by T. C. Edge
“I’ll pick up some more for you at the black market,” she says.
I don’t much like her going there. The black market exists in the northern quarter, a necessary location in order to keep it under the radar.
I’m pulled into a very brief hug, as Sophie calls “what’s the hold up?” from down the corridor.
Neither of us answer.
Instead, Mrs Carmichael’s eyes narrow. “Be careful today,” she whispers. “Don’t trust anyone over there, do you understand?”
I nod.
“Of course, Mrs Carmichael. Don’t worry…I’ll be back later.”
I leave her there, and wander down the corridor towards the other two. Her paranoia and distrust of Inner Haven, and the Savants in particular, isn’t something new.
Still, they serve to make me even more nervous than I was before. Hardly the best pep talk, really.
Downstairs, the residents of the academy have gathered to see us off. The girls swarm around us and tell us how pretty we look, as Sophie tries to stop too many of them from tugging at our dresses, slapping away grubby hands and ushering us quickly on.
The little boys stand back, giggling, while the older ones look on at us admiringly. When I catch them staring, they blush and turn away.
I lock eyes with Drum for a moment, who stands at the back with a sheepish look on his face. He flashes that smile that only I ever see, and mouths ‘good luck’, before returning his eyes to his feet.
Before we even get to the door, I can feel the draft of cold morning air whistling through. When the door opens, and we step outside, it becomes evidently clear that these dresses are going to be woefully insufficient in keeping us warm.
“Don’t worry, you’ll be fine in Inner Haven,” says Sophie, watching us shiver as we step into the car. It appears to be the same one as yesterday.
This time, I’m not so daunted when Sophie gives the order, and the vehicle begins moving off of its own accord.
“Western gate to Inner Haven,” she says.
I feel a thrill at the words.
From the centre of the western quarter, we begin moving eastwards towards the middle of the city. I’ve travelled these streets a thousand times before, and know them like the back of my hand. When I was young, I’d creep as close to the wall as I could manage, get right up to its base and imagine what the world was like on the other side.
Today, I’ll find out.
The wall isn’t overly tall, a couple of storey high perhaps. It’s thick, though, and built from iron, a perfect circle surrounding Inner Haven with four entry points at the north, south, east and west. At each entry point, large gates provide passage to the two parts of the city, manned by members of the City Guard.
We move beyond the colourful, vibrant streets of Outer Haven, drenched in neon and filled with life, and up a straight road that leads to the wall. Immediately, the transition becomes apparent, the street turning quiet and drab as it stretches towards the core of the city.
When we reach the wall, a door to the side of the gate opens, and a Brute steps through, dressed in his armour and with the badge of the city at the top of his chest. He’s enormous, ducking his head slightly to move through the door, which clearly wasn’t built with such colossal men in mind.
Sophie gives the order for the right hand window to open, and it swiftly retracts into the door of the vehicle.
“Name and identification number,” says the Brute, his voice booming from his mountainous chest.
“Sophie Winchester. I.D. HKW-193. I’m here to escort two Unenhanced to the ceremony this afternoon. They’re to be honoured for their role in the terrorist attack.”
The Brute raises a monstrous arm and taps Sophie’s information into an interface on his inner forearm.
Then he nods.
“Proceed,” he says.
He steps back, and the gate ahead begins to open, splitting from the middle and winding into the metal wall. I try to peer ahead to get a good look, but the front window is narrow.
Sophie takes note and rectifies the situation.
“Activate transparency mode,” she says.
The vehicle’s computer takes action. Immediately, the external shell of the car seems to fade, the sleek grey seeming to melt into the air. I reach up and touch the ceiling to make sure it’s still there, and feel that the surface remains solid.
“Hopefully that’ll give you a better view,” says Sophie, smiling. “In Inner Haven, there’s no need for us to hide.”
I stare forward, the top half of the car now almost completely see-through, and get my first proper look at Inner Haven. As the car begins moving through the gate, my eyes are immediately drawn to the towers ahead, all of them the same height, same shape, same colour. It’s as if they were clones of each other, lined up along the street, clean and pristine and glimmering under the morning sun.
“Activate tour,” says Sophie. “Follow the Spiral.”
The car moves forward away from the gate, turning onto a wide and open street that curves around the boundary of Inner Haven alongside the wall. As we go, Sophie turns into a tour guide - a part she probably plays a lot with her clients – telling us about the structure of Inner Haven and its component parts.
It seems it works in a spiral, something I wasn’t aware of. Here, the main street flows around the boundary of the city, curving gently in until it arrives at the High Tower right at the city’s core. It’s a simple structure, that allows for only one major street, with smaller ones spreading out in all directions from the core to provide quicker passage to the various districts.
The spiral works, unsurprisingly, to help determine class. On the outside coils, the members of the Enhanced who marry Unenhanced live. Further in, you’ll find single members of the Enhanced, followed by Enhanced who have married partners of their same kind.
The innermost coils, closest to the High Tower, are reserved for the more lowly Savants and members of the Court. The High Tower itself, however, is home to higher class Savants and Courtiers, with the summit occupied by the Consortium.
Many floors of the High Tower, as well as many buildings across Inner Haven, are used for working purposes too. Here, the main trades are science and engineering, where the supreme intellects of the Savants are put to good use, ably supported by the Enhanced and their useful physical improvements.
We drive around the main street, slowly but surely circling in. I look out at the streets and note that they’re fairly quiet and still. There’s no trash, no art, no colour. All the buildings are drenched in sleek tones of grey and white, so different from the vibrant melting plot on the other side of the wall.
No advertising displays fill the sides of buildings, no neon lights spill down and saturate the air with their multi-coloured glow. What colour there is belongs to the Unenhanced who have come here, women like Sophie who drift about, upright and tall, in their sky blue dresses and suits.
It’s like an alien world, one devoid of life. A place of order where everyone seems to wander to the beat of an imaginary drum, all walking at the same pace as they pass to work and back. Calm and serene, I feel like I’ve entered a weird dream just looking at the place.
The look on Tess’s face suggests she’s thinking exactly the same as me. Truthfully, I don’t see how anyone who’s come from Outer Haven couldn’t.
“It’s strange, isn’t it,” remarks Sophie. “Strange to your eyes.”
We both nod together.
“Everyone who sees it for the first time thinks the same. But there’s a charm to the quiet here, a sense of calm that I could no longer live without. Everyone comes round eventually.”
Looking at the streets, I don’t see how that’s possible. I’d have to get a lobotomy to be able to stomach it here.
We continue to circle, drawing closer to the core, the High Tower appearing between gaps in buildings and teasing us as it continually flashes and disappears. The buildings, too, most of them apartments, grow more grand, larger allow
ances of space provided to the higher ranked members of the city.
“What’s the point of having all that space?” I ask Sophie. “The Savants don’t care for art. They’ll just have bigger blank walls to stare at.”
Sophie gives a hint that she agrees. I see it in the twitch in her eye. Naturally, she has a pre-programmed response, though.
“It’s a status symbol, Brie. It shows importance, influence.”
Still, I wonder if that even matters to them. Where is the line drawn? So, they don’t feel emotions, and therefore can’t love, or hate, or feel fear or joy. So why does status matter? Status, surely, gives a feeling of pride, perhaps of superiority. Do they feel those things?
I don’t bother Sophie with the query, since she’ll just give me a canned response. Most likely, they’re not entirely devoid of emotion, just severely lacking in it.
I mean, surely if a Savant had to watch their parents die, as Tess did, they’d feel some grief at the loss, some anger at the perpetrators, some desire for revenge?
And if they don’t, then surely they can’t be human. Some higher evolution in their own minds, perhaps. Higher in some ways, lower in others.
For me, it’s culture that sets us aside from the rest of the birds and the beasts. If it’s just survival and proliferating the species that matters to them, then they have more in common with cockroaches than they do with us over in Outer Haven.
As my mind rumbles on, the car does so too, albeit as silently as the streets around us. Soon, Sophie is drawing our attention to the front as the car curves around the final bend.
Ahead, the High Tower comes into full view for the first time, stretching up to the heavens. It looks so much more imposing up close, its base wide and circular, its domed roof disappearing into the low hanging clouds.
The street finally goes straight as it leads towards its foundations, set up with towering stands with tiered seating on either side. Between them, a stage awaits, sitting within an open square before the many glass doors that lead into the building. And all over, huge screens have been erected, ready to broadcast the ceremony across the city.
Above the stage, several storeys high, a balcony extends out from the High Tower, looking down upon the world below. White chairs adorn it, waiting to be occupied by only a dozen men and women.
And in the middle, one stands out more distinguished than the rest.
“Who sits there?” asks Tess, staring at the balcony, her eyes dazzled by the scene ahead.
“Oh, didn’t I tell you?” says Sophie. “The Consortium will be in attendance, watching from up there.”
My heart thuds. I had no idea they cared…
“And the middle chair…” continues Sophie, bristling with excitement. “Well, that will be occupied by Director Cromwell, the Consortium’s senior member. I hope you girls know what an honour that is.”
I look upon the scene again, and the word ‘honour’ doesn’t register.
Fear. Nerves. Deep anxieties.
Those are all far more appropriate.
10
“I didn’t even realise the Consortium had a senior member,” Tess is saying as the car curves into an underground parking garage to the side of the road. “So, this Director Cromwell is their boss?”
“I suppose you could say that,” says Sophie. “He’s their elected leader. The members of the Consortium are all the most prominent people in the city, leaders of its various committees and operations. His job is to oversee them all.”
We pull to a stop against a wall, sliding up against other similar looking vehicles. As we do, the walls of the car once more take shape, losing their transparency.
“So, what now?” asks Tess.
“Now, we wait. The ceremony will be beginning soon enough. But before then, let’s take a stroll. Give you a closer look around.”
“Sounds good to me.”
I follow the two of them out as they continue to converse, Tess seeming oddly undaunted by what we’ve just seen. Frankly, I can’t even begin to imagine what it’s going to be like out there when the stands are full, and all eyes are on me.
I shudder and send the thought to the rear of my mind as I jog to catch the others up.
When we emerge outside of the parking garage and onto the city streets, it quickly dawns on me how warm it is. Outside of the academy, it was freezing wearing only this dress. Here, it feels like a regular spring day.
“Underfloor heating,” Sophie says, tapping her heeled foot on the ground. “It’s the same across Inner Haven. The temperate is based on scientific evidence for the ideal heat for happiness and productivity.”
“I’m starting to see the appeal of living here,” jokes Tess, a vocal hater of the cold.
Oddly, though, the warmer air feels out of sync with the surroundings. The entire aesthetic here is cold and lifeless, a place that fits in perfectly with the detached demeanour of the Savants. It’s clear that this place was designed by, and for, such people.
I actually feel sorry for the rest of the Enhanced who have to endure it. At least in Outer Haven, for all its problems and dangers, there’s some vivacity and soul to the streets and districts, a lived-in feel that serves to animate the world. Here, it’s dull and empty and there’s a cold that no amount of underfloor heating can fix.
We wander a little closer to the High Tower, and from various avenues and side streets I see people beginning to gather. All wear similar clothing: men in suits similar to that worn by Deputy Burns, women in dresses with cardigans and jackets. The colours range from dark tones of grey to light, with plenty of sky blue on show as well.
I immediately feel some affinity with those wearing the latter, knowing they were once, like me, living across the wall. Those with the darker tones of grey I can get on board with too – they’ll be regular Enhanced, modified and evolved, but still human.
Those in light grey, however, are the aliens to me. Savants with their detached eyes and cold stares. How I’d like to get inside one of their heads and have a fiddle about, see what the hell they’re thinking.
As the people gather, and begin hovering into position, it becomes evidently clear that the concept of hierarchy and class are once more at play.
Like with the living arrangements here, the Unenhanced are afforded the worst viewing positions at the rear of the stands, furthest from the stage. Then, the order is once more based upon an Enhanced’s particular worth, with Savants of the Court given the best positioning, and their most esteemed members right at the front.
The show of colour, or lack thereof, is actually quite fascinating. From the sky blue at the back, to the darker tones of grey, all the way to the lightest of greys at the front. It’s one of the only things I’ve seen here that’s actually quite striking and beautiful.
It does draw a question to my lips, though.
“Can Unenhanced marry Savants?” I ask. “Or do they only marry among themselves?”
Somehow, their natural air of superiority makes me think it’s the latter.
“No, Unenhanced can marry them,” Sophie informs me. “However, it’s usually quite rare, and only the most exceptional of Unenhanced are given such an honour.”
Honour? Being married to a cold, heartless Savant is hardly what I’d consider an honour. Jeez, they’ve really done a number of Sophie over here, haven’t they…
“Naturally,” continues Sophie, “given the limited numbers of Savants, breeding with Unenhanced is something that’s unavoidable. However, mostly they try to manage with what they have.”
“Can’t they just, I don’t know, make more Savants?” asks Tess. “You know, like they did hundreds of years ago, when they were first created. Why do they bother breeding them naturally?”
“Because, as far as I know, the natural resources aren’t available for such things,” answers Sophie. “I’m sure if they could simply create modified people they would. It would certainly be a lot easier.”
“Well, lucky for us they can’t,” I say.
“If they could do that, I’m sure we’d eventually become extinct…”
For a brief second, Sophie’s eyebrows drop into a questioning frown. Then, remembering herself, they rise up again and that inane smile returns.
“Enough of that talk, Brie. Let’s change the subject, and please, make sure you smile and don’t frown so much. Remember what we talked about.”
I plant the biggest smile I can on my face and look straight at her. She rolls her eyes and shakes her head.
“Ah, caught you!” I say. “No negative expressions, Sophie…remember!”
Tess laughs loudly. Sophie struggles to prevent her expression from turning even more sour. And for the first time, my smile becomes genuine.
As the square begins to fill more quickly, Sophie leads us over towards the right where I notice a few other men and women, all dressed in sky blue, have gathered. Our guide appears to know several of them, quickening her step – in a suitable manner, and maintaining perfect posture, of course – to meet them.
As we mesh into a group, it becomes clear that these are the other Unenhanced here to be honoured, along with their guides. By the looks on the people’s faces, it’s obvious which are which.
The guides are all very much like Sophie, smiling constantly and holding their posture perfectly. The rest are more like Tess and me, staring around in awe and looking quite out of place.
As we stand there, the various guides perform some quick introductions. I shake hands and try to see if I recognise anyone. One man stands out from the video footage. If I recall correctly, he went charging straight into the fray at about the same time as Tess and me.
Brave souls, all of them.
Truth be told, the honour today is not in being invited here to Inner Haven. Nor is it in meeting any of the luminaries I’m sure to encounter later. Certainly, I have no feelings whatsoever about being looked down on, literally, by the Consortium and Director Cromwell.
No. For me, the true honour in today is meeting these brave people. It’s a trait that the Savants seem to admire, but can never possess.
