The Variables

CHAPTER SIX

“Was this pla

“Yes,” Scott answered in a terse reply. “It’s a pla

“Is it about getting out of this place?” Galen asked, sidling up beside his father. Someone nudged him from behind on his way through and Galen stumbled. He shot a look upward, but the offender had already passed.

“Come on, stay close,” Maxine commanded. She held Teddy on her hip—he was covering his ears with his hands and closing his eyes tight. Harper trotted alongside, and Maxine kept putting her hand on her youngest daughter’s head to steer her in the direction of the crowd. “Head to the place on the right. With our pod. Come on, keep moving.” Monroe and Malcolm tried to duck between other congregants and found themselves at an impasse behind the metal doors. Maxine snapped her fingers and the twins slunk back to the family. “I said, stay close,” she reiterated.

From down the hall, Lucy spotted Grant making his way through the crowd. He waved at her and she motioned for him to join her. He nodded and disappeared. While they were technically supposed to sit by pod, Huck had stopped enforcing it—the trapped survivors divided themselves into distinct groups on their own, splintering into cliques.

After his stint as a prisoner and guinea pig ended, Grant had been given a shared room halfway across the System from the King residence. Propelled into roommate life, he now shared living space with Todd, a computer prodigy from Texas, and Dylan, one of the System’s guards—recruited secretly from his military school with a promise of life-changing opportunities and upward mobility in the Elektos army.

Grant never had anything negative to say about the guys. He called them his “System Brothers” and often arranged to meet them for pick-up basketball games. It was endearing how much Grant wanted to show that he was trying to fit in. Late at night, Lucy and Grant found themselves discussing how they wanted to handle life underground. She refused to see how Huck’s leadership could be accepted so blindly, but Grant didn’t want to draw attention to himself by looking ungrateful for a second shot at life. She understood his need to transition from inmate to approachable System resident. While she knew it was calculated, she also knew that Grant could find fun and friends anywhere.

Lucy watched as Grant made his way closer, wearing a big smile every time his face popped up in the ambling crowd. Her family turned from the hall into the Center, and Lucy’s attention was drawn away from Grant and into the room.

Set up in front was a temporary stage and a white screen had been erected with a video playing on a loop. As the rest of the System’s population entered, they were naturally glued to the images: computer generated buildings, architectural designs, a white soaring tower with a helipad, and an open center looking down into beautiful green foliage. Surrounding the initial tower, there were walkways leading to smaller buildings. Glass ceilings peered into shopping centers. Through the art of computer animation, the video swooped through the ceiling and into hallways lined with artisan shops, ma

Outside, the incessant beeping continued to call the System drones forward. Inside, a soft melody played as the soundtrack to the film.

“The Islands?” Lucy asked her dad, and he nodded a curt, single nod.

The Islands were not actual islands, as Lucy had imagined. Instead, they were floating cities. The images played again on a loop. Their future home was presented with a slideshow of enticing pictures, and for a moment, Lucy felt herself being pulled toward the excitement and beauty. They would no longer be shut up tight under the earth; the unavoidable dark sterility of their underground home could soon be a distant memory.

“They’re not what I pictured,” Lucy said to herself. Her father glanced down and acknowledged the comment, but his face was blank, studious, and altogether tense. He picked at his cuticles as they walked, his tell that he was mentally occupied and stressed. “Dad?”

“They are remarkable,” he replied, but he didn’t look at her. Scott’s face sca

Grant slipped into their row and worked his way around Galen, Monroe, and Malcolm and took his seat next to Lucy. He leaned in and kissed her on the cheek, and she smiled.

“This is exciting,” Grant said. He reached out to hold Lucy’s hand and gave it a squeeze. “Act three begins.”

“They’re pretty, but—” Lucy started, but her father turned sharply and waited for her to finish, so she let the sentence go, shaking her head. “Stuck in a cave or stuck out at sea,” she then said, under her breath.

Lucy turned as she heard Cass’s voice materialize behind her. “Eskize mwen. Pardon, pardon,” her friend said, slipping between French and Creole effortlessly, as she slid past those already seated and took the chair directly behind Lucy. Once settled, she leaned forward and put her hand on top of Lucy’s head. “Good morning, dear ones.”

“The unveiling of your dad’s crowning achievement. Excited?” Lucy asked. Her father bristled beside her. She took umbrage with his prickliness.

Cass laughed and shook her head. “Excited? No. I am not excited about the presentation. This will be nothing compared to when everyone sees them in person the first time. But his shirt looks nice. I picked it out myself.”

Lucy watched as Cass’s eyes scrutinized the slideshow. Then she looked intently over Lucy’s shoulder, distracted from the good-natured greeting a moment before. When she turned to see what Cass was staring at, she could hear her mother’s voice in a cold monotone. Standing before the King family was Blair—dressed in a short skirt, a billowy blouse, and a headband with a peacock feather—she leaned in over some of the other System residents and was smiling at Teddy, who had buried his face into Maxine’s shoulder.

“He’s shy,” Maxine said. “He’s been through a huge ordeal. And the noise is scaring him.” Teddy shivered against Maxine and looked on the verge of tears; he held her around the neck and didn’t turn to make eye contact with the woman itching for his attention.

Blair slid in further to the row. “I’ve watched him play in the Center with the boys. I just wanted to say hello.”

“Another time, Blair,” Maxine said.

Blair’s eyes flashed. “I just wanted to say hello,” she repeated, but this time her voice carried the heaviness of a threat. “But since now isn’t a good time, I’ll just pop by later. Expect me.”