Dread Spring by Elizabeth F. Shearly

Author:Elizabeth F. Shearly
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Elizabeth Shearly

“YOU CAN DO this,” said Brianna, holding both Chloe’s hands in hers and staring into her eyes. “We need the townrunners on board so they’ll let you meddle with their towns’ software. You have to make them feel like we’re united, like they’re part of a greater whole. That we can work together as a team to accomplish something.”

Town Kappa sat unmoving on a highway, and Dorothy fidgeted in the driver’s seat, probably anxious to get going again.

“Remind me again why you can’t do this?” said Chloe.

“Everyone knows I’m loyal to Richard, and no one trusts Richard,” said Brianna. “You’re impartial.”

“Isabelle didn’t seem to think so,” said Chloe, but Brianna ignored her.

“Talk about how Aaron took your kids, how he picked off the towns one by one. You can do this, Chloe.”

Richard strode onto the bridge, barely gave Chloe a glance, and nodded to Dorothy. Eight empty frames immediately populated the windshield. The video feeds connected one after another, revealing folks who could only be the other townrunners. The display names just showed the town designations: alpha, epsilon, zeta, omicron, sigma, upsilon, rho, and psi. Only eight. More than twenty towns had been commissioned a few years ago when they had first been implemented. Had so many really been destroyed, or were these simply the only towns willing to listen to what they had to say?

Richard motioned for Chloe to step forward so that she’d be in the frame with him. “Good afternoon,” said Richard. “Welcome to the town summit. Thanks very much for taking the time to speak with me—”

“Okay, Phillips,” said an older white woman, labelled Epsilon. “Cut the bullshit. Do you have help for us or not?”

“Greene,” said Richard. “There is nothing I would like more. Unfortunately, simply stating the solutions we have developed would be inadequate. It’s important that you all understand how exactly they function, along with their limitations.”

“I doubt any of us require a detailed explanation, as long as appropriate documentation is supplied,” said a heavily made-up woman who was near Chloe’s age, Town Omicron.

“Unfortunately, Eloise, no such documentation exists,” said Richard, giving her a wry smile.

“Of course not,” Eloise replied.

“I agree,” said a young man who was visibly shaking, Town Zeta. “No point in telling us how the thing works. Have the engineers sort it out.”

“I, for one, want to know what we’re getting into before we let this upstart tamper with our towns,” said a gruff man with a large grey beard, Town Alpha.

“Perfectly understandable, Chabot,” Richard cut in. “As I was saying. I will provide a summary, and those interested can delve more deeply at their convenience. I hope that will prove satisfactory, Greene?” The Town Epsilon townrunner nodded stiffly, and Richard continued. “The system we have devised is called dark mode. It prevents the City from monitoring your location or applying range restrictions; however, when it is activated, it also renders all communications inoperative.”

“That wasn’t so hard, was it?” said Greene.

“As noted, I have omitted many pertinent details. If you

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