Chapter 29
Intermission
Jack's side story
Part 1
Anther's note:
This is Jack's story recap as I told it in the first volume, but I will now add the missing parts that were not known to anyone in the first volume or the second volume until now, or what was his connection to the storey line? So far, all we knew in the first volume was that he was looking for his wife, and that was all he was looking for. Where was he imprisoned? What for? There were a lot of questions that no one asked and nobody answered, and no one will unless someone dares ask the correct question.
Also, I edited the previous chapter, its not just a copy of the same chapter of the first volume to go along with the current retelling of the story without changing much from the original story as a recap because of the importance of the story line. I remember one reader asking me if I was just filling in the characters for the sake of my book, and he was specifically talking about Jack :) I hope now he got the answer.
I called the chapter side story but it's part of the main story line
Abdirizack Sarman
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There are a lot of things unknown to the general population about the empire and about the emperors of this continent. The life that normal people lead is a tough one. Although technologically they are more advanced by eons than the rest of the planet, that still doesn't help the common people that much. Living underground and building a whole society in an environment totally made artificially has its costs, and those costs have to come from somewhere.
The whole government structure is created by a system in which each and every ministry or department doesn't have a central system that can manage them, and it is all run by the intelligence department.
That goes directly under the control of the emperor himself. That is why there is not a single citizen on that continent who knows who does what. Quite simply, the whole government is shrouded in secrets.
Secrets on top of other secrets, and anyone who gets a glimpse of what is going on or even wonders what is going on disappears from the face of the continent. That is why no one asks any questions, and everyone tries their best to live their life with what they have been offered, which is so limited they barely survive, and the worst part of it is they don't know why.
It all started a decade ago, when they noticed something was wrong with the continent, the weather, and the sun. Everybody knew that it was created artificially, but the sudden change in the agricultural lands, the fluctuations in the weather, the change in even the normal water, and the air they were breathing.
Everyone thought it was a malfunction, and everything would go back to normal after it had been fixed. This was not the first time, and it would not be the last, so nobody gave it much thought at the beginning. Everyone had faith in the emperor and the government, but year after year, nothing has been fixed or changed, and that is when life started becoming harder every day.
In the third year, people started uprising, demanding answers and solutions from the government, thinking that would give them answers and solve the situation.
but to their disappointment, instead of getting answers, the government strangely started eradicating the uprising by brutality, arresting the leaders and executing them, and purging the uprising, without any justification, hence the fear took the place of the hope the people had.
Everyone was shocked by the actions of their beloved government and their idol emperor, and they still had no answers to what was going on, but no one opened his mouth again.
And everyone began to lower their heads and avoid anything that might bring the government's warmth on them.
Life changed for everyone, and the condition continued to get worse with each passing year.
In any normal place, if life became hard, you would look for somewhere else to move to and start a new life there. But the citizens of this continent don't have the means or even the knowledge to get out. Even those who know that there are other continents livable and above the ground were very limited to higher ranking government officials. None of the other people knew that what happened to their continent was only limited to them. They thought that the same thing happened to the whole planet and that they were lucky enough to be the only humans surviving on the planet.
All of that changed a few months ago, when the government announced that they had finally found a solution that would change their lives forever and that they would soon be living on the surface, living a life better than their wildest dreams.
But in order to achieve that goal, all the citizens have to work together, new jobs will be created and assigned to the chosen individuals, and whoever is assigned to a job has to fulfill it and have to keep it a secret, even from his or her own family.
Anyone chosen will be living a better life for himself and his family. If he or she doesn't keep that secret, the punishment will be immediate death.
One of the top-secret departments that monitor's everything going on above ground on the surface is the specific one that is responsible for the reason why none of the other continents come to this one and for the name that it has been given above ground. Its sole mission is to capture anyone who sets foot on this large continent, and to know the reason behind that person's coming here.
Today they lost contact with one of their agents who was patrolling the surface, but instead they caught a man, and now he was in one of the interrogation rooms, subjected to all kinds of emotional and physical torture. Usually, after a few hours of interrogation and mind reading, they would be able to find out everything, and one of two options would become the faith of that individual: either immediate execution or life in prison.
But today they were missing one of their agents, and strangely enough, this man was found in her patrol area without triggering any of the sensors and none of the monitoring and surveillance equipment caught any of his movements, and this was the first time such things happened.
An intense interrogation was going on in that room, with a conversation that didn't make any sense to anyone who was listening to it. Going back with wit my memory at that time if I was watching it I would have found it found one of the funniest things ever, but I was not in the mood to laughs at all and as comical as the situation was it was not funny for me.
This happened one year and one month after I found myself in this world beside him, the only girlfriend he ever had, and his newlywed wife only for one year. Now, how did we end up in this world? He doesn't know. And now that I am imprisoned and accused of kidnapping and murdering my wife and unborn child, they have been missing until now.
"Where is Riyana?" The man, was standing and holding a bottle in his hand, asked, "Who is Riyana?" Jack answered by asking a question. Instead of giving an answer, the man said, "For the last time, I will ask you, Mr., where is Riyana?"
"I don't know anyone called Riyana."
"In that case, I will bring someone to jog your memory if you don't want to talk."
"I told you I don't know who Riyana is," "but since you are talking now, tell me where my wife is and if she is OK." Jack, at that time, couldn't hold his temper anymore, and he stared, yelling. It was ridiculous that they were asking him about some woman he didn't know about or care about; all he cared about now was finding his pregnant wife. The man smiled and said, "That depends on you.
"If you tell me where Riyana is," "Your wife will be OK unless you don't talk." Jack was not sure about what the man was saying or if he could trust him or not, but he knew that he didn't have any other choice and said, "At least tell me if she is OK."
"For the time being, she is fine, but I can't guarantee that she will be soon."
"What do you want from me?" Tell me."
"I want you to tell me where Riyana is."
"Riyana who? Even though I don't remember, I met someone called Riyana. Does she have a last name?
"I see you are playing dumb, but believe me, you will tell me everything that I want to know sooner or later, but sooner is better for you and your wife."
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Today, it's been fourteen years and a few months since that day. I don't have a personal AI or any gadgets like most of the people on this planet to track down dates and times, but fortunately I have a digital watch from earth, which is working fine, I don't know, and with all of the counters with locals with this plant's inhabitants, even the enemies who imprisoned me didn't confiscate it from me, I guess because the greed of humanity didn't reach them yet because they are not humans.
Thinking back, he didn't know a lot of people, so he couldn't have missed one. Is it his past life or his present life they are asking about? All his life, he had little friends. He was the social type who became friends with everyone and was well liked. He had one best friend and still does. Before his wife, he had one girlfriend from college until life took them apart. He left his home town and came to New York, where he met his wife and fell in love with her the first time he laid eyes on her. She has been his life since that day until now, which is why he lives until now regardless of everything that he has been through for fourteen years in a palace. No one can live where there is no like but only death.