Chapter 4

The Ark~Lockup

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Abby's mind was in utter turmoil. The past few days' events had taken a toll and at times she had felt like screaming in frustration.

Jaha's orders to inject the 100 with some sort of genetic enhancer had been the least stressful part of her day. The look of confusion on Clarke's face had weighed deep in her mind. Jaha had assured her that the sole golden solution that Clarke had been injected with was only reliable in her hands.

The ship had launched and disengaged without issue and there had been nothing to report at first.

First of all, it had been discovered that the Ark had lost communication with the dropship and that there had been an apparent glitch that had caused the dropship to veer off course from Mount Weather.

They had landed safely –except for two of the 100 – and that had been the last of the good news.

Abby had been told that Thelonious had been shot by Bellamy Blake while the Chancellor was in the Keep returning the leftover vials of the Darwin nanobots.

The guards outside the room had been knocked out and one had even been stripped of his uniform. The older Blake sibling had apparently done all of this to sneak aboard the dropship.

Abby had been called to operate on Thelonious and she had been forced to use more than what she was allowed to save Jaha's life.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, her crime had only been discovered later on by Kane. The very man who she had hoped to prevent from becoming Chancellor.

It was fortunate because she had been there when the wristbands of some of the 100 had stopped transmitting. Thus, she had been able to explain that they were not dying of radiation.

It was also unfortunate because she had been told that she was to be floated for saving Jaha and to add insult to injury she was forced into the very cell that Clarke had been in.

She had no idea how Clarke hadn't lost her mind in this place. The walls felt like they were closing in on her and the only thing that could keep her mind off her impending death was looking at the intricate drawings that Clarke had sketched. It reminded her of the time before she was aware of the impending doom of the Ark.

A time before she had gotten her husband killed and daughter imprisoned.

It was especially heartbreaking for Abby to realise that Wells had born the brunt of Clarke's hatred to protect the both of them from the reality of what had actually happened and that she might never get the chance to admit to her crimes.

The door to the cell opened and there stood Commander Shumway who was accompanied by Kane. Abby wordlessly stood and followed them to the site of her execution.

She was surprised to see that Callie, Jackson and Sinclair had come along to witness her death. She gave a tight hug to all three before leaving some parting words to Sinclair who had been a close friend of Jake's .

"Sinclair,"said Abby as she was guided into the airlock and given a chance to say her last few words,"You should try to figure out a way to reverse engineer the wristbands and find a way to communicate with the 100."

The automatic doors to the airlock were closed and Kane then said,"I'm very sorry for this Abby. There is no other way."

Abby glared at Kane and said,"There always is another way."

Abby held her glare and remained calm even as Kane gave the order to kill her. She took a deep breath in as Kane was about to press the button, but was surprised to hear a familiar, but weak voice come from the passage that led to the airlock.

"Stop!"said Thelonious Jaha as he appeared still in a gown and walking very unsteadily,"Abigail Griffin has officially been pardoned by word of the Chancellor."

Abby despite herself let out a sigh of relief as she heard Jaha's words before she straightened her posture.

There was clearly still work to do.

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"Let me get this straight,"said a brown haired girl with tanned skin as she stood with Abby in one of the rooms of the Ark that were off limits,"The council is planning to execute 320 people within a week's time unless you somehow prove to them that the 100 are alive and the Earth is habitable?"

Abby looked at Raven Reyes– the best Zero Gravity mechanic on the Ark– and said,"Yes. There had been an earlier vote, but there had been a deadlock with the Chancellor having abstained and the vote has been delayed by a week. Thus, I need you to fix this up and I'll head to Earth before radioing in to the Ark."

Raven looked at the ancient dropship that Abby was referring to and said,"This piece of shit? I guess I can do that, but there's one more thing I'll need from you before I accept... I'm coming with you to the Earth. Take it or leave it."

Abby nodded and said,"That's fine, but I need you to start working now. I'll write you down as sick so you don't need to head to work."

Raven nodded and set down the box of tools she brought with her and was about to get down to work before she heard Abby's last question.

"Why do you want to go to Earth anyways? Aren't there people aboard who'd miss you?"

Raven pondered the question before she looked down at her necklace which had a pendant of a raven and said,"My whole reason for living is on Earth. There's nothing left for me here otherwise without him."

Abby smiled and said,"I guess we're more alike than I thought."

Raven gave Abby a smile and said,"You should probably head to Medical. I'm sure there are people who need your help and I work best alone so come back in a few hours and I'll give you an update."

Abby smiled at Raven before saying,"You're right. Thank you for your help Raven."

Raven chuckled dryly,"Don't thank me yet. I may be a genius, but this pile of trash might not work so let's save that for later,okay?"

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It was almost Unity Day and also unbeknownst to the majority of the Ark the day on which the council would vote to either approve or reject the Population Reduction Act.

Raven had been working overtime to restore the ancient dropship and she only needed a pressure regulator. Raven had told Abby that she'd already tried to get one from Nygel, but she had been unsuccessful.

It was why Abby was on the way to Medical so she could get morphine to trade for a pressure regulator. Abby turned around a corner and she was surprised to see Diana Sydney waiting for her outside of Medical.

"Abby,"said Diana as she extended her hand for a handshake that Abby returned,"I've been looking for you."

Abby was surprised to see the former Chancellor and was even more shocked to find out Diana was looking for her personally.

"What can I do for you Diana?"said Abby curiously.

Diana fixed Abby with a strange before she said,"Let's go to my quarters. I imagine you'd want to have this conversation in a more private location."

The two ladies walked in a rather tense silence before they reached Diana's room. Diana invited her to sit at her couch and once they were both settled she spoke.

"I know about your little secret in Mech Station."

Abby was barely able to keep her composure and said,"I'm not sure what you're talking about."

Diana sent a faux shocked look before saying,"Oh and I suppose you and that Zero-G mechanic have been spending the past few days eating tea and biscuits for hours on end."

Abby sighed and said,"What do you want Diana? If you wanted me dead you wouldn't have bothered coming to me with this knowledge."

Diana smiled and said,"I see we're finally getting down to business. You see Abby I want you in my corner. You may not know it, but these past few days where you've been helping everyone with their pulmonary toxicity has elevated beyond everyone. You're essentially a celebrity."

Abby was suspicious of what was on offer and said guardedly,"I was just doing my job. It's simply the life I signed up for and if people want to idolise me for it then it doesn't faze me. Also, what do you mean by 'your corner'?"

Diana smiled and said,"You see Abby that humbleness you've got going for you really endears you to everyone. The general populace trust you and that's why I need you to second my bid for a vote of no confidence in Jaha."

This time Abby could not keep her composure and she said angrily,"Excuse me? You want me to help you rob Jaha of his position? You know that's treason at best and it'll only end with the two of us waiting to be floated."

Diana smiled and said,"Perhaps, but I must say for a member of the council you clearly don't know the Ark Charter that well. My grandmother along with the heads of the other stations added a clause which said that if there is irrefutable evidence that the Chancellor withholds or hides information that is deemed important to the livelihood of the citizens of the Ark then the council is to vote on whether or not the Chancellor should remain in power."

Abby raised an eyebrow and said,"You do know that I'm only one part of the Council, right? You'd still need to convince the others and I can tell you now that Kane would go against you immediately."

Diana smiled and said,"Yes, don't take me for a fool. You're not the first councillor I've approached on this and I think you'd be surprised how many people are upset that Jaha not only sent the prisoners to Earth, but also kept the secret of the degradation of the Ark private. I don't think I need to mention Kane's idea. What did he call it? The Population Reduction Act? I don't think Thelonious would survive the day if this were to be leaked."

This was worse than Abby thought. She hadn't even bothered with the possibility that other people would discover all of the dirty secrets that the council had tried to keep a tight leash on.

She knew she was in between a rock and hard place and she needed to remain calm because if she made the wrong step she'd either be responsible for overthrowing Jaha or be floated for planning to steal an escape pod.

The decision wasn't hard to make.

"What do you want me to do?"said Abby seriously as she stared unflinchingly into Diana's eyes.

"For now? There is only one thing I can tell you and that's that I'm thinking bigger than just the Ark and I'll need you and that prodigious Zero Gravity mechanic to further my ambition. My plan will only be set in motion on Unification Day. I knew you'd see things my way though I must say I didn't expect you to agree so readily. I suppose you still have some leftover hatred for Thelonious after he floated Jake."

Abby's gaze turned cold and as she stood to leave said,"Is that all?"

Diana held her wrist and said,"No. I understand that you might not fully trust me and might want to expose me so as a show of faith I have a few gifts."

Diana stood and she reached into one of her drawers before throwing Abby something. Abby looked at the strange device before she recognised it as a pressure regulator.

"You should be glad that Nygel is in my corner because otherwise she was going to expose Raven to the Council. That's just to make sure Raven gets down there safely and radioes back whether or not it's safe,"said Diana before she retrieved a briefcase with the initials DS on it.

"I trust you know what these are?"said Diana lightly as she held up two vials.

Two vials with a familiar, silvery solution in it.

"It's a shame your daughter took the only Novus series injection. My grandmother was exceedingly proud of it. She'd often say that it was a combination of her life's work in her journals and how she wishes she'd been able to take it. Did you know she kept working on it until her death? It was a sad death too. It was as though her body just gave up on her."said Diana glibly.

"You want me to take two of those, but why? Also, I thought Bellamy Blake stole those."said Abby as she hesitantly looked at the vials that she'd been ordered to inject into the delinquents.

"Abby, trust me the less questions you ask the smoother our whole partnership will be,"said Diana sharply,"As the one who injected these into the delinquents. I'm sure you are familiar with them, but allow me to give you a demonstration."

Diana held her hand up and to Abby's amazement a ball of water began to form above her hand. The sphere was then changed into a pyramid then a cube and even a model of the Ark before it turned to steam.

"Hydrokinesis,"said Diana,"That's what I've been gifted with. I suppose it makes sense. I believe I am always willing to adapt, change and prepare for any situation just like water. The question is are you willing to adapt?"

Abby was silent for a few minutes before she nodded. She carefully took the vials and pocketed them. She turned to leave and Diana didn't say a word until she was at the door.

"Abby, you should know that as much as water flows and adapts. It also crushes and drown those that are foolish enough to oppose it. So please, excuse the pun, but do tread lightly."

Abby didn't look back, but felt a tremor of fear shoot through her as she left.

Raven would need to hurry up and install this damn pressure regulator. The sooner she could leave and radio in the better it would be.