Read Online The Harvest by K. Makansi - Free Book Online Page B

seasons Linnea Heilmann is on my vidscreen during the official Sector broadcast. Did she betray us?
    â€œCitizens of the Sector, I don’t have much time. I’m Linnea Heilmann, former public correspondent for the ONN. Two months ago I told you that I was resigning my position to take an internal communications job with the OAC. This is not what happened. I was sent into the Wilds with instructions to search for the traitor Remy Alexander. I was on a mission to kill her.”
    I sink back into the chair in front of the vidscreen. Amazement washes through my body like a river through a floodplain. She’s simplifying parts of the story—she’s left out Eli and the virus she gave him. Maybe she’s worried about time, or wants to keep her narrative straightforward. But the essence is true: she was sent into the Wilds to find and kill me.
    â€œCorine and Philip Orleán ordered this mission, but I don’t work for Corine anymore. I don’t work for the Sector anymore. I don’t work for anyone, and neither should you. I am a free agent, and I will no longer lie for anyone. And I’m about to tell you why.”
    Linnea holds one of the biolights closer to her face. I’m frozen in place, mouth hanging open, stunned. I can hardly believe this is the same Linnea Heilmann whose voice I’d come to despise, who used to tout the Sector’s victories with a tone so celebratory it bordered on manic. What changed her? I wonder.
    â€œWhen I was a little girl, I had a best friend. Her name was Tai Alexander. Fellow Okarians, I am here tonight to tell you Tai was not killed by an Outsi—”
    The feed goes black again. A second later, static fizzles on the screen, along with a loud buzzing noise, almost painfully sharp. I press my fingers into my ears, but my eyes are glued to the screen. Jon Spironov’s face reappears, but this time he looks confused.
    â€œCitizens! As you can see, our evening broadcast has been disrupted by the very rebels and terrorists who captured and tortured our own Valer—”
    The studio backdrop dissipates, and after a half-second of static, Jon’s face is replaced once more by Linnea’s, hazy and otherworldly from the greenish tint given off by the biolights.
    â€œThe Sector doesn’t want you to know that the massacre at the SRI was ordered by Corine Orleán. They don’t want you to know that the reason the man murdered a classroom full of students was because his drugs were off, his MealPaks made him violent and uncontrollable, his food turned him into a killer. They don’t want you to know they’re changing your minds and bodies so you’ll be tame, docile, happy, and unquestioning. So you won’t ask what happened to Tai, or your friend who disappeared from your town, or why those in the capital live to be a hundred years old, and those on the Farms live half as long.”
    The screen flickers and dies, and for a second I think whoever’s in charge of Sector programming must have finally figured out how to shut the whole system down. But then Linnea reappears, her face tense, her voice low and urgent.
    â€œThe Sector will turn off this broadcast soon. You won’t hear from me again. The OAC’s Security Directorate will hunt me down, just like they’re hunting Jeremiah Sayyid and Remy Alexander and Elijah Tawfiq. Listen to me now. Don’t eat your MealPaks. Listen to your true self. Look for—”
    The feed cuts out and the screen goes black.
    For a long moment, I’m unable to move. Unable to think. I lean back into my chair, looking out the window at the deepening sky. Then a broad smile, irrepressible, creeps onto my face. That was brilliant . It must have taken a herculean effort. I can’t imagine the Resistance—even with Eli, Zoe, and Firestone working together—was able to pull that off without inside help. Who did they recruit from the Sector to hack the