The Five Unnecessaries

Chapter 9

 Every other Protector was huddled under the second-floor mezzanine, looking down into the center of the Hand. The panicked shouts continued, leaving me to conclude that the drone was still in our airspace. I supposed that Cassidy and Eva had been recruited to help with satellite surveillance, because they were at CU stations on the main floor. Collin went with a few other trainers, but almost instantly, I could sense it was combative.

Before she was out of earshot, I overheard Emily say, "You were supposed to be in your Circle. You risked everything for this stupid ideology and you keep breaking the..."

I didn't know what to make of her accusation and decided that there was a more viable threat to worry about. I felt nervous and bold at the same time. I didn't join the other Protectors and instead walked to Eva on the CU. I watched her work silently. Then, she stopped typing, not even turning around to talk to me.

"Hey, 27. Way to skip HistCulture and almost die. Classy."

"Yeah," I said, matching her nonchalant tone. "It was so much fun. You should try it sometime. Did the drone... ?"

"Leave yet? Yes. Did it mean to fly in our airspace? In my opinion, no, which I'm writing up in this report that will most likely be ignored. It did mean to blow that station, though. It locked on pretty early and was able to hack the order that was confirmed by the Sentry who authorized it. But once it scanned and didn't find any power source, they could tell they hadn't hit the intel jackpot they were hoping for. Did you actually run half the yard in two minutes and thirty seconds?"

"Apparently. What do you think they wanted to hit?"

"Probably a Q-station that has the works—basement, intel, functioning command area, and a whole Med outfit. Home away from home, full bath and two bedrooms. R-stations are only

communication and camo tents. And two-thirty? Dang! See, I told you all you needed was some mortal danger for motivation."

I caught sight of Eldridge, who came over to Eva's station, nodding to me first, but then focusing on Eva.

"All clear? Joel says we are, but he wants your opinion."

"That's more respect than I deserve, but yes," Eva sighed. "In fact, it looks like the last command code is to return to base."

Eldridge looked at me expectedly. "You survived."

I sighed. "Barely. I didn't expect that to be my first encounter with the enemy."

"That's not the enemy," Eldridge said, staring at one of the display screens. "No, that was a bully. A bully tells you that you're worthless, but in your heart, you know better. The real enemy is attacking the people you will save, telling them the same lie. But they don't know it's a lie. You'll tell them. You'll fight for them. Worry about the true enemy, Aislyn. Leave the bullies to us."

He walked away, leaving me with Eva still typing, only stopping to nod. Collin walked up to us.

"We can go back up. You've got work to do after lunch."

The edge had returned to his voice. He didn't even make eye contact, and the calm blue eyes and almost-ethereal features had all faded again. He was standing right next to me but felt miles away. Avery and Clara walked past us, looking at me as if evaluating me. I turned to follow Collin up the stairs.

He started, "I'm going back to the Circle to prep for this afternoon. We'll have one more round of physical, then Medical, then I'll choose one Common Phraseology lesson that you haven't reviewed yet before HistCulture tonight. Get something to eat. Two proteins, only one carb. I'll allow two fruits today, to get your blood sugar back up. Understood?"