Awake

Chapter Thirty-Seven - The Democratic Vote

Miriam wandered into Jonathan's office at midmorning and almost spilled her coffee down her front as she jumped in surprise.

"You're back!" she cried, before clapping a hand over her mouth in horror.

Carmen rolled her eyes in exasperation but Nigs gave her a smile.

"We're back," he confirmed. "And we were just preparing for a meeting. People should be hear in a minute."

"I think I missed that memo," Miriam took a chair. "Unless you didn't invite me."

She noticed the dark circles under the eyes of both of them, and how strangely changed they appeared. She got the feeling that they knew a lot more than she did, and that bothered her. The two of them, in particular, didn't need another reason to feel superior.

"Morning," Sandy swung the door closed behind him and dropped into a chair. "Who's still missing?"

"Just Natalia," Ebb answered. "She said she'd be late."

Miriam's eyes narrowed as she looked from his face to Sandy's and carefully made a mental note of what she saw.

"Should we start without her?" Carmen asked, clearly impatient.

"No," Jonathan decided. "We wait till everyone's here."

They sat in slightly uncomfortable silence for a few minutes before Natalia came hurrying in, locking the door behind her.

"Sorry," she said, a little breathlessly. "Things to deal with. We still have to run the corps, you know."

"It's alright; you're here now," Jonathan smiled at her. "Carmen? Nigs? What do you have to tell us?"

So out came the story of the second level, while the other conspirators listened in stunned silence to tales of the families up there, of the machinery and the synthesising plants, of the door they had found.

"The door?" Jonathan burst out, unable to keep silent any longer. "Do you think it's the door?"

"I think so," Carmen said, but Nigs looked more doubtful. "It had something written by it too."

She explained, briefly, about her brief spying mission and the pencilled words.

"Key card," Puck murmured. "That would make sense. Lots of the most important doors in this place are opened with key cards."

"How would we get it?" Sandy asked, logically. "Even if we could find where a key card might be hidden, how would we know it was the right one? And even then, we don't know if it's the right door."

"It's our best shot, though," Puck argued. "It's all we have to go on. And we know how much they've been lying to us now, about our history and about the people upstairs. We can't trust any of them. This matters now."

"That's something I've been meaning to bring up," Jonathan added, taking a deep breath. "But I was waiting for Nigs and Carmen to come back."

"Oh, you shouldn't have worried about us," Carmen said, airily. "We could have caught up."

"No, but this is serious." Jonathan's expression was grave. "Listen, a few nights ago someone turned up at my door in the middle of the night."

"How scandalous," Carmen rolled her eyes.

Miriam felt a spark of irritation. Something about the way Carmen always pulled that face, so superior and so dryly entertained, got on her nerves. Jonathan, however, just ignored her.

"I don't know who it was," Jonathan continued, "but they left behind a video chip. Another recording from my past self."

"Was he more helpful than usual?" Nigs inquired.