Chapter 25 - The Selection
Daniel tore the page from the score.
The paper immediately turned black in his hands.
The Director’s image remained calm.
“That changes nothing.”
Gas continued filling the first enclosure.
Daniel looked at the boy inside.
He appeared eight years old.
A number was printed on his collar.
Four.
“Can you hear me?” Daniel asked.
The boy nodded.
“What is your name?”
“Four.”
“What was your name before that?”
The boy’s expression stayed empty.
“I was assigned before memory.”
Julian moved toward the barrier.
“There must be a release mechanism.”
Samuel examined the floor.
“The controls are integrated into the pianos.”
Daniel looked at the score again.
One child leaves.
Eleven remain.
Twelve stood beneath the platform.
“The Director used this test before.”
Daniel looked down.
“What happened?”
“The Conductor usually chose the strongest.”
“And the others?”
“They were retrained until another selection.”
Julian said, “Choose Four. Save him now. We find a way to return.”
Daniel shook his head.
“That’s what the system expects.”
The gas reached the boy’s shoulders.
Daniel placed his hands on the conductor’s stand.
The score changed again.
A second option appeared.
REPLACE THE SELECTED CHILD WITH THE CONDUCTOR.
Julian saw the text.
“No.”
Daniel looked at the enclosure.
“What happens if I take his place?”
The Director answered.
“The selection continues under the next qualified conductor.”
Everyone looked toward Julian.
He lowered the violin.
“You planned this.”
The Director smiled faintly.
“I planned for blood to reveal character.”
Daniel stepped down from the platform.
Julian blocked his path.
“You enter that chamber, he gives control to me.”
“Then refuse.”
“If I refuse, he moves to Clara.”
The ballroom monitor showed Clara being forced toward the piano.
Michael Arden had returned with several armed guards.
Samuel looked around the room.
“There must be a third option.”
Twelve stared at the twelve pianos.
“The children are not connected to the barriers.”
Daniel understood.
“The instruments are.”
She nodded.
“If all twelve play an incorrect note at the same time, the system may identify a network failure.”
Julian looked at the restrained children.
“They cannot move their hands.”
“They don’t need hands,” Daniel said.
He climbed the platform again.
The children watched him.
He remembered the command language from the white room.
Not spoken words.
Intervals.
He struck the rail of the conductor’s stand three times.
Short.
Long.
Short.
Every child lifted one foot toward a piano pedal.
The Director’s expression changed.
“Do not attempt this.”
Daniel struck the final signal.
All twelve children slammed the pedals simultaneously.
The chamber filled with an ugly, distorted roar.
Lights exploded above the pianos.
The glass barrier around Four shattered.
Gas poured harmlessly into the larger room.
Every restraint released.
The children rose from their benches.
For the first time, they did not look at Daniel for instruction.
They looked at one another.
Then the youngest child pointed toward the conductor’s platform.
“The book is lying.”
The black score opened by itself.
Hidden beneath the final page was a photograph of the Director standing beside a much younger Samuel.
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On the back were four words:
THE FIRST CONDUCTOR WAS NOT DANIEL.
