Project 13 Book One: From The Shadows

Chapter 4: Xu Bing, Leader and Mentor

As I stepped out the multitude of aromas hit my nose simultaneously. I walked a short while along the street till I turned on the road leading to the farmer's market. I picked up several 50 pound sacks of beans, rice, flour, and other dried foods. Spending most of my days earnings for the rebel forces and families. Loaded up with several hundred pounds of food I took the slower back road to get to the hideout. Sliding into a dark alley I stepped on the trigger tiles and keyed in my voice activation as well as my retinal scan to pass directly to the 1st city headquarters. It was always fun trying to get the retinal scan to work. Sometimes it would work when I wore my glasses, but others it would refuse me until I took them off.

After the identification stage the wall of the nearby building silently slid open giving way to a metal staircase leading deep into a hollow space. I leapt up onto the railing and slid down, down, down into the depths of the building. At the bottom I reached the next security checkpoint. This time I had to key in my code for the building... I knew several of the codes but used mine so they could track my visits. I passed through the door onto a catwalk overlooking the bustling inner city of our underground hideout.

We made our base inside of an old building deemed unstable by the government that I helped remodel to fit the needs of the rebellion. It was a
place where families could live and train. Many of the people living here had been forced out of jobs in the city due to a variety of reasons. Many had slight disabilities or were deemed too old or unfit to work. Many of the families were falsely identified purely to allow jobs for higher level people, or had their jobs replaced by robots. Some were even forced out for disagreeing with government policies, or being too good at their jobs for 'common people'.

I followed the catwalk along to the great spiral stairway that led down the entire length of the building. I leapt up onto the inner rail that ran the length of the stairway and glided along on the soft soles of my boots, passing various people going to many of the different rooms and such where they would work to help the rebellion. Some - both male and female - would work in the kitchen, training, communications, creating weapons and technology, learning strategy, and many other projects. The people who lived here contributed to the rebellion in return for their protection and food. There are also a ton of children here who are cared for and educated by other residents. Anyone 16 and up could choose to serve and all children were educated in history, science, math, technology, and other subjects. They were also allowed vast amounts of time to play and do puzzles and have fun. Many of the people I saw on the way down recognized and acknowledged me.

I stopped several floors down at the kitchen. I stepped into the bustle of the kitchen and many of the people stopped. I probably looked ridiculous with 10 or so giant bags of dry goods and many bags of other food stacked on my shoulders. Several people smiled and the head chef, upon noticing the silence turned to look at me. She waved to acknowledge me and then navigated through the maze of counters to talk to me.

"Hey Lightning! Thanks we were in deep need of more supplies for today and tomorrow... the other gatherers have not yet returned and the shipment is three days from now. Your such a life saver!"

Many of the other cooks nodded their agreement. After unloading my goods the cooks let me go on my way. I leapt onto the stair rail again taking it another few floors down to get to what was the middle of the building. This was the floor where Xu Bing resided. He made this level the center of administration because it meant that anyone from below or above had equal opportunity to reach it for expressing their grievances.

As soon as I jumped off I was addressed by several higher level officials who knew me by name. One was Hail, who was one of the members of the council who I worked with a lot. He trained and commanded the ground units.The other was a two year officer who had been rejected from the elite troops because of imperfect genetics such as a high chance for heart failure.