Hidden Under Perfection

Chapter 28: Claire

We sit in a circle on one of the beds, in front of us my dad's holo-notebook is projecting a hologram of the generator. We stare at the machine in awe, it is beautiful, every time I see it it doesn't get any less wonderful. It is a magnificent piece of technology and I can almost not bring myself to destroy it, almost. I turn it around with the swipe of my hands and I look at it from all sides. I open the leather bound journal with the smart matter manipulator on it, I look at the generator and back to the journal, trying to find the manipulator. I locate it on the back of the generator, it is hard to detect because it is buried under wires. I circle it and say, "This is what we need to destroy, just this little piece right here. This is what is hiding the city and if we separate it then we should be able to keep the power on in the city."

They nod and my dad adds, "I think that two people should go around town and spray paint 'The Clandestine is responsible' on the walls and three people should help with the generator."

"Yeah, that sounds good. Who is going to stay with Jen?" I ask him.

"I was hoping that mom would, she hasn't gotten to see her in five years, and I want her to spend some time with her." he says and my mom nods in agreement without a fight.

"Okay, then who is going to go to the generator and who is going to go around with the spray paint?" I ask.

"I was thinking I should spray paint, I am no help when it comes to technology and all of that stuff." Lynn proposes.

"I can go with her," says John.

"No son, you were in the middle of getting a degree in mechanical engineering before this all started, we are going to need your help." My dad insists.

"I can go, my dad only taught me the basics anyway," Doran says. I look at him and he looks back and nods.

"Okay, then Lynn and Doran will go down every major street spreading outward. Start once the manipulator is destroyed so that the paint is visible. If you do it while the smart matter manipulator is still on, it will cover it like any other imperfection. Dad, John and I will try to destroy it as soon as possible. We won't be able to talk because they will without a doubt be checking in on our eye screens. When we are done, meet up here." I state.

"Okay, we leave at sundown tomorrow night. I am sending you the street plans and we will plan out the routes tomorrow, for now we should eat and get a decent amount of sleep." Says my dad.

"Yeah okay, dad would you mind calling in room service?" he nods and I continue, "just get like four pizzas."

"Yes," he picks up the phone and orders.

"Thanks dad," I say to him.

"No problem," he responds and sits on the other bed. The food comes and a man come into the room pushing a cart, on top there are four pizzas, I can tell that they were frozen at some point in time but beggars can't be choosers. The man walks out of the room and as soon as the door closes behind him I take a big bite out of a slice, it has the same effect as the pancakes this morning. We devour the food and then we all lay on our separate beds, staring at the ceiling.

It doesn't take long for the room to fill with heavy breathing and soft snores, I rest my head on Doran's shoulder at I throw one of my legs onto his waist, I fall asleep listening to the beat of his heart.

When we wake up we eat a quick breakfast, then we get to work. We prepare the demolition tools and the computer tools, we map out the route that Doran and Lynn are going to take. We plan on how to remove the smart matter manipulator from the rest of the generator. We take our time when planning, making sure that if something happens, it won't destroy our whole plan. The Clandestine might find us and if that happens our plan is to start hitting the generator as much as we can and then booking it out of there. The sky slowly starts to darken, and we get our stuff ready. When the sky turns to dusk, we wipe off all of the surfaces with disinfectant wipes and we take out the sheets. Jen and my mom get situated watching a movie on a towel. When the sky turns to night, we pick up our stuff and we lock the door behind us.

We all go down using the elevator and we walk out as a group on the first floor. I drop off the key to the room at the desk and I keep walking. We walk to the car, bags in hand and we put them in the trunk. We climb into the car, my dad driving and my brother sitting up front. Doran, Lynn and I sit in the back. We drive down the road to my school, and towards the generator. We drop off Doran and Lynn at the end of the street, they each take a bag of six spray paint canisters, each. they take off running to the end of the block. My dad parks down a dark street and then we walk quickly but silently to the building housing the generator. We keep to the shadows, avoiding the sight of cameras and people who are still awake.

The building is gray and there is a padlock on the door. John follows Doran's instructions on how to disable the alarm and then he takes out the bolt cutters from the bag. He quickly cuts open the lock and we remove it from the doors. I open the doors and I see the machine, the beautiful, evil machine. I take a step towards it and I am entranced by the complexity of it. There are wires in neat bundles hanging on the wall, and the machine is shiny, as if it was new. The sound of a bag being dragged across the floor brings me out of my trance and I go over and help him carry it. We circle the generator and we finally find the smart matter manipulator, it is hidden under bundles of wires.

We take all of the tools out of the bags and organize them on the floor. My dad stands at the machine; John is near the tools, ready to hand tools to him and give advice; and I sit on the floor looking at blueprints and coding one of the strongest firewalls I have ever created. I am trying to block all inward and outward communication from The Clandestine and the device. I hear my dad working away at the device and my brother tells him what to do next. I am sucked into the holo-notebook and I don't realize that they are calling my name until someone puts their hand on my shoulder. I look up at my dad and he says, "we almost have it separated, we just need to know which wires to cut. Can you look on the blueprints and tell me if I should cut the blue, green, yellow, pink, or orange wire?"

I pull up the blueprints and I walk over to the machine, John is holding the device out from the generator and I can see all five wires. I look at the screen and decide that the pink wire will do the least damage to the whole unit. I tell him, "cut the pink one."

My dad picks up the wire cutters and clips the wire, the other wires fall and we separate the device. My dad picks up a sledgehammer and lifts it, ready to swing. He brings it down hard onto the smart matter manipulator and the world flickers from perfect to not. He brings it down again and then two more times, the world finally settles and I take a step outside.

The grass is dead and it crunches under my feet, I takea couple more steps outside and I see the dead, gnarled trees and the chippedbuildings. There is graffiti on the walls and the sky above is overcast, nostars shining through. My dad and brother come out and look around, theirexpressions are hard to read. I turn around to go back inside and get the stuffbut I hear movement in the trees.