Chapter 94: 94 Departures, Part Two

Days later, the loudspeaker crackled to life and broke the silence that had settled between them.

"I will allow one group to leave. Finish reconstruction of the twelve passenger military jet. Choose your twelve passengers wisely."

Angharad refused to be a party to voting about that, but Jin wasn't going to let anyone decide his fate but himself.

He marched up to the Major and asked, "Have you prepared a speech for why we all deserve to go home yet?"

She eyed him over her morning tea cup and said, "Maria and I are on it. We've already discussed who else we're voting for with Irene and we're going to work on Antoine as well. Get Freya and meet us upstairs in 204 so we can make a list."

"Yes, sir," he said, for once entirely in agreement with what a superior wanted him to do.

*

On the day of the vote the people of Zapville argued over it in the large, empty space of the gymnasium. They were all roughly arranged in a circle, Freya standing tall next to Jin. Angharad refused to come and vote; Tony was in the hospital, watched over by Willow and Niall; Gemma and Theo claimed they'd wait until a later ship out, just in case the first one didn't go well.

The crowd yelled in predictable waves. A lot of, "We don't know if we can trust that this isn't a trap," and, "We don't know if know if those people get to live or die."

"Then pick some people you want to leave for their own safety and some people you want to leave because you can't stand them!" Milo yelled, his anger uncharacteristic.

Ibrahim grabbed one of Milo's hands and quietly murmured to him until he calmed down.

"Do you want those people to be you?" Rod Spark asked, arms crossed in front of himself.

"We're staying," Ibrahim answered in a soft voice.

"Me, too," Yong Jie said. His voice was timid at first, but then he stood tall and straight and spoke again. "There are people who need to go home more than me. I won't take their place."

"Doctor?" the Major asked.

Dr Yeoh leaned against the wall next to Yong Jie, arms casually crossed. "I go where my son goes. I stay where my son stays."

"It should go without saying that Tony will go home," the Colonel said. "His parents have already missed his eleventh birthday. He and they have suffered enough."

There were nods and affirmative murmurs from the crowd.

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"And Angharad, obviously," Jin said.

"Why is it obvious?" Eleanor asked.

"Because everybody from the Constructed Territories already decided to form a voting bloc and we say Angharad is coming home with us," Jin answered.

"I'm voting with them, even though I am personally choosing to stay," the Colonel said.

"That's not fair!" Eleanor said.

"Why is it unfair?" Freya said. "Who will represent our interests if not us?"

The arguments grew tedious and circular. Hours of wasted time. It took more effort than it should for the Major and Captain O'Connor to get the conversation back on track.

"Spark?" the Captain asked.

Rod Spark laughed and threw his arms out in a dramatic gesture, because he was a gross attention hog. "Honestly, you all know I want to go home. I have a wife and child, a business, an excellent lifestyle. Who could want to give up that? Ah, but nobody here understands how to restore small aircraft for gate travel as well as I do, so I have to be the last to leave."

"If they let another group go after this one," someone piped up.

"I have faith," Spark said.

"Mackenzie?" the Captain asked.

Mac stepped forward, and said, "Here's why I think I deserve to go home more than anyone else..."

*

Eventually they made a list of suggested names. The first two people were easily chosen, almost unanimous. The next ten were contentious. The group voted more than once, argued more.

Jin and his people wouldn't budge. Everyone else had to be persuaded. And then hours after it got dark, a final list, the twelve chosen to leave. No substitutions accepted.

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