Cloud Cent Chronicles: Part 2 Chapter 3

 

On the Lam

 

    The woman went  left out of the building. Shadow went right. “Hey!” The woman shouted at him. “Where are you going?”

    “What does it matter to you?”

    “Seriously? I just helped you bust out of there and you’re just going to what, go home and hope that The Leader leaves you alone?”

    “Why do you care?”

    “Huh?”

    “Seriously, why do you care? Why did you even do all of this? Why help me escape? Why go through all this trouble? I mean, how do you even know who I am?”

    “Listen, I said I would explain everything, and I will, but right now, there are going to be Sergeants after us. Just come with me back to base and hear me out, then you can do whatever you want. Please.”

    Shadow thought it over briefly. She was right. Where else was he going to go? “Fine.” The woman smiled.

    “Good. Then follow me”

    They ducked their way into a side street. Shadow recognized the area. “Wait a second, isn’t this in the middle area of the city? I didn’t know there were any prisons here.”

    “No one does. From the outside, it just looks like an office building.” People began running by them, presumably to check out what that huge explosion was.

    “Aren’t people besides the Sergeants going to recognize us? I’m sure our faces will be all over gov net.”

    “Yours already has been. They broadcast your face last night as the mod block killer.” 

    I was right.

    “As for my face,” the woman continued, “there’s no way the government is going to admit that someone broke the mod block killer out of prison, let alone reveal that they have a secret prison in the middle area. They’re going to try to take us down, but they won’t expose themselves to do it. Especially not since the fiasco with Cloud Cent.”Cloud Cent, that was his name. The crazy journalist that accused the government of orchestrating the mod block killings, or I guess they were suicides at the time. Huh, guess crazy isn’t the right word anymore. “They can’t admit to any of this. The outrage would be too great.”

    “Okay, so where are we going?”

    “There used to be a subway that ran underneath the city.”

    “Subway?”

    “It’s like the light rail that’s above the city now, but y’know, underneath. Anyway, it’s all disabled now, but when it was active, it went to all areas of the city. If we just walk through it, we’ll be able to get to the outer area.”

    “Why are we going to the slums?”

    “Because that’s where the base is. Pretty much everyone in the rebellion is from the slums. Plus, it’s the area where the government has the least control.”

    “Wait, rebellion? You’re part of a rebellion?”

    “Duh. You thought that I just broke the government’s most wanted criminal out of prison for nothing?”

    “You know that I’m not actually that, right?”

    “Yeah, but according to the government you are, and that’s what matters. I’ll explain more when we reach the base.”

    “Right…”

…

 

    Shadow had never seen anything as dark as the tunnel they were in. He could see literally nothing. No light escaped into the depths of the subway. It was suffocating. The tunnel itself wasn’t particularly narrow, but the darkness surrounded everything. He felt like he was choking. The woman seemed comfortable in the darkness. The only way Shadow was able to navigate was by holding onto the woman’s shoulder. “It’s not so bad,” she said cheerily, “there’s nothing down here besides us and the darkness.” Shadow didn’t respond. “And I know we got off to kind of a rough start, and that’s kinda my fault, but I want us to get along. Hopefully we’ll be working with each other, so let’s just start over, alright? My name’s Yun.” Shadow didn’t answer. The woman could feel Shadow’s grip tighten on her shoulder. “Are you okay? I know today has been a lot, and I know this tunnel isn’t particularly fun, but we have to keep going.”

    “Am I okay?” Shadow stopped walking. Yun turned to face about where he was. “I was arrested, threatened with death, and now I’m on the run from my own city. Am I okay?” Shadow laughed.

    “I get it.” Yun sounded sympathetic. “The city has screwed a lot of people over in different ways, but the rebellion has a plan. Cent weakened the faith in the government and now we have a way to capitalize on it. You’ll see. We can give the city back to the people.”

    “You don’t get it at all. I don’t care about all that. I just want to live my life. I was content just working in the shop, by myself, making things like the mod you stole.”

    “We don’t have any mod docs in the slums and I needed the mods to bust you out. I’m sorry that I-”

    “That’s not the point! The point is that I don’t want any of this! As far as I’m concerned, that Cloud guy is just as to blame for all of this as The Leader is. And so are you and the rebellion! None of this would have happened if you all could have just left well enough alone! I was happy. Everyone who came into the shop seemed happy! But because you and your rebellion aren’t happy, I have to suffer?”

    “It isn’t like that!”

    “Isn’t it? 

    “I’m sorry. You’re right, we never asked you if you wanted to be a part of this, but now you are. Just...please come with me. Hear us out.” Shadow knew that Yun had nothing to apologize for, but he didn’t care. He was mad and had to do something. He felt useless.

    “Not like I really have a choice.” If Shadow could see Yun’s face in the darkness, he would have seen a mix of annoyance and sympathy.

 

…

 

    “Welcome back Yun.” As the pair emerged from the tunnel, they were greeted by a shabby looking man in an apron covered in flour. “And Shadow. Welcome.”

    “Uh, sure.” Shadow didn’t know what to say. 

    “Shadow, this is Sun. He’s a farmer-

    “Was a farmer.” Sun corrected. “Damn Sergeants.”

    “Right. Was a farmer and bread vendor. He’s a member of the rebellion, like myself. You can trust him.”

    I barely trust you.

    “Right...listen, I don’t know what you lot think I can help you with, but you’re wrong. I’m not anything special.”

    “You’re wrong.” Yun protested. “Everyone has something to offer to the world. The government doesn’t see that, and that’s why they were so fast to just throw your life away. You’re a mod doc, and a damn good one. I mean, look at this,” Yun raised her wrist, “this is amazing!”

    “You need me for your plan, right? Well, let’s hear it. What do you need me for? And don’t say you just need a mod doc. You could have gotten one of those without breaking into a secret prison.”

    “Because you’re the mod block killer.” Sun said frankly.

    “I’m not the-”

    “I know, but the world thinks you are.”

    “Yun said the same thing. What do you mean?”

    “If we can prove to everyone that the government fabricated the evidence that they showed the world, that it was really them who orchestrated the killings, people will revolt. It won’t be an organized rebellion like we are, but it will be enough to bring the government down.”

    “How? They have the Sergeants and weapons. There’s no way people can bring them down.”

    “The Sergeants are just people too.” Yun chimed in, “I seriously doubt every Sergeant knows what’s going on. And I’m sure a ton of them will feel betrayed and join us. Meanwhile, others will just sit on the sidelines and join the winning side. To most Sergeants, being a Sergeant is just a job. That doesn’t make what they’re participating in right, but it means that they’re not on any one side.”

    “They just do as they’re told, without question. They’re just as bad as the government if you ask me, but I’ll work with the devil if it means bringing down the beast.” Sun said, quite proud of his metaphor. Devil? Wasn’t that a character in that one story? Whatever.

    The trio walked to the rebellion’s camp. It was just a market. Most of the stalls were empty. They ducked into a hut where around 30 people were crowded around an old computer with a fruit on the back.

    “They’re gone!” One woman shouted, “They’re all gone!”

    “They must have an idea what we’re doing. What do we do now?” Muttered a man.

    “We’re screwed…”

    “What’s going on?” Yun asked the woman on the computer.

    “Cent’s articles...they’re all gone! Yun, what are we going to do?”

    “How? What happened?”

    “The Leader must have ordered them taken down after your breakout.” Sun said somberly. “You went after the mod block killer. He must have connected your breakout to Cent. After all, I don’t think The Leader would ever forget him after what Cent did.”

    “Okay...what do we have left?”

    “Just the redacted articles that we downloaded. We were never able to get through the censor.” 

    “If you have the articles, why do you need them to be online?” Shadow asked, his curiosity piqued.

    Yun explained, “The downloads we have are just images. There’s no way around the censorship. But online, the articles aren’t just images. There’s source for what’s under the redactions, but we were never able to get through them, and now we never will.”

    Sun added, “We believe that there’s information under the redactions that would make it easier to sway public opinion to our side. When we reveal the truth about you, we were planning on also leaking the unredacted articles. More fuel on the fire. Keep the flame burning. But now that’s out the window.”

    The room was silent. After a minute, “What about The Village?” Shadow asked?

    “The Village? Like in Cent’s article?” Sun asked. Yun started smiling, understanding what Shadow was suggesting.

    “Well, The Village has physical computers, like you do here, but their internet works differently. The modern internet works kind of like a wave. When someone does something, it goes out in all directions, affecting everything in its path. The Village isn’t on the same service as the city though. They stick to the old style of internet. Basically, when something is uploaded from the city, it takes a while to reach The Village. It works the same way when things are deleted. Normally it’s a huge pain, but…”

    “But now their antiquated system might just save us.” Yun said. “Shadow...thank you.” Shadow had never really noticed how big the slums are. He never really went to the slums. He never really went anywhere. Why are you helping? Look out for yourself and you’ll be just fine. But...look at these people. They sound so passionate. So...inspired. I…

    “I owe you.” He settled on. “So I’ll help.”