I stared down at the locked video of the device, a password prompt hovering before the image in place of a play icon. It had taken me so long just to find the video. It had taken me even longer to find what might have been the password to unlock it.
“You alright there, Dax?” Al asked from beside me.
I looked up at him. “I’m worried what will happen if the password’s wrong.”
“Might be easier to have Taz unlock it,” Al replied.
“Try the password first!” Tazina yelled from across the room.
Al jumped, his eyes wide. “Or… that,” he said.
I took a deep breath and typed the password. The play icon appeared on the screen. “It worked!”
Tazina appeared between me and Al. We all looked at each other in silence, then I pressed play.
The video began with the image of a chair in a dark room, the light from the device the only illumination in the room. A woman in a gray dress sat in the chair. I recognized her. She had been on the news several years ago… for being a System traitor.
“Hello,” she began, “my number is 327480 and I have been in contact with Outcasts for the past five years. I’ve gathered information of the weakest points of the System. I’ve been helping them get inside.”
She swallowed. Then she sighed, leaning forward with a defeated shake of her head. 327480 looked up at the camera with tears in her eyes.
“But they don’t last,” she said, her voice cracking. “Outcasts can’t handle it in here. I’ve tried to guide them, but they never last longer than a week. They just don’t know what they’re doing. They come in here thinking they can start a quiet rebellion, inspire us to rise up. Outcasts don’t understand that we’re watched every minute of every day and if we fight, we’re confined, if we’re confined, we lose.”
327480 paused. She straightened herself in her chair. “I just wish I could thank whoever’s been making the blind spots for that small measure of freedom.”
She took a shaky breath. “I’m getting off topic. Some of the Outcasts come in here thinking they can destroy her because they understand her as just a machine.” 327480 looked directly into the camera. “We both know she’s so much more than that.”
She glanced away briefly, fidgeting in her seat before continuing. “But I may have found exactly what they’ve been looking for. I haven’t told the Outcasts since I know they wouldn’t understand. With some help, I’ve hidden pictures and videos on this device of what I’ve found. I left my final picture as a hint so that you, whoever you are, could know to keep looking. Just hope I didn’t hide this video too well,” she muttered.
“I think the System’s onto me. I think she knows what I’ve been doing. Which is why this will be my final video. I’ll be trading this device with a soot dealer – there’s no time to wait for my usual contact.”
327480 remained silent for a moment. Then she smiled sadly at the camera. “I always wanted to be a photographer.” She sniffed, wiping at the escaped tears. “Turn off the device, press the on button three times, then enter the code 02460 and you’ll have everything I’ve found.”
She rose from her chair and walked over to the device. Before ending the video, she looked into the camera once more and said, “Good luck.”
To be continued…