Saffron's Fire

2:30 Choosing Day

Katelyn pulled out her tablet again and checked on her program. The timer was set to go off in 10 hours.   Again, she debated if this was the right course of action. All her preaching to Carrigan about perseverance and here she was plotting to run without completing the ceremony. She had been working for months on an algorithm to jam up the frequency on her chip so that she would become untraceable and safe from the kill switch. She had a great temporary solution. Her algorithm clogged up the chips system for 72 hours long enough to get herself free and get the chip removed. Katelyn was wracked with guilt that she couldn't help her sisters. There was not enough time to figure out their codes and she debated with herself if running away would be the best solution. Would they kill her sisters as punishment? Would they torture them?

Maybe her best solution would be to wait a few months in her chooser's service and then escape. Her sister's couldn't be punished then. They would assume that she had figured out the loop when in her choosers employ. Yes that is what she would do. Tiberius didn't need another excuse to go after Carrigan and Evelyn was so young still. She made some complicated adjustments and the timer stopped. The door opened and Agent Tarly stepped in. Katelyn guiltily tried to hide the tablet but Agent Tarly barely noticed. Katelyn always was diddling with some technological device or other that the sight of a tablet 30 minutes before the ceremony was hardly out of character.

Agent Tarly pulled up a chair and sat next to Katelyn and stared at her as if sizing her up. Katelyn hated when anyone did this to her. It was aggravating and her nimble mind had to fight the urge to laugh. Trying to read Katelyn Saffron's face was an exercise in futility. Long before she was taken prisoner, Katelyn had become adept at wearing a mask of imperturbability. Her stubbornness and indomitable spirit would sustain her even under the most severe torture.

Agent Tarly had something else entirely on her mind. She sighed and actually slumped as she began to state her purpose. " I have come here today to explain to at least one of you girls before you go off into the world why, what next, and to offer my aid should you ever need it."

Startled but outwardly only blinking Katelyn stuck her tablet into a drawer and leaned in a little closer. Agent Tarly continued, " I want you to know that I have turned off the monitoring cameras and listening devices that are standard in all the rooms. Ever mention to anyone what was discussed here today I will no longer protect your interests as I have done from the beginning."

Katelyn gracefully acknowledged statements but took comfort in knowing that she had set up some recording devices and had set the cameras in hers, Evelyn's and Carrigan's room on a long loop over a year ago so it would not matter if someone was watching. Katelyn motioned with her hand for Agent Tarly to continue.

"When the Invasion of Chicago led to the collapse of the last United States defenses, I was on a committee where I was given a list of children who were survivors of the war. Accompanying those lists were files of records, some useless but most were school records, achievements, and other odds and ends. My team and I selected 40 children from each city and town in the United States. These children were to be reeducated and in a sense cleansed of the sins of their nation.  The endgame was to have these children start afresh and lead their people in a more peaceful and moral country. It was called the Elysium Project. The qualities I looked for were intellectual aptitude, common sense, athleticism, specialized excellence, and a sort of being able to think outside the proverbial box that can really make a person set apart from the rest. Your family was quite an easy choice, all of you children had incredible talents as well as the added benefit of being brought up with a moral code you call your Christian Values. Had I known then what I do now I would never have recommended so few children, I would never have participated in what was to happen next.

Powerful people in the government who had been the leading voices during the war let the Elysium project fall into less trustworthy hands. The project was skillfully maneuvered into bureaucratic oblivion and somehow those names and dossiers were given into the hands of those who would use that information to settle political scores, and greedily line their pockets.  In short, they were designated to the Houses, an old and for the most part covert tradition that has been going on for centuries.

Those children that I and my colleagues selected were then forced to watch as the remnant of their world, their family and friends were slaughtered. Then they were taken and that is when the real tragedy began. The atrocities were easily covered up because the children who were the only witnesses were in no position to tell what happened and the rest were dead. These clever, strong, good children were wiped of most of their memories, then implanted forced into houses where the lucky ones were forced to become Shirees or Shirrons. Those not so lucky were forced into trafficking of another kind.

When I figured out what was going on and what happened to the children who I so cavalierly offered up to their oppressors, I decided then and there that I would do everything in my power to rectify the situation. I was able, quite easily to get a position in this house because of my background with the Elysium project and my previous work which is not apart of this story. Do you understand what I am telling you?"

Katelyn nodded coolly her calm exterior and her calculating mind working in harmony trying to figure out what Agent Tarly was telling her any of this.

Agent Tarly went on, " Well then, that is the very basic why. I have come to offer a 'what next', a way out, reparation for many wrongs against you, your family and the innocents of your country. Because of my position in the house, I have manipulated the auction today and arranged for you and your sisters to be placed in chooser's employ who are allies to your cause. Your job, though, is the most important. You must figure out who is the one who betrayed the initial prerogative and turned the Elysium Project into their own personal bank roll, profiting off the trafficking of children. To do that, you must abandon your plan of running away."

Katelyn opened her mouth to protest but Agent Tarly raise her hand to stop her and said, " Don't bother to deny it. I am not stupid, dumb nor blind. I have been suspicious of your activities since I discovered the loop in the video feeds last month. You are the only one who could have done it. I know what you have on that tablet and I also know that you intend to use it, soon. I don't blame you, but it would ruin the whole scheme. If you are the person I suppose you to be then you will want to be in on this plot to help your countrymen. Please think about it. Your chooser can explain it much more cohesively."

Katelyn chose her next words very carefully, if this was a trap, she could put herself and her sisters in horrible danger. Katelyn opened her mouth and said, " If I were indeed as brilliant as you suspect me to be then how would I go about escaping? It should be impossible."

Agent Tarly whispered the only words that would have convinced Katelyn that her scheme was unravelling. "Persephone"

Persephone was the name embedded in her algorithm to help her remember the most intricate part of the code. Only someone who had looked at the code would know that word was significant to Katelyn. Agent Tarly clearly knew about the algorithm but how much of the rest of her story was true. Agent Tarly herself was not a hacker or a computer whiz by any stretch of the imagination, and only someone as skilled as Katelyn,  herself could even find where she had hidden the algorithm let alone uncover her code word. Katelyn decided to take a calculated risk and asked, " Who told you that word?" Agent Tarly smiled, " The man I selected to be your chooser. He also suggested to make a Pandora's Box to help hide it from prying eyes like his. He was very impressed at the lengths you went to hide it."

Katelyn opened her mouth but before she could say anything more Agent Tarly abruptly got up and left.

Katelyn sat there in pondering silence. She had to rethink her next few moves carefully. No threats had been made and the word Persephone certainly proved that her secret had been discovered. Agent Tarly's story sounded too preposterous. There was probably more to that story that she wasn't being told but the idea of what happened to her and her sisters' being a part of a cover up and corruption in the new government was plausible. The question was, what was she going to do?