36. The plan.
The next morning Zoe joins Cato and I at another lecture about the Treaty of the Treason. I manage to have a short conversation with them without our minders noticing.
"We should persuade the chief and the others in SATT to focus their efforts on stirring up a revolt inside the Capitol," I say. "There are large sections of the Capitol where people live in conditions no better than in the districts. If we can rouse them into rebellion then it won't matter how formidable the Capitol's outer defences are. The peacekeepers can't be everywhere and attacking people in the Capitol will only undermine President Snow's hold on power."
"Do you think we can achieve it from here?" asks Zoe.
"With the help of SATT, we might," I reply. "Students can go anywhere in the Capitol without special permits, so it removes the problem of escaping and working in disguise in the districts."
"Okay," says Cato. "Let's talk to the chief as soon as we can."
It's two days later when the chief finally agrees to our request for a meeting. As usual Peeta is with him when Zoe, Cato and I are escorted into the SATT office. By now I've started to have my doubts about the chief's ability to manage anything, let alone incite a rebellion. But my low opinion of the chief's dedication to SATT's goals, and by association, Peeta's, doesn't extend to many of the other SATT members. After our fun and games in the swimming pool the other night I've become friendly with Sophia and a few of the others. They are genuine in their desire to end the Treaty of the Treason, and between them they have many skills and talents. Given the proper training and leadership they could achieve a lot.
The meeting is a disappointment. The chief and Peeta are paralysed with indecision. The only positive item to come from the meeting is that the chief has finally decided that he can trust Cato, Zoe and I. The former restrictions on our movements and liaisons have been removed.
Over the next few days we occasionally see a SATT member watching us, but I don't think it's because they've been told to do so. In fact we seem to be gathering quite a following of admirers. I just hope they aren't expecting another display of sex in public. Cato and I have been much more circumspect in our lovemaking now that we can meet when we like. Sleeping arrangements are still separated by gender, but I don't mind too much. There are plenty of places and ample time for Cato and I to make out.
The inactivity is causing frustration among most of the SATT members. The chief has refused three further requests by different members to try the escape tunnel into District Two. We follow the news reports every day, but they are little more than government propaganda. It's only when we question why different news reports contradict each other that we can sense the level of unrest. One news report says the districts are at peace, while a later item says that additional peacekeepers are being sent here, there and everywhere. Shortages in the Capitol of certain commodities imported from different districts give us a sense of which districts are in revolt. But whether that revolt is limited to isolated strikes or a district-wide rebellion is a closely guarded government secret.
Without deliberately setting out to do so, several of the SATT members have formed a splinter group looking to us for leadership. It's Zoe who sets them to work on different tasks, even though she still insists on referring to Cato as our leader. Small tasks at first, but gradually more complex duties which provide us with useful information. Zoe has someone checking on which items are in short supply in the markets each day. Someone else checking the veracity of rumours. Sophia proves particularly adept at going into the poorer districts of the Capitol and gauging the mood of the residents. All in all we are building up a good set of knowledge without relying on the propaganda on television. Our group is still part of SATT, but there is a widening gulf between the nine members working with us, and the four who only follow the chief and Peeta's directions. We share what we've learned with the chief, but more often than not he dismisses our information as irrelevant. I fear that it's only going to be a matter of time before SATT will split itself into two groups. New recruits join regularly and some of the less enthusiastic members leave. This process gradually increases the size of the group around Cato, Zoe and I at the expense of the dwindling group behind the chief.
I initially worry in case the chief retaliates against the three of us for usurping his authority. But he makes no move against us. In fact he sees our activities as a harmless means of keeping the members of SATT occupied. Certainly disillusionment and boredom are the most common causes for SATT members to leave the group.
We continue this strange relationship for a couple of weeks. Then, one day, Sophia returns to the campus shortly after midday to tell everybody that a shortage of fresh produce in the markets has caused unrest in several of the outer suburbs of the Capitol. For the first time in many years, peacekeepers have been rushed from their cosy headquarters located near the government buildings to deal with the disturbance. Cato, Zoe and I follow Sophia to where she saw the peacekeepers assemble.
"They're hardly the cream of the peacekeepers' forces," observes Cato as we look at the ragged line of overweight and out-of-shape peacekeepers facing a protesting crowd. These peacekeepers look as though they are far more comfortable sat behind a desk. Barely half of them wear the traditional white armour so familiar to those of us from the districts.
The crowd surges forward. The peacekeeper line breaks in several places. Many of the peacekeepers retreat, leaving their braver colleagues exposed. This would be unthinkable in the districts, where the peacekeepers would have started shooting people long before now. A combination of poor training and an unwillingness to confront the citizens of the Capitol has reduced these peacekeepers into chaos.
The situation would have turned very nasty by now if this was occurring in a district. The exposed group of peacekeepers would have been assaulted and a violent conflict become widespread. But this crowd doesn't appreciate the commanding position it holds. They are no more ready to attack the peacekeepers than the peacekeepers are to attack the crowd. This episode will fizzle out into an angry exchange of words, after which everyone will disperse and go home. Sophia looks disappointed at the outcome, but I reassure her that the flames of revolt have been lit. It will only take an over-reaction by the peacekeepers, or further shortages, to reignite the unrest. No single action will cause a rebellion, but with careful nurturing and a healthy supply of false rumours, the members of SATT could provide the spark to turn the unrest in the Capitol into outright rebellion.
We return to the campus and resume our normal activities. After lectures Zoe begins to allocate tasks to those members of SATT willing to participate in what could be SATT's biggest operation to date. Because Zoe regards Cato as our leader, the others start to do so as well. It inflates Cato's ego enormously, although he knows better than to try a high handed approach with me. The chief remains remarkably silent until the others start referring to Cato as 'the boss'. That's when a slowly brewing feud bursts out into SATT's own civil war. It proves disastrous for both sides.
The chief makes the stupid mistake of letting the peacekeepers know that Cato and I are on the campus. That sparks an immediate raid by peacekeepers to arrest us. Fortunately Sophia warns us in time and Cato, Zoe and I go into hiding elsewhere on campus. While we easily escape the undermanned peacekeeper raid, it nevetheless nets Peeta. He's hauled off to headquarters for interrogation. It spells the end of SATT. All its members rapidly go into hiding. Zoe bravely goes to warn the Greene family, who at least had the foresight to have an escape route planned. I suppose they knew it was only a matter of time before their daughter was caught in District Two, or Zoe's cover was blown in the Capitol.
The other members of SATT take exception to the chief's actions. We learn a few days later that the chief has gone missing under mysterious circumstances. There are widespread protests across the campus over Peeta's arrest, since the peacekeepers came specifically looking for Cato and I. Arresting another student, even one using a fake identity, is a clear breach of the uneasy arrangements between the peacekeepers and the university.
The peacekeepers try to extend their search for us throughout the campus, but they lack sufficient numbers. They quickly decide that the hostility they face from the students means our capture isn't worth the trouble. They probably reason that we'll have to leave the campus at some point, and they only need to watch and wait. Even President Snow's personal vendetta against Cato and I doesn't seem to be a good enough reason to risk sparking an all out revolt on the campus. That would ignite a much broader rebellion in no time. If Cato, Zoe and I could trigger that rebellion without sacrificing ourselves in the process, then we would promptly do so. But it's not going to be that easy. Despite everything, I'd like to have a life afterwards.
We lie low for several days. Sophia proves to be an enormous asset. She rallies a few of the former members of SATT. Between them they go to work on our original plan to ferment a revolt in the outer suburbs of the Capitol. On the fifth day after the raid, Zoe risks leaving the campus. Of the three of us, she's the least likely to be stopped by the peacekeepers. Her journey isn't without risk. Marcella Greene is probably a wanted fugitive once more, so any random peacekeeper search is going to snare Zoe. Fortunately she completes her mission without incident. The three radios we hid in the abandoned building are once again in our possession. Zoe checks the batteries and pronounces the radios fit for purpose.
Our plan has the strength of simplicity. We wait until Sophia and her friends have whipped up the disgruntled residents in the fringe areas of the Capitol. Once the peacekeepers respond ... as they surely will ... we put our part of the plan into motion. Cato, Zoe and I will go to different parts of the campus and start using the radios. If Zoe is right, then the peacekeepers will identify the signals as District Thirteen agents active in the heart of the Capitol's main university. They will have no option but to respond and will bulldoze their way through student resistance. Riots and rebellion are almost certain to follow.
The plan works more or less as we intended. The peacekeepers were remarkably slow to respond to the radio signals, but when they do, it's with all the might they can muster. The predictable outcome ensues. Within a few hours several parts of the Capitol are in an uproar. It's too early to say whether that uproar will succeed in toppling President Snow. Television broadcasts are a litany of lies and misinformation. Time isn't on our side. The peacekeepers can call in reinforcements from the districts, although only at the expense of losing control there. But control of the Capitol is essential, so giving up a few districts to the rebellion may be the lesser of two evils. Cato, Zoe and I do what we can, but we have already made our best shots.
It's Sophia who suggests one more action that might tip the balance in the rebels favour. An assault on the television studios, followed by a broadcast from Cato and I to rally wavering rebels both here in the Capitol and in the districts. We don't waste time debating the idea ... we just do it.
Capturing the television station is easy enough. The peacekeepers are seriously under-strength after reinforcing their colleagues in the districts. The remaining peacekeepers have moved to encircle the presidential palace, abandoning the rest of the Capitol to the rebels. It's only a temporary state of affairs. Massive peacekeeper reinforcements are due to arrive at any moment ... at least if the television broadcasts are to be believed. And those end abruptly.
I can't claim that Cato and my interview on television was one of the defining moments of history, but it comes close enough for my liking. Historians will undoubtedly analyse and debate the sudden downfall of President Snow for many years to come. One way or another our cobbled together plan worked when a more sophisticated plan would have failed. Cato and my appearance on television supposedly tipped the balance only minutes before peacekeeper reinforcements into the Capitol might have saved President Snow's regime. I don't agree that Cato and I deserve all the credit. The credit belongs to Sophia. It was her idea. She organised of the whole thing.
Either way, it's over. A new set of politicians are scrabbling for power. The power-grab planned by District Thirteen's leaders has been pushed into the sidelines. They've had to content themselves with being a party to the discussions about a new Panem. Plutarch Heavensbee is there as well. Somehow he's become the advisor and mentor to the representatives from the Capitol.
What matters to me the most is that Cato and I can once again walk about freely as ourselves. We can be reunited with our families and decide our own future together. But I must say goodbye to one aspect of my life. Katniss Everdeen the rebel is no more. My swelling belly reminds me that it's time to think about other things.
"Stop daydreaming," says Cato, breaking me out of my thoughts. "We haven't made out in a while. Are you ready?"
"Ready, willing and able," I reply, as I take Cato's arm.
[The end]