by Gentry Race
Elise felt jarred and numb, similar to when a real human lost consciousness. She awoke, but she would still need to make sense of the world around her. Elise’s blank look faded as she slowly recognized Arthur and Elizabeth standing before her.
“Elise!” Elizabeth blurted out as she pulled Elise into a crushing bear-hug. Re-printings were always emotional events for Elizabeth.
Elise recognized the familiar concern and wanted to comfort her. “Liz, you always know I will be all right.”
Elise picked up on the subtleties that come with being human, and Elizabeth could easily see that. “Did it hurt?” She cringed.
Elise adjusted her silver dress. “It always does.”
“Well! That was a good run. Perhaps we will give it another go when the lake shifts again,” Arthur said sarcastically, smiling as he closed his interface. He pulled a flask from his inside coat pocket and took a habitual sip.
“Absolutely not! You should have that lake mapped out. My legs still burn from the Azoth,” Elise said.
“My dear, the Azoth is working.”
“I don’t care anymore, Dad. You need to lay off the hooch,” Elise fired back.
“The principle of horizontality states that—” he started.
“My dear, that’s only true for Earth. Here, the newest rock forms from the top, solidifying from the projection signal,” Elizabeth interjected.
“I know, but—”
“Listen you two, I will not sit through another ongoing argument. Let’s have some dinner, and you can have drink,” Elise said. She noticed Arthur’s demeanor change, knowing he planned to partake in his usual night of heavy food and drinks.
Dinner was an interesting topic for Elise. It was an Annulus citizen’s right to ensure every nPrint was distributed nutritional supplements. Consuming edible material was optional, but you could just as easily turn off the supplements and partake in the ancient ritual.
The public landytes were accessible for anything one could imagine. For Elise, however, it was the act of chewing and having her mouth filled with a slimy bolus of goop that felt strange.
The ex-Neologians loved to cook, and Arthur loved to drink. When the White Matter reserves were abundant, they would print raw meats. They could be prepared by using a chemical reaction that would create a perfect char on the flesh of a now extinct species from Earth.
As they sat around a campfire, Arthur hummed aloud. He always loved to sing old melodies to himself as he relaxed or when he concentrated on something. Elise considered the hobby most amusing among other things like his ridiculous attire and affection for alcohol. Elizabeth, however, paid no attention. She wore the expression of a scientist—calm and confident.
“We didn’t want to lie to you, Elise,” Elizabeth said after a few moments of silence.
Elise turned only her head to look at Elizabeth, her eyes staring into those of the other woman. “The lie is that we live.” She turned her attention back to the wood burning in front of her as it crumbled into a black carbon. “Where does it come from, Dad?”
Arthur toyed with a rickety contraption that held a piece of the black Azoth, a rocky ore that was black as night. He sparingly took bites while catching Elizabeth’s worried glance.
“The Azoth? It’s a rare element found in the land surrounding an asteroid collision,” he said.
“Is it from Earth?” Elise asked.
He nodded. “Yes.”
“Did… we bring it with us?”
“No, my dear. I found this element a long time ago. Your mother brought you and Sol.”
“We were sick,” Elise said as her eyes darted up to look at Arthur.
“The shielding was faulty. It was a glitch.”
“A glitch,” Elise repeated.
He studied her expression for a moment before continuing. “Exposure to gamma rays for that long would make any human sick. She was trying to bring you to Annulus to give you a better life. The Flare—”
“Bringing you to Annulus Tower was the best thing we could have done for you,” Elizabeth added quickly. “Neology has shown what human Conscious is.”
“Well, not for Sol. She’s probably surveying right now,” Arthur said humorously.
Elise shuddered upon hearing the term “surveying.” She hadn’t spoken to Solari since she set off to join Axiom five years ago. Elise felt abandoned by her sister when she’d gone off to live a different life. It was up to Elise to make it for herself. To provide; to be something their mother would be proud of. Not just a corporate pawn.
“My condition is fine. I don’t think a vague corporate concept is what I need right now.” Elise balked, focusing instead on arranging her belongings in a particular way.
Arthur looked sharply at Elizabeth from across the fire. “Everyone makes sense of the world around them in different ways, Liz. Everyone copes differently.”
“Honey, she must seek the surveying,” Elizabeth said.
“I have seen what they represent. This whole station is nothing but a lie. That’s why I chose to go to the Dream Farms and the Mesons,” Elise said.
Arthur pulled out a small fracture of Azoth from his pocket. It absorbed the light and reflected nothing back. It was the very essence of death.
“Neology, the Mesons, and those Dream Farms are an antithesis to the human psyche. While Annulus is not perfect, it provides a home for the less fortunate,” Arthur said.
“And that’s the lie, Dad,” Elise replied flatly as she settled in closer to the fire, her eyes narrowing. “Are you happy knowing that?”
“I am happy here,” Arthur answered, taking another drink.
She sighed and nodded. Silence filled the air for several moments before she looked up and said, “Just tell me more stories of Earth?”
Elise had always been fascinated with Arthur’s past home and the adventures he experienced while living there. He found it amusing and enjoyed talking with her about it whenever she had questions or simply wanted to hear him go on about it in length.
As she relaxed and closed her eyes, she drifted off to sleep listening to him talk about Earth’s strange currency.
Elise awoke close to the fire as it quivered, dying out into the night. Like the fire, her patience grew weary. She saw Arthur and Elizabeth hold each other as they slept, and she wondered if she would ever find someone of her own to hold. A gentleman, imperfect in character. Someone Annulus would not accept.
Elise slipped a hand into Arthur’s vest, grabbing hold of the black ore in his inside pocket. He snorted and grumbled something in his sleep, and she froze, waiting for the man she called ‘Dad’ to adjust. Once he did, she removed her hand and looked at the dark object.
She studied the black ore and could feel a slight tinge eating away on her fingers as she placed it in a satchel on her side. Earthshine began to peak over the stations, the beautiful glow illuminating everything just enough for Elise to start her trek.
“Just one more time,” Elise said to herself as she stood and began to walk away from the sleeping couple.
Elise had to travel a few kilometers to get to the transport that led to the Lower Dregs. The Far Side suffered from a feed scarcity and was broken up into regions of land similar to islands. There were many efforts to secure remote landytes to relay the signal, but they often went missing. Elise knew it was the nomadic humans like Arthur and Elizabeth who resented the structures and used the Azoth to keep them from rebuilding.
Annulus had amazing topology, and Elise cherished its faults. The layered canyon rocks displayed a rich red texture of sand and different sedimentary stone that nested in stratified layers. The steamy waterways had yellow-green edges, revealing the biological sludge that naturally grew along the banks since scrubbers were absent there.
She arrived at the shifting lake. It was wider than it was long. She saw distant smoke caused by other human encampments tending to their early morning fires. Elise missed the days of her youth, playing with her sister and meeting the newly arrived
nomads from Earth.
Elise dialed in her second skin, showing what looked like tide charts indicating ebbing and flowing. “Any minute now,” Elise said, eyeing the timer.
The lake began to shift, draining to another side of the lakebed. Elise jumped down in the mud and continued on her way, side stepping the various scarred landscape that Arthur had drilled into over the years.
It wasn’t long before she reached the telecaster, a white glossy tower standing twenty feet tall. Elise was on the edge of the Far Side, which was equivalent to being on the other side of Earth since Annulus wrapped around the planet below respectively. Telecasters provided the luxury to long distance travel for guardsmen, and since every point was known along the printed station, this made faster than light travel possible within the structures.
Elise placed her hand to the trigger panel, looking at the shifting lake in the distance as it slowly refilled. All around her, the trees, the rocks, and her flesh immediately changed into tiny specks of matter swirling about. She watched the bits shutter past in strobing, incomprehensive streaks.
10
Lines of passengers at Enconn stretched all the way back to the terminal walls. Their destination could be seen directly above through a skylight. Jantzen Cruz impatiently awaited his turn to have his personal space harshly invaded during what would inevitably be a thorough search before boarding for his brief voyage to Annulus Station. He hadn’t made the trip in a long time, since his days of incarceration back in 2089.
He knew people made assumptions on his appearance, which made travel even worse for him. He was short, but he embraced it and stood as tall as he could to compensate for his short stature. His face made him look like he’d taken a few too many punches in his life, which only added to the rough exterior when combined with the black tattoos covering his dark skin.
His criminal record made him feel more anxious than usual. The ESA had restrictions on who could go to Annulus based on criminal past. Jantzen knew he was just short of the seven-year mark that would allow him to pass through legally. Fortunately, his longtime associate, Elise, had a fixer who hacked the database to buy his ticket for a fresh start. While everything had gone well so far, that didn’t mean it couldn’t go downhill at the blink of an eye.
The Enconn Security Administration, or ESA, enforced regulations set by the UN for the process since the Big Flare had caused a mass exodus of humans wanting to leave.
Jantzen who remained cautiously vigilant, eyed a spherical drone bot as it floated past him. It carried out a pre-scan, making sure he had a working set of limbs. If a person could perform basic work, whether by using cyber limbs or even a wooden peg, they had a chance of being accepted. We can thank crap conservatives at the UN for this, Jantzen thought.
Two hours had passed as Jantzen grew closer, carrying all his belongings from his previous life in a red duffel bag. The color clashed with his yellow and green block print shirt and baggy carpenter shorts. Jantzen held his appearance in high esteem despite his boxer-like nose, rugged persona, and quick temper.
This time, it will be different, he thought. This time, he wouldn’t be held back by the past, and he could get a jump on his future. He only had to do one more deal with Elise; one more hustle to get back on track.
Jantzen slid his tongue along his teeth, feeling the smooth surface of cool glass. The end of his wait had finally arrived, and he locked eyes with the ESA agent who would no doubt judge him on sight.
The agent’s dress uniform was a standard faint blue jumper suit with a matching hat. Without hesitation, Jantzen handed over the required papers.
“Mr…” The ESA agent’s eyes narrowed as he scrutinized the documents. “Wilson?”
Jantzen nodded and smiled, revealing a set of deep cranberry glass teeth. The agent was visibly unamused by the latest trend in decorated teeth among the youth. Jantzen imagined it hadn’t been the first time he’d seen it that day.
Unfortunately for Jantzen, as expected, that raised the agent’s suspicion. “Do you have any previous criminal records in the past seven years?” he asked.
“Nope,” Jantzen replied curtly, regretting the smile he’d given. He tapped his fingers on the agent’s desk. His heavily callused knuckles were thick and dry in the sterile air.
The agent typed his information in and came to a halt. “Mr. Jantzen Wilson, right?”
Jantzen nodded, his anxiety spiking at the inflection in the other man’s voice. “Yeah.”
“One moment, please,” the ESA agent said before leaving his desk.
Jantzen cursed under his breath but did his best not to allow his fear to show in his actions. That would be a dead giveaway of guilt. Patience in situations like this wasn’t his strong suit, and he’d already spent forever in the line, monitoring his every breath and movement to look calmer than he’d felt. This was torture. It was the waiting that hurt worse than whatever it was that might come after. At least you knew what you were in for and could prepare.
There was no way for him to do that right now.
Without a doubt, he knew if he got caught using another identity, he would never be able to start a new life. All his dreams of a clean slate and hope for the future would be gone. Turned to ash in front of his very eyes.
Jantzen felt a slight nudge from behind against his bag. He looked back to see a small child tussling with a toy plane, clean but not sanitary.
“Sorry, sir,” the mother said, trying to round up her unruly offspring.
“Don’t mention it,” Jantzen said, keeping his cool.
Jantzen despised kids. Talk about a future killer, he thought. He turned back around, wondering where the hell that agent had gotten off to. For a second, he caught a small glimpse of the station though the skylight. Annulus was thinner than the moon and casted a shadow on Earth during the day. Whole cult-like factions had risen, embracing that shadow. Jantzen wanted no part of that.
Though it seemed like an eternity had passed, it had only been barely fifteen minutes. He waited at the desk, perspiring profusely. He wiped his brow, trying to run down the possible scenarios, trying to think of what the agents might find.
Did Elise set up the right identity? Maybe he should have waited another year before trying to leave.
A sigh of relief almost escaped him upon seeing the agent heading his way, but that was before the memory of why he’d left in the first place smacked him. Jantzen swallowed hard, trying to stand with confidence he didn’t have. He looked down to see a few papers and a new ticket in the agent’s hand.
“Mr. Cruz, I am sorry for the delay. It seems there has a been a mistake with your reservation,” the agent said.
Jantzen controlled the breath he’d been holding, trying not to let it all go in an obvious rush. “Is that so?”
“Yes, our records show you flying third class, not first class.”
Jantzen flinched. That wasn’t good news. The classes weren’t all about simple comforts. This was a potential life-altering change. “But third class doesn’t have the extra shielding.”
The agent nodded. “That is correct.”
“And what’s the dose I will receive?”
“Sir, only in the event of a Coronal Mass Ejection would the compressed particles be lethal. Other than certain elements reacting, the exposure to the human body is harmless.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” Jantzen whispered as he looked back at the long line, considering his options.
“I’m sorry, sir?” the Agent asked.
Jantzen turned his head back and flashed his ruby smile. “I’ll take it.”
Jantzen found his seat in the back of the large freighter ship. It was blocky in design but served its purpose. He was tucked snuggly between a large man that smelled of hot cumin and a youthful woman with a cyber-Modded lower half.
The cyber-Modded girl had white hair that was pulled back tight with a large curl for bangs. It did nothing for her teal, skintight jumpsuit laser engraved with a bar code and number.
The rows of packed seats reminded him of the crowded central booking in G block while in county. Between the larger man’s asthmatic breaths, Jantzen could see over the rounded belly out a small, single-paned window.
This was the first of many shortcomings Enconn provided to the ‘budget’ traveler in third class. On top of that was the dose of ‘harmless’ radiation when in flight.
Jantzen knew he couldn’t stay there, or his prize would be compromised. He stuck his head over the seats and looked down the aisles for any possible exits to other parts of the ship.
He didn’t have an official major in sciences, but he was keen to the discipline with a minor in hustle. He knew the amount of energy they would fly through while leaving Earth would provide quite the firework show outside and would render the element he had smuggled in his teeth useless. He needed to get to first class somehow so he could shield his teeth.
“Attention passengers: Enconn Transport is due for takeoff in three minutes. Please be seated,” a monotone voice said from the above speaker.
Jantzen shifted uneasily in his seat.
“What’s a matter, cutie? You got a fear of flying?” the half cyber-Modded girl asked in a flirtatious New Jerseyan accent. “Hi. The name’s Jess.”
Jantzen was well aware she had him in her peripheral, but he couldn’t give in to her petty advances. He had business to see through. Besides, her lower half was an older model, riddled with lead toxin. Jantzen remembered the time he was with an outdated Mod. He couldn’t stand for a week due to the toxic metals.
The freighter ship lifted off with ease, pulling away from the Enconn Terminal. Jantzen could see the city and an old life shrinking to an infinitesimal point as he looked out the window. He only had a few moments left to make it to first class to shield his teeth. He stood and stepped over the cyber-Modded girl’s legs, reluctant to show any more of himself to her as she chewed away the nail polish on her last finger.
