Chapter 12: Answers

It dropped heavily without hesitation like pellets of manna on the rooftop, and on the recently mowed lawn outside his home. Its showers fell on the soil, breathing life into new buds. The rain fell in torrents and lightning flashed across the heavens. As if on cue, the loud rumble of distant thunder could be heard from afar. Its sounds were thunderous, threatening and not promising. Gone were the days when the sounds of thunderstruck fear in his feeble heart but now, its threatening rumbles scared him no more.

As though he had a point to prove, he stood tall, back straight and with his hands tugged in the pockets of his trousers as he watched the downpour of rain through his air-sealant window. He trained his eyes on the artificial modified lavender tree close to the house of the Lindolsmiths. Its leaves kept blowing back and forth in the windy breeze.

Thunder crashed in the sky right after lightning struck.

He moved a bit closer to the window, looked up to the sky with strained eyes and rolled his eyes. Minutes after pulling down the shutter, he winded down the staircase. Coincidentally, he came across his aunt half-way down the stairs. He clamped his lips together and trained his eyes on the couch closest to the coffee table as though he was immune to her presence.

“Well, good morning to you too,” the sound transpired from her lips smoothly. She tucked a few strands that hindered her vision behind her ear. She went ahead to remove the band the held her hair together and tied the hair in a loose ponytail.

“Good morning,” he murmured.

Her face cracked into a smile and she nodded. However, he missed this action of hers. He shuffled through the corridor to his father’s office after winding down the stairs and knocked twice. He entered after a few minutes passed by when he still received no response.

Elijah’s office could be compared to an artistic art gallery. His past paintings stretched and hung on every corner of the wall. The only objects that stood out aside from his paintings were the desk, two swivel chairs, a grey couch which matched the colour used on the wall, an in-built safe and a well-carved shelf that projected his books. He watched the tall frame in front of him flip through a pamphlet in his hand.

“Dad,” he called out. This got Elijah’s attention. He spun around on the heels of his boots and removed his solar reading glasses. He increased the distance between himself and the array of thin books on the well-carved shelf. He released the pamphlet he had in his grip and dropped it on his desk. He sucked in a deep breath and rubbed his eyes.

“How long have you been standing there, son?”

“Not long enough. I just got here,” he answered. His eyes raked his facial features. Fatigue and stress were blatantly evident on his face. “Don’t tell me that you were up all night again.”

His father shrugged with an air of indifference and sank into the swivel chair behind his desk. His clasped both hands together on top of his desk, bowed down his head for a second and rose it up again to meet his son’s gaze. He looked sapped and worn-out.

“You know, if you keep up with this workaholic habit of yours, it’s eventually going to have a negative toll on you someday,” Stone said in a serious tone. He crossed his arms over his chest and looked in his direction.

Elijah huffed. Annoyance peppered the face that held similar eyes. “You’re beginning to sound like your mother. Instead of nagging like a woman, why don’t you tell me what brought you here to my office instead.”

Livingstone immediately detected the cut-throat tone that polished his father’s voice and he knew right then that his comment had struck a nerve. This, coupled with the fatigue and stress resting on his shoulders was certainly not a good combination. His desk was full of open books and clustered pamphlets. Countless papers fluttered around his desk on the floor, but one particular paper caught his attention. This paper differed from the rest. It had a strange sketch on it – a sketch that Livingstone found it difficult to decipher from where he stood. He blamed his inability to decipher the sketch on the paper on the distance between himself and the paper.

A small indentation appeared between Elijah’s eyebrows when he followed the line of son’s gaze. He stood up from his seat abruptly and bent down to shuffle the fluttered papers around his desk together. He turned his back to Stone and began to compile the papers together.

“What was that, dad?”

“What was what?” he asked incredulously.

“The paper with the strange sketch on it.”

“Oh, that. It’s a sketch related to work. One of the new projects we’ve been working on at the Capital. Just that, this one is…different.”

“How different.”

“For now, I can’t disclose it. But once it’s ready, the entire population would be informed about it.”

“Which means that The Council has no intentions of announcing this Project unless it’s complete.” His gaze dropped to the neatly compiled papers in his father’s grip. “That’s strange.”

“How strange, son?”

“It’s strange because The Council always makes sure to announces its new projects before they are even complete. Like what they did with the project on the civic centre and aviary. But with this project…they hope to announce it after it’s completion. To me, that is strange.”

Thunder crashed once again in the sky as though it was agreeing with his words.

“This is nothing strange, son.” he chuckled. “The only thing that has changed is that The Council only hopes to have its projects announced after completion from now onwards. This doesn’t count as something strange.”

Livingstone nodded yet, he was still not fully convinced.

“Why don’t you have a seat and tell me what brought you here,” his father said, walking past him to the in-built safe at the furthermost corner of his office. He uttered a couple of words after which a click sound was heard, indicating that the safe was open after registering the voice of its owner. He stuffed the compiled papers in the safe and shut it.

He walked over to his desk and took a seat. Livingstone followed suit and sat in the swivel chair opposite his.

“Are you here to talk about your internship? Because if you are, then I have good news for you,” his father began with a smile. “I was quick enough to acquire a slot for you at the Research Institute in the Capital. And guess what, you would be working directly under me as my assistant since Naxtin, my assistant has been promoted. You could-”

“I’ve no intentions of pursuing Research Science anymore, dad,” Stone interjected.

“What? How is that possible? It’s been your dream to be the greatest research scientist of all times. So, what made you change your mind all of a sudden because you can’t tell me that you woke up one morning and decide to let this dream slide.”

“I know you’re surprised and to some extent, shocked. But I just lost interest in it and decided to pursue something else.”

“Like?”

“Like Pharmacology.”

“You do understand that with this profession you hope to study, you won’t be working at the Capital with me.”

“I know that, dad. Besides, I didn’t come here to talk to you about my internship. I came because I need answers.”

“Answers? Answers to what?” curiosity swarm in Elijah’s candid green eyes.

“I need answers to my questions about The Council.” Elijah’s eyebrows drew together as his gaze flitted over his son. It was quite obvious that he was taken aback by his son’s request. He underestimated him when he said he required answers. The Council has always been very secretive with their dealings hence, not much information was fed to the public about them. The little information fed was always concerning new projects, infrastructures, recruitment of new enforcers and whatnot.

“What makes you think that I have the answers to your question?”

“Because you’ve been working in the Capital for almost two decades now and to be honest, I’m not after a 100% answer to all my questions. Instead, I’m after something a little above 80%.”

Elijah chortled with delight.

“You have become smart. I would acknowledge that especially since an 80% is still an A just like a 100%,” his father smiled as he looked in his direction. He returned the smile with a certified smirk. “Don’t worry, I would tell you all that I know about The Council.”

Stone nodded. “So, for starters, who are the members that make up The Council?”

“The Council is made up of nine elite members. Four Head Ministers, four subsidiary legislature deputies and of course the Head of The Council itself, also referred to as The Chancellor.”

“What happens when a Unit no longer exists like in the case of the Regrev Unit, is the Head Minister of such a Unit still considered a Council Member?”

“No, and it’s a no because once the Unit no longer exists, the Head Minister wields no power of leadership over the Unit hence, his contributions are no more regarded by The Council.”

“How is The Chancellor elected? Do the people elect him or The Council decides?”

“The Council decides on this. And it’s always an eligible past Head Minister that is selected. The retiring Council members elect him, then he becomes The Chancellor of the next Council.”

“Why are relevant information about The Council kept and only accessed at the Capital.”

“This is done to protect all important information about The Council from imposters. There are people out there who are willing to use whatever little information they can grab their hands on about The Council against them. The more reason why they are kept in the Capital where high-profile people linked directly to The Council can keep an eye on such information.”

“Don’t you sense anything strange going on with The Council? Especially, after the incident that occurred with the Regrev Unit. All along they had a cure but still went ahead to terminate the remaining surviving population. And now, they have you people working on a new project which hasn’t yet been announced. Isn’t that strange, dad?”

“I think that the only thing strange here is with all the questions you’re asking me. Yes, we did indeed invent a cure, but before we could realize the cure could work-”

“The Council had the rest terminated.” he chimed in. Elijah sucked in a deep breath and sighed.

“I think I’ve heard enough. Thank you,” Stone rose from his seat and walked out of his office. He shut the door close and rested the back of his head on the door as he trained his eyes on the ceiling. Pushing his hands through his hair, he moved to the kitchen for a bottle of apple juice and winded up the staircase to his bedroom.

It was then that he noticed that he hadn’t shut the door to his bedroom before heading out to his father’s office. Out of nowhere, his eyes narrowed, eyebrows knitted together and lips set in a thin line when he saw his aunt in his room. Her eyes were fixed on something that he appreciated dearly. She titled her head a bit to the side to absorb its view better and moved a hand to touch it. He glided inside the room and stood behind her.

“What are you doing in my room, aunt Una?” he asked, close to her ear. Her hands moved to her sides and twitched. Without turning around, she spoke.

“How long has this been in your possession?”