Alternia Comics

   Kevin sat in the second of the nine high-backed chairs arrayed behind the long, curved table. From his vantage point in the vent, Kevin thought the table was straight, but sitting behind it now he could see there was a definite, if slight, curve to it, with the first and ninth chairs a foot forward from the fifth chair, and angled toward the center of the room. "Was this your chair, Jack?" he asked aloud, leaning back and imagining some of the discussions that must have gone on in this room. He leaned forward again and saw the little drawer under the table in front of him. Looking left and right he saw similar draws before each of the other chairs.
   Curiosity got the better of Kevin's judgment and he opened the drawer. Empty. He pulled out Jack's journal and started flipping through it again.

15 April 2031
Colony Beta, Nevada, USA

   The council chamber is one of my favorite rooms in the colony. Perhaps because of what it represented, what it's purpose was. It was here we were supposed to meet as a council and decide things. The space was large enough for nearly two hundred residents to listen and sometimes participate in the council sessions.
   The government outside had three branches: legislative, judiciary and executive. The social engineers behind the colony figured the population was small enough the nine of us could act as all three branches. Interpersonal disputes would be brought before council and decided by a majority vote of councilors after we heard both sides of the argument. Citizens and council-members alike could propose new Colony regulations and a public vote would be arbitrated by we nine. We would discuss the merits and flaws of the proposal and the citizenry would weigh in during the debates. We appointed officers from among the citizenry to uphold and enforce the new policies, and we provided oversight to be sure the officers performed their duties fairly.
   That was the theory anyway, and that's how it worked in the first month's trial, though no new policies were enacted during that time.
   Once the doors were sealed and Colin took over, that theory was disproved. I tried to save who I could, but I couldn't protect everyone. Colin never found how or where, but I fled.
   I fled to the hidden areas, outside his purview. I fled to remain alive, to stay hidden.
   But the council chamber was always my favorite room. I regretted never being able to sit behind that desk again.

   "That's it!" Kevin cried, leaping from the chair and nearly slamming the journal closed. "He must have hidden something here. Something the CGC hasn't found in all these years..."