A Hero for WondLa

by Tony DiTerlizzi

  Hailey handed Eva a steaming mug. He dropped down into one of the hovchairs and sipped his oily black coffee. “Well,” he said, thinking aloud, “we could go in and get you registered this morning, and then I could just send him over to meet you once they’re back.”

  Eva took a gulp from her drink. The bitter hot coffee scorched her tongue. She set the mug down, careful to hide the sting of the burn on her face. “Yes,” she said. “Let’s go. Now.”

  “Welcome back to New Attica, Hailey Turner,” a bodiless voice greeted the pilot while a green laser scanned his body. Eva and Hailey were standing at the bottom of an underground access ramp that led to the entrance of the city. Flanking the grand entryway were two stone pillars, one carved in the shape of a man and the other in the shape of a woman. Graffiti and other markings marred the ornate sculptures.

  “Thank you.” Hailey addressed the closed entry gate to the city. “I am here with a new citizen.”

  “Please remain still for initial body scan. This will take several moments,” the gate instructed. The laser eye began to inspect Eva just as it had done with Hailey.

  “Do you come to New Attica often?” Eva tried to stand still.

  “I’ve been a few times. It’s too crowded for me.”

  “Weren’t you born here? Did you change your name, like Vanpa?” Eva asked.

  “No,” Hailey replied, uninterested. “This is the name my dad gave me.”

  “I might change my name to Dorothy,” Eva said, watching Hailey for a response. “She was a girl in this old book I found. Have you ever seen a book before?”

  “Please remain still until body scan is complete. Thank you,” the gate said.

  “Dorothy, huh?” Hailey leaned against a pillar and polished his Omnipod. “If that’s the name you like.”

  “I’ll have to find out what it means first,” Eva said. “Do you know what ‘Hailey’ means?”

  “Please remain still until body scan is complete. Thank you,” the gate repeated.

  “Yeah. ‘Hailey’ means, ‘Sit still so we can get on with this,’” the pilot said with a smirk.

  “Scan complete. Please insert Omnipod here,” the gate said. A hatch slid open, revealing a small access port. Eva did as she was instructed.

  “You are Earth in Vitro Alpha, ninth generation, from HRP Sanctuary five-seven-three. Is that correct?” the gate asked.

  “Yes,” Eva said, bouncing on her toes. Excitement buzzed through her like a wild electric charge.

  “Access to city granted,” the gate said. “Please take your Omnipod and proceed to the subferry dock for immediate departure. Welcome to New Attica.” The heavy pocked ply-steel outer gates squeaked in resistance as they ground apart. Inside, a row of battered subferries sat docked at a steep angle facing down into a series of tunnels that led deep underground. The bobsled shaped, aged ships were waiting for their new arrivals with back hatches open.

  “Please watch your step,” the nearest subferry said in a friendly manner. “We shall be departing shortly.”

  “Let’s go to the front. Those are the best seats,” Hailey said, boarding the ferry.

  Eva climbed in and scooted past two rows of seating. She joined Hailey in the front row and strapped herself into a worn seat. The hatch closed in the back, and Eva’s eyes adjusted to the dim lighting.

  “Thank you for your cooperation. Welcome aboard New Attica’s subterranean ferry. If you are ready, we will be off in just a moment, with an approximate travel time of ninety seconds.” The entry hatch sealed and locked shut. Eva tapped her seat’s armrests in anticipation.

  “Hold on,” Hailey said. “This is quite a ride.”

  “Really?” Eva watched a series of lights activate along the length of the endless tunnel. In the background the ferry counted down. “Ten . . . nine . . . eight . . .”

  Even without her life monitor to inform her, Eva could feel her heart rate speed up.

  “Five . . . four . . . three . . .”

  She gripped the armrests.

  “Don’t worry.” Hailey smiled. “It’s fun.”

  “Two . . . one.”

  Eva’s stomach pushed against her throat as the subferry plummeted down. The lights outside became a glowing blur as the craft spun and whirled through the tunnel. Just when Eva thought the high-speed descent would never end, the ship slowed and leveled out, coming to a gentle stop at a platform.

  “Thank you,” announced the subferry. “Please take your belongings and make your way through the eastern corridor into the city limits. Welcome to New Attica.”

  “Quite a ride, huh?” Hailey asked.

  Eva caught her breath and feigned a smile. “Fun.”

  Across the platform two layers of white doors unlocked and hissed open. Eva and Hailey entered a long white illuminated hallway and stepped onto a moving sidewalk. Electric billboards pulsed and flickered on as the two travelers were carried along. Low music warbled overhead from unseen speakers:

  “Oh, great machines, great minds of man,

  you’ve come to rescue me.

  My tired world is now reborn,

  my air, my land, my sea.”

  “This takes us through the atmospheric membrane and down to the ground level. It’s gonna take a few minutes,” Hailey said. “But it will put us at a busy sector of the city, where we should be able to get transportation to where we need to go.”

  “How many reboots have you brought in before?” Eva asked, though she knew the answer.

  “Um, well, my dad was a retriever, and he brought in a lot of people,” Hailey replied. “I want to do the same.”

  “Hello, and welcome to New Attica, where a bright and beautiful new future awaits.” A hologram of an elderly man dressed in pure white flowing robes materialized before the duo and floated in front of them as they traveled down the sidewalk. His long white beard and wispy mustache barely moved when he spoke. “I am Cadmus Pryde, proud leader of this great city, and I’ve been waiting for you. No doubt you have many questions, and all of them will be addressed very soon. Please visit Attican Hall so that you may be admitted through the city’s registrar. Don’t worry. It’s a quick, easy process. Afterward you’ll be given orientation by one of our knowledgeable city guides. They know any- and everything about our utopian paradise. Thank you for visiting, Eva Nine. Till morrow’s destiny.” The hologram evaporated just as Eva and Hailey approached the end of the long hall.

  “It’s just a dumb recording,” Hailey said. “It comes up every time you enter.”

  “He looks so different from how he looked in the programs I’ve seen,” Eva said.

  “Well, he’s old. Really old,” Hailey said, fidgeting with his Omnipod. “You might even see him today. He’s pretty friendly, for an old guy.”

  “Please watch your step,” an authoritative voice announced. Eva saw two helmeted ebony robots standing guard at the end of the hall. Their rigid form and shape reminded Eva of chessmen. Like Muthr they had multiple arms, though theirs were much thicker and shielded their bodies. On each glossy polished chest was printed TECH PROTECTS AND SERVES.

  “Thank you, sir,” Hailey said, mimicking the robot’s voice and helping Eva off the moving sidewalk. A door hissed open that led to a small chamber, and both stepped in.

  “Please raise your arms and remain still while we begin final identification confirmation and security check,” a relaxed voice said. Eva and Hailey did as instructed, and a red laser scanned their bodies.

  “Those were authoritons,” Hailey said to Eva. “They keep the peace. Though I’ve never seen ’em do a thing.”

  “They look scary,” replied Eva.

  “I think they are mostly for show,” Hailey said as the scan lines moved across his smug face.

  “You know,” Eva said, grinning, “today is my birthday. I’m thirteen. Maybe—”

  Hailey shook his head and started laughing.

  “Please remain still until final identification scan is complete. Thank you,” the r
elaxed voice said.

  Eva looked over at Hailey and giggled. “What?” she whispered. “What is it?”

  “You are an old program with a lot to learn,” Hailey whispered back. “They don’t celebrate individual birthdays here. Only the Awakening.”

  “Oh, the Awakening. Okay.” Once more Eva felt stupid.

  “I’m sure it’s just as much fun,” he replied. “You’ll see.”

  Eva tried to shake off her embarrassment. “Well, after I am registered and stuff, maybe you and Vanpa can join me and Rovee for dinner or dessert.”

  “Maybe,” Hailey replied, looking away from Eva.

  “Scan complete. Thank you, and have a pleasant day,” the voice said. A final set of doors opened, and Eva walked into the city at last.

  A mix of ambient music and melodious birdsong greeted Eva and Hailey as they entered New Attica. A cloudless azure sky was projected onto the atmospheric membrane high above, watching over the modular cubic houses that ringed the high city wall. The stacking of the picture-windowed homes formed a stepped quarry. Around the various levels, floating spherical gondolas moved through the air, carrying passengers in all directions. Everywhere Eva looked, she saw people walking, playing, and conversing. There were dark-skinned individuals, orange-skinned, and violet-skinned too. No one bore any wrinkles or scars, like Van Turner, for no one was old. Tears pooled in Eva’s eyes, and she whispered to herself, “I’m home.”

  A gondola glided down and landed in front of Eva and Hailey. The empty vehicle was almost entirely transparent because of the large bubble-shaped canopy encasing its cabin. The words “New Attican Transit Share” glowed in bold letters on its side. In a calm voice it said, “Greetings. Are you Eva Nine and Hailey Turner?”

  “Yes!” Eva said, bouncing up and down.

  The door to the gondola slid open. “I have been summoned by the city to transport you to Attican Hall. Is this destination correct?”

  “It is,” said Hailey.

  “Thank you,” said the gondola. “Please watch your step as you enter.”

  Beaming at Hailey, Eva hopped in. Three cushioned seats in the center of the cabin welcomed the riders. Eva looked around the cabin and noted that the gondola lacked the controls that the Goldfish had. “How do you steer this?”

  “You don’t.” Hailey flopped down and put his feet up on the low dashboard. “Just tell it where to go, and it takes you there. That’s it.”

  “Wow.” Eva slid over to the farthest seat and pressed her face against the window as the gondola gently lifted off.

  An intricate map of the city projected onto the front windshield with a blinking red dot indicating the gondola’s current position. “Arrival time to your final destination, Attican Hall, is approximately five minutes,” the gondola announced.

  “Oh! Is there a place to get food where we can stop first?” Eva asked.

  “Uh—,” Hailey started.

  “Apologies, Eva Nine, but I must taxi you to Attican Hall for registration first,” the gondola replied. “There are four eateries in the immediate vicinity that you may visit afterward.”

  “Sound good?” asked Hailey.

  “Okay.” Eva smiled.

  “Very well, then.” The gondola started a guided tour. “The thriving city of New Attica is approximately thirteen square kilometers. While the founders originally constructed it as a subterranean metropolis, the architects of the city later decided to . . .”

  But Eva wasn’t listening.

  Instead she gazed down at the colorful geometric buildings below. The layout of the city was round, with all buildings ringing the central hub, as if they were in a gigantic basin. Like a wagon’s wheel, the main roadway rounded the ground level, with spur roads leading toward the center of the city.

  Soaring higher now, Eva could see that the spur roads led through a lush green park that surrounded a large central pond, also circular in shape. At the center of the pond rose a colossal pyramid.

  “That’s it.” Hailey nodded toward the city’s centerpiece.

  “We are approaching Attican Hall,” the gondola said as it circled the pyramid. “Landing time is less than one minute.”

  Projected on each side of the pyramid’s great height was an image of Cadmus Pryde. With eyes shut, as if dreaming, the aged man smiled through his snow-white beard. He then lifted his clenched hands high overhead and opened both up. One palm held a glowing microchip while the other cradled a human embryo. Projected between both hands was a rotating globe of the Earth. A parchment scroll circled the globe with the words “The Past Shall Prescribe the Future.”

  Mesmerized by this magnificent moving monument, Eva broke her gaze only when the top of the pyramid shone a brilliant light down at the gondola. Like in the holos of old lighthouses, the temple had a shining beam that rotated at its apex. Squinting her eyes as the bright beam moved past, Eva could make out a gigantic roving eye in the pyramid’s peak.

  The gondola alighted near the entrance to the temple and opened its bubble-shaped doors. Eva stepped out among the city’s bustling inhabitants.

  People of various shade and hue brushed past, along with a variety of robots dedicated to maintaining the city. A gathering of sparrows chirped as they flew overhead and landed in a nearby tree. Above, a stream of gondolas moved in a steady flow around the pyramid. Brilliant three-dimensional holographic billboards flickered from atop many buildings. Overhead the citywide music lowered in volume, and a warm voice resonated over unseen loudspeakers. “Good morning, my fellow Atticans. The time is ten thirty. The weather today will be partly cloudy with a temperature of twenty-two degrees Celsius. We have scheduled a rain shower for tonight just around curfew at approximately twenty-twenty o’clock. We’ll update with more news at the top of the hour. Till morrow’s destiny.”

  Eva reached out and seized a passerby by the arm. A handsome man, older than Hailey, with pale green skin was speaking into his palm. “Hold on a nano, Steve. . . . Yes?”

  Eva let go of his arm and watched an animated tattoo of flames flutter and flicker around his wrist. “Sorry,” she said. “I just wanted to make sure you were real . . . that all of this was real.”

  “Real?” the green man said with a laugh. “You’ve overloaded on holos, haven’t you? Do yourself a favor and take a break every once in a while. You’ll find the real world is just as fun.”

  “Okay. Thanks,” Eva said, confused at his response.

  “Till morrow’s destiny!” He patted Eva on the head and continued on his way.

  “Hey, Eva,” Hailey said, pointing to the open entrance of the hall. “We need to go. Come on.”

  “But I want to explore.” Eva turned around. She heard an electronic chirp and noticed that she had stepped on a bright graphic logo cemented into the sidewalk. A hologram of a teenage girl rose up from the logo and greeted Eva. Her red hair was tied in a row of knotted twists, and dark makeup was drawn around her eyes and lips. “Wanna share your mood?” the hologram asked, and began expressing her mood by making various faces. First she pouted, then smiled, then sneered; and as she did so her frilly dress changed color to suit the emotion she was conveying. “Share your true colors for all the world to see. The latest Emote-Attire fashions are available at the Attican Galleria. It’s rocket!” The hologram burst into a cloud of light motes and disappeared.

  There was a tap on Eva’s shoulder.

  “Hey, you can burn through your quotacard later,” Hailey said. “But first you gotta get registered, okay?”

  A pale yellow Muthr rolled by with a pink baby swaddled across her torso.

  A Muthr!

  Eva watched the robot for a moment with longing. It met with a second Muthr, and both disappeared into the crowd.

  “Eva, come on. Let’s get this done,” Hailey said.

  “Okay.” Eva followed Hailey through the multitude of pedestrians across a walkway that took them over the pond and into the pyramid. Great gilt-covered columns flanked the entrance, creating a majest
ic colonnade. Each column was decorated in etchings of ancient computer coding. It reminded Eva of holo-shows she’d watched on Egyptian temples covered in hieroglyphics. The duo entered the grand lobby, walking under a holographic projection of a manifesto.

  “This place has a lot of offices, and I can never remember exactly where the registrar is,” Hailey said, looking at a detailed floor plan on his Omnipod. “Let me grab an autoserver. I’ll be right back.”

  “Okay.” Eva moved to the side of the meandering sightseers and read the manifesto. Its words floated prominently in midair for all to see.

  Man created Tech to aid man.

  Tech carries many of man’s burdens; it keeps his world safe.

  Tech extends man’s life. It eliminates sickness and perfects his offspring.

  Tech creates man’s home and city, accurate and steadfast.

  Tech remembers man’s collected knowledge.

  Man trusts Tech as he trusts himself.

  Man created Tech to remember the past.

  Man created Tech to inform the future.

  With Tech all dreams are attainable.

  Eva pondered these words as she watched people wander past. Out of the Sanctuary my Tech, my Omnipod, was hardly effective. Even Muthr struggled with the wild terrain. Eva thought of Cadmus’s presentation about creating the HRP and wondered how long ago that had occurred and how long this city had been here.

  “The municipal offices are this way.” Hailey returned with a waist-high cylindrical robot rolling on a single wheel.

  “Welcome to Attican Hall,” the autoserver said in a cheery tone. “Please follow me to the city registrar’s office.” The robot led Eva and Hailey to a glass elevator that took them high up in the pyramid. After exiting the elevator, the trio strolled down a winding corridor decorated with animated murals between the numerous office doors. Eva watched one of the murals, a landscape, transition from a lush rain forest to a lifeless desert before returning back to its original state. Across the corridor, adorning the public works office, an image of a turbulent ocean evaporated into a tiny creek, only to transform back.