"Five minutes," said the officious, young aide, Joshua as he re-entered the room. "Five minutes," he repeated, holding out his hand and splaying five fingers in Hannah's face just to re-emphasize the point.

Confined to a small, windowless room for the last hour since she'd arrived, Hannah drummed her fingers on the surface of the table.

"Let's recap one final time." Joshua, sat down opposite her.

Hannah groaned inwardly as he repeated the itinerary for the sixth time.

"Arrive on stage... Smile... Clap in all the right places... Read from script... Don't deviate from script... Don't talk to anyone else.... Leave stage... Do you have any questions?"

"Did you manage to get hold of Agent Scott?" she asked again.

"Err... as I said earlier, I'm afraid Agent Scott is rather... busy and cannot be called away from his position at this late stage." Joshua, checked his wrist watch again.

"But..."

"Right," he jumped to his feet, "it's time, let's go."

Hannah bit down on what remained of her thumbnail. She was just going to have to play it by ear and hope that the right things happened at the right time. Summoning up the strength to get off the chair and stand, she took a deep breath.

"There's nothing to be nervous about, Hannah. Just relax and enjoy yourself. It's not every day, that you get a chance to make history."

"That's what I'm afraid of," she muttered and followed Joshua out of the room.

Having navigated the stuffy warren of dimly lit corridors, Hannah welcomed the bite of cold, fresh air as they exited the building. Down a covered set of stairs and then along an open passage way, their footsteps echoed off the high walls. She was surprised that the frenetic beating of her heart didn't have an echo of its own.

"How long ...," she began, but was drowned out by several thousand people cheering ahead of them. She covered her ears, yet the noise was so loud and so immersing, it seemed to vibrate her entire being. She stopped and yearned to turn on her heels and run from it as if it were some giant beast in pursuit.

"We are an enduring nation. We have fought together, suffered together and have had to make huge sacrifices together and yet we still prevail. There are moments in time where change comes whether we will it or not and this country of ours has had many such times."

Briggs' voice rang out as the crowd noise quietened and the cheering echoes slowly died away. The beast, she realised, wasn't in the passage with her, but was beginning his oration on the stage. It had begun.

"And now, for the good of our nation, we must embrace change again, to protect that which we hold so dear. Sacrifices will again be required of us, but I know, with your unwavering support, this nation will thrive."

The audience responded louder than before as Hannah and Joshua reached the end of the passage with their armed escort. From where they were positioned, they were below the level of the stage, but still covered from sight. Even though she was hidden from the crowds, she could feel their collective presence as easily as she could hear them. The hairs on the back of her neck and her arms seemed to tingle in response to the potent energy all around.

"Many years ago, my forebears responded to cataclysmic events by beginning on a path to rid this society of its costly imperfections, to build a new world---a world where the worthy and not the meek would inherit the earth. This approach has allowed our society to once again flourish, while around the world, other less enlightened societies are still ravaged by the incessant drain on resources, of political division and blighted by social chaos. These societies long for the order and calm that we enjoy here.

The crowd responded fervently.

"Get ready, he's about to call you onto the stage," Joshua whispered into her ear.

"But we cannot afford to become complacent. We must strive ever harder to continue to improve our society and the standards by which we live. This year we finally succeeded in our quest for perfection when a special young lady was awarded the score of one hundred in the Standardised Perfection Rating. Hannah, please come and join me on the stage."

"Hannah, Hannah, Hannah..." The crowd began to call and within moments, everyone in the square seemed to be demanding her presence on the stage. Hannah closed her eyes and tried to calm herself. Concentrating on just her breathing, the noise around her faded a little. Seven small steps up to the podium were all that remained of the life-altering journey she'd made over the last few months and yet she might as well have been asked to climb the perilous north face of a mountain. Neither her body nor her spirit wanted to make the ascent. It was too high, too dangerous a journey to make and one from which she doubted she would ever return.

"Hannah, the general has asked for you." Joshua tugged lightly at her arm.

Her noisy reality rushed back, the crowd continuing to call her name faster and louder. She opened her eyes, and at the top of the stairs, looking back down at her was Briggs, his facial expression stony. Hannah smiled weakly, took a deep breath and willed her left foot to move. It did as she directed, and she made contact with the timber step, which gave a little beneath her foot. Seven... six ... five..., Briggs offered his hand to her. Four... three... two... His hand grasped onto hers and pulled her up the final steps onto the stage. Leaning in, he kissed her on the cheek.

"Don't ever leave me waiting again," he whispered. Gripping her hand too tightly, he raised it aloft and together they punched the air. Hannah turned towards the crowd and gasped. The sight before her very eyes was both breath-taking and bewildering. Several thousand people stood shoulder to shoulder, holding balloons and banners in the colours of the state. Small children sat on their parent's shoulders waving small flags. The atmosphere was carnival-like, and the military band responded by playing an up-tempo march. Everywhere, people were grinning and waving at her, and she did what was expected of her; she waved back, although smiling was one step beyond her capabilities. She caught Briggs looking at her, the furious look on his face earlier, now replaced with something altogether more unsettling and unidentifiable.

Hannah averted her eyes and turned to look at the audience in the raised seating area at the rear of the stage- the VIP area, filled with assorted dignitaries. She recognised a few faces from the newspaper and a few from the initial parties she was made to attend when she was first promoted. Further down the rows she scanned, but still she could find no sign off Scott. As her eyes reached the bottom tier, Hannah located Diana and their eyes locked. Diana attempted a smile at her daughter, but it looked more like a grimace, particularly when she looked to the two empty chairs beside her. John and Edward weren't there.

The crowd suddenly hushed and Hannah forced herself to turn back towards them.

"Before I begin to outline the new legislation that will be imposed as of midnight tonight, I will... "

Briggs began a lengthy review of the previous fiscal year including the successes of the army and the effectiveness of the most recently introduced legislation. On and on, went his speech and she zoned him out and continued her search. She turned her attention to the perimeter of the square, where soldiers guarded the crowd in large numbers. You promised me you'd be here. But what if he'd changed his mind, what if...? That thought left her breathless, panicky and questioning her own judgement. "Where are you?" she whispered to herself.

As Briggs wound up this part of his speech, Hannah knew he was mere minutes away from announcing his proclamations for the coming year and she would be required to act. Finally, Briggs took a step back and the crowd burst into another round of applause, which he again allowed to continue for several minutes until he gestured for them to quieten.

"As leader of this nation, I am charged with making the tough decisions that are needed for this country to survive. At times those decisions require months, nay years, of thought and evaluation, and today after careful thought and consideration, I am here to announce changes to the way in which we grade our society. However there are other times, when decisions are sometimes forced upon us, where events we haven't foreseen can force us to react quickly and often in the harshest of ways.

Hannah looked to the crowd, waiting for the sign. She edged forward in her chair and positioned her feet on the floor, ready to stand. She scanned the crowd, as yet no orange flags were visible. She waited.

"Before I continue, I must address an urgent issue of national security that has been brought to my attention in the last few hours..."

Hannah's search for the flags halted immediately.

"There are forces in this country, in this city, no doubt in this very crowd tonight, which want to destroy this government. They wish to see this country fall, they wish to see me fall..."

Hannah paled as the icy tentacles of fear wrapped around her heart. He knows.

The crowd were utterly silent. Even the smallest of children knew better than to make a sound. As the people collectively held their breath, the temperature felt like it had dropped several degrees with a sharp northerly wind whipping around the square. The large flag by the podium began to flap frantically, its cord slapping against the side of the metal flag pole, punctuating the quiet.

"It is time, once and for all, that we put an end to this ridiculous notion."

The audience who had been in quite the thrall of Briggs, turned they attentions to somewhere behind Hannah. She heard gasps of astonishment, and the murmurings of a few spread quickly. Hannah turned to see what had captivated their attention.

Cecily. Barely recognisable with matted, grey hair, a swollen face and her sightless eyes hidden under a mass of purple bruising. With her ankles bound by heavy chains, she was part-carried, part-dragged up the stairs. Hannah felt the urge to vomit.

"And this is their glorious leader." Briggs gave a hollow, cruel laugh.

Focused on Cecily, Hannah didn't immediately register who was following behind her. Slowly emerging from the stairway, Zeke placed a put a foot up on the stage, his face devoid of emotion. Hannah couldn't help but remember the man who first approached her in the lift and turned her life upside down. That man was filled with a righteous, burning sense of indignation, happy to battle the world and its army if he thought he could help others. This man however, was just an empty husk, and Hannah hoped that he would never return to his former self, knowing he'd never be able to live with what he'd become.

Zeke stopped several feet back, now in line with Hannah.

"Appearances can be deceptive," Briggs continued. "Old and laughably frail she may be, but Cecily Waring, or Cecily Eastman as she is sometimes referred to, has spent the last twenty-five years conspiring against this government. She has led uprisings which have seen hundreds of innocent, law-abiding citizens killed..."

Someone near to the front of the audience booed.

"She has coordinated a black market, putting weapons into the hands of those that wish to do us harm..."

Just like the cheering earlier, the entire crowd began to boo and yell profanities. A bottle was launched from the front of the crowd and landed at Cecily's feet. The glass shattered upon impact with the stage and the contents of the bottle – a deep, red liquid showered the cream-coloured overalls she was wearing. In spite of the abuse being hurled by the crowd, Cecily didn't flinch and continued to wear a serene expression on her face.

"Her parasitic organisation has caused untold damage and continues to threaten our very society, one for which we have fought so hard to build."

Hannah had never felt more useless in her life. Her feelings of sheer terror were almost dwarfed by her feelings of utter self-loathing. Why couldn't she find her voice, why couldn't she summon up the strength to stand up and fight for Cecily?

"They are a contagion, and one, I mistakenly thought only fed off the weak and most disenfranchised. But today I've learned just how virulent they are and it appears even the most noble of men are not immune either. Former Agent, Thomas Scott, is one such victim of this contagion..."