Terranovus

Chapter XIV - The Wasteland

The next day at school, during my free period, I beelined for the library as soon as I could. The library was situated next to the cafeteria and as I stepped in and admired the floor to ceiling glass walls, I wondered why the term "library" still even existed. A module in my history subject explained many years ago humans relied on libraries to expand their knowledge and conduct research by reading physical books. But no one had ever touched a physical book in decades; they no longer existed. So why they remained as "libraries" remained a mystery.

Thankfully there weren't many students using the library, so I found a spare computer easily and quietly sat down. I had wanted to research volcanoes so badly at home last night, but I was too afraid to do so with Iris watching so a school library computer was perhaps the best.

Settled at the desk, I glanced over my shoulder to make sure no one was watching, then loaded the computer and opened a search engine. Volcanoes, I typed. Immediately I started reading.

"A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface..."

Slowly I read and clicked through various encyclopedias and hundreds of articles until I sighed and laid back in my chair defeated. Not one site mentioned radioactive volcanoes. I chewed the insides of my cheeks irritated and wondered if perhaps the Army had use radioactive materials to trigger this volcano to erupt on purpose. It sounded so absurd though. I had to be missing something! I leaned forward and went to amend my search.

"What are you doing?" asked a voice behind me. I jumped and spun round to find Hyun peering at my computer screen. He was sitting at a desk behind me and had homework laid out in front of him.

"What are you doing giving me a fright like that?" I demanded. Ignoring me, he carried his chair forward and looked closer at my screen.

"Why are you reading about this?" he asked.

"No reason," I responded. Suddenly he snatched the computer mouse out of my hand and strolled through the article and clicked on the other tabs I had opened. "Hey! Do you mind?" I demanded and whacked his hand away. He turned to me sternly.

"Whatever you're doing Tilly, stop it. These computers are closely monitored by the Army and if they find out what you've been researching bad things will happen," he warned. Speechless, I watched snatch the mouse back and delete my search history, close my web browser then shut down the computer. He threw me one last warning look then scooped up his homework and stormed out of the library.

My mind reeled with confusion and anger. What on earth just happened?

I turned back to my computer screen and felt nerves starting to trickle in. Was it true? Was the Army monitoring these computers? I gingerly pushed myself away from the desk and looked at the computer as though it was radioactive. At least I now knew the Army doesn't like people researching volcanoes. And if Hyun knew why, I had every right to know why too.

***

At 3pm when the school bell rang, my mind was made up. I only had 24 hours remaining of the resistance's deadline and I knew if I were to uncover Terranovus's secrets, more drastic detective work had to take place.

So when I exited the school, I avoided the bus depot and instead made my way to the nearby tram stop. From the other side of the road, I watched Maria make her way to the school bus and glance around the schoolyard, looking for me. Not today Maria, I said to myself, I had business to attend to.

The tram arrived quickly and as I jumped on and took a seat, I thought back to Tommy's Ingo message.

I'll always love you.