Thrive - Remastered

Chapters 20, 21 and 22

Chapter 20

       The Director clicked through screens on the computer monitor in his office. Graphs and charts danced from behind the glass but the Director saw none of it. He was thinking of the previous night and how the city’s leaders had taken to his suggestion.

       Everything had worked out as it should. There was some hesitancy, some resistance, that was to be expected. What the Director suggested was an undertaking the likes of which the city had never seen.

       What the Director had anticipated, what had swayed the argument in his favor, was humankind’s urge to answer the unknown. Whether it was a cure to a disease or finding the truth to an equation, mankind was cursed with a perpetual lust for knowledge.

       The Director had played to the unknown. What was beyond the Wall? Of course the Director knew. The Codex was full of the real beginning of the city, what was outside the Wall and even maps, the others had no idea this information existed.

       Certainly some like Holly and perhaps even Dr. Shaver knew something else was going on but with their peers eager to discover, they followed along. Before the meeting ended everyone had agreed to the beginning preparations for a journey into the unknown.

In his years of service to the city, the Director had learned many things, the most important was always knowing more than everyone else and the Codex saw to that.

       The Director jumped as the intercom on his desk beeped. “Sir, they are here now. Should I send them to the conference room or your office?”

       Director Patterson knew that he had closed the steel door and bookshelf leading to the secret room containing the Codex, as a force of habit he looked up anyway. Every book was in place, every shelf neat and orderly. The Director pushed the black button on the intercom and leaned into the speaker, “Yes, you can send them to my office.”

       “Yes, Sir.”

       It had been a long night. The Director had stayed up most of it pouring over the pages of the Codex after the meeting was over. He wanted to be sure everything was going to plan. The Codex stated that at this stage things had to be progressed quickly thus the Director had sent messages to Solomon, Leroy and Jordan for a morning meeting.

       The Director shrugged his shoulders and did his best to loosen the knots in his back. This next meeting would require even more finesse than the first: the Codex had been clear on that much.

       Right hand massaging a lump on his left shoulder the Director heard a knock on his door.

       “Please come in. It’s open.”

       Solomon held the door for Jordan and Leroy before entering himself. The Director smiled as he rose from his desk. The sun was just over the tall buildings. His plainly decorated office was warm and inviting, just what he would need for this conversation.

       “Thank you all for coming once again on such short notice, I wanted to meet with you three to go over plans for the undertaking.”

       He could read them all before they even opened their mouths to answer. Solomon already in his dark green suit had been up for hours, no doubt used to early rising. He would not question orders; he was a good soldier.

       Leroy had bags under his eyes. He had also been up well past the meeting. He wore the same clothes as the previous night which meant he was either up late working or thinking. Regardless Leroy had volunteered the idea for a robot sent beyond the Wall, which meant his thirst for knowledge would force him to go along with the plan.