It's Something Unpredictable, But In The End It's Right
Caleb's POV
The same story every morning. I still cannot figure out where that blasted alarm is blaring from. I am gradually forgetting my old Abnegation routine. The only difference is that I did not wake up with an apocalyptic headache every day. My cranium feels like it is going to split and my brain and cerebrospinal fluid would probably splatter on the floor. What is the cause of this massive headache? Oh right, the English, Government and Computer test but Jeanine also is a very important variable to the number of headaches I have. Well, this isn't a real, tangible headache. This is the ones you get when you have way too much to think and way too little time.
I still have an hour to go before the insanity starts. Tristan is still sleeping so I go toward his nightstand which has his tablet on it. I don't know much about hacking into it but I do have a nasty prank on my mind. This idea pushes all thoughts of headaches out of my mind.
I dig inside my bag and find some shaving foam. I spritz it on the entire nightstand. I know that his hands would come there while waking up. I really did not punch his face yesterday, what with him pulling the I'm-so-sorry card. Anna melted right away when she saw his puppy dog expression. Oh, he probably would have gotten her as a defender. I have another idea but that would mean proclaiming a prank war.
I don't care. I head to the café.
I go inside the café. A couple of cranky middle aged ladies desperately in need of some caffeine attend the counters. Who knows how many lost faces they must have seen, badly in need of a caffeine high at midnight?
"May I get a few ketchup sachets and some sugar candy please?"
"Sure, and I don't think you intend to eat candy with ketchup, do you?"
"No ma'am, I plan on extracting revenge on my friend for a prank." I don't hesitate to reveal my true purpose. Let Alev catch me. I don't care.
"Good luck kid, may the odds be ever in your favour."
Where did I hear that before? I am losing time now.
When did I become so reckless? Must be the ice cream I had yesterday. I would be on an insane sugar high when initiation ends.
She hands me a couple of ketchup packets and a handful of candy tablets. I go to the dorm and begin the preparations for an epic prank. I glance around; everyone is in a deep sleep. I lift the tablet and set it aside. I tear the packet and make a small puddle of the red semi liquid in the centre of the shaving cream. I drench the candy in a glass of water and rub the sticky stuff onto the entire screen. I set the rigged tablet on top of the ketchup puddle.
Why am I doing this? To exact revenge and to proclaim a prank war. Why am I not worried? Because I know that Erudite makes completely waterproof tablets.
I switch the camera on in my tablet and set it in a strategic position, close enough to capture the event while far enough to ensure that Tristan doesn't smash it to smithereens. That should get me pretty good blackmail material.
I head out to the library and my plan is to come in the hall at the last minute, claiming I was studying there and lost track of time. I hope my tab captures his priceless expression.
I sit in the library for half an hour but I am not able to concentrate on anything. I grab a book and flip the pages, not exactly making an effort to extract information out of it. I would love to see Rhiannon but she isn't here. I look at my watch but there is still half an hour to go. I get bored of the library and decide to head outside.
I go into the park outside and decide whether to wander farther away. Half an hour is too little for exploring the compound. I walk behind the main building and towards the East. I observe the miscellaneous manufacturing unit but there is a mind blowing amount of chaos here. This must be the busiest and possibly most underrated place in the whole compound. This is obvious because most of the Erudite are interested in research and development work. No one wants to do the actual work.
I put a stop on my philosophical garbage. I check my watch. I was theoretically supposed to be late but I am actually late now.
I run to the dorm and realise how good a sprint feels. Another thing I wasn't allowed to do. I rush to it and make sure I don't make a fool of myself on the slippery marble floors. I grab my pencil case from the empty dorm and enter Examination Room 1 with a flushed face.
"May I come in?" I plead forgiveness from Alev.
"You may come in right now but one out of three late coming chances has been struck off your record. This may or may not be marked negatively in your record." He replies with a stone hard face.
Oh no. This might have ruined my chances of making it into the top. I make a note to never do early morning wake up pranks again. I find that the question paper has already made its appearance on table where I usually sit. I flip through it and write the details on my answer sheet. I can feel Tristan's vicious glare on the back of my neck. I ignore it and begin writing my paper.
I am really tired of these stupid tests. English, can be done. Government, child's play. Computer, well, my Abnegation background explains that.
Enough about the whole process of giving the examination in details. My hands go on autopilot and they begin to write the paper. The paper is easy but the Government section stumps me.
'Which faction do you suppose is the most superior one?'
'What are your views of the Erudite faction?'
'Compare any two factions of your choice.'
I am so tired of this stupid nonsense. Comparing factions? I bet a huge crapstorm will blow up as soon as it is over. I write diplomatic answers, neither on this side nor on that. I hope that Alev gives me good marks for that. I finish the English and Government part and move in to the Computer part.
The paper completely baffles me. I can manage the HTML coding but the rest is complete Greek to me. I know I studied all of this but I slept through computer class in all of Upper levels. I have an urge to scold the earlier version of Caleb and slap him upside the head. I discreetly glance to the one sitting beside me. I don't know his name but I try to glance in his paper.
I do get a few hints while glancing into his paper. It all comes to me and I write it all on my paper. Today seems my lucky day. I never was caught at least once. I don't try to jinx it by thinking about it too much. The last thing I need is to be dragged to Aster's office.
The examination ends. I don't try to sleep now after Alev making a public announcement of me sleeping. I sit there and try to do nothing. It is really difficult to do so. This was my area of expertise (doing nothing, I mean) in Abnegation. It is very tricky to keep my hands still after only spending a couple days in Erudite.
I spend a restless fifteen minutes and finally Alev comes to collect our papers. I hand it to him eagerly and say a mental thank you to the guy sitting beside me. I hope that Xander didn't catch me. I run to the library but a phantom hand sets itself on my shoulder.
"Where do you suppose you are going?" Tristan squeezes my shoulder so hard that is it almost going to pop off the socket. I bite my tongue and smother the scream.
"Get your hand off me!" I drag his hand off.
"I am not angry for what you did. This is just the Dauntless way of doing things. I did this to make you a little wary next time. I did learn one thing, 'never underestimate an Abnegation guy with a vendetta'. Believe me, I have been a target for pranks way worse than this. Those are usually masterminded by the little nuisance known as Trevor. You did earn some serious respect in the eyes of the Dauntless." He replies and gives me a good natured slap on the back.
"Thank you so much, Tristan. I am sorry if I damaged the tab." Got off easy, although I wouldn't have minded if he had proclaimed a prank war. I had worse things up my sleeve. I run to the library before he changes his mind.
I enter the library and take my usual place in the table at the centre. I grab an adventure book, seems childish but I like those kind of books. I was a great fan of these books in Middle levels. I am counting down to the day I will pass initiation and will be able to borrow a book. I don't see Rhiannon anywhere. Unusual, That girl's favourite place is the library. I read the book for half an hour. It is a piece of somewhat badly written prose but still has a lot of suspense to it. I return the book to its place and decide to head out.
I go outside the main building and look at the barren piece of brown land, strewn with pieces of concrete and metal, which is known as 'Millennium'. I wonder who gave this name to it. Calling it a park is really stretching it way too far. This place really needs some plants and a few leaves of grass from an Amity nursery. I bet the Erudite will never bother with it. I sit on a bench and wonder about the enormous topic plaguing my mind for many days, Divergence.
To get to the root of it, I need a starting place. The obvious answer is Jeanine's computer but I am not that high of an official. The legal way would take years. I need to look at other back doors. The first thing that comes to mind is the pair of Tristan and Anahita. I need to make sure that they are worthy of being trusted with this sensitive secret, otherwise I could be in really deep trouble. I go to the dorm at superhuman speed (according to my standard at least). I grab my tablet and connect to the open Wi-Fi network available to all Erudite. This is a silly choice, because I know that public networks are usually the most unsafe places. I don't have any other alternative now.
I open up the archived research papers on Quaestiones. These are available on the public platform. The newer archives contain Jeanine's drivel on the faction system and a few experiments done by different departments. I look at the older archives, authored by the former representative of Erudite, Thomas Norton.
It is obvious that these are the places on the intranet that nobody bothers to visit. These folders have a file for every day and are arranged month-wise. There are one hundred and twenty of these month wise folders. It is such a humongous amount of data to sort through. I go to the search bar at top left and type, 'Aptitude test experiments.' I don't type a word about divergence, it is too suspicious. About seventy or eighty month wise files appear.
I look at the first folder and select a random file from it. It is towards the end of that month's folder. It has Norton's observations on a pool of test subjects that is one hundred strong. There is only rudimentary information about the test subjects here.
I go to the next file. It has a data table on the one hundred subjects showing each one's aptitude. The subjects are an anonymous bunch of sixteen year olds. There are the usual five columns there, each one coloured with the colours of the usual faction colours. There are the variables mentioned below.
I see that there is a short paragraph on the group's collective aptitude. There was a group of five people who had somewhat of an aptitude flexibility. There is nothing more after.
I am even more confused. What is this aptitude flexibility? This confuses me even more instead of solving my problems. I record the date of this file on the notes app on my tab.
I may find more about this by going to the media office. I could download it on the tab. The only problem is doing it surreptitiously enough. I could justify it by saying that I need the records for a history paper that I am doing for myself.
I just need the file of that particular day but it might be suspicious. I should download the files of that entire year or couple of them. I ought to go to the digitised newspaper archives. I open the map and see that the gigantic media office covers half of the second floor of the main building. The newspaper and digital archives are in a corner of the office.
I walk toward the main building, intending to go the media office but a sudden hubbub happens near the main gate of the entire compound. Jeanine enters with two of her subordinates and a familiar person dressed in Dauntless black walks beside her. He has a serious, rigid stance and his arms look ready to rip someone's head off. Where did I see that face? He looks like a really important person. He is probably the leader of Dauntless. What was his name? Oh yeah, it is Max. He was the one who conducted this year's Choosing Ceremony.
The people in the park stand up due to requirement of respect. I follow and tuck the tab under my arm. The whole parade passes and everyone sits down. I decide to follow them undercover. I wait for them to go inside. I go behind them and they get into the elevator. I take the staircase. I go up to the second floor and climb the staircase further. I pass the huge glass doors of the Media Office. The chaos is visible from here. The third floor has the door open but it has only one fourth of the floor is available for access. The thick white wall is noticeable from this far. A chrome label announces 'Simulation and Sera Department'. Okay, so this is where Aster works.
The staircase goes on above but the door is locked and chained up. The chain and the lock are technically gas welded onto the thick metal doors. It is evident that no one enters from here. The elevator had a couple of keyholes for probably the fourth floor.
Futile exercise. I head back downstairs. The media office calls out and I go inside. The chaos prevents me from making my voice heard. I go to the help desk at the front of the office.
"How may I help you? Although you do seem a bit old for the guided tour of the media office." A bubbly voice asks me. Her name tag reads 'Violet' in a kind of block comic book font.
"I am Caleb. I am making a research paper on history. I need one year's worth of news articles for a history project that I am doing for myself."
"Are you an initiate? If so, you can use resources from the archive only after initiation ends." She hangs the Dead End sign on my research attempts.
I turn around and go out of the staircase. None of the work is done. I need to find a trustworthy Erudite member so that I can get my hands on those newspaper articles. The only one who comes to my mind is Alev. How do I ask him? Like, Hello-can-you-please-take-these-articles-and-give-it-to-me-so-that-I-could-do-whatever-I-want-with-it? It would be so stupid. Tristan and Anahita are transfers; they wouldn't have any siblings in here. The only Erudite born who comes to my mind is Rhiannon. I hope that she has an elder sibling here.
I think about where I could find her. Only two places come to me, either the forge or the library. I go outside the main building and rush into the forge. I am careful of the welding sparks. I go to the help desk where there is probably an account of each and every person going in and out of the forge.
"Hello, how may I help you?" A guy probably in his twenties asks me. His name tag reads 'Ryan' in big block letters.
"May I know if Rhiannon White is present here?" I say.
"Let me check." He looks around, "Sorry sir, she is not present here."
I run into the library and take a good look around. She is not present there. The only other place I can think of is the Erudite dorm. It is the last thing I want to do, I'll probably go inside and some girl would almost certainly hit me with a flying slipper. I cannot muster the courage to go into the Erudite dorm so I walk toward the transfer dorm. I walk the white marbled corridor and a person gets involved in a head-on collision with me.
He or she hit me with such force that I fall backward. The world gets reversed for a second, ceiling downwards and floor upwards. My legs divide in an ungraceful split and I do not manage to catch myself in the last second. I fall on the floor.
"Are you okay?" The voice asks me. I can feel a hand on my arm.
"I am okay, thank you." I realise with a start that the voice belongs to Rhiannon. I can still feel her hand on my arm. She holds out her hand to me and proceeds to help me up. I surely look very inelegant right now, sprawled out on the floor. I deny her hand and get up by myself. This wasn't to patch up my ego but I was taught this way, to not accept help from anyone. I compose myself hurriedly and brush imaginary dust off my jeans.
"I am so sorry; I guess I was too lost in my own head." Rhiannon replies.
"I could say the same for myself. Actually, I was looking for you." I say in a serious tone as to not indicate any purpose other than business.
"Could we talk in the library? I was heading there right now until I literally headed into you." She says. I suppress a chuckle and lead her to the library.
We enter and I take my usual place. She sits across me. I ensure to keep my voice a tad down.
"What do you suppose to gain by my acquaintance?" She follows my lead and talks in a low voice.
"Knowledge, my friend, knowledge. I wanted to know that if you had an elder sibling. I need to get a few articles from the media office." I try to lighten the vein a little.
"What do you want exactly?"
"I need all the newspaper articles of the year… Will you be able to get it first?" I need to make sure that she has a valid source of supplying the documents.
"I have my sources. Although he or she might or might not require a little blackmailing." She says it almost mysteriously.
"Why are you unwilling to disclose the source? Is this the anonymous journalism thing that the media office does?"
"You can think of it as somewhat like that. Which year's articles do you require from the archives?"
I quote the year whose articles I require.
"Why do you need that year's specific articles?"
"I am doing a research project. I came up with it only a few days ago. Please bring the important ones, not the girly stuff found in the e-magazine that is published here."
"You did not need to say that. I, myself have very little patience for girly stuff and you don't look like the kind of guy who would make a report on the changing fashion styles of the past decade."
"You know me so well. Please bring the information on a flash dive so I can upload it on my tab."
"Sure" With this word she walks out of the library, dragging me along.
Sorry for such a late update. I had a nasty cold, a nastier fever and an apocalyptic headache. I was up reading All The Bright Places and Perks Of Being A Wallflower. So, how did you like it? The mystery will be revealed after a few chapters. I will try my best to upload the chapters timely. Try to guess the the reference from this chapter. A hint, this song comes from an album which was released in 1997.
Reviews of all kinds appreciated,
TheVibrantNight