Ark-13: An Odyssey (6 page)

Jake lapped the Loop the next afternoon, as he did every day. He usually surveyed the colonists to see if there were any signs of discord, but now that he had been overwritten, he allowed his thoughts to flow freely, unafraid of GENESIS’s recourse. He knew they were still watching from the surveillance cameras posted throughout the Ark, so he made sure his movements appeared innocuous to the onlooker.

Jake ventured through his favorite room of the Ark – the Gallery, a large room with white walls. Benches formed a square where people could sit and face the blank walls. Plug-in docks stood next to either end of each bench. A couple of people in the Gallery viewed a projection of different pieces of art on the walls.

Jake entered the Gallery and found a lonely bench, where he pulled his holographic out of his pocket and inserted it into the plug-in dock, laying the other end in his flattened palm. A holographic display menu shined up before him from his hand.

Books

Movies

TV Shows

Art Work

Music

Places

People

Sports

With a command of a waving finger, he selected Music and a full digital library populated the hologram. He typed a search for Frank Sinatra and then selected the word, ‘Download to Holographic’. The download bar on the hologram quickly filled and Jake selected play. From his other pocket he pulled out two ear buds which he inserted in each of his ears. With speakers on each one, the cordless headphones began playing Frank Sinatra.

Jake then selected ‘Places’. He then typed a search for Georgetown, SC, his old hometown on Earth. He selected ‘Project Images’ from the menu and the plug-in dock shined the images from the database onto the wall before him. Jake swiped through a few of the pictures until he found the one he was looking for. It was a still shot of the harbor. Seagulls hovered overhead and the morning light illuminated the bay.

With Frank crooning “I Got the World on a String”, Jake exhaled and momentarily transported himself to the memories of his morning routine. He breathed easy for the first time since he overwrote his vitals. He grew comfortable with his mental rebellion against GENESIS. It was not only an emotional tug that he had finally allowed himself to have, but he also rationalized it by the laws of justice. He was at peace with his decision as he soaked in the picture and bobbed his head side to side along with the melody.

For the moment he was home.

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After a few songs before the nostalgic image, Jake continued his walk up the Loop until he came to the Archives. He opened the door and greeted the man at the front desk.

“Good Morning, Justin…” Justin Cusick was a scruffy, mess of a man. He was overweight and his hair had grown long and nappy. He had dark rimmed glasses that slid down his nose at every nod of the head.

“Hey, Jake! What’s up?” Justin perked up excited to see someone. He worked alone in the Archives and just performed routine maintenance of any servers that would go down. The Archives was a server farm full of information accessible through the different plug-in docks throughout the Ark. It was the Ark’s hub of digital data from the world’s former internet.

“Just doing my morning stroll.”

“All in order?” Jake nodded, although the word ‘order’ struck him with disgust.

“How are the Archives today?”

“Everything seems to be fine today.” Jake’s eyes rose to an air conditioning duct that ran the length of the ceiling.

“Well, I’m just going to take a quick look around, if you don’t mind.” Jake was already walking the aisles. There was a low hum from the cooling units that kept the server cabinets from overheating. Different colored lights blinked on each server and a maze of winding cables connected each unit. Each server cabinet was labeled with a letter. He walked the alphabet until he reached the Q drive. It was connected to the other server cabinets but was locked by keycard port. He knew that his councilman keycard would work, as the Q drive was only restricted to the public, but not to all colonists.

Jake spun and looked around the aisle as a thought struck him.

I can’t believe this is what a museum of Earth looks like…

His eyes lifted back to the ceiling where they followed the air conditioning duct down the aisle and into the back of the Archives. Jake arrived to the restricted section – a glass encased cube that was partitioned from the rest of the Archives. Above the door the cube was labeled as, ‘the Vault’. Inside was a server cabinet labeled with an X.

There’s our X drive…

A keycard reader with a red shining light was posted at its door. He shrugged and tried his keycard. The light blinked red which indicated that it was rejected.

He wasn’t surprised that it didn’t work, as they were told that there would be restricted areas where even council member keycards would not work – the Vault being one of them. Danny had said that the server would have to be hacked manually, due to its level of security.

But how are we going to get in?

Jake then saw a vent in the ceiling of the Vault. He cocked his head sideways and considered its presence. His eyes then followed the air conditioning duct in the ceiling. He traced the network that was overhead, which connected the Vault to the rest of the Archives.

Jake spun on his heel as his plan began to hatch. He walked back down the aisle and out of the Archives. When he exited the room, he could not immediately see the air conditioning duct, but he looked around until he found a recess in the hall near a public restroom. There near the bathroom was a large air conditioning vent. Jake visualized the duct climbing the wall, turning the corner and lining the hall until it turned into the Archives.

That’s our way in…

Jake broke through the Cornfield into the clearing. Four others were waiting for him with respirators over their faces. Each of them appeared uneasy by the meeting, as it was a more formal measure of their rebellion. They consulted the corners of the large chamber that was the Fields, as if searching for an exit or a GENESIS employee who may have decided to come down from the Bridge.

Jake looked over his fellow Insurgents.

Each of the Insurgents had their own visible quirk. Junior cracked his knuckles as if he was preparing for a boxing match. Coop stood hunch-backed over his cynical smile that showed just how fed up he was with everything and everyone. Lucy locked her hands in front of her and stared at the space between her feet. Her respirator fogged quicker than the others, as her breaths hurried in a nervous panting. The two people that Jake had not met were younger. Elijah Johnson was erect and broad, his black hair frizzed up into a flat top, framing his brown eyes and grave expression. His dark skin began to sweat as the tension built in the cornfield clearing. Zoe Maddon had short, straight black hair. The part in her hair caused her bangs to cover one of her eyes. The one visible eye looked up with an intensity that would pierce anyone who met it.

“Where is Danny?” Junior asked.

“I don’t know…” Jake admitted through his respirator.

“You mean he ain’t with you?” Elijah asked, as if they already knew each other well.

“No…”

“Did he get caught by GENESIS?” Lucy quivered, imagining the worst.

“I’m sure he’s fine. He knows where we are. If he’s not here, I’m sure it’s something important.” Jake pressed the air down in front of him, signaling for them all to calm down. They settled and awaited word from Jake. Jake cleared his throat and cracked his neck.

“We all have something in common. We have taken the leap. We have overwritten our vitals so that GENESIS can no longer monitor us. Make no mistake, this
will be
viewed as an ‘act of treason’.”

Jake noticed the general mood before him. He knew he would have to rally the troops before they even got started. He cut his speech short and changed his approach. He pulled his respirator down from his mouth, so his voice was clear and unfiltered.

“When we were recruited for Ark-13, we were each given a role to ensure we became a self-sufficient society. But we were told that we would govern ourselves. And now they are taking us if we don’t
feel
the way they want us to!” Jake’s voice grew grave. He took an oxygenated breath from the respirator as carbon dioxide swirled about.

“If we sit back and don’t do something about this, before we know it, they will take all of us and probably dispose of us until all there is left are the colonists that abide by their rules. I’d rather have died on Earth with the rest of them than be subjected to a life of this emotional slavery. I would’ve told them to leave me behind…”

Jake surveyed the expressions around the circle. Coop nodded as he reflected on his words and Lucy straightened up empowered by the words.

Jake pulled his sleeve up, revealing the armport, and raised his fist.

“What is the difference between a machine and human?” All eyes rose to his.

“A human thinks and feels for himself.”

Elijah’s hand formed a powerful fist. He nodded emphatically, feeling the fire ignite in his gut.

“We are the Insurrection!” Jake kept his fist raised, armport exposed. Elijah raised his fist in unison. Then, Coop and Junior. Lucy looked around the circle and raised hers after scrunching her sleeve up to also reveal her armport. Lastly, Zoe joined.

Together, fists raised, the Insurrection stood cemented in defiance. Smiles cracked as each other eyed each other.

“We’ve already taken the leap. Now we have to work together to make things right.” Jake’s words now met a chorus of agreement, as they all lowered their fists.

“What’s the plan?” Coop asked, as excited as he had ever been.

“Danny has hacked the Q drive. He has a wealth of data for us to use. He has everyone’s messages, he has the surveillance feeds and he has everyone’s vitals but the database assigns an identification number to each colonist’s record. We don’t have the names, though. We need the map that links the names to the identification numbers. This data map is on the X drive. We are going to steal it.” Jake spoke with authority.

“That’s got to be risky. Isn’t that kept in the Vault?” Junior asked.

“Yeah, but I think I’ve found a way in… the air conditioning duct.” Coop shook off the idea, hung up on something.

“Wait…wait…wait… why do we care to hack the X drive anyway? So what if we know everyone’s vitals? What does that do for us?”

“GENESIS monitors us to ensure that our levels indicate that we are happy and obedient. Why can’t we use those same levels to show us who is fed up with all of this? If we know everyone’s vitals we will be able to tell which colonists would be most open to joining the Insurrection.”

All eyes rose to meet Jake’s.

“We are going to recruit an army. And we are going to take the Ark...”

Jake Hansen entered the Assembly conference room and grabbed one of the five seats at the circular table. Andrew Langford and Sophia Chen were already seated and turned with smiles to Jake as he joined them.

“Jake! Sophia and I are going to Eclipse tomorrow night if you would like to join us,” Andrew asked. Eclipse was the bar on the recreation floor. It served the alcoholic Ether that GENESIS delivered via supply drops. It was only open on the supply drop nights.

Jake could see the excitement in their eyes.

“Sure… I could use a drink… crazy week…”

As commotion approached the door to the chamber, Andrew leaned in and whispered one last thought.

“Don’t tell Booker…” Jake leaned back in his chair, exchanging chuckling glances with both Sophia and Andrew.

Sigh and Jim Booker walked in. Jim was arguing a point to Sigh, inaudible to the others.

“Good evening, councilmen.”

“And woman!” Sophia chimed in jest.

“And woman…” Sigh grunted at all things politically correct. Taking a seat at the table, Sigh turned to business as usual. “Alright, it appears that GENESIS has taken Meredith Jones. I know that we voted to release her but new evidence has been brought to my attention.” All eyes turned to the obvious source of the evidence, Jim Booker, who sat straight, shoulders back and nose in the air.

“Jim, show them,” Sigh ordered to which Jim compiled. Jim pulled his holographic from his pocket and placed one end in his palm, which projected the hologram before them. After a few quick swiping commands, the surveillance feed played before them, showing the Vault and Meredith using the keycard hack to break in. It showed her plugging into the server and navigating through it via her holographic. It ended with Meredith’s eyes widening and shock paralyzing her face.

Jake realized that he had to pretend that he had never seen the video before. His expression dropped and he spoke with a tremble.

“Wh…where did you find that?...”

“As Chief Enforcer, I am custodian over the Lookout, our only access to all unrestricted surveillance feeds across the Ark. I did my due diligence and searched the surveillance history,” Jim shrugged. His smile was plastered over his face. “You were going to let her go because you had no evidence of her treason. Innocent until proven guilty… well?” Jim’s judgmental look conveyed only one message to the Council:
I told you so
.

“Well, Meredith is gone remember? So what does this mean?” Sophia offered.

“Look at this.” Jim swiped the holographic screen to rewind the feed. He then pinched the screen and separated his thumb and index finger to zoom in on the device in her hand. It was the keycard hacking tool that she had taken from Danny Ryder.

“What are we looking at?” Andrew asked, squinting into the hologram.

“She has a device here that is how she broke into the Vault. I knew Meredith well enough to know that she did not design this device,” Jim explained, leading Sigh to form the conclusion.

“She had help...” Sigh’s tone deflated as he exhaled. Jake held his breath, unable to breath as the tension in the room continued to choke him like carbon monoxide.

“A rebellion is in our midst. I suggest that we recruit an enforcement team. They will police the colonists for any signs of revolt. They will patrol the Ark. We have enough electrostaffs in the Armory to arm them.”

“How are we going to get this neighborhood watch you are suggesting?” Chen asked.

“I think Peter Gambit should head up the effort. One of the teens can be pulled from classes to cover his lunch shift in the kitchen.”

“Any objections?” Sigh took one look over the rest of the Council, taking an informal vote on the proposal. Jake couldn’t disagree without putting himself under a microscope of scrutiny.

“Make it happen. We can’t risk a disgruntled rebel getting out of hand. Someone could get hurt.”

General agreement swept the table, while most of the Council still remained despondent and shocked by the footage of Meredith heisting the Vault.

“Assembly adjourned.” Sigh smacked the table with his hand and the group dispersed.

“See ya tomorrow night,” Sophia whispered behind Jake as they exited the room.

They stepped out into the Loop where people milled about and commuted to their job shifts.

“Sorry, I had to be the bearer of bad news, Jake.” Jim stuck around to gloat.

“Yeah, I just can’t believe Meredith would do such a thing,” Jake feigned disappointment.

“Well, whoever they are… we will get these bastards. Nobody is going to rebel on my watch.” Jim walked off into the passing crowd. Jake’s sight got lost in the crowd until they found a familiar hoodie.

It was Danny Ryder, standing thirty yards away.

The grim expression on his face cast an ominous shadow before him.

Despite colonists passing by, Danny remained at a distant and locked on Jake. He didn’t have to say anything; Jake understood and nodded to the directive conveyed.

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Jake took a quick lap around the Loop and found Danny’s pod. He slapped the button and the door shot open.

“What the hell?! Where the hell were you today?” Jake entered the pod, leading with aggression.

“Yeah… of course I know—”

“We are going to break into the X drive and use the data map to build an army—”

“Jake!” Danny tried to settle him.

“What?!”

“I wasn’t there because I found something. I found a message.”

“What kind of message?” he asked finally focused on what Danny was trying to say.

“It said, ‘Meredith Jones did not act alone. Sniff out the rebellion and destroy it by any means necessary.’” Danny adjusted himself as he found the words, perched on his lips. “The message came from the GENESIS to colonist #309. We still don’t have the map to know who it is, but we can be sure of one thing,” Danny explained with great difficulty.

“It means…” Jake’s knees buckled, struck by disbelief as he realized what it meant.

“GENESIS has planted a mole among us...”