RIFT (The Rift Saga Book 1) by Andreas Christensen Read Free Book Online Page A

The Warden seemed to have eased into his lecture a bit more, and it seemed less of a recital, now that he was approaching modern times. The initiates also seemed a bit more eager. Now and then, a question would arise, and the Warden would try to answer as best he could.
    “Why do those people on the other side of the Rift try to come here?” someone asked.
    “Well, there may be several reasons, but I suspect life out there can be pretty unbearable. Unfortunately, disease and radiation have mutated their genes so badly, we cannot allow them to pass the zone. So we stop them. Sometimes we have to fight them and sometimes we just help them return to where they came from. Next question?”
    “Does anyone ever go the other way?”
    “No, or at least, they won’t get too far. We have motion detectors and sensors all over the zone, and if someone should enter from the east, they will be turned back. The zone is forbidden. The Rift is something only a Warden should see. And the wastelands beyond, well, I wouldn’t want anyone to go there. Crossing the Rift is death. Next!”
    “What caused the Rift?”
    “The Fall. Or rather, the thing that caused the Fall. Next.”
    “What caused the Fall?”
    “A disaster. Only the Moon people know the details. Only the Moon people are allowed to know. Next.”
    “The Moon people come from the Moon, right? What were they doing there?”
    “I am not privileged to that information, and neither are you.” Dave noticed the questions were taking a turn away from the history lesson, and the lecturer seemed to tighten up by it, like he wasn’t supposed to talk about some of these issues. Warden initiates all seemed to be like him—curious, and although this line of questioning was interesting enough, Dave wanted to know more of the history.
    “What happened after the first Corpus revolt?” Dave asked. The lecturer looked almost relieved at the question, and eager to answer.
    “Well, when the Corpus first revolted, the third Covenant was deemed to have come to an end. After that, the leadership decided there would only be one “Covenant,” where new laws and orders could simply be incorporated into the old system.” He paused for a moment, thinking hard.
    “Once the first revolt was put down hard, you would have expected there to be a long period of peace. But the opposite happened. The third Covenant ended seventy-one years ago, and in the first fifty years, there were three major uprisings. Now, this is classified information, not to leave Warden territory, you got that?” He waited until everyone either nodded or answered yes, before continuing.
    “All evidence point toward outside involvement. That makes it different from the revolts of the past, which have all come from within the Covenant. The last three were instigated from the outside. Which poses a difficult question: who had the capability to threaten the Covenant?”
    “Savages from the North?” someone asked. The lecturer made a gesture.
    “Who knows? Could be that, or someone from the less damaged populations out west. They do have weapons out there, you know.” He shrugged.
    “Either way, the last revolt was more than twenty years ago, and the Covenant has been very prosperous since then. Nowadays, I don’t see an uprising as a likely thing to happen. The economy is good, the Corpus seem quiet, the Janissaries are in control of the northern borderlands, and we have noticed nothing unusual out here. A few intrusions now and then, but they are swiftly dealt with, and it doesn’t seem organized in any fashion. No, I’d say this is a good time to serve, and hopefully you’ll all earn your citizenship in a time of peace and prosperity.” Dave couldn’t agree more. As long as there was peace, he would deal with the challenges his Service would throw at him. But as the lecture ended, he wondered if his time of Service would be as quiet and uneventful as the lecturer had expected, or if the last fifty years had just