In the High Place
From Midnight Betrayal:
"Can you no longer think for yourself? Max, only you know what goes
on there. What they do to you. Do they hurt you? Do they control
you? Why do you let them? Why are you loyal to them?"
Chapter three: In the High Place
As he walked into the barracks, he saw her exiting through the window.
'Well, Max is back. She sure is taking a risk going to the high place
this early.' He remembered returning to the barracks from
medical, that fateful week after the escape. All of Manticore was in
lock down. He was not able to return to the high place for over a
year. He knew the guard was more complacent now, over eleven years
later, but still you don't climb up the wall of the barracks during
daylight hours. He would wait until dark to join her, if she was
still there.
He still remembered that day. He had been injured during training the
previous day. His twin brother was, as usual, trying to best him.
During hand-to-hand he had pulled out a knife. Normally "anything
goes" during these training sessions, but a knife?! 'Ben must have
thought he had something to prove!' The result of the training was a
deep cut to his upper arm. Stitches were required and some recovery
therapy, Manticore style.
While lying in medical, he remembered alarms going off, guards
presented themselves and no one was allowed in or out. A few hours
later, he saw them wheel in Eva. His sister, dead, shot by a guard.
He immediately went into information gather mode and found out about
the escape. That was quite a day indeed.
----------
Later - After Dark
Alec climbed to the barracks roof, to the high place. He saw Max
curled in the corner of the meeting area. This is where they got
together as kids, discussed "things" and talked about the future.
"Welcome back Max."
"Alec... I... ah..."
"Don't worry. I know those 'return from an outside mission' physicals
are pretty complete. That was your first. You'll get over it."
"How many missions have you returned from?"
"Over a dozen. I am getting pretty good at it."
"UGGG" Max grunted.
They sat quietly for some time, until Max spoke up.
"Do you remember coming up here as a kid?"
"Sure, I remember it."
"Do you remember if we talked about leaving Manticore?"
"We were kids. Manticore is what we knew. It was our 'safe place.' I
remember talking about the outside in terms of being scary and
foreign. We really didn't even complain about Manticore. It was all we
knew."
Max began, "I remember that day. We were coming back from training.
Eva went into convulsions. We tried to help her, but the guard kept
pulling her away. Then she ran at him and he shot her. There was
silence as we watched in slow motion. We watched her fall, eyes
blank, already dead from the bullet in her brain. That is when Zach
gave the order to 'scatter-out.' As good soldiers we followed orders.
'Scatter-out,' break up, run to the nearest exit, and reassemble
outside the facility. None of us thought about what that order meant
to our lives our futures or those we left behind. Was it bad,
afterwards?"
Alec upset now, "Bad? Nooo! What do your think? Ten of Manicore's
best and brightest were wandering out there! They were embarrassed.
They took it out on us, those leftovers. Interrogations, therapy and
all the techniques were used. We were guarded everywhere, on the
field, in training, at mess, even in the showers. They finally deduced
that we did not know where you were because we had never discussed
actually leaving. After a time the guard was reduced and life goes
on, management changes and people forget. There hasn't been an escape
since, but the training is different for the kids now. A lot more
'How great it is here and how bad it is out there.' More 'these are
the traitors' lessons."
"It isn't better in here. You do know that Alec? In here there are
orders and punishments."
"Max, there are punishments out there too."
"Yes, but because you freely choose to do something wrong."
"Like Ben?"
"Yes, Ben chose to kill those people. It may have been due to some
delusion of his, but no one ordered it. He told me that he was trying
to prove a point, but I never understood what his point was."
"Ben, always something to prove."
Silence resumes until Alec speaks up.
"Max, What Manticore is doing now is wrong. Will they be punished? I
have been sent on missions to bring in people who have 'pissed them
off!' I later find out that those people are eliminated. Death
certificates are issued and no one is the wiser as to what has
happened. That is wrong, even if the cause is noble, which I doubt."
"There could be a punishment. We could begin our own training of the
kids."
"Yeah, when would this happen? During our classroom sessions? You
want to change the slides to show sunny bright fields outside and dung
heaps within the walls of Manticore? Yeah, that will happen. 'Oh,
excuse me Director Renfro, could I speak to the class about the
benefits of escape?' I don't think so."
"No Alec, that will not happen. But we have a number of overnight
missions planned. There are no guards at the evening campfires. We
could 'tell stories' about the outside. I have 10 years of stories,
if I can remember them correctly, which I am starting to more and
more. We can get them interested and then start the planning. If we
want to punish Manticore, we will have to literally destroy this place.
But we can't expect the kids to select this option if we don't
outline the possibility. We could do it Alec, if you want to."
"Want to? Has this life ever been my decision? It wasn't my decision
to be left behind. It wasn't my decision to do any of this. I have
been here at Manticore for 22 years. Now you are asking me to decide?
Decide between no responsibilities and no regrets or choose the
outside where everything I do is coupled with responsibilities and
regrets?"
"There may be no responsibilities and no regrets here, but there are
also no rights. I had no right to refuse that doctor's advances
earlier. He knew that and took advantage of that. Out there I would
have kicked him so hard he could never do what he did to another
female patient. In here, I am told when, with whom and where to do it
and I must obey. Out there I choose with whom, where and when and
only when there is mutual agreement. I loved a man out there. He
gave my life meaning. Zach told me to leave him. Told me I would end
up back here. I guess Zach was right, but it was my decision. Mine
and Logan's decision."
"Logan?"
"Yes, Logan Cale. My... conscience I guess. Manticore made a mistake
and sent me back to get information from him. That was my mission to
find out where Lydecker was. Logan would know. He would have tracked
Lydecker after our mission to destroy the cloning lab. That's why I
went to him. I got the information and a lot more than that. I am
starting to remember who I was out there and what it felt like. I
have to keep Manticore from knowing this, but I will leave again.
Hopefully knowing that Manticore will not be around to find me again.
Will you help me?"
Alec looked at her. Now standing, no longer the weeping female he
found when he first got to the high place. She was proud, forceful, a
leader (sexy as all hell, but he was not about to mention that.) He
would follow her anywhere at this point.
"Yes, I will help you. As much as I can. I have only been out there
as part of a mission."
"I know. But when you are on a mission you know what it is like to be
out there. To decide where to go and what to see. For a time to be
responsible for yourself."
"I never thought of it like that. But yeah. I decide where to get
the intel, when to return, where to get some... sleep. All those
things."
"They should be able to decide, we need to give them the choice."
Said Max
"We can start Friday. We have a two night training mission. Let's do
it!" Alec agreed.
So it began. It all starts with training. Hopefully it will lead to
the destruction of Manticore.
