“Settle down!” Sorin demao the room full of individuals.

  They didn’t quiet down immediately, but he could hear himself think after only a short wait.

  “You all know why I asked you here.”

  “And who put you in charge?” someone from the back of the room demanded.

  “Yeah!” another voice shouted. “We have a cil, shouldn’t they be here?”

  “Stars above!” Sorin threw up his hands. “Are you stupid? We’re here to discuss the cil and all the things they are ging against our will, why would we want them here?”

  His statement finally got people to stop and listen. A few grumbled, but he could hear muttered agreements from most of the people in the room. Sorin took this as a good sign and tinued.

  “Ever sihat damned robot arrived, Damien and his ies have had their lips firmly pnted on its feet in supplication. I experiehis firsthand when Shei made a bet with me that she knew she would win because of his meddling. I have no issue losing a bet, but when it’s rigged, that’s different. It e and my family most of our spare food stocks and I was forced to go begging to others to survive after harvest. And that put me even further behind.”

  His statement about being a poor loser wasn’t true. He despised losing. He had only agreed to that bet, knowing it was a sure thing. Then that damn robot stepped in and ruined everything.

  “How many of you have had your lives ged because of Kane?” he demanded. “Don’t be shy, raise your hands.”

  Out of the fifty or so people he had mao gather, most raised their hands. He wasn’t surprised by this. After his losi, Sori a for people who were affected by the ges going on there. While not all of them were likely to be suffering the same as him, the rest didn’t like the way things were ging any more than he did.

  “We’re all drifters, we are ners tling for survival!” he shouted above the murmur of the crowd. “Yet we don’t see our fellow drifters struggling, do we? They grow fat and zy off the teat of our robot overlord!”

  His words stirred the assembled people’s hearts and he received shouts of agreement and words deg Kane.

  “Oh, sure, we share in this bounty, if we bend the knee in supplication to Kane. I say, NO! We are drifters! We are a unity! We came out here to be free of gover intervention and ht because every time govers get involved, it is the normal man who suffers. As drifters, we should be sharing resources when times are tough, not sitting bad watg our friends and neighbors struggle when we have a way to ease their pain!”

  The words had whipped the room into a fervor and Sorin was about to tinue his sermohe doors to the room burst open and a dozen armed security guards along with Damieered the room.

  “Speaking of gover overreach!” Sorin spat, ging his spee the fly. “The head bootlicker and his ies have just arrived.”

  The room turo gre at the new intruders.

  Damien didn’t look at all moved by Sorin's words. The man coldly looked around the room, making a few men close to him flinch back. Almost everyone who had been on Eden’s End prior to Kane’s arrival knew what Damien was capable of in a fight.

  “You disperse, or you spend the night in lockup, your choice,” the man stated dispassionately.

  Before tempers could get out of trol, Sorin spoke once more. “Do not let your emotions cloud your judgment, fellow drifters. Go back to your families and think about my words. We will speak again.”

  The men filtered out of the room, giving the guards dirty looks as they did so. It was not ued sidering the tension Sorin had purposefully fed into the crowd tonight. He knew Damien and his people were going to e and break up his gathering, and he wanted people to see them as the bad guys. He also noted some of the guards looked unsure, and he smiled internally at that. Perhaps not everyone who had tasted Kane’s forbidden fruit was lost.

  Sorin was the st to leave the room, but a stun baton blog his exit brought him up short.

  “Not you,” Damien said. “Yoing to spend a few nights in lockup.”

  “Oh?” he demanded. “And what w did I break?”

  The shorter man narrowed his eyes at Sorin. There was a moment of tense silence before he lowered the stun stick. “I’ll be keeping an eye on you.”

  Sorin snorted and walked past the man, making sure not to brush against him. That would just be an excuse for Damien to toss him in jail. Being a martyr for his movement might be a good choice, but not now, not when he was just getting started. He ime to get people on his side. Until then, he would remain well within the asitle rules this cil made up.

  ***

  Damien watched the infuriating man walk down the hallway, his grip tightening on the handle of his stun stitil his knuckles went white.

  This was the third time this week that he had been forced to break up these meetings since Kane had pointed out the growing distent to the cil. He felt stupid for not seeing it sooner, but he saw it clearly now. Some of the people who attehem were the same individuals, but he was seeing more and more new faces among the assembled dissidents. And that’s exactly what they were, dissidents and troublemakers.

  If it to him, he would lock every single one of them up until they came to their senses. Even though he was the head of Security, he couldn’t do that. They did not have any ws iopping people from gathering like this or having differing viewpoints against the cil.

  Had this sort of thing happened prior to Kane’s arrival, Damien would have simply beat some seo Sorin and called it a day.

  ***

  A few days ter the cil gathered, but not because it was their choice. Sorin had requested a meeting. Damien hoped the man was going to show up to apologize for his as, but he somehow doubted that to be the case.

  He gnced off to the side of the room where Gabriel and Shei were having a hushed but heated versation. He only caught a few words here and there. Something about ‘not being able to dey it’.

  Damien assumed if he was meant to know what they were discussing, they would have asked him to Join abriel would tell him about it ter.

  The door opened and Nancy stepped into the room.

  “Sorry I’m te,” she said as she hurried over to her seat.

  Gabriel and Shei must have fiheir versation as well because they headed over to their seats as well.

  “Since we are all here, and uests have yet to arrive, I propose we enact a w to prevent gatherings meant to foment civil u,” Damien stated.

  “No, absolutely not!” Nancy stated, “You’re advog to prevent people from gathering and speaking out. Just because you don’t like what someone is saying, doesn’t mean you have the right to silehem.”

  “As much as I despise Sorin, I’m going to have to agree with Nancy,” Shei added.

  Damien grunted and turo his girlfriend. If Gabriel agreed with him, at least they could push this issue to Alex for the deg vote. The man wouldn’t overlook a problem of this scale. The look in her eyes told him that wasn’t going to be the case though.

  “While I am all for upholding security and unity, I don’t think log people up is the right choice. Do we even know why they are upset? Perhaps we should ask them first. If we ’t e to some agreement, and things further spiral out of trol, then I will ge my vote. Are we in agreement?”

  The three women nodded and Damien grunted. “Fine.” He k was a long shot when he proposed it, but he hadn’t expected Gabriel to side with the other two. He wanted a tie so Alex would weigh in.

  He thought they were making a mistake here, but he had been outvoted. He would discuss the problem with Alex and see what the man suggested they do.

  Damien had finally gotten a meeting with the workaholic to discuss what issues he had uncovered. He should be there right now, but this cil session had been scheduled st minute.

  A short time ter, eight people ehe cil chamber and stood in front of the four cilors.

  Not being in the mood to lead this meeting, Damie Gabriel speak. With her position as head of Medical Services, she probably had a better standing with the general popuyway.

  “We have scheduled this meeting at the behest of the people. Please state the purpose of your request,” she gestured to the group.

  No surprise, Sorin stepped forward. “We want equal rights and access to amenities,” the man decred.

  Uerred by the man’s forceful tone, Gabriel replied. “You have access to housing, food, security, and medical services. What rights and amenities do you feel you are being denied?”

  Gabriel and Damien both knew what the man was getting at, but she was f him to state it for the record. If he had been leading this meeting, he would have simply accused the man of being a zy leed demanding pensation that he wasn’t owed. That would have surely sent the little rats scurrying into their holes, ruining the entire purpose of this meeting. It was a good thing he was just a silent bystander during this meeting.

  Damien cracked a small smirk as he saw Sorin bristle. That alone was worth remaining quiet.

  “We want access to the advanced medical services, and all of the other luxury items we are being denied by Kahe pompous and self-entitled man demanded.

  Gabriel gestured to a sole on the far wall. “The job board is avaible for anyone on any sole in the facility. None of those items are being withheld.”

  The man turned back to her, red in the face. “That’s a form of trol, and you know it. We have jobs, we ’t afford to be away from them to help Karoy our lives further.”

  “If you don’t like the job board, speak with Kahere is nothing this cil do about what jobs and tributions are offered. Those are resources owned by Kahat he provided at a rate far fairer than you would ever see iO. If you would like to discuss other options that don’t involve the tribution system, we do that.”

  Sorin seemed to recover quickly from his outburst. Damien frowned slightly at that. The man’s as reminded him of martial artists who tried to deceive you into thinking they were injured when in fact they were just trying to lure you in. One of Sorin’s people grabbed the man by the shoulder and whispered into his ear. The man pulled away from the hand after a bit but nodded.

  “Fine. Since we are beiricted from these services unless we bee iured workers, we have a sed proposal.”

  Damien would have rolled his eyes if he wasn’t so on edge. They had relented far too easily for something they cimed to have wanted badly enough to host secret meetings.

  “Go ahead and state your proposal,” Gabriel responded.

  “We want an equal say in how things are run. For too long, the cil has unanimously decided the course of Eden’s End. They have not oaken any input from the residents on these decisions. That o ge.”

  “You want a cil position?” Gabriel asked.

  Sorin shook his head, making Damien rex a bit. Having him on the cil would be a moal disaster.

  “We want four seats. Equal rights, require equal power.”

  “Abso-fug-lutley not!” Damien shot to his feet. “This is what you’ve been after sihe beginning, isn’t it?” he accused the man.

  “I’ve only ever been after fairness. And if your decration is anything to go by, it seems like we never would have gotten it if we remained quiet.”

  Damien was a moment from jumping over the table and throttling the man when Gabriel pced a hand on his arm.

  With great restraint, he sat back down.

  Ohe room settled, Gabriel spoke up. “You want four cil seats.” Her words were a statement, not a question. “And what aspect of life on Eden’s End will you be in charge of? We already have a head of agriculture.”

  Snced over at Shei but otherwise didn’t react to Gabriel’s words. “We are for the people, so our titles should reflect that.”

  If he wasn’t so angry, Damien would have s the man’s words. If Sorin wasn’t doing this for some self-serving reason, he would eat his shoes.

  “You represent a portion of the popuce,” Gabriel remihe man.

  “A rger portion than you do,” Sorin shot back.

  “By those words, we might as well have four cil members from the new refugees.”

  “Maybe you should,” the man responded in kind. “We are not here to discuss what the refugees want, we are here to discuss our needs, and we would like an ao our request now, not at some time that is veo you.”

  Sorin motioned for three people in his group to step up.

  “We all demas on the cil immediately, no more will we be left out of critical decisions affeg us,” the three each responded slightly differently, but the w was essentially the same.

  It also sounded like an ultimatum to Damien, and he didn’t like that o.

  The bad forth was getting out of hand. Luckily Shei whistled loudly, cutting through the room and sileng everyone. “We know what they want, before we go any further, I say we take a vote. Do rove four new seats for the present representatives of the traditionalists or not, which will go into effect immediately after the vote?”

  Damien coughed into his hand to get the other cilors’ attention. Once he had it, he bent toward the three women and spoke quietly so Sorin and his people couldn’t hear. “You ’t seriously be sidering this?” Damieiohe woman. “Who cares what their demands are? Give them o, for now, that should make them happy.”

  It looked like Shei was going to say something but Gabriel shook her head. “We o decide now. I don’t want to have this same discussion three more times or have to worry about what the other representatives might do if we deny them.

  “So what?” he asked. “If they cause trouble, we’ll simply lock them up,” Damien stated ftly, feeling like he was missing something here. “What’s really going on?”

  “We’ll talk about it after the meeting,” Gabriel stated before turning back toward their unwanted guests.

  Something was happening and he didn’t like it o that he was bei out of a decision here.

  Whee was called, Nancy voted in approval, he wasn't surprised. The robably thought equal representation with a group of known troublemakers would get them to stop causing issues. Damien had his doubts about that.

  Shei looked on the fence, but eventually voted to approve the motion as well. That was a bit of a shock. The Head of Agriculture always came off as a rather practical woman. This decision seemed pletely out of character for her.

  Seeing a disturbing trend, he turabriel.

  His girlfriend g him for a moment before g her jaw and speaking. “Having representation for everyone on Eden’s End is probably for the best. I vote to approve the four new seats.”

  With that decration, Damien’s vote no longer mattered. He still voted no, just to ensure his vote was recorded and to remind himself that he had dohe right thing.

  “The vote has passed. With that being said, I propose a vote for four more seats to go to the refugees,” she added before Sorin’s people even had a ce to celebrate their win.

  The votes from the old cil were the same, Damien being the only oo vote against more cil seats. What nobody expected was for Sorin and the three new cil members to vote against something they had suggested.

  Damien had foreseen this issue beforehand, which is why he had advised the ot to vote for four seats. It was clear that Sorin had created his own voting blod now they could easily force votes their way or force a tie. The other cilors couldn’t have been blind to this possibility. Something was going on and he was going to get answers, but first, this ge had to be reported to Kane.

  Alex would not be happy when he learned of the cil’s choices, but the man had given them free rein to mahe residential popution of Eden’s End as they saw fit.

  The only time Kaively got involved was when ws were passed, and a tiebreaker was needed, sihis wasn’t a w, he did not o be involved ie.

  The four new cilave themselves the most pompous and self-aggrandizing titles they could think of. Sorin picked Head of Cultural Identity as his title, but the others were just as bad if not worse. Head of Civic Purity, Head of Judiciary Order, and the Head of Collective sensus.

  If the ridiculous titles weren’t enough to show Sorin and his group of sycophants were up to no good, the grin on the man’s face was.

  As much as Damien wao shut this down here and now, his hands were now tied. Sorin and his people may think they won something, but ohey started messing with Kahey were quickly going to learn they had no actual power whatsoever. Alex may e off as rather passive and mild-mannered most of the time, but he was not afraid to step in and correct problems personally. Damien appreciated that about the man.

  And maybe that would be for the best. The cil, while sounding like an ideal method of gover, didn’t really work when most of the people on it didn’t wish to deal with the big issues. To be fair, Damien wasn’t fit for this sort of role either.

  When this form of gover had been proposed by the people, he had only agreed to the position to ehe safety and security of Eden’s End. He could do that with or without being on the cil. The rest of the responsibilities of being the Head of Security for the cil are what kept him up at night and made him hate his life.

  Damien would task some of his guards to keep an eye on the new cilors but he hoped his fears were ungrounded. It was time t this matter to Kane and find out why his fellow cilors had voted the way they did.