Transcendent (9781311909442)

by Halstead, Jason

  “Very funny,” she said. “I’m calling to wish you a happy birthday. If you’re the real Krys Evans, that is.”

  Krys laughed. It was a private joke between them after almost two years since she’d showed up and uprooted his life. He’d adapted and even if he didn’t agree with how things were done, he took pride in how he did his part in them. He didn’t think of it as making things better for humanity or even the guy in charge. Krys was more focused on how he could try to make his life and the life of the other people who worked for the new government better.

  “Sixteen’s the age of majority—you’re an adult.”

  “Yeah, guess so.”

  “You don’t sound very excited.”

  Krys shrugged. “What’s there to be excited about? I’ve been working already. Got my own place. I’ve been driving vehicles for a while now too. What else is there?”

  “You can, um, socialize.”

  “Socialize?”

  “Yeah, you know, social contracts and such.”

  Krys grimaced. “Marriage? Yeah, that’s a great idea. There are so many people my age around me.”

  She was silent on the other end of the phone for several seconds until she came back on. “You’re old for your age, Krys. Old-fashioned, too—marriage is from the old ways. It doesn’t make sense anymore. Social contracts make so much more sense. In fact, cohabitation and agreeing to share burdens and tasks are precisely the ideals our society has to be based on.”

  “Okay, if you say so. Oh, there’s the harvester I’m—”

  “Krys?”

  Krys stared at the group of people gathered around the autonomous vehicle. There shouldn’t have been anyone but him within a few kilometers. “Um, sorry. Looks like something’s broke pretty bad. I better get started.”

  “Oh, okay,” Shelby said. “You’re sure everything’s okay?”

  “Yeah,” Krys said while squinting to try to make out details of the people. He counted six of them.

  “Well, whether you like it or not, I’m making you a birthday dinner tonight. Maybe there’ll be a present for you, too, if you’re good.”

  Krys grunted. “Uh, okay. Thanks.”

  Shelby sighed. “You’re already caught up in fixing it, aren’t you? Okay, well, I’ll see you later. Hurry back!”

  Krys grunted again and terminated the call. He tucked it into his pocket and glanced around the open field of waist-high wheat before he started walking down the shallow hill towards the harvester. He walked less than a dozen paces before they noticed him and started to scramble.

  “Wait!” Krys shouted and waved his hands. “Don’t run!”

  One of them stopped, which led to the others slowing one at a time and staring back at him. Krys kept walking, his hands up in the air, and focused on the man closest to the harvester and closest to him.

  “Krys?” the disheveled man asked.

  “Mr. Strain?” Krys gasped.

  “You’re alive!” Mig whooped before he started running forward.

  Krys found himself running and then he was lifted into the air in a crushing hug. He landed hard and staggered back but kept grinning the entire time. “So are you!”

  Mig laughed and turned to motion to the others to join them. Krys counted again and recognized the former survivors as they approached. They’d changed, in small ways mostly. Dirtier, for one thing, but also leaner and harder looking. Every one of them was showing patches of skin through the tears and worn-out fabric of the clothes they wore. Kerry was shirtless and Stef wore the tattered remains of his shirt. The men had beards and scruffy hair while the women looked weathered.

  “Where’s Janna?” Krys asked.

  Mig licked his lips and sighed. “She went looking for you when you didn’t show up,” he said.

  “The soldiers didn’t find her,” Krys said. “I would have heard.”

  He shook his head. “No, they didn’t. She had an accident in the woods and broke her legs. By the time we came back and found her, she was gone.”

  “Dead?”

  Mig nodded. He sniffed and glanced at the ground while the others came up and offered Krys hugs, handshakes, and pats on the back. He was swept away with all the questions until a chuckling Mig called out loud enough to get their attention. “Whoa, whoa, whoa! Let the boy catch his breath! Except you’re not really much of a boy anymore, are you, son? My Lily would be sixteen now.”

  “Today’s my birthday,” Krys said. He jerked his head and stared at Mig, stopping the man’s surprised reaction before it started. “Lily’s alive!”

  Mig took a step back and Angelo put a hand on his back to steady him. “You’ve seen her?”

  Krys nodded. “On the news. She—”

  “The news?” Mig breathed.

  “Yes, she’s amazing,” Krys said. He blushed and then pushed on in spite of it. “I mean, I’ve dug up what I could about her. She’s some kind of genius! A real genius. They’re calling her a prodigy. The youngest student to ever obtain her mastery and she’s competing against people four years older than her in her ACT.”

  “ACT? Mastery? What are you talking about?”

  “That’s how they do things now. All children attend centralized education centers. Based on their aptitudes and scores, they are assigned a mastery path. It’s like a career path or something. Lily could have done anything when she got her mastery. That means she graduated. She did it when she was still fifteen!”

  Mig grinned like a fool and turned to look at the others.

  “ACT is Advanced Cadet Training,” Krys explained. Everyone stared at him with confused expressions on their faces. “Remember those big robots that came for us? They’re called biomechs. Lily is going to pilot one. She could do it now but they won’t install the hardware until she’s seventeen.”

  Mig shook his head. “She’s going to be one of them? A soldier? But—”

  Krys frowned. “I don’t think she wants to be a soldier.”

  “But you said…this is confusing, Krys.”

  “Sorry, I know it’s a lot to take in. She keeps talking about wanting to be the best so she can compete in the games.”

  “What games?” Fina asked.

  Krys studied her and noticed how much older she looked. A few Venerian solar cycles without proper shelter and food would do that to a person, he supposed. She didn’t seem as on edge as she used to be either. “It’s the new sport. Biomech matches. There’s a league with a tournament at the end. The first tournament is underway already. Only the best biomech pilots get to compete. They have small unit individual classes.”

  “That sounds insane,” Kerry mumbled. Stef nodded her head beside him.

  Krys looked at them all as they tried to process what he’d told them. “Are you guys the reason my harvester broke down?”

  Gary was the first to answer while Mig continued to stare at the ground. “Not the reason. We wandered across it and we were about to strip it down for parts.”

  “What do you mean, your harvester?” Mig asked him.

  Krys swallowed and turned to face his former mentor. “That’s what I do now—I keep their machines running. They were supposed to send me away for reeducation but I showed them what I could do. The man I worked with, Lesk, was killed in a—hey! You guys didn’t raid a convoy awhile back, did you?”

  Everyone shook their heads. “No,” Mig said. “We stay low and out of sight, mostly. Haven’t found any other survivors either, but it’s good to know they’re out there.”

  Krys didn’t trust himself to speak so he nodded. Lesk had been his friend. The people he lived and worked with now weren’t any different from his family had been before. Just innocent people doing what they had to do to get by. Even the soldiers were people. Humans, like him and Lily and Mr. Strain. All people doing jobs they had to do because somebody had an idea of how they wanted things to be.

  “You coming with us?” Mig asked him.

  Krys stared at him and then glanced back at the shallow hill behin
d him. Several kilometers beyond the hill, Shelby would be waiting for him with a birthday dinner. And a present, he remembered. But what could she give him? Another outlawed alcoholic drink? Or maybe something more personal, maybe—

  Krys almost laughed at himself. Who was he kidding? He was a kid! Well, maybe not anymore, legally, but she was still five years older than him. She cared for him, sure, but like a brother or a friend. Not like that. Krys sighed and turned back.

  “No.”

  “So you’re one of them, then? Just like my Lily, she’s decided to forget everything that—”

  “Mig, stop,” Angelo growled.

  Mig turned away and hung his head.

  “Mr. Strain, I don’t want anyone getting hurt anymore,” Krys explained. “But that’s going to keep happening the way things are. It’s slavery, what they’re doing to people. I see it but almost no one else does. It’s like they’ve been brainwashed to not understand the history of the human race.”

  Mig turned back around. “What are you saying?”

  Krys took a deep breath. “I’m saying I’m staying, but I’m going to help you.”

  “How?”

  Krys took a moment to meet each of their gazes. “Don’t use anything electrical—they can track it. Stay natural, as much as you can.”

  Kerry reached up to scratch his beard and smiled for effect.

  “Whenever I can, I’ll bring supplies out. Find a way to leave a list of things you need and keep checking whenever you can.”

  “Where?”

  “The third pineapple field, on the southern side of the irrigation pump. That’s central enough I can make up an excuse to swing through there from time to time.”

  Mig stared at him and nodded, and then he thrust his hand out. Krys shook it and understood why Mr. Strain didn’t offer any words. Krys was fighting the lump in his own throat. He was spared when Fina swept him into another hug and kissed him on the cheek.

  “What?” he gulped.

  “Thank you for saving us,” she said.

  Krys felt the world spinning as he tried to figure out what she meant. “Oh, you mean when I left you guys?”

  She squeezed him again and let go.

  “You guys stay safe,” Krys said. “And get going. I’ve got a lot of work today and I still have to figure out the details of leaving stuff for you. Anything you need right away?”

  Mig turned to the others as they all started talking. Krys winced and then reached into his satchel to pull out his infopad. He had a hunch he was going to need to write it down.

  Chapter 32

  Krys trudged up to his door and reached for the biometric sensor. He pressed his hand against it and sighed. He was exhausted after the day he’d had and the promises he’d made. He didn’t even know if he could manage what he’d said. At least not with any regularity. Even if he could slip past Shelby, there were others who would notice. Soldiers, at least.

  “Happy birthday!”

  Krys jerked his head up and stared into his open door. A meal was laid out on his table but it was what sat behind it that left his already overloaded mind speechless. Shelby sat wearing a short dress that was dark blue in color. It was the first time he’d ever seen her in anything other than body armor or the blue and white uniform she wore from day to day. His eyes tracked up the long stretch of exposed leg, up to her thigh and where it disappeared beneath the dark color of the dress.

  “Whoa!” Krys managed

  Shelby laughed. “That’s all you’ve got to say?”

  “I, um—” Krys stammered and then shrugged. “Yeah, that’s it.”

  Shelby laughed. “Get in and shut the door. I don’t need anyone seeing me and thinking anything inappropriate.”

  Krys twisted his head as her words tied together some random comments he’d heard from others. He nodded. “Too late.”

  “What?”

  Krys blushed. “People are talking about you. Us, I mean.”

  Shelby groaned and shook her head. She sighed and looked up at Krys. “What do you think about that?”

  “Um.” Krys gulped and tried to figure out how to answer her question. “About people talking?”

  She nodded and stood up. “And what they’re saying. About me. About us.”

  “Whoa,” Krys mumbled again. “I, uh, I don’t know. I guess I haven’t thought about it.”

  Shelby stared at him long enough for Krys to feel fresh sweat beading up on his back. She nodded. “I’m surprised,” she admitted. “I thought young men thought about these sorts of things all the time.”

  Krys’s eyes widened. He swallowed and saw her lips twitch in a smile. Sure, he’d thought about that. And she’d even figured heavily in some of his fantasies, but there was no way he could tell her. He coughed and glanced at the food and then up at her. “So, uh, the present?”

  Shelby laughed. “No, it’s not me.”

  “Oh! I didn’t—I wouldn’t think that!”

  Shelby’s laugh grew stronger. “You’re so cute when you’re flustered.”

  “Cute?”

  “Not little boy cute,” she reassured him. “I mean it in a good way.”

  Krys gulped again. Where had the easygoing and by-the-books Shelby gone? Sure, she’d loosened up around him and they’d had some good times together casually, but the woman in front of him now was somebody different. Somebody who seemed much more real. And scary.

  Shelby sighed and turned to pick up an infopad. She checked it, briefly, and then cleared it out before setting it down. “The present didn’t work out like I wanted it to,” she warned. “But I’ve been working on trying to get you fully authorized as a citizen. You know, what with the identity issues you’ve had.”

  Krys frowned. It was one thing to joke about it but now didn’t seem like the time. “I am Krys Evans.”

  “I know,” she said. “And I believe you. It’s straightening out the records and figuring out the best way to proceed that’s taking so much time and work. Don’t worry, I’ve got the support of the right people and they’re working on this. Even though it’s been over a year, we need people able to work and get things done. “

  “I don’t understand. Why do we need people?”

  “Because so many were lost,” Shelby said. “Almost half the human population is in education centers right now. But don’t worry, exceptions have been made and I’ve been assured they will be made for you.”

  Krys nodded. “Um, thanks. I guess.”

  “You guess?”

  Krys offered a weak smile. “I’m sorry. I don’t really know what all that means. I’ve had a long and tiring day and I didn’t realize there was any trouble with me being me.”

  Shelby smiled. “There’s not, Krys. But I can see how tired you are. Eat your dinner and think about things.”

  “Things?”

  She nodded. “Yes. Who do you want to be, Krys? What do you want? And the things other people have talked about.”

  “Wait. Um, are you saying that, uh—”

  “What do you think?”

  Krys winced and admitted, “I don’t know?”

  Shelby smiled at him. “You’re a very clever man. Ask yourself why I’d ask these questions and be doing all that I am. Part of it is my job, but you can ask around to find out if anyone else received a personal visit on their birthday.”

  “I can?”

  “No!” Shelby laughed. “You better not! Then the rumors will really start to fly and that’s the last thing I need as the commander of this colony.”

  Krys laughed with her, but it was to hide the heat in his face. He was way out of his league. Shelby was twenty-one! Shelby stepped up to him and stared up into his eye. For the first time, Krys realized that she was shorter than he was. Not by much, but enough to be noticeable. She’d always been taller than him before—when had that changed?

  She slipped her feet into some sandals that lifted her so she was even with him again. He grinned in spite of himself and got a smile back in response.
Shelby nibbled her lip for a moment and then leaned over and pressed her lips against his cheek. “Happy birthday,” she whispered into his ear. “I don’t get in, or out, of this dress for just anyone.”

  Krys nodded as she backed away. She opened the door and slipped out, pausing only long enough to offer him a wave before she was gone. Krys stared at the door and then turned back to the table. The plate of food looked good, but he wasn’t hungry.

  “Whoa,” he mumbled again. He looked down at himself and saw the grease and dirt on his hands and clothes. “Shower,” he mumbled in an attempt to force his body into action. He made his way to his small washroom and stripped down before climbing into the stall.

  Shelby’s words about how the human race needed people to work came back to him. He hadn’t realized how many lives had been lost. It made sense, though, if what happened on Venus was any example. But if that was the case, how were there so many soldiers? Shelby said they’d been massing for years and had risen up, but almost all of them were young, like her. Older than Krys, but not by much.

  Krys shook his head as the warm water helped wash away his troubles. New ones rushed in to replace them. Troubles like Shelby and her sudden interest in him. He couldn’t deny it now, not after the kiss and the way she’d looked. He blew out a deep breath at the memory of how the dark blue fabric had hugged her body and made her look outstanding.

  But why him? She had all the other people in the colony without complicated pasts. They weren’t young either. Why should he be different? She had so much more in common with the others. Even the workers were more like her than he was. Krys shook his head again. She didn’t make sense. None of it did.

  But wow did she look good in that dress. A dress that she didn’t put on for just anyone. Krys’s grin faded as he remembered her final words again. “I don’t get in, or out, of this dress for just anyone.” Out of the dress? Krys groaned and put his hand up to the wall to steady himself. Had she really meant to say that? And if she did, did she realize what that might imply?

  Krys shook his head and glanced at the control panel for the shower. He needed it about ten degrees colder if he was going to even pretend to do what she asked and think about things. Otherwise he’d be thinking about other things. Things like how nice her dress looked—and how nice it would look on the floor.