Read Kings and Crowns: A Dystopian Thriller (Age of End Book 2) for Free Online Page B

a good impression. Maybe we can change their minds. Show them all the good we do.”
    He left, leaving Charlotte alone, waiting patiently at the head of the table.

TWELVE
    VINCE AND THE others followed the young gentleman. “You’ll all love it here in the Spire,” he said as he guided them through a maze of halls. “We have a lot of impressive stuff to show off, and it’s all thanks to volunteers like you. You help us make the City a better place.” He turned the corner and led them into a room.
    A woman sat at the head of the table. She stood up and extended her hand. “Hello! My name is Charlotte. It is so good to finally meet you in person. I will be giving you a tour of our facilities.”
    “Nice to meet you,” Vince said. “I’m Vince. This is Saul, Ella—”
    “Please, no need for introductions. I already know all of you.”
    “How?” Rupert asked.
    Charlotte gripped her journal, concealing it behind her back. “Mr. Greene briefed me beforehand. He was very thorough.”
    “Speaking of Greene,” Alan said, “where is he? When that guy said we were meeting someone, I assumed he meant Greene.”
    “Unfortunately, Mr. Greene is busy at the moment. He couldn’t be here himself, but he assigned me to show you around. I can get all of you familiar with what we do here in the Spire. Shall we get started?” She led them out of the room.
    As they walked, Alan examined the walls. “These hallways are so…blank.”
    “We like to keep a clean look to our facilities. Hallways, labs, even our bathrooms.”
    “What do you do in the labs?” Rupert asked.
    “That’s a good question. And that happens to be our first stop.”
    She pushed through a set of double doors that read Testing Labs . They opened up to a glass hallway. The walls on each side were floor to ceiling windows. Beyond the glass were small rooms. Some were dark and empty. Others were occupied by two or three people, whose clothes were torn up rags covered in dirt. They looked weak and ill.
    Ella stared at a skinny old man through the glass, shivering in the corner by himself. “Why are they all so weak?” she asked. “Are all of your subjects like this?”
    “Not at all. This is the rehabilitation sector. Every so often, we find someone from the outside world who is in critical shape. This is where we help them recover.”
    Ella took a closer look. The man was quivering back and forth.
    Charlotte continued walking. “We have various sectors that study different areas of research. As you may have heard, the two of you are part of the vitality sector.”
    “Vitality,” Saul repeated.
    “Yes. The rehabilitation and medical sectors are branches of our Vitality sector. It is Mr. Greene’s most valued sector. We experiment with ways to extend the human lifespan. To avoid death.”
    “Nobody can avoid death,” Rupert said.
    “These two here have done quite a good job of avoiding death actually. The average lifespan of a human from the outside is sixty years. In Rodin, it’s eighty. How long have you two lived?”
    “Just about two hundred years,” Saul said.
    “I’d call that a success. Wouldn’t you?”
    “It is impressive,” Rupert said, “but everyone dies eventually. That’s just a part of life.”
    “Well, Mr. Greene is trying to change that. We make progress every day. We’ve also made breakthroughs in transportation, medicine, cosmetics, food, defense, and the list goes on. I can show you one of the other sectors later on. The Spire is split up by floor, so each floor is identical, for a different sector. Now that you’ve seen some of the labs, I can show you a monitor room.”
    They followed her out of the labs. “Monitor room?” Ella asked.
    “Yes. Every patient is assigned a monitor agent. They all observe their subjects through cameras. The monitor room is exactly what it sounds like. It’s full of monitors that help the agent track their subject. Some monitor agents have multiple subjects, but a big case like