Amber & Ice

Chapter 7: Thousands of vacant, vote casting masses

Athena knew that this was going to be a bad idea. So much for being brave and giving it a try. She hadn't even lasted five minutes before making a fool out of herself. But she had been so sure that it had been him. The eyes, the hair, even his height and build. It was all so familiar. She could still remember the weight of him on top of her; the rush of heat before the snow began to seep into her clothes… Was she going crazy?

Ari gave her a sympathetic rub on the arm. "Just ignore him; he's like that with everyone."

This knowledge didn’t make Athena feel any better, but she was saved from having to reply by the blue haired girl climbing onto the stage.

“I have reliable intel that a new vote is coming up.”

“Just cut to the chase, why don’t you, Bree? What’s wrong with ‘welcome back, I hope you had a nice Christmas?’” Dyo was sat on a chair in the front row, his feet up on the stage.

She glared at him, but Dyo merely grinned back. Ari rolled her eyes in a way that said: See, I told you it was just him.

“The Armed Forces budget is coming up for renewal,” Briseis continued, turning herself away from Dyo. “Some big players are already moving into action - Jason Leighton has a team working around the clock on his angle.”

“Already?” Ino asked, frowning.

“This is a big one for him. Weapons are one of the Freedom Institute’s main exports. He stands to win or lose big depending on how the vote goes. He’s not going to leave this to chance or public opinion; he is going to be getting as many Pop voters on side as possible before the vote is even announced.

“The explosion will play straight into his hands - he will use it to convince voters that they need a military to protect them.”

“But that’s ridiculous!” Thalia piped up, which prompted some angry muttering from the crowd.

Athena looked across, curious of Dyo’s reaction, but he had vanished.

She tried to look around the rest of the room, but he was nowhere to be seen.

“Looking for someone?” Came a voice to her left, causing her to jump.

“No,” she replied quietly as she turned to face Dyo.

Briseis and the group were still discussing weaponry in the background and Athena didn’t want to draw attention to herself if she could help it.

“Don’t flatter yourself,” Athena replied, trying her best to sound disinterested. “What are you doing over here anyway?”

“I need to steal Ori away for a moment, that’s all.” He tapped Orion on the shoulder and tipped his head in the direction of a door to the side of the stage.

Orion kissed Aridne on the cheek, whispering something in her ear and then followed Dyo through the doorway.

Ari fixed her attention back on the stage and Athena tried to follow suit. Briseis was explaining why they shouldn’t need a large budget for the Armed Forces:

“There hasn’t been war in a direct democracy for over 60 years. We haven’t used our military for anything for over a decade now and, if we were about to use them, we would need to vote on it first, at which point we could also agree on a suitable budget for the mission. Why should we be spending public money on troops and weapons we are probably never going to use?”

“Maybe the Freedom Institute has a use for them?” Perseus suggested. This prompted more muttering from the crowd.

So far, the meeting felt like a darker version of a Pop meeting. When Athena was following a camp with Cress, though, there was never any mention of individuals. They just discussed what would benefit the most people. Somewhere, these voters seemed to have got their facts a bit skewed. direct Democracy was about the many, not the few. And why were they discussing a vote that hadn’t been announced yet? Votes weren’t pre-planned like this, with strategies and game plans before the general population even knew that we had got started. That would defeat the point.