The Cipher

Chapter seventeen

  Along with a few other new recruits, Cyrus, Onyx, and I were escorted to the Archives for our introduction to being an Archive analyst as they were called down there.

  We walked in a set of doors, that after we had crossed through, seemed so tiny compared to the giant room before us. What Zero had said was an understatement. This was bigger than a stadium. This room stretched endlessly with so many books that I think I may faint. I had always wondered where they had put all Pre-Landie artifacts. We had been told they had been burned, although nobody truly believed it.

  Not only were there books, but I had found out many famous art pieces and music tracks were stored there as well. My first task as an Archive analyst was to find out about Pre-Landie weaponry.

  The task was almost a wake up call. HQ was preparing for war. And I would be assisting them. I wouldn’t have a choice.

  I got to work, and I was blessed by the heavens to have been assigned a partner. She had blonde hair and blue eyes, incredibly petite for her age. I had to look down at her although she was my elder.

  We spent hours reading, something I could have done forever. This was an insane privilege. We were rounding off our first day as we went over some diagrams of different types of tanks.

  “Have you heard that the Lovebird Vigilantes are back in the Society?” the Landie asked me quietly, out of the blue.

  This caught me by surprise, but I shrugged my shoulders, clueless. “What do you mean?”

  “Oh, everybody knows the Lovebird Vigilantes. The two Soul Mates who escaped their execution. Word is that they are back in town, firing up the revolution. I did not believe it until they put me on this job.”

  She gestured to the tank illustration.

  “We have nothing to worry about though. The rebels do not have the Archives. They do not have the knowledge of our predecessors. We will overcome.”

  “Of course.” I said, realizing I was no longer used to Landie dialect. I actually had to think before I spoke. 

   “Is it not amazing?” she said, jotting down a label onto the diagram.

   I looked at her, my eyes searching for an answer.

  “HQ entrusts us in their preparations for war. We are part of history, here. Our faces will be depicted in history classes across the country. You and I, we will have formulated plans for an unstoppable tank.” she spoke with reverence. 

  “Yes, I suppose that is quite a feat.” I pretended to marvel.

  I wrote down a label as well. I felt sorry for this woman. She hadn’t a clue that all her hard work would be going straight to the rebels. Not only that, but she didn’t know that I myself was a rebel. I suppose she would know sooner or later. 

  “What is the time?” I asked politely.

  “We have fifteen minutes until dinner and resting time.” she said as if she had read my mind.

  I craved to see a familiar face. Not only that, but the work I was doing was boring, felt like busywork, actually. I just wanted my time in the Archives to be over, and it had only been one day. I could hardly  imagine myself working here my entire life, I pitied the old and frail, who had been in these quarters since their youth. What a way to ruin a life.

  “Would you like to hear something else that I have heard?” the woman asked me.

  I shrugged my shoulders. Probably not very Landie-like, but if the woman had noticed, she showed no sign.