Read Online Shutdown (Glitch) by Heather Anastasiu - Free Book Online

option.”
    “We’ve just never been close enough to gather intel on how the Link programming is disseminated,” I said. “The code isn’t uploaded at a single port in the Central City mainframe system like we thought. Our techers were basing their assumptions on what was probably false intel circulated by the Community, as an added security measure.”
    “The girl is right,” said Lonyi, a short-haired woman. “Now is no time to assign blame. We all agreed on the plan. It failed. Now we reassess and move on.”
    “Fine,” said Garabex. “But we don’t know how much time we have. One of our Rez spies reported about what we think is a new weapon the Chancellor has acquired. He only saw the name of a file. Something called an ‘Amplifier.’ He wasn’t able to find any more details. We need to go back to the EMP option so we can strike first—”
    “No!” I said, then pulled back and tried to mask my emotions again. “We cannot go forward with a plan that kills so many innocent people.”
    Garabex scoffed loudly and threw up his hands. “Will someone please remove this child from the council?”
    I balled my hands into fists to keep myself from reacting to his words. The only way I’d earn my place at this table was by not letting myself be baited.
    “We are all that’s left of the Resistance,” Garabex continued. “Just five command posts and a paltry amount of small scattered cells whose members are often on the run. Any one of us could be cracked at any moment. The Rez is hanging on by the thinnest of threads. We must act before it is too late and that thread snaps. I refuse to let a two-hundred-year-old movement crumble to dust on my watch!”
    “The EMP option is unacceptable,” I said firmly. “There’s collateral damage and then there’s mass murder. If we plan to rebuild a world better than this one, we better know the difference.”
    Talon and Sanyez nodded. Garabex and Lonyi looked unconvinced.
    Sanyez addressed the rest of the council. “Nothing will be decided today on this issue. We need to regroup after today’s events, recoup losses, and keep our heads down. As Colonel Garabex said, we’re barely managing to survive as it is. Being too hasty at this point would only jeopardize the tenuous grip we still have. And when we do reach the point where we can consider new proposals on how to proceed, keep in mind the Council must agree unanimously before any action is taken.”
    Garabex scowled. “We were in unison about the EMP option before this upstart showed up. It was Taylor’s idea in the first place. It’s her vote that should count, even from beyond the grave.”
    “The fact that she appointed me in her place is proof enough that she had doubts about the plan.” I wasn’t sure if it was true, but it sounded good. Besides, I knew some of the others had hesitations about the EMP option. They wouldn’t want it back on the table unless there was absolutely nothing left to try.
    Garabex looked like he was about to launch into another tirade, but Lonyi spoke up before he could. “What do we do then? The Rez is the smallest it’s ever been. Underchancellor Bright is cracking safe houses right as we set them up. She always seems three steps ahead of us. We’ve already tried having Zoe crush the V-chips of small populations at a time, but that didn’t work.”
    I grimaced, remembering the experiment. With my telek, I was able to reach and crush the tiny embedded chips in about a hundred people at a time. So we’d infiltrated an Academy, hoping we could add to our diminishing ranks, but Regs had quickly descended and captured all the confused teenagers right after I’d freed them from the V-chip. We’d only been able to rescue a few before having to escape ourselves.
    “If we don’t do something,” Lonyi continued, her voice impassioned, “then there will be no Rez left to speak of soon. We have to act now before we don’t have the manpower to enact any plans we come up