by Magus Tor
NUMBERED
TREE
Magus Tor
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter One
Aurelia paced the floor. In general, she was more confident than most young women her age, but tonight even she had to admit that she was nervous. The high-heeled shoes she was wearing were uncomfortable, particularly on feet that had been walking the corridors of Lunar City Hospital all day. The long, tight dress felt restrictive after the light utility of her regular uniform. Even the tickling of hair on the back of her neck, due to wearing her hair loose rather than tied up as regulations decreed, was a constant reminder that she wasn't herself this evening.
With a deep sigh, she poured herself a glass of water and strolled to the window. The lights of Lunar City were as bright as ever, and the dome that encapsulated the city had faded to a deep blue, indicating that night was close. She put her head against the cool glass of the window, trying to slow her pulse down, to calm herself just a little. If she were being completely honest, she'd have to say that yes, there was a small flicker of excitement deep down, buried under her anxiety. After all, this was the first time that she'd been Jonathon Hansen's official escort anywhere. But then...then the nerves came back.
What if she did something embarrassing? What if she tripped over this stupid long dress? Or toppled over on the high heels that she was so unused to? What if she said something dumb or used the wrong fork or broke some unknown rule of Elite Class etiquette? That was a big part of the problem, she thought. This dinner was going to be full of Ruling Class, and she'd probably be the only Worker there. Other than the hospitality Workers serving the food, that is. And as much as she loved Jonathon, and his little sister Tara too, she simply wasn't used to being around the Elite. They scared her. Why, she wasn't sure, other than that they were different. Privileged. Spoilt, maybe.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the living room door sliding open. Hurriedly, she lifted her head and turned around to see Jonathon walk into the room, fiddling with the sleeves of his jacket.
“Aurelia, could you...” He trailed off as he saw her. “Wow. You look beautiful. Incredible.”
“Thanks,” she said, with as much of a smile as she could muster. To be fair, Jonathon himself looked pretty good in his cadet-style jacket and tight pants. The deep Prussian blue of the jacket matched his eyes and complemented his dark hair.
“Hmmm, you don't exactly look happy, though,” he said, coming over to her. “Come on, come sit down and tell me what's going on. You're scared, right?”
Aurelia nodded and allowed herself to be led over to the couch.
“Aurelia,” Jonathon said, once they were seated, “you don't have anything to be nervous about, I promise you.”
She frowned. “But these are the Ruling Class, the people who decide everything about Worker lives, the ones who own everything, have everything. And more than that, they're people who are important to you. People who can influence your political career. I'm just scared that I'm going to screw things up.”
Jonathon laughed. “Darling, I could list a whole bunch of reasons why you shouldn't be worried, but since we're getting short of time, I'll limit myself to the most important ones. First off, you're stunningly beautiful, and I swear to you that you're going to be the best-looking woman in the room.”
Aurelia nudged him with her elbow. “I don't base my entire self-confidence on the way I look!”
He shrugged. “But it always helps. Secondly, yes, these are Ruling Class, but they still put their pants on one leg at a time, as my father says. Be your charming self and you'll have nothing to worry about.”
“And third?”
“And third, these people are less important to my career than you might think.”
“Why's that?” she asked curiously, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.
“Simple numbers,” said Jonathon. “They're the Elite. By definition, that means that there's few of them. And for my plans, numbers are important. I don't aim to become President by charming a couple of hundred big wigs, though I'll do my best. No, I aim to do it through the power of Workers and Clones. Millions against hundreds. Those are pretty good odds, in my book.”
Aurelia looked at him and shook her head. “Sometimes I forget how different you are,” she said.
And it was true. Not only did Jonathon want to become Empire President—fairly unthinkable in one as young as he was—but he'd also become the wunderkind whom all the Ruling Class families supported. Whether that was because he was the only candidate they could all agree on or not was a matter of debate, but the fact was that there was a huge chance Jonathon was about to become the next President. That wasn't all that made him different, though. As a secret leader in the Resistance movement, Jonathon had his own agenda for rule. Little did the Ruling Class know, but Jonathon was planning on stripping them of their rights and instituting a system of equality once he held power. The very thought of it made Aurelia shaky with awe. A world where the Workers didn't just serve the Elite, a world where not everyone was numbered, a world where she could make her own decisions rather than doing what the system told her she had to. A month or two ago, such thoughts would never even have occurred to her, but Jonathon had made them real.
“Here,” said Aurelia, “let me help you.”
She took his arm and deftly did up the series of buttons on his cuffs.
“Thanks, that's tough to do one handed,” said Jonathon.
“There, all done.”
“And you, you think you can handle this?” he asked her. “If not, you can pull out. I would never make you do something that made you uncomfortable, Aurelia. You have my word on that.”
She shook her head. “Nope, I'm not chickening out. We've got to go public at some point, and it might as well be now. I suppose it's better to make my debut as the girlfriend of a presidential candidate. Making it as the girlfriend of the actual President would be terrifying.”
He grinned at her. “You could debut as the wife of the President instead; think how scary that would be.”
“I might just drop dead from fright,” she said solemnly, then grinned back. “Come on, then. If we're going to do this, let's get it over with. Thinking about doing something is always worse than actually doing it.”
She pushed herself up out of the deep couch cushions and offered her hand to Jonathon, yanking him to his feet.
“Hmmm, those shoes make you nearly as tall as me,” he said when he was standing beside her.
She gave him a playful punch on the arm. Even in the heels, she only reached just past his shoulder. “Let's get out of here.”
The transport pod was waiting by the front door, and Aurelia took a deep breath of clean, filtered air as she stepped outside. The night was pleasantly cool, not too cold, not too hot. But then, the nights in Lunar City were always that way. So were the days. It was one of the conveniences of living inside a dome and being able to design your own climate. No rain, no snow, no sunburn or pollution. But sometimes she missed the rain, missed the soft feeling of drops hitting her upturned face. Perfect weather was, well, perfect; and perfection could get annoying after a while. She looked at the tall trees and wide lawns that surrounded the house. Only here. Even on Earth, such luxuries as trees and grass were unheard of. Here on
Lunar, only the very, very rich had such things. In her seventeen years, these were the only trees and the only grass that Aurelia had ever seen.
“I thought you were in a hurry to get this over with,” said Jonathon.
She looked over to see that he was holding the transport pod door open for her. “Sorry!”
She climbed in and fastened her belt, waiting for Jonathon to get situated on the other side before hitting the icon on the control panel. The pod paused, lifted and hovered, then slid off towards the security gate.
“Can I ask you a question?”
“Sure,” said Jonathon.
“Are your parents going to be there tonight?”
He shrugged. “Probably not. They don't do much of the political stuff anymore. I haven't seen them for months, though, so I've got no idea.”
That wasn't as unusual as it seemed to Aurelia. Many people simply had children as a duty, and once their children were grown had very little to do with them. Aurelia knew that she was the unusual one, being exceptionally close to her parents. She intercommed with them at least once a week, and having been on Lunar for a couple of months now was missing them.
“Tell me about them,” she said.
Jonathon sat back in his seat, the lights of Lunar City streaming past his window. “I don't really know them very well. My father was in politics, though from my studies I know he didn't have a huge influence on the government. My mother, I don't know, my mother must have done something, I suppose. I rarely saw them.”
“How is that possible?” Aurelia was confused. Even with both her parents being Workers, she had spent every evening with them and could think of few occasions when one or the other hadn't been at home.
Jonathon smiled. “I was brought up by Workers, like most Ruling Class kids. Generally, I saw my parents a couple of times a year, maybe. That's pretty much it.”
“Doesn't that bother you?” She couldn't imagine not seeing her parents.
“Don't really think about it,” he replied. Then he looked at her curiously. “But on the other hand, wasn't it weird to spend every night with two adults who had completely separate lives from you during the day? I should think that that would be kind of uncomfortable.”
Aurelia sighed. She could forget sometimes how very, very different they were. “Don't really think about it,” she mimicked him.
“Well, if we have children, will you stay at home with them, or would you like someone else to look after them?”
She took a minute to think about that. “I think a combination of both would probably be best,” she said finally. “I mean, some help would be nice sometimes.”
Jonathon nodded. “That's what it's all about,” he said. “Compromise. The ability to choose what you want.”
The conversation about parents had passed most of the journey and had left Aurelia feeling odd. It was strange to think of the person she loved being brought up so differently than she had been. Plus, she hadn't forgotten that Jonathon had once let slip that he'd met her father. When she’d pushed him on the issue, he’d refused to answer her, so eventually she'd let it lie, figuring that she'd ask her father herself whenever she saw him. But it niggled at the back of her mind. Why on Earth would a future Empire President have met her father? Her father was a talented tech Worker, but she could think of no real reason why Jonathon would even know who he was. When she thought about it late at night, she could only presume that it had been part of the vetting that had allowed her to join the Resistance. She knew that the Resistance had done a lot of background research on her before head hunting her, and she supposed that part of that research had been about her family.
The pod was slowing down, the traffic lanes becoming more crowded.
“Are you ready for this?” Jonathon asked.
Aurelia nodded. She was. There was no point in being anxious about it; it had to be done. The pod was climbing up a level, and in the distance she saw the tower of the restaurant that they were heading to. It was a place she had been before; Jonathon had taken her to dinner there shortly after they’d first met, and that familiarity made her feel a little better. Although, it was the same restaurant where he and his ally Elza, who was also Aurelia's boss, had persuaded her to join them in their Resistance work. Aurelia hoped that there weren't any surprises like that planned for tonight.
The pod hovered, waiting for the drop-off area to empty before ascending to the deck. Aurelia swallowed and did a brief mental and physical check. She felt as well as could be expected, and she didn't see any rips or spills on her dress so far. She resisted the temptation to fuss with her long dark hair, inherited from her Asiatic mother. She'd only end up making it more of a mess if she ran her fingers through it. Finally, the pod hummed and climbed to the drop-off deck. Jonathon got out first and held her door, offering his hand. Getting out of transport pods in dresses was not one of Aurelia's strengths, and she was glad for his help; it prevented her from embarrassing herself.
Jonathon pulled her out and gave her arm a little squeeze. “We're gonna be just fine,” he said. “No worries.”
The deck wound around the top of the restaurant tower until it reached a set of large doors. Jonathon held securely onto Aurelia's arm, nodding pleasantly at familiar faces, seeming perfectly at ease. Aurelia spent the first few seconds of the walk staring around her in amazement. The view of Lunar City from up here was absolutely incredible, and she drank in the bright colours and lights. Before she knew it, they were stopping outside of the doors.
“What are we stopping for?” she hissed.
“To be announced,” said Jonathon. “Don't worry about it; it's an old tradition, and nearly no one pays any attention at all. They're all too busy getting their hands on free drinks.”
The couple in front of them disappeared through the doors, and seconds later a voice cried: “Next.”
Jonathon gave her a little push, and then together they walked in. Aurelia found herself on a platform at the top of a flight of stairs, below which the huge space of the restaurant spread out, packed with people and buzzing with noise. A hospitality Worker was standing next to them, and Jonathon leaned over to whisper to him.
“Jonathon Hansen and Aurelia Cole,” announced the Worker.
Immediately there was complete silence, and every face in the room turned to look curiously at the couple.
“Smile!” whispered Jonathon out of the corner of his mouth.
Aurelia did her best and for an agonising moment allowed herself to be put on display. Then the whispers started, and soon the room was again filled with the noise of everyone talking together.
“What the hell was that about?” Aurelia demanded, as they walked down the stairs. She held her breath and paid extra attention to the heels and long dress, stepping very, very carefully.
“Er...well, I haven't exactly brought an escort to one of these before,” said Jonathon.
Looking over, Aurelia could see that he was blushing slightly. “You haven't?”
“Um, no. Usually I just come alone. I guess the gossip hounds scented a story when they announced my name with yours. I'm sorry, I really should have thought about it.”
“Don't worry about it,” she told him. Okay, being on display was far from pleasant, but at least she'd been introduced to everyone all at once. Besides, the fact that Jonathon had never brought anyone else to one of these events made her feel, what? Special, maybe. And she had a small, secret smile as they made their way down to the floor.
“I'll try to get you a drink,” said Jonathon.
But that was easier said than done. It took a full half hour to cross the floor of the restaurant, with Jonathon being stopped every few steps by a friend or acquaintance. Generally, after pleasantries, Aurelia was forced to stand there silently as whoever it was bent Jonathon's ear about something, and she was fuming and had aching feet by the time they reached the bar area. Her cheeks were aching too, from all that polite smiling.
“Why does no one even ask what I do?�
�� she complained as Jonathon grabbed a couple of glasses from a tray.
“Because they all presume that you do nothing, since most of them do nothing,” said a voice.
A hand with long fingers and brightly painted nails reached over Aurelia's shoulder and took a glass from the tray. Aurelia heaved a sigh of relief. At last, someone she knew.
“Elza!” she cried, turning to greet the woman. “You didn't say that you were coming.”
The head of Lunar City Hospital grinned and bent to kiss Aurelia's cheek. “Didn't know that I was until a couple of hours ago,” she said.
“Work?” asked Aurelia quietly.
Elza nodded her elegantly coiffed blonde head towards a large man standing a metre or so away who was involved in an animated conversation with two equally stout men. “Sort of,” she said.
Aurelia knew that a lot of Elza's Resistance work involved, well, this sort of thing. Escorting powerful men, growing close to them, getting information. She said nothing but felt a sharp pang of pain that Elza had to do this.
“Oh, it's not so bad,” confided Elza, seeing the look on Aurelia's face. “You get free Champagne.”
“Champagne?” said Aurelia, confused.
“That's what's in the glass,” said Jonathon, turning his attention back to the two women and away from the slight man who had cornered him at the bar.
“What's that?” Aurelia asked, looking at the pale gold liquid she was holding.
“Try it!” said Jonathon, and almost immediately someone else came to drag him away and speak to him.
Aurelia sniffed the glass and sneezed. The liquid seemed to be carbonated, and it had a sweet, acidic smell.
Elza laughed. “It's not bad, and very, very expensive. Just don't drink more than a glass or two, or you'll feel terrible in the morning.”
Experimentally, Aurelia took a sip. Wow. The liquid seemed to explode on her tongue, and she quickly swallowed it, leaving a sweet-sour taste in her mouth. Not bad at all. “What's it made from?” she asked Elza.
“Er, grapes, I think. It's a kind of fruit. Champagne is an old drink, from Old Earth, I mean. But someone up here got the bright idea of cultivating the necessary fruit and making it. There's only a couple of thousand bottles made a year, so it's one of the most expensive drinks that you can get.”
