Episode Five, Part 4:
Uninhabitable

Fenn was in the middle of doing inventory in the medic tent, trying to figure out if they would have enough supplies to take with them into the bunkers, when someone walked inside.

There was no immediate injury or signs of sickness that he could see, and the boy - similar in his age - was nervous as he approached, seeming to not want to startle him with how quietly he entered.

"Hey," he coughed, hovering at a safe distance.

"Hey," Fenn replied, setting down his notes by the storage cabinet and standing up.

"What can I do for you?" He asked, gesturing over to one of the beds in case he needed to examine him. "Are you injured, or are you sick?"

"Uh, neither," the boy said. "I'm Liam." He laughed at himself, realising that it was a strange repose to Fenn's question, and shook his head in his own amusement as he extended his hand out.

Fenn chuckled softly, taking the boy's hand as he introduced himself, waiting to see why he had entered the tent.

"So, Liam, what brings you here?"

"Your Sovereign, Kodiak - something happened to him, didn't it?"

Fenn frowned, folding his arms as he tried to assess the situation. How did he know what had happened to Kodiak, and why was he asking?

"Sorry, I probably shouldn't have just jumped right into that," Liam apologised. "I was part of the group that your people brought back from The City of Targo," he said. "With Hannah..." He seemed to understand that her name would spark recognition in him, knowing already that most people were very aware of what tension was unfolding with her and Quill's family.

"Hannah," Fenn said. "Yeah, I know the group you're talking about... She's the woman causing trouble between Wynn and Quill. You know, those two are basically my family-"

"Don't worry, I don't have any part in what's happening," Liam said. "I know the situation with her and her son - only briefly, but I know it's not pretty."
"Then why are you here if not on some objective from Hannah?"

Liam looked around, double-checking to make sure they were alone in the tent before he opened his mouth to reveal something he knew could get him in serious trouble.

"I have information about what she's doing."

"She's trying to take Quill away from his family. We already know this-"

"But you don't know how," Liam corrected him, hoping the doctor would pick up on the subtle hints of panic he was putting down.

Fenn raised an eyebrow, finding himself inching closer towards him. "How? What do you mean how?"

Liam took a gulp of air, perhaps trying to summon the courage to go against his people and do what he knew was right. "Implants," he said.

"Implants?"

"Yeah," Liam answered. "I don't know if she's used any of them, but I know she's planning to if worse comes to worst."

"What exactly do you mean by implants?" Fenn searched. "What type of implants? How would they help her if this is still about getting Quill back?"

"I think it is," Liam nodded, suddenly twisting around and reaching for something in his back pocket.

Fenn was nervous; a slight doubt in the back of his mind that Liam was going to whip out a blade or a gun, but it was neither. He pulled out a small cylinder shaped device that was a transparent-grey colour with a plastic shell shielding the bundle of wires visible inside. The doctor accepted it into his hands, balancing it between his thumb and index finger, bringing it closer to his eyes so he could inspect it.

"I'm not entirely sure how it works," Liam clarified, "but I know that Hannah and the others had been working on it back at The City of Targo. It was intended to be used on Commander- On Sovereign Riverly," he corrected himself, "in case The Alteration didn't work."

"You guys know about The Alteration?" Fenn asked.

"We're the only ones," Liam said. "Well, a select group of us. The guards knew, some of my family knew, and Hannah, Josiah and Lydian obviously. They were part of the team working on creating this for Rhea to use on Sovereign Riverly."

"Why?"

"In case The Alteration didn't work. They wanted their insurance that Sovereign Riverly would be under their control. If Rhea couldn't erase her memories and convince her that all of the plans she and Kane had come up with were really the Sovereign's, then at least they could put the implant in her and make her do it that way."

"Why you'd they even try if The Alteration didn't work? Riverly would still be Riverly."

"I don't know," Liam shrugged, "but from what I can figure out about it, once it's activated in you, it puts you under a compulsion... You don't know what you're doing or what you want. You just do what the implant tells you to."

"You said this has to do with Quill and Hannah," Fenn said. "How?"

"I don't know that either," Liam sighed. "But I'm worried that she's planning on injecting one of these into Quill so that he'll be controlled into leaving with her or rejecting his family. I'm kinda worried that he already has one."

"I don't get it... Why are you worried about what she's doing to Quill? You don't even know him?"

Liam dropped his head, bearing an empathetic smile. "There was a guy back in The City of Targo," he said with a weight of fondness to his voice. "My boyfriend, Brooks... He was part of the team who created the implants, and I think he was actually the main brains behind it. I don't think he liked Rhea's plan for it, so, when he challenged her idea to use it to manipulate the Commander-"

"In the same way The Alteration erases your memories and can be used to alter your thoughts and ideas?" Fenn interrupted.

"Yeah," Liam nodded. "They used it on him instead."

"What...happened?" Fenn asked, noticing how Liam had softened by his own words.

"Long story short, they made him do a bunch of things that were out-of-character, I guess you might say. I thought it was just him changing, but he couldn't help it. Anyway, he resisted it for so long that it killed him. At least, the say that's what killed him... It could have been anything; they could have done it themselves for all I know. The only thing I'm sure of is that deep down, the boy I loved was still trapped inside when he died, but he couldn't show me that and couldn't figure it out. He must have died thinking that I didn't care anymore..." He said. "So I know what they can use this implant for; I know what it's like to lose someone because of it; I want to make sure that doesn't happen again."

"Well..." Fenn murmured, trying to show his gratitude for the help he was willing to offer as well as extend his sincere empathy towards him, hoping that Liam would come to understand that his deepest sorrow looked a lot like Fenn's. "Thank you for telling me," he said. "I know it's hard to remember things like that. And thank you for bringing this to me... If Hannah's planning on using this on Quill, it might just give us the chance to save him from it."

///////

"Hey, are you guys free to talk?" Fenn asked, knocking on the slightly-ajar door to the map room.

Sol looked around at Wynn and Dreea, noticing they weren't doing anything that couldn't wait.

"Sure. Come in," she said.

Fenn smiled, opening the door a little wider and allowing Liam to come into view, welcoming him to follow inside.

"Hold up. Who's this?" Sol asked. "People coming into the Sovereigns' Quarters have to be approved by one of of us." She looked over at the other two, checking if they were just as surprised by Fenn's lack of consideration for the rules. "Did you guys allow him in?"

Wynn and Dreea shook their heads, turning to Fenn for an explanation.

"I know I'm supposed to ask," he said. "But this couldn't wait. This is Liam; he's part of the group that came with us from The City of Targo-"

At the mention of the place, Wynn rolled his eyes and let out an exaggerated sigh, already assuming that this had something to do with him, Quill and Hannah.

"He came in the medic tent and gave me this," Fenn continued, bringing the small chip into view. "It's an implant," he said. "Something that was being prepped to use on you in case The Alteration didn't do its job."

Sol swallowed a nervous breath as Fenn directed his words to her and she ended up wrapping her arms around herself, feeling a cold shiver at the brutal reminder of what had happened to her.

"What does it do?" She asked.

"It's used to control people," Liam said, taking a step forward from behind Fenn, almost as if to prove a point that he had something to contribute to the conversation. "Once injected into its host, it can be used to force the person into doing or saying things without their knowledge."

"Why are you telling us this?" Sol asked. She was smart enough to predict the answer herself, but she wanted to be wrong. "They never put an implant in me, it was only The Alteration that I had to go through."

"I think the implant is meant for someone else," Liam said.

At his confession, a brutal gut-feeling swarmed inside of Wynn's chest; he stood up from his stool, unable to remain still with the amount of anxiety raging in his head.

"Who?" He asked, inhaling a last moment breath of courage before he knew it would all be ripped away from him.

"Quill," Liam said, giving him a few seconds for the news to digest. "I'm not saying he has one or he doesn't, just that I know what it can be used for and that Hannah will stop at nothing to get her son back... She talked about him a lot in The City of Targo that it kind of feels like we all know h-"

"Okay," Wynn snapped, not wanting to hear anything else about that wicked woman or the twisted claim she thought she had on his brother.

"Why would she use the implant on him? She wants him to accept her, not to be forced into doing it," Dreea said, answering on Wynn's behalf, knowing he was too furious to ask the questions he needed to.

"Maybe if she thinks he'll reject her attempts at coming back into his life, or-"

Liam was interrupted by the doors behind him swinging open again and he stepped out of the way as the people barged in.

"Sorry to interrupt," Atlantis said. She was breathless, sounding panicked as her eyes immediately settled on her sister. "But whatever you guys are talking about will have to wait."

"You have an update?" Sol searched, her eyes flickering between Atlantis and Bas - who was right on her tail.

"Yeah," Atlantis nodded, gulping down her anxiety. "Our initial predictions about the flood were wrong."

"How wrong?" Wynn asked. He was frustrated that the bombshell of the implants had to be pushed aside - especially knowing that it might in some way be about his brother - but he knew that was Bas and Atlantis were talking about was potentially a life or death situation.

"Well..." Bas looked over at Atlantis, taking some of the burdens off of her shoulders so she wasn't always the bearer of bad news. "The ground will be uninhabitable for up to 5 months."

"5 months!?" Dreea exclaimed.

"Maybe 2 or 3 if we're lucky," he said, "but they'll be continuous rainfall and nowhere for the water to go until the end of winter, so... We're going to be down there for quite a while."

"As long as it's not 14 years again," Wynn mumbled, managing to lighten the tension in the room, even earning a few laughs from everyone.

"You're the boy from the Bunker," Sol turned over her shoulder, shooting a tender smile Wynn's way. "5 months is nothing for you."

She resumed her seat at the table, patting the empty chair beside her for her sister to join and encouraged everyone to move in together, trying to figure out a way for their people to survive. 

Five // Part Four
Those two are basically my family.

Ya girl is in America!!!! Still a little more travelling to go, but hopefully I'll be settled soon and return into normal updates and finish this book so we can get started on Season 8!

Happy Heavenly 15th birthday to my baby boy, Toby. ♡
I love you and I miss you all the time. ♡

22/08/20