DYSTOPIA

chapter 1-3 (present day)

"That's normal, they're just precautious, these are dangerous times Vanessa" he said

"I know so I ran a deep system access checkup and it turned out a branch of the nexus was indeed Watching us, listening to us, even up to the bathrooms, that didn't seem precautionary so I took some measures to ensure our privacy" she said

"But you need my permission to do something like that"

"Really" I said "she's an engineer, they're control freaks, you didn't think she'll have deep access to the system" I asked, he looked at us like idiots, then he sighed a bit

"So you think the Nexus can't be trusted" he asked "they supply us most of the goddamn food we have McCarthy"

"I didn't say they can't be trusted sir, I said they're creeps and don't need to watch us all twenty four hours, Vanessa gave them access to some parts of the living area but their access is restricted to just those areas and of course your weekly reports" I answered him "so respectfully sir, the best thing to do would be to keep Jamie out of the report"

"Jamie; are you interested in staying here?" Rick asked him, he looked to me and back at Rick and nodded, the way we defended him must have made him realize the safest place he could be was with us on the base

"Yeah I'll stay, I'll help"

"Right then McCarthy, I will keep him out of my report if you agree that he'll be directly under Rick's supervision, I want him to report daily to Rick"

"What!" He exclaimed "what is this? Military school" He stopped and waited for a response but got none "I won't report to anyone"

"Then the nexus will like to meet you Jamie" the Sarge Said, I held Jamie's hand and pulled him to me, then I said in a whisper

"Accept his terms Jamie; it's bullshit, I know, but for your own good, you should"

"But I can leave when I want right"

"I don't think he'll let you leave at all Jamie, he seems serious this time, perhaps he’s really concerned about you" I said, Jamie looked around the room and breathe out with his mouth really loudly,

"Whatever" he said "I accept your terms" he added

"Right then" he climbed on the table again "about the bunker, Rick will assemble some men and we'll take the choppers tomorrow, McCarthy; you, Vanessa and Walker will be on overwatch alright" he said, so he did hear us and he had already made a plan before we got there, was he hoping that things would go this way? Or did he make a random guess? Doesn't matter that much now, he stood up and walked to the door along with Rick, doctor Steve hissed at me and stormed out of the room with haste, he was still mad at me but I didn't blame him, idiocy was a very serious illness. Before the Sarge left, he said

"Efomo, the other bed space in your cabin, have Jamie settle in with you, and show him how things work here. Everyone get some rest, tomorrow morning Steve and Eric will debrief us on the results of the test, after which we'll commence operation 'bunker buster' that should be around nine or so" he said leaving us, I sighed, it had been a while since we had a busy day like today, though I was wrong about the blood test results coming in early, it would be another long day tomorrow so I needed to rest. Efomo took Jamie and left the room after we said our byes, Ray also left with a smile, he was pretty excited about Jamie staying, I didn't blame him though, Relilium had given him a really hard time in the past.

"Hey um… hold on while I finish up the system check, it'll just be a minute" Vanessa said to me, of course I had to wait, she usually got pretty mad on occasions I didn't wait for her so I just needed to avoid the stress. I went to the console chair and sat down while she went into the computer core room to finish up. Afterwards we'd get something to eat before going to bed. As I sighed, it crossed my mind, we hadn't told the Sarge about the mother engine, he may have had us modify it to suit the exoskeletons and make expeditions easier, then again it was just a thought; Vanessa could have already told him