RoboNomics

Chapter 37 - 2016

I follow Chris to the end of the barricade. I watch as he slips into the legislature side door followed by Joe, Oz and Shari. 

No one else notices them. Police officers try to keep the metal barrier from being overwhelmed by the crowd.

I scramble up the steps. I look around furtively to make sure I'm not seen by anyone, then edge the heavy wooden entrance open and slip into the building.

Once inside, I look down the long hallway that's supported by marble columns. I see robotic pages and human politicians milling about the central rotunda or striding from the western marble hallway to the oak-lined eastern wing. 

People carry leather cases and take-out coffee cups in their hands. The sound of the crowd is muffled inside the legislature. The business of running the provincial government goes on as if there's no one outside.

Beyond an empty security desk, I spot a washroom. The door is still swinging on its hinges.

"Anderson, what are you doing here?" Chris asks as I enter. 

The four of them are crowded between the pedestal sinks of the women's washroom. They have red kerchiefs tied around their necks like farm workers. I recognize the bandannas from the day they destroyed the I.I.U., and my stomach lurches at the memory.

Shari, meanwhile, calls from one of the bathroom stalls. 

"What's going on?"

"Anderson's here," Joe calls back. He leans his tall, burly frame against one of the bathroom stalls.

"What? Why?" She asks.

"Maybe I should ask why you're here," I answer as Chris goes to the door and locks it.

He examines my face reproachfully. Then his face falls. "I guess you're a part of this now." 

He takes me by the arm and guides me to a line of sinks on the back wall. There, Oz bends over a length of pipe. It has wires sticking out of one end that wrap around the side. 

On top of the pipe is a tiny black computer screen. Oz prods at it with his rough, calloused hand.

"What is that?" My mind goes wild with guesses.

"God, you're such a teacher, aren't you?" Oz says. 

He smirks and raises an eyebrow. I gasp before I can stop myself.

"I knew it," I turn to Chris. "I knew all along this thing would just devolve into violence."

"Your way didn't exactly work, did it?" He replies. "Besides, no one will get hurt. We just need to stop this vote. And the protest isn't doing it."

I look at him and then back at the pipe bomb. 

"This was your plan all along, wasn't it?" I am furious. "All this talk of the protest. That's why you wanted it to go forward. That's why you didn't want to hear about anything else. You needed it. There are thousands of people out there and you're using all of them as a distraction!"

"Don't be ridiculous," he says. "This is just a backup that we came up with afterwards. You saw them, Anderson. You saw the politicians. They're not stopping. Our protest is barely distracting them from the vote. Everything is going the way they want it to. I'm not going to let them do it, Anderson. They're not going to sell us all out."

"And you want me to believe there's no other way?"

"Maybe there is. But right now this is all we got. And you have to help us."