Chapter 1

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"You called for me, sir?" I peaked into the office room shyly.

"Ah, yes, Dr. Harley's girl, am I right?" Dr. Dreyfus stood up from his creaky chair. I glanced around the cluttered office before letting myself move into view a bit more. I nodded at his assumption.

"How would you like to do something very important for me?" He said. I mentally rolled my eyes at his tone. He said it like he was asking a dog if it wanted to play fetch.

"What do you need?" I tried to keep my voice from wavering.

"Will you do it?" He avoided my question. My worry was growing even larger than it had when my mother had told me Dreyfus wanted to see me. I forced myself to nod, afraid of what would happen if I said no.

"Wonderful. The generators aren't going to last much longer. I need you to travel up to the old dam and get it working. The energy would set us up for years." He clapped his hands together and started dusting them off before turning away from me. I held in a gasp. No one has been up at that dam for the past decade. I knew I couldn't get out if it, I would probably get yelled at, even if I could force up the courage to speak up.

"Leave as soon as you can. First light tomorrow would be phenomenal." He handed me a sheaf of papers. "There's what you should know about your assignment." He shooed me away. I gave another stiff nod and slid away from the doorway, chewing my bottom lip. I made my way through town, hopping rooftops and fire escapes to avoid the crowds below. When I got to my building, I climbed the fire escape one floor down and pulled open the apartment window.

"Rain." I looked up at my mother's voice. She was standing at the threshold of my bedroom. "What did Dreyfus want?" She wrung her hands over her heavily pregnant stomach worriedly.

"Mom, you shouldn't be on your feet." I walked over to her, pulling her out into the small living room and to the patchy couch. She yanked her hand out of mine and turned me to face her before I could urge her to sit. She placed her hands on my shoulders and looked me in the eye.

"What did he want?"

I sighed. "He wants me to go to the dam in the mountains and fix the workings. The generators are gonna go out soon."

"What's going on?" We both turned at the new voice. I seen my older brother, Dax, watching us. I repeated myself, signing at the same time.

"No." He said and signed. "There is no way I'm letting you go there alone. No one has been there since the Ape Rebellion, it's not safe."

I was flattered by my brother's concern, but I brushed it off. "I'm going, Dax. We're all going to be in the dark if I don't." I argued.

"You think they can't find someone else to do this? Rain, no." He gave me a sharp look. It used to be off-putting back when I wasn't used to the intensity level his eyes have been able to get to ever since he went deaf.

I was pretty proud of my big brother. He lost his hearing when he was sixteen and was able to keep his speech and learn how to sign fairly fast. I guess you have to when it becomes your only way of communication. I just wish at least some of the people here at "Group Golden Gate" as Dax liked to refer to us as, would take the time to at least learn a few basic signs, and not rely on his lip reading or my interpretation. 'Yes, no, help, thank you' would that be so hard to learn?

"Dax, I'll be fine." I said and signed. "There's nothing you can say to change my mind." I turned to my mother. "You either."

Mom sighed, and nodded slowly. "I know, I know. But you're not going alone. Dax, you're going with her." She signed.

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