Drowning in Deception (22 page)

She pressed her lips together, thinking
about the best way to answer. How would the old Clover have answered? Smiling
brightly at Florentina, she did her best impression of her mother’s sing-song
voice, “My dad works on the top floor, and I’m so proud of him. He works so
hard to keep us all safe from the monsters. He is my hero, and so naturally, I
wish to be just like him.”

“I see. And are you aware of all that
your father does on the top floor?”

Clover realized suddenly that this was
not only a test for her, but for her father as well. If she answered the
question honestly, he might be stripped of his position. From what she’d
gathered so far, a big part of working in the Watch Tower involved secrecy. A
part of her wanted to blurt it out, wanted to get him in trouble, wanted him to
suffer and be miserable, and maybe even be punished in the way that he himself
had punished others.

But no, that wouldn’t accomplish
anything to help Rye and his people. “He keeps us safe from the monsters, of
course,” she answered matter-of-factly.

Florentina eyed her suspiciously. “You’re
aware that his job is much too dangerous for a woman? You would never be able
to make it that far up the Tower.”

In her mind, she lunged forward and
slapped Florentina hard across the face. In reality, she smiled sweetly and
said, “Oh, yes. I know that. I’d like to work my way up the Tower, and maybe eventually
I can prove myself enough that one day they will change this rule.”

“Uh-hmm.”

The interview went on like this for
forty-five minutes, with Florentina drilling her with questions, none of which
she could answer completely truthfully. By the end of it, her cheeks hurt from
forcibly smiling, and the constant chirpy sound of her own voice made her want
to vomit.

Finally she was told to go have
something to eat and come back in an hour. She followed Florentina out of the
room, but Florentina went down the corridor in the opposite direction from the
way Clover had entered.

Gart was waiting for her on the main
floor. They went through the market and picked up a couple of small rations,
found a table at a far wall and sat down to eat. They wondered if they were
being observed, if maybe they should have picked up some milk to drink. Then
decided this was silly, since milk only came in large jugs. They couldn’t
expect them to drink that much for lunch.

They spent the hour chatting and
comparing notes. Gart had received similar questions as Clover. They hoped they
did okay, hadn’t made themselves look suspicious in any way, and were nervous
about what might happen next.

An hour later, Clover and Gart were
escorted to the same room where they had taken the written exam. They stood
nervously fidgeting and waiting for Anders to arrive. Clover couldn’t help but
wonder if she had still been under the influence of the drugs, would she have been
this nervous?

When the door finally swung open, she
took a big breath and planted her smile back on.

Again, Anders wasted no time. “I have
the results of your tests. You have both been accepted to work in the Watch
Tower, and I have the decisions on where you will be placed.”

He paused to look at them carefully.

“But before I pass that information on
to you, it is imperative that you understand something. What happens here in
the Watch Tower, from the third floor up, is top secret. The work that is done
here is very important for the continuation of Eadin thriving as a content and
peaceful society.”

Clover almost gagged when he used the
word ‘peaceful’.

“What we do within these walls must
always stay within these walls. You must swear a written oath of
confidentiality to this effect.”

They both nodded solemnly in understanding.
Clover wondered if they were going to be asked to sign their names with their
own blood.

He produced two documents and handed one
to each of them. They picked up the pens that were still on the table, but just
before they were about to sign, Anders suddenly continued. “I am to make you
fully aware that should you ever break the terms of that contract, you will be
considered a criminal and will be punished according to the laws of our
society.”

She thought about asking what the
punishment would be, but thought better of it and snapped her mouth shut. No
drugged up citizen of Eadin would be curious enough to want to know, nor would
they ever consider acting in a criminal manner.

They signed the papers while giving each
other a look out of the corners of their eyes, and then handed them back to
Anders with a smile.

“Very good. It is done.”

They watched as he inhaled deeply and
took a tall stance over them, his large chest seeming to expand ever bigger. “Clover,
let’s start with you. You will be starting on the fourth floor in the milk
enhancement sector. This may seem trivial to you now, but you’ll understand
just why it’s so important when you are trained tomorrow.”

Great, she thought sadly. I’m going to
be putting the drugs in the milk. But then it occurred to her that it might be
a good thing. Once she saw how it was done, she could find a way to keep the
drugs from getting into the milk.

“This is only temporary,” he continued. “We
are aware of your natural aptitude for writing and artwork, and we are trying
to decide if there’s a better placement for you where you might utilize these
skills.” That was the smartest thing she’d heard all day.

Now he turned to Gart, and Clover
could’ve sworn the smile he gave him was one of great pride. “You’re a skinny
young man,” he observed. “But we can work on that. In fact, I looked much like
you did when I first started working here.” He puffed his chest out to show off
his build.

“Very rarely do we get citizens who are
interested in doing the dangerous work at the top of the Tower, and even more
rarely do we find someone who fits all the criteria. Congratulations, Gart.
Starting tomorrow you will begin training to work on the very top.”

Clover’s face burned. It wasn’t fair.
She quickly swallowed back her hurt pride, telling herself this was a good
thing. Gart had gotten in. They would now officially have a spy on the inside.

“Thank you, sir.” Gart was grinning from
ear to ear, although looking a little flushed, which Clover guessed was fear.
He stuck out his hand and shook Anders’s.

They were told to meet back there the
next day at the same time, when they would be given their access keys and their
training would begin. They’d made it. They were on the inside.

***

Clover reported for her first day of
work as instructed. Florentina, who had interviewed her the day before, met her
on the main floor and then led her to a room on the fourth floor. She motioned
someone over to them, turned, and set a key into Clover's hand. This is your
access key. It will get you on to the third and fourth floors.

A tall, skinny girl joined them.

“Clover, this is Gardenia. She will show
you how everything works.” With that said, Florentina left.

Gardenia gave Clover a warm smile. “Welcome
aboard,” she said.

Gardenia had thick black hair that
formed a frame around her face like an open umbrella. “You're Gart's sister,
aren't you?”

“Yes. We're twins, actually. Gart's told
me all about you. C'mon, let me show you around.”

Clover hung her coat on a hook in the
entryway they had been standing in and followed Gardenia through a doorway.
Once inside, she stopped to survey the room. It was a large, bright space that
contained numerous stainless steel tables, each with a strange apparatus built
up on top of it. From the tables ran two conveyor belts that disappeared
through a long, wide opening in one of the walls.

“He's told you all about me? Well, then
you must know about what we're doing.”

Gardenia shook her head as she walked. “He
tells me everything that's going on, but he won't let me get involved. Here.
Let's use this station.” She stopped in front of one of the tables.

The system was quite simple. Jugs of
milk would come out on one of the conveyor belts. Gardenia demonstrated the
routine by taking one of the jugs onto the table in front of her and removing
the cap. She then pulled a lever that brought a tube down into the top of the
open jug. She waited a beat and pushed the lever back up, recapped the milk and
put the jug onto the conveyor belt behind her.

Clover looked up at the apparatus above
the station. She could see now that it was actually some sort of tank or vat
that contained liquid. “So the drugs are in there?” She pointed.

“Shh... It‘s called milk enhancement.”

“Yes, of course.” Clover looked around,
but none of the other twelve or so people in the room seemed to be paying much
attention to them. She whispered, “Do you want to get involved? We could use
some extra bodies and heads.”

“I really do. Gart's just worried about
me, I guess.” She pointed to a spot on the apparatus that held the drug tank. “That
will light up orange when the tank is empty. When that happens, you simply move
to a different station. The tanks are replaced regularly by a different
division.”

Clover took one of the jugs from the
conveyor belt and proceeded to do as Gardenia had shown her. “Well, you could
come to one of the meetings as my guest. We really will take all the help we
can get.”

“I know.” She replaced the cap for
Clover and moved the jug to the second belt. “I'll think about it, okay?”

“Okay. Now, let's figure out how we can
tamper with these things or come up with a way to stop putting this stuff into
the jugs.”

“Shh...” Gardenia lowered her voice. “It's
not possible. Everything is kept track of... the number of jugs versus the
amount of enhancement being used. If any of the figures are off...it could be
trouble.”

“Well, there's got to be a way...”
Clover tipped her head. “How do you do it? You know, this job...knowing what
you know.”

“I didn’t know when I started, and now I
have no choice. I'm stuck here for life.” Her face took on an apologetic look. “And
now so are you.” She turned and walked to a station down the way from Clover
and began working, not looking back at Clover.

***

The next week danced by in a flurry of
activity. Clover worked during the day, always watchful, trying to figure out
if there was a way she could keep the drugs from getting into the milk. And
every evening she rushed to the nest of bushes on the other side of the Wall.
Things were moving along fast now and her optimism about everything was
growing.

Her reading lessons with Rye were going
well, as he was quick to catch on. Their relationship was blooming to the point
where she knew she was falling hard for him. She knew full well what he was and
what he was capable of, but she didn’t believe he would ever cause her harm.

The number of Rye’s people who were willing
to take part in an uprising against the gods was increasing. So many were tired
of being treated like slaves, like animals, and the very idea that positive
change could come to their world gave them new hope. They were ready to fight
alongside the ‘rebel gods’ as they had decided to call the group, and waited
only for instructions from them to proceed in whatever way was needed of them.

“Okay. Let’s get this started.” Sera
took a chair and looked at the five other faces gathered in the sparsely
decorated living room. “Who has some news? And what’s our next step?”

Zander turned to Clover. “Figured out a
way to sabotage the milk-drugging operation?”

“No. I don’t think it’s possible.
Everything is carefully tracked. I’ve talked to Gardenia about it since she’s
worked there longer than me. She says it’s impossible to do anything sneaky
there. Everything is just monitored too closely.”

Gart turned to her. “I don’t want my
sister involved.”

Clover rolled her eyes. “Gart, she wants
to be involved. I’ve invited her here, but she won’t come out of respect for
you. Seems to me we could really use some more people.” She waved her hands
around the room in an exaggerated gesture. They all nodded in agreement, except
for Gart, who only crossed his arms.

“Anyway,” Clover continued. “Last night
when I was with Rye, Turk came to see us.” She smiled at Smith. “You’re right.
He is a very nice man. Anyway… They’re ready. Their numbers are up to around
seventy-five and growing all the time. They’re just waiting for instructions
from us. Even with their large number, they feel useless against the guns.”

“Wow. It’s actually going to happen,”
breathed Sera.

“Yeah,” said Zander, although his tone
was noticeably unenthusiastic. “My concern is still the milk. That’s my number
one priority. How can we get the drugging to stop?”

“Well, we discussed that last night too.
I told Turk that there aren’t very many of us. Rye has filled him in on
everything. He’s a smart man. He said the only way to get more people on the
Eadin side to join is to get them out of the drug-induced fog. They won’t
believe what’s going on in Quell, or even care for that matter, as long as
they’re zombied up.”