This fact seemed to impress him, but, considering the recent sabotage, it scared me. “What happens if the network breaks down?”

“It can’t.”

“Why not?”

“There are backup systems and everything has been saved in protected files.”

“But what if they’re compromised as well?”

He dismissed my concerns. “Won’t happen. And you’re trying to distract me so I don’t teach you how to navigate through the network.”

“I’m not. I’m just worried another bomb might blow apart the network.”

“Don’t worry, there are many safeguards in place. Unless you want me to have Logan explain—”

“No! I trust you.”

He clutched his hands to his chest. “She… Gasp… Trusts me! Call for medical aid stat!”

I swung at him, but he grabbed my wrist and pulled me to my feet.

Snaking his arms around my waist, he said, “We need to celebrate this momentous occasion.”

“What are we celebrating?” Jacob Ashon, Riley’s father, asked from the doorway.

I pushed Riley away to greet his father. But the damage had been done. He grinned at us like an idiot. Joy beamed from his brown eyes as his gaze went from Riley’s wet hair to mine. I suppressed a groan.

“We’re celebrating Trella learning the computer system,” Riley said.

The wattage from his grin dulled a few kilos. His slightly disappointed expression reminded me of Riley. He had his father’s solid build, sense of humor and mannerisms, but, according to Jacob, Riley’s black hair, blue eyes and stubbornness had been inherited from his mother, Ramla Ashon.

She had been another casualty of the failed Force of Ten rebellion along with Nolan Garrard, Blas Sanchia and Shawn Lamont. Four brave souls who would be honored with a plaque or memorial along with Cogon once our world settled back into… What? Not like we would return to life before. I guessed just when our society settled into a new routine.

“Oh,” Jacob said then recovered his brightness. “Don’t teach her too much. She tends to leave a wake of trouble behind her, and I don’t want to spend hours trying to decipher the carnage.”

“Not funny,” I said, plopping back down in the chair. The diagram of file names on the screen hadn’t gotten any more understandable with Riley’s explanation.

Riley attempted another round of frustrating instruction before giving in and swapping places with me. I paid attention for a few minutes, but soon lost interest. As he worked, I studied Jacob. He straightened the mess of wires and gadgets Riley had strewn about the room, collecting them into a neat pile.

Jacob had been thrilled to be reunited with Blake, Riley’s younger brother. Having to send a child to live in the lower levels must be difficult especially since Jacob reveled in the whole family experience. I wondered if Blake’s decision to return to living in the barracks upset him. If I did test my blood to determine if Nolan and Lamont were my parents, I knew Jacob would be happy. Despite Lamont’s first betrayal costing him his wife, and the second one almost killing his son, he stayed friends with her. Crazy.

“...paying attention, Trella?” Riley asked.

“Uh…”

“You’re impossible. Here’s the file you need.” He stood. “You can search through it.”

Back in front of the computer, I scanned the directory of names with birth weeks, barrack locations and other stats listed next to them. The file contained all the lower level scrubs. All eighteen thousand and change. Ugh.

As I scrolled down the page, Riley asked his father why he was late.

“I visited your brother,” Jacob said. “The Committee heard rumors of the kitchen workers threatening to cook only enough food for themselves. I thought I’d check into it and see if I can resolve the issue.”

I tuned out their conversation, glad I no longer had to deal with the Committee’s problems. Concentrating on the list, I thought there must be a reason why the names had been put in this particular order. It wasn’t alphabetical, by barrack location, birth week, by Care Mother or by care unit. At the end of the stats for each were the same letters: AS.

When my name jumped out, I stopped. Did AS mean air scrub? I didn’t recognize the other names with AS, but I hadn’t learned the names of my fellow workers either. After I scrolled a few more pages the AS turned into a CS and I found my Care Mother’s name in that section.

The list had been organized by work area and they had been alphabetized. I quickly bypassed the other workers until I reached the hydroponics scrubs. Sure enough, Ivie was listed. After I wrote down her stats on a wipe board, I found Kadar and copied his as well.

They had been care mates. No surprise. They were also a few centiweeks older than me, putting them closer to Cog’s age. And they slept in Sector D1, Jacy’s barrack. I tapped the marker against my teeth. This information didn’t mean anything other than they existed. Bubba Boom could have picked their names at random.

To really find out what’s going on, someone would need to follow those two around. I couldn’t do it as I was too recognizable with my blue eyes and small stature. The best way would be to recruit someone not in Jacy’s network and who I could trust.

“Trella?” Riley interrupted my train of thought. “Did you hear what’s going on in the lower level kitchen?”

I turned. “A little. I found those names, and I think we—”