Giantess World
Author's Chapter Notes:
This was originally planned as 58th chapter – but moving the 20th forward seemed to work flawlessly, so this rearrangement should also help to speed up the story progression a bit.
Rachel cannot believe the events of the last several days. The graduations were terrible, but she was expecting it. What Kate did, however...
She has no idea how to even interpret it at first Rachel was convinced that it was clearly a trap. She was immigrated shortly after the discussion with Kate, there was no way anybody else could figure out they found something which meant that Kate must have gone to Erica or at least some other mother.
The immigration part was also baffling.. of course they never looked if anything like this was possible it wouldn't help to fix anything, not to mention that their situation was already getting worse even without such distractions. And no mother with a right mind would subject herself to that procedure knowing what might and probably would happen to her on the inside.
Rachel had no idea it was even possible to be involuntarily immigrated from what she could recall, before the shutdown people needed to close their caretaker accounts and be deactivated she never heard about somebody being forced to do it. It was actually the reverse people wanted to go in and were being convinced to stay on the outside through various benefits. For many, the perspective of spending another decade in the claustrophobic and boring facility outside the green and vivid zones was unbearable. And since there was no way back, the new recruits were scarce...
But then of course there were the immigrations she noticed in logs... shortly after the shutdown. It seemed like people were vanishing with disregard for any procedures what if the same happened to her now? What if this Gary Oleman that Kate found actually knew something. Rachel has checked his file just before being immigrated he was still alive and well, it seemed. The strangest thing was that he wasn't even deactivated and yet there he was, immigration location: New Vienna. She had no idea where it was or that they could view such details about the residents but then of course she was working with completely different systems... Not to mention that before the shutdown it would probably require authorization levels far above any of the caretakers.
Even Erica shouldn't be able to do this, not without Rachel knowledge at least. What if it was the elusive operator that hacked the entire system during the shutdown? If Gary could actually help them regain control and she needed to be eliminated... she remembered that she was immigrated shortly after checking his file. But this was even worse as it would mean her situation was completely hopeless there was no way to even this monster controlling the facility.
But she had no time to think about such things when she was teleported in fact, she didn't think much about anything, completely shocked after arriving in the middle of a huge city. She has probably seen places like this many times.. and even destroyed some, but... Even laying down while visiting the zones her eyes were above the skyscrapers.
Rachel could barely remember some virtual experiences she watched for entertainment, even from the outside world, but.. being born in the facility shortly after it was constructed, she has never learned what if feels to be inside. Seeing or hearing about it is completely different from being there.
It was night, but far from dark lights everywhere and seemingly unending flow of vehicles and people around her. Well, the vehicles were moving on the road in front of her Rachel thinks it was called. It took her some time to even came to terms with what has happened that it wasn't a dream and she was actually... inside a zone.
The next thought hit Rachel like an elevator she was still wearing caretaker uniform. What if somebody recognizes who she was and... She remembered the stories she heard about the people collaborating with the caretakers and she still had her wristcom on if anybody correlates those two facts, they may torture and kill her the only chance was that it may have been one of her chambers. But everybody would have recognized her already Rachel wasn't sure what they would do, but at least she tried to help people inside however she could, so perhaps...
Looking around the people's faces she noticed that nobody was worried about her or even noticed her sudden appearance. Everybody just passed her by and after some time she was only scared of so many people around her... the biggest crowd she has ever seen in one place was maybe two hundred people in the facility at once before the shutdown. Well, not counting the little people when visiting some zones but it was a bit different. Was this chamber simply not ever visited? Rachel hardly had any idea how the life was inside especially after the shutdown. She usually pictured sad and scared people scurrying away from the sight of angry caretakers trying to kill them, but this city was anything but that alive and teeming with life.
Even despite it was a middle of the night.. barely past 3 A.M. - strangely enough, her wristcom was still functional when she looked what time it was, so she tried to play with it. She couldn't open any menus though - she was not terraforming, so the contextual menus were unavailable. All comms menus were offline as well and she couldn't access logs or in fact open any of the external systems... just local programs, it seemed. Has this happened to the other caretakers? What if they were all immigrated when she somehow made this operator aware that some people were still outside?
Regardless of what had happened, she realized she must find out more about where she is. Looking around more carefully, Rachel noticed... other caretaker suits in the crowd? It looked simply ridiculous.. they were forced to wear them outside, since the plain emergency uniforms were the only thing the assemblers were willing to manufacture, but to wear them inside a zone... At first she thought she was hallucinating, but the colors were right and although the costumes were more refined and were made in different shapes and materials, after closer inspection the orange C's on the various shoes, trousers and shirts clearly suggested that they must have seen this outfit somewhere. Some of them even had something like wristcoms on their left arms - although others without the C uniforms had much more compact devices. Probably just a simple computer without the dilation field refractor, locators and other devices critical for the caretakers.
There was no chance anybody would remember this from before the shutdown the usual worker suits were completely different. They varied by function, but most caretakers used their plain clothes simply whatever they liked. Not to mention that they were considered to be outcasts, nobody inside cared about them really... If some people here maybe one in ten or so actually wanted to look like a caretaker... What would it mean?
To make it more interesting, they seemed almost like.. proud the uniforms? She could even hear a voice that look, she got the exact com replica - Rachel looked around searching for whoever spoke that, but she wasn't used to crowds so she failed to even distinguish the direction it came from and nobody stopped by... if only she could ask somebody what this place is!
She eventually calmed down and realized it's not that bad there was plenty of room.. more space than she seen in a century, in fact the road stretched far into distance. She tried to find somebody who could help her but random pedestrians that she asked either ignored her completely or told to get lost. Stopping a speeding car might be dangerous, so she finally just tries to follow the people in one direction wherever they are going, there must be something, someone who would talk to her.
She still tried to ask some people for help and somebody wearing a simple blue uniform with no signs she could understand finally approached her and led her to.. some sort of an office? No, it was more like a gate right there on the sidewalk. People were moving through scanning the devices on their arms, but of course the wristcom was not recognized by the device.
She still remembers the amount of trouble she was supposed to be in the man led her inside some building reminding that fiddling with her com to avoid detection was an serious offense.. she tried to explain them she had no idea what they are talking about, but they wouldn't listen. She at least thought clearly enough not to confess where she just came from. Eventually they took a sample of her blood and started rambling about the scanner being broken again - of course they wouldn't find her in any local database.
It seemed the next days were a blur of various organizations dumping her somewhere else obviously there were no immigrants in a long time and everybody kept asking her the same questions - where is her com, why isn't she registered, where was she during the reorganizations, how has she managed to hide for so long... They took her wristcom Rachel was screaming when they were forcefully removing it.. losing it in a zone always meant death by uncontrolled dilation! To her shock nothing happened.. Rachel figured that was because she was already immigrated. And so she lost the track of time nobody told her anything, she was just.. some kind of problem, an obstacle for their procedures, it seemed. Even when she finally tried to explain she came from the outside, the interviewer just nodded his head and wrote something down and left she was thoroughly questioned for sanity next.
At least she had plenty of time to think about what may have happened but without any information, she couldn't solve this puzzle. She figured that it couldn't have been Kate her behavior was simply too convincing to be an act and the others would never tell her so much merely to catch Rachel sharing the secrets... Not to mention why use a real caretaker identity? The emergency id checked out, after all.
The only possibilities were that it was some freak operator and she would have no chance of ever finding a way out or some other mothers managed to figure out how to silence Rachel. But why not just kill her.. it seemed so convoluted. She wanted to believe it wasn't the elusive operator but she feared it more and more. Was she going crazy? At times Rachel could almost swear she heared Kate's voice trying to calm her down or asked about things as if she were back in school but of course it was insane.. Rachel was detained deep in the bowels of huge structures...
Now they are moving her in some airborne transporter and she could swear she saw a huge silhouette on the horizon... it seemed so unreal and Rachel could only see it for a couple seconds before the vehicle rotated obscuring her vision. She watched the side, as if the enormous form was laying down.. white uniform, long dark hair Rachel prayed it could be the caretaker who she first thought of, but nobody would tell her anything they seem to consider her to be crazy by now and without a working com she has no way to access any information network to even find out what is happening. She feels so helpless...
At least when they arrive at their destination, she finally meets a person who wants to talk to her seriously a casually looking man in a business suit. She couldn't tell his age they were all on the extension treatment. He explains how they noticed that she was somehow omitted by the reorganizations and however she managed to evade the service for so long it is over now and whoever helped her would soon be found and penalized... By then she cannot believe how they can call such bureaucratic monster - the service...
He continues to explain how she will be treated as a regular citizen now, even despite her assurances of not knowing anything about their laws and rules. At least he gives her a com before leaving, but it is restricted to some rehabilitation course and she can only watch some dry facts about how happy everyone is now and how it happened. But after several hours she still cannot figure out what is it they want from her exactly.
When the man interviewing her earlier returns, he seems to turn off the cameras, their lights dim and vanish she was already used to being constantly watched and speaks:
We all know how this is going to end. Your two weeks of the trial are already almost gone and you'll be stuck at the bottom of the service for decades. I'm sure such bright woman, such as yourself, can figure out a way to convince me to maybe make an exception...
Rachel couldn't believe what she just heard. He continues to speak in a rather roundabout way seemingly suggesting she might indulge him? This was the exact reason why she remained in the facility being born and raised there Rachel simply had no idea how to deal with... such situations. She heard stories about violence and corruption it was rare before the shutdown, but it still existed. And now he was asking her to...
Are you asking me to prostitute? - she finally interrupts him. At first she was scared about men being able to easily overpower her in the facility they were all relatively weak. Nobody bothered to train.. what for, after all? They never needed to exert physically, except perhaps moving things inside the chambers but nothing in there had even noticeable weight. Not to mention they didn't have access to any facilities for that. This man could easily force Rachel to do anything he wanted... was this the reason he turned off the cameras?
Whoa, what gave you such idea? It's just fun if we're both consenting adults and you gotta make the living somehow... It's taxes or life after all! - this idea terrifies her, especially how seemingly satisfied he is with this.. proposal? Like he was doing this quite often.. abusing his authority for personal pleasure... Rachel cannot do this, not like that but will they kill her if she cannot pay their taxes? It seems... monstrous and the only thing that comes to her mind is a wild guess:
I want to talk to Gary Oleman - the chances she is actually in this very zone are very small, but.. what choice does she have? Confessing that until recently she was a caretaker seems too late to be believable and she doesn't have any other useful skills...
He gives her a surprised look: A conspirator of yours, huh? - he searches on his virtual interface, most of the clerks aren't even using the more advanced omnis, just plain holographic display in front of her eyes. I'm sure we can arrange something - he concludes and leaves.
The next minutes consist of several men coming in and asking her about the details of how she knows him. At first they accuse her of simply hearing the name around but Rachel continues to tell them she has no idea what they are talking about. Eventually they seem to have reconsidered it and start take her more seriously. The last name was never revealed to the public by neither officials or Kate - one of them speaks - how do you know this?
Rachel is afraid they will torture her to get to the bottom of this but she just repeats her request. At least she is certain she can be saved now if only Rachel can get to her. She was also surprised how they used the name: Kate - with respect and almost admiration...
Finally they connect her with the man she asked for she can see video feed from some open space, outside any building or a city it seems, but he is wearing the same blue uniform many of her tormentors have... is he one of them? But she was so close.. it seemed at least...
Who are you and what do you want? - he asks. Rachel realizes she never gave them her name it was weird how they never even asked about this, she was just a code for them... even after they figured they cannot identify her using their registers.
I'm Rachel Johnson... - she starts, unsure if it's safe to admit anything more.
What kind of joke is this? - he interrupts her - We've had enough people fooling around, sergeant continue the interview - he ends with an angry voice.
No, wait! - Rachel screams - You have to listen to me. I know your emergency caretaker id!
Oh really? The whole zone knows it after Kate so generously read it aloud. I don't know how unimaginative you must be, but if you think...
Rachel almost cries trying to figure out how to convince him No, please, you have to believe me. I was a caretaker in the facility until just days ago - she is uncertain how much time has passed already - I arrived in this chamber suddenly, I know Kate asked you about the pile of shit and what it is, because it was me who asked her years ago! Please, you have to believe me... - and continues sobbing.
This was the last thing she could figure out, any details from the facility would take much longer to explain and even then Kate may have already spoke them for everyone to hear. Rachel cannot even look at the image, she just leans forward on her chair trying to cover herself she is actually chained to it! Like she was some sort of criminal or... She was never treated like this! How can they...
But after a moment, she can hear the voice from the speakers: Sergeant, leave her alone on the conf, recording off, right now - suddenly very grave. Has she convinced him?
Yes, sir! - Rachel can hear. They even unchain her immediately and leave the room all at once. She tries to calm down and think clearly again it was the culmination of days of psychic torture she had to endure. But now.. he had to believe her. He must already have! She looks up at the lone man at the other end of the connection.
If this is some sort of a joke, I swear Crawford himself will learn about this! - it seemed like some sort of threat, but.. Rachel has no idea what he means, so she just watches him dumbfounded and he inquires - What happened?
She explains how Kate visited her in.. another chamber it seems almost unbelievable for her now as well how they talked and she tried to find out more about him using the facility systems. She starts clarifying how they are very limited but he asks her to skip it and tell how she appeared here.
I have no idea.. one moment I was working on the terminal in the facility, the next thing I know I was standing on a street and...
I can imagine - he summarizes, but Rachel thinks if he really can. She couldn't even describe what she went through the last couple days.. at least it seems it's over. Gary continues - But almost two weeks have passed since your meeting with Kate. We were already getting worried... and certainly didn't expect to see you like this.
They talked about the recent events for some time but when Kate arrives, Gary tells that Rachel should get some rest it's true, she feels extremely tired and he has to entertain her - pointing towards the second. Rachel wouldn't think Kate would desire anything like that, but.. the sight on her display is menacing even though from where Gary is standing, the enormous figure extends beyond the camera's view.
And she has... a dress? Rachel never asked the people in her zones to prepare her anything, it seemed monstrous. Was Kate really caring? Has she really understood everything? Rachel doesn't know what to think the last thing she sees is Kate starting to disrobe herself. Fortunately Gary finishes explaining some officers here that she should be transferred and ends the transmission. Rachel is still deep inside some building and although she probably could use her newly acquired com to play some video feed... she prefers not to watch this entertainment.
At least they are treating her more seriously now. The main problem is that is probably because they want to get more information from her later. Rachel hasn't told them anything useful so far and they must have figured that maybe being nice for her will yield more results. She hopes that Gary dies while serving Kate.. would suit him for all Rachel had to endure here. And there's probably more tortures to come... perhaps Kate could save her?
Even if the second doesn't really care, Kate may help her mindful of her friendship. Were they ever friends? It seemed she was the most compassionate of all girls and Rachel always was happy to talk with her, during school and afterwards.. but... she was still a caretaker. One of them - Rachel realizes shocked that she is no longer part of that group. Whatever fate Kate has planned for the people, Rachel is part of it now.
After quick talk and getting out of that dreaded interrogation room, some woman leads her to get something to eat and new clothes. She was still in her caretaker uniform. After the prostitution proposal she realized that was probably they haven't given her anything else, because she was about to be executed anyway just another victim unable to pay taxes... but to treat her like that for two weeks!
No, Rachel needs to get to Kate and explain just how terrible the things are down here. Will they even allow Rachel to talk to her? Maybe if she seems modest and reasonable.. it's still a long shot. What if she could pass her some information that only somebody from outside would know? Would Kate realize that Rachel must be here? She definitely needs to think up a plan.
The clothes are fairly decent even though it's only the standard issue service uniform, the same plain blue two-part suit as many others are wearing plus some underwear. Rachel had to take a bath before dressing up... she was so filthy.
To torture her for two weeks!
At least the bath is simply perfect. Well, it was just a dedicated compartment with a regular tub filled with water and some sanitation products, but Rachel was finally alone and she hasn't been able to relax like this ever since the shutdown. Despite the facilities were still being there they couldn't get access to them and using the hygiene pod for cleaning was.. more tedious than refreshing. But nobody interrogated her outside oh they will learn, she already started plotting.
After at least an hour in the bathtub, she starts to feel hungry the promise of food already affected her. Rachel never cared much about it after the shutdown, it was only a necessity, but it actually had taste here.. if only the rations weren't so small. She was constantly starving it seemed they didn't want to spend too much resources on the late tax-payer...
Wearing the clothes, she realizes just how comfortable they are being limited to the emergency uniform, she has long forgotten how normal clothes feel like. For at least a decade since the sixty six percent... The caretaker uniform was very practical, but also fairly rough and irritated the skin a bit. Sure they used to it. They had to, since nobody prepared any clothes in case the assemblers refused to manufacture anything else.
This is soft, pleasant and more flexible despite being just the standard issue. Enough daydreaming - Rachel concludes and moves back to her handler to grab something to eat. This time the dish is quite plentiful she hears how her guaranteed calories limit was upgraded to one of a service member. How lovely - she can only comment.
Limited or not this is really great. Absolutely fantastic. Even though she realizes it's probably just a steak from synthesizer with some easily farmed potatoes and some salads.. after more than a century of eating the tasteless goo known as emergency rations... Even if Rachel's fate is to be a prisoner here, she could get used to this.
But this relaxation and a great meal already made her sleepy she wonders if they drugged the food, but.. doesn't really care about it right now. It's not like she can do anything about it anyway. She feels satiated wouldn't mind a bit more, but that's probably caused by the insufficient nourishment in the.. two weeks? The officer Rachel talks with seems more empathic than the others, so she inquires how is that possible that this time went so quickly and is shocked to hear the bureaucrats probably kept her under in sleeping pods while figuring out what to do.
Great.
And now she is supposed to get into one of those.. things which seem more like holding pods. She already admitted how tired she was were they trying to make Rachel feel comfortable with this handler so she could get manipulated? She feels so vulnerable here, there is no way she can protect herself...
So she eventually gives in and goes inside in a middle of explanation how almost everybody sleeps like this nowadays. Yeah, like prisoners.. - Rachel thinks - what kind of hell is this place?
She briefly notices how the pod must be manipulating internal gravity field to produce a horizontal low-g acceleration, which is makes this confined space so.. comfortable. Somehow it doesn't seem that bad although this sudden wave sleepiness must have been caused by some kind of drugs...
At least when Rachel woke up, she was full of energy to act and kept further brewing plans to outmaneuver whatever despotic organization they have here. She needed to learn more about it first, so she used any chance she got to inquire about the details of what was going on with this service of theirs, Kate in the chamber at first Rachel wasn't sure if it was just her hallucination, but quickly learned that Kate really arrived here several weeks back and they are still trying to figure out how to deal with this new reality.
She also learned that overseeing the whole operation was nobody else but James Crawford she didn't recall the name earlier, but... Gary might have just as well threatened that Bonaparte might want to guillotine her or casually mentioned that Hannibal would drop by for the tea party...
Crawford was one of such masters of strategy she learned about in history and probably one of the best, since he had billions of contenders at the time. Rachel only remembered some details probably the most renown accomplishment was the pacific conflict in the early twenty first century, which shortly followed the much criticized publication about coastal supremacy in all-out automated submersible warfare. Rachel was never a fan of any kind of warfare, but the way how he proved all his critics wrong was so ironic that made it easy to remember. Especially how it was revealed later that he basically accomplished this with very little core army help. Most of the drones were automated and he only demanded funding from the U.S. government and once they gave him what he needed, he won the war. But he wasn't a politician even that enormous success wasn't used by the leaders and the resulting power void that followed led to multiple other conflicts.. such as wars for the Antarctic and Indonesian upheaval.
Still he managed to prove his skills once and again in those conflicts even though he seemed to participate in them more as a contractor than a patriot of any kind.. still usually sided with the newly united North American forces. And brought them a lot of victories. The first man to hold all three sea admiral, land general and air commander insignia at once during the fourth Gulf war. Crawford was said to single-handedly plan and command the defense to eventually turn it into a devastating counterattack.
He was also known for overthrowing the global government well, it wasn't his aim at the time and didn't even mean to he spark the movement, but his publicized criticism of the lack of organized action in the wake of assembler apocalypse and even how the legislation that followed wasn't adequate. He was said to have left the Atlantis project seeing it as hopeless materials that were leaked after the disaster clearly shown how he pinpointed the weaknesses of this approach, proposed better solutions which were especially meaningful given his extensive maritime strategic experience... even nicknamed the entire monstrosity Atlantitanic. The officials of newly united worldgov didn't listen the too big to fail doctrine seemed to have surfaced again... It was widely acknowledged that those leaks sparked the movement to rise against the stubborn and overconfident bureaucrats even though it caused even more chaos during the civilization's downfall.
How ironic that it seems he created exactly the same situation here... the clumsy and overgrown organizations that treat people like garbage and it's up to Rachel to bring it down. She has no idea how she can even compete with such people, but.. she has Kate. If Rachel can get to her, then they will have to listen to what she says poor girl probably doesn't even know what is happening here.
After watching some recordings, Rachel also learned just how careful and honest Kate was in here. By correlating the events, she could understand her transition the questions in Amber's graduation and their private discussion.. it was simply amazing how quickly she learned so much.
Rachel was transported to some sort of command center later in the morning - at least they treated her differently now. She had different handlers over the day which was strange considering how it seemed they wanted to gain her trust. In the vehicle a woman that was supposed to answer her questions asked awkwardly if she was, by any chance, the Rachel - and the confirmation seemed to have shocked her quite a lot. Good - Rachel concluded in her thoughts - they will have to listen to her once she explains Kate what's wrong with this place.
They started discussing various things shortly after her arrival Gary was there with several other ex-caretakers and a multitude of experts explained various problems they had. Rachel was careful not to tell them too much especially about the secrets that only she and Kate knew. Fortunately the topics were fairly general and revolved around their confined situation here and how they could improve it.
So she explained them how it's impractical to micro-assemble specialized equipment and strengthening the dilation field is not an option it was the only long-term energy source in the zones and they have been struggling with the limits imposed by the chamber equipment. Before the shutdown it would be just a matter of reconfiguring the preset minimum which was there to only prevent accidents but now.. even on the outside she would have no way to manipulating such parameters.
Rachel also learned much about their situation here and the details of Kate's sightings inside one of the specialists asked hesitantly about the reasons for the other's rash behavior, but she told him that he doesn't want to know the details - Gary dismissed it all by stating that it's better they focus on the matters at hand. It seemed like Gary and his team weren't that much surprised by this honest reply as much as some others. They must know something more.. but how to extract this knowledge from them? It Rachel must be aware of what they know if she can ever fool them.
Technical issues followed and now some other scientist is explaining how they are struggling with the limited amounts of base materials, like constant shortages of carbon, potassium and sodium which impacts the farming quite significantly, reducing crops and even making greenhouse planting less efficient. They've been optimizing various ways to use the energy more efficiently, but the amount of compounds for the plants was the limit no matter how drastic the genetic modifications are.
Rachel explained them already that she haven't ever heard about this problem due to much smaller populations everywhere else forty five million was like.. way too much for any chamber and the easiest solution she would recommend was colonization. They seemed to be a bit confounded by this concept obviously the all-watching big brother didn't want to lose his subjects... - but instead of pursuing it further they turned to another, still somewhat related problem.
They already noticed a steady increase of the water vapor and carbon dioxide content in the air that was attributed to Kate's simply staying inside and while it was beneficial to the farming so far, their estimates show that in just three to six months it could become a serious problem depending on how much time the caretaker spends inside.
Rachel has never thought about this they were all just staying in the chambers for as long as they liked, there were no issues with that but it obviously made sense. Although the simple compounds are properly dilated and dedilated during breathing out and in respectively, the local biosphere could not possibly produce enough oxygen for a full-size person. It would be like.. a trillion micro sized people? Not to mention if several of them were visiting at once.
They are completely baffled by the answer that it was never investigated on the outside but also no adverse effects of prolonged stay in the chambers were noticed. Rachel suggested it may be associated with the climate control facilities of the shielding equipment, but she doesn't want to elaborate on the topic, being worried some of them could ask her what exactly they were doing inside for longer periods of time... Especially how she hastily used the word we once.
Rachel suddenly realizes and explains that Kate can solve the shortage of other materials very easily by moving the raw micro matter directly into the zone. They are surprised by this, but she elaborates that only the micro-assembler throughput is the bottleneck there and the raw materials are easily available.
That would be greatly helpful, but will Kate know how to accomplish this? - inquires one of the caretakers was his name John? Doesn't matter, Rachel figures it's a perfect moment to mention the crucial part of her plan and casually answers:
It's simple enough I'd be able to explain her in a quick couple minutes discussion - which is followed by nervous looks and silence. She feared this they may not let her talk to Kate, probably being worried of her doubts reaching the caretaker's ears. The language they used was also strange.. didn't they know she was a caretaker as well? Gary always introduced her as an external specialist, without names or anything. At least they didn't ask personal questions the entire discussion was very formal and pragmatic. She also managed not to give away her identity but.. she could see that some of them know who she is.
After a couple dozen seconds, Gary breaks the silence and asks everyone to leave except Rachel, obviously. They were sitting in a conference room high above the ground level it had a marvelous view on the surrounding city and the areas around it. Of course she wasn't new to seeing settlements from high above, but... this perspective was so much different and she couldn't remember the last time she seen any of the VR experiences they lost access to all that with the shutdown.
Of course she didn't have much chance to enjoy the views as she was sitting with her back to the transparent glass and watched the screens on the opposite wall displaying various presentations. Gary sat right by her left on the head of the table facing the door and now he speaks some muffled responses to his com while everybody else gather their belongings and move towards the exit on the far side of the room. Well, it wasn't very big but the office table had enough space for twenty.. twenty something people to sit around comfortably and there was plenty of space space beside it.
She sees Crawford talking with some experts outside he wasn't taking part in the discussion, but apparently will be questioning her now. Rachel is certainly worried and afraid her future probably depends on this interrogation. The earlier meeting lasted for.. almost six hours, but the issues were only technical. They will probably want to question her motives now.
Rachel thinks how she should approach this interrogation. Obviously she cannot tell them what she thinks about their organization here and demanding access to Kate could be seen as desperate. The casual mention of this seemed good enough but what arguments can she use if they won't want to let Rachel speak with her? She heard several times that Kate was worried about prolonged silence from her, but it wasn't frantic.
To tell the truth, she wasn't sure if Kate can stay calm when she hears that Rachel is here but they went through multiple recorded conversations with the caretaker and she confirmed their suspicions for the situation outside. Rachel didn't want to defame Kate by telling the truth about her past, since that would potentially impact Rachel's own chances of survival. She tried to focus on the conviction that she understands everything now and they should be safe with her.
Was it a mistake? Maybe she should have created atmosphere of danger to force them to let her somehow influence Kate to be more careful? It could be hard after the confessions and emotions she displayed but they only showed how ignorant she was earlier. Perhaps if she underlined how the children on the outside are hardly educated and don't even know the basics about the world around them.. is it too late to switch to this version or at least point it out to make them feel less secure?
She decides to stick to the original version judging by the earlier discussions they must be already fairly uncertain of Kate's true motives and perception of the world. They didn't admit it openly, but.. Rachel could see it in their faces, hear in their voices.
Now it doesn't matter that much and simply looking calm and serious seems more important. Gary already seemed convinced that Rachel is harmless and if he asked everyone out to let her actually converse with Kate.. she must not reveal her true agenda. The best way would be if she could exchange a couple words with Kate directly she has prepared several casual expressions that should suggest the second that something is wrong, but their true meaning would probably get lost if she relayed them. It has to be her to say them hopefully she can route the discussion to one of them...
And staying calm is not easy, since the authoritative figure enters the room and the doors close softly behind him. On the corridor outside Crawford stood up from the crowd, even other men judging by the wall behind him now, probably six and a half feet.. an inch or two more perhaps easily a foot taller than Rachel. They didn't really care about height in the facility, since the usual differences were maybe a couple inches. Here.. Rachel still felt weak and vulnerable next to normal men, but Crawford...
Not only tall, but also muscular easily twice Rachel's weight, could overpower her like a small child. No wonder they listened to him he was literally personification of charisma and centuries of experience. She heard how they call him the old man - not because of age, but rather out of respect. A lot of people here is in their third hundreds or beyond and so the is really meaningful. Even Gary uses that expression, although he dates from before the uTopia as well about two decades older than Rachel, from what she could figure out.
She overheard the conversation outside to be focused on their last topic, how raw materials could help with the industry and agriculture perhaps they simply wanted to confirm if that's fine with him? Rachel doesn't want to get her hopes up as the massive man walks around the table towards her. So much for calories limits.. but of course not everyone has to follow the rules, especially the ones in charge...
She thinks how to begin the discussion with something convincing yet harmless, but he starts first:
So nice to finally meet you, miss Johnson, although we were hoping to have somebody more responsible on the outside... - he speaks without waiting for her to introduce herself or even return the greeting - I understand you had some plans to fix the situation?
Kate must have told them about their conversation.. and back then Rachel didn't really have anything solid, just a hope that to access something more... She wanted to comfort Kate and calm her down, lower the chances of her doing something hasty like talking to others about this. Asking her to wait seemed like the safest bet. Of course it all failed just like all other Rachel plans. Was this attempt to be heard also doomed? Have they already figured it out? No.. she must not lose hope:
Hello, I assume you must be mr.. - she remembers what the stars on his shoulders mean.. is this some kind of military dictatorship then? But simply adds - general...
Just mister Crawford, at your service - adds leaning to rest on the table about three feet from her chair. But why would he wear... - I heard you expressed a desire to talk with your friend... - he inquires - We are surprised ourselves by your presence here, are you certain it's wise to share this revelation with miss Kate? - they expressed worries about her emotional stability several times already and Rachel could understand them especially after the not-so-careful arrival and later events...
As far as I know her, she can take it - she lies. The last time they talked, Kate passed out from shock...
Crawford switches back to standing upright and moves towards the window Rachel looks at Gary, who seems to be looking at his boss.
Your opinion? - Rachel can hear Crawford's voice from behind her. Looking back she notices him looking outwards, at the city, no beyond it.. at...
Oh my... - Rachel gasps. She hasn't seen Kate with her own eyes earlier just on the videoconf with Gary and a couple recordings.. which were all intimidating, but didn't show the full scale of the...
Kate.
Laying down on her back still absolutely towering over her surroundings. Rachel was already getting used to how the huge distances inside the zone. Perspectives that she has not seen since before the shutdown and even then the chamber grounds looked quite differently. Everything here seemed.. so spacious. But this view of Kate... It was unreal. Especially how she was familiar sight and it felt like with just a couple steps Rachel could reach her...
Of course she is miles away. Trying to calm down, Rachel looks around seeking peace in stability of the environment. It doesn't help.. the skyscrapers suddenly seem like toys, highways like thin lines and even the towns in between are like little spots of civilization on the background of carpet-like farmland... All dominated by completely immobile giantess on the horizon. It looks like so surreal that Rachel could believe it's some kind of a visual trick.
But then she notices that Kate is actually moving.. casually breathes causing her chest to move up and down by a fraction of an inch... no by hundreds of feet, in Rachel's scale. She casually stirs her bare feet in the air.. even though they rest on the ground, Rachel realizes the toes are over a mile in the air. The sneakers lay beside her like.. some monumental structures. She can see Kate carefully calming her hair relaxing in the afternoon sun... Rachel perception keeps switching between two views: one as some sort of gigantic geographical structure among cities and farms and another being just a young caretaker among...
Rachel doesn't want to think micros, but that's what she is now. At some point she realizes that all her plans and struggles against this organization are for nothing she knows that girls are doing in their chambers and no matter what Rachel does now, she will die... The only question is whether it will be quick or long and...
... Miss Johnson? - Crawford interrupts her chain of thoughts. No, she needs to remain calm:
I'm sorry.. I got a bit... - Rachel doesn't even know how to call it. She knew what she will see here, just.. never imagined it to be so... immense.
Of course - they seems to wait for her to speak.
I'm sorry, I missed the question.
Yes - despite talking to her, Crawford continues to look outside - This sight tends to have that effect on people - and pauses.
Was this how she looked in other chambers? It must be... She can understand the almost divine adoration she got from some people ever since Rachel realized how wrong was what they were doing, she tried to avoid staying inside for too long, but... It seemed that no matter how quickly she spoke with them, in some places people always found ways of demonstrating their admiration.
And now she is just another subject of Kate, who seems to be laying peacefully but still threatens her sanity. But...
When did Kate got here? She wasn't here before... - Rachel thinks that she hasn't really paid any attention to those windows, but rather was focusing on the discussion completely.
Yes, she moves very carefully now.. so much so that one can hardly feel the subtle shakes a hundred kilometers away - Rachel is unsure if the comment is ironic and doesn't care - Gary here was just expressing his perception of you talking to our benefactress as a good idea.
Well, Sir, actually what I meant - Gary explains - was that Kate seemed to have responded well to the lifestories and we were preparing to move forward with...
But all this is irrelevant now, isn't it? - Crawford interrupts, she looks back and notices Gary is not afraid or worried, just... saddened by the apparent failure of some plans. Were they associated with Rachel? What else could have made them irrelevant?
But more important question is how did Kate respond well to some other plans. During her graduation, Kate seemed eager to begin training her micros - full of hope and energy to do it properly. Usually that approach heralded massive genocides at least whenever the firsts tried it. Rachel never wanted to hear the details, but it seemed the seconds would follow the same path... Kate even approached Rachel to question her about practical advices for training.
It seemed she had everything planned already: food, tools, medicine just like Rachel taught her in school, based on her own experience with the people situation in chambers. She eventually suggested something along the lines of killing too many of them will impact their attitude - which was the closest thing to asking for not killing the people that Rachel could muster.
It seemed hopeless though she could see from Kate's questions that she simply didn't want them to spoil like many of the firsts zones. Merely worried about her gift...
Have the people here been training Kate?
It seems daunting and Rachel tried to do this with her own daughters, but they somehow ignored everything she explained the people to tell them. Or perhaps they didn't even bother to listen? Of course neither Kimberly nor Courtney would talk to their mother openly after all, she was crazy. Especially how they always treated the zones as their playgrounds. Before Rachel managed to implement the ownership model, they would just roam around and have fun... as Lisa and Lauren insisted on calling it from the early times.
Rachel felt terrible for not opposing them more decisively but it was really Erica's words and actions that pushed the mothers towards violence. Terrible genocides and Rachel also took part in it.. at the beginning, at least. Amy was always undecided somewhere on the edge, but she would support them behaving more peacefully... If only Erica didn't follow those two monsters. And of course once she made her decision, there was no reasoning with her.
And now Kate is part of this having being ignorant her whole life of what is really happening. At least they split up the zones before they really started enjoying themselves but eleven years of using live zones as their playgrounds... It is horrid to even think about it. Rachel cannot even begin to understand how she managed to figure it out...
But they must have taught Kate. She was always open to new information unlike everybody else would actually listen. Rachel heard they talked with her a lot in the beginning and she must have noticed that something is wrong and the realizations that followed were only the next steps to discovery. They went through what happened after Kate's arrival and there were quite many moments that Rachel could see that she learned more and more.
Of course if they explained it all at once she probably would have dismissed it just like all seconds did in the school whenever Rachel tried to suggest them that micros are like them. How ridiculous - others commented while Kate remained silent, but Rachel could see that she didn't get it either. How could she.. how could those dots be somehow like them.
And now Rachel is one of those dots.. at the mercy of... No, Kate must understand it all and will be good. Maybe she already has Rachel recalls the recording of Kate sobbing once she heard about one person's death.. one she never seen, the life of whom she couldn't even imagine. But if she really managed to respond well to that, she must...
So what do you think? - Crawford ends the long silence, currently facing Rachel. Regardless of what will happen to her, she needs to give them hope that Kate will understand:
I think she was always careful and open to new ideas - she answers simply. It seems insufficient, given that their lives may very well depend on this, but.. what else can she say? They must have noticed how shocked she was at this sight herself...
Can we trust her? - Crawford turns towards the window, observing Kate's humongous form. The question seems ridiculous in itself, like...
I don't think you have a choice - she summarizes. He just stands there without a word. Obviously he understands it... Suddenly Rachel can see him in a different way an ancient military genius, stuck here in this struggle against a force that is so much beyond his capabilities that there is absolutely no way how they could make a stand.
If Kate stood up right now and started destroying everything around her, there wouldn't be a thing they could do and not only absolutely way of stopping her, but also nowhere to run... At this distance they couldn't even leave the room before she would have crushed the entire city flat if she started with it, at least. The very idea of not trusting was preposterous like what would they do exactly. The lack of response suggests Rachel that he knows this... or does he? After all, how could they know anything about what is happening outside:
Perhaps I should explain more about how the world looks like on the outside and how Kate's current behavior is different from anything... - she starts.
The fact I haven't questioned your comment should tell you that I understood it - he interrupts. Rachel thinks about it for a moment and it still doesn't make sense.
But how could you think you know everything from just a few conversations with Kate and several encounters with others? - she inquiries.
Crawford turns towards her and seems to measure her up, as if deciding if he can trust her now. There is nothing more that Rachel can add now she tried to seem honest and genuine, but if he figures she is hiding anything...
We have entire teams working on everything your overgrown friend does and says. And then there is... another source - a what? They confirmed earlier that all communications with the outside was cut down with the shutdown just like everywhere else. He seems to think whether he should tell Rachel about this, but eventually continues - One day Kate returned with a different hairstyle and we a parachute was spotted near her neck shortly after her arrival...
Rachel hears about how they managed to intercept mr. Leibner before anything happened to him and received a lot of information on the outside. Apparently he lived in Lauren's salon zone and despite being just a simple worker, he managed to survive for long enough to hear a lot about what the mothers spoke while in there... The other mothers never cared if any micros overheard their conversations it was cruel, but the only way to guarantee confidentiality was to seek an empty zone and nobody bothered with that. After all, what would the people do with this information?
But all he said was crucial for the people here although they only got seemingly unconnected scraps of information about some events that happened and habits the others had, it was enough to build up a fairly solid understanding of what is going on. Rachel is worried what other mothers may have said about her.. if they ever mentioned what she did there would be no way they would ever trust her. She couldn't see that in the earlier meeting, but most participants probably didn't know everything about this.
Still it would explain some more specific questions she was asked like whether Kate expects them to somehow indulge her. She mentioned at some point something about the entertainment and Gary explained it wasn't anything like that just a little joke of his, related to something Crawford told him. But it sparked largely uneasy discussion on the topic. Rachel didn't know what to tell them even she was indulging herself with some playtime, but... Would Kate do anything like that?
She hasn't so far, even failed to understand what some crazy voyeur was doing on her chest the girls had very little if any, experience with sexuality. Especially the other gender... Rachel was never the social type, but she had some fun... before the shutdown, of course she wouldn't call what they were doing in the zones this way.
Fortunately Gary dismissed such questions as irrelevant to the discussion and they returned to more technical topics. Yes, Gary must have been familiar with this Leibner guy, especially how calm he was now that his boss admitted it and he still seemed to trust her, but Crawford probably knows much more. She complains that they could have told her about this earlier, but they dismiss it on behalf of not wanting the details to be more widely known.
She criticizes it as some sort of conspiracy, but Crawford simply puts it off and tells her how she will understand why they did it - of course she will.. after being forcefully interrogated or tortured further... Has she told them too much? Have her remarks made them doubt her seriousness? While she thinks if there is anything that she could say to convince them, Crawford just sits by the table and starts manipulating some sort of device in the middle of it.
Rachel hasn't seen any of those since.. some recordings from the old world, but recognizes it as a communicator well, the old man must have his habits...
There you are, miss Johnson, feel free to talk with your friend - and pushes something on it, as if starting the call.. no, unmuting it she reads the label. This is it.. but will Kate believe her? How can she even start... normally talking to her wasn't a problem, but this... - What's wrong, miss Johnson, cat ate your tongue? - Crawford comments after muting the device again.
I don't know.. where do I even speak to? - she tries to diminish the impression of her seemingly visible shock by suggesting she was looking for the microphone.
The room has an integrated audio system, you can talk in any direction and it will be picked it up clearly - he explains and unmutes the speaker again.
Well, here we go she concludes and rotates the chair to watch Kate as she speaks:
Hello Kate - Rachel starts casually, unsure if this is just a trick to probe her motives. What she sees is just shocking the gigantic form in the distance suddenly starts moving as Kate looks around for the source of this voice.. poor girl must have recognized her voice and thinks she is hearing things - Please don't be alarmed - if only Rachel could calm herself down so easily... - I'm talking through your headphone, as I understand the current arrangements.
Rachel... - comes a response from the speakers, the sight of the enormous face moving in sync with those words is just impossible to comprehend at first. Kate is very careful and slowly sits up, but continues to look around puzzled as if unsure what to do or say. Rachel is simply speechless by the movement, but after almost a minute Kate continues - I don't understand, what happened? Where are you? How are you... - her tone seems frantic, Rachel needs to comfort her.
Kate, please relax - she seems to take a couple deep breaths.. there goes our oxygen then... but Rachel continues after a short pause - I wish I knew what happened, but the undeniable fact is that I was immigrated here somehow.
But... - Kate starts another sentence but stops, she must be really shocked. Rachel realizes they have nothing to fear from this giantess at least for the time being and she can continue her plot.
When it comes to where, if you look down and to your left.. - Rachel figured that they may be scared of acting against her if Kate could revenge her and she indeed rotates her head - just a bit further, follow the road to the city... there. Rachel looks around at somewhat uneasy expressions of both Crawford and Gary. They aren't worried or scared, but rather.. annoyed she brought Kate's attention towards them.
Rachel thinks if it was a good idea. She heard from Gary in the meeting earlier how they were trying to keep her entertained outside the immediate surroundings of the cities, as even though she tried to be careful, well... what happened during Amber's first visit was bad enough. But Kate wouldn't do that, not since she knows in the end Rachel is not sure if she can even convince herself they are safe.
And Kate just sits there looking at her. Obviously she watches the entire city, probably unable to notice many details of it due to the distance about sixty to eighty miles, but... it seems like she is looking directly at Rachel. Those huge eyes looking down from high above. She slowly rises her arm and... waves gently? Rachel wants to return the expression, but realizes it would be pointless.
After a silent minute or so of, Kate resumes - But when did it.. how did it happen, are you okay? - there's her chance. While it's not directly related to her question, one of the lines Rachel has prepared earlier should fit:
I just appeared here about.. two weeks ago - she looks right for confirmation and Gary nods - I honestly have no idea to how, I wouldn't think anything like that would even be possible and.. Yes, I'm okay, we had a little misunderstanding here, but I'm just fine...
All depends on what Kate does next. Both Gary and Crawford seem to have missed it or ignored the somewhat unrelated remark. Crawford seems a bit more annoyed, but doesn't move or speak. But Kate.. she seems to still be surprised by this revelation. If she doesn't realize this now, perhaps she will recall the words later...
But suddenly she turns more shocked and speaks in a more confident tone: Is this true? What happened?
Gary speaks before Rachel is able to figure out how to hint it without giving away her plan - We were just discussing many things earlier today when you were away, Kate.. there is nothing to worry, really.
Rachel? - she demands.
Yes.. it's nothing really, I'm fine and that's all that matters now - hopefully it should be enough to convince Crawford she meant no harm, but Kate continues:
James, I trust you will listen to whatever Rachel asks you to do and there will be no more misunderstandings.
Of course, miss Kate - Crawford replies, how did she even know that he was here? On the other hand she must have assumed that whatever she says will eventually reach everyone... From what Rachel has seen so far, she still treats the people as not much more than conversation companions seemingly existing mainly for her amusement. At least she doesn't kill them. On the other hand how would she behave it's not easy to have normal relations with somebody ten thousands times smaller... not to mention the girls never knew how normal relations would look like in the first place. By the time they were born, the facility felt more like a death pit than any kind of normal place not the best location to be raised in.
But is Kate's demand too much? It sounded just as non-negotiable as a ten mile person could possibly be. The very idea of disobeying it is absurd, but what if it doesn't stop them from hurting Rachel? She needs to change the topic not to anger them further:
Listen, Kate.. we were thinking if you could get some materials... - just like they were discussing earlier. Both Gary and Crawford nod their heads when she looks at them for approval here and they seem more comfortable now. So she explains how there are ways to get materials directly from the micro-storage and although Kate will not be able to use the dedicated queues, she can move the containers directly to an empty zone to pick up and bring them here.
And so they list the things they could use medium bio-support-pack to satisfy the farming needs, raw metals just a couple grams of each.. it should be more than enough for a long time. Moving onto rare elements, the quantities turn into hundreds or just dozens of milligrams.. and each corresponds to a thousand tons of material. This chamber was never meant for industrial development and had very little of them embedded during the original sculpting so it will greatly help the specialized industry they have developed.
They ask several specialists back in and wait for Kate to slowly write the names and quantities down in her wristcom... Rachel realizes that the girl has no idea what they are, but it seems everyone inside is more impacted by this ignorance than she is. Although she would never hurt them, it's obvious from voices and faces that they feel somewhat insecure when Kate asks how to spell this Neu-dymium - it seems they are used to it after six weeks of dealing with her, but still...
Finally they conclude the list should be complete for now and she reads what she has written communicating Gary's emergency code must have been just as subtle, Rachel thinks. She asks before leaving:
Rachel.. are you sure everything is.. fine? - this is no good, she wanted to hint that something is wrong, but Kate is too obvious with this.
Yes, of course. Don't worry about it - but then Rachel realizes she shouldn't dismiss it completely. She may still need help despite the Kate's order at the beginning of their discussion. Maybe it's best not to comment it further - One more thing, Kate about your dressing up... You don't have to do it here in front of everybody. You can move to some empty zone first, you know...
It is a strange sight for Rachel to see this goliath in front of her blush like a young woman... who she is, in fact. Maybe it won't end terribly, after all? The main problem is that whoever got to Rachel may eventually hit Kate as well. Without her.. well, let's say that every other caretaker would mean death and suffering.
After a moment of silence, Kate collects herself and explains that she will leave now - ... but I'll be back quickly - which comforts Rachel greatly. Kate will certainly want to talk with her again.
After the second vanishes to the facility, Rachel looks around to analyze her situation. The specialists they asked to help with the chemical elements list are already gone and she is back alone with Gary and Crawford. The ex-caretaker shows mixed emotion, something between uncertainty and satisfaction, but his boss... seems simply annoyed. He was facing the windows while she exchanged last sentences with Kate, but now rotates towards her directly.
Before Rachel can speak a word, he starts: I have no idea what it was about or what kind of secret keywords you used, but if you have anything to tell us about why you seem to have greatly distressed Kate you better tell us now.
It doesn't necessarily sounds like a threat, but certainly isn't in line with what Kate demanded. Rachel considers if she is in danger it seems they will have to allow her to talk with the caretaker again, but.. will they? An excuse of feeling tired should suffice for today Kate would probably understand it. And then... Rachel has spent so much time in the severely restricted space of the facility that she forgot how easy it is to emulate voice. She has given them more than enough samples, they wouldn't even have to scan her throat and even then it would be easy enough. That coupled with a simple visualization Kate would never be able to see the difference.. of course they would have to salvage all her secrets, but how long she can withstand proper torture? She barely lost her mind during the bureaucratic treatment.
It's hopeless, all her plans are for nothing it seems that after centuries of making the worst choices she just doomed herself to short and painful downfall. Even if Kate somehow discovers that something is wrong... will she be able to really threaten them and figure out how to save Rachel?
Well? - Crawford hurries her. He is not really angry as much as.. simply annoyed. Obviously seen through her pitiful attempt to... Rachel isn't even sure what she hoped to accomplish. This isn't the facility where the mothers were playing some games with each other. Those people have real experience with things so far beyond Rachel's comprehension that she cannot begin to imagine it even Gary knew far more more about the facility at large than her.
And Crawford... after leading various sides of six major global wars and winning five he was unquestionably the military strategic and tactical genius of the time. Of course it was a long time ago, but... having outmaneuvered entire countries, he probably didn't think she was retarded enough to even attempt pulling something like that on him. But Rachel cannot admit it, perhaps if she explains some of her fears...
It wasn't anything like that I just wanted to make sure Kate doesn't forget about me. I... I didn't want to disappear in the depths of bureaucracy like one of those taxpayers unable to fulfill her duties... What... - Gary let out a nervous laugh, his boss is still equally annoyed - Is this funny to you? - she asks the ex-caretaker.
No, but it sounded like a joke.. You are truly one of them, I'm sorry for ever doubting you - Gary replies while still chuckling slightly.
What do you... - and Rachel stops, afraid they may have heard too much about her past. What if they will punish her.. or tell Kate she wanted to believe the second would still protect her, but... Rachel knew what they were doing and still had fun just like other mothers. Ignorance is no excuse in her case, will Kate be able to be compassionate if she learns how the mother wasn't as careful and understanding as now?
I think Gary there has a point, so maybe I should level with you simply to avoid further misunderstandings. I was briefed about your perilousness odyssey though the 'depths of bureaucracy', as you put it - he is completely serious, Gary somehow felt it was funny, but Crawford remains annoyed as he continues - We pulled you out the moment we learned there is a real chance you may be you and it would happen much sooner if only you did tell anybody the truth. I understand you were shocked by such sudden change, but not admitting it in the long days that followed? Poor officials had no procedure for this... - he's patronizing her now, like...
Did she seem like a troublesome kid to them? It would explain the Gary's laugh he may have compared Rachel to Kate... so ignorant yet obvious about what she is hiding. Crawford continues after a short pause:
Now, this would be funny, if it wasn't so dangerous at the same time. I'm afraid anything that impacts Kate emotionally must be carefully analyzed and I may have been too hasty to let you talk to her - was this a threat? Doesn't seem so, but... - So why don't we try to forget about the past and focus on working together instead?
Is it an offer of amnesty? No.. he would have spoken differently if they knew what she did. On the other hand... what if they figured they have no other choice? And what options does she have now not working together with them? But.. how could she join this authoritarian regime:
What about the people then? All those oppressed by the so called service. Am I to just ignore their suffering like... - at this point even Crawford's face turned more jovial. Are they playing with her? Well, at least Gary regained his seriousness.. but what can they...
Gary, help me out here - his boss speaks - Remember how you were also this stubborn? Well, maybe not this bad but you did go bravely on this cave hunt.. - Rachel is puzzled. How can this be so funny to them? She look at Gary expecting some explanations he is pretty serious now.
Um.. I don't know really... Rachel, have you watched the service education programs that the guys at Woormla were supposed to recommend? - he inquires.
That was just propaganda, I didn't... - she starts.
No, not the rehabilitation ones, it's true they are made for kids or worse. The service training ones. We had a lot of new recruits lately and they were kept up to date on most events. I assumed you did watch them during the flight... - Gary explains.
Perhaps we should give you the condensed version? - Crawford adds while leaning forward on his chair towards her.
This is strange, Rachel knows she didn't understand much about their life here, but - What's there to know about the little despotic regime you installed in here? - she dares him, but realizes it may not have been the best approach. What if they decide to silence her for good...
Oh, how splendid - Crawford comments, this treatment as inferior begins to tire her - Fair enough, please allow me to start with the basics. I don't know what you got this impression, but the states are governed by autonomous councils with no federal oversight other than the bodies they elect themselves for common policies.. regarding taxes for instance. It may have been shocking for you to learn this in disorderly manner, but the bureaucrats aren't used to meeting anybody who doesn't know them the last ones were encountered probably six decades ago, if not more. I believe your concerns may have been caused by the little.. proposal by one of the officials who was severely punished for this corruption, but some amount of time always leaks through the system... And it's actually a way to survive for women in similar situation. I'm sure he emphasized how you have no choice but to indulge him?
It seemed more like that man was actually assuming she knows everything and merely reminded her of things that everybody else must have known. Rachel is shocked to say anything it seems like they're messing with her, manipulating her... but Crawford just sits back again and continues:
I understand it must have been tough for you, especially given a sudden change of... perspective and so I cannot imagine what other misconceptions may have managed to creep into this pretty head of yours. Why don't you humor us again? - they both seem so relaxed about all this... was he honestly thinking she would believe something like that?
But the roadblock.. calories limits.. the life or taxes... what kind of joke is this? - she inquires with disbelief.
This time Gary begins to explain - There was much disturbance in the cities recently and from what I know they were set up temporarily to calm the population. To display how service still looks after them even despite ten mile giantesses roaming around.
Yes, your young friend seems to have caused a lot of concern among the people - Crawford adds.
Gary resumes his explanation - As for the taxes.. Sir, when were they introduced? The second reorganization?
Yes, in the modern form but I don't think the service training materials even cover them. Everyone just knows how the system works - his boss adds, as if it explained everything.
But to kill the ones who cannot pay... this system of yours is monstrous!
Miss Johnson, please direct your complaints to the councils rather than myself but in order to get the most from the limited resources we have. I understand you also had to figure how to deal with the aftermath of the shutdown on the outside yourselves. With scarcity of resources and energy it was important not to allow uncontrolled population boom. And while I wasn't personally affecting those decisions, I agree with the general direction that was taken back then. It's better to allow forty five million people to live with some restrictions than twenty with wasteful energy management... or five in complete freedom. I'm not sure how other zones managed to solve this problem, but from what we heard...
Well, this was true.. Rachel hasn't heard about much more than ten million people in any zone, they were simply not prepared to handle such populations without external help. People in the ones that were overcrowded at the time of shutdown usually died off or even went tribal. When they finally started treating Rachel seriously and told her the population here, she thought the forty five million is some kind of a joke. But even if the people are somehow used to this, how can he casually explain how he took the military power after Kate's arrival...
How does the governor position fit into all this then? And what are those stars for? - she challenges again.
Oh those - he looks at his shoulders confounded - Please excuse old warhorse the longing for the old times.. and the governor title is the courtesy of your young friend, who so generously endowed my humble self upon her arrival.
She looks surprised at Gary, but before she can ask anything, he speaks - Yes, the 'Sir' is just out of respect, rather than enforced by the actual chain of command. If you don't mind, Sir - this isn't exactly what she wanted to inquire about, but still covers it.
Oh, not at all it's nice to feel important once again... - Crawford turns towards her - Besides.. do you really think I would allow this bureaucracy to run rampant if I were in charge? - this is too much for Rachel. Are they suggesting that everything that she seen, all those terrible things that she was through, the atrocities she witnessed....
But what exactly has she seen? Were they just her hallucinations desperate attempts to make sense of the events that surrounded Rachel? Has she become paranoid out of shock and fear... what they explain actually makes perfect sense. Nobody saluted Crawford, they all wear completely different uniforms.. he never ordered anyone to do anything.. people here were happy, even if concerned about Kate.. nobody ever mentioned any problems with taxes, although Rachel overheard many conversations on her way here.. even how they treated her why didn't she simply come clean with what happened? Explain everything to the first person who asked anything... she brought it all on herself and there she was, scaring the wits out of poor Kate.
The only alternative is that they somehow prepared this whole tirade to fool her, but it's very unlikely at this point... Of course Rachel will need to keep an eye for any clues it could be any different, but right now just feels so stupid and stubborn. Crawford's behavior is simply completely different from anything she would expect from a despotic tyrant.
Well... any other clarifications we could provide you with, miss Johnson? - Crawford comments her tirades.
I.. I guess I may have overreacted a bit... - she admits, unsure what they may expect from her now.
Great, it's all settled then. I trust you will share this realization with Kate as soon as she comes back she seemed very troubled by whatever you suggested... - obviously. Rachel will need to assure her it was just an incidental word usage and everything is fine from the start... even though she was actually worried back then.
Rachel suddenly feels more confident that things will be okay now the only problem would be if Kate returned furious and threatened the poor people not to hurt Rachel anymore, like she suggested... Yes, it would be really bad.. and for everyone...
Chapter End Notes:
I figured it would be great to at least add 10% of the total word count so far with every new chapter. Seems like a reasonable practice – and we should nicely land with around 2.6M ( = 117*1.1^33 ) before the end.
Also – in case anybody missed the memo: any mention of deaths in the notes is completely irrelevant, since the exact moments where all characters – including him, Rachel, other tinies and even various caretakers – stories begin and end are set and appropriate chapters merely changed numbers after the re-imagination before ch8. A spoiler like Gary's death in the next chapter (but this time it's for real, I mean it!) would be completely ridiculous and simply should not be taken seriously.
Additionally – Rachel's behavior may have been paranoid, but really – after two weeks of being treated like some kind of bureaucratic obstacle... Also keep in mind that those are all her own heavily biased thoughts and in You should try (or perhaps have tried) to figure out what may have been actually happening rather than assuming the character's point of view unquestionably. As for the perspectives – yes, Kate liked to take off her shoes more often, just.. never bothered to think about it much. Who would?
And didn't I say that Crawford is a cutey? Speaking of which – has anybody connected the “opinion” line? By the way, Chozo – if You got so far – I just couldn't stop myself from taking the ship approach in the intro, given how it emphasizes his proper introduction (and yes, it was already planned back there) (not to mention that I simply love this Atlantitanic label!) - what can I say, the pursue of easy sensation won with logic and reason.. and You caught me red-handed.
Anyway – did You see that character recycling back there? Unless they found some other mr. Leibner who was on Kate's head at the time... Has anybody seen this coming? Not to mention that for all we know even Adam may rise from his flattened grave to haunt Kate in a few chapters... well, that's why she turns evil and kills Gary, of course.
Um, no, wait – first she kills him and then she turns evil – yeah, that's right.
Finally – that mention of 58th chapter was a joke. No, no.. not a joke – a sales campaign... Of course everybody knows that the story will only have 56 chapters. No, wait: 61. Or something like that. Hmm. Perhaps it was 58 in the first place? Yeah, it must have been – although this doesn't look like the ending... I don't know.
But anyway.. let me know what You think!
Also – in case anybody missed the memo: any mention of deaths in the notes is completely irrelevant, since the exact moments where all characters – including him, Rachel, other tinies and even various caretakers – stories begin and end are set and appropriate chapters merely changed numbers after the re-imagination before ch8. A spoiler like Gary's death in the next chapter (but this time it's for real, I mean it!) would be completely ridiculous and simply should not be taken seriously.
Additionally – Rachel's behavior may have been paranoid, but really – after two weeks of being treated like some kind of bureaucratic obstacle... Also keep in mind that those are all her own heavily biased thoughts and in You should try (or perhaps have tried) to figure out what may have been actually happening rather than assuming the character's point of view unquestionably. As for the perspectives – yes, Kate liked to take off her shoes more often, just.. never bothered to think about it much. Who would?
And didn't I say that Crawford is a cutey? Speaking of which – has anybody connected the “opinion” line? By the way, Chozo – if You got so far – I just couldn't stop myself from taking the ship approach in the intro, given how it emphasizes his proper introduction (and yes, it was already planned back there) (not to mention that I simply love this Atlantitanic label!) - what can I say, the pursue of easy sensation won with logic and reason.. and You caught me red-handed.
Anyway – did You see that character recycling back there? Unless they found some other mr. Leibner who was on Kate's head at the time... Has anybody seen this coming? Not to mention that for all we know even Adam may rise from his flattened grave to haunt Kate in a few chapters... well, that's why she turns evil and kills Gary, of course.
Um, no, wait – first she kills him and then she turns evil – yeah, that's right.
Finally – that mention of 58th chapter was a joke. No, no.. not a joke – a sales campaign... Of course everybody knows that the story will only have 56 chapters. No, wait: 61. Or something like that. Hmm. Perhaps it was 58 in the first place? Yeah, it must have been – although this doesn't look like the ending... I don't know.
But anyway.. let me know what You think!