A Crack in the Sky

by Mark Peter Hughes

  He was backing away from the sphere. His palms were covered in sweat, and he had no idea what he should do or say. Finally he shot out of the room. Marilyn was close at his heels. Even as they flew down the stairs, Eli could still hear Heather calling out to him, asking what the heck was wrong.

  He sat hunched in the grass, his thoughts a blur. What had just happened? He tried to remember exactly what the voices had said. Something about saving the world and how he was in some kind of danger. But how could he save the world? And why would he be in any danger?

  None of it made any sense.

  “What do you think it all means?” he asked Marilyn, who was still trembling at his feet.

  I don’t know. I honestly don’t. Mysterious voices. Hacked CloudNet patches. Whoever they are, they must be criminals. Eli, you need to contact your parents right away, before something terrible happens!

  Eli wrapped his arms around his legs and squeezed them tight to his chest. Overhead, the sun blinked. For an instant, enormous multicolored bars filled the entire dome like a vast horizontal rainbow. Eli couldn’t help marveling once more at how peculiar the whole world had become in such a short time. He could almost hear the white-eyed Outsider again: Why do you sleep, little mousey, when you should be sounding the alarm …?

  He glanced back at Marilyn. “Deep down, aren’t you curious? Don’t you want to hear what they have to say?”

  Her whiskers twitched. Absolutely not. Let it go, Eli. We have a comfortable life. Why make waves? Anyway, this was pure foolishness and almost certainly a trick. They were Foggers, and reckless ones too. Just report it to your family and forget it. You have your future to think about.

  Eli knew she was right. How foolish for a group of criminals to contact him, a Papadopoulos, of all people. In any case, whatever message they had for him wasn’t the most important consideration here. The right thing to do was to tell InfiniCorp what had happened. The company would know how to respond.

  With the cloud commercials once again drifting reassuringly overhead, he made his decision. He would contact Father. He would tell him everything, and right away.

  But just as he was about to get up from the artificial grass and return to the house, he heard somebody calling his name.

  “Eli! Eli, we need to talk with you!”

  Marilyn sprang up on her hind legs. Eli glanced around the yard. Nobody. There was no one at the back of the house either. And yet he knew that gruff voice.

  “Uncle Hector?”

  “Up here, boy. Above you.”

  Eli craned his neck. There was an unusual cloud hanging just over his head, a small holographic projection that must have been created by some hidden mechanism in the nearby trees. Inside this strange cloud floated three heads that stared down at him.

  Uncle Hector. Father. Mother.

  They were watching him, their expressions grave. Eli had a bad feeling about this. It was disturbing enough just to see his family looming down at him from his own personal cloud—he hadn’t even been aware the dome could do that—but Uncle Hector had never pinged him before. Not once in Eli’s whole life. This was a first.

  Which made this sudden appearance all the more alarming.

  “Eli,” Father began, “Uncle Hector just received a report we need to ask you about.”

  Mother peered down at him over her luminous glasses. “One of the CloudNet techs noticed a break in the stream. Oddly it turned out to be an unauthorized link to your sphere. It raises questions. Please tell us everything that happened.”

  How had they found out so quickly? Eli had left his room only a couple of minutes ago, and yet, judging by their expressions, he was in trouble already. Eli couldn’t help remembering once again what Spider had told him—that Uncle Hector was concerned about him. So the timing of this couldn’t be worse. None of this was his fault, though. Once he had a chance to explain, surely Uncle Hector and his parents would understand.

  At least he hoped so.

  “It’s true,” he began, doing his best to sound confident even though he felt like he might throw up. “Something weird did just happen. I was about to contact Father about it.”

  So Eli told them. He started with how he was searching for information on the CloudNet when the Heather simulation had disintegrated. He described the voices and the strange things they’d said. The whole time, Marilyn stayed quiet. The three heads listened, their expressions difficult to read. When Eli told them how the voices had warned him not to tell anybody about the conversation, they seemed to relax. Eli guessed why. He hadn’t been a Papadopoulos his whole life without learning something about how his family worked. His loyalty had been in question. For now, it seemed, he’d passed their test.

  Mother and Father looked relieved.

  “I think you’re right,” Uncle Hector said at last, lighting a fresh cigar. “Those voices were indeed Foggers. It fits the pattern. The Outsiders want our resources, and this was a clear attempt to sabotage the CloudNet, possibly even to infiltrate the family. The barbarians are getting bolder.”

  “The company has already plugged the CloudNet hole the Foggers utilized to tap into your sphere,” Father said. “They’ll never be able to get in through that back door again.”

  “But why me? And why would they say I’m in danger?”

  “Don’t try to find any logic with Foggers,” Uncle Hector said, blowing a cloud of smoke. “You’ll never find any.”

  “You have to understand,” Mother said, “they can’t do any significant or permanent harm to our systems, but incidents like this are still a serious problem and a constant drain on resources. This is why everyone has to stay vigilant. And you,” she said with a significant look, “need to stop obsessing about dome-design problems and the end of the world.”

  Eli felt his face go warm again. “I—I just had questions,” he admitted. “The sky seems to be getting worse, not better, and sometimes I get the feeling there’s something you’re not telling me.”

  Uncle Hector frowned. “You’re being ridiculous. Some software problems are more complex to resolve than others, that’s all. I’m surprised you have so little faith in the company. Foggers look for people who are predisposed to paranoia. The way they recruit Insiders is by planting doubts that feed their fears. I don’t know what they’re looking for from you, but it seems they want to influence our family in some way. And we can’t let that happen.”

  Father spoke up again. “Eli, you’ve been making good progress with your studies. Don’t think the company hasn’t noticed. But these questionable incidents of yours aren’t helping you.”

  Eli had to look away. His cheeks were burning. “I’m sorry,” he said. “You’re right. I guess I was being stupid.”

  “Be sure to ping us if anything else happens, son. Anything at all.”

  “Yes, Father.”

  The three heads glanced at each other again. They seemed satisfied. “Now get back to your work, boy,” Uncle Hector said. “Go earn your place in InfiniCorp management, like your brother. We know you can do it. Have a productive day.”

  The cloud blinked, and they were gone.

  Eli let himself fall back into the grass. He closed his eyes. The last thing he needed was more trouble with his family. Why had he been moronic enough to share his worries with the CloudNet? Now not only did his parents have one more reason to be on his back, but he also had Foggers to deal with.

  Dumb, dumb, dumb.

  Marilyn seemed to sense what he was thinking. Don’t worry. It’s all right. She nuzzled him gently with her snout. Let’s get back to the house, my love. You have work to do.

  “How am I supposed to act normal after that?” he asked.

  It’s over now. You did the right thing.

  But Eli knew better. The truth was, guilt hung over him like a weight. You’re wrong, he admitted silently to her at last. I didn’t do the right thing at all.

  The mongoose stopped nuzzling. She tilted her head to one side. What do you mean?

&
nbsp; He sat up and turned away. When I told the story of what the voices said, I left out the ending. Didn’t you notice? I didn’t tell them how they promised to contact me again.

  Marilyn considered. Her expression changed as she seemed to recall the conversation. Eli … you lied!

  No, not exactly. I just neglected to mention that part. Miserable, he forced himself to his feet and started back to the house. But he didn’t get far. Marilyn blocked his path, her tiny orange eyes glaring up at him.

  Tell me why, Eli. Why didn’t you give them the whole truth? It’s not too late. You can still ping them back.

  He could, but he wasn’t going to, and they both knew it. The thing was, if his family were aware the voices intended to contact him again, then they could probably find a way to prevent them from getting the opportunity. And Eli didn’t want that. Even after so much trouble, he still couldn’t stop thinking about the shadow he’d seen under the city, and the savage with the all-white eye, and the strange behavior of the sky. For so long he’d tried to shake the feeling something was wrong, something important. He couldn’t ignore it anymore. If there was even the slightest chance of getting answers at long last, he needed to take it. He had to know.

  Even if it meant associating with Foggers.

  7

  the white room

  Tabitha woke up terrified. Her breath came in sharp gasps. She’d had a dream in which something unimaginable had happened and everything she cared about, everything that mattered, had been taken from her. She was nothing. Her life was over.

  And Ben? Where was Ben?

  Surely he was coming for her, but what could be taking him so long?

  Now she lay curled in a ball and covered in sweat. There was a throbbing pain on the left side of her head. Even in her groggy state, she sensed she wasn’t in St. Louis. First of all, it was warmer than she was used to, like there was something wrong with the blowers. And somewhere in the distance she could hear a sound like waves crashing. There was a faint smell like sour milk burning at her nose. She rubbed her eyes and tried to shake the remaining haze of her awful dream.

  She opened her eyes.

  White sheets. A white wall. Long, curly white lamps. A wardrobe and a low table shaped like a flower. Two puffy chairs. She was lying in silk sheets in what looked like a small but comfortable bedroom. Somebody had dressed her in pajamas.

  It occurred to her that maybe she was dead.

  She heard the soft click-clack of footsteps approaching. Then a girl’s voice. “Awake at last, are we? You were having a nightmare. Must have been a whopper by the way you were calling out.”

  Tabitha turned her head, and it throbbed again like there was an ice pick in her brain. Standing over her was a beautiful green-haired girl with a kind face. She looked about Tabitha’s age, maybe a little younger. The corners of her mouth were turned downward in concern. She was dressed all in white. She looked like an angel.

  “Please don’t be afraid, Representative Bloomberg. You’re perfectly safe.”

  Tabitha yanked the sheets around her and pressed herself against the top of the bed. She didn’t know what was happening, but she knew she should be suspicious of everything and everybody. She wanted answers.

  “Where am I?”

  “In the admissions ward of an InfiniCorp reeducation facility,” the girl said, her voice calm. “You had a pretty severe jolt, and then you hit your head when you fell to the ground. You’ll be fine, though. My name is Representative Shine, and I’m the Guardian assigned to take care of you. I brought you breakfast. You must be hungry. You’ve been sleeping for two days.”

  Tabitha felt it all come rushing back. The awful memory of how she’d been exposed. Her failed attempt to escape to Outside. Could that have been two whole days ago? Was it possible? Then she realized she wasn’t just hungry—she was ravenous. She eyed the tray of food the girl in white was carrying. A huge omelet. A tall stack of toast. A cup of fruit. Some kind of juice.

  “Where is this facility?” she asked. “Why do I hear waves?”

  “It’s the Gulf of Mexico. It’s all around us for hundreds of miles. This ward is twenty-three stories above the water.”

  The Gulf of Mexico? How would she ever get home again if she was trapped in a tower somewhere in the middle of the sea?

  “Look, let me set this tray down and we can talk. I’ll tell you anything you want to know.” As the girl placed the food on the bedside cabinet, she must have noticed Tabitha’s wary look, because she added, “Don’t worry, there’s nothing wrong with it. So many new arrivals start off thinking we’re going to, like, poison them or something. I promise you, that’s not what this place is about.”

  Tabitha left the food where it was. “So what is it about, then?”

  Representative Shine took one of the puffy chairs. “You’ve been assigned to a special offshore program for the reeducation of Wayward Employees.”

  “Reeducation?” Tabitha didn’t like the sound of that.

  The girl nodded. “Don’t worry. It’s going to be cool.” She settled herself deeper into the chair. “Years ago this place used to be an offshore oil rig, one of the biggest ever built. It’s twenty-four stories high. But the underwater reservoir is almost dry, so now it’s mostly used as sort of a giant floating manufacturing plant. In addition to the admissions ward, where we are right now, we have seventeen separate production floors for making lots of different InfiniCorp stuff. This is where the company makes digital hair gel, electric pants, cooling windows, espresso makers—oh god, I could go on and on. All the products we make get shipped from here to the different InfiniCorp domes on the mainland.”

  “So … why am I here? Where’s the reeducation part?”

  The girl smiled. “You, kiddo, are going to join all the other Wayward Employees in one of our productivity areas. It’s how you Waywards can relearn what you may have forgotten—the peace of mind that comes with trust. Just looking at you I can see you’re still a nervous wreck. That’ll change, I promise. Plus, contributing on a Learning Floor is a way to redeem yourself.”

  “A way to redeem myself,” Tabitha repeated blankly.

  “Yes. Forgiveness through productivity. The company is giving you a way to pay back for what you did.” Her face was somber for only a moment before she brightened back up again. “You won’t start just yet, of course. Only after you’ve recovered. And the work isn’t too hard either, believe me. It’ll be fine. It’s really not so bad here. We have lots of activities and fun stuff to do. The company takes good care of everybody.”

  Tabitha’s thoughts whirled. So she wasn’t going to die after all? Nobody was going to torture her or erase her memories? After all the horrors the Friends had described, working in some faraway manufacturing plant seemed like hardly any punishment at all. She glanced around the comfortable room again and at the breakfast that looked so delicious. She wasn’t sure what she had expected, but this wasn’t it.

  The girl seemed to guess what Tabitha was thinking. “InfiniCorp might not like your past behavior, Representative Bloomberg, but we still want the best for you.” She smiled again. It was the compassionate smile of someone who truly cared. “Hey, it’s totally understandable you’re a little disoriented right now, but please don’t be nervous. I promise you, you’re going to like it here. Everybody does.”

  Tabitha said nothing.

  “Listen,” the girl said, getting up from the chair, “you should eat and rest. It takes some people a long time to get over the jolt.” She bit her lower lip sympathetically. “I wish they didn’t have to do that, but it’s standard procedure. Sometimes the Foggers mess people up so bad that when we try to help, they get violent.” With that she turned and started heading away.

  “Wait,” Tabitha called. “One last question.”

  At the door now, Representative Shine looked back.

  “What’s that smell, like sour milk?”

  “Oh, that’s just the gulf.” She wrinkled her nose. “Kind of yucky
today, isn’t it? It’s the one neg to living over the water. Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it. I’ve been here so long I hardly think about it anymore.”

  So it was the water that smelled so bad? Tabitha had always wanted to visit the shore, but of course she never had. Still, she’d played dream games about the beach, and in the games the ocean smell was sharp and salty. Clean. Not like this. It seemed odd, but then again maybe it was normal. There was no way for Tabitha to know. In any case, sitting up in her pajamas with the sheets wrapped around her like armor, Tabitha felt exhausted again. Everything was out of whack somehow. Maybe it was the throbbing in her skull. All she was sure of was that she wanted to eat. In fact right then she was having a hard time thinking about anything but food.

  “Can I get you something else, Representative Bloomberg?”

  Tabitha wasn’t sure what to think. She shook her head.

  Representative Shine smiled one last time and left the room. Tabitha waited until she was sure she’d gone before she reached for the tray. Within seconds she was stuffing her breakfast into her mouth and swallowing it in hungry gulps.

  She slept on and off, a fitful sleep with strange, dark dreams. She was at her Initiation Ceremony again, standing in the center of a circle of hooded Friends who held hands and chanted as she recited the Oath of Loyalty. She was theirs now. Despite still holding secret reservations about what she was doing, she had chosen to join their ranks because she shared their commitment to seeing the truth through the illusion and their desire to fight the system. But now, in her dream, she had a lump in her throat as she watched herself make the solemn promise to give up her old life, swearing her allegiance to a shadowy organization, a team of high-minded agents who looked out for each other in secret. This time she better understood the consequences, though, and she questioned whether it had ever been worth the risk. She tried to call out to herself, to somehow stop the ceremony so she would have more time to think it all through. But no sound would come from her mouth, no matter how hard she screamed.