The Unfinished World (The Armor of God Book 2) (12 page)

She’d just wait for the Laani to take over at some point in her lifetime, and life to be extinguished.

Well,
human
life.

“What—what do you suppose Heath plans to say tonight? What happened with Kat?”

“He knows about that,” said Tessa. “But he has some bigger guns. I know you don’t like to admit it, but there’s a lot of shady stuff going on in Zenith—things the general public wouldn’t approve of.”

“Like what?”

“Like Subject Edward?” she said, as though it was too obvious to even need mentioning.

“Subject Edward?” Vivian asked. She remembered the first time Dr. Yuri took her to the hidden laboratories beneath the central wing, where a massive Trooper-type Laani was kept for study. It had been just a few days after she discovered the truth Zenith was keeping from new recruits: the fact that the Laani they were fighting once used to be human beings; the fact that they had never been in control of a microscopic weapon, but quite the opposite. “Why would they oppose studying the Laani?”

The look of amusement that formed in Tessa’s face was easy to read; she had seen it before in others, and it was always the face of someone who was keeping a secret. “Don’t you know—where Subject Edward comes from?”

“Tell me,” she said.

Tessa looked at her, considering, but then shook her head. “I’m sorry. If Dr. Yuri didn’t tell you, you probably aren’t supposed to know yet. I thought you did.”

“Don’t do that, don’t act like a kid in school, keeping secrets. This is important, and we’re friends,” she said, and the word was alien in her tongue. “Where does Subject Edward come from?”

“Hey, why are you insulting me? None of this is
my
fault! When you figured out the truth about the ‘miniature’ operations you were told to keep the secret from the others until they were ready to accept it, and you did it, right? This is not different.”

“Zenith is about to be shut down!” she yelled, and the few people in the dining hall turned to her as though she had spoken blasphemy. “I am ready to accept
anything
.”

“I’m sorry, but it’s not my secret to tell.”

She was being stubborn, but Vivian couldn’t argue. Time passed and they barely said anything to each other, and through every uncomfortable minute of silence, she descended into a spiral of anxiety and speculation. Tessa didn’t mind; it almost felt like she had willingly stirred Vivian’s imagination, leading it to dark places.

Every answer she thought to the question ‘Where does Subject Edward come from?’ was more terrible than the last. All she knew was one thing: Subject Edward had been killed during The Shattering at the hands of an enraged Minotaur, but that couldn’t be the end of the program to study the Laani.

How could Zenith get their hands on a Fleck they could subdue and bring into the facility, alive, in the first place? It was not something easily hidden that could be walked through the door without any notice.

She felt stupid for not knowing. After all, she had easily figured out the big lie they were told about the Creux’s size, the one Ezra had to discover the hard way. She had also found conclusive proof that the explosion that killed Alice Nolan had been sabotage from within.

There were no plots she couldn’t discover if she put her mind to it.

Vivian wouldn’t have to remain in a cage of her own dark speculation for much longer. After angrily excusing herself, leaving Tessa alone in the dining hall, she went to the dormitories. She knocked on the door to Nebula 09’s room, but only Jed was there, face still half covered in damp bandages and still in pain. Not even he knew where Rebecca had gone.

The solitude of her own room was the only place where she found a small form of peace, but that didn’t last long. After half an hour of quiet meditation in her bed, she was awoken by a series of firm knocks on the dormitory door.

It was General Adams who stood at the other side of the door. Every single member of the Zenith staff, no matter their rank or position, was being summoned to the grand lecture hall, where they would watch a live feed of Governor Heath’s conference.

“I’m still not hopeful,” the general said, leading her and Jed to the central wing. “But if there’s any chance of winning this vote, it will depend on what he knows, and what he says. This is his last appeal to the citizens, so let’s hope it’s not hot.”

When she finally reached the grand lecture hall, the conference was already being screened, and all the remaining employees of Zenith were in attendance. She was sad to see that many were already gone.

“Viv!” she heard Tessa whisper. She was waving at her, inviting Vivian to take a seat next to her. She was reluctant, but tried to remind herself that, though there was a definite strangeness in her recent behavior, Tessa was still a hero. She sat next to her to watch the man address the city.

“—Number two: the amount of material used to rebuild their own facility just in the last three months of accidents and careless mishaps, not to mention the actual dome that’s protecting
us
, reduced our reserves by
20 percent
,” said Governor Heath in venomous words, and the sounds of a livid crowd boomed through the speakers.

The citizens’ reaction didn’t make sense to her; why were people angry about using material for the very specific purpose it was gathered and created?

She understood it was all in how the words were spoken; Heath knew how to control the people through masterful use of inflection and rhetoric—he was quite literally forcing them to be angry, even when they had no reason to be.

Vivian felt his stomach sink when the screen displayed the image of Director Blanchard sitting behind him, her face a mask of stone, unruffled by the hate directed towards her.

“Dammit. This isn’t good,” she heard Felix Goodwin say. The pilot of Iron Seraphim, with whom she had only shared a handful of operations, sat in front of her, biting his nails like a nervous child.

“Number three,” Heath continued.

It went on for too long, and with every fresh attack against Zenith and its directors, Vivian grew desperate. Nothing being said seemed like substantial arguments to her, and maybe they weren’t meant to be, but they were having the desired effect: the citizens were growing resentful and angry, stupidly swayed into being mad at an imaginary monster that was in reality fighting for their lives.

“Number eight—and you’ll appreciate this one. The directors in Zenith lied to me, and to you, about their Creux units,” the man said, and couldn’t even pronounce the word correctly. “The agreed-upon destruction of the unit known as Minotaur, which you saw destroy part of the city with your own eyes, was entirely fabricated.”

The image of the melted-down Equivalency Suit, the result of Vivian’s own plans to save Besoe Nandi from being destroyed, appeared on the screen. The perspective with which the photo was taken made its real size clear.

The sweat that rolled down the side of her face was cold.

Then, she heard angry screams from the crowd, and angrier words among the people watching in the hall. Felix turned around towards Tessa. “I’m glad you killed that bitch Covington,” he said with a cold fury that stunned Vivian.

The battle was already lost, but Heath was not quite done yet. Intermittent shots of Director Blanchard showed the woman slowly giving up her façade of calm; it broke Vivian’s heart.

“Number nine: about a project known within Zenith as ‘Subject Edward.’ The scientific research team decided that the most efficient way to study the Laani virus is by deliberately infecting citizens.”

All hell broke loose. People got up in anger, yelled profanities at the screen. The normally calm Jed Townsend forced them to settle down with one firm, commanding roar that took everyone by surprise. It wasn’t until order was restored that they could hear the rest of the address.

Vivian shook her head, trying to process what she had just heard. Was Subject Edward really the result of the deliberate infection of a
citizen
? She looked back at Dr. Mizrahi, and the shame she saw in her eyes was authentic. The reaction in the room made it clear that this was something kept even from the most seasoned pilots.

So how did
Tessa
know?

“Number ten: about the director of Zenith, Tara Blanchard herself,” hissed Governor Heath.

Vivian didn’t want to listen. She didn’t want to know anymore.

She didn’t want to lose faith in the director. In Zenith.

“She’s considered an outstanding member of this society, as her family has been for many generations. Yet, not only did she know, and approve, of everything I’ve shared with you tonight, she’s also been responsible for the deaths and cover-up of dozens of citizens and military personnel, all in the name of Zenith. Out of respect for the victims, I will not reveal their names now, but I will make this information available through the Roue Armed Forces. If a loved one has been missing, or disappeared under suspicious circumstances, please visit Base 1A.”

The camera had focused on Director Blanchard for this last part, and Vivian could see the exact moment of defeat; the woman closed her eyes, turned her face away from the camera, and gracefully wiped small tears.

Vivian was glad Ezra Blanchard was not there to see it.

The camera, and the eyes of everyone watching, remained on the director, and she took it as a cue to speak up. For the first time ever, Vivian could see anger in her, and frustration. She walked, her chin up, toward the podium, branded with the emblem of Roue.

“I’m trying to do my part, but
you
,” she said, injecting venom into the plural, “—are making it harder and harder to save you.”

She walked away, out of frame.

Governor Heath was smiling, and for one split second, Vivian thought she saw Tessa do the same.

ф

On the remainder of their journey towards Kerek, Phoenix Atlas led them dragging her feet. Ezra knew Erin would rather be back inside Lazarus and not Phoenix, a Creux she had often complained about; having to leave behind something as powerful as that Creux took a toll on her determination, and it showed.

Ezra wanted to ask her about what he had overheard of their conversation. Was Erin really expecting a son or daughter? Respecting their secrecy would prove difficult, but he knew he had no business interfering in what little privacy his friends still had.

Something doesn’t smell right
, said Nandi, a voice he had once more grown to associate with the monstrous.
Where have you been? What did you find? What changed?

We found someone. Someone like you.

She wants it back
, he purred.
I know it.

Yes, she does,
thought Ezra in reply; it was the first time in days he had engaged in conversation with Nandi. He had to fight his urge to converse with his one inseparable companion; he no longer trusted the Minotaur’s influence in him.
Nandi. Who is Lazarus?

I don’t know. He must have changed after me. I remember your friends, most of your friends, I remember them.

Ezra clenched Nandi’s fists, frustrated, and kept walking.

They had assumed a safe and conservative V formation to traverse the remains of the desert towards the peak, where the remains of Kerek waited for them. Jade Arjuna, blessed with superior vision, walked in the front scanning for any potential threats. Behind her, to either side, walked Nandi and Phoenix. Ares’ massive bulk covered their backs.

Every now and then, whenever the opportunity presented itself in the shape of a target of any sort—a large stone, an off-colored spot on the side of a mountain, or even the rarely seen solitary Carrier, separated from its Flash—Jena would hone her skills with Jade’s power. She’d thrust her Creux’s left arm forward, collapsing the ends of a bow, before drawing back her right, thus creating, with the motion, an arc and a shaft of light: an arrow.

Though she was still far from a perfect shot, her abilities had improved immensely. She had become gracious and quick; all she needed was to maintain that grace and quickness in battle, where Ezra could tell she would sometimes panic—this was the reason why he was still uncomfortable at letting her shoot through Nandi’s horns to amplify her arrows’ strength; he knew it wouldn’t hurt him, but he wasn’t sure about the possibility of pain, or how Nandi would take it.

Ezra began trying to do the same, but the pulses of light that gathered between his horns and shot through its hands, though more powerful, had far less range; trying to shoot at the same targets Jena did was almost embarrassing, and he could hear Garros chuckle at his failed attempts. Ezra wondered if there were any secret ways to improve Nandi’s technomantic powers.

There is.

The group moved through the large wasteland. The peak was so big it gave him a mistaken impression of its distance, but both Erin and Jena had been sure it wouldn’t take much longer. He had no problem trusting their instincts.

Tracks on the land, like the wake of something big dragging awkwardly shaped parts of its grotesque body along the dead ground, warned them of a possible threat.