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  Signal Lost

  Liv J. Curtis

  2020 Olivia Curtis

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  ISBN: 9798608737169

  For my family. Thank you for always encouraging me to follow my dreams and to always be unapologetically, myself.

  Prologue

  In the Summer of 2310, the world was set ablaze by warfare, famine, and disease.

  Divided into eleven sectors, a greed for power between leaders sparked the fire of war. Some sector leaders chose tactics of biological warfare, poisoning the food and water supplies, causing widespread famine. Others chose to spread mutated diseases through the air, only promising the cure to those who relinquished control of their sectors.

  The war became known as The Sickening, and after nearly twenty-five years of fighting, all that remained was roughly 500,000 people and one sector leader, Warren Kelly.

  Under the governance of Supreme Sector Leader Kelly, the people grew and flourished. However, there were some who disagreed with Kelly’s rule, and rumors spread of a revolt. With the growing terror of losing his kingdom, Kelly began the creation of the Frame.

  At the center of the Frame was the Core. This was to be where the government, and those affiliated with it, would reside. A twenty-five-foot wall with three guarded gates would enclose the Core, separating the council members from the general public. Non-council members resided outside the Core and worked in schools, hospitals, and at the wall mines.

  The council was the form of government created by Kelly, with him at the top and his most loyal cohorts enforcing his laws. Only the highest members of the council would be given housing inside the Core creating a sense of separation between the council and the citizens of the Frame.

  As people realized the controlling nature of Kelly and the obvious plans for segregation, revolts, and other violent outbreaks broke out against him and his new compound.

  With the threat of another war, Kelly created a minimal mind-controlling frequency. Initially, this frequency was only to be used in a state of war, as it made the people compliant, moldable, and somewhat weak-minded. It was this mind-controlling that allowed for the completion of the Frame.

  Since all animals were carriers of viruses from the war, they were removed from the Frame, leaving them to run free outside the walls.

  The top and walls of the Frame created an invisible frequency dome to prevent any remaining traces of the bio-warfare diseases from affecting those living inside. It also acted as a barrier to ensure those trapped inside could not escape its boundaries.

  Initially, Kelly planned to remove the mind-controlling frequency once the people were comfortable in the Frame, leaving it only to be used in a state of emergency. However, Sector leader Kelly died before the frequency could be removed, leaving the Frame to his daughter, Lucille, who disagreed with her father’s decision to remove the frequency.

  Upon becoming the ruler of the Frame, Lucille Kelly dubbed herself Chancellor Kelly, Supreme Chancellor of the Frame. As the population grew, some were born with a type of resistance to the frequency.

  This was viewed as a threat to the Frame by the new leader, and so, she made it a law that anyone with impenetrable minds would be taken outside the Frame’s walls and left in what became known as, the Wilderness.

  Unknown to the chancellor, some of the first members of the Frame were also immune to the frequency. Not wanting to be exiled to the Wilderness, those immune, learned to imitate the behaviors of those under the mind control frequency.

  For generations, this method of hiding in plain sight was the only way those with impenetrable minds were able to survive inside the Frame. As the years went on, they were able to obtain jobs inside the Core working for the council and other government positions.

  Unfortunately, each year, there was more deemed unfit for society and banished into the Wilderness

  Chapter 1

  “Sage…Saaage… WAKE UP!” Sage woke to find her older sister, Eliza, standing over her, trying to wake her.

  “What time is it?” Sage asked as she covered her head with the blankets.

  “It’s five thirty, also known as you’re going to be late o’clock,” Eliza replied as she ripped the blanket off of Sage, switched the lights on, and headed back out of the room. Sage shivered as the fan in the corner of her room continued to blow a cool breeze over her bare legs.

  “Fine, I’m up. Can you at least turn on the shower if you’re going to freeze me awake?” she grumbled as she rolled out of bed and headed down the hall towards the bathroom, where her sister stood and was straightening her hair.

  “Can’t you wait till I’m done? The shower will ruin my hair, and this could be my day to impress the council, so I have to look my best,” Eliza replied while sliding the straightener through her perfectly smooth, glossy blonde hair.

  “Fine, I’ll go get my clothes picked out. YOU HAVE FIVE MINUTES!” Sage yelled from her room as she went to decide which dress would be best for the day’s events.

  After staring into her closet for a few minutes, Sage decided to wear her navy dress with a lace collar and sleeves that her mom had given her for her birthday. She loved how it complimented her slightly curvy shape, made her copper hair even brighter, and her slate blue eyes even bluer. As she sat it aside with her white suede heels, Eliza called from the bathroom, letting Sage know it was her turn.

  After her shower, Sage applied a small amount of make-up and, unlike Eliza, brushed down her short bangs that sat just on top of her eyebrows and curled her hair, setting each individual curl with perfection.

  After all, she thought, today is the one-day a year I have to appear flawless.

  On a normal day, she would have let her hair dry naturally leaving it just slightly wavy and a bit messy. As she slipped into her clothes Sage finished her look with the small pearl stud earrings that were her sisters years ago when she was eighteen. With one last look in the mirror, Sage made her way downstairs to find her mom and dad standing in the kitchen discussing the plan for the day.

  “We have to be convincing today, Adalynn. More so than most days since all eyes will be on our families.” Sage’s dad rubbed his forehead as he spoke. Her mom stood in front of him, looking concerned and anxious.

  “I know, Finn. I know,” she replied while shaking her head trying to displace the seed of doubt planting itself in her mind. Her short dark gray hair smoothed to left side of her head, framing her large hazel eyes, and accenting her soft lavender shirt.

  “Well, how do I look?” Sage asked, attempting to break the tension building in the room. Both her mom and dad looked over, as if just noticing she was even in the room. They both smiled, Sage’s dad walked over to hug her. His head was completely shaved, leaving his white gray goatee as his only hair and adding to his large, deep green eyes that he shared with Eliza.

  Sage’s mom made her way over next, stealing Sage away from her dad, “My turn,” she said as she hugged Sage with a small sway left and right. They laughed, and the bit of anxiety in both her parent’s eyes faded for just a moment.

  “Eliza! Are you almost done?” their dad yelled from the bottom of the stairs.

  “I’m coming! Just can’t find my pearl earrings!” Sage made eye contact with her mom, who noticed that Sage was wearing them. They both laughed, and Sage quickly moved to cover them with her hair while motioning to her mom not to say anything.

  “Never mind. I can’t find them, and I don’t want to be late.” Eliza huffed as she made her way down the stairs. Her streamlined black dress cut off just above the knee, paired with her favorite blue heel
s. She had combed her hair into a perfectly neat bun that sat just on top of the crown of her head.

  “Well, you look very professional and beautiful, even without the earrings.” Their dad laughed, trying to break through Eliza’s tizzy.

  “Thanks, but I still wish I had them,” she replied as she swept a fine strand of hair that had escaped the bun back into place.

  “You look pretty,” Eliza said to Sage as they all made their way to the door.

  “So do you,” Sage replied as she grabbed her small white purse and opened the door to leave.

  “Let’s just hope we look convincing, so the council doesn’t have any speculations,” Eliza said as she locked the front door behind her.

  They got into their dad’s car to begin the drive to the council hall in the Core. As they pulled out of the driveway, Sage noticed their neighbors, River Mason, who had been Sage’s best friend since birth, Audrey, River’s younger sister who just turned fifteen that week, and Harlow, their mom, all getting into their car, also leaving for the council hall. They all waved to Sage and her family as they piled into their vehicle.

  “Are you nervous for today, girls?” Sage’s mom asked as they drove deeper into the city.

  “I think by now we shouldn’t be…but I can’t help but feel a bit concerned that this time might be different,” Eliza said while looking down at her small clean nails, messing with them as if there was something wrong, a nervous habit Sage had picked up on over the years.

  “Don’t worry, it will be just as easy as last year. What about you Sage? Are you nervous, it is your eighteenth year?” their mom asked.

  “I don’t know, I saw what Eliza went through six years ago at her eighteenth so I kind of know what to expect,” Sage replied, trying to sound as calm as she possibly could, despite feeling like she could’ve passed out at any moment.

  “Plus, I’ll have River and Emery with me up there so, at least, I won’t be alone,” Sage added.

  As they continued into the center of the Frame, Sage looked out the rear window of their car to see the Mason family driving behind. She waved to River, who seemed to be in deep conversation with his mom, who looked more nervous than her usual state.

  Their families, going deeper into the center of the Frame, soon to be in the Core, preparing to once again hide their secrets and disguise the truth, to blend in with the rest of those around them. Looking out her window, Sage thought back to the stories that her family had shared of their entry into this world.

  When a baby was born in the Frame, the doctors would take the newborn into a room where it was subjected to a list of tests that determine what type of mind it had, moldable (MDM) or impenetrable (ITM), the chancellor calling those who were ITM, Awake.

  The day Sage was born, she was put into a room with several other newborns including River Mason and Emery Richards, River’s cousin. The one in charge of determining the status of the babies was Henry Mason, River’s dad.

  As he conducted the series of tests, he found that the three of them were all Awake. This typically meant that the babies would be taken away from their families and sent outside of the Frame into the Wilderness, a harsh jungle environment that was said to be unlivable.

  Henry Mason was secretly an Awake, and in reviewing the results, quickly made the decision to manually override the outcome of his own child, River, as well as Sage’s and Emery’s, to read as MDM.

  As he made his way out of the results room with the three of them, he found his wife, Harlow, with Sage’s mom and dad, waiting for the outcomes. He informed them of the results and the changes he made, explaining this was a secret they would have to keep till the day they died. In that moment, a rush of nurses went past their room to address Emery’s mother and Harlow’s sister, Juliana, who went into cardiac arrest from the delivery.

  Waiting patiently outside the delivery unit was Eliza, who was only six years old and eight-year-old Andrea Richards, unaware that her mother was being rushed to emergency surgery. By the end of the day, both the Richards sisters were orphaned.

  Their dad, Joseph Richards had died two months before Emery’s birth in a work accident at the mines, and their mother was unable to be saved after her problematic delivery. Henry and Harlow Mason offered to take in the two of them as their own, until Andrea was twenty-four and would be given a house by the council, both fully aware that Andrea and Emery would need extreme attention and grooming since they were both deemed impenetrable at birth.

  Like the three born that day, Andrea and Sage’s older sister, Eliza, were born Awake, but Henry had also switched their results to prevent them being taken away from their families, as well.

  Three years later, Audrey, Rivers sister was born. Her results yielded the same as her brother’s, and Henry once again changed the results. As Sage and the others aged, they were taught how to conform and blend in with the MDMs around them. Eventually, they would go to school and remain undetected in the Frame.

  Unbeknown to Henry, the chancellor was growing suspicious of the lack of MDMs being logged. Four years after Audrey’s birth, the chancellor enacted a plan to uncover the truth. One morning, while Henry was working when a woman gave birth to her first child, she was told that by the chancellor that when the results came back as ITM she was to beg for Henry to change the results, and so she did. Despite his better judgment, Henry complied.

  Watching from outside the room was Dawson Green, an intern for the records keeping department. After Dawson witnessed the overriding, he took no time reporting it to the chancellor. With her suspicions confirmed, the chancellor moved to make her arrest.

  Henry was unaware of the discovery of his secret and, that day, when he was leaving work, he was taken into custody and put on trial. The trial ended, claiming he had an Impenetrable mind, was guilty of manipulation, and would be sentenced to death for deception.

  It was known that ITMs often ran in families and so, to protect his family, Henry pleaded guilty to the charges. Since there was no flag that showed which documents had been altered the only way to determine if the rest of the Mason’s were ITMs was to re-examine each of them. After several rounds of questioning and testing, the council concluded that Harlow, River, Audrey, Emery, and Andrea were unlike Henry, showing no signs of being an ITM. A week later, Harlow Mason was a widow and she, her children, her two niece’s, and Sage’s family were forced to live with the secret, pretending for the rest of their lives that they were moldable like their online files stated.

  As Sage and her family drove past the hospital, the memories became overwhelming, and she forced them to the back of her mind where they remained most of the time.

  When they reached the council hall, the two families parked next to one another as well as Andrea and Emery, who were a few spaces down from them. They all walked in to the council hall carrying their secret as if it nothing was different.

  Sage walked hand and hand with Emery and River, none of them speaking but all knowing what the others were thinking. Today was the day that all the children who turned eighteen in the upcoming year would be choosing their career paths in front of the entire council, as well as broadcasted to all of those living in the Frame. This was known as the annual Choosing Ceremony.

  River was dressed in a white dress shirt, black pants and shoes, and a navy tie, his dark brown hair combed off his face and pushed back, his blue green eyes looking more tense than normal.

  Sage tapped four times on the back of his hand, the code they came up with in primary school for “Are you OK?”

  He glanced down at her and smiled, telling her he was fine. However, Sage knew better. She could tell by his mom and his sister that something was wrong and that he was hiding it.

  Emery was on Sage’s other side. Sage tapped the same pattern on her hand. Emery looked over at Sage and nodded with a smile. She, too, seemed tense, which was unusual as she was normally very bubbly and lighthearted.

  As they approached the entrance, the hot morning sun beaming down on the
m, the three of them said goodbye to their families as they went to a different entrance that took them behind the stage. The others went to the audience entrance. As Sage started to walk away, she felt a hand grab her wrist and looked back to see Eliza looking concerned.

  “Remember that you have to choose the same results as your aptitude test. You have to remain compliant and follow the laws, don’t forget that,” she said to Sage with a look of unease.

  Sage replied, “I know Eliza, I’ll make the right decision, don’t worry. It’s going to be fine.” She looked her sister in the eyes and lied, knowing full well what she planned to do.

  “Okay, good lu… Are you wearing my earrings?” Eliza exclaimed. Sage smiled at her sister’s confused and annoyed look.

  “Sorry, El, I’ve got to go! Don’t want to be late!” she said as she pulled out of her sister’s grip and ran to catch up to her friends, laughing to herself at her sister’s look of irritation that she wore her earrings.

  Sage caught up with River and Emery and the three of them made their way to the holding zone behind the stage.

  “What did your sister say?” River asked Sage as she found her spot next to him in line.

  “She was telling me that I had to maintain my moldable appearance and choose what my aptitude results stated,” Sage replied quietly so nobody around would hear her self-incriminating words.

  River looked at her with a smirk. “So, is it safe to assume you’re not going to do that?”

  Sage laughed. “Well, I’m pretty sure our families are the only ones who know what those results were so I can choose whatever I want.” They looked at each other and laughed nervously at the idea of their families’ reaction to the deception.

  “Well, whatever you choose, I’ll choose it, too. We’re by your side till we die Sage Blackwell.” River nodded towards Emery as he turned back to the front.