At 17h00 hours, my day is finally over. I stand up, stretch, and then collapse back into my desk chair. Demeter laughs at me, but at this point, I don’t care. Ten hours of work, and I’m tired enough to just crawl under my desk and sleep there. But I promised my parents I’d join them at home for dinner tonight, and then Moriana and I are going out for drinks afterwards. At least I don’t have to wake up early tomorrow. It’s the one day a week when I can show up anytime, do my workout routine, and go back to my flat to sleep. And the best part about it is that Aulion won’t be there to criticize my every step.
“Okay, Demeter, time to get out of here. Deactivate all internal systems and engage all security—but wait until I’m out the door this time, okay?” Demeter has somehow picked up a rather playful personality. So playful, in fact, that two days ago, when I told her to “engage all security systems,” she locked me inside and turned off all the lights. I tried to figure out what had happened, and I could almost hear her laughing at me. “You should be careful with how you give your commands, Vale,” she said.
She’s got spunk, that’s for sure. Somehow, from my dialogue patterns, she’s picked up the habit of making sarcastic comments on other people’s behavior into my ear, and her snide commentary is both entertaining and a little scary—it’s like she’s voicing my thoughts before I can say them.
I follow the winding hallway down toward the main elevator. It’s already dark outside, so the building is dimly lit and quiet. Most everyone else has already headed home. As soon as I step into the elevator bay, a green light flickers on above me, indicating that the motion sensors have called a lift to my floor.
While I wait for the elevator, I gaze out at the lights of the city around me, marveling at the things we’ve built in the last century. My parents—and their parents before them—have dedicated their lives to serving the Okarian Sector, and I’m proud and honored to follow in their footsteps.
Our architecture and design may not match the opulence of some of the more majestic cities from the old world, but Okaria is beautiful, and Assembly Hall, the central administrative building of the government and where my office is located, is one of its most beautiful buildings.
I turn my back to the city and admire the building itself. Structured like a tree, the main elevator shafts in the center function as the “trunk,” pumping like pistons in an old-fashioned steam engine as they deliver government workers up and down the twenty-one floors. The bottom floor is the central hall, where the food coming in from the Farms is programmed and 3D printed by the Dieticians for every Sector citizen. Underground, there is an enormous open space where the Corporate Assembly meets. Above, the hallways on each floor branch off and taper like capillaries into individual offices and meeting spaces. Aside from the private spaces, everything is made of glass, so as you walk, you can look out across the whole building and watch everyone amble from place to place above and below. The chancellor’s office, where my father spends most of his time, is at the very top of the tree, on the twenty-first floor. The entire building is encased in a warped glass and steel frame that provides the structural support for both the interior and exterior gardens that are part of the complex system used to generate electricity, filter water, and compost waste. It’s an engineering wonder, designed to withstand just about anything nature can throw at it. If it weren’t for Aulion, I’d love coming to work here each morning.
“Where would you like to go?” the automated voice asks, as I step into the lift.
“Rooftop aircraft bay.” My office is on the sixteenth floor, so it’s a fairly short ride. I watch the floors and hallways drop by as I float up like a bubble until we crest the roof of the building and the door slides open. Up here, I feel as though I am walking on water. I stride across the glass to where my brand new airship—my father’s graduation present—is waiting. Shaped like a water bird, this model is a new design called the Sarus, after a now-extinct species of crane. The ship is elegant, aerodynamic, highly efficient, and she comes with the latest cloaking technology. The top of the wings are paneled in lightweight solar cells, and her ionic propulsion system is powered by a miniature cold fusion generator tucked under her belly. She’s a sight to behold. When Jeremiah first saw this beauty, he almost lost it.
“Your dad just gave this to you? For graduation?” His mouth hung open as he circled the craft, running his hands along the side, admiring the wings and the nose from every possible angle. “I’ve seen pictures of them, but I had no idea they were even in production. He must have pulled some serious strings to get this ready for you.”
I grinned at him. “Want to take the controls?”
He nodded enthusiastically, still in shock. We flew the ship a few kilometers outside of city limits—it’s illegal to pilot your own craft inside the city; it’s too dangerous. Human drivers are too accident-prone, and midair collisions are usually deadly. So we flew to a little lake outside the city, and I let Jeremiah take the controls. He’s just starting his new job as an aviation engineer, working on airship design for the Sector Defense Forces and OAC Security, and he’s been obsessed with airships for as long as I’ve known him. He flew for over an hour, laughing and roaring like a five-year-old boy.
I press my palm against the reflective metal of the airship, engaging the passenger sequence.
“Please state your name.”
“Valerian Augustus Orleán.” The pod door slides open. Once inside, I scan my palms and my eyes and start the craft. “Demeter, take me to my parents’ house, will you?” I don’t feel like manually entering the destination, and she can easily take care of it.
As the landing tripods retract and we lift off, we move out into the night sky. I lean back to watch the city pass beneath me. I’ve seen photos of some of the enormous “skyscrapers” in the old cities, and I’m thankful we don’t have any of those strange, boxy structures decorating Okaria. The buildings below me are sleek and graceful, with gardens and greenery piled on rooftops. Above me, a heady view of the stars is beginning to emerge, brilliant lines of plumage painted across the sky. There aren’t many other airships out tonight, but there are a few. As much as we strive for equality among Sector citizens, airships are the possessions of the élite. The rest of Okaria gets around using the Pan-Okarian Deployment System, or PODS. PODS is an enormous, intricately connected rail system, which services the entire city and has hundreds of stations. I love taking the PODS system, but I usually attract way too much attention to use it on a regular basis. Being asked over and over again to take photos with citizens is fun but overwhelming. Now that I have my Sarus, I’ve been using it almost exclusively.
The chancellor’s residence is an old, renovated chateau on the edge of the city center, set apart from the hustle of the Sector government. There’s a small craft bay behind the house, and the Sarus pilots herself down and shuts off automatically. When I open the hatch and step out, there are two Sector security guards waiting for me.
“Good evening, sir,” one of them greets me.
“Hey, Ren,” I say. “You can still call me Vale, you know.” Now that I’ve graduated, people have started addressing me more formally than before.
“Sure, Vale,” he smiles back. “The chancellor and the director are waiting. I’ll lead you there.”
It’s not like I don’t know how to get into my own house. But I let him and his partner lead the way without comment.
The mansion is an enormous old building, a relic of the old world luxury that most people these days can no longer even dream of. Grey stone walls, turrets, and gargoyles decorate the exterior. One of the guards palms the scanner to the side of the enormous metal doors, which swing open, and a manservant, who I don’t recognize, gestures me inside.
“Have a great night,” I say to the guards. They nod and give me the traditional cross-chest salute—right fist to the left shoulder. I return the gesture. The manservant then leads me through the back hallway. As we pass the foyer, I glance in at my old piano and a pang of regret hits me. I haven’t had time to sit down and play since before graduation. The hours I’ve spent practicing pieces from the great composers of the old world will doubtless already be fading. It’s a necessary sacrifice, I tell myself, if you want to stop the Resistance. Still, I can’t shake the feeling of longing, the desire to sit down at the keys and create, to channel the music like a riverbed channels water. The manservant leads me into the living room, where my parents are sitting at a high-top table, sipping on some cocktails. The manservant announces me.
“Chancellor; Madam. Your son has arrived.”
I sigh. I wish we could give up the formalities. After all, this used to be my house, too. But as soon as I am announced and the manservant retreats, the formalities vanish.
“Hey, Vale,” my dad calls. Both my parents are now in their late forties. My father’s once-dark hair is now predominantly grey, and faint wrinkles are beginning to emerge at the corners of his eyes and his mouth. “Let’s get you a drink. Laika, tell Fallon to make Vale a cocktail,” he says, addressing his own C-Link. He’s not shy about using his C-Link in front of us, but in public or in front of other government officials, he never addresses her out loud. To me, he says, “Tired? How’s the general treating you?”
My mother smiles at me, and I bend down to kiss her before plopping down on the couch. “He must be keeping you busy,” she says. Though my father might be showing his age a bit, my mother doesn’t look a day over thirty. Her long brown hair is as sleek as ever, and her round, dark eyes are set deeply into a cream-colored complexion. She is confident, calm, and controlled at all times.
“That’s an understatement.” I grimace, thinking about all the time I’ve spent with Aulion over the last few weeks.
“It’s not too much to handle, is it?” my father asks, looking directly at me.
“It’s fine. It’s no more work than I had at the SRI or at the Academy. It’s just different.”
A servant hurries in and places a tall glass in front of me. She must be new, because I don’t recognize her.
“What is it?” I ask her.
“Vitamin D, B6, Niacin, and amino acid cocktail with vodka,” she says nervously.
“No,” I laugh. “I mean, what is it? I don’t care about the ingredients.”
“Oh,” she sputters. “I think Fallon called it a Twisted Spur.” Fallon is the chancellor’s Dietician. I nod, and she turns on her heel and dashes out.
“You knew it was going to be a difficult transition,” my father says. “Research, classes, and exams, as hard as those might be, are nothing compared to the responsibility of working for the government.”
“Working under Aulion, more like,” I grumble.
“General Aulion,” my mother reminds me firmly. “He’s the best mentor you could ask for. He may be tough, and I know he’s critical, but he really understands the Resistance.”
Demeter makes a little snickering sound in my ear, which startles me. She hadn’t spoken in so long I’d almost forgotten she’s there.
“Aulion’s anything but a mentor,” she says snarkily, “and ‘critical’ might be a slight understatement.” I smile. I’m glad she’s on my side. I’m also glad my parents can’t hear her.
Just then, the girl who brought my cocktail darts back in. “The table is ready,” she announces. We all file into the dining room and take our seats at the table, where the food has already been laid out. Fallon’s prepared different meals for each of us, tailored to our individual needs. It’s nice to have someone cooking for me for a change. Since I moved out, I’ve gotten used to eating my customized Mealpaks alone, but that gets boring fast, and I’ve missed Fallon’s cooking.
“How’s Moriana doing?” I ask my mother as we all tuck in.
“Oh, she’s really great. She’s a hard worker, and very smart to match. We’re all thrilled with what she’s done so far.” My mother is never so effusive with her praise.
“Have you started filling out the adoption papers yet?”
She laughs. “Hardly. I’m just happy that you’ve become such good friends.”
There is an awkward pause, and I know what’s coming next. “Have you seen Linnea lately?”
“Mom!”
“What? I’m just asking.”
“I don’t want to go out with Linnea, okay? Will you give it up, please?”
“Vale, she’s so driven, and so smart. You should give her a chance.”
My father pipes up: “She’s doing a great job as the OAC’s spokesperson, and she works very well with Evander at the Farms.”
“She’s also been incredibly effective at destroying the political careers of some promising young men from the factory towns,” Demeter pipes up sarcastically in my ear. “Her exploits are fast becoming legendary.” I fight back a laugh.
“You really haven’t been interested in anyone since that Alexander girl back at the Academy,” my mother says, looking at me worriedly, as though I might have a fever. Despite the fact that my mother and Remy’s mother were close friends when they worked at the OAC together, my parents now refuse to refer to any of the Alexanders by their first names.
“First, that’s not true. Remy and I never really dated. Second, I have been with other girls since then. And third, could you just give it a rest? I’m too busy with work to think about dating anyway. Even Linnea. And why are you two sneaking around talking about Elijah Tawfiq?”
My father perks up at Elijah’s name and looks at my mother curiously.
“Oh, did she mention that?” she responds, offhand. “She asked me if I knew anything about him. She said she missed him. I told her, of course, that I knew nothing about him.”
“Okay.” I narrow my eyes at her. She sounds suspiciously casual, but it makes sense. “It was strange that she was asking about him out of the blue.”
“It is interesting that she brought Elijah up,” my father says. “Do you have any information on him? I bet if we find Tawfiq, we’d find the Alexanders nearby.”
“No location on him. He’s become a fairly high-ranking member of their organization, though. He’s led two of the raid teams that infiltrated our seed banks, and he’s in on a lot of their communications. The ones that we’ve intercepted, anyway.”
“Well, good. Keep me informed.”
“Of course, Chancellor,” I say with a smirk, trying to sound very official. “I’ll be happy to prepare a report for you in the morning.” Both my parents laugh.
“Speaking of that, Philip,” my mother says, her expression darkening, “I heard a report today from Evander that there’s been more trouble at one of the Farms?”
“Unfortunately, yes.” My father’s smile evaporates. “One of the silos was blown up the other day at Silver Birch. The Enforcers got control of the situation, but several thousand kilos of grain were lost.”
“Why wasn’t I informed?” I demand. Staying up-to-date on activity at the Farms is crucial for our investigation into the Resistance’s activity. “Is there any connection to the Resistance?”
“It doesn’t look like it,” my father says, shaking his head grimly. “So far it looks like this was internally motivated. There’s been a food shortage there, and rationing was imposed for a few days. They weren’t happy.”
“Blowing up a silo full of food doesn’t seem like the best way to protest not having enough food,” I comment. “Are we sure there wasn’t something else at play?”
“I don’t have a lot of information yet,” my father says, shrugging helplessly. “I’ll let you know when I know more.”
They then get into a discussion about an uptick in activity from the Outsiders, the nomads who live in the Wilds, and I tune them out. They’re not my problem—not yet, anyway. The rest of the meal passes uneventfully and without any more commentary about Linnea. Thank goodness. I put the news about the Farms into the back of my mind and make a mental note to investigate any possible Resistance connection first thing in the morning.
****
Two hours later, I say goodbye and head back out to my Sarus. I’m heading off to meet Moriana at a sleek new bar near the SRI. I program in the location and glide across the night sky. It’s almost 2030 hours by the time I’m docked and walking through the doors. Heads turn as I walk through the door, and I pointedly ignore the stares. I see Moriana’s thin figure at a bar in the corner, apparently being chatted up by some Sector official, still wearing his uniform from the work day. She has her head down, staring at her drink, and I can tell she’s not enthused. I walk up behind her and casually put my arm around her, startling her and drawing a poisoned glare from the man. But then he recognizes me, and his expression changes from anger to surprise.
“Oh, Lieutenant Orleán, I’m sorry.… Pleasure to meet you,” he sputters.
“No worries, Captain. Pleasure to make your acquaintance as well.” I give him the Sector salute and turn to Moriana. “Sorry I was late. I forgot how long it takes to escape a formal dinner at the chancellor’s residence.”
The captain gives me a weak smile, nods at Moriana, and retreats back into the crowd.
No wonder she’s caught his eye. She looks stunning in a sleeveless white shirt with an open collar, a red sash tied into her straight brown hair. I have to forcibly remind myself that she’s dating my best friend. Off limits, Vale!
“Hey, thanks,” she says, smiling at me with relief. “You know how I hate to be rude.”
“Of course.” I pull my arm off her shoulder and sit down at the bar next to her. She’s already sipping on a dark green cocktail, so I scan my palm quickly and wait for the system to identify me.
“Palm print accepted. What would you like to try, Valerian Orleán?” the automated voice asks.
“How about something with rosemary?” I respond, and turn to Moriana. “How are you? How are things at the lab? You look great, by the way.”
“Thanks! I am great. I’ve been looking forward to this little date all week. I have so much to tell you!”
“Uh-oh,” I smile, as the bar’s conveyor system deposits my drink in front of me. I pull it off the belt and drag a sip. “We’re not going to spend the whole time talking about my mother, are we?”
“No, but I just have to say—Vale, she’s so great! She’s so nice and encouraging and polite all the time; I absolutely love working for her.”
“Well, she said the same things about you, so it sounds like you’re a great match. I actually asked her if she was planning on filing adoption papers for you.”
Moriana looks over the moon at this pronouncement. “Did she really? Say good things about me, I mean?”
“Yeah, you two are a match made in heaven.” I roll my eyes. “But seriously, I’m glad you’re getting along so well.”
“Oh, Vale, I forgot to tell you. I hope you don’t mind—” Moriana leans in and lowers her voice, “—I invited Jeremiah to come along. He should be here in a few minutes. Is that okay?”
“Of course it’s okay. He’s my best friend. Aside from you, obviously. Why so nervous about bringing Miah?”
“Well, Corine doesn’t really seem to like him that much—”
Oh, great. Now Moriana and Linnea are on a first-name basis with my mother. My mother doesn’t approve of Jeremiah dating Moriana. She thinks Moriana can do better than an engineer.
“—so I’m trying to be more careful about mentioning him.”
“Well, I’m not going to run and tell my mother, so you don’t have to worry about that around me.” I take another swig. “What are the big plans for tonight, then?”
“Well, one of the new SRI graduates—I’m working with her at the lab—is throwing a party, and I thought maybe you and Jeremiah would like to come along.”
“Look at you, making all kinds of new friends these days. Young military gentlemen and brilliant scientists alike.” I smile at her. “Pretty soon you’ll be so popular you’ll have completely left me and Jeremiah in the dust.”
“Oh, please,” she laughs, turning her head sideways to look at me. “We both know that’s not going to happen anytime soon.”
“What’s not going to happen?” Despite his size, Jeremiah has somehow managed to sneak up on us. He gives me his big bear grin and squeezes Moriana’s shoulders.
“It’s been a while, Miah,” I say, grabbing his forearm. He returns the gesture. He bends down and plants a kiss on Moriana’s neck; she is now beaming up at both of us.
“It sure has. You’ve been stuck at the Assembly building since graduation, huh?”
“Pretty much. Hard to get out at night when your wake-up call is at 0615 hours every morning. How’s Engineering?”
“Glorious. Magnificent. Did I mention incredible? I get to work on ships like your Sarus every day. Couldn’t ask for more.” He sits in the chair next to Moriana and scans his palm. “So, are we gonna make this a night to remember, or what?”