Shutdown (Glitch)

City said with a falsely sweet smile, “how you burned through half the merchandise when you accidently lit the stacks of wood pallets on fire in the back of the warehouse.”
    Rand shrugged. “It made for a nice distraction while we got away, didn’t it?”
    “Enough, children.” Henk stretched and then clapped two hands to his stomach dramatically. “Where’s lunch? I’m starved.”
    “I made some stew.” Ginni pointed at a pot that was still bubbling on the stovetop.
    Rand grabbed a spoon and dipped it in the pot. He blew on it a moment before sipping it. He made a face and pulled back from the pot. “Well,” he grimaced, “it’ll fill an empty belly, at least.”
    “And don’t forget what we also picked up.” Henk smiled and held up a large cylindrical container. “Salt! Put enough on, and it’ll make even the rankest food passable.”
    “Hey!” Ginni objected. Henk sent her a sideways grin, then grabbed a bowl and ladled in a large serving of stew. Those of us who had stayed behind let the people who’d gone on the supply raid go first. I looked around for Adrien. He stood at the end of the line, absorbed in a tablet he was reading from. I sighed and looked away. But then I frowned.
    “Wait, where’s Max?” I asked.
    Several people’s heads swiveled around, looking for him. Xona frowned. “I don’t see him.”
    “Maybe he’s in the shower?” Ginni said.
    I stood still one more moment, checking every face both with my eyes and my telek until I was sure he wasn’t in the room with us. When I hurried over to the bathroom to check there, no one was inside.
    “Shunting bastard,” I whispered under my breath as I walked back out to the group. “He must have snuck on the jet with you guys and then gotten off once you got to the supply site.”
    Henk let out a long string of curses, half of which I’d never heard before. “He knows about this hideout here. If he goes back to the Chancellor—”
    I shook my head. “He won’t. He wouldn’t want to get anywhere near her and risk falling under her compulsion again. Especially after failing her on the last mission she sent him on. No, he’ll probably go lose himself in one of the bigger cities where he can pose as a wealthy Upper and live in pampered luxury.” I curled my lip in disgust. It was a fitting end to his story.
    “You all have to see this!” called out a voice from the corner.
    “What is it, Simin?” Ginni asked.
    I turned to look as a dark-haired boy hurried to the middle of the room. His face was pinched with concern as he set a small portable projection console on one of the tables.
    The slight chatter that had filled the room quieted almost instantly. We all gathered around the table.
    “What happened?” Henk asked.
    “This just broadcast over the Link,” the boy Ginni had called Simin said. He clicked the console on. A few people moved back so the 3-D projection cube would have a clear space to play over the table.
    The calm face of Chancellor Bright showed on the vid feed. I winced and averted my gaze before forcing myself to look up and watch as she strode down the aisle of a large auditorium in Central City. A banner ran across the bottom of the screen: N EW C HANCELLOR S UPREME A PPOINTED .
    There was no mention of what had happened to the previous Chancellor, if he had died or been deposed or who knows what else Bright might have done to him in order to usurp his top position. This had always been her ultimate goal, even back when she was just the Chancellor of a single Academy in a midsized city. Hard to believe that was only a year ago. She’d compelled her way up to Underchancellor of Defense, and now was the supreme leader of the second largest of the eight worldwide Sectors.
    The camera switched to an auditorium shot where Chancellor Bright was being sworn in, then did a quick pan of the other Officials who sat in the long panel at the back of the stage. Their faces didn’t show any reaction. But then, Uppers were always careful not to display emotion when they knew the vid feeds for the Link were on. Couldn’t let the drones see that the ideals about a passionless Community were actually just a load of propaganda, meant to keep them under control. Either that, or they were under the Chancellor’s compulsion.
    I looked at their empty faces and wondered what they would look like if they knew she was a glitcher who’d just finagled herself into the top Upper position in the country by using