The Ark Plan Read Online Free PDF Page B

a traitor to the human race, worse than a criminal. There had been rewards offered for information leading to his capture. I’d watched the entire thing from the front row, feeling the disapproving glare of every citizen of North Compound digging into my back. Guilt and confusion had gnawed at my guts, almost overshadowing the feeling of loss and betrayal that made it hard to breathe. Needless to say, after that assembly, sympathies for the recently orphaned Sky Mundy had hit a record low for everyone—everyone except Shawn Reilly.
    â€œIt’s not so bad here,” Shawn promised. “You’ll get used to it.”
    â€œI hate it here.” I sniffed.
    â€œWell,” Shawn had said, holding out a hand to pull me to my feet. “That’s probably because you’re sleeping on the floor.” And he’d helped me make my bed by the light of the flashlight. A flashlight I found out he’d made from broken pieces of machinery he found sorting trash during work details.
    Shawn had made life bearable. For two years, we lived in the Guardian Wing, breaking into each other’s rooms to talk and laugh. I told him about how I was determined to find out what really happened to my dad, and he told me how he felt guilty that his parentshad died in that cave-in. Apparently, he’d made them late that day, putting them in the wrong place at the wrong time. Sometimes I thought he saw looking out for me as his way of making up for that, but I didn’t mind. I needed a friend desperately.
    I’d been almost happy. But then Shawn’s aunt had been transferred to North Compound, and she’d insisted that he come to live with her. He’d wanted to refuse the offer, too worried about leaving me behind. But in the end he’d gone, while I remained with the handful of unwanted misfits our society didn’t quite know what to do with.
    Now I slowed my jog to a walk as River, the guardian on duty, narrowed her eyes at me in warning before going back to tapping on her port.
    â€œFive minutes until work detail,” she said without looking up. “General Kennedy is on duty tonight.”
    â€œHe would be,” I muttered before hurrying back to my room. I threw open my door and let it slam behind me before peeling off the gray starch of my school uniform and pulling on loose gray coveralls. Everything in the compound was gray. The walls, the clothing, even the people were starting to look a little gray after so many years without sunlight. I yanked my hair out of its ponytail and jammed my hard hat on my head. I was about to bolt out my door when I spotted myschoolbag. My heart squeezed painfully as I realized what I’d almost just done.
    Grabbing it, I pulled out the scan plug and my journal. The metal springs of my bed groaned and creaked as I climbed onto it. Standing on my tiptoes, I stretched to reach the large recessed light in my ceiling. I usually avoided doing this when the lights were on, but I didn’t have a choice. Using the sleeve of my jumpsuit to protect my skin from the hot bulb, I unscrewed the entire thing from the ceiling. The light canister hung down by its wires as I shoved my plug and journal inside. Shawn had shown me this trick shortly after I’d moved in. It had been too time-consuming for the compound engineers to drill through the solid rock of the original rock quarry to install lights, so they had created false ceilings instead in order to run their wires. It was the perfect hiding spot for things you didn’t want found. I replaced the light and jumped off my bed just as the whistle blew to let me know I was late. I groaned and ran for the door.

I dashed out of the Guardian Wing. Two minutes later I rounded the last corner and plowed full force into a body. My feet went out from under me, and I landed hard on my butt. I gazed up into the disapproving eyes of General Ron Kennedy.
    â€œLate again?” he asked, pulling out his port