Chapter 6

My brother never did come back to talk to me, which is all the better because I think that if he had, I wouldn’t have listened. For the next little while my brother and I barely even made eye contact, much less speak to one another. If there was something that was needed to be said, or there was something I needed to do, J would tell me. The next morning we made last minute arrangements around the hole. We were all nervous. Even if this wasn’t a trial and error examination, it was still our first group of teens coming to stay with us and it was nerve racking enough. Nine still remained the most calm of all five of us, which was good since she was the one who was going to pick the new teens up.
At lunch we ate in silence. No one needed to say anything. We all knew about what was happening that day and we all knew what was expected. In a way we were all overly excited as well. Imagine what would soon be starting. As I sat there picking at my undercooked lunch I remembered what Nine had told me the night before.
“None of these kids have been forced to come. They’re all volunteering.”
“How did they find out?” I asked curiously “I mean about our…um…cause?”
Nine beamed.
“Where do you think I go in the afternoon?” When I thought about it, I never saw much of her in the late afternoon. I’d never realized it since I had so much work to do. “I stand out side schools. I listen to conversation and offer them an alternative to life.” I’ll never fully understand how she did it, but I never questioned Nine about it again.
“Ok, guys.” Nine stood up. We all followed her lead and put down our utensils. “I’m going now.” Blink reached over and gave Nine a small pat on the shoulder, while J and C each smiled in reassurance. I’m not sure what we were all reassuring her about. It wasn’t as though there was anything that could have happened at the time. She didn’t need confidence, she had enough of that. But there was something about today that was special.
After Nine had left the rest of us sat back in silence.
“Go get the radio J.” My brother stroked his hair.
“We have a radio?” I asked in shock.
“How else do you think we get news from the surface?”
I shrugged.
“Can we listen to music?” I asked shyly.
The boys eyed each other for a moment until C shrugged and nodded. Blink tuned in.
“This is DJ X on your favorite station K-Z. Here we are sending you songs of today.” I smiled at my brother for the first time in awhile. “Now here we are with “Love what I love.”” I got off the bench in excitement.
“This is my favorite song.” I laughed and began to do something I hadn’t done in a long time. I began to dance. It started off as moving my feet and swaying my hips. Then pretty soon I started to turn around the room spinning, jumping and at one point I even grabbed C and started dancing with him. In a short time I got all three of them to dance with me. We laughed and even sang along to each song that came on. We didn’t stop dancing until Nine stood in the doorway eying us angrily.
“Irresponsible or immature? I can’t decide.” She huffed. C shrugged as J shut off the radio. Blink brushed his hair and I smoothed out the creases in my uniform. “Twenty five of them turned out.” She said. “Ready to greet them?” No one answered her. Instead we followed her out to the Open hall in a single file line. We went on the stage and sat on the chairs that we had arranged. Sitting up there I over looked the teenagers. It seemed to me that there were way more the twenty-five of them. They were all different ages and cultures. Each from different backgrounds, lifestyles and stereotypes. There were only a few that really stood out though. This was a young guy that was sitting in the very back. He didn’t look very tall but I think the reason that he sat in there back was because he had a very tall green Mohawk sitting on his head. Another very noticeable was the only black girl that sat to the far left in the middle row. She wore a dress that was flower printed accompanied by butterflies and rainbows. Not to mention her very large Afro that made I difficult to see the boy sitting behind her.
It was almost as though each group was examining the other. No one spoke or even moved. Finally, Blink stood up and walked over to the podium. He flipped his hair back from his face and smiled at the teens that were facing him. They shifted uncomfortably in their seats as he cleared his throat.
“Hello.” His voice boomed the exact same way as it had on my first day. Memories ran through my mind of my first day in this room. I looked around eyeing the ceiling and walls. C nudged me and motioned for me to pay attention. “My name is Blink,” he continued “I am a member of the council. The council is in charge of what you see around you. Your meals, your clothing, your beds…EVERYTHING. Please keep in mind that you are here voluntarily. At this point in time you are not aloud to leave.” A few people fidgeted in their seats and eyed each other suspiciously. You could tell that they had been warned in advance. They clearly didn’t know what they were getting themselves into. “You are sitting in the living room of your new home.” My brother continued after a reflective pause “More frequently known as the Open Hall. Here is where meetings, preparations, activities, and meals will be. Please feel free to ask any questions at the end of speeches. No doubt many things are running through your mind.” He focused his attention on a caucasian girl who was sitting in the front row wearing a green sweater. She had her hand raised and was now slowly lowering it as my brother spoke again. “Now you will meet the other members of the counsel.” He motioned behind him and at the group of us. Nine slowly stood up in her intimidating manner. I’m not sure if she was doing it on purpose but she seemed to be very cold faced.
“Just like the day came.” I laughed to myself covering it up with a short cough. This was exactly like the first day I’d come.
“My name is 9.” She waited for her voice to have an effect on her audience. When she saw them all giving her they’re up most attention, she continued. “I am here to inform you that although we do press on you that you are free to go wherever you please, you may not go to the surface without consent from one or more members of the counsel. This won’t be very often.” As the all Mohawk kid grinned at his friend next to him. His grin was gone almost as instantaneously as it had arrived. “Each opening that you see around you goes around your new home. Listen up so that you won’t get lost. The opening behind me is the opening for the counsel’s quarters. No one may enter through that opening unless they are council, which you are not! Over to the left of me is where the rest of the dormitories are for the rest of you. Your quarters will be given to you shortly. Behind you is another opening. This leads you to the training area where you will attend courses. These courses consist of various activities that will benefit you in the near future through strength, skill and military training. The door to your right is the kitchen where you will go to pick up your meals. You will not be served. It is up to you to put on your plate the required amount, no more no less. Finally, the door that you entered through…no doubt you saw the other two tunnels. The one to the left is the infirmary; the one to the left is the “ground”. Here is where we hold those who do not find our rules fit to obey.” She emphasized obey so strongly that fear could be seen in a few of the kid’s eyes. “Clear?” She kids shifted around a bit, a few nodded slowly “Now you will meet J.”
J, who was sitting next to me, was shaking. Clearly he wasn’t ready for this. He hid his stage fright well though. This continued on for a while. The speech dragged on as he explained about the formula and the plans for the future. I must admit that the speech had improved from when I’d last heard it. He sounded so convincing tat each of the 15 people sitting in front of him were clearly listening to him. I smiled. I don’t know why, but I did.
At the end of the briefing, we all stood up and let them ask questions. Surprisingly enough there weren’t very many. I was surprised. There was only one question that was extraordinary.
“How do we know we can trust you? What if it all goes to waste?”
Blink stepped forward. “What makes you think up there is any different?” No one spoke for a bit. He motioned for me to step forward. “Follow Quandary.” I swiveled my head towards him. What had he just called me? I decided it was best to get on with what I was doing. I would talk about it later with him. The fact that he had nick named me without my consent. “She will show you to your rooms.”
I motioned for them to follow me. I jumped off the podium in front of them discovering right then that the majority of them were taller then me. Especially the boys. I pretended I didn’t notice and tried my best to act like Nine, the only role model I had around me at the time.
I pulled out of my pocket a list that Nine had given me earlier.
“This is a list,” she had said “Of all the people that are coming down today. Here are the rooms that they are in.” She put the room numbers next to their names. “Bring them there and give them their uniforms and schedules.”
I went to the entrance of the dormitories and stood for a moment letting them take in the surroundings. They seemed as shocked as I was when I first saw the corridor.
“Will you look at that?” whispered one scruffy looking boy I hadn’t noticed before.
“This is incredible!” another said.
“Ok guys,” I interrupted. All their eyes were on me. This was something that I hadn’t felt in a long time. The last time I’d had more the five pairs of eyes on me was when I gave a class presentation about the solar system to my grade eight-science class. I sighed at the memory and snapped back in to the present. “I’m going to call out you name and I’m going to ask you that come here next to me. Joshua.” The tallest boy with the Mohawk pushed his way out of the back and came next to me. He looked down at me. I could have sworn he gave me a threatening look but I paid no attention. I pointed to the first door on the left. “That’s your room Joshua.” He walked over to the door and stood right in front of it and said nothing. All eyes were now on him. I smiled. I knew why he wasn’t going in that room. “Is there a problem?” I scoffed. He didn’t answer. He touched the door gently and titled his head to the side. Finally he turned around to face me. “I don’t know how to open it.” I smiled and put the paper back in my pocket. I strode over to the door and he stepped out of my way.
“Now watch me.” I smiled “This is the most important thing you need to learn.” I pushed the latch and opened the door very slightly, before slamming in shut quickly. I moved out of the way as Joshua moved up to the door and tried to repeat what I’d just done. He succeeded, but only just. The rest of them clapped. I laughed as Joshua grinned and took a bow.
After everyone had been assigned to their rooms and I’d pointed out everything about their rooms, including the faucet for drinking and bathing, books and how to get around I went outside the corridor and went into an over sized crate that I’d left there some days before. Inside were schedules and uniforms. I pulled as many out that I could carry and told them to give me every piece of clothing that they were wearing and give them to me.
“Why?” The girl with the green sweater asked fiddling with her sleeves. I gave her a wide grin.
“Parachutes.”