Truancy Origins (48 page)

“Rothenberg?” Umasi repeated. “Chief Truancy Officer Rothenberg himself took you back to the orphanage?”

“Yeah, I guess.” Edward nodded. “He seemed a bit crazy to me, actually. Kept babbling about ghosts, and he mentioned something about a war.”

“War?”

Umasi felt as though he'd been doused with cold water. How could he have forgotten? He had really, truly forgotten, as though his last confrontation with Zen had been the end of it, as though it was all a thing of the past. He had allowed himself to become so insulated from the world that he hadn't even pondered what his brother might be doing now. Seeing the stricken look on his face, Edward stared at him with large green eyes that were no longer teary but sharp and suspicious.

“Do you know what Rothenberg was talking about?” Edward asked.

Umasi hesitated, then was seized by a sudden need to confess all that he had allowed to slip from his mind before. The dams broke and he spilled
his entire story from beginning to end, leaving nothing out. Edward sat respectfully silent throughout the entire tale, and though Umasi thought he saw a glimmer of delight in those emerald eyes, he brushed it off as honor at being let in on the City's secret. By the end of the long story the sun was already setting and Edward had to leave. He thanked Umasi, promised to return the next day, and left with a spring in his step, leaving Umasi all alone to think at his stand.

Umasi remained there long after nightfall, under the spotlight of the streetlamp above, still unable to believe how careless he had allowed himself to become. He hadn't even given a thought to the idea that people were actually dying at the hands of his brother. Umasi felt a sudden surge of self-loathing; he had been so selfish, so lovesick, so eager to philosophize that he had ignored the real and tangible chaos ensuing all around him. He had meant to adopt his nameless companion's ideas, and yet he had forgotten the most important one of them—that pacifism must be tempered by realism.

Though Edward could not know it, his arrival had been like a breath of fresh air. Umasi was awake now as he had never been before. He would feel safe now in taking action, confident that he fought not with passion but with clarity. He would bring to bear all of the strength he had found since he'd abandoned education, strength that made him unrecognizable to anyone who had known him then. He was now ready to make his mark on the City, if only to erase his brother's.

If the Enforcers could not do it, Umasi decided, then he would have to be the one to stop the Truancy.

 

S
o what do you think, Zyid?”

“Difficult, but not impossible.”

“I don't agree. We can't exactly march in through the front doors, can we?”

“On the contrary, that's exactly what I intend to do, Gabriel.”

The two children stood side by side on a busy sidewalk, apparently gazing in through the show window of a toy store. Directly behind them, and clearly visible in the reflection of the glass, was the front entrance of the District 18 Enforcer Station. The boys were both appropriately dressed for the frigid weather, with neck warmers and woolen hats. Zen had actually worn his windbreaker for once, its hood pulled over his head to further obscure his appearance. None of the passing pedestrians spared them so much as a glance, intent as they were on reaching their destinations and getting out of the cold.

“I just don't see it, Zyid. It's an Enforcer station with who knows how
many people inside it. We can't attack it head-on like that,” Gabriel muttered.

“It's just another building, Gabriel,” Zen said, folding his arms. “The doors are made of wood, and the guards are made of flesh and blood. They will yield to explosives and bullets quite easily.”

“So will we, though. Aren't you worried about casualties?”

“Few things worth accomplishing are ever without risk, Gabriel.”

Before Gabriel could reply to that, two more kids emerged from the passing crowd and joined them in front of the toy store. One of them was a boy wearing earmuffs and the other a girl with a scarf wrapped tightly around the lower half of her face. Both Gabriel and Zen turned their heads slightly to acknowledge the newcomers.

“What did the parking garage look like?” Zen asked.

“We saw at least two dozen vehicles with Enforcer license plates, and that's not counting the squad cars,” Frank replied. “I say we're looking at maybe fifty to a hundred people in that building at any one time.”

“And the construction work that we saw on our way here?”

“It's blocking an entire intersection,” Noni answered quietly. “Anyone driving in would have to take a detour.”

“That should slow down any reinforcements, but even so we can only expect a very small window of opportunity,” Zen mused. “Probably a matter of minutes.”

“How much damage could we possibly do in a few minutes?” Frank asked.

“Enough,” Zen said.

“Why did you pick this place anyway?” Gabriel asked. “What's so special about it? What are you planning?”

“I have made the mistake of underestimating our friend Rothenberg,” Zen said. “His raid on District 13 cannot go unanswered. We can no longer afford to wait until the Mayor replaces him—we must eliminate him ourselves as soon as possible.”

“Then shouldn't we be looking at Enforcer Headquarters?” Gabriel pressed. “That's where he'd be, right?”

“Enforcer Headquarters has much tighter security, solid defenses, and hundreds of personnel. I believe that we have little hope of breaching that building right now,” Zen answered. “The District 18 Enforcer Station is a much more viable target, and it's located in Rothenberg's home district.”

“But how are we going to get him into the station?” Frank demanded.

“I do not believe that that will be difficult,” Zen said. “We will merely pretend to give him what he wants.”

“What he wants . . .” Frank repeated.

For several moments none of the children spoke as they thought, the sound of the pedestrians and cars in the street swiftly filling the void. Then, almost simultaneously, Frank, Gabriel, and Noni stiffened, having figured out exactly what Rothenberg wanted. It was Noni who spoke first, and for all of them.

“No!”

“You want to turn yourself in?” Gabriel added, flabbergasted.

“
Pretend
to turn myself in, Gabriel,” Zen corrected, inspecting a box of building blocks in the show window.

“You're crazy. What makes you think they won't shoot you on sight?” Frank demanded, his years as a vagrant having taught him to expect nothing but bullets from an Enforcer.

“Aspersions on my sanity aside, I have not come to this decision on a whim,” Zen said, his voice sharp. “I do not for a moment believe that the Mayor would allow Rothenberg to shoot me on sight. If I came quietly, he would want to find out how I know what I do, who else I have told, and what they are doing about it.”

No one could find an objection to this logic, and Gabriel, who alone knew of Zen's parentage, wisely refrained from mentioning the other reasons which Zen had omitted.

“But how are we going to get away?” Frank asked, changing tack. “We're marching right into an Enforcer station smack in the middle of a living district.”

“There's a subway one block away.” Noni spoke to general surprise. “And District 19 is only five blocks away.”

“Noni is correct,” Zen said. “Additionally, I took note of the open manhole in the street. It seems to lead directly to the sewer mains. When we escape, we shall scatter. Most will take the subway, some will take the sewers, and some will flee to District 19.”

“How many do you intend to take with you for this?” Gabriel asked.

“Two dozen,” Zen said. “I do not underestimate our enemies, and we will need to cause enough damage and mayhem so that, even if Rothenberg survives, he will be finished when the Mayor hears what happened. Are we clear?”

The other Truants heard the finality in his voice and reluctantly began to nod. At that moment, the toy store's proprietor, who had been watching them through the window, came out of the shop to address them.

“You kids have been out here for a long time. Looking for anything in particular?”

“No, sir,” Gabriel replied, “just trying to decide on a birthday gift for our friend.”

“Well, why don't you come on in and look around?”

“That's very kind of you, but I'm afraid we must decline,” Zen said quietly. “We were just about to go on our way. We're late for an appointment, you see.”

“All right then, but don't hesitate to come back!”

“Don't worry.” Zen smiled coldly. “We'll be back tomorrow.”

With that, Zen turned and joined the crowd moving towards the subway station, the other Truants hastily following suit. As they walked together down the crowded street, Zen muttered something to his comrades that only they could hear over the bustling of the street.

“Tomorrow we strike Rothenberg down inside his own Enforcer station.”

 

A
s Edward lifted up the loose floorboard that night, every nerve in his body tingled in triumph. After days of playing along with Umasi, he had finally gotten the whole story out of the boy, and what a story it was. In retrospect Edward realized that he had gone about it the wrong way. He had thought a display of intelligence would be enough to gain Umasi's trust. But after all, the key to cracking the boy's shell had been to put on an emotional display. As he replaced his knife beneath the floorboard, Edward nearly cackled aloud at how readily Umasi had bought his sob story.

While it was true that Edward remembered the night that his parents died, he had never had anything but contempt for them. The story about his foster parents had of course been nothing but his usual lies. And yet this compassionate fool had ate it all up, and in return had provided him with invaluable information. Having to act so pathetic had irked Edward a bit, but that was only the usual price of knowledge in the City, and Edward decided that it was more than a fair trade as he settled down on top of his bunk.

Student, Umasi had called him. Not just any student, but his most dangerous student. To his surprise, Edward found that he relished that title. Knowledge was power, which was why the Educators were so keen on having a monopoly on it. Edward knew that the so-called knowledge that the Educators fed their hapless pupils was useless drudge, but the information that Umasi had so carelessly given him was priceless. Edward had never really considered himself to be a pupil of the Educators, seeing as how they never taught him anything worth knowing. But Umasi had already given him knowledge that could make him more powerful than the Mayor himself, and so Edward was not uncomfortable thinking of himself as Umasi's student.

Seizing a blank notebook and a pen, Edward began scribbling down notes on everything he'd learned. Two of the Mayor's sons had gone missing,
one of them currently wasting time in District 19 while the other led a secret rebellion against his father. The rebellion was called the Truancy, almost exclusively consisted of children, was competently led, and had already engaged the Enforcers and won on at least one occasion. Judging by the contents of recent newspapers, the Mayor was keeping everything under wraps—a big mistake in Edward's opinion—and Chief Truancy Officer Rothenberg was obviously in on the secret, possibly in a leadership capacity. Not bad, not bad at all for a day's work.

Edward neatly folded his notes and hid them beneath the floorboard as well. Now the question was how should he use the information, and how soon. Edward decided to wait. Patience often paid off, and there was more that he could yet learn from Umasi about the Truancy and its leader, about the Mayor and his Educators, and about how to destroy them both. But which one to side with? This was the key question remaining for Edward as he slid under the covers for the night.

There were so many ways that he could profit from this war. Would he join the Truancy and lend his talents in order to overthrow the Mayor? Wait for the Educators' darkest hour and then help them crush the uprising? Manipulate both factions against each other for his own ends? Edward decided not to rush into a hasty decision. The perfect circumstances for him to act would likely make themselves obvious in time. Meanwhile, Edward intended to continue playing along with the pacifistic fool, until he had gleaned all that he could possibly need to know.

Then, armed with that knowledge, he could at last make the City his oyster. But he would have to cover his tracks. The source of the information would be destroyed so that no one else could happen across it. Edward smiled as his head sank lower into the comfortable pillows. He would kill Umasi, and then go on to realize his dream of becoming the most powerful person in the entire City.

Dear Sirs,

While I do not like jumping to conclusions, and like the conclusions that I have reached even less, it is my duty to report that we may be seeing the first signs of serious civil unrest in this City—unrest that Rothenberg has been discreetly assigned to suppress. So far there is nothing to suggest a Class A Disturbance, and the public appears to remain both content and oblivious. However the signs are all troubling nonetheless; Rothenberg's Enforcer resources continue to vanish without official explanation, there are reports of strange noises and occurrences in the City's abandoned districts, and the Chief Enforcer was even murdered last week in what has been labeled as a bar fight—but if my suspicions are true this may have actually been an assassination.

Lately even the Mayor has become visibly distraught, his uncharacteristic behavior more pronounced. On the rare occasions that I have seen him he was pale and haggard, almost sickly, and reportedly his activity in the office has suffered accordingly. He has passed these symptoms off as a head cold, but I believe that it may be an indication of something much direr. I urge the Government to give this matter their highest priority, as even its critics agree that this City represents one of our greatest hopes.

Your Servant,
207549627