Chapter Fifty- Trinity Marther
I join the small stream of people walking along the sidewalk and feel a little better when I realise that I can't pick myself out of the reflection in the glass.
The surge of people forks at a giant stone entrance way into the building with a hundred eyes.
A line of no more than five people is standing just beyond the entrance and I can see some white Peacekeeper uniforms. As I get closer I can hear the repeated command,
"ID and purpose for visit."
Purpose for visit! I have four more people to think up a purpose for my visit! I'm thinking 'Copying confidential information for rebel use' won't go down too well.
"ID and purpose for visit." Oh crap! That's me. I hand over the chip to be scanned in their little laser gun thing.
"Purpose for visit?" The Peacekeeper prompts me again.
"Err…I'm here for the…"
"Ministry of Transport conference? It's the only thing on tonight…" She looks me up and down. "If you're here for the pitches to the Fashion Department for Prep Teams then you're three hours too late."
"No, no! Here for Transport conference," I do my best Capitol accent again.
"Oh right…well…" She casts a glance at the screen on the laser gun. "It says here you're an Escort-In-Training for District 11, I thought you looked a bit young. If you're hoping to get into the Escort Headquarters you'll need supervision to get in."
"Oh no, one of the speakers tonight is my…relative."
Oh she's going to know I'm talking complete trash!
"Ok, in you go Miss Marther."
Miss Marther? Ok sure.
Before she can change her mind I slip through into the grand lobby. Signs everywhere tell me where to go. I see a big sign pointing towards the restroom so I duck in there to consult my map.
Sitting on the toilet seat I see various areas where Lalaney has labelled 'checkpoints' so I plan a route that avoids as many of these checkpoints as possible. If it's been logged somewhere that 'Miss Marther' has come for the Ministry of Transport conference then Miss Marther must head in that direction.
The map suggests I head up the curved marble staircase to the first floor, walk along to the elevators, get off at the fourth floor, pass through the checkpoint there 'on my way to the Ministry of Transport' then take the stairs to the eighth floor to avoid the checkpoint there.
The Population Division and Escort Headquarters are on the eighth floor, but on the other side of the building from the stairway I've come up. It's almost seven so there aren't many people around on this floor. My heels echo horrifically around the corridor giving anyone else a five-minute heads up that I'm on my way!
Eventually I find the non-descript door with a simple wooden plaque saying 'Population Division'. I put my hand on the door handle and brace myself, excuse ready in case there's someone in there.
My shoulder crashes into the locked door.
"Damn!" I curse.
"Population guys go home at five on the dot, I'm afraid Miss," comes a voice behind me. "They're not exactly ones for working late into the evening." It's a stick thin elderly man staring at me, holding a gold pocket watch in one hand and stroking a long white beard with the other. "Can I help you with something?"
"I need to get in here, I came by earlier to surprise someone and I think I left something. Is there somewhere I can go to get a key?"
"Afraid not Miss. What was it you left? Perhaps I could ask someone to send it to you in the morning."
"It was…"
Inspiration where are you? This is pretending, I'm good at pretending! Come on Johanna, you fooled a whole nation three years ago, this old man should be nothing!
"It was my engagement ring!" We don't have anything to show marriage in District 7, nothing but co-habitation and a name change, but I've seen Lalaney's ring. She told me that here in the Capitol if a man intends to marry a woman then he must get her a 'sparkler' to impress her…or something like that.
The old man looks surprised.
"Why did you have your engagement ring in there?"
"I…err…was showing it to an old school friend who works here. I'm an Escort-In-Training across the way," I blurt, pointing generally down the corridor.
"Are you really? I do the accounts for the Escorts, I've never seen you before." His beard twists further around his finger and I feel like I'm being twisted up with it.
"I'm new!" I say desperately. "Look, please I have to get in here. My husband-to-be will be furious if I've lost it." I lower my voice. "Please sir, I'm talking 'accident on the stairs' furious, it's happened before."
I see a knot of concern grow on his brow and he lets out a long breath.
"Ok, we might have a spare behind the desk. Come with me, we'll check." He leads me further along the corridor to the more fancy foyer to the Escort Headquarters.
"You'll have to put your ID in the scanner dear, just so I don't get into trouble." He points at a black box on the front side of the enormous reception desk. He slips around the back and types in a long number on a keypad.
I drop the ID into a small slot in the box and it flashes up in cold, clinical blue letters,
'Trinity Marther, Escort-In-Training (District 11)' followed by a close-up picture of two eyes. My eyes. Those are definitely my chocolate brown eyes. How have they managed to put my eyes on this ID?
"Here we are, I thought we had a spare. Most of them were collected up decades ago but I think they were worried about fire damage or accident. So, since we're the Population Division's neighbours, one was left here so that someone could rescue documents in the event of a misadventure." The old man holds up a rather old fashioned looking rusty key. "I'll let you in and then you can have a look and I'll just wait for you to lock up again."
"Ok, thank you so much sir, I really appreciate this."
I give him a shining beam as he unlocks the door and opens it a crack to let me in.
"Be quick, I shouldn't be doing this!" he hisses.
This office is nowhere near as big as the foyer for the Escort Headquarters, but then again I guess that's because the Escorts are a very public department.
There are files and boxes all over the place, how am I supposed to find what I need before the old man outside gets antsy?
I flick through some papers on a few desks until I come across the golden shrine, literally.
A big gold cabinet with glass doors. Each of the shelves inside is annotated with a silver label saying 'Capitol', 'District 1', 'District 2', all the way up to 'District 12' and 'District 13'. Jackpot! All I have to do is find the right file from each shelf and—
Wait. 'District 13'? District 13 was bombed to bits seventy-four years ago why do they have their own section here? I pull a file out and skim over it. Approximate Population figures, approximate average age, approximate birth rate. I get out the scanner from my glove and look it over. I don't know if this information is useful but it certainly looks interesting. Perhaps the rebels can use it to avoid the same thing happening to other Districts this time.
I turn the scanner over in my hands trying to work out how to use it. When I press on the curved edge it retracts a little and I see a tiny light inside. I press it to the page I'm looking at and see the light come on again so I sweep it across the whole page, relying on the gadget to remember what it's seen. I turn the page and see a handwritten addition to the notes. I scan this too.
'Rumoured outbreak of disease, possible significant population decrease.' The addition is dated only a few years ago! But District 13 doesn't exist anymore, how can there have been an outbreak of disease recently?
"How's it looking?" The old man's voice calls through the door.
"I'm just looking under the desk," I reply.
I scan the whole of this file and decide to work my way down through the Districts. I record a lot of information, some of it sticks out more than others to me, but then I don't know what it's being used for.
The random file I select from the District 12 shelf gives me a map of the whole District as well as some plans about where most of the inhabitants are.
District 11 has the highest population, with the highest ratio of Peacekeepers to citizens, but the smallest percentage of citizens over the age of 40.
District 8 has the biggest average family size…and the biggest number of potential rebels on record. This fact surprises me until I remember the tenements the people live in.
District 7 has the youngest average workforce.
District 4 has the highest number of students in an academy for Hunger Games Training.
District 2 has the largest populated Victors' Village.
"Miss, I'm going to have to insist that you go home. If you haven't found it yet, then I don't think you will." The old man is opening the door.
I don't know if any of the information will be at all useful but I'll have to give up. I tuck the scanner back into my glove and replace everything I've taken.
The old man escorts me back down to the lobby. Every so often he pats me on the back and tells me everything will be ok. I'm afraid I might have upset him a little with my tragic story. Oh well.
At the door he waves goodbye and returns to the elevator. As soon as I see the doors close I call loudly "Thanks Uncle, you did really well," just in case the Peacekeeper from before is still at the door.
The air outside has never smelt so sweet. I get around the corner from the shining eyes of the building and open my bag. I pull out the ID chip and drop it to the floor, stepping on it soundlessly with my enormous heel. If I get caught I don't want them to know that I had help.
