Outside In Part 20

I chased the logic as I traveled back to where Bubba Boom waited. Scary had been one of my initial reactions, which meant I must a.s.sociate him with a frightening event. Perhaps he had been a Pop Cop. But from the commanding tone of his voice, he was used to giving orders. Unfortunately, I knew most of the higher ranked Pop Cops. The answer slammed into me.

The other man was Captain James Trava.

13.

AS SOON AS I PULLED THE VENT OPEN, BUBBA BOOM appeared below. I hung down. He grabbed me around my waist and lowered me to the floor.

He stared at me a minute before releasing me. "Now do you believe me?"

"Yes. How did you know about the Captain?"

"Hank never trusted Jacy, and one of our guys found a maintenance panel that had been tampered with in Sector D4."

"Maintenance panel?"

"There're these covers on the walls that blend in and are easy to remove in case you need to get to the pipes and wires inside. It's better to pop off a panel than cut a hole in the wall. The Travas have been using the one in Sector D4 to sneak in and out."

"But there are ISF officers all over the place."

"Not up here. Heck, anyone wearing an upper's shirt and pants can stroll around levels three and four without any problems."

Sounded familiar. I had traveled the halls of the upper levels without notice when the Pop Cops had been in charge. Why? Not enough Pop Cops and people who kept to themselves too scared to get involved. Same thing, different names. There had to be a way to break that cycle, to unite us. The answer eluded me.

We headed back to the infirmary. I mulled over the information.

Jacy could no longer be trusted so everything he had told me should be considered a lie. The biggest threat to Jacy and Captain Trava was Logan. Even though it had been for the wrong reason, the Committee had actually done the right thing when they put Logan into protective custody.

As we neared the infirmary, Bubba Boom asked me to accompany him to the dining room. Since we needed to make plans, I agreed. I poked my head into the patient area to inform Lamont. Because of the tracer, she had to tag along, but she claimed it was a good idea.

Bubba Boom had been quick to hide his frown, but she noticed and said, "Don't worry, I won't sit with you two."

No one spoke as we turned south toward Quad G3. My thoughts still sorted through all that I had learned in the last few hours. Lamont filled her tray and joined a group of friends while Bubba Boom and I found an empty table as far away from everyone as possible. My plate contained a greenish-colored ca.s.serole, but I had no memory of scooping it.

I watched my mother. She appeared relaxed and when she smiled it changed her whole face, reaching all the way to her eyes. I realized she hadn't been happy in a very long time. Which should seem obvious, but I held no memory of her ever showing any joy or peace even before she betrayed us.

What was different? Her daughter was alive and despite her tendency to downplay the risk, she put herself in considerable danger by carrying the tracer for me. I thought about what I'd done without hesitation for my friends.

I'd been willing to sacrifice myself for Cogon. Would I have done it for some stranger? While I'd like to think I would, if I was truly honest with myself, the answer would be probably not. And why were we strangers at all? We lived in a giant metal cube. Granted, the Pop Cops had separated us, but if we went back far enough, we were all related to one of the original nine families.

A little zip of understanding jolted me. Could the solution to our problems be that simple?

"alook. Should I be worried? Trella?" Bubba Boom waved a hand in front of my face.

"Sorry. I was justa"

"What?"

"Thinking."

"I already figured that out." He tilted his head toward Lamont. "Are your deep thoughts about your birth mother?"

"Yes, but they don't help the situation with Jacy. Do you know what they're planning?"

"No. We've just connected him to Sloan and the Captain recently."

"We?"

"Me, Hank, Phelan, Kren and Ange. The maintenance soupsasupervisors."

"Aren't you a little young to be a soup?"

He shrugged. "After the rebellion, not many people were willing to step up and take charge."

Guilty of the same thing, I played with my food. At least I realized my mistake.

"We think Jacy and his cohorts are trying to hack into the computer network," he said. "It hasn't been working right the past two weeks. And if they gain controla"

"They already have."

Bubba Boom's expression flickered in surprise. "How do you know?"

Time to decide. If I wanted to fix the mess, I needed Bubba Boom and Hank's help. They had already figured out a few things on their own. I explained to him about Jacy's group using the mythical Controllers to give orders to the Committee and Anne-Jade. But for some unknown reason, I didn't tell him about Logan.

"You've been confined to level three. How did you find out about all that?"

An interesting question. He didn't seem too upset about the Controllers, but he did suspect something wasn't right. "I'm allowed visitors."

He studied me a moment. "If they truly have the network, there's nothing we can do."

But Logan could. I hoped. "At least Jacy and the Captain plan to fix the Transmission. That gives us one less problem to worry about."

I surprised him again. "When?" he asked.

"I don't know. But I think you should give them a predictable time when Hank won't be nearby so they don't have to create a distraction. And it will also give you an opportunity to see who else is involved." Spoken like a true Pop Cop. They had enjoyed baiting and trapping as many scrubs as possible in their schemes.

"But without control of the computers, it won't matter if we know who's involved or not," he said.

"We might be able to reclaim the computer systems."

"Might? Do you really think we have a chance?"

"I've done more with less."

He laughed. "So you're asking us to trust you."

"Yep."

"I'll talk to Hank. He's been saying we need to start over so I'm sure he'll agree to give you all the help you'll need."

Logan was thrilled to hear the Transmission might be repaired. He gave me one of his new tiny Video Cameras to plant so he could watch when they started working on the machine. Between my supply runs, he spent his time building gadgets. And I spent my free time with Bubba Boom. Since Hank and his crew had agreed to a.s.sist me, Bubba Boom acted as our go-between.

Modifying the gla.s.s tube detector, Logan returned it to me. Since I didn't have the time to sweep all the Sectors and Quadrants in Inside to search for the active link to the Controllers, I pa.s.sed it along to Hank and his crew to check them.

"You want to start doing what?" Lamont asked me.

"Using the vampire boxes," I said again. It was hour fifteen during week 147,025, and the last fifty hours of traveling back and forth to Logan's had been physically draining. I perched on the edge of the examination table while Lamont sorted through her supplies.

"Why?"

"The files with all the blood test data areaunavailable, so I want to do tests on everyone."

Lamont stared at me as if I displayed symptoms of a high fever. "What do you want to test for?"

"Family bloodlines."

"Why?"

"I think it'll help us regain a sense of community. Instead of being the uppers and lowers we can be the Ashons and Minekos. Then each family can vote for a representative to be in the Committee of nine. But I think we still need a Captain. Someone like Hank."

"Or you," she said.

"I don't have any technical knowledge of the ship."

"You don't need it. You have Logan, who you trust. A Captain can't do everything, that's why she has a support staff of trusted people."

"The people of Inside might not be too happy to see me in that position."

"You have good ideas. When you get us on the right track everyone will be happy."

She had a lot of confidence in me. I waited for the familiar twist of fear in my stomach, but nothing happened. At least the thought of people relying on me didn't scare me anymore. Instead, it gave me a push of motivation. Much better.

"The only problem with using the vampire boxes is we can't put the results in the computer, and we don't have enough wipe boards," I said.

"Then we'll do it the old-fashioned way." Lamont gestured to the white metal walls. "They're just giant wipe boards and we'll have plenty of s.p.a.ce."

I laughed.

"Do you want to test everybody? Even those who know their family names already?"

"No. Just test the people in the lower levels. Will the boxes be able to tell which family they belong to from the blood sample?"

"The families have been mixing together for the last 145,027 weeks in the lower levels. It might be hard to find a clear match. We could do hybrid families like the Ashekos?"

"That would give us too many groups. I'd like to keep the numbers small. If possible, pick the dominate family and tell each person his or her family name."

"And if I can't?"

"Pick a family. Preferably one that is short on members."

Lamont grinned then sobered. "One last problem. I can't leave level three."

"I'll have to send them to you."

"All eighteen thousand? How?"

"I'm not sure. Maybe Bubba Boom or Hank will have a suggestion."

But I didn't have a chance to ask them because soon after I finished my shift for Lamont at hour twenty, a series of loud metallic clangs rolled through Inside. The walls and floor shuddered with each, clearing the shelves and tripping anyone standing, including me. I had been in my room debating between sleeping and visiting Logan.

It wasn't as severe as the Big Shake. More like Little Trembles.

I joined Lamont in the exam room.

"You think it was another bomb?" she asked.

"I hope not, but unless a piece of machinery malfunctioned there aren't many other ways to cause that much movement." And then I remembered Jacy had talked about creating a distraction. Bubba Boom had a.s.sured me Hank had changed his schedule and eliminated the need for a distraction. Perhaps Jacy suspected an ambush. Otherwise, it meant Jacy risked all our lives just because he could.

Helping Lamont prep for casualties, I worried about my friends. I would have liked to search for them, but already a few injured people had arrived.

I felt better when it became obvious that most of the injuries were minor. Cuts, bruises, a few broken arms and legs, a couple concussions and a number of sprained ankles and wrists. Nothing like the overwhelming deluge after the Big Shake. And no burns.

Sometime during the next ten hours, Bubba Boom stopped by. He had a small cut on his arm, but wouldn't let me clean and bandage it.

He waved away my efforts. "It's fine."

When I asked about the others, he said, "I haven't heard of any fatalities." He pulled me outside and a few meters away from the infirmary. He lowered his voice. "The Transmission blew again. Jacy's Travas either overloaded it by mistake or incompetence. Or they did it on purpose."

"I heard them say fix."

"Maybe that meant fix it so it won't run again."

"That bad?"

"It's a mangled mess. We won't know for a week or more."

I wondered if Logan had watched the Travas with his Video Camera. Hank and Bubba Boom still thought he was in protective custody. They hadn't asked how I would bypa.s.s Jacy's Controllers, but at least they hunted for the active link.

"Any news about the link?" I asked.

"Nothing. And we'll have to postpone the search until we can figure out what to do about the Transmission."

Just what we neededa"more delays. Jacy was bound to clamp down on our freedoms soon and release all the Travas. It still puzzled me why he hadn't by now.