Chapter 5: Core Concerns
Author's Note:
Hey folks! So, a couple things. First, with regards to how the Artificial Intelligences, the Nightbloods, and the Commander's A.I. chip work, you are going to start to notice this story diverge from the canon material. Second, I am in no way a scientist… So, that being said, I apologize in advance if there are any glaring science mistakes that you notice. As ever, thanks for reading this strange, weird little fic of mine! ~ FlyUpInSKy
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"You wanted to see me, Chancellor?"
Jaha looked up at him at his words, still seated at the round table in the center of the Council's meeting room, the last of the councilors having only departed just minutes before.
"Kane… Yes, come in," he said, gesturing him further into the room. Marcus stepped forward, pushing the heavy door closed behind him as he did so, and all sounds from the adjoining passage immediately ceased. The room was effectively a soundproof bunker within the Ark, with its own communications relays and emergency life support systems, and anything said within its circular walls was almost guaranteed to be private. After the rebellion of the Sydney stationers decades before, the added security measures put in place to ensure the core of the Ark government remained safe had seemed a necessary precaution.
"How did the Council react to the news of the dropship?" Marcus asked, joining the Chancellor at the table but remaining standing, his tone carefully even. He had already made his objections to the mission itself perfectly clear. Jaha knew where he stood on the matter, and raising the issue again now would only erode the Chancellor's trust in him even further, potentially costing him his position. As the Ark's current Chief of Security, it was Marcus who would become Chancellor pro tempore if anything happened to the man, and he would remain so until an election could be held. Losing his position now because Jaha felt he could no longer trust him to support his agenda was something he couldn't afford to let happen.
"They were surprised, to say the least," Jaha admitted, "but they know the stakes here. Once I reminded them of that, they quickly fell in line."
"Even Petrova?" Marcus asked, the formidable woman already in the forefront of his mind after their earlier confrontation.
"That's actually one of the reasons I called you in here," he said, his voice thoughtful. "That young unregistered boy you told me about yesterday… Were your officers able to get any useful information out of him before the dropship launched?"
"No, unfortunately," Marcus replied, curious about what the boy had to do with Anya Petrova. "He was surprisingly stubborn… Didn't say a word the entire time we had him in custody. I really would have preferred that you spoke with me first, Chancellor, before having him added to the dropship roster," he added, a hint of annoyance in his voice. "I would have seen to it that we at least got a DNA sample from him before the launch… It will be very difficult now to discover who his family is, much less who else has been helping him all these years."
"Trust me, Kane, I would rather not have sent him at all, but one of the others was disqualified for a medical condition and it was important we have healthy, normal subjects for monitoring. Medical needs to be able to evaluate them all from a relatively healthy baseline. It was either send him, or have an empty seat, and we couldn't afford that either."
"Understood," he said, letting the argument lie. "So, what does this have to do with Anya?"
Jaha leaned back in his chair at this, a small, satisfied smile on his lips.
"I want you to begin investigating her in connection with the boy… Quietly, of course. We can't have her or anyone from Polaris suspecting that we know she is involved, but I am confident now that she is. She knows something about the boy. Find out what that is, then report back to me," he ordered.
"Of course, sir. I'll look into it," Marcus said, working hard to ignore the faint tickling of unease he felt at the idea of investigating the woman. He reminded himself that the Ark Charter was very clear in this case. Any person caught aiding and abetting, or concealing knowledge of, an unregistered, illegally born child was committing a capital crime, and the Ark's very survival depended upon its people adhering absolutely to its laws. No exceptions.
"Was there anything else?"
"Yes. I want increased security on the remaining dropships and the Exodus from now on. Rumors of the dropship launch are spreading already. The last thing we need right now is for people to panic, and for there to be another incident like Sydney. We can't afford to lose even one more dropship."
"That's probably wise," Marcus agreed, "There was already a mob outside the Council chambers just a half an hour ago. I've increased our security readiness across the Ark and notified our crowd control detail to be ready, just in case."
"Good… I will also need a special detail created for security at Earth Monitoring… Make sure they are your most trustworthy officers, Marcus. It's going to be our operational control center for communicating with and evaluating the kids on the planet's surface. Other than your people from Security, the Council members, and the teams being assembled from Medical and Engineering, no one is to know about this mission yet. I need you and your people to help me keep a lid on this thing until we are ready to go public."
"I'll pick them each myself, Chancellor. We'll keep this under wraps for as long as you need."
Marcus paused, knowing that Jaha was about to dismiss him, but needing to broach one more topic before he did.
"Sir, about the population reduction… We should start preparing for it now. I know this isn't an easy decision, but the longer we wait, the less time we are going to have to…"
Jaha interrupted him angrily.
"No. We've been over this, Kane… We still have at least a month, and the hundred have only just landed. Until we can say for certain that the ground isn't safe, I won't authorize any population reductions. Not until we have no choices left."
"Sir, we already don't have a choice! No disrespect, but the dropship mission is a fool's errand… and the longer we wait, the less chance we have of fixing the Ark in time to save the rest of us. Every day we wait is more people we will have to kill when the time comes… I don't like it either, but this is about saving the human race!"
"I am saving the human race!" Jaha replied harshly, something fervent and irrational gleaming for a moment in his dark eyes. Marcus bit back his retort, his frustration with the Chancellor rising with each and every day he failed to take the necessary action.
None of us like this, but we don't have the luxury of choices we like on the Ark… Why doesn't Jaha see that? He's risking the remaining existence of humanity on a pipe dream!
"Now, you have your orders. That will be all, Kane."
The Chief of Security didn't reply, merely nodded his head once and turned on his heel, hurrying from the room before his self-control broke and he told the Chancellor what he was really thinking.
This ship is sinking, he thought bitterly to himself as he strode down the hall, his shockstick swinging on his hip with every angry step.
And that man is going to let all of us drown with it.
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At the rhythmic sound of knocking at the door, Sinclair set down the data pad he had been working on and hurried to open the hatch, relieved to see Anya waiting on the other side.
"Ma'am, come in… I've got some good news! I haven't found Lexa yet, but I did track her down on some of the security footage from last night. I'm still working on getting access to those prison records for Aden, and I know that's the priority, but I think we should send a team down to look for her if…"
"Never mind that for right now, Sinclair," Anya replied, interrupting him. He turned back to her, knowing her well enough to hear the slightest hint of distress in her voice.
"What is it?" he asked, "Did something happen during the Council meeting?"
"Yes… Remember that dropship diagnostic you were up all night performing?" she asked.
"Of course. Why?"
"Well, as it turns out, that wasn't just a test. It was a pre-launch diagnostic. This morning, Jaha launched that dropship with one hundred juvenile prisoners onboard to the surface of the planet," she explained, her voice bitter with anger and frustration.
"Juvenile prisoners?!" Sinclair exclaimed, sudden horror in his eyes, and she nodded yes in reply.
"On the dropship? The same one from last night?... Oh no… Oh, no no no… Ma'am, this isn't good… This really isn't good!"
"I know," she agreed, her voice now weary. "I can't be sure, but the Chancellor all but confirmed that Aden was on board… We've lost him, Sinclair! If he's on the surface, there's no way of ever getting him back. Even if he does survive somehow, it doesn't matter… We've lost the last viable, alternate host we had left. This is a disaster."
"No, you don't understand!" he babbled, his eyes wide and disbelieving, "It's Lexa!"
"What? What about Lexa?" she asked, finally noticing the true depth of the man's distress.
"That's what I was trying to tell you earlier," he said, "I think I found Lexa on the security feeds from last night. It looks like she got a hold of a guard uniform somehow, and in the last footage I could find of her she was entering that dropship!"
"What?! Why? Where did she go next?"
"No, ma'am," he replied, his throat dry, "That's just the thing… I think she never left."
Anya closed her eyes and sucked in a sharp, ragged breath.
And here I thought this day couldn't possibly get any worse.
She opened her eyes, meeting Sinclair's.
"Damnit… You're absolutely sure? You're positive she was still on it when it launched?"
"Well, I can't say for sure, but she didn't leave the dropship on any of the feeds I've been able to access. There was a two hour blackout on the video this morning, so I suppose she could have left then, but after what you just told me…"
"Of course… They blacked out the cameras intentionally to hide the fact that they were loading the prisoners for launch. If she had tried to leave then, or they had found her in there, then she would be in custody now and I would have already been informed."
Sinclair started to respond, halting his reply when the soft chime of her comm interrupted them. Seeing who it was making the call, Anya activated it, letting the voice of Polaris' chief research scientist, Dr. Chambal, fill the small room.
"This isn't really a good time, Doctor… If it isn't important, can I get back to you?"
"You need to get down here, Ms. Petrova," Chambal said urgently, foregoing a greeting.
"What is it?" she asked, her dread increasing with every second. First she finds that Aden, and now possibly Lexa, are no longer on the Ark, and then Dr. Chambal calls and needs to see her right away on Polaris? It couldn't be a good sign, and it absolutely had to be related. Anya was a politician. She knew better than to believe in happy coincidences.
"I've never seen anything like this before, ma'am… We can't talk over the comms. You need to come down to the core chamber right now. "
"Alright, I'm on my way," Anya said, closing the call and turning to Sinclair.
"Should I come with you?" he asked.
"No. Jaha is going to want you in Earth Monitoring, running the Engineering team. He's setting it up as mission control for the kids on the planet. Get in there and see what you can find on Aden. He shouldn't be hard to pick out… He'll be the only one without a name."
"Okay… And Lexa?"
"Let's just pray that this isn't what it looks like, and she didn't stow away on the dropship after all. If she is with the kids, I'm sure someone will say something eventually, and then we'll know for sure. I'm certain they left the dropship's communications equipment intact, so they'll be talking to them soon, if they aren't already."
"Understood, ma'am, and… I'm sorry."
"Nothing to be sorry about, Sinclair," she said, resting a hand on the tired man's stooped shoulders. "You've done well here. Now, see what you can do for our boy down there, but be careful. Let's not tip Jaha off that we have any special interest."
They parted ways, Sinclair to join his team supporting the surface mission and Anya heading to meet the doctor at his secure workstation at the center of Polaris. She felt herself relaxing somewhat as she left the rest of the Ark behind her for the safe familiarity of her own territory. Jaha's reach couldn't extend far within Polaris; the Special Amendment to the Charter granted them protection from unannounced searches, and only Polaris born security guards were allowed to patrol the station, most of whom were secretly loyal to her first and foremost.
Please let this not be a fresh disaster, she prayed, making a conscious effort to appear in control and unhurried as she walked, knowing there were always eyes on her.
Damn that girl… What could she possibly have been thinking? Anya fumed a moment later, a combination of disappointment, worry, and anger at her protégé making her hands clench into tight fists as she walked.
After the headache you are causing me, Lexa, one way or another, I'm going to stripe your hide for this, even if I have to steal a dropship and come down there myself to do it!
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In the dense, leafy undergrowth of the forest surrounding the dropship, Monty Green paused to suck in a lung full of air, the moist scents of earth and growing things immediately transporting him back to his childhood on Farm station, reminding him of his parents. He reached down, brushing at a small, green plant growing in the shelter of a tall pine. He pulled out several of the little, shiny leaves, breaking one in half and smelling it experimentally before popping it in his mouth.
I knew it… another plant I recognize. There's just so much down here! He thought happily to himself, in awe of all the greenery around him. So far, in his first half hour on the ground he had seen more types of plants, trees, and shrubs than he had ever seen growing up on the Ark.
Dad's going to be so excited to see all of this... I wonder how long it will be before the rest of the Ark is able to come down?
Monty stood, stepping around a small stand of bushes, eyes searching the ground for more plants he could identify. He hopped up onto a large log and then down over the other side, surprised when he landed to see the young unregistered kid, Aden Black, stooped on the ground there. The kid whirled to face him at the sound of his landing, his body tensing into a defensive posture, his fists clenched as though he expected to have to fight someone.
"Woah, easy there, it's just me," Monty reassured him. Then, seeing the boy's sister laying on the ground behind him, "Hey, what's wrong with her?"
The boy didn't say anything, but just kept staring back at him with a defiant expression. Monty took a couple steps closer, concerned now by the still, dark form of the young woman on the forest floor.
Huh, she's not moving… That can't be good.
If possible, the kid tensed even more at his coming closer, and Monty held his hands up non-threateningly.
"Look, I just want to help… What happened? Is she okay?"
Aden glared at him for another breath, then glanced back down at his sister, and it was then that Monty could see the worry in him that was barely contained.
Poor kid… He's freaked out.
The boy looked back at him, his young face grave and looking far older than his years, though he seemed a bit relieved now to have someone else there offering to help.
"I'm not sure what's wrong… She just passed out a minute ago. I've been trying to wake her up," the kid explained, his voice surprisingly calm, and Monty stepped over to them, kneeling beside him to take a closer look at his sister. Her eyes were closed and her face did seem pale, but that wasn't saying much, as all of them were relatively pale skinned due to the lack of much natural sunlight on the Ark. She had black, wet streaks of what Monty assumed was mostly dirt on her face, though it looked like her brother had been in the process of wiping it off when he found them.
"Do you know what's wrong? Can you help her?" Aden asked, but Monty shook his head, frustrated by his ineptness.
"I don't know… It could be a concussion, I guess. Do you think maybe she hit her head during the landing? She was stuffed inside the walls, after all. That couldn't have been very safe."
Aden didn't reply, but instead moved to kneel next to his sister's head, pulling down his sleeve and using it to very gently wipe away the rest of the black streaks from her face and lips. He had just finished doing so when, abruptly, the woman's eyes shot open, the green orbs locking onto Monty's unknown face beside her. With a suddenness and strength that shocked him, her hands shot out, shoving him backwards and off balance, causing him to land on his hind end several feet away. Before his butt even hit the ground she was on her feet, her features hard-set and ferocious, body coiled into an aggressive posture that reminded Monty of a wild animal about to attack.
Holy crap! Monty thought as he sat there, stunned. She's fast!
"Hey, easy! I was just trying to help you… Your brother was worried!"
She seemed to come back to herself and relaxed a bit at his words, a hand coming up to touch her head gingerly, wincing as she did so.
"Who are you?" she asked, her voice a little unfriendly, but Monty felt he ought to forgive her a bit for it, seeing as she was obviously in some pain.
"Monty Green, from Farm Station. It's Lexa, right? Lexa and Aden Black?"
She nodded, and Monty pulled himself back to his feet, rubbing his chest where she had struck him. He didn't doubt there was going to be a bruise there later. The girl didn't look very physically intimidating at first glance, but she sure did pack a punch.
"That's so cool that you are brother and sister, by the way," he told them, "I always wanted a sibling. I mean, Jasper has pretty much always been like a brother to me, but it's not quite the same thing as having a real brother, you know?"
He was babbling a little, he realized, slightly intimidated despite himself under the intense scrutiny of the Black's combined gazes.
"Monty Green," Lexa finally said, repeating his name thoughtfully, as though trying to decide if it was familiar, "Thank you for your aid, but I am perfectly fine now."
She glanced at the plants in his hands briefly, then back to his face. He held them up to her and Aden.
"Wintergreen?" he offered, "I found some earlier… It actually might make you feel better. It's loaded with methyl salicylate, which is basically what aspirin is made out of. It'd be better boiled in a tea, though. It could definitely help you with that headache."
They both frowned at him, their expressions of consternation so identical that he laughed.
"Sorry, hazard of the business… My parents grow most of the pharmaceuticals for the Ark. Botany runs in the family, I guess you could say."
"You're good with plants?" Lexa asked him with some interest, her voice a tad friendlier, "What about finding edible plants? That is a valuable skill to have."
"Yeah, I suppose… I mean, medicinal herbs are really more my thing, if you know what I'm saying…," from their lack of change in expression, he wasn't sure that they did, "but I guess I'm pretty good with plants in general."
"Hey, Monty, man! Where are you?" Jasper's voice floated over to them from the direction of the dropship, searching for him in the trees.
"That's Jasper, the sort-of brother I mentioned… He and I go way back. We got busted together, actually. I should probably go see what he wants."
Monty turned away, heading back to the dropship, but then turned around again and stepped over to them, unceremoniously handing Aden the hand-full of wintergreen leaves he was still holding.
"Here, you can have this batch. There's plenty more where that came from… I mean, just look around! Isn't it incredible down here? It's like we've landed in a dream…"
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Lexa and Aden watched the young man, Monty, walk away from them to rejoin his friend at the dropship. He'd been friendly, intelligent, helpful, and had a sort of delightful innocence and charm about him that reminded Lexa of all the reasons why she had always hoped for peace between the rest of the clans and Skaikru. Despite the atrocities they had committed towards the end, she had never truly lost sight of the fact that there were still people like Monty Green living in Arkadia. Those were the types of people that Clarke had been so desperate to save. Lexa couldn't help but feel a little better after the reminder that there were good, decent Sky People, and that they were worth saving.
"Heda, are you alright?" Aden asked her once Monty was far enough away not to overhear, his concern evident.
"I'm not sure," she said dryly, rubbing her aching temple with one hand, "How long was I out?"
"Only a minute or so… Are you sure you're okay? Monty said you might have hit your head during the landing."
Lexa shook her head and immediately regretted making the motion. Her skull was pounding, and a dull ache was coursing up her spine and the back of her neck. Was the blackout and the pain she was feeling related to the strange silence she felt from the Commander's spirit? She hoped it wasn't, that Aden was right and she had merely struck her head during the chaos of the landing, but deep down she knew that was unlikely.
The scar is still there… The flame is still inside me. It wouldn't be removed unless I had died here, in this life. There must be some other explanation.
Lexa had only been in this world for a short time and already she was weary, so very weary of impossible questions for which she didn't have answers. There was only one thing she could do, and that was set aside her worries as best she could and focus on dealing with the present situation. They needed to make plans and decide on a sensible course of action. Hopefully the explanations she sought would come eventually with time.
"I'll be fine, Aden," she told him, not wanting him to be distracted by worry for her, "Come on, let's get back to the dropship. It looks like the others are starting to gather again. We need to see what they are planning to do now that they are here."
"But… Heda, why don't we just slip away now while they are still distracted? It could be hours before they notice, and they're hopeless in the woods, so it's not like they could track us. We could be miles from here by nightfall!"
She hesitated, a part of her surprised by his suggestion. Why shouldn't they leave now? She wasn't beholden to these young people in this life, whatever her hopes and obligations towards Skaikru might have been in the old. There was also the matter of discovering their purpose for being here, and the why and how of how they had come to cross space and time to arrive in this place as Aden and Lexa Black, brother and sister of the Ark. Certainly any answers to be had for their unexplained entry into this world were to be had in Polis, or among the clans? Not here, among children who knew nothing of the Commander's spirit and its endless struggle against the Entity, or her own role in that struggle as the current Heda.
More importantly… If I have spent my entire life on the Ark in this reality, then that must mean that the Commander's spirit has been hidden among the stars for almost a hundred years. Who has been protecting the people here on the ground from the Entity's influence during that time?
This thought gave her pause. This world seemed familiar enough so far, but there was no telling what was truly different. Small changes could no doubt have grave consequences. How deep an impact had the changes she'd seen so far had in this life?
If Aden and I came from the Ark, then the Ark must have some of the answers we seek... For all we know, Polis doesn't even exist in this reality. Without the protection of the Commander, what is Polis but an abandoned tower in the wilderness? Even the clans themselves might be changed beyond all recognition, or not exist at all!
"No, we will stay, for now at least. There is too much we don't yet know about this world, and it's possible the Ark has some answers. Until we know more, we can't afford to make any hasty decisions. There's no telling what else is different. We need to be ready for anything," she told him, knowing he would need some explanation for her reasons, but not wanting to terrify the boy with all of her thoughts and speculations.
They returned to the dropship together, Lexa feeling a little better with each passing moment. As they approached, she saw a large, dark-skinned young man scale down one of the steep sides of the ship, his handsome face pinched with worry. Monty and another youth, who she supposed must be his friend Jasper, were waiting for him at the bottom.
"They're fried," he said to them the moment his feet hit the ground, and Lexa moved closer with Aden, curious.
"Half of one of the antenna arrays is missing, and most of the connectors are either burnt or destroyed completely. It's a mess up there… It doesn't look like something that can be easily fixed."
"Well, that explains why the dropship's radio has been dead since we landed," Monty said, worry in his voice, "Without those comms, we can't talk to the Ark… How are they supposed to know what's happening to us down here?"
"Can't you, I don't know, rig something together?" Jasper asked, "C'mon, Monty, you're a genius with tech… You can fix this, right?"
"I might be good with computers, but I can't rebuild an antenna out of sticks and leaves, Jasper," Monty replied with annoyance, the stress of true worry building in his voice.
They've lost contact with the Ark, Lexa realized, surprised by her own understanding of the words and terms they were using.
"What do you think, Wells?" Jasper asked.
"I think this means it's even more important that we head towards Mount Weather sooner, rather than later. We need those supplies, and it doesn't do us any good to stay here if we can't talk to the Ark. Maybe Mount Weather will have a working radio we can use."
"Mount Weather would be a mistake."
All three sets of eyes turned to regard her. Lexa cursed herself silently. She hadn't meant to say anything, but when the big one, Wells, had mentioned going to Mount Weather, her growing sense of alarm hadn't allowed her to stay silent. She may not truly be one of them, but that didn't mean she wanted to see these kids put in cages and killed.
"Why? You got something against mountains?" Jasper asked, using humor to hide his confusion and unease, something she felt he probably did often. Wells was watching her with no little suspicion, and she suddenly had the strangest sense that he was familiar to her somehow. A memory flashed in her mind's vision for a second, then was gone as quick as it had come. Wells, standing next to an older man – his father, she knew – on a small raised platform in one of the larger open spaces on the Ark. The Chancellor was giving his inaugural speech, his voice ringing across the gathered crowd, and Wells' younger face was smiling and proud beside him.
Another memory from Lexa Black on the Ark? She wondered, beginning to suspect that these surfacing memories were going to start becoming a regular thing. As long as they helped give her answers, she found she didn't really mind all that much at the moment.
"Look, Wells," she said, addressing the Chancellor's son, sensing that if she convinced him then the others would follow his lead, "You have no way of knowing what's in that mountain… You don't even know what's over the next hill! The mountain is miles from here at best. Go out there unprepared, without any knowledge of what could be out there, and you'll just get yourselves killed."
"Yeah, but we can't just sit around here waiting to starve either, can we?" Monty answered instead, a concerned frown on his face, "I mean, I don't like the idea of wandering through the wilderness either, but what's the difference if we stay here and die anyways?"
A small crowd was starting to gather around their discussion by the dropship's open ramp, as most of the young people had finally abandoned their carefree explorations of the forest and were now starting to wonder what they should be doing next. They were stranded without food or water, and news of the broken radio was already beginning to spread. The harsh realities of their situation were finally setting in, and Lexa could sense a new, thin edge of anxiety running through the young Sky People that hadn't been there before.
Lexa ignored Monty, her eyes focused solely on Wells, waiting for his response. He was the natural leader of the three of them, it was clear. Already she could see the beginnings of people breaking into clumps and groups, forming small tribes within the larger whole. That would continue until a clear leader emerged among them, she knew, and until that happened, they would remain fractured and indecisive. Lexa didn't know many specifics about what had happened among the Sky People who had landed with Clarke before they were captured by the mountain, but she had gained at least a small understanding during all her time spent in Clarke's company. In her reality, it was Clarke and Bellamy who had risen up and eventually taken charge.
But Clarke isn't here… and neither is Bellamy. Without them, who here will the others choose to follow?
Wells clearly had strong opinions and he was already acting on them, getting things done. It seemed likely that soon the others would start to follow his lead.
And then there's that twice-damned prisoner I can't seem to get away from, Murphy, she recalled, remembering his voice rising above the others in the dropship, his leading the effort to open the door.
As though her thoughts had summoned him, Murphy appeared with a small coterie of followers, four large, brutish looking boys with mean, hard faces.
"What are we talking about? Oh wait, let me guess," he said, thrusting himself into the center of the group, addressing Wells with a sneer, "We were trying to figure out how many of our friends and family your father had executed up on the Ark."
There was some angry muttering through the crowd at this, and Lexa felt the mood shift from curious and anxious, to angry and hostile almost within a breath. She'd met people like Murphy before… Men and women so tormented, so bitter over the unfair course their lives had taken that they sought ways to make everyone else suffer just as much as they did. Their destructiveness had the tendency to draw everyone down with them, bringing out the worst in people rather than the best. Murphy was like a walking wound, and she wondered how much the rest would need to bleed before he was satisfied that their pain equaled his.
"My father is the one who sent me down here, the same as the rest of you," Wells replied finally, not backing down under Murphy's glare. He turned to the others. "Look, we need to go to Mount Weather… There's food, shelter and supplies there, and hopefully a radio we can use to talk to the Ark. We need to tell them that people can survive down here! That it's safe to follow us down."
"Why should I care about the Ark?" Murphy snarled, "Why should any of us care? They sent us down here to die! I say screw them, and screw Mount Weather. We'll be just fine here on our own."
Murphy stalked off at that and about a dozen people followed him as though pulled in his wake. Others started to wander away, sensing that the confrontation was over for now. A few remained, however, their eyes watching Lexa and Wells.
Ignoring the conversations around them, Wells stepped up to her, asking her in a low voice, "Can I speak to you in private?"
Lexa felt Aden tense next to her, but she ignored him, measuring the young man before her with her eyes. She gave a single tilt of her head in agreement, following him has he walked away into the relative privacy of the trees.
"No, stay here, Aden," she instructed when she saw him start to follow her. The boy looked worried, his young face drawn and pale. As stressful as this day had been for her, she imagined it was far worse for him. She was accustomed to tense standoffs and uncertain, risky circumstances. This small political scuffle within the Skaikru was making her feel more at home here than she had yet all day. The leadership squabbles of a group of teenagers was nothing when compared to bringing twelve bloodthirsty, power-hungry clan chiefs together into a single alliance.
When they were finally alone together, Wells turned to her, looking more apprehensive now than he had before when facing down Murphy.
"I know who you are, you know," he said, and it was a battle to keep her face expressionless. Lexa didn't say anything, preferring to wait him out. Clearly he felt he knew something about her, and whatever it was, he hadn't wanted the others to overhear.
"You work for Anya Petrova, the Polaris Station Representative."
Again, Lexa had to struggle to control her response, for his words had caused a flood of memories, some new, some old, to fill her mind.
Anya… She's alive! She realized, and the woman's face in this reality immediately appeared before her, clean of war paint and subtly different somehow, though her eyes were still the same direct, challenging stare of the fierce warrior that Lexa remembered.
And she's on the Ark, but how is that possible?
Wells was speaking again and Lexa pulled her thoughts away from her friend and teacher with some difficulty. Wells knew Lexa Black, it seemed, the person she apparently was in this life. She would need to tread very carefully.
"My father always said you were dangerous… That you were Petrova's hatchetwoman. That she was grooming you to take her place as Station Representative for Polaris someday."
Lexa stared back, not quite understanding him, but sensing that his words had a purpose, that he was testing her somehow. He seemed more intelligent, more mature than the other teens around them, and it was obvious that he had strong ideas about what needed to be done in order for them to survive.
"Anya was my mentor," she agreed, not wanting to give away her lack of knowledge of what he spoke.
"That doesn't answer my question."
"You didn't ask one."
He smiled slightly at her response, a certain respect for her forming in his eyes at her caginess. For a boy his size and build, she would have expected him to be used to getting his way through force, but she sensed a gentleness to him that surprised her. He was a man of words, she realized, not a boy who only knew how to throw his weight around and bully others to get his way. She valued this in a person, and she found, almost against her will, that she was also beginning to respect the young man before her. Someone of his character could prove to be a useful ally if he showed himself to be trustworthy.
"None of us will survive long down here if we don't get organized… start making smart decisions," he told her after a moment's pause, shifting focus back to their more immediate concerns. "We need those supplies in Mount Weather. We can't afford to act like stupid children, not down here. My father may have thought you were dangerous, but he also said you were smart… Prove to me that you are. Help me convince the others to go to Mount Weather. It's the only way we will all survive until the rest of the people from the Ark come down."
… You may be a heartless, Lexa, but at least you're smart…
Clarke's words echoed through her as he finished speaking, and Lexa nearly smiled. It felt like Clarke was everywhere here, and had been since the moment she arrived. Her invisible presence filled the dropship. Her friends, the ones she had suffered and sacrificed so much for, surrounded Lexa. It felt like she should be able to turn around and see her there, right behind her, wearing that earnest, stubborn look on her face that she always had when she felt Lexa could, or should, be doing better... Be better.
These were her people. It didn't feel right that she wasn't here with them, helping them.
It doesn't feel right that she isn't here, with me… Where are you, Clarke?
"You seem convinced that the rest of the Ark will come," she said to him, pulling herself back to the present. Now was not the time to get lost in sadness.
"Shouldn't I be?" he asked, his gaze hardening, "You know, don't you?… Petrova told you that the Ark is dying."
It was almost a question, but he spoke it as a statement, as though he already knew the answer. She didn't reply, just continued to watch him.
"That's why I am down here, you know. I found out a month ago, tried to make it public. My father never was good at keeping his voice down. I overheard him arguing with Kane about population reductions… You know what that means, right? That's why it's so important we go to Mount Weather. We can't count on the medical bracelets alone to prove to them that the ground is safe. We need to get in contact with the Ark again. It could save hundreds of lives!"
He's not wrong, but I can't explain the real reason going to Mount Weather isn't an option.
"I don't disagree with you, Wells. In fact, your arguments are very valid. However, there are things you don't know… Factors to be considered. I know things about Mount Weather, things that your father didn't know when he instructed you to go there, and I can tell you that the mountain will not provide the aid you seek. If you truly wish to save the people of the Ark, then you must convince the others to remain here, and do what you can to preserve their lives. Let the medical bracelets do their job, and the Ark will soon realize the ground is safe."
"What factors? What are you talking about?" Wells demanded.
"I cannot say," she told him, her voice unwaveringly firm, "But you must trust me, Wells. The mountain is death. It will not help us. We must make do on our own."
"Is this more Polaris secrets, then?" he asked, his voice disbelieving, "My father always said you Polaris stationers hoarded secrets, that you couldn't be trusted… How could you possible know things about Mount Weather that the Chancellor of the Ark doesn't?"
She didn't answer. There was nothing she could truly say. Either Wells would decide in this moment to trust her, or he would decide not to. There was little else she could do to sway him.
"What about the people who will die on the Ark while they wait to decide whether or not it is safe to come down? We could stop that from happening… Are you telling me the risk is not worth saving possibly hundreds of lives?"
"Sacrifices must sometimes be made if we wish to survive, Wells. We can't control what happens on the Ark, only what happens down here."
"Unbelievable. You sound just like my father," he sneered, but his anger lacked the strength of true conviction.
"Your father is a leader… Leaders don't get the luxury of only making easy choices. I can see that you care, and your intentions are good. You need to trust that the people on the Ark will do what is necessary, while we must do the same down here as well."
There was several moments of silence after her words, during which they both regarded each other warily. She watched him consider her words, battling with himself over whether or not he could trust her. It was a lot to ask, this sort of blind trust in the words of a near stranger, and she prepared herself for him to not accept them. She was therefore surprised by his next words.
"Okay, Ms. Black," he said, releasing a heavy sigh, "It's not that I trust you, it's just that I know I will never be able to convince the others, not with you and Murphy both going against me. I'll stay here for now and see how things go, but that's only so I can keep an eye on you both. I still think Mount Weather is our best chance."
She nodded, appreciating his candor. He was an honest person, she realized, and honest people responded to honesty in return. No doubt, though he denied it, a part of him had sensed her honesty when she spoke of the mountain. His instincts were telling him that she was being truthful, but the stakes were high enough that he didn't feel it was wise to trust them alone.
"It's the right decision, Wells," she told him, letting her voice soften a small amount. She liked him. In a way, he reminded her a little of Clarke in how he was so driven to do the right thing, to save everyone. She very much doubted he possessed Clarke's brutal pragmatism and flexibility, however, or her unparalleled personal courage.
It was in that moment that she remembered, suddenly, Clarke's story about a childhood misadventure involving too much alcohol and a friend named Wells.
"Can I ask you something?" she asked him.
"Sure, only seems fair… I did just kind of interrogate you."
"On the Ark, did you ever know someone named Clarke?"
Wells frowned, shaking his head.
"I don't think so… Why, who is he? Old boyfriend?" he said, smiling to himself at his own joke.
"No… they're no one," she replied shortly, turning her back to him so he couldn't see her disappointment, her steps heavy with the sense of loss that was growing every moment as she walked beneath the thick forest shadows back to the dropship.
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Anya stepped into the core chamber at the center of Polaris, sealing the door behind her. This modest space was without a doubt the most protected, most secure location on the entire Ark, though not many knew of it. In fact, she knew of only five people, including herself, who had even seen the inside of its walls, and only several more who even knew of its existence. This place was the secret, beating heart of Polaris – the station's true purpose and reason for being – and Dr. Chambal was its current caretaker.
"Doctor, please tell me this is not going to be terrible news," she said, approaching the dark haired, middle aged man where he was seated at his workstation with his back to her, his white lab coat pristine in the bright fluorescent lights. The man startled a bit and turned, his worried eyes meeting hers.
"I'm afraid I can't do that, Ms. Petrova… Not today."
Anya just nodded in reply, having already prepared herself for the worst during her trip down.
"As I told you over the comm, this is something I've never seen before… The data is completely unprecedented."
Dr. Chambal waived her over and Anya approached, leaning over him to observe the screens he was presently viewing, the graphs and numbers displayed there making little sense to her.
"So, tell me what happened. You know I can't read scientist."
"Well, I'm not sure what did happen, exactly, but I can tell you what I have observed," he said, and Anya couldn't help but grind her teeth at his obtuseness. And people thought politicians were difficult to get straight answers out of…
"Core calculations have almost completely ceased across the board," the doctor explained, "Basic and higher level cognition functions have all dropped by over sixty percent… and they are still falling. Every measurement of every type I have taken has been significantly, significantly below all of our lowest previous baselines… It's incredible! There isn't any data of this type in any of our historical records. Not one previous example of a similar anomaly occurring like this, not in almost a hundred years, and not only is that alarming in itself, but I have absolutely no idea what has caused it!"
"When did this all start?" she asked, though a part of her suspected she already knew the answer to that question.
"Shortly after zero seven hundred hours this morning," Dr. Chambal replied, and Anya closed her eyes, willing herself to remain calm. It was in her nature to go straight to anger in difficult situations, but useless rage over how circumstances were spiraling out of her control would not be helpful to them now.
"Well then, Doctor, you are in luck, because I think I can answer your "why" question for you."
Dr. Chambal looked up at her with interested eyes, his brown skin sallow and tired looking in the unflattering light.
"At zero seven hundred hours this morning, it just so happens that a dropship was launched to the planet's surface… and we believe Lexa Black was on it."
The man sucked in a deep, alarmed breath, his eyes widening.
"Of course… Of course!" he exclaimed, turning back to his screens, "An interruption between the core chamber of the intelligence and its physical interface… That must be it!"
His fingers flew across the keys for several seconds, pulling up more pages of data, then he stopped, his eyes gaining that faraway look they got when he was concentrating very hard. Anya waited impatiently for several seconds then snapped her fingers twice to get his attention.
"Doctor, please! Talk to me… What's happening? What does this mean? Is this because of Lexa leaving the Ark?"
"Because of Lexa? Of course it's because of Lexa! Lexa is the intelligence. They are bonded on a subconscious and conscious level… She is the physical interface for the artificial intelligence itself, its avatar in the real world, so to speak. What is physically here in the core chamber might be its brain and memory, to use a very simplified analogy, but it was fundamentally designed to be dependent upon a human host. Without that link to the host, the core can't properly function, can't access its own thinking and cognitive processes, and it's quickly shutting down… If this continues, we could be looking at a system loss on a catastrophic scale!"
Anya blinked, taken aback by his unusually hyperbolic language. He was normally very dry and unexcited with his facts, pronouncing important new discoveries with a tone close to boredom.
"So what are you saying?" she asked, struggling to grasp what the scientist was telling her, "Are you suggesting that our one-of-a-kind, one hundred year old, world-saving artificial intelligence is going braindead?"
"In very simplified terms… yes, that's exactly what it looks like."
"And it's all because Lexa slipped her leash and wandered too far away from it?" she asked, dumbfounded by what she was hearing.
"Yes… Well, no, actually, you're right, it can't be that simple. Rebecca designed the A.I. on a quantum mechanical level, after all… It's extraordinarily complex, as I've told you before, and the most inexplicable aspect of it has always been the bridge chip itself. She spent years working on that piece of the technology alone, and she was already decades ahead of her time. I've always speculated that the apparent instantaneous communication between the chip and the core chamber was due to the quantum mechanical construction of the chip itself in…"
"Doctor, please," she begged, "No sentence that included the words "quantum" and "mechanics" has ever ended well for me. I don't need endless theories and speculation… I need something I can make plans off of. Give me your best case and worst case scenarios, please."
"Best case scenario," he mused, "Very well, but tell me one thing first. Was Lexa forced onto the dropship, or did she contrive to be on it when it launched of her own free will?"
"Why on earth does that matter?" Anya asked, baffled.
"It matters, because Lexa currently hosts the Polaris A.I., and the A.I. was therefore a part of any decisions she may have made, whether she was consciously aware of it or not."
"Well, then, the answer is that we aren't sure, exactly. Although, it does appear that she stole a guard uniform and stowed away on purpose when she discovered that Aden was being sent down with the other criminals."
Dr. Chambal blanched at this news.
"Aden is also on the surface?!"
"Yes, but please, Doctor, let's focus on one problem at a time. Best case scenario," she insisted.
"Well, then, the best case scenario is something like this: Lexa is the physical extension of the Polaris A.I. itself, and for reasons of its own that we don't yet understand, the A.I. wanted Lexa to go to the surface. If this is the case, then it either wasn't aware of the effect this would have on itself, which I find highly unlikely, or it was aware, and deemed the risk worth the reward. Or, alternatively, the effects we are seeing are in fact not accidental, but is the A.I. intentionally shutting its own self down for reasons we don't or can't understand."
"That's your best case scenario? The A.I. we have dedicated generations to protecting, the thing which is supposed to be our only hope for destroying A.L.I.E., has decided to commit willing suicide for mysterious reasons?" she asked incredulously.
"That isn't exactly what I said," he replied, a little testily.
"Fine. What's the worst case?"
"Worst case is that Lexa herself, either ignoring or overcoming the A.I.'s influence entirely, boarded the dropship and went to the surface, at which point something has degraded or destroyed the ability of the bridge chip to communicate with the A.I.'s core her on Polaris, which is causing the catastrophic failures we are seeing… Now, I previously wouldn't have thought it was possible for the chip to lose its instantaneous link with the core, not with the technology Rebecca pioneered, but I suppose there could be any number of reasons. Perhaps it's due to effects caused by the gravity of the planet, for just one example. It's almost impossible to say without being able to study the chip itself, however, so speculating is pretty much a useless gesture."
Silence fell over them as Anya chewed over his words, her sense of helplessness rising as she thought the problem through from every possible angle.
"What about Lexa?" she asked.
"What?"
"Lexa," she repeated, "If we are seeing these kinds of effects in the core up here, what is this doing to her?"
The doctor looked surprised by the question. He was always so consumed by the science of it all that he often seemed to forget there was a real, living, breathing human being whose life was inescapably linked to the secret technology they guarded.
"That's an interesting thought... But I'm afraid we can't be sure. It's possible she hasn't been effected at all. She had a fully functioning, independent brain and body long before we installed the chip, after all. However, it has since integrated with her brain stem and nervous system, and now that it isn't receiving information and instructions from the core, I suppose it's possible – probably likely, even – that it is having a negative effect. Headaches, at the very least. Maybe some issues with memory and vision. Any number of things. Again, without being able to observe her and the chip itself, I can't say much with certainty."
Anya nodded, unhappy that so much was left to speculation, but appreciating that there wasn't much else they could do in this situation.
"Of course," Dr. Chambal continued, his voice very serious, sounding as though he didn't want to speak but couldn't stop himself, "We are ignoring the very worst case of them all."
"And what is that?"
"That at some time very shortly after zero seven hundred hours this morning, either on the dropship as suspected or somewhere else entirely, Lexa Black was killed, and the chip itself destroyed."
Anya met his tired eyes with her own.
"For Lexa's sake… for all our sakes, let's pray that you are wrong."