Chapter 10
The Division
Jared gazed up at is mother. She had shoulder-length, brown hair that shaped her face. As she looked down at Jared, a tiny hand—his hand—reached up as if trying to touch her big, brown eyes. She responded to Jared by stroking his head and running her fingers through his hair. Jared realized that he was experiencing a memory of when he was a baby.
Of the bathroom he was in, Jared could only see the ceiling and one wall that had towels hanging on a bar. His mother, who was wearing a brown, hooded robe, was sitting down, holding him in a jetted tub without water in it.
Even though Jared couldn’t see anyone else in the bathroom, his mom seemed to be talking to someone other than him. Jared remembered that back on Earth his grandfather had done the same thing—talked to people that weren’t there. That must have been what his mom was doing.
“When the power goes off, I’ll brace myself... got it... and you? Do you have anything to hold onto...? Yes, he’s right here with me. We’re in the tub... no, we’re not taking a bath.” His mother smiled. “Mike, this is no time to be joking around... so, do you really think this is going to work...? Yeah well, be safe, okay...? Love you, too.”
Jared’s mother looked down at him. “Well, Jared, get ready for a serious earthquake.” She squeezed Jared, clutching him to her chest. “I sure hope your dad will be alright.”
A few seconds later, the room went dark. A long series of what sounded like distant explosions could be heard.
Suddenly, Jared and his mom were tossed into the air. The jolt was followed by a low, rumbling noise. It started to get louder like thunder rolling in. Baby Jared began to cry.
Within moments, a sound that was as loud as a million trains roared through the bathroom. The walls and ceiling shook so hard, it seemed like the bathroom would fall down around Jared and his mother. After what seemed like minutes but was probably only four or five seconds, there was another big jolt, and then the shaking stopped.
Jared’s mother shifted her weight. He heard her moan as she sat up. She picked Jared up and held him. “Are you okay, Sweetie?” She started checking Jared’s head, arms, and legs by touching and squeezing them. She kissed his forehead.
A few seconds later, the power came back on, and Jared’s mother stood up. To his surprise, Jared couldn’t see any damage to the bathroom. Even when they went into the living room, he couldn’t see any signs that there had just been an earthquake.
For a long time, Jared’s mother paced back and forth, and she kept repeating, “Mike. Are you there? This is Amy.”
Finally, there was a reply. “Yeah, I hear you.” A man with wavy, light brown hair came through the front door. Jared recognized him from photos he had seen—it was his dad.
Amy rushed over to him. “Are you okay? Why didn’t you answer?”
“I didn’t hear your call. I tried to call you, but there’s too much interference.” Mike leaned down closer to Jared’s face.
Mike’s eyes were hazel, like Jared’s. They also had the same nose. But, Jared definitely had his mom’s chin and ears.
Mike continued, “Communications have been temporarily disrupted. It’s probably because the Division caused an electromagnetic shockwave, but the effects should wear off soon.” He pinched Jared’s cheek. Using a baby tone, he said, “How’s my little man doing? How was your little bath with Mommy?” He smiled at Jared.
Jared tried to say something to his dad, but all that came out was a gurgling noise and a coo.
Mike stood up straight and looked at Amy. “There’s another problem, though, and I’m afraid it’s more serious than a lapse in communication.”
“What is it?” Amy asked.
“We need to go to Central Security. It looks like the security system is experiencing global failures. If something isn’t done soon, this whole plan could fall apart very quickly.”
“Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s go.” Amy was already on her way.
Jared recognized the security control room when they entered it. At the end of the room, opposite from where they entered, a large, flat-panel screen lowered from the ceiling and turned on. There were several guards in the room, as well as Manasto and Verissa.
Everyone looked over at the screen as one of the guards said, “This camera is pointing to the west. As you can see, we successfully created a large chasm to separate the west side of the kingdom from the east side.”
The next view that appeared on the screen was that of a wide canyon—the Divide—from above. Teruvisa was on the east side, and Obalin was on the west side. Jared noticed that Teruvisa looked different, though.
Instead of being covered with a rugged mountain-like terrain, the entire kingdom looked like a continent-sized, circuit board. It was like he was looking at the insides of a mammoth computer.
Skyscrapers and large, square buildings were scattered all over the continent. Cylindrical towers dotted the landscape. Here and there, smaller, rectangular buildings were arranged in groups like city blocks.
Thick lines ran everywhere in between the different structures connecting the buildings like streets. When he looked at the lines more closely, Jared realized they were circuits—the trenches used for shuttle transportation.
Manasto approached the screen, pointing at the Divide. “The good news is that the Divide was created successfully. It runs the entire length of Teruvisa, north to south. The bad news is that our security systems have been compromised.”
A guard said, “Manasto. Verissa. Unless something is done to stop the intermittent, random crashes throughout the kingdom, all our security systems will fail.”
“That’s unfortunate. We obviously didn’t study this out thoroughly enough.” Manasto paused, stroking his chin beard. “We’ll need to have guards posted at every entrance. Until we can get the security systems up and running stably, we’re extremely vulnerable.”
“So, why did the security fail?” Verissa asked.
Manasto walked over to a computer terminal and looked over the shoulder of the guard who had announced the bad news about the security. “Well, from the information I’m seeing here, it appears as though the security system wasn’t able to adapt to such a radical, structural change. We had hoped that the system would just drop the connections it couldn’t find to the west side of Teruvisa after the separation, but we obviously overlooked something.
“But, let’s not dwell on our failures. I’m confident we can make the necessary patches to get Teruvisa’s security up and running again,” Manasto glanced toward Mike and Amy.
“I already have an idea of how to fix it, Manasto,” Jared’s father said. “I think it’ll just be a matter of programming the system to ignore the entire western side by removing the links to the west stored in the security database, then resetting it.”
“Excellent.” Manasto turned to a guard. “Captain, have every guard, and anyone else who’s willing, armed and ready at every external entrance to Teruvisa immediately.”
“Yes, sir.” The captain saluted before leaving with four guards.
Mike had already begun working at a computer terminal, and Amy, still holding Jared, went to his side. Jared’s parents searched through system files for errors to fix. Jared’s head buzzed with all the technical jargon—it was like they were speaking a foreign language most of the time—as his parents discussed solutions.
But, while they were busy working on the security systems, Jared was able to eavesdrop on a different conversation.
“What’s next?” Verissa asked.
Manasto said, “We prepare for war. We were able to catch Dreggan off guard. I’m sure he’s very angry about that, so he’ll no doubt start an offensive.
“We must be ready when he strikes back. We need to think of a way to put a shield over Teruvisa—one that Dreggan can’t penetrate—regardless of how stable we can make the security systems.”
“I might have a solution,” Verissa said.
Before Jared could hea
r Verissa’s idea, everything went dark and silent.