“G ood morning, Mission,” a strange, feminine voice said, echoing all around me.
My eyelids jolted open as I woke from the strangest nightmare I’d ever experienced. After being spaced for my crimes, I had been rescued from the void by a man who somehow knew my name. Who could see inside Ignis as well as Earth. But there were others. Walking humans made of metal, an older man in violet… it was all so hazy.
“Welcome to the thirty-third floor of Residential Tower 3, located on Block 3C of High Earth.”
Hearing the voice again startled me. My hands struck a plane of glass stretching over my head, but before I could pound on what seemed like a transparent tomb, it slid open. I threw myself over the rim of the container and spun. I was in a colorless room. White walls, white floor, white everything, but nobody else in sight.
As I turned, more memories from my nightmare swamped my foggy brain. The confusion sent me to my knees, where I clutched my head like it was about to explode.
“Your world is part of a High Earth reality program,” the man in violet had told me as he showed me a screen where Alora cried for me over the sealed Ignis airlock. “A documentary about real inhabitants on a generational ship sent across the stars.”
He showed me recordings of volunteers stepping onto the Ignis fifty years ago, with their memories reprogrammed. Memories that became the story of my world. My own birth, Jacen’s death—everything in between. And then there was shouting. He and the man who’d saved me from space disagreed on something.
On me?
“You opened my eyes, Mission.” So much was a blur, but those words rang clearer than any. They’d come from the mouth of the one who’d saved me. He was in terrible pain.
My mind spiraled around that moment, and I couldn’t make sense of any of it. Yet the clarity was unlike any dream. It made me feel nauseous. I squeezed my eyes until a dull red light blinked bright enough to perceive through my eyelids. A chirping noise synchronized with it.
“You are experiencing an episode of heightened anxiety,” the same feminine voice said, emotionless. “This can be harmful to the healthy functioning of the human mind and body. I have signaled your lifeband to administer the proper medication.”
One by one, my heavy breaths slowed. The onslaught of bizarre memories faded into the recesses of my psyche, and I was left sitting on the floor, eyes still shut out of fear of seeing something else, but calm.
“Am I dead?” I wheezed.
“No,” the voice replied instantly. “You are in your peak years of physiological well-being, though currently considerably malnourished and under immense psychological strain.”
“This is real?”
“Objectively, yes.”
I opened my eyes and stood. The container I’d rolled out of was more like a bed stuck within a raised pod. The inside was cushioned throughout, the imprint of my body still showing. The blinking red light came from an unassuming band wrapping my wrist. I tapped it and a round screen lashed out. I wasn’t fast enough to dodge it, but quickly realized it was only light. In my nightmare, Jacen’s fake head had been comprised of something similar.
I ran my fingers through it and watched the pixels bend around them. A body was projected on the screen, with myriad fields of data and readouts. It looked eerily similar to the imagery that would pop up when I searched a specific inhabitant through the Ignis’ core. Whoever it displayed was a woman, with a slight build… Me?
I glanced down to see if the bodies matched and realized I was wearing a new outfit. The elegant cut was reminiscent of the suits the Collective wore, only there wasn’t a speck of dust anywhere to be found, and it was a verdant green.
“Who am I?” I asked. The question seemed even more ridiculous once it escaped my mouth.
“You are Mission, surname unverified. A resident of High Earth.”
“High Earth?”
“A fully autonomous city designed to provide humanity with a safe, carefree environment. It was founded in AD 2267 by various interplanetary conglomerates, including Fors Tech, Sol-wide, InhabiCo and App—”
“Stop,” I interrupted at the risk of my headache worsening. “So, you’re the core or…”
“I am your personal Virtual Occupant Residency Aide, or VORA. I have been programmed to tend to your needs and well-being, both physiologically and psychologically. Your vitals tell me that your most recent dose of pharma did not ease your discomfort fully. Would you like me to place you in a more familiar setting and see if that soothes you?”
“This isn’t the Ignis ?”
“Ignis : Formerly an interstellar vessel constructed using a hollowed main belt asteroid before the start of the techno-revolution. Currently, the setting of the popular reality show developed by resident Craig Helix, Ignis: Live .”
The room transformed. White was replaced by rock, metal, rusty pipes—sights I’d known my whole life. Even my feet stood atop it. Yet, through the soles of shoes I couldn’t recall putting on, I could tell the surface was smooth and flat. Falsified by more light manipulation. I backed away slowly, and a door disappeared into the ceiling before I hit the wall, and I stumbled into a larger room.
Now hydroponic farms surrounded me, wrapping all the way around me, near and far. I could even smell the familiar scents of all the different crops merging throughout the tremendous hollow. I could see the flurry of insect wings in the containers behind their rows. High above me, the Ignis’ core shone in all its warming, homey glory, only it wasn’t far at all.
As I scurried along the wall, patting my hands along the smooth surface, I realized the room was just like the last. A rectangular box, like a cell.
“After your journey, you must be starved,” said the voice that referred to itself as VORA. “I must encourage you to increase your portions in order to attain optimal weight.” Something else chimed loudly. I spun nervously, then saw a machine on a counter spit out three granular bars. “I do not know your flavor preference yet, so I have assembled a variety based on the habits of other residents.”
I crept toward the machine, constantly checking over my shoulder for the core-knows-what. I poked one of the bars. Each was identical, void of color and ground into perfect rectangles. The machine they popped out of didn’t appear dangerous.
“This is food?” I questioned. No line to wait in for a feeding period. No server rationing portions.
“Yes. Every resident-issue re-assembler is able to produce all required daily nutrients,” VORA said. “This information should have been uploaded during your synth-womb or re-enlistment process. Shall I report an issue with the infusers?”
“The what?” I said while chewing on a mouthful of food. Sometime while she was talking, I couldn’t help but grab one. I hadn’t enjoyed a proper meal since being detained, and my grumbling stomach forced action before my mind could say no. The taste was smoky and delicious, and far from any vegetable I’d ever tried. A tall cup of water appeared beside the machine as I swallowed my last bite.
My fingers wrapped the cold glass, but I froze before lifting it to my mouth. I looked up at the ceiling disguised as my home, where water was so precious, and asked, “May I?”
“Of course you can,” a new, gruffer voice replied behind me.
The cup slipped from my grasp and spilled all over the floor. The older man in purple from my dream strode into the room. The same grin he’d worn in it was plastered on his clean-cut face, but that was the only visible part of it. The rest was covered by a strange device bulging over his ears with a semitranslucent visor stretching over his eyes. The inside face of it flickered with motion and color.
I dropped to the floor and unsuccessfully tried to wipe up the water with my sleeve. It beaded along the waterproof tile. The man placed his hand upon my shoulder.
“My dear, please don’t worry about that,” he said. “VORA, clean this mess and provide Mission here with another water.”
A second full cup of water emerged from the counter. The man took it and held it out for me just as a tiny metallic box zipped along the floor. I leaped out of the way as it dried and scrubbed the area with many limber arms under its chassis, again clarifying that the rock below my feet was false. Before I knew it, the thing returned through a hidden hatch in the wall.
“I’m still dreaming, aren’t I?” I said.
The man attempted to place the water cup in my hands. I was too distracted to take it, so he put it down and replied, “Far from it. In fact, try to imagine that you’re finally waking from one.”
I extended my hand slowly and poked him in the arm. “So… you’re real?”
“Of course I am.” He lifted the visor from over his eyes. They were strikingly blue, warm and inviting. “Where are my manners? I know so much about you, yet you know nothing about me. You were still in shock from space exposure and required a heavy dose of pharma when we first met, but I am Craig Helix. I am the developer who filled your world and programmed everything within it.” He took my hand and shook. “You can’t begin to imagine what a pleasure it is to meet you.”
I pulled back and took a healthy stride away from him. “And the Ignis ?”
“It’s as I tried explaining to you before we departed its station. Physically, the Ignis is as real as you or I. We watch your lives on a reality program called Ignis: Live , but we have no interference in them. Everything that has happened in your life is completely unscripted.”
“A program…” I muttered.
My legs felt wobbly. My head faint. I started to lose balance, but Craig caught me.
“Precisely.” He frowned. “I really do apologize, Mission. I would have had infusers acquaint you with our world as it is, but my viewers value authenticity, and it was hard enough programming your residential status to be approved. When people hear from you, I don’t want it to seem as though you’re already one of us. You are so much more.”
“I still don’t understand why I’m here,” I said. “Is this a test? Am I still in the aptitude exam?”
“This isn’t a test.” He chuckled. “I think everything will be much clearer if I show you. You have no idea how special you are. Everyone is dying to meet the first inhabitant of the Ignis ever to leave.”
“Everyone?”
“Come.” He smiled, extended his arm around my shoulder, and started to walk me toward the entrance he’d appeared through. I planted my feet. It was mostly out of reflex, but the last time I was with him, I woke up alone in a pod. The words “you opened my eyes” again echoed throughout my consciousness.
Craig turned and took me by the arms. “You have nothing to fear,” he insisted. “Never again. Now, I know you’ve always wanted to see the outside with your own eyes. Let me show you.”
My brow furrowed. I’d told Jacen that the last time we ever talked. Real or fake or whatever, I could never forget that. Hearing Craig say the same drew me forward in my haze of confusion, and before I knew it, I’d followed him onto a lift similar to the one that descended from the core.
I understood how gravity worked, how it held everything on Earth to the surface. It was part of our education on the Ignis to understand rudimentary physics since it was those principles that kept the ship operational. Members of the Collective studied it extensively. But as I stepped outside and saw the sky of what Craig Helix promised was Earth, I finally comprehended why Jacen found it too overwhelming to even contemplate.
A field of blue nothingness stretched far overhead—no rocks or plants littering its surface. Even though my feet were stuck on a walkway, I felt as if at any moment I could be sucked up into it. I couldn’t stop staring until Craig halted me and gently tilted my head down.
A series of glistening towers soared high into the vacant, blue canvas. The Core had provided many historical images of how human civilization built on Earth, but they couldn’t begin to capture the enormity. Each structure would have scraped the opposite surface of the Ignis’ main hollow had they grown within its center.
Layers of walkways were strung between them, seemingly floating. Hundreds of real humans lined the walkways in front of us. Most wore visors like Craig’s while others stared down at handheld viewing devices. Shiny vessels darted overhead, some large enough to fit a person, others the size of my head.
I staggered forward until more towers were visible. One after another, in every direction, arcing away from me instead of wrapping up overhead like I was used to. Moving images shone through the windows covering them, visible on the nearest tower. So many images made no sense to me, projecting strange pictures alongside titles, but ones of what Craig called Ignis: Live were more prevalent than any. They all depicted either me or the massive interior of my world from vantages that I knew weren’t possible to achieve.
“You aren’t merely another inhabitant down here,” Craig said. He stepped in front of me and gestured to the swelling crowd. A bot stood before them on the skywalk to keep them at bay. My mind flashed back to my spacing ceremony, surrounded by my own people wanting to see me dead. These people, on the other hand, looked thrilled to see me.
“Every one of them has been watching you for your entire life,” Craig said. “They worship you, and rightly so.” He guided me toward a raised platform positioned directly in the center of the entrance to the tower behind us. Lofty holographic screens suddenly rose on either side, displaying live images of me so that people could see from far away.
“You’re really here,” a woman said. “Wow.” Her bright blue hair was swirled atop her head. The bone structure of her face was perfect in every way. I knew, because as a Birthmother we measured such things. She took my hand in one of hers and helped me up. In her other, she held a viewing device with a rectangular holographic screen projected above it.
“Vivienne Poole will be your human assistant during the daily greetings and competition entries,” Craig said. The woman flashed him a smile, but as soon as he wasn’t looking, Mission noticed her expression sour.
“I still don’t get what the big fuss is,” said a grumpy man beside her. His arms crossed as he studied the crowd. “I have a show to help run.”
“Laura can handle it,” Craig said.
“I’ve been around longer. I can’t believe you still have me on the nigh—"
“I’d rather our quality not fall any further than it has since our last Chief Director of Content.”
Frederick flushed a shade as red as his tunic, then stepped back to watch from the shadow.
Vivienne spun me toward her and patted down my outfit before using her finger to undo a knot in my hair. “You really are beautiful,” she said. “Different. A part of me understands him now.”
“Understand wha—” She spun me back around to face the crowd before I could finish.
“I am astounded that so many of you showed up here today!” Craig announced. His voice was being artificially amplified so loudly it filled the yawning valleys between each tower. The countless onlookers slowly lifted their visors and glanced up from any other devices they were holding.
“To bring entertainment to so many,” he went on. “I don’t think there is any greater calling for a man. Today, I reward your viewership! Despite all the recent calamity that befell the Ignis , there is a light. Pulled from space only seconds before her death by my former Chief Director of Content in his last gift to you, she will now have the chance to see how we live. My fellow residents of High Earth, I did not invite you to gather here, outside your homes, for no reason. I am proud to present to you the girl who stole your hearts. Innocent or guilty of the crimes her people tried her for, she is the inhabitant who dared to love. Mission-14130!”
His smile spread wider than ever as he gestured to me. At the same time, the tiny flying ships projected holographic screens into the air all around, each of them showing me. My gaze moved between each of them, which was then displayed live for everyone too far to see in perfect clarity.
“Every week, one of you can apply to win an evening in her company,” Craig continued. “Real volunteers from my staff will help sort you. Mission’s life on Ignis is yours to discover.”
There was no outcry of cheers like there'd been when I was sentenced to death back home. In fact, none of the thousands of people said much of anything. They didn’t even converse amongst each other. But the robotic men allowed the first person in line to pass, and he sprinted over to me. His visor sat atop his head, revealing a perfect, almost plastic face. His skin was as smooth as an infant’s. His thick, blue-dyed hair was perfectly groomed and his bone structure flawless. The core would’ve approved him for reproduction in a heartbeat.
He didn’t say a word. He simply strolled in a circle around me, as if I were a trophy encased in glass, scrutinizing me from head to toe. The way his eyes seemed to be undressing me made my stomach curdle. Nobody would ever regard a Birthmother like that on Ignis, even if they resented me. Despite everything Craig had tried to explain, that feeling was the first time my new surroundings didn’t seem like just a bad dream.
The band on my wrist started to blink red.
“Just try to relax,” Vivienne whispered in my ear. “Nobody will hurt you here.” She then used her viewing device to scan the man’s retina. Afterward, he scurried away.
“They’ve never seen anything like you,” Craig admired. “Enjoy yourself, Mission. You’ve earned this. Take care of her, Vivienne. You gained my trust in telling me the truth. I look forward to the day when you and Laura can take over all the day-to-day.” He shot a look at the one called Frederick, who slunk back farther into the shadow.
Helix walked away, and before I could watch where he went, somebody else arrived to gawk at me.
“I can’t believe it’s really you,” a woman said. She could hardly contain her excitement. Like the man before her, she was aesthetically flawless in every way. “I have so many questions.” She tapped my arm and squealed when her hand didn’t pass through. The band on her wrist started blinking red even more rapidly than mine.
“Did you know?” she asked.
“Know what?” I answered, rotating to try to keep track of her so she couldn’t get behind me. “What the hell was going on?”
“All questions are reserved for private engagements,” Vivienne told the woman.
“Yeah, move along,” Frederick added.
Vivienne pulled her aside to scan her retina, incidentally providing me with an open view of the screen of her viewing device. I couldn’t hear anything, but I saw the familiar rock and metal walls of my home.
Instinct kicked in. I leaped off the platform, grabbed Vivienne’s device and ran as fast as I could.
I had no idea where I was going, and I bumped into countless people wearing visors. Eventually, my legs were too exhausted to continue. I collapsed on the walkway and stared blankly out upon the glistening towers of my new surroundings. I felt like I wanted to cry, but tears wouldn’t come. Instead, I raised Vivienne’s screen and watched…
A feeding was taking place inside the familiar galley of Ignis Block B. Usually they were a time of leisure, when inhabitants could unwind, escape their daily regimens, and carouse with friends. Only, many of the people present were strangers to each other. New faces filled the galley, brought over from every block during the redistribution of the population. They waited in somber reflection, as if in line to view a corpse at a wake.
Much of the damage from the tragedy of the fiftieth anniversary had been repaired, but some remained to serve as a constant reminder of those who’d died. A portion of the wall near the main conduit remained charred, and the air recycler vents so many had tried to escape through were permanently dented.
A new feedmaster mixed insects and flora in giant vats behind his counter to continue serving. He didn’t utter a word to anyone. His thousand-meter gaze held firm as he slapped the same amount of mixture into bowls one at a time, without looking. He was almost done when a man staggered into the galley.
He was completely naked, covered in filth and bruises from head to toe. His eyes darted around the room as if piecing together the world for the very first time.
He stumbled into a table, chasing everyone at it away. He only made it a few steps more before his wobbly legs gave out and he fell to his knees at the serving counter. His lips mouthed something incomprehensible, then his wet, shriveled hand slipped, and he collapsed onto his side, unconscious.
“Mission, are you all right?” Vivienne asked.
She startled me so much I dropped the device.
“Why is he there?” I asked. The inhabitants didn’t recognize him, but I did. That stranger in the Block B galley was the one who’d pulled me out of space. All I could picture was him covering my shoulders with a silver blanket. Then he was strapped down. Screaming.
“Why is who?” As Vivienne glanced down at her device, the air seemed to be sucked from her lungs too. “I… he looks just like his avatar.”
“Why is he there?” I jumped to my feet and pulled myself along the walkway’s railing. “Mr. Helix!” I rasped. “Mr. Helix!” Vivienne squeezed my wrist before I could shout any louder.
“Don’t,” she whispered sharply. “He’s part of the show now.”
“He’s the one who saved me. Who is he?”
“A dangerous man.” Vivienne retrieved her viewing device and stowed it in her belt. “Please, forget about all of that and try to seem comfortable. The fans have high expectations.”
She escorted me back to the platform in front of the eager yet distracted crowd. I was too tired and perplexed to do anything about it.
Another observer arrived to scrutinize me. And the next after that. One by one, people in a line so massive that it made the ones for feedings on Ignis seem minuscule waited only to spend a few seconds beholding me up close.
After about an hour and a few hundred visitors, the sick feeling in my gut gave way to emptiness. Someone would step up, then return to the walkways while calmly staring at whatever devices were near their faces. It was like they had nowhere to be, nothing to clean or farm. Countless perfect-looking people wandering aimlessly around a perfect city in a perfect world. I’d rather have been under the floor.