Chapter 2
Another
student raised his hand. “Didn’t he go look outside the building? They couldn’t
really have disappeared that quickly...”
“Maybe
not in today’s Mirkal, no;” the professor agreed. “But back then, before the
War of the Resistance, Mirkal was a much different place. There were always a
lot of people around, and the streets were narrower and more winding, and there
were an awful lot more of them.”
“Well,
that makes sense, then.”
“Now,” the professor continued, “we’re going
to talk about a different part of this history, which takes place about ten
years later—the story of how the Education Machines were first tested, and what
happened to the human Guinea Pigs who were chosen for this great honor.”
Some students, who wanted to hear
more about Ben and what had happened to Wynn and Kara, groaned, while others
straightened in their chairs, eager to learn about something new and different.
Gavin had
awaited the day of Education excitedly. He could hardly focus on school; his
grades slipped so much that the government actually considered selecting
someone other than him for the test, but Gavin had managed to return them to
normal in time and submit a Letter of Explanation to the Educators, stating
that his excitement had made him distractible. As Gavin was only eleven, they
had understood.
The day
drew nearer. Gavin and three of his friends, who had also been chosen for the
test, would often be found in the corner of the school cafeteria, talking
excitedly in low voices of what Education was going to be like. They would
exchange their theories: “You won’t even be conscious for it—it’ll be like
surgery.” “They’ll stick you with a needle and inject you with the
information.” “They’ll do it telepathically, just sort of send your brain the
information.” No one knew the facts; no one in all of Mirkal had yet seen the
machines.
For they
were machines, large and silver, with wicked-looking claws dangling above hard
leather seats and computer screens imbedded off to the side, displaying
frantically scrolling streams of computer code. Day and night one could see
Educators scrambling to add the final touches to the code, or zapping real
guinea pigs, mice, and rabbits with the machines to make sure the levels of
electricity coming through the claws weren’t deadly.
At long
last, they had deemed the machines ready, and Gavin, Carlton ,
Drake, and Ren, along with the three other guinea pigs, had been issued special
uniforms and escorted by the Governor’s Elite Guards to the Capitol Building
And pressed
the large red button.
Gavin’s
vision went black. He heard a faint strain of music somewhere in the back of
his mind, and a man’s voice droning at triple speed. After a minute of
straining to hear what the man was saying, he gave up. Probably not important, he thought.
Even as he
thought this, he got the distinct impression that it was important. He wasn’t sure, but he thought that the impression
came from the machine. The music grew louder. Gavin struggled to listen to the
lecturer—for he was sure it was a lecturer—and started to succeed. His mind
slowed the information down; he could understand the man’s words. “The
leg-sweep defense,” he was saying, “is used when confronted with a punch or any
technique to the head...”
Guard training? The boy was confused. Not just normal education?
“How did he know?” a student asked, without even raising his hand. “That it was Guard
training, I mean?”
“Only Guards and other soldiers
learned self-defense,” the professor explained “It was the law in Eleth.”.
A burst of
energy flooded through him. Suddenly the music slowed down. The lecturer’s
voice faded off. Blinking, Gavin opened his eyes and saw the Education room.
“Congratulations,
Graduates,” intoned a deep voice.
Turning his
head, Gavin saw the speaker. It was a tall man in a jet black suit, a man with
neatly combed hair, sunglasses shielding his eyes from view, and a cigarette
protruding from the corner of his mouth. He wore a slight, chilling smile.
Gavin shivered and grasped the seat’s armrests to lift himself to the ground.
He heard a
shout, followed by a crashing noise. Something was going wrong. Leaping to his
feet, Gavin whirled around and saw Drake backed against a wall, three Guards
pointing their guns at him. The older boy’s eyes were wide with fright, an
emotion Gavin had never seen displayed in them.
But before
he could react, he heard more noises from behind him, more shouts of surprise.
He turned back toward his machine, and saw what was happening. The armrests
were bent forward at the point where his hands had pushed against them.
Did I do that? Gavin thought. I couldn’t have...
“Gavin
Beck.” He heard the tall man’s voice again. “Stay where you are.”
Spinning on
his heel, Gavin faced him. “Who are you?” he asked. “What’s going on?”
The man
grinned his cold grin again. “My name is Agent Gregory,” he replied.
“Isn’t that the same guy who Listed Wynn and
Kara?” asked a student.
“Yes. Good catch.”
His voice
was quiet and deadly-sounding. “And, as an Agent of the Governor, I have the
authority to use this.”
The boy’s
eyes widened as the man extracted a gun from his belt and aimed it at him.
“But I
won’t have to,” Agent Gregory continued, “If you stay where you are and don’t
put up a fight.”
“What’s
going on?” demanded Gavin again, clenching his fists.
“The
Education was successful...a bit too successful.”
“What do
you mean?”
“You’re
showing abilities, so to speak, beyond the realm of normal human
understanding.”
“Abilities?”
“Look.”
With the gun, Gregory gestured to the armrests of Gavin’s seat. “You did that.
I saw you do it. You’re strong—too strong. And that makes you a threat.”
“A threat?”
“Look, kid.
The Governor doesn’t want anyone going up against him, you see. He’s powerful,
very powerful. And he wants to stay that way. He pays me to keep the peace, to ensure his continued rule. So if you so much
as lift a finger against him, you’re dead. Understand?”
Gavin
swallowed and nodded.
“All right
then.” Suddenly Gregory wheeled and, with split-second aim, fired a shot that
sailed straight through the center of a diagram on the wall. “That will be you
if you try anything,” he growled, spinning the smoking gun around his finger
and shoving it roughly back into its holster. “Now, we’re going to take you—all
of you—into custody.”
Glancing at
Drake, Gavin saw that the Guards had moved in closer, and one of them was
pulling handcuffs from his belt. He looked over at Carlton , and noted his friend’s expression of
terror. Only Ren was silent, still sitting in the machine’s chair, looking at
Gregory with an expression of utter disgust.
He’s not going to get up, the boy
realized. He’s just going to sit there.
A few guards drew their guns, and Gavin closed his eyes. He’s going to die.
NOW! The thought suddenly exploded
through his head—in Ren’s voice? GO!
THROUGH THE DOOR!
Wheeling once more toward
Gregory, Gavin threw a well-placed punch at the Agent’s stomach. Doubled over,
Gregory yanked the gun from its holster, but the tears streaming down his face
seemed to be keeping him from successfully aiming at the boy. His bullets
slammed into the ground, each more than a foot away from its intended target.
Gavin’s
attack had drawn the attention of everyone in the room. The upside was that all
the other guinea pigs could slip out the door practically unnoticed. The
downside was that all the guns in the room were now aimed at him.
He dove to
the floor just in time to avoid a sudden volley that left his ears ringing. The
sound of dozens of bullets pelting the ground as he slid behind one of the
machines was nearly deafening, but Gavin didn’t care. He just needed a place
where he could safely plan his next move, and he had an idea of where that
place might be.
And he was
right. The machine had a panel at the back, a panel that opened easily at
Gavin’s touch. He slid into the machine’s inner workings and slammed the panel
back across the opening hurriedly, as several bullets ricocheted off of it.
He lay
there for a minute or two, gasping for breath, listening to the Guards pounding
at the machine frantically. He thought he could hear some Educators going at it
with power tools, desiring the safety of the Governor over the safety of one of
their prize machines. He must have jammed the door.
They must really want me dead. They think
I’m a threat. But why would I be a threat? I’m only eleven. I can’t do all that
much against the Governor. Maybe tear a few statues down, now. But why would I
want to do that anyway?
His
Education suddenly kicked in. He heard the lecturer’s voice again. “The
Governor took power twenty-three years ago, after a time of food shortage and
political dissent destroyed Mirkal’s former infrastructure. After a fierce
battle with insurgents determined to eliminate the new regime, the Governor
seized complete control and banned the formation of private militias, the
ownership of weapons by citizens other than Government workers whose jobs
mandate them, the practice of the Visian religion, and the education of
children other than under the Government’s system and in Government schools.
After this occurred, the Governor required that the details of his occupation
be recorded only for the purposes of alerting Government employees of the
Governor’s character and his hatred of dissent. The people are to receive an
altered version of history in order to preserve the peace. If asked, you will
state that the Governor took power peacefully. There was no insurgence. The
Visian Religion was made up of ignorant, dissenting individuals, enemies of the
Governor. Education can best be completed by the Government’s credentialed
teachers. You are never to reveal the full history to anyone, on pain of
death.”
What? Gavin blinked. This is blackmail. This is wrong. This is
what I have been thrust into. The Governor now knows I have this information,
that I can share it. The Agent knows that we’ve gained special superhuman abilities.
They want us dead. They don’t want others to know the truth.
And Gavin
realized what he had to do.
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