Wake Up And Run

Count Down 2

There are a lot of things unknown to the general population about the empire and about the emperors of this continent. The life the normal people lead is a tough one. Although technologically they are more advanced by eons than the rest of the planet, still that didn't help the common people that much. Living underground and building a whole society in an environment totally made artificially has its cost, and that cost has to come from somewhere.

The whole government structure is created by a system that each and every ministry or department doesn't have a central system that can manage them, and it is all run by the intelligence department.

That goes directly under the control of the emperor himself. That is why there is no single citizen on that continent who knows who does what. Quite simply, the whole government is shrouded in secrets.

Secrets on top of other secrets, and anyone who gets a glimpse of what is going on or even wonders what is going on disappears from the face of the continent. That is why no one asks any questions, and everyone tries their best to live their life with what they have been offered, which is so limited they barely survive, and the worst part of it is they don't know why.

It all started a decade ago, when they noticed something was wrong with the continent, the weather, and the sun. Everybody knew that it was created artificially, but the sudden change in the agricultural lands, the fluctuations in the weather, the change in even the normal water, the air they were breathing.

Everyone thought it was a malfunction, and everything would go back to normal after it had been fixed. This was not the first time, and it would not be the last, so nobody gave it much thought at the beginning. Everyone had faith in the emperor and the government, but year after year, nothing has been fixed or changed, and that is when life started becoming harder every day.

In the third year, people started uprising, demanding answers and solutions from the government, thinking that would give them answers and solve the situation.

but to their disappointment, instead of getting answers, the government strangely started eradicating the uprising by brutality, arresting the leaders and

executing them, and purging the uprising, without any justification, hence the fear took place of the hope the people had.

Everyone was shocked by actions of their beloved government and their idol emperor, still they had no answers to what was going on, but no one opened his mouth again.

And everyone began to lower their heads and avoid anything that might bring the government's warmth on them.

Life changed for everyone, and the condition continued to get worse with each passing year.

In any normal place, if life became hard, you would look for somewhere else to move to and start a new life there. But the citizens of this continent don't have the means or even the knowledge to get out. Even those who know that there are other continents livable and above the ground were very limited to higher ranking government officials. None of the other people knew that what happened to their continent was only limited to them. They thought that the same thing happened to the whole planet and they were lucky enough to be the solely surviving humans on the planet.

All of that changed a few months ago, when the government announced that they had finally found a solution that would change their lives forever, and that they would soon be living on the surface, living a life better than their wildest dreams.

but in order to achieve that goal all the citizens have to work together, new jobs will be created and assigned to the chosen individuals, and whomever assigned to a job has to fulfill it and have to keep it a secret even from his or her own family.

Anyone chosen, will be living a better life for himself and his family. If he or she doesn't keep that secret, the punishment will be immediate death.

One of the top secret departments that monitors everything going above the ground on the surface is the specific one that is responsible for the reason why none of the other continents come to this one and for the name that it has been given above the ground. Its sole mission is to capture anyone who sets foot on this large continent, and to know the reason behind that person's coming here.

Today they lost contact with one of their agents who was patrolling the surface, but instead they caught a man, and now he was in one of the interrogation rooms, subjected to all kinds of emotional and physical torture. Usually, after a few hours of interrogation and mind reading, they would be able to find out everything, and one of two options would become the faith of that individual: either immediate execution or life in prison.

But today they were missing one of their agents, and strange enough, this man was found in her patrolling area without triggering any of the sensors, and none of the monitoring and surveillance equipment caught any of his movements, and this was the first time such things happened.

An intense interrogation was going on in that room, with a conversation that didn't make any sense to anyone who was listening to it.

"Where is Riyana? The man, still standing and holding the bottle in his hand, asked, "Who is Riyana?" Jack answered, in a question form, "For the last time, I will ask you, Mr., where is Riyana?"

"I don't know anyone called Riyana."

"In that case, I will bring someone to jag your memory if you don't want to talk.

"I told you I don't know who Riyana is"; "but since you are talking now, tell me where my wife is and if she is OK." "That depends on you.

"If you tell me where Riyana is"

"Your wife will be OK unless you don't talk."

"At least tell me if she is OK."

"For the time being, she is fine, but I can't guarantee that she will be soon. "

"What do you want from me? Tell me. "

"I want you to tell me where Riyana is."

"Riyana Who? Even though I don't remember, I met someone called Riyana. Does she have a last name?

"I see you are playing hard, but believe me, you will tell me everything that I want to know sooner or later, but sooner is better for you and your wife".

Then he started moving out of the room, and Jack started yelling behind him. I don't know anyone called Riyana. Believe me, just tell me how it is with my wife.

Then he started moving out of the room, and Jack started yelling behind him. I don't know anyone called Riyana. Believe me, just tell me how it is with my wife.

He was asking himself why they thought that he knew her. Thinking back, he didn't know a lot of people, so he could have missed one. All his life, he had little friends. He was the social type that became friends with everyone and was well liked. He had one best friend and still does. Before his wife, he had one girlfriend from college until life took them apart. He left his home town and came to New York, where he met his wife and fell in love with her the first time he laid eyes on her.

Even among his co-workers, there is no one called Riyana, and it's a unique name that he would have remembered if he knew someone by that name.

This time, two men entered the room, one with an empty table in front of him, and the other with a large tool box in his hand, bent over the table, and began removing items one by one; scissors, hammers, knives. Intimidation and interrogation tools were used, and when Jack saw that, instead of feeling scared, he got more angry and furious.

The man said, "Now you will tell me everything you know, whether you like it or not," with something that looked like a smile on his face.

...............

In the situation hall, where the countdown clock was displayed on the huge screen, there were several other screens, covering most of the remaining space on the walls. Now only two men were in the room, paying most of their attention to one specific screen, showing the interrogation room. One of them asked the other, "I really don’t get it." If we are not behind this incident, then who is?" The other man shook his head and said, "I don’t know, but I guess it's one of the other projects that we don't need to know about."

The first man shook his head too and didn't say anything else. He knew better than to ask questions that he may not like the answers to.

He stood up and exited the room, saying, "I will check on the progress in the dark room; keep me updated."

The one who has been left behind started wondering too: is there another secret department he is not aware of? He was supposed to be the head of the intelligence department that controls all the other departments and the one specifically in charge of the whole operations.

At least that is what he thought until today. The possibility that there is another party involved is there, but still very slim. For the first time in his life, he came across a situation that he didn't create or at least take part in, so if there is some other organization behind this incident, that means the whole operation is in jeopardy. And he has to report it immediately to the emperor himself.

At least let me know the conclusion of this integration, he told himself, when suddenly something clicked on his mind. The man kept mentioning his wife, and there was another one beside him, so where was this wife he was talking about? Did she come with him here? And where did the missing agent go to? A lot of questions were roaming in his mind, and he couldn't face the emperor unless he was able to answer at least some of them.