Robinson Crusoe 2244 (33 page)

The city square teemed with citizens as the prisoners were marshaled out in shackles. Saah had ordered a stage erected under the Feed monitor, which showed shots of the other Townships as their entire populous gathered. Robinson recognized most of the faces in front of him, but he was surprised to see how angry they seemed.

“They’re out for blood today,” Father said.

“I don’t understand why.”

“Look in the back.”

And then he saw it. Casks of wine and ale were flowing like the Tongue itself. It was barely noon and the crowd was already drunk.

They were greeted with boos and catcalls and a few volleys of trash, but many knew it was a farce. And yet an undercurrent of fear ran throughout the throng as confusion about the societal upheaval had grown out of proportion. Many were looking for answers but none were brave enough to ask the proper questions.

The buzz grew until the Iron Fists appeared and escorted Regent Saah onto the stage where his supporters were gathered. Among them was Jaras, fighting back his giddy delight for the show of blood that was to follow.

At the far end of the stage, Robinson spotted Tessa crying in her mother’s arms, lamenting her true love’s fall from grace. The crowd ate it up and even Robinson had to admit it was a masterful performance.

Saah held his hands up and the crowd went quiet.

“Citizens of the One People. Today, I stand before you, bringing the worst of tidings. On the dais with me are five men you know well. Tier Shamus Bartell. Tier Siev Cloustern. Tier Roland Fallow. Tier Leodore Crusoe, and his son, Robinson. These men stand accused of a terrible crime—the gravest of crimes—treason. Treason against the One People and violators of the Eight Laws on which our society was founded!”

The crowd grumbled again. Tier Cloustern’s wife fainted in the throng.

“These five men have conspired to overthrow the Crown using the influence of their offices. They have travelled beyond the boundaries of our continent in search of weapons and technologies to aid their plotted coup. Tier Crusoe supplied the flyers that transported Tiers Cloustern and Bartell’s recruits to establish a base of operations on one of these foreign continents. The food shortage we have all suffered under this past year? It was not due to flooding, as Tier Fallow’s reports concluded, but his illegal appropriation for their seditious conspiracy! If any among you doubt the veracity of these charges, look no further than Tier Crusoe’s own son. He was declared dead by his father, a victim of a house fire that took three other lives! Only here he stands, miraculously alive, in the clothes of the race he mingled with half a globe away! Do you deny this, ser?”

The crowd roared its disapproval, but the prisoners were meant to say nothing.

“Perhaps the most grievous act,” Saah went on once the din had settled, “was in returning to our shores with one of these pre-Rendering weapons. An instrument so vile and so destructive that it can eradicate all of us from a single machine up in the sky!”

At this the crowd turned truly ugly, showering the prisoners with refuse and rocks as a chant of “Expiry” rose through the ranks. To punctuate his point, Saah drew out the silver case and set it on the stage.

“Our forebears knew the dangers of such of technology. They knew the perils of weaponry, religion, and vice. And yet slowly we have allowed these things to snake their way back into our lives under the corrupted system of the Tiers. With their multitude of voices, we have forgotten that only one voice matters:
yours
. And as your Regent, I humbly submit that it is time to do away with the Tiers system and embrace what we were always meant to be. One land speaking with one voice for One People! And I will be that voice for you!”

The crowd exploded in frenzy. On the balconies overlooking the street, many Tiers were growing concerned for their own safety. One was pulled from his loft and trampled in the street.

Saah held up his hand once again.

“But we are not savages. Every accused has a right to defend themselves or to speak their piece. Shamus Bartell, come forward. You stand accused of treason against the One People. How do you plead?”

“I confess, the accusations are true.”

Tier Bartell’s family wailed as the crowd denounced him.

“For your crimes, you are sentenced to Expiry immediately.”

A cheer went up as he was pulled back.

Tier Cloustern was marshaled forward next.

“I … am guilty of these crimes. I ask for mercy.”

“The only mercy you shall have is that your family does not stand with you!”

Roland Fallow was shoved forward next.

“Ser Fallow, do you also confess?”

“I confess … that you are an asshole, Vardan. And always have been.”

An Iron Fist smashed a pommel into his belly. When he recovered, he was thrust in front of the microphone again.

“It’s true.”

“Then you too are sentenced to walk the Road.”

Leodore stepped forward without prompting, his head held high.

“Ser Crusoe. I see you’ve stepped forward willingly to embrace these charges. Of all the betrayals, yours is the most grievous and the most personal to me. We were friends once. Many years we sat the council together, serving for the benefit of all. I beg you, Leodore, admit to your crimes and free yourself of this burden. If not to return honor to Crusoe name, then for the good of your own children.”

At that moment, several Iron Fists ushered Tannis and Tallis out. Both were crying. It made Robinson’s stomach lurch. It was a masterful stroke on Saah’s part. He knew Leodore was an impassioned speaker. If anyone could have rallied the crowd it was he. Instead, he simply nodded and stepped back.

“There you have it, citizens. Each man has confessed—”

“What about the boy?” someone yelled.

Robinson looked to see who had spoken. It was a manservant of Tier Soren, one of the boys who had beat Robinson up alongside Jaras. Even this move had been planned.

“The boy acted under orders of his father,” Saah said. “He will face the same fate. Now—”

“Let him speak!” a woman yelled. Robinson didn’t need to see her to know she was a provocateur as well. “Let him confess!”

The crowd agreed and Saah motioned him forward.

“Robinson Crusoe, citizen of the One People. You stand accused of treason. Do you deny that you willfully left the Isle of your own volition, even though it was in violation of the Eight?”

“No.”

“Do you deny that you travelled to another continent?”

“No.”

“Do you deny that you recovered ancient technology from that continent and used them to aid your endeavors?”

“I do not.”

“Do you deny that while on that continent, you had physical relations with a girl from another race?”

“No.”

This one seemed particularly shameful to the crowd. Their jeers continued to grow in pitch. Then Saah held his hand out and Jaras handed him the briefcase, which he opened for the crowd.

“And do you deny that you procured this device, a former weapon of mass destruction, with intent to activate it without full awareness of its consequences?”

“I do not deny it.”

“Then confess your part in this treason. In front of this Township, the Eight Regens,
and your brother and sister
! Confess and be done with it!”

In the crowd and on the Feed monitor, Robinson saw citizens gathered in every Township across the Isle, chanting, “Confess!” Their faces were full of anger and resentment, but he knew he wasn’t the true target of their rage. They had been subjugated to tyranny for too long and he was the only available outlet.

Robinson looked again for sign of Slink, but he was nowhere to be found. Could he still count on him after all this time? Was he willing to risk his life on a ploy? Equally important, was Robinson willing to risk his siblings’ lives on it?

“Confess!” Saah screamed.

Robinson took one glance at his father and saw him nod. He put his lips against the microphone and said, “I confess … nothing.”

The crowd gasped. Even Saah reacted like he’d been lashed. His head turned as if he were looking for help. Robinson knew he had to speak before Saah recovered.

“
You
are the one guilty of treason, Vardan Saah.
You
were the first to travel to the forbidden continent.
You
raised an army of conscripts to collect weapons and technologies to ensure your reign of tyranny here and abroad.
You
sought that weapon at your feet.
You
framed my parents and these men of their
supposed crimes
. And you’re the one who deserves to walk the Road for it.”

No one had ever spoken to a Regent like that before. But there was no folding in Vardan Saah. He recovered quickly.

“And have you acquired proof of these crimes?” He said it smugly. He knew Robinson hadn’t. So he decided to tell the truth.

“No. But my mother did.”

Looking back, he couldn’t say for sure why things had unfolded the way they had. The books all told that survival was about the power of will, letting go, and believing in one’s self. But no one could survive in a vacuum. Everyone needed help. On the forbidden continent, Robinson had had Friday, Resi, and even the Old Man. He was alive because they had earned his trust. And that was how he knew Slink would come through for him. There were few he trusted more.

When all the heads in the crowd snapped up, Robinson didn’t even have to turn around. He didn’t need to see the footage to know the content and its import.

The first video was Saah inside his office with his conspirators.

“I want electronic devices planted in every Tier home from Regen 1 to Regen 8. Not a single word gets spoken that I don’t hear about.”

The crowd gasped and Saah’s head snapped nervously around.

Then came a second clip of Iron Fists shooting rifles in a field.

“Faster!” Saah ordered. “The renders on the Forbidden Continent are not as soft as our own!”

A third clip had him stepping inside a flyer.

“Are you sure it has the capacity to cross the Atlantica? I don’t want to have to transport additional fuel cells unless it’s necessary.”

“This is a fabrication!” Saah screamed as the crowd turned on him. “These are lies! I’ve never been off the Isle! I’ve never—”

The fourth clip showed him stepping out of a flyer at the Air Force base. Three men were pulled out in shackles after him. This time, the crowd was stupefied.

“That’s Tier Frostmore! He walked the Red Road!” someone in the crowd shouted. “And Tiers Cork and Ulay were exiled!”

“Look, it’s Taskmaster Satu! He was said to have died!”

“Cut the Feed! Someone—! These are technological fabrications!”

But the blood of the crowd was already up. The Red Guard held them back as they surged forward, but it was clear they were in danger of being overrun. Robinson realized that the wall needed one last brick pulled before it completely toppled.

“Vardan Saah is the real perpetrator of treason! He even had the Regent murdered!”

“Lies!” Saah screamed. “Where is your evidence?”

“Here!” a booming voice called. To everyone’s surprise, Slink’s father pushed through the crowd. He had an Iron Fist by the scruff!

“It was this man’s hand that yielded the killing stroke! Tell them!”

“It’s true!” the soldier lamented. “Brapo Liesel stole the knife from Tier Crusoe’s house. He threatened to kill my family if I didn’t help him!”

“This is fabrication!” Saah said and then a final image appeared on the Feed, showing Brapo Liesel handing the blade to the Iron Fist with Saah watching. Robinson quickly turned and saw Slink’s father smile. He had helped his son load this final footage from the Crown’s secret security cameras.

“Murderer!” the crowd screamed. Then everything turned to chaos.

The Iron Fists rushed forward, their truncheons arcing with killing blows, but the crowd was too many. Robinson heard Tessa scream and turned to see her fighting desperately to hold on to her mother’s hand as she was pulled into the mob, her face gouged by women. Jaras was trying to get to his father but quickly realized his sister needed him more. He pulled a hidden pistol from his coat and started firing into the crowd. At last he reached Tessa and dragged her away.

On the stage, Leodore and the other prisoners were freed from their shackles.

“Robinson!” Leodore yelled over the din. “We have to go!”

“The case! We need the case!”

Robinson pointed to the case on the stage. Saah must have heard him, because he lunged for it, his fingers just missing the handle.

“If he sets it off, everything Mother sacrificed will be for nothing!”

“Go!” Leodore yelled.

They fought against the crowd, but on the other side of the stage, Saah dropped to the floor and pulled the case to him. His fingers moved quickly to enter the ICARUS password. Robinson didn’t know if he was doing it out of spite or if he really believed destroying the cure would save the Isle from some worse threat, but when he was yanked just short of pushing the EXECUTE button, Robinson knew it was now or never.