'Eden Hall'
The panoramic view of Earth from Eden Hall was usually a beautiful sight. Today, it served as nothing more than a grim reminder of evils done in the name of humanity.
Julia was on the front row of the audience, in the only place her wheelchair would fit – crammed awkwardly between the lines of occupied seats. The hall was full to bursting, with those who couldn't fit inside left to watch the address on their own personal screens.
With Earth as his backdrop, a lone man stood before the citizens of the Ark. Standing authoritatively at a podium, hands clasped in the small of his back, he spoke with a confidence only a trained liar could muster.
"And so I am here to dispel the poisonous rumours that have been circulating here since yesterday morning. The prisoners – your children – are safe."
There was a murmur in the crowd, and the man who was not their Chancellor had to raise his voice to be heard above the clamour.
"The Sky Box is on lockdown as a precautionary measure, to contain a medical anomaly. The condition is not life-threatening but is highly contagious, and we need to contain its spread. Once the illness has been eradicated, you will be permitted to see your children as usual."
Julia's eyes never left her fellow councillor's face. The fact that the Chancellor would continue to lie about the Earth mission was irresponsible enough – to hide behind someone else to do it was beyond despicable. And of course Luther had been the obvious choice for an avatar, with his lofty ambitions and skewed sense of morality. If Nathaniel had posed the speech to her, she would have been incredulous.
"Of course, there is one issue from yesterday I have yet to address: the pod that was seen leaving the docking bay around the time the quarantine was put into effect."
Julia could still see the trail of debris the dropship had left behind, leaving an arch of dust and detritus that swept sharply behind Luther's back. There was no denying the existence of the ship, and it was an enormous misnomer in the Chancellor's story. She leaned forward slightly, eager to hear his mouthpiece's duplicitous explanation.
"Yes, a ship was launched, and indeed on authority of the council. The blame, however, can only be placed on one of my peers – the same council member whose criminal son reached the age of majority yesterday. The same council member whose son was sentenced to be floated at the trial generously granted to him by law. The same council member who smuggled her son on to an escape pod to save him from that same, well-deserved sentence. I'm sure you're all aware of who I am talking about."
Julia felt eyes on her, chased with whispers of her name, her son's name. She became acutely aware of guards rising up from every side of the hall. Too many, too armed.
"Julia," Luther was smiling down upon her with a pitying expression. The mask he wore was so brittle she thought it might just crumble off his face. "You've done many a disservice to the people of the Ark in your time of service, but this has been by far your worst offence. Not only do you place priority on yourself for additional oxygen, pain relief and medication, but you also put the life of your son, a convicted criminal, above the lives of all the innocent children and families aboard the Ark."
The guards were circling. The murmurs were bubbling over, growing to shouts and heckles, and still the lies kept coming.
"The supplies you smuggled out with your son were enough to feed the population of Alpha Station for a month. This was a heinous crime that has only one, inevitable conclusion. Julia Seabrooke, on behalf of the council and Chancellor Dawson, I sentence you to death."
The crowd were all around her, even the very walls seemed to move. Someone was in her face, yelling about theft and the death of hundreds. Her chest tightened, and she instinctively reached for her oxygen mask. No. Not now.
Busying her hands instead with the wheels of her chair, she fumbled off the brakes with shaking hands. She fought her way through the screaming faces to get to the front. There was no ramp up to the stage, so she positioned herself below it.
"Everyone, please!" Julia raised her voice as loud as she dared. The guards were drawing closer. Though their progress was blocked by the angry mob, her time was still precious. "Yes, my son Alfie was on that ship. But he wasn't alone." Some people shushed others, and the quiet slowly spread. "Aboard the ship were ninety-nine other young criminals – your children, your grandchildren. Their destination is Earth."
The crowd erupted. Somewhere behind her, Luther was demanding for her to stop, but she couldn't now.
"This is a mission, to test Earth's suitability." She was shouting and her lungs seized horribly. Not now, she told them sternly. "You see, we are running out of time. The Ark's oxygen reserves are running low, and what Luther is trying to do by pointing the finger at me is draw your attention away from the fact that our days here are numbered."
The guards grabbed hold of her arms on either side but she did not even try to struggle. Someone tried to pull a guard away from her but was swiftly beaten away by five others.
"He might be able to float me, but he can't keep you away from the truth: the Ark is dying!"
"Councillor Seabrooke! Just what is going on here?"
A deep, booming voice from the hall's entrance made everyone turn their heads. There stood the Chancellor, looking half-sober for once. There was a sudden silence.
She lifted her head high to answer him. "Councillor Conway was just having me arrested, Chancellor."
"On what grounds?"
"For telling the truth, sir."
Luther looked like he was biting back a retort. "She has compromised the Earth mission, sir. She has broadcast the plans without-"
"You mean she has done precisely as I asked you to do?" Nathaniel gave him a cutting look. "Guards, release Councillor Seabrooke."
The angry crowd were quick to turn on the Chancellor, but he silenced them with a swift motion. The mob parted for him as he walked to the podium though there were still hisses of derision in his wake.
"What Julia says is true," the Chancellor said, into the palpable silence. "I had asked Councillor Conway to deliver this news to you, but apparently he decided that lying was a far better option. Rest assured that he will be reprimanded for his actions." Luther shrank back into the shadows, though his face showed no sign of remorse.
"Who cares about the Council?" someone shouted. "What about our kids?"
"Are we really going to die here?"
"Please," Nathaniel raised a hand once more. This was the most composed Julia had seen him in years. This was the man she had grown to respect during her time in civil service, not the shrinking, aged drunk he was these troubled days. "You have questions, and I only have some of the answers. Unfortunately, we have very little contact with the party on the ground thanks to the communication system being damaged upon landing. But, what we can do it monitor their vital signs. As long as those vital signs remain stable, we can assume the Earth is inhabitable. However, we need time to ensure the radiation isn't having a slow effect."
"How much time?"
"We can't hang around waiting if we're running out of air!"
"How long do we have?"
"Four months, at best," the Chancellor said, gravely.
Julia could sense the panic. It gripped her too, but not in the same way she worried about those children down on the ground. What they were facing was in some ways worse than a simple shortage of oxygen, and it pained her to think of the choices they were being forced to make – of the choices Alfie was being forced to make. She could remember so clearly the day that Kevin had burst into their quarters in a hot rage to tell her that their son had been arrested. She had cried that day how she had cried every day since – secretly, away from where her husband could see. The circumstances of Alfie's incarceration had haunted her ever since. After all, it had really been her fault. And now he was down there, on Earth, and she was still as powerless to protect him as she ever was.
The Chancellor was still fielding desperate questions from the people and Julia managed to slip out of the hall unnoticed. After the pressure of the crowd in the cramped space, to be out in the empty halls of the corridor felt like a breath of fresh air itself. As she moved like a spectre through the deck, she saw groups of people huddled around communal screens to hear the Chancellor's grave speech. Some of them held each other, desperately afraid. Nothing would change the fact that she had been the one to break the news to them, and she wondered if it would make them hate her any more than the fact of her wheelchair already did. She would never forget that she had put her name to the Earth mission, condemning one hundred sons and daughters to their possible deaths. But she was paying for it, and the price was Alfie.
She pushed her way inside their quarters half-blind by tears. Thankfully Kevin wasn't home, but only a small part of her thought to question where he was in the middle of all this turmoil. She found her way to the room that had once been Alfie's. Her husband had turned it into a study only days after their son had been taken away, but she could still smell him here, could still see him resting against the far wall, bending from his height to see out of the small porthole that served for a window. She tore her gaze away from the ghostly image and began to search.
The box she uncovered was hidden even from Kevin, in one of the loose panels near the air vent. Hooking stiff fingers around the lid, she prised it open and tipped the contents out on to her lap. Most of the collection was made up of Alfie's things – small trinkets she could easily hide away. But there were other things in there, things disallowed or just long forgotten, things that could help her. Things that could help Alfie, and Willard, and that girl Marlow – all the lost children on the ground that could find salvation within that box. Now she just had to find a way to get it to the ground.