“Sounds great!” Angel liked the mall. It was incredibly exciting and helped her forget—at least for a little while—how much she missed her dead father and missing mother. Icaria was like nothing she’d ever experienced before a glittering paradise full of interesting people, enchanting places and wonderful surprises.
“Shall we?” Gaia said, flicking her raven mane to one side, and turning to lead Angel out. Angel trotted obediently beside her, ready for more adventure.
***
Gaia led Angel down several hallways and levels to the main entrance into Odum Mall. Before proceeding into the mall, she handed Angel a vee-set and placed one on her own head. Angel put the vee-set on and once again shivered with mixed pleasure and revulsion as the vee-set adjusted itself on her head.
Gaia took Angel’s hand as they maneuvered through the mall and its beautiful park to the tube-jet station. Angel forced away anguished thoughts of her father’s murder on a train like this one as they rode the tube-jet in silence to Darwin Mall. Thoughts of her dead father dampened her enjoyment of the ride, but as soon as they reached Darwin Station, Angel let the resplendent mall distract and dazzle her. She instantly decided that this was her favorite place, ever.
They threaded their way through the crowd toward an elegant façade. Angel read the letters over the great door: Isabo Med-Center. Gaia led her through several corridors and they rode the elevator down to an area where Gaia had to submit to a retinal scan to enter. They passed a set of thick doors and Angel glanced at the lit sign: Center for Disease Control. Why were they coming here she wondered with some trepidation? Gaia offered her a reassuring smile and led her down the empty corridor that smelled like disinfectant then pulled open a door to her left. She gestured for Angel to enter with a nod.
As Angel walked hesitantly inside, she saw an older man wearing a long white tunic and black slacks. He nodded slightly to Gaia then met Angel’s gaze with compassionate eyes. His lean face radiated a calm sense of balance and she found him handsome. He looked older than Gaia, she thought. His hair was a wolf-like mix of silver and gray, feathered back in a tidy style that brought out his strong features.
“Hello, I’m Carl Frenkel,” he said, extending his hand.
“Hello.”
“Carl’s a veemeld,” Gaia said. “He does many jobs for me, don’t you, Carl?”
Angel wanted to ask what a veemeld was but stopped herself. Instead she accepted Carl’s extended hand. Unlike most adults she’d already met in Icaria, the smile he gave her was genuine, its honesty reflected in the happy crinkles around his eyes. “A pleasure, Angel,” he said in a gentle tenor voice. “I never had the honor of meeting your mother and I wish I had, but I’m very honored to meet you.”
Something Carl said seemed to annoy Gaia. She gave him a stern look and said brusquely, “Would you mind testing Angel for the abilities we previously discussed?”
“Certainly,” he responded. “Would you mind sitting here, Angel? Please.”
“Sure,” Angel said and took the chair Carl had pointed to. It was a comfortable chair with arm rests. She eyed the ominous network of instruments hovering above it with some discomfort.
“Don’t worry, Angel. This won’t hurt. It’s only going to tell us a little about you and how your brain works. Is that okay?”
“Sure.” She leaned back and tried to relax.
Carl placed a device over her head that looked a little like those vee-sets she saw on everyone, but larger. “Still okay?” Carl asked gently.
“Okay,” she said bravely.
Just as she began to relax, a boy about her age with eyes the colour of a thunderstorm strolled into the room. His brooding face, framed by a long tangle of dark brown and gold hair, was adorned with several earrings. They distracted her from enjoying his otherwise nice features. He was obviously Carl’s son—the resemblance was striking—but his saturnine expression was far from peaceful and his eyes flashed briefly in her direction with something close to belligerence before he aimed his intense gaze at Carl. “Dad, can I borrow your card for the Odum Rec-Center? Mine’s—”
Carl turned to him sharply. “Let me guess, revoked again due to mischievous use.” He frowned. “How many times have I tried to tell you not to hack into the games mainstream for your amusement,” the father pressed on, his voice sharp with annoyance.
“I didn’t do anything wrong,” the boy complained. “I was just showing Po some cool moves to—”
“Not now, Manfred,” Carl cut him off. “I’m busy here with Angel.”
“Shit!” Manfred snarled, throwing a cold glance at Gaia and resting a baleful glare on Angel. “You always have time for your work.”
Carl compressed his lips tightly. “Excuse me for a moment,” he apologized to Angel and nodded to Gaia before seizing Manfred by the arm and steering him to the small room behind them. Although she wasn’t supposed to, Angel heard them:
“Don’t ever use that kind of language or that tone of voice in my lab again,” Carl said in a cutting voice Angel would not have imagined possible in such a gentle man. “You’ll keep your tongue civil and your rebellious thoughts to yourself, do you hear?”
“Oh, excuse me. The great Gaia might reprimand you,” Manfred retorted. “When are you going to stand up to that snake? You do everything she says. She keeps you working here on her projects till late at night. You never have time for anything else.” Angel thought she recognized a note of anguish in the boy’s rebuke. “Just your damn experiments and that snake. I bet if mom were still here, you’d—”
He didn’t finish and Angel wondered what had stopped him. Within a few moments, the two emerged. Carl swept his hand in the boy’s direction as he turned back to Angel. “That’s my son, Manfred.”
“Hi,” the boy muttered, meeting her gaze with stormy gray eyes that made Angel uncomfortable. “Sorry.” His mouth and jaw were set stubbornly. Like Angel’s dad used to look sometimes when her mother lectured him about cleaning the camp, she thought. Manfred looked annoyed and seemed to connect her with his father’s reticence to give him his card. He was hardly interested in her. So why did she feel a flutter in the pit of her stomach that flared up to her face? To her great annoyance, she felt herself blushing.
Luckily he’d already turned and stormed out of the lab. Carl shrugged with a frown and asked her if she was ready to do several small tasks. She was, and over the next twenty minutes Carl asked her to look this way or that, listen to this sound or that, and then answer a series of questions while he tapped his com-screen, made adjustments and more than a few notes. It was all quite boring and painless, but when it was over, Carl and Gaia exchanged knowing glances.
“You’re a very interesting young lady, Angel,” Carl said. “Very talented.” Then he turned back to Gaia, all business. “Do you want a summary or just the full report to your files?”
They stepped away from her and spoke now in hushed voices she was not meant to hear: “What’s the upshot, Carl?” Gaia prompted. “You look unusually excited.”
“Unlike the other children, her motor and cognitive skills are enhanced twenty percent.”
“Like her mother?”
“Possibly. I have to check the original data on Julie Crane. If so, she is uniquely gifted...just like her mother.”
Angel wondered what they were talking about and who the other children were to whom she was being compared.
“Yes, get the report to me as soon as you can, Carl but you need to stand-by. My agent reports that everything is proceeding as planned. Prometheus has agreed to carry out the task later this evening.”
“I understand,” Carl said in a voice that was hard to decipher.
“The girl must be readied—things may move quickly,” Gaia said, nodding with a brief glance at Angel, still sitting in the chair where they’d left her. She walked over to Angel, put her arm around her and squeezed. “
Let’s go, kitten. We’re all done here.”
Angel liked it when Gaia called her that.
Carl helped Angel out from under the contraption just as someone entered the room. Angel caught Gaia’s strange expression—a nervous start, so uncharacteristic of her—before she quickly recovered and veiled it with a much harder to read expression.
Angel turned along with Carl to see an older, pretty, official-looking woman stride toward them with a polite smile. The woman radiated confidence and authority. Her shoulder-length silver-blonde hair was impeccably coifed and she wore her clothes with combined ease and a sharp sense of style. Angel was immediately impressed.
“Ah, Aileen,” Gaia said in an overly cheerful voice. “This is a pleasant surprise. Nice of you to drop in so unexpectedly.” Gaia’s syrupy smile smeared into a sort of sneer. “If you’d informed us of your visit we could have prepared a reception for you.” Angel got the impression that Gaia was not pleased to see this woman, particularly without prior notice.
“I’m not one for fanfare,” Aileen responded, her voice mirroring her polite smile. “I like to arrive without warning.” There was something about Aileen that seemed to knock Gaia off balance. Angel was sure that Gaia didn’t like her. “Doing so lets me witness everyone in their natural setting.”
“Ah,” Gaia said with a cool smile. “So, what can I do for you?”
“I’m just making my rounds, visiting all Circle members. You’re on the top of my list.”
“Ah, one of your self-imposed duties as the newly elected Chair of the Circle, I take it.” Angel thought she detected an edge to Gaia’s cool voice. Her smile was wearing very thin indeed. She’d seen that look on her mother more than once.
“You can appreciate, Gaia, that our meetings are too few for me to get a good feel for the pulse of Icaria. The Circle’s greatest strength is clear communications, and our greatest weakness is when communications between its members is absent. You have been reticent of late.”
Gaia grinned abruptly. It was the kind of grin Angel sometimes gave her mother when she disagreed with a reprimand. “I’ve been busy,” Gaia replied.
“I see,” Aileen said. “And your ousted mayor? I trust he is well, despite that awful personal debacle he suffered for his foolish alleged actions four months ago?”
Now Gaia really looked ticked off. Angel could clearly see that Gaia was clenching her fists behind her back, even as her expression and voice remained cool and unruffled. “Last I heard, Burke was doing fine,” she said evenly.
“Oh, but my inquiries have indicated that he has disappeared.”
Gaia shrugged. “He’s probably lying low, doing something smart for a change. I don’t make a point of keeping tabs on corrupt politicians.”
“You don’t?” Aileen asked, raising a brow just slightly. Angel thought she noticed Gaia’s face pale slightly but couldn’t be sure. “I thought you made it a matter of personal interest.”
Gaia’s face hardened, but after a moment she simply smiled back at Aileen.
“I’ll be in the usual quarters,” Aileen continued. “Perhaps we can discuss matters when you have some time. I have some things to do here in Icaria-5 so I won’t be leaving until tomorrow.”
“Fine. I’ll have my secretary book a meeting. In the meantime, enjoy the facilities. Carl, here, can give you a tour.” Gaia glanced at Angel; “I have an engagement. Coming?” she hiked her brows at Angel in silent command and Angel sprang to her side.
“Good bye, Angel,” Carl said.
“Bye,” Angel said, glancing one last time at the silver-blond woman. Aileen nodded to Angel with a strange, knowing look that suggested there was more to her visit here than met the eye.
As Gaia took Angel’s hand and led her into the hallway, Angel realized that she hadn’t even introduced her to Aileen. Hadn’t that been rude?
“Who was that lady?” Angel asked when they’d entered the mall.
“No one you need to know about,” Gaia said almost crossly. Then she seemed to recover herself and squeezed Angel’s hand. “Aileen Rourke maintains the Circle, the governing body of the collective Icarias, of which I’m a member.” Then she winked at Angel with an impish smile. “She’s convinced that she runs the Circle, but we all run circles around her.” For a stunned moment Gaia looked like a mischievous child. This was an interesting side of Gaia Angel hadn’t seen before.
It was clear to Angel that Gaia ran Icaria-5 with stern command and tight control so Angel had thought it would be impossible that anyone else could have authority over Gaia. Yet here came Aileen, who’d clearly unsettled her. Aileen, whom Gaia obviously respected—and disliked—for the very power the older woman wielded over her. There was always someone above you, Angel decided. Even over Gaia...
25
Darwin Mall sparkled with the magic of excitement. Its shops were filled with glitter and wonder the likes of which Angel had never even imagined in the heath. Gaia laughed as Angel ogled everything. Gaia purchased several things for Angel with her card as they drifted from store to store: a digital watch that planned her day for her and several new sets of clothes, including a pair of silk pajamas. Gaia had all of the items sent to her office-residence in the Enviro-Center via the chute.
As they passed a shop called “Special Occasions” with a holo of a beautiful model in a gown in the shop’s façade, Angel halted.
“You don’t get married every day,” the holo ad said and the woman winked at her. Angel started then remembered that the woman was just a holo ad. The gown was stunning; snug at the top and flared at the waist to the floor, flowing like a cascading river as the holo woman walked with swinging provocative steps, showing off the material and her own striking lines.
Gaia smiled. “You won’t be needing one of those for awhile. That’s a wedding dress for those who wish to indulge in something different.”
“What do you mean?” Angel asked, thinking of her mother and father. Her mother had betrayed a mild yearning when she’d confided to Angel that they’d exchanged their “marriage” vows of committed love beside a small waterfall a year after they’d left Icaria. While her mother had never come out and said it, Angel got the impression that while she’d exhilarated in the beautiful and spiritual setting, she would have preferred a real wedding, here in Icaria. She would have looked perfect in that dress, Angel thought.
“Most people just wear their best work outfit when they get married.” Gaia said. She then amended, “Actually, most people don’t get married and don’t stay together for long either.”
“What do they do?”
“They just live together for awhile. Then they separate and find a new partner, usually after a few months.” To Angel’s distressed confusion, Gaia shrugged. “It’s the Icarian way.”
“Is that what you do?” Angel asked Gaia and was bewildered to find the woman look briefly uncomfortable.
“I suppose,” Gaia responded thoughtfully. “But I haven’t had a lover for quite a while. Too busy taking care of Icaria. And no one making me any overtures.”
Angel couldn’t believe that Gaia had no admirers. Had she betrayed loneliness just then? Angel stared at the wedding gown. “My parents stayed together for twelve years.”
“That’s because they had you,” Gaia said kindly and took her hand. “Let’s go. I have a special place to show you.”
Gaia took Angel on a tour of the Isabo Square Rec Center where they swam in a heated pool that had a waterfall, ocean waves, whirlpools, climbing walls and water that tasted like cherries. Then it was off to a spectacular live show at the Isabo Center for the Performing Arts.
But Gaia saved the best for last: the holo-vid center, which everyone simply called the “Games Room”. When they entered the monstrous hall, alive with hundreds of teens playing lively, interactive holo-vid games, Angel’s heart leapt in a dance. It was like entering another world. If D
arwin Mall sparkled with excitement and colour, the Games Room of the Rec Center was a stunning galactic symphony of shifting colour and sound. The mood in here was fast and intense and Angel soaked up the energy instantly and felt the booming music pulse through her.
Gaia tutored her in a few of the games and Angel learned fast. She seemed to excel in the games that involved hand and eye coordination, quick reflexes and sharp aim. Gaia would laugh each time as Angel left her far behind in the virtual air-board race or she found her way in record time out of the Black Labyrinth or solved the Virus Attack mystery.
As they wandered the warehouse-sized floor, Angel spotted a pair of cycles and veered straight for them, Gaia following. Angel mounted one of them and was about to engage the virtual game, when she spotted a boy hunched over a vid game with the familiar, long straggle of brown-gold hair. She knew she was looking at the back of Manfred’s head. She hadn’t noticed that she was staring until Gaia nudged her.
“That’s Carl’s son, isn’t it?” Gaia said. “Should we say hello?”
Angel resisted. “I don’t think he likes me.”
“Manfred doesn’t like anyone,” Gaia said. Then her amused smile warmed and she leaned close to Angel and lowered her voice, “He’s just shy, I think. He’s a veemeld like his father. His mother had Darwin disease and passed it on to him.” Gaia hiked an eyebrow. “You see, you have something in common.”
Angel wanted to ask her if Manfred also heard the A.I.s and Darwin’s insect sounds in his head but instead she threw on the virtual helmet. Gaia dropped the subject and wandered to another game. Angel tripped the switch and found herself in a forest, piloting a hover-bike at top speed through the trees. Abruptly, another hover-bike slid beside her—someone must have taken the cycle beside her—and the race was on. They tore through a beautiful tall-treed forest, weaving around obstacles. Angel juked and jinxed around mammoth trees, sped through hollow logs and under low branches, managing to keep a few metres ahead of her competitor all the way to the finish line.
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