asking questions of me, she either doesn’t believe what she has been told or they have yet to approach her. Why?

I try to catch his eye, but Michal keeps his attention straight ahead as we approach the office, which the president informs me is housed in one of the oldest buildings in Tosu City. Constructed several hundred years ago out of gray stone, with rounded turrets and a functioning clock tower, the structure resembles the castles in some of the fairy-tale books my mother read to me and my brothers when we were little.

Michal opens the large wooden front door and President Collindar sweeps past him. Two men and two women in Commonwealth uniforms greet us in the white tiled entryway. A muscular man in a black jumpsuit stands behind a desk near the front door. The president nods and he takes a seat, but not before I see the glint of a metal handle at his belt.

“Cia.” The president turns to me. “Several pressing matters have come up and need my attention. This is our newest team member, Michal Gallen. He’ll give you a tour and introduce you to the staff. When you’ve finished, we’ll go over the first assignment I’ve set aside for you.”

The four Commonwealth officials flank her as she disappears through a door down the hall to the right. When the sound of footsteps fades, I turn to Michal and smile. He doesn’t smile back. He just glances at his watch and nods. “The president’s main office is on this floor. To save time, we’ll start the tour on the top floor and work our way down.”

He walks quickly toward the black iron-railed staircase and starts to climb. I hurry to catch up and am breathing hard when we step onto the narrow fifth-floor hallway.

“The clock tower stairs are through that door.” He points. “The clock and this entire building do not run off city power, but instead run off three-dimensional monocrystalline solar panels. The power we don’t use is then fed into the Tosu City power bank to ensure nothing is wasted. As President Collindar mentioned in the skimmer, she doesn’t like waste.” He turns and shrugs. “I probably shouldn’t have listened to your conversation with the president, but the inside of the skimmer isn’t designed for privacy. Kind of like this building. Everyone here tends to know everyone’s business. You’ll get used to it.”

I understand the words for what they are: a warning.

The top three floors house cramped offices and larger spaces filled with historical objects and pictures. As I walk by the pieces of my country’s past, I can’t help but run my fingers across them. Framed photographs of soldiers. Women in long dresses holding what I think are called tennis rackets. An old-fashioned car from the early twentieth century. A display of hand-held weapons. An ornate organ. A phonograph. Wooden desks in a room designed to look like a late-nineteenth-century classroom, which makes me smile. The classroom is smaller, but it doesn’t look much different from the one I studied in back in Five Lakes.

As we continue the tour, Michal introduces me to several of the younger officials walking the halls or sitting in uncomfortable-looking chairs. Most look tired but excited to be working here. He points to one of the four desks in the corner of a room on the third floor and says, “That’s where I sit. So far, in the week I’ve been here, I haven’t done much of that.”

We walk down to the second floor. To our right are two purple-clad officials standing on either side of a massive wooden door. Michal nods at them and steers me to the left, explaining, “The president’s private rooms are through those doors. There are a few more offices on this side and some sleeping quarters for anyone who wants to catch a nap after a late night.”

“Does that happen often?”

“I’ve already used one of the rooms. The president likes to have as much information about the upcoming debate topics as possible. It’s our job to do the research and provide her with all sides of the argument. Talking to experts from the various departments and sifting through opinions is rewarding, but it takes time.”

On the first floor, there are more offices, a meeting space with a board displaying the debates scheduled for the upcoming week, and a technology room equipped with several powerful pulse radios, six televisions, and a number of visual and audio recorders. Pictures flicker across the television screens. I want to take a closer look, but Michal hurries me through. While I’ve seen photographs of televisions and studied the history of their use, I have never seen one in operation. My father once mentioned that the magistrate of Five Lakes was in possession of a television in order to receive certain types of communication from Tosu City. I can’t help but wonder if the pictures flashing on the screen now are part of that communication network and, if so, what the transmitted information might be.

Finally, Michal leads me to a large wooden door. A purple-clad official at a desk to the right nods, and Michal ushers me inside. The room is large. Larger than my family’s entire house. Deep blue carpet covers the floor. A fire crackles in the hearth to my right. Decorating the walls is a map of the United Commonwealth and the country’s flag. The officials I saw when I first arrived are seated on chairs facing the president, who is behind a massive wooden desk.

President Collindar looks up. “Perfect timing. We were just discussing your first project, Cia.” The president looks at one of the officials, who rises and turns to address me.

The man has flecks of gray in his brown hair that reminds me of my father’s. “We are currently working out resource distribution for a railway project. One of the colonies that the new train will connect to is Five Lakes. Since none of us have been to your colony or many of the other colonies this plan affects, we would like you to look at the plans and give us a colony citizen’s perspective. We’ve been told you also have skills in mechanical engineering that should give you an informed point of view when preparing a report for the president.”

President Collindar nods. “Too many of the colonies do not have easy access to Tosu City. For us to feel united in our mission to revitalize our land, we must actually be unified. The railway system has connected the nearest colonies, but the outlying ones are still isolated from our help and protection.”

Ryme’s face flashes in front of me. Flushed cheeks. Sightless eyes. She was from Dixon Colony. I think about Will and his brother, Gill. Twins from Madison Colony. One led to murder. Another gone. Redirected by The Testing. Both of those colonies, like Five Lakes, do not have access to the United Commonwealth train system. While easy communication with Tosu City might appear to provide protection for the colonies, the Testing candidates who have been forever altered by the protection they received would no doubt argue the point.

Still, I feel a spark of excitement at the prospect of working on a project that affects my family and friends. While I may not ever be allowed to return to Five Lakes to live, I will always consider it my home. Being able to help Five Lakes and contribute to a system that could allow my family and me to visit makes me feel as though I still belong to them.

I am given an overview of the project, including the departments involved, and told that today I must pick up reports prepared by each department. The Debate Chamber will be discussing this project at the end of next week. My report to the president is due on Monday.

“You can pick up the reports from the departments’ main offices in the Central Government Building. Feel free to work here or on campus, wherever you feel most comfortable. If you need transportation, let one of my staff know. They’ll make sure you have what you need. I look forward to seeing your thoughts on the matter.”

The president starts a conversation about the waste management system, effectively dismissing me. Putting a hand on my arm, Michal leads me out of the room. The door closes behind us.

“I’ll take you over to the Central Government Building in a few minutes. First we should see about getting you some kind of transportation. You won’t want to waste time walking.”

Michal leads me to a small building behind the president’s office, unlocks the door, and turns on the light. Inside the space are several single-passenger skimmers, two solar-powered motor scooters, and a handful of bicycles. I walk to the row of bicycles. Some have sturdy frames and thick, heavily treaded rubber tires. Others are made of lighter materials, with a design that speaks of speed. I run my finger along a tear in one of the seats and think of another bicycle. One that, according to my recording, helped Tomas and me survive The Testing. Gears, pedals, and wheels helped keep me alive then. I will trust them now to do the same.

I choose the bicycle with the heaviest frame and thickest tires. It is constructed to withstand the stress of traveling over rough terrain and reminds me of the one I rode back home. The lighter, sleeker ones I see on the streets of Tosu City are speedier, but they are also more fragile.

If Michal is surprised by my choice, he doesn’t show it. He just logs my selection on a chalkboard hanging near the door and escorts me and my new bicycle into the sunshine. We walk in silence for the next block, me wheeling the black-framed bike in between us. The streets are bustling with activity as citizens hurry about their business. Here and there, I spot officials in their United Commonwealth uniforms chatting in groups or jogging down the street on what must be pressing business. Though the Central Government Building is straight ahead, Michal glances around and turns us down a northbound walkway. Halfway down the block, Michal escorts me and my new bicycle into a building constructed of black metal and dark gray stone.

Inside it is dim and quiet as a tomb. Putting a finger to his lips, Michal motions for me to leave my bicycle before leading me through a maze of doors and hallways. Finally, he pulls out a key and slides it into the lock of a large steel door. The click of the lock disengaging rings in the stillness. Michal flips a switch on the wall, illuminating a gray, windowless room decorated with only a rectangular metal table and six folding chairs.

He closes the door behind us. “We don’t have much time,” he says, pulling me against him in a tight hug. “Someone will notice if we take too long to arrive at the Central Government Building.” He steps back. “I heard about the colony student who died. I’m sorry.”

The kindness and sympathy make me want to cry.

But Michal doesn’t dwell on the sadness. “Symon says there are signs that President Collindar is ready to challenge Dr. Barnes and remove him from his position as head of The Testing.”

My heart jumps as the hope I felt in the skimmer is confirmed. “That’s wonderful news.”

“Only if she has the power to eliminate Dr. Barnes and The Testing.”

I shake my head. “She’s the president of the United Commonwealth. Of course she has the power.”

Michal sits on one of the metal chairs. “President Collindar is technically in charge of the government, but as the man who selects the country’s future leaders, Dr. Barnes has as much power, if not more. Not only do current officials feel a sense of loyalty to him for having selected them for their jobs, they also seek his favor to ensure that their children are accepted into the program and given preferential treatment. In the past several years, the University has been allocated larger resources. More autonomy to act as Dr. Barnes and his team see fit. In the week I’ve been assigned to the president’s office, three Debate Chamber votes have swung in favor of whatever side of the issue Dr. Barnes supports. While the president is the head of the government, Dr. Barnes and his team actually now control it.”

The idea of Dr. Barnes running this country makes me want to scream.

“The president is working to regain the power her office has lost. She’s scheduled a Debate Chamber vote that would reorganize the administrative structure of The Testing and University so the head of the program reports directly to her. But unless something changes, she doesn’t have enough votes from the department heads for the measure to pass. The Education Department manager is a close personal friend of Dr. Barnes. He’s been working against the president’s measure by saying he has seen reports of The Testing and believes it is being run appropriately. Over the last two years, some officials have claimed that the president is an ineffective leader and should be replaced. Losing a vote of this import could confirm those claims and weaken her further. There’s a rumor going around the office that losing the vote will lead to a call for a vote of confidence.”