by S A Shaffer
“I was born in Armstad, and my first name really is Mercy, and a few other things you know are true, but most of what I said was a lie.” Mercy waited for David to show some form of disapproval or anger, but he only looked curious.
“I’m not estranged from my parents.” Mercy said. “Every single member of my family is involved in the effort to keep Armstad safe. My oldest brother, Corvin, is a sneak, and one of the best ones Armstad has ever had.”
“Corvin?” David asked. “I know that name.” He looked at the ceiling and then snorted. “But of course.” David said with a snap of his fingers. “A few weeks before you died,” He drew quotation marks in the air as he spoke, “I did a little snooping on Representative Walker. A man named Corvin landed an airship at Walker’s mansion and gave a report.”
“Yes, that was my brother!” Mercy said. “He made regular reports to Walker back when he was speaker.”
David chuckled as he looked into his mug of tea. “Sometimes the Fertile Plains seem very small.”
“Well, he’s the oldest. Bibi is next oldest.” Mercy continued. “He’s a part of the Armstad assault force. Most people in our army consider him the deadliest man in the Fertile Plains. Then there’s Yoni. He made the plaster cast dummy that… well, anyway… He’s an inventor of sorts. He’s built all kinds of weapons and airships and expanded our knowledge in multiple sciences.” Mercy snickered as she thought of him. “He’s been blowing things up since he learned to walk. I’m the youngest. I trained as a sneak, but since I was not able to serve in the same capacity as my older brothers, my father sent me to Alönia. He’d long feared that Alönia’s Equalist party would take power and leave Armstad to face their enemies alone, just as Blythe has done. So he hatched a plan with Don Johnson and implanted me into the office of the leading Equalist threat.
“How did he know Johnson?” David asked.
“Johnson’s mother was Armstadi, and Johnson did some sneak work himself and made several presentations to Armstad.” Mercy said after a sip of tea as David gave a knowing nod. “My father and him formed a friendship and an alliance around the time of my birth,” Mercy continued, “though I never met Johnson until my aideship with Representative Herald, and even then, our meetings were few and far between. He’s a very stern man, and sometimes he even scares me, but he’s always good and always makes the right choice.”
“That’s how my mother described him.” David said
“Well,” Mercy continued, “I worked for Herald for two cycles, and though he boasted his ability to unseat Speaker Walker, he lacked the inspiration to actually follow through. None of us expected Blythe, or should I say, you.”
David looked away from her, and she could tell he was ashamed of his accomplishment.
“Whether you revere the achievement or not, it was a remarkable feat.” Mercy said. “Besides, if you hadn’t elevated Blythe, we never would have gotten acquainted with each other.”
He perked up at that.
“The moment after Blythe’s grand speech, Johnson moved me to the Blythe campaign.” She said. “I assumed it would be a simple matter to dismantle the office from the inside out. We all underestimated you, and after you evaded every trap we set, and navigated Blythe though a dozen pitfalls, I realized that the only person who could remove Blythe from power, was the man who put him in it: you.”
David snorted, but as she looked in his eyes, his smile faltered, and he looked down and nodded.
“The trouble was that you wholeheartedly believed in Blythe and his ideals, but I could tell that Blythe’s character was not congruent with your own. I knew that if you saw the true Blythe and what the Equalists truly stood for, you’d turn on them. I was right, but I acted too late. Killing myself seemed the only way to get your attention and get you to start asking the right questions.”
“Oh, it definitely did that.” David said with a sigh.
“I confess I grossly underestimated how deeply it impacted you, and the ten days I’d hoped you would use to dismantle Blythe, you spent in mourning. I’m truly sorry for what I put you through. Had I known… how you felt, I would have tried something different.” She looked away, unable to meet his gaze as she wiped a tear.
“I’m just happy you’re alive, and that it was all a farce.” He said and grabbed her hand on her tea mug and gave it a squeeze.
Mercy nodded and continued. “We planned my death, and the census fraud money trail. It was a two-pronged attack. If you didn’t realize the truth during the campaign finance investigation, I knew you find it out after I died. We had Speaker Walker put together the census oversight committee and hand pick an inspection team. The night I left you at the office, the last time we saw each other, I met up with the team and we prepared my apartment, placed the corpse and such. I knew it would only be a matter of hours before you came looking for me. I was across the way at an adjacent apartment congratulating myself on so apt a prediction, when I saw your face as you entered. I knew then that I had struck you far deeper than I could have imagined, but once you entered, we were bound to the course of action. The census oversight committee arrived after you’d had time to confirm my death. They bagged the dummy and erased any evidence to prove I still lived. That’s why neither you nor Winston ever found a body.”
David nodded. “It’s all so simple, looking back. In my grief, I never thought to examine the body beyond a pulse. I’m sorry it took me so long to realize who Blythe really was. I didn’t find out his true character until moments before his oath of office, by then it was too late.”
“Don’t blame yourself. We all botched the job where Blythe is concerned. It’s just that nobody saw him coming.”
“Someday I might learn to look where no one else is.” David said, more to himself than her. “Regardless, Blythe never would have got as far as he did if he hadn’t received foreign aid.”
Mercy nodded. “Francisco told me what you discovered in Thornton. It’s disgusting. I was in the gallery when you took your seat at the assembly for Blythe’s acceptance speech.” Mercy said. “I could tell the moment I saw you that you’d discovered the truth. That’s why I saw you when you wrote that note and slipped it into the House Law book. After the census, I snuck down and got it. I wanted to see you the moment I knew you’d changed your mind about Blythe, but Johnson told me to wait. He said my death was the only reason you changed your position, and that if I miraculously reappeared, you would question your decision.”
David sighed and nodded back and forth, apparently considering the statement. “He’s not wrong.” He said at last. “I held to Equalist ideals until a few days ago. I suppose I began to doubt them when I got an up-close look at the people who championed them, but it wasn’t until Thornton that I truly rejected them in favor of a Pragmatic perspective.”
“Well,” Mercy said, “because of that, my existence was concealed from you. I saw you on several occasions, and I had to bite my tongue to keep from calling out. I was at your interrogation only a few floors down from here.”
David froze in the middle of drinking his tea. “You were?” He asked as he looked at her. “What did I say?”
“Only some very sweet things about me.” Mercy said as she looked in her cup. “You even cried over me.” She looked at him as she blew on her steaming tea, doing her best not to smile.
He, on the other hand, blushed vibrantly, and she giggled at him.
“What made Johnson change his mind and let you come today?” he asked once she’d had her laugh.
“He knew your mother was at death’s door.” She said, in a more solemn tone. “He thought I might be able to bring you back from the brink of despair. But, when I found you, when you thought I was a hallucination, you didn’t seem to be in despair. You spoke of a purpose.”
David nodded. “I’m sad she’s gone, but I’m happy as well. It was no life to live, being trapped inside her body and such. I’m not sure what pains me more, seeing her suffering or knowing she’s gone.” He sniffed and no
dded. “It’s bittersweet. She reminded me of my duty to seek good, and that part of that good is to do justice. Blythe’s justice is long overdue, and a war that could kill thousands is right around the corner. I don’t know how yet, but I’m going to remove him from office and lock him away in a prison where he can rot for a lifetime.”
“Oh.” Mercy said and she saw a hint of the determination David obviously felt glinting in his eyes. “I see. Do you have a plan yet?”
“No.” David said as he rested his head in his hands. “I feel like Blythe is carving Alönia to pieces, and I’m trying to catch the fragments before they dash to oblivion on the ground. One thing is for sure, I know we need to save the forward fleet before he has it decommissioned and dismantled. The Viörn admiral, if that was indeed who he was, seemed very keen about the airships’ deconstruction. I can only imagine a terrible fate if Viörn invades a defenseless Alönia.”
“Jeshua works in mysterious ways.” Mercy said.
“I know.” David nodded his head. “I know he’s got a plan, but I just can’t tell what it is yet. I suppose he will reveal it in good time.”
Mercy noted the difference in the tone David spoke of Jeshua as compared to the last time they had a conversation about him. The last time, when they’d sat on the sunbeam after the prowler attack, David had avoided the subject, looking away whenever Mercy mentioned Jeshua’s name. Now, he spoke of the name reverently, as though it had a special place in his heart.
David used his hand to massage his temple again and continued. “There’s more. Blythe has undercut a lot of my influence and my ability to work.” He stood and walked over to a trash receptacle. He rifled through it until he drew out a newspaper with some tea stains marring its corners. Her turned it to the front page and dropped it on the table in front of Mercy. As she read it, her hand slipped up to cover her mouth.
“Murder?” She said when she’d finished the page. “He’s accused you of the crimes he committed!”
David snorted as he resumed his seat. “Probably the smartest thing he’s done since I’ve met him. It prevents me from speaking out without risking my capture, and it also discredits anything I might say. I can’t show myself in public without risk of arrest, or worse.”
“Well, part of it is easy to disprove.” Mercy said after a moment’s thought. “I’m still alive, so you obviously didn’t murder me.”
David smiled. “It also proves that Blythe has no idea about your ruse or your involvement with the underground. We might be able to use that to our advantage in the future. Still, the situation is bleak.”
“They’ll have to get past Armstad first, you know,” Mercy said, searching for something happier to discuss, “Viörn and Berg, that is. We are not as defenseless as many would believe, despite our size.”
“True.” David said with a smile. “But If Berg and Viörn attack…” He shrugged. “We are at a tipping point, and we must act fast. Did Johnson tell you when he’d be joining us?”
“He dropped me off and continued on to the Sixth District for a meeting with Walker.” Mercy said. “He wanted us to come along if and when you were ready. Are you sure you are?”
David nodded. “I’d like something to do. A task would be beneficial.”
“You’re… different.” Mercy said, cocking her head and wrinkling her brow. “Much different than I expected you to be. Given everything that’s happened, especially today, I expected you to be more… in despair.”
David gave a tight smile and brushed away a tear. Mercy wondered if she had said too much.
“I am sad, but despite everything that’s happened, I found hope today. More than I’ve ever had.”
Mercy smiled, but as she looked at him, she realized he was not referring to her. “What hope?” she asked.
“The hope of eternity.” David said. “The hope that one day Jeshua will reunite me with my mother and father. I’ve been running from him for a long time, knowing about him but not really knowing him. My mother said some things to me before she died, things she’d told me a long time ago, but her death drove them into my heart.” David sighed. “I came to the end of my strength, and I realized how tired I was of running, tired of the weight of my shortcomings, and tired of my hopelessness. I realized my need for something more than this physical realm to fill me with purpose. So I called out to him, on the rooftop, and he… he…” David looked around, apparently struggling for the right words. “…came to me. I don’t know how else to explain it. I felt warmth and love and joy filling my being. The same feeling I got when my mother embraced me or when my father squeezed my shoulder and told me I did a good job, but more, a thousand times more. And now I feel hope, real hope.”
Mercy felt her smile grow as David spoke and tears roll down her face. Once he’d finished, she leaned over and gave him a hug. “Oh, David! There’s no better hope.”
“So you know what I’m talking about?”
She nodded. “I know exactly what you’re talking about. My mother and father told me about Jeshua when I was young. Growing up in Armstad with the ever-present threat of invasions… well, even as a little girl I’d hide in my closet and speak with him, asking for strength and peace and safety for my family.”
“I’m glad.” David said. “It makes life so much easier knowing death is just a new beginning, and… I’m glad you feel the same way I do.”
She nodded and felt her cheeks color. “Well, at least now you’ll have me to help you with your efforts in life instead of working against you.”
He smiled. “Just don’t die, again. Once was enough.”
“I’ll do my best.” She said as he helped her to her feet. Together they left the facility and climbed into Johnson’s skiff. It was a tight squeeze, but Mercy didn’t mind, and David looked as though he thoroughly enjoyed the proximity. He powered up the skiff, and they soared through the light rain into the clouds. They made a quick stop at a floating refueling station, and Mercy had a moment to admire the stars and the brilliant glow of the moon. She watched David as he paid the attendant, and felt a strange feeling, one she had never felt before. She knew that they had a monumental task ahead of them, as well as war, death, and destruction, but during this evening, as she sat so close to David and rested her head on his shoulder, everything seemed right in the Fertile Plains. She felt happy, and she wasn’t quite sure why.
THE SIXTH DISTRICT
Economy thrived in the Sixth District. In fact, before public pharmaceuticals established its headquarters in the third, more business operated in the Sixth District of House Braxton than in Braxton, Livingston, Hopkins combined, despite being one of Alönia’s smaller districts in square fathoms. Such was the prosperity and growth of the city that it sprawled across the entire landscape of the district, one continuous municipality. When the city first reached capacity, rather than capping expansion, the city planners simply added another layer of factory orbitals above the industrial sector, creating the first multi-level metropolis.
David had flown over the sixth on many occasions from an airship at two grandfathoms in elevation. Even from that distance the sixth looked impressive, but as David and Mercy dropped through the early morning clouds and merged into bustling air traffic, David gaped in utter shock. It was unlike any city he had ever seen, as modern as Capital City, as crowded as the third, yet cleaner than both, despite the many factories. Thriving industrious people hurried through the streets and along the orbital walkways. Air traffic teamed in expressways at four different elevations, each of which traveled at different set speeds. Enormous turbofans pulled air from above the highest orbitals and continuously ventilated the lower levels.
David understood now why people described it as the city that lived. He glided beneath the city’s orbital level and watched everything churn with activity, and not only the rail lines and airships. Buildings moved with rotating turbines, cogs and gears, pumping pistons and compressing hydraulics. Complex cranes ferried shipping containers along overhead steel lines. T
rains traveled on top of elevated tracks or hung on rails that ran beneath the orbitals. Yet, the thing that David found strangest of all, was the fact that the light shone as bright beneath the orbitals as it did above, and it didn’t take him long to figure out why. The city planners evidently foresaw the orbiting level’s shadows and implanted a system of mirrors at crucial points to reflect light on the lower portions.
David flew through the well-organized traffic according to Mercy’s direction, until they approached a towering pillar reaching from the ground level all the way to the upper orbitals, but the closer they flew the more David recognized the pillar for what it really was. There were twelve in total, and each provided a crucial service. Not only did they ground the orbital layer of the city, they also powered the entire district. All of the rainwater that fell on the orbital flowed through a system of gutters in such an efficient manner that engineers claimed the ground never felt a drop. This water flowed down the center of the twelve towers through hydroelectric generators. No columns of steam vented from cooling towers and, by the look of it, no rank air from an overpopulated industrious society. The local populous called them the twelve pillars of Alönian industry. The pillars also supported a few floors of offices around their middles. These offices were the headquarters of 11 different industries, most of which constructed different components of airships; 11 industries for 11 pillars, and one, as far as David knew, lay vacant.
He docked the skiff at a landing below the pillar’s offices and together he and Mercy ascended in a nearby steam lift. David asked where they were going, but Mercy only told him to wait and see. The view from the glass wall of the steam lift created a perfect observatory of the multi-leveled city’s innerworkings. David had never dreamed this much industry existed in Alönia. The sight made him doubt the third’s greater population, and the cleanliness baffled him. The air tasted fresh when he’d stepped out of the skiff, as fresh as the air on the Capital City orbital. He was a long way up from Alönian soil, but as far as he could tell, the clean streets and shining windows continued far past the mid-levels all the way to the original ground level.
