The Steamlands

Chapter 9: Mysterious Endeavor

I prepared myself in the evening to go to work as I usually did. I felt like each day that went by I got more and more used to living in The Steamlands. That wasn't good. So I'd have to do something to snap me back to reality. In the meantime, I'd have to continue going along with everyone until I had the chance to attack.

I took a shower and put some fresh clothes on. I then went to my car and drove myself to ECLIPSE.

"Nice to see you again Amanda" Dr. Truman said, passing by my office as I was settling down.

"Oh, hi!" I replied back.

That man had a way of sending a shiver down one's spine. Anyway, I settled down and sat down on my computer.

All of a sudden, the power went off. And since it was nighttime, no one could see anything. I could only hear the sound of someone running through the hallway, passing my office in the progress, and out the door.

"Stop them!" The I heard someone yell in a strong voice.

I'd heard two men escape but I didn't try to stop them. I was consumed by the moment to do something about it.

One of the men, was carrying a laptop on his hands while both were being chased by ECLIPSE security. Perhaps, this was the chance for The Steamlands to finally be exposed. I stayed in my office, curious at what would be done. When the security guards reached the outside, the criminals that escaped, had gotten on a helicopter and started flying away from ECLIPSE and probably out of The Steamlands. I could see Dr. Truman calling The Mainlands from outside my office. Something had clearly gone wrong in the Ministry of Law. There was a breach in the security system here at ECLIPSE, since someone from the inside had unauthorized access to turn the power off and there was also a breach in The Steamlands as a whole, since a helicopter was able to come through without authorization. Unless it WAS authorized and someone from the inside was responsible for all of this dirty work. This was a huge problem. How would a society this strict respond to such betrayals or malfunctions? I wanted to find out what would happen, but how would I do that without being found out? I stayed still in my office, until I finally decided to risk it and ask Dr. Truman. He had gotten off the phone by the time I went there.

"What's going to happen now?"

"Don't worry about it. People at The Mainlands will figure it out. Whoever is responsible will pay the consequences dearly. In the meantime, we have to keep a close eye on everyone, just in case there's traders"

"Sounds logical" I automatically responded.

The only thing left to do now was wait.

"You should go back to work until everything is figured out. Just do what you would normally do" Dr. Truman said, breaking the silence.

"Sure" I said as I went back to my seat.

There was nothing I could do now. I continued to work on my designs in my computer. I felt like the Gelid Statue, was ready to be built, but I'd have to prolong that for a while. I didn't want more lives to suffer from the effects of my machines. I'm the meantime, I worked on my other designs for the rest of the day as if everything was normal. That was until a few hours later, a group of armed men came into the door, demanding to go to the biology department here in ECLIPSE. Dr. Truman offered to show them the way and within a few minutes, they were forcefully taking one of the scientists that worked there.

"Thanks for letting us take the trader, he will be dealt with" The men told Dr. Truman.

He simply stood there, watching his fellow colleague struggle to get out of the men's arms, screaming "I DIDN'T DO IT!! IT WASN'T ME! I SWEAR!" Throughout the whole way.

That was the last anyone would ever see of him.

"Where are they going to take him?" I asked Dr. Truman.

"To the Ministry of Law, to train him, to remind him who he's meant to be. He'll work as part of The Steamlands' Military from now on, after he's gone through extensive training. He'll be a better person than he ever was" Dr. Truman responded.

He had an odd looking smile on his face.

After all of that, I found out that the reason why the trader was found out within a few hours was because there was hidden cameras throughout the facility. They saw that it was that specific scientist who turned off the power and after finding him, they took him out. To The Steamlands, it was a danger to have someone like that running around. Someone who would help assist in the exposure of this place. After catching him, they'd brainwash him in their favor. If they killed him, he would become a martyr and that would inspire more rebellions. Everyone went on, knowing that truth and refused to do anything about it. I don't know if it was because of fear or something else but whatever it was, they were all under The Steamlands' control. This city just had a way of leaving a mark on people.

Anyways, I continued working for the rest of the night and drove myself home once it was time to leave. That was all I was enslaved to do in this city, and that was what I was willing to do to seem like I fit in.