Free Archipelago N.Y.: Flynn by Vladimir Todorov

Security Force. All firearms were confiscated
and gathered in one place, away from the hands of the population. Anything
salvaged underwater had to be surrendered to the Security Force. Those caught
with an illegal weapon were killed on the spot! With all the firepower on their
side, Old Jordan and Van Zandt had established and enforced the new laws of the
land. Those who rebelled against the Van Zandt Government were severely
punished and paid with their lives. When Old Jordan passed the torch to his
son, Vince Jordan had quickly become Marcus Van Zand's second most trusted man.
    Van Zandt's eyes
shifted quickly over to Ted Junior. He was Nakamura’s son and had taken the
seat next to Jordan. He had also followed in his father's steps and was
overseeing the desalination and water distribution process between the Upper
and the Lower Side. Van Zandt considered him the weakest link in his chain of
command. Son of a scientist, the man was too soft and unfit to deal with the
brutal realities of life on the Archipelago. His ideas of freeing up the water
distribution, and increasing the daily rations were driving Van Zandt crazy. Of
course, he would have gotten rid of Ted Nakamura a long time ago, but his hands
were tied. Nakamura was the only one who knew the desalination formula, and he was
the only one capable of making it work properly.
    And then there was
Duncan Roth, the Rottweiler. Marcus looked at the man and gave him a slight nod
of appreciation. Duncan was something else! He was in charge of the Free
Scavengers, of every scavenging operation and the distribution of all precious
salvaged goods from the waters of the Archipelago. But Duncan was also an
engineer and often supervised construction sites, making sure that none of the salvaged
materials were being wasted. He was the only one on the board who held two
positions… And the man performed both jobs with unmatched ruthlessness and superb
attention to detail. Everybody feared the Rottweiler! And precisely because of
this, Van Zandt trusted him even more. He was his best and most trusted ally.
    Marcus greeted the
rest of the Council members with a cold stare and waited for them to take out
their handheld computer devices. Silently, he blessed his father for having the
foresight to order the Security Force confiscate as many of them as it could.
Before the Flood, most of these devices used to be phones, but they no longer
worked as such. No one could place a call on them even if they tried… All lines
of communication had gone silent decades ago... But as long as their batteries
lasted, they could still perform other valuable functions. They were now used
for organizing, record keeping, event planning, adding and subtracting, and the
making of lists. Only Government officials of the highest rank were issued with
such hardware, and Van Zandt had instructed everybody to guard them with their
lives.
    “Well, who wants
to start?” Van Zandt eyed the group.
    “I'll start,” said
a short, chubby man, clearing his throat. Doctor Oscar Zamora, the person
responsible for assessing the overall health of the citizens, now pressed the
screen on his handheld pad. “I’m pleased to announce that we’ve finalized the
Departure List! This year we have a few kids among the group… According to our
medical opinion, all of them are cases which are beyond any hope of
healing."
    “Speak plainly,
Oscar!” Van Zandt sounded annoyed. “You mean the kids are useless to us because
they’re dying, right?”
    “Correct, sir,”
Dr. Zamora nodded.
    “Well, if it's for
the greater good of all concerned, I won’t object,” said Van Zandt, folding his
arms over his chest and leaning back in his chair. “Losing young blood is
always regrettable, but we need our Lower Side population to be strong and
productive,” he addressed the table.
    “Perhaps, sir, we
should look into holding our annual Day of Pairing … Have it shortly after the
Departure… This way, we’ll be encouraging