The imagery concluded with Cadmus on a high balcony smiling and greeting his people, who were now flooding into the city. He looked down at Eva and said, “Now the air, water, land, and the earth itself are purified and reborn, thanks to you.”
“No!” Eva yanked off the helmet, and the imagery in front of her vanished. Breathless and dizzy, she slid off the chair and onto the floor.
“Are you shorting out?” Gen knelt down next to her. “You can’t eject from an old holo-machine like that until it is finished. Are you all right?”
“I’m—I’m fine.” Eva stood on shaky legs.
“What happened? What did you see?” Gen helped Eva keep her balance.
Arius’s words drifted into Eva’s conscious. And so one society flourishes as another one perishes.
“I saw . . . um . . .” Eva noticed a woman with piercing green eyes watching her from across the crowded courtyard. The woman stood, unmoving, as children cavorted noisily around her. Her face, with dark mascara under choppy ash-blond hair, looked familiar.
“That lady. She was in the park today,” Eva said, catching her breath. She moved to approach her, but staggered, still light-headed with visions from the Divination Machine. The blond woman disappeared in the throng of kids.
“Come on. Let’s get you back to the booth so you can reboot,” Gen said.
“How do I know that lady?” Eva shook her head, trying to clear it, and followed Gen.
“It was weird,” Eva said in between sips of her Pow-R-drink. “It was like all the aliens no longer existed anymore.” She leaned back in her seat facing the three Gens, who sat across from her in the booth.
“Aliens?” Gen exchanged glances with her peers. “What do you mean?”
“You know, like the Halcyonus or the Cæruleans,” said Eva.
The three girls stared at her with blank looks on their faces.
“What?” asked Eva, confused by the Gens’ reaction.
“What on earth are you talking about?” Gen said with a giggle.
“Oh, that machine definitely shorted you out,” said the second Gen.
“You are seriously remming right now,” added the third.
“Remming? I’m not remming at all!” Eva slammed her drink down. “You don’t know what I am talking about? The aliens that live in Lacus? Solas?”
“I think she spent way too much time with those dirty Toilers,” Gen whispered loudly to the other Gens. “They rewired her.”
“Wait a sec.” Eva realized something. “Have you ever left the city?”
“Um, no!” Gen said.
“It’s filthy out there,” the second Gen added. “Why would we?”
Eva watched the Gens whisper among themselves while keeping an eye on her. It was like Eva wasn’t even there. She turned, scanning the restaurant to locate an alien that would prove she wasn’t crazy. People of every sort enjoyed their meals, but there was not a single alien among them.
Anywhere.
She tried to remember if she’d seen any aliens today while she’d explored the city. It was hard. There had been so many colorful citizens in the park and on the promenade. Have I seen any aliens here?
Eva pulled out her Omnipod and activated Identicapture. She brought up a holo of Rovender. “Do you know what this is?”
The three girls examined the hologram as grimaces grew on their painted faces. “Yeah,” Gen said. “It’s a troll from a fairy tale program.”
“Yes, from when we were three nanos old,” the second Gen added.
“What? No. Rovee is not a troll or a mythical beast.” Eva shut off her Omnipod. Her tone was serious, “Hasn’t your father told you about Orbona? About the outside world beyond here?”
“My father is busy, just like my mother, so I don’t bother them,” Gen replied. Her dress shifted to a dark mustard color. “He works hard for everybody here, to make life beautiful and safe for all.”
“Your father is such a genius,” the second Gen added. “I would never ever leave. We have everything we could ever possibly want here, right?”
“Right,” the third Gen said. “But if your dad could order up a bigger galleria nearby, I wouldn’t complain.”
The other Gens giggled with glee. “Yeah, put it where those corrupted Toilers live!” All three of their dresses changed to an icy hue.
Eva stared at the trio of girls as if they were three sand-snipers. Her mind began to reel with worry for Rovender, when a chime rang throughout the restaurant. All the patrons began to gather their things and leave.
“It’s nineteen-thirty,” Gen said, looking at her palm. “Time to head to our cubes.”
“Is it already?” the second Gen said. “I was having such fun with our Beeboo and her fairy tales that I forgot about the time.”
“Let’s hurry back so we can vidchat before we power out,” added the third. The others nodded in agreement.
Eva followed the Gens out to a loading area and into a line of people waiting to exit on gondolas. Above, the projected sky had turned deep lavender with a few stars twinkling in the cloudless heavens. There are no rings, Eva noted. No Rings of Orbona.
High above, on unseen speakers, Cadmus Pryde’s warm voice broadcast throughout the city. “Good evening, my fellow Atticans. The time is nineteen-forty-eight. Please complete any tasks you may be enjoying and make your way home for the night. We’ll power up first thing in the morning at eight o’clock sharp. The weather tomorrow will be . . .”
“Hey, you wanna share a gondola?” Gen asked while the girls climbed in.
“Sure.” Eva scooted in next to Gen, and the gondola rose in the deepening twilight.
“Look!” Gen pointed out the window. “There’s Paige Trundle!”
“Where! Let me see!” The other girls clambered over to the window, causing the gondola to sway.
“Monkey hair!” one of the Gens chimed.
“I don’t know. I kind of like it,” Eva said.
The three girls turned in unison and stared her down.
Eva shrugged her shoulders. “At least it’s different.”
The three girls all looked at one another.
“I wonder where she got it done,” one of the Gens asked.
“The Attican zoo?” replied another.
This sent the girls into fits of laughter once again.
“So, am I coming home with you, Gen?” asked Eva.
“I think you have to go back to Attican Hall to find out where your cube is,” Gen replied in a condescending tone.
“But you need to get there by twenty-thirty. That’s the curfew,” the second Gen added. “We all live in level one, but you should still make it there in time.”
“Just do it before twenty-thirty,” Gen said.
“Why?”
“Because the power shuts down,” Gen said.
“And the authoritons will lock you in detention for the night with the other short-outs,” the third Gen added.
“Yeah,” Gen said. “You don’t want to end up there. You want to be in your cozy new cube.”
CHAPTER 13: EIGHT
Level one was the topmost level of New Attica, closest to the now twinkling atmospheric membrane. All around, citizens arrived home for the evening in glassy towering elevators and gondolas.
Bidding the three Gens good night, Eva directed her gondola to take her to Attican Hall. The craft swiftly glided over the darkening park toward her destination as a light rain drizzled down from the artificial sky. As she landed, Eva noticed an authoriton directing empty gondolas. Each craft parked in a perfect row outside the great gleaming pyramid. Eva’s gondola set down at the end of the row, and she hurried toward the hall entrance.
“Excuse me, miss.” The authoriton held out a large hand. “The time is twenty-twenty-three. Attican Hall is closed for the day.”
“But I—”
“Please return to your domicile for the evening. The hall opens at eight o’clock tomorrow. We will see you in the morning,” the robot continued
in a firm tone.
“But, sir. Cadmus told me to come back here—”
“Thank you for your cooperation. We will see you at eight. Good night.” The authoriton remained steadfast. High above him the beacon at the peak of the pyramid roved around the cityscape.
“Okay.” Eva slumped her shoulders and left. “Good night.”
Through the drizzle Eva trod across the bridge and into the park, pondering what to do next. I need to find an elevator to take me up to level one if I am to make it to Gen’s house in time. Hopefully Cadmus will be there. Eva dashed across the wet turf and slipped in her new high-heeled boots. After standing up, she pulled the boots off and continued faster now on bare feet. She arrived at the lower level of buildings that ringed the park, and stopped to catch her breath. “Sheesa,” she said, panting. “I didn’t see what building Gen lives in.” She pulled out her Omnipod.
“Greetings, Eva Nine,” the device chirped. “How may I be of service?”
“Please contact Gen Pryde,” Eva said as she wiped her dripping hair from her face.
“Attempting voice connection with Gen Pryde,” the Omnipod said. “Please hold.”
Eva looked up at the towering homes, each full of people. Each full of families.
“Cancel that,” she said, yanking off her robotail. “Contact Hailey Turner. I need to find out where Rovee is.”
“Call canceled. Attempting voice connection with Hailey Turner.” The little lights flickered around the Omnipod’s central eye.
Eva picked at the damp ruffle in her skirt. Come on, Rovee. Where are you?
“I am sorry, Eva Nine. I am not receiving a response from Hailey Turner. Would you like to leave a message?” asked the device.
Once more Cadmus’s voice was broadcast across the city. “The time is now twenty-thirty. Please power down your homes to a minimum for the evening. You may all know that the power rationing has greatly improved our goal of lower consumption. I am proud of everyone’s cooperation with this new directive. Sleep well knowing I am looking out and protecting each and every one of you. Till morrow’s destiny.”
The lights in all the homes dimmed, and the ambient music from the loudspeakers lowered. Below, a unit of authoritons patrolled the glistening street. Their bright red lasers scanned every nook and alley as they moved through the night. The steam rising from the ground level hid their details, giving them a shadowy, ghostly presence. Eva turned back toward the dense growth in the park and ran into the darkness.
As she searched for a tree to climb up for the night, a distant song warbled out from the depths of the park. “I know that song,” Eva said to herself. “How do I know that song?”
“Caprimulgus vociferus,” her Omnipod stated. “Commonly known as a whip-poor-will, a nocturnal bird of the family Caprimulgidae. Shall I continue?”
“No,” Eva said. She remembered the birdsong now from the many survival simulations back in her Sanctuary. She thought back to the list of skills she had needed to memorize. Find shelter, she thought, and dashed off to the aviary.
Eva clung to the shadows as she snuck toward the well-lit entrance of the ornate biodome. As she neared, a sensor pinged and a hologram of Cadmus materialized, giving Eva a start.
“Welcome to the Attican Aviary and Avian Cloning Center,” he said, “where the birds of yesterday take flight once again. Inside you will find more than six hundred species of birds incubated right here in . . .”
The acidic smell of guano assaulted Eva’s nose as she slipped inside the humid aviary. Mixed with the whip-poor-will’s call was a chorus of chirps and hoots. All about the dome birds fluttered to their nests and canopies to settle in for the night. The thick foliage that grew inside filled each and every exhibit. I should be safe from the authoritons here. Eva sighed, relaxing a bit. A white-faced owl alighted on a nearby tree. This is just like one of my holographic simulations back home. Eva pulled out her Omnipod and initiated Identicapture.
“Tyto alba, commonly known as a barn owl,” the device said as it displayed a three-dimensional model of the bird. “Ajaia ajaja, or the roseate spoonbill. . . . Goura victoria, the Victoria crowned pigeon.” On and on the Omnipod identified each and every specimen within the aviary. Eva was circling an indoor pond in the waterfowl annex when an abrupt squawk erupted, startling her.
She froze, unsure of the source of the squawking. Something large was moving through the undergrowth toward her. Eva ducked into the green veil of a weeping willow and hid among its feather branches. The squawks continued to become louder.
Closer.
Eva switched the Omnipod into lumen mode and scanned the area with her light.
A waist-high round gray bird, supported by two thick legs, waddled through the hanging branches. Though the plumage of its tufted yellow tail was striking, it lacked the majesty and brilliance of its neighbors. The bird stopped its loud call and regarded Eva with bright lemon eyes.
“Raphus cucullatus, commonly known as the flightless dodo,” Eva’s Omnipod said. “Extinct since the seventeenth century, the dodo became the archetype of extinction due to mankind’s interference. Thankfully the Dynastes Corporation funded the Avian Cloning Project, which brought many extinct species, including the beloved dodo, back into the world. Shall I continue?”
“No,” Eva said softly. She knelt down and studied the bird.
The dodo croaked at Eva. Its eyes blinked rapidly as it watched her in the Omnipod’s light.
She held her hand out to the bird. Don’t worry, she thought to it. I won’t hurt you. On pigeon toes the dodo moved closer to Eva and nuzzled its hooked beak into her armpit.
“I’d rather sleep here with you birds than with those ignorant girls,” she whispered to the dodo as she stroked its feathers. Tears welled in her eyes. Tears she blinked back.
Deep within the aviary another dodo called out, and the bird broke away from Eva, shuffling off into the darkness.
Eva scooted in close to the trunk of the willow. Wiping her eyes, she tapped her Omnipod. I should call Hailey again, but it’s useless, she thought. He’s probably long gone already.
You must sometimes disregard what one is saying and focus instead on what they are doing, Rovender had said. That is when one reveals his true self.
Eva stared at the Omnipod, waiting for it to chirp with news from her blue friend, but the device was silent. She looked out through the droopy branches of the willow, through the clear dome of the aviary, where in the fading light she could see all the homes with their families in them. Eva put her head down and curled up into a ball.
Happy Birthday. Muthr, I wish you were here.
A covey of birds burst out from the bushes nearby. Eva drew closer to the wide trunk of the tree. She held her breath and listened. Have the authoritons tracked me in here?
“Hello? Eva?” A woman’s voice whispered from the shadows. “Are you Eva Nine?”
Eva remained still, saying nothing.
A woman draped in dark robes pulled apart the curtain of willow branches and ducked under the tree’s canopy. Her elegant face was aglow from the soft light of the Omnipod in her hand. Peering around the trunk, Eva recognized her as the blond lady from the restaurant. Eva backed away to the far edge of the canopy, ready to bolt.
“Don’t be afraid,” the woman said. “And don’t run. The authoritons will catch you for sure. They are beginning their patrol of the park by now. They’ll be here soon.”
Eva squinted at the woman through the shadows. Somehow she seemed familiar to her. “Do I know you?” she whispered.
“You don’t.” The woman’s eyes darted around. “But I know you, and I can help.”
“Who are you?”
The woman smiled. “We come from the same Sanctuary, number five-seven-three. . . . I am Eva Eight.”
End of
PART I
PART II
CHAPTER 14: NON-TRACKERS
Eva Eight hugged Eva Nine tightly under the dark cover of the weeping willow. �
�I am so happy I found you, Nine,” she whispered. “I can’t believe you’re here at last.”
It was an odd sensation to be embraced by someone who knew Eva but whom Eva truly did not know; and yet she felt the warm feeling of security being with Eva Eight.
Eva looked into Eva Eight’s sea-green eyes. It was like looking into a warped mirror. Aside from the shorter hair, Eva Eight looked like an older version of Eva, complete with perfect porcelain features.
The woman brushed back Eva’s bangs and gently ran a finger over her cheek. “Muthr never told you about me?” she asked.
“No,” Eva replied, her head spinning. It had never occurred to Eva that the process that had brought her into the world might have been carried out before her existence by Muthr. “So, wait,” Eva said. “If you are Eva Eight, is there an Eva Seven?”
“There is much for you to learn.” Eva Eight rose and peered out into the aviary. “But right now we need to focus on getting out of here.” A radar image on her Omnipod showed a dozen red dots moving in perfect choreography, which Eva Nine assumed was a patrol of authoritons.
“Are you worried about us getting caught, Eva?” Eva Nine asked.
“Call me Eight. I do not hide the fact that I was Sanctuary-born. Neither should you.” She gestured at Eva’s attire.
“I like these new clothes,” Eva replied. In the glow of Eight’s Omnipod, she could see her dress shift to a liver brown. “Besides, this is the only thing I got for my—”
“Birthday.” Eight cut her off. “I know. Today is my birthday as well.”
“It—it is?” Eva said.
“Yes, all of us born in five-seventy-three were created in the generation room on this day,” Eight said. “But the few reboots living here in New Attica have forgotten they were born in a Sanctuary. So nobody celebrates that sort of thing.”
“Muthr used to make me a cupcake,” Eva said with longing.
“With strawberries on top. I remember,” said Eight.
Eva blinked at her. “I thought she’d done that just for me.”
“It’s okay.” Eight knelt down and looked Eva in the eyes. “I know what you’ve been through. I understand everything. And now we are in this together, right?”
A Hero for WondLa Page 9
