Chapter 84: The Deadly Politics of Time
After the meeting, Orcilla, Denise, and L1 Linap went to the laboratory to discuss their plan. Vulay and Daily joined them.
‘Am I missing something?’ asked Denise. ‘The Downs residents will vote for the cure. Hamish’s proposal will win the vote easily.’
‘Of course they will,’ replied L1 Linap. ‘But that’s not what they’ll be voting on.’
‘I’m sorry, I don’t understand,’ said Denise.
‘It’s what they believe the question means that counts,’ said L1 Linap as she smiled. ‘We need the right messaging and the right phrasing.’
‘You’re a con artist!’ exclaimed Vulay. ‘No wonder you make Hamish nervous.’
‘What you’re suggesting is incredibly risky,’ said Denise. ‘What happens if we win? We still don’t have the cure.’
‘Hamish’s proposal will be defeated,’ said L1 Linap. ‘However, Miro will still need help building the new settlements. He will pressure Hamish to accept our proposal. Jenna is not going to let the Downs residents die either. We will get the cure.’
‘I admire your confidence,’ said Orcilla. ‘Sounds like a lot of “ifs”, but I follow your logic.’
The next morning, Denise and Vulay visited Colin to organise the campaign. L1 Linap began work on phrasing the question. Tiberius visited Lily for breakfast. He sought her advice.
Lily was on the rooftop, enjoying a chocolate croissant and pineapple juice. Tiberius exited the lift and walked towards her.
‘We need to talk,’ said Tiberius as he sat down opposite her.
‘Good morning, lovely to see you too,’ said Lily as she smiled at him. ‘Do you fancy a Danish?’
‘You were a very successful politician, am I right?’ asked Tiberius as he leaned forward.
‘They didn’t call me the G.O.A.T. for nothing,’ replied Lily as she sipped on her juice.
‘Next week, there is going to be a vote on my proposal,’ said Tiberius. ‘I have a sinking feeling they are planning something that’ll cause me to lose this vote.’
‘Of course they are, and of course they will succeed,’ said Lily. ‘The Downs folk are ridiculously gullible.’
‘So they’re going to vote for their own deaths,’ said Tiberius as he thumped the table.
‘And you’re going to wait five, ten, fifteen years or longer for them to die out,’ replied Lily.
‘I’ll take it by force,’ said Tiberius.
‘Don’t’ you need them to build your new settlements?’ chuckled Lily.
‘I didn’t come here for you to toil with me,’ said Tiberius.
‘You have every advantage, but somehow they’re going to get the better of you,’ chuckled Lily. ‘Just so sad.’
‘You’re useless,’ said Tiberius as he was about to get up.
‘Don’t run off sulking,’ said Lily. 'I’ll help you.’
Tiberius settled back down in his seat.
‘They’re walking a tightrope,’ said Lily. ‘They need time to ensure the Downs residents vote against your proposal, but at the same time they are also incredibly short on time. Every day without the cure is another life lost.’
‘So we delay the vote,’ said Tiberius.
‘Your “daughter” won’t like that,’ said Lily. ‘You need to maintain full support on your side.’
‘We demand the vote goes ahead now,’ replied Tiberius.
‘I thought that approach already failed,’ said Lily. ‘Get them to cancel the vote and accept your proposal.’
Tiberius stared angrily at Lily.
‘If they urgently need the cure, they will have to accept your conditions,’ said Lily. ‘I can help create that urgency. Of course this favour won’t be for free.’
The two of them chatted for a while. At the end of the conversation, Lily and Tiberius shook hands.
Later that day, Yassme visited Lily. Lily was swimming in the pool.
‘I need your help,’ said Yassme. ‘I feel so lost.’
Lily swam to the edge of the pool to grab onto the side. ‘What’s wrong?’ said Lily as she pulled herself out of the water. ‘There’s nothing your aunt can’t solve.’
‘I’ve lost my sister,’ replied Yassme. ‘She said I was her clone and then she punched me out.’
‘It’s not her fault. Orcilla brainwashed her,’ said Lily. ‘Don’t be depressed. You can still win her back.’
‘I can’t,’ said Yassme as she began to weep. ‘She sees Orcilla has her sister now and not me.’
Lily put her arms around Yassme and hugged her tight.
‘It pains me so much to see what Orcilla has done to both of you,’ said Lily as she began to weep. ‘She won’t stop until she has destroyed you both.’
‘Ever since she came into my life, everything has become so much worse,’ said Yassme as her voice filled with rage and tears continued to roll down her cheeks.
‘Maybe it’s time she left your life,’ remarked Lily.
Yassme stepped back from Lily and scrunched her face hard.
‘You wouldn’t be doing it for yourself,’ said Lily. ‘You’d be doing it for your sister. You’d be doing it out of love.’
Yassme looked across at Lily. Then the two of them embraced once again.
An hour later, Orcilla was in the laboratory with Daily. She was working on her announcement for the vote on the proposal. She was going to make her case for them to vote “no”.’
‘Do you really want to write it here?’ asked Daily. ‘Our apartment would be a much more comfortable environment.’
‘I do my best thinking here,’ said Orcilla. ‘This speech is very important. It is key to curing the Downs residents as well as securing their freedom.’
‘You’re amazing,’ said Daily. ‘You’d do anything for them.’
‘They deserve it,’ replied Orcilla. ‘They took care of me when I needed it. I could’ve done more to stop them drinking the water. Instead, I ran off to the Agriculture Zone.’
‘You’re always so hard on yourself,’ said Daily. ‘You’re a thousand times braver than me or anyone.’
Orcilla tilted her head and looked into his eyes. They both kissed.
‘Now, if you don’t mind, I need a bit of peace to finish this speech,’ said Orcilla.
‘Of course,’ said Daily. ‘I’ll see you soon.’ Daily walked to the laboratory room door. He turned around and blew Orcilla a kiss.
Orcilla smiled at Daily, and then she turned to look at her handwritten speech. She smiled to herself as she thought about Daily.
A few moments later, she heard the door open.
‘What did you forget?’ said Orcilla without looking up. There was no response. She looked over at the door. Yassme was standing there.
‘Hey, are you okay?’ asked Orcilla.
Yassme walked slowly towards her. She looked visibly shaken.
‘What’s wrong?’ said Orcilla as she got to her feet.
Yassme stopped and stared at Orcilla.
Orcilla put her arms around Yassme. ‘It’s okay, just tell me what happened,’ asked Orcilla.
‘I’m so sorry,’ said Yassme as tears rolled down her cheek.
‘It’ll be okay,’ Orcilla said as she held Yassme tighter.
Orcilla suddenly felt a warm sensation in her chest. She stood back from Yassme. Yassme was covered in blood.
‘What happened to you?’ asked Orcilla as she began to feel dizzy.
Orcilla fell to the ground, knocking several test tubes off the shelves beside her.
Yassme looked at the shelves. They were full of tubes and various chemicals. She walked around to the other side of the shelves and pushed them as hard as possible. The shelves started to shake. Various objects fell off, some of them hitting Orcilla, who was still lying on the ground. She pushed them again. This time the shelves completely toppled and came crashing down onto Orcilla. Many glass objects shattered on and around Orcilla.
‘I had to do it,’ said Yassme as she looked down at Orcilla. ‘For my sister.’
Yassme heard someone open the laboratory room door; it was Daily. Yassme immediately became invisible.
‘You won’t believe it,’ said Daily as he entered the laboratory room. ‘I forgot my….’
Daily stopped mid-sentence when he saw Orcilla lying on the ground under the shelves. He ran over to her. He desperately moved the now empty shelves off her. He immediately noticed she was bleeding very badly. It was also obvious to him that the most serious wound was from a knife and not from the falling objects.
Daily lifted Orcilla’s head to a partially elevated position. He pulled her over to the desk to keep her propped up.
‘I’m going to get help. It’s going to be okay,’ said Daily in a calming voice as he rubbed Orcilla’s head.
Daily called the emergency services on duty in the laboratory. In less than a minute, a medical team had entered the room. They quickly moved her onto a gurney and transferred her to an operating room. Daily rushed into the room with them.
Yassme was outside the laboratory. After reaching the next building, she became visible again. She leaned forward. She was struggling to breathe. She could not believe what she had just done.
Sapien Loop: End of an Era
Sapien Loop: Frozen in Time is the sequel to the book Sapien Loop: End of an Era. Sapien Loop: End of an Era is available on Amazon, in collection series on my @spectrumecons account, and in individual chapters in my @captainhive account.
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