Julia Karr - Truth

“Not really. You’re back sooner than I expected.”

“Yep.”

“Did you need something?” I asked, maybe not as blandly as I’d thought.

“Just the Fems.” With that, she sauntered down the hall into the girls’ restroom, totally unaffected by my attitude.

“So how come she’s so involved in what you do?” I tried to keep the peevishness out of my voice, but wasn’t sure I was successful.

“I’ll tell you later. It’s nothing big. Just the way things are.” He tapped the end of my nose. “You’re not jealous, are you?”

“Of her?” I snorted. “Of course not.” My brain was screaming, Liar.

“Good. Because she doesn’t mean anything to me.” He clutched my hand, and we wound our way through the crowd.

Derek and his brother were back onstage, tuning for the next set.

Martinique was directly across the table from me. She leaned in to hear something Chris was saying, and the silver highlights in her cerulean hair bathed the table in a shimmer of reflected sparkles. Running a perfectly manicured nail down his cheek, she laughed. The sound matched her twinkling highlights. I stuck my plain, unmanicured hands under the table.

“Whatcha thinking?” Sal whispered to me.

“That maybe I should dress up a little more sometimes.” Immediately after the words left my mouth, I wanted to take them back.

“That’s crazy.” Sal kissed me behind the ear, sending shivers to all the right places on my body. “You look exactly like the girl I love.”

Having only read about swooning in Ancient Lit, I understood now exactly what it meant. My body sort of melted against Sal, and I could’ve stayed there all night listening to Derek and his brother play music from a hundred years ago. But then, my PAV, and everyone else’s, suddenly beeped an Alert. It was my first Alert ever, since only adults—sixteens and up—received them. And even then, they didn’t happen very often.

“Citizens, please direct your attention to the nearest projection for a breaking news story.”

Derek and Riley scuttled out of the way as a screen dropped down the wall behind them. Projected on the screen was Kasimir Lessig, the top man at Media. My mother had loathed him. She said he could spew lies and spread venom better than any criminal.

“Recently the Bureau of Safety and Security received information that the Governing Council’s Female Liaison Specialist program, commonly referred to as FeLS, was, in fact…” Lessig paused for effect, and I locked eyes with Wei. This was it. The reveal. The Governing Council’s scheme was finally being uncovered.

She nodded, smiling.

All eyes were back on the AV. “… a cover-up for a sex-slavery operation.”

The insignia of FeLS appeared behind Lessig. “This information is purported to contain names, dates, audio/visual, and other damning evidence.” Kasimir gave a long, meaningful look into the camera lens. His gaze piercing into every watcher. Shaking his head in disbelief, he continued, “Of course, allegations of misconduct as reprehensible… no… heinous, as this are simply unbelievable…” His expression changed from incredulous to severe. “However, these allegations are, even as I speak, being thoroughly investigated with the utmost diligence.

“As most of you know, FeLS was begun to assist low-tier sixteens, offering them a way out of the bottom tiers into a better life. Girls sign up for the program, and a fortunate few are chosen to attend training at the state-of-the-art FeLS station.” A photo of the space station that held the training facility faded in behind Lessig. “After extensive training in the role of a FeLS liaison, the girls are assigned to specific continental and various extraterrestrial areas. Their training then focuses on the customs and conventions of that particular country or outer-space territory. Of course, due to diplomatic information to which they may be exposed, no communication with family or friends is allowed for the duration of their assignment.”

He shifted positions, and the image behind him changed to a bigger-than-life-size projection of Ed. Taken completely off guard, I gripped Sal’s hand, hard.

He murmured, “It’s all right,” and squeezed back.

“This man, Edward Chamus, is a former Bureau of Safety and Security agent.” Kasimir Lessig appeared to be enjoying himself. “He was removed from active service and installed as a Chooser. It is believed that, through his position as Chooser, he lured many, possibly even hundreds, of girls to a space station replica that has been discovered in the desert outside of New Vegas City.” Ed’s digi was replaced by an exterior shot of a building surrounded by scrub vegetation, low mountains in the distance. “The Bureau is there at this time, collecting data from inside this compound, which was, possibly, a prison for these unfortunate girls.”

If there was any real sympathy in Lessig, I wasn’t hearing it. All I could imagine was the horror Joan and other girls like her must have felt, trapped in the training station. But I knew it couldn’t have been the location Lessig was showing. The evidence my mom had collected had made no mention of a fake station on Earth, just the real training station in space. So what was this place?

“The Bureau suspects that Mr. Chamus was the ringleader of this vile operation. However, it has not yet been ascertained,” he went on, “if Chamus was working alone. Given the broad time frame of these alleged activities, it is not unreasonable to expect that he had an accomplice. Mr. Chamus has not yet been apprehended. His whereabouts are unknown. If you have any information, call the Bureau at the number below.” The pic of Ed popped up next to Lessig as B.O.S.S.’s number scrolled across the bottom of the screen. “This incredible, unbelievable breaking news story will be updated as soon as we have further information. Rest assured, the Bureau will expose the truth.”

The screen went blank.

I whirled around, staring at Wei. “What the hell was that?”

“I have no idea,” she said.

The AV screen disappeared, and the spotlight turned back onto Derek and Riley, who looked more like trapped river rats than musicians.

“Give us a minute, folks.” Riley motioned to the lighting guy to kill the spot.

The lights went up, and Soma began buzzing with speculation. The only people not talking were at our table. I didn’t know what the others were thinking, but I was grateful that only adults received Alerts. Dee wouldn’t have heard any of this. Since she still believed Ed was her father, it would’ve crushed her.

Martinique broke the silence at our table. “Who would think something like that could happen in these times? How awful to think of those poor girls… All they wanted was to get out of their miserable, low-tier lives.”

I cocked my head, the sweet smell of her perfume suddenly cloying. “Miserable?”

“Yes.” She smiled at me as if I were a child. “How can there be anything but misery in poverty? Possibly some of those girls even considered their fate an improvement.”

I looked around the table: Wei was shaking her head; Brie was wide-eyed with disbelief. And Paulette was cool, totally unreadable. Sal laid a cautioning hand on my arm, which I immediately shook off.

“Improvement?” I said. “Really?”

Martinique reached up and pushed back a few errant strands of her glistering hair. “Of course. How could anyone in tier one or two be anything but grateful for something that gets them out of their disgusting hovels and their pathetic, sludge lives.”

That did it. I shoved my chair away from the table and leaned forward. “You are the reason stuff like that”—I jerked my thumb in the direction of the screen—“can happen. People are people, not sludge. Humans matter, not credits, not tiers.” I stood up, furious, and barely able to control my anger anymore. “And for your information, I would give anything to be back in my ‘disgusting hovel’ with my mother and my best friend still alive. The only disgusting thing around here is you.”