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Chapter 7

A scream louder than Charleston would’ve thought possible rent the air. It was Dr. Tyler. He’d never heard anyone scream like that. It was filled with a sadness he couldn’t begin to fathom. And something else. Something he couldn’t name.

And then more screaming started. It was coming from the people below. Charleston watched as they ran away from the crumpled, bleeding corpses that littered the streets surrounding Founder’s Park.

How many people had jumped? he numbly wondered as he watched the small shapes of terrified New Washingtonians rushing towards the statue of Jonathan Stiles in the center of the park.

But not everyone was running away, he realized. Some were moving towards the bodies. And the air around each was suddenly full of floating silver orbs. It was Ale, short for Artificial Law Enforcement, the adult version of Apu. Its usual blue eye was an angry red as it scanned the bodies.

Dr. Tyler’s screams had stopped. Charleston tore his eyes from the scene below. She was gone. He exchanged a look with the others. Each of them seemed as stunned as he felt. What had just happened? And why?

And how had Violet known about it?

Just then, a large muscular man with a nearly bald head and wearing the green of a museum worker appeared on the walkway. He took the children in with a cold glance, then walked to the railing where Charles had only just been standing.

Charleston watched as the man examined the area and wondered if he, too, noticed the drops of blood from Charles’ eyes.

The man said something into his wrist computer, then turned. “This way, please,” he spoke suddenly. His voice was slightly warmer than his stare.

Charleston didn’t move, whether from the shock of what he’d just witnessed or because something about this stranger didn’t feel right, he wasn’t sure.

The man took a step towards the children and extended his arm towards the door.

Charleston resisted the urge to jump back into a defensive stance.

“This way,” the stranger said again, an edge in his voice now.

Before Charleston could decide what to do, another figure stepped out onto the walkway. It was a stern looking woman in a black suit and white shirt. She exuded authority. “I’ll deal with the children,” she said to the man in a dismissive tone.

The stranger hesitated only a moment, then disappeared back into the Observatory. Charleston thought he looked relieved to go.

“Podlings,” the woman addressed the group, her tone only slightly warmer than the man’s. “I’m terribly sorry you had to witness that. Please come with me downstairs and I’ll explain everything.”

Charleston exchanged another look with the others. Would this woman really explain why dozens of people had just leapt to their deaths?

Silent and horrified, the five friends filed into the Observatory where they huddled together, suddenly feeling more like children than teenagers.

“Let’s keep moving,” the stern woman said. “Proceed down the stairs and to the front of the building.”

They did as they were instructed.

“Why is she taking us there?” Jacksonville whispered, his brow crinkled in shock.

The others didn’t answer. There was no answer to explain why this mysterious woman would arrive to usher them away from staring at the body below, only to lead them closer to the corpse.

Once down the stairs, the podlings instinctively gathered around the glass case of the meteoroid. Charleston glanced up at the double doors on the second floor. Dr. Tyler’s excited update on the Recreation Room seemed ages ago.

The woman in black boldly strode to the front doors and pushed them open. “Let’s go. There’s nothing to be afraid of,” she added in what passed as her kind voice.

The children shuffled to the exit, unable to ignore this woman’s commands. As Charleston stepped onto the top of the stairs, he stole a quick glance down, afraid and enthralled by what he expected to see.

The crowd of spectators had been cleared away to reveal nothing. No body. No blood. He looked towards the other buildings, towards where the other bodies had fallen, but there was nothing to see there, either.

Charleston stared, almost more stunned now than when the man had jumped. He looked at his friends, his confusion reflected on their faces.

“You see, podlings,” the woman said, striding down the stairs, pulling the children in her wake, “what you saw was simply a test.”

Charleston and the others followed the woman down the stairs, giving a wide berth to where they thought the body had hit.

“Unfortunate timing, no doubt, for a test of our Artificial Protection Service, but we were not aware anyone would be in the Observatory on Founder’s Day,” she explained. “It’s a bit embarrassing, really, and I sincerely apologize for the trauma you may have experienced over what you saw. I assure you no one was hurt. Charles!” she called.

A middle-aged man with a gray-speckled beard and dressed in green emerged from the museum where the children had stood moments before.

“I’m fine, really I am,” Charles said, waving and laughing. He took a few steps closer and spread out his hands. “You see?” From behind him, Dr. Tyler appeared, wrapping an arm around his waist. Her eyes were red from crying.

“No one told me about the test, either,” she said through a ragged smile. “I was as surprised as you. But thankfully my partner is unharmed. Thank you for joining me today on our tour,” she said, sounding oddly formal. “I hope to see you back here in the future,” she finished weakly, her voice cracking.

“Alas,” the woman said, drawing the podlings’ attention back to her, “our test failed, and the robot was destroyed upon impact. You can see the broken parts right over there in that bag,” she added, pointing at the bald man in green, who had joined them at some ponit. He held a sack open revealing shattered pieces of what could have been a robot. “The safety of each and every one of New Washington’s citizens is of utmost importance to the Council of Nine. It’s imperative our test subjects resemble actual humans in every way to ensure our artificial intelligence orbs will react as they are programmed. I apologize again for the unfortunate set of circumstances that led you to think someone had indeed killed themselves, but now you know the truth.”

The woman paused and looked at them with hard, piercing eyes, as if gauging their reaction to her explanation.

“What about the others?” Charleston asked.

The woman’s face hardened even more at Charleston’s question. “It is as I said,” she began coldly. “We are in the final stages of testing for this particular program. We needed multiple subjects in danger to see if our orbs would communicate effectively between themselves in a manner that would allow each robot to be saved.” She paused, as if daring Charleston to ask another question. “Unfortunately, our new program was a total failure and we’ll have to do a complete overhaul of it. It’s quite frustrating, actually. Doubly so that you children just happened to be where you were precisely when the test began,” she added with just a tiny drop of suspicion in her voice.

When they said nothing more, she continued. “Now, please try and enjoy the rest of Founder’s Day,” she said with a tight smile. “We have much to be thankful for.”

And with those incongruous words, the woman turned and walked back up the stairs to the museum entrance, the large, muscular man at her ear. Charles and Dr. Tyler were nowhere to be seen.

 

♦

 

“What. The. Hell. Was. That?” Charleston asked the others once they’d reached their fort in Podkind Forest. They had left City Dome shortly after the stern woman dismissed them, Paris silently disengaging from their group and going to Red Dome alone. Charleston couldn’t blame him. No one had spoken of what they’d witnessed. Whether they were too shocked or too afraid, Charleston wasn’t sure, but it hadn’t felt right to discuss what they’d seen and what that woman had said. Not in City Dome, at least. It hadn’t felt safe.

“That was no robot,” New York replied as he began collecting kindling for a fire.

Charleston helped. It was good to have something to do with his hands.

“But that’s what that woman said,” Jax replied. “And we saw the parts.”

New York paused long enough to cast a glare at Jax. “That was no robot,” he repeated simply.

“Then where did the bodies go? And the blood? And how do you explain Charles being alive?”

“That wasn’t Charles,” New York replied simply. “It was just someone who looked an awful lot like him.”

“Hard to tell when the Charles we saw had no eyes,” Savannah said softly, then shuddered.

“How did we not notice that when he first came out?” Charleston asked, replaying the moments from the Observatory as best he could in his mind.

“He had eyes when he first came out,” New York said simply.

Savannah let out a small whimper.

“And you’re sure that wasn’t really Charles?” Jax asked. “I mean, afterwards.”

“I’m sure,” New York replied. “It was a close enough lookalike, especially from that distance, but we’ve all met him before.”

Jax shrugged. “Old people all look alike if you ask me.”

“But why would a robot say those strange things?” Charleston asked, his friend’s usual jokes not evoking the same laughs and smiles in this moment. “Things that sounded a lot like what Violet said? In the exact place Violet told us to be?” He shook his head, a now familiar sinking feeling taking up residence in his stomach. “Something is not right about all of this. Why would that woman say all those things?”

“Now that’s a correct question,” an approving voice sounded from the forest.

Charleston leapt up. “Violet,” he called. “Come out! We aren’t in the mood for your stupid games!”

“That isn’t very polite,” an exaggeratedly hurt voice came from the opposite direction of the first.

Charleston growled in frustration.

“She’ll keep doing it as along as it annoys you,” Savannah said.

“I knew you were the smart one!” Violet said, stepping out of the woods. “But don’t underestimate my commitment. I’ll keep trying, even if you pretend not to be annoyed,” she said with a lopsided grin.

“How can you be smiling and joking?” Savannah asked. “We just saw dozens of people kill themselves.”

“Ah, but weren’t they all robots?” Violet asked in mock seriousness. “That’s what that Planner told you, right?”

“She was a Planner?” Charleston couldn’t help but ask. He’d never seen one of New Washington’s most powerful and influential people, much less spoke to one. Why was she there? And why would she lie to them?

Violet stayed silent, her grin the only answer.

“Wait,” Charleston said suddenly. “How do you know what she said?”

“I was there.”

“So you are from City Dome,” Charleston half-accused.

Violet sighed and muttered something about the smart one again. “You were there. Are you from City Dome?”

He shook his head. “Where were you? We went to the Observatory like you said, but you were nowhere to be seen.”

Violet again stayed silent.

“How did you know to tell us to go to the Observatory?” Savannah asked, her tone suspicious.

Violet touched the side of her nose in a gesture Charleston didn’t understand.

Savannah stood up. “You were right, Charleston,” she said, her whole body tense, as if she was preparing for a fight. “Something’s not right about all this and it’s you,” she added, pointing at Violet. “You knew those people would jump. How? Did you make them?”

Violet feigned a hurt look. “How could I make anyone do something like that when I wasn’t even there? Charleston said it himself. I was nowhere to be seen.”

“And yet you knew they’d jump.”

Violet shrugged. “You’re not asking the correct questions.”

Savannah let out a frustrated sound, but before she could retort, New York spoke up.

“That seems like a pretty relevant question to me.”

“Yeah,” Jacksonville added lamely.

“Fair enough,” Violet acquiesced.

“But you’re not going to tell us,” Savannah said, annoyed.

“And ruin my fun?”

“Let’s go,” Savannah said, turning to leave. “This is a waste of time.”

“Why?” Violet stopped her with a word.

Savannah turned, a smirk of her own suddenly dancing across her lips. “Because you won’t tell us anything useful.”

Violet chortled and clapped her hands, suddenly seeming like the little girl her appearance suggested. “A taste of my own medicine, is it? Spunky!” she crooned. “I like it.”

Savannah looked down at her feet a moment, then met Violet’s stare. “Why did they jump?”

“And why did that Planner lie about it?” Charleston added.

“And why Founder’s Day?” New York chimed in. “Why pick the busiest day of the year to test out…” he waved a large hand in front of his face, “…whatever she said that was?”

“Charles told us to seek the truth about the Cure,” Savannah said. “Don’t suppose you have anything you want to tell us about that?”

Violet stayed silent, her annoying smile the only answer.

Savannah growled in frustration. “A waste of time,” she said, turning once more to leave.

“Wait,” Charleston stopped her. “How can you say that? People just killed themselves and a Planner lied about it. Don’t you want to know why?”

“I know why,” Savannah snapped. “She lied to protect us, Char. No one should see that, especially kids. As to why they jumped.” She shrugged. “I don’t see how it matters to us.”

Charleston blinked. He’d never heard Savannah sound so cruel.

“I’m not saying it’s not a tragedy,” she explained more softly, her face looking pained. “Or terrible. I’ll be seeing it in my nightmares. But it doesn’t have anything to do with us. Or our Test. We have to control the things we can and not let the things we can’t distract us from our goals,” she paraphrased another of Professor Thurmond’s frequent teachings.

“That’s some impressive compartmentalization,” Violet said and sounded like she meant it. “But you’re wrong, by the way.”

Savannah rolled her eyes.

“It has everything to do with you,” Violet replied simply. “You just don’t know it yet.”

“Some truths must be discovered on their own,” Savannah said mockingly. “We know.”

Violet smiled. “I like you more and more, youngling.”

“Like I said,” Savannah ignored the crooked compliment, “a waste of time. You won’t answer any of our questions. You won’t tell us anything relevant. And,” she added, a note of finality in her voice, “you’re not to be trusted.”

“Me?!” Violet asked, a delicate hand going to her chest. “When have I ever lied to you? Unlike that Planner,” she added.

“Half truths and no truths might as well be lying,” Savannah shot back. “How did you know they would jump? Why did you send us there to see it? And how did you know we were back in Podkind Dome?”

Violet remained silent, but it was a silence of thought, rather than refusal, as if she was weighing what, if anything, to tell them. “You did as I asked you to and that’s worth something,” she said, almost to herself. “Okay,” she met each of their eyes one by one. “That’s three questions and I’ll give you answers to each. As a show of good faith,” she gave a small half bow with these words. “I haven’t lied to you, as I said. Withholding the truth isn’t lying, particularly when you make it known you’re aren’t going to say anything.”

Savannah crossed her arms in response. Charleston watched his friend with equal parts pride and admiration. Here was the Savannah he knew finally on display to the outside world. Gone was the shy, timid girl who preferred silence and fading into the background to participating in social situations.

“First, I knew they would jump because I know the truth about New Washington,” Violet began, ticking off her answers on her fingers. “Second, I sent you there to see them jump because some truths must be learned on their own. And third, I knew you were here because I followed you.” She beamed a smile at them, as if waiting for applause after a performance.

Charleston looked to his friend, anticipating an angry retort, probably something about annoying non-answers. That’s what it felt like to him, at least. More of Violet’s circle talk.

“And I’ll tell you one more thing for free,” Violet continued into the silence. “You all learned two very important facts today.”

“But you aren’t going to tell us what they are.”

“Why would I?” Violet replied with a smirk. “You’ve already learned them.”

It was Jacksonville’s turn to let out a growl of frustration. “This is pointless!” he shouted. “Savannah is right! The correct question,” he said in a mocking voice, “isn’t why those people jumped. Or why that Planner lied about it. The correct question is how you knew about it! You want us to doubt New Washington. To believe there’s some dark secret about it. The only dark secret here is you!”

Charleston watched his friend in surprise. Jax never got angry.

“Yeah, why come to us?” New York seconded, though with less heat than their friend. “What’s your motivation? What do you have to gain from making a bunch of kids watch people commit suicide?”

“Who are you really?” Charleston added. “There aren’t any other kids in New Washington. And you’re not from another pod.” He felt his own anger building suddenly. This girl had been toying with them from the beginning. She wanted them to doubt their home? The place they’d known their entire lives? The place they were born to serve and support? Who was she to make them question all of that? “You’re probably from some enemy dome, trying to sow the seeds for, I don’t know, an invasion?” Even as he said it, though, it didn’t feel right.

Violet laughed. “By talking to a bunch of teenagers with absolutely no power or authority? I wouldn’t be very good at infiltrating a foreign city if you were my in.”

Charleston took a step towards her. “Why shouldn’t we turn you in to the Dome Guard and find out?”

Violet looked him up and down, her face suddenly deadly serious. “You want to find out who I am? You want to find out about the Cure, like Charles told you with his last words?” she asked with a solemnity Charleston didn’t think possible coming from her. “Look me up in the records and see for yourself.”

“What records?” Charleston asked, glancing at Savannah to see if she knew what the girl was referring to.

When he looked back, though, Violet was gone.

“Not again!” Jax muttered.

 

Chapter 8

They were silent the entire way back to Red Pod. None of them had given chase to the strange girl. Nor had any of them wondered how she’d disappeared. Too many strange things had happened that day. It was sensory overload in the worst possible way.

When they reached home, Charleston headed for his room. “I’m going to the gym,” he threw over his shoulder to no one in particular. He needed to process everything they’d seen and heard that day. And he needed a clear head to do it. A good workout always emptied his mind and brought him clarity. Something about the immediacy of intense physcial exertion forced his mind from whatever thoughts were troubling him.

Charleston changed quickly and headed out. Each of the pod’s domes had their own gym where the podlings could practice and play. The Training dome lacked the Combat floor’s ability to change shape and recreate various environments, but it had the basics you needed to get a good workout. In this case, that meant a bo staff and an open space where he could practice his katas.

They’d been training with the bo staff for a few months now. It was the first weapon the Podkind were learning, having spent the better part of a decade mastering various forms of hand-to-hand combat. ‘Your body is a weapon that can only be taken from you when you’re dead,’ Thurmond had said on the first day of class all those years ago. ‘At which point it won’t matter what other weapons you were trained in.’ It was a mantra he repeated every time one of the Podkind asked when they would learn to fight with swords or something more exciting.

Charleston entered the Staging room and groaned when he saw Arkhangelsk. It wasn’t the first time he’d come to practice only to find the annoying girl had beat him to it. He watched as she moved, the staff a blur in her hands. She was by far the most skilled of the pod with the weapon and Charleston couldn’t help but admire her as he watched the staff spin and twirl, an extension of her body. She could do things with it Thurmond hadn’t even mentioned, much less taught them. Watching her now, he could see flashes of various katas they’d learned, and his warrior eye could see how many of the unfamiliar moves were natural progressions from the more fundamental ones, but he had yet to learn them…he just kept losing to them. The other day, she’d nearly broken his jaw in one of their sparring matches.

Arkhangelsk eventually came to a halt in a crouch, the staff pointed back and towards the ground, running down the length of her arm. Charleston stepped out onto the Training floor.

“Great,” she muttered sacrcastically, rolling her eyes and straightening.

“Where did you learn how to do all that stuff, Arkhangelsk?” He’d been meaning to ask her about it since the first time she beat him with a move they’d never been taught but didn’t want to inflate her ego any more than it already was.

Arkhangelsk opened her mouth to respond with something snarky, but the use of her full name gave her pause. “What stuff?” she warily asked.

“You know, spinning it around your neck,” he said, referring to one of the moves he’d seen her practicing. “Looks powerful…and difficult.”

Arkhangelsk smirked. “I learned it on your face.”

Charleston sighed. “And there I was trying to be civil.”

“I don’t need your condescending civility,” she snorted. “Stay out of my way,” she added and began another kata.

Charleston sighed again and got to work. An hour later, he was hot and sweaty and tired. More importantly, his mind was clear. He knew what to do. He needed to talk to the others. He hurried back to Residence Dome, showered, and went to the lounge in search of his friends. Through the glass, he saw Savannah animatedly talking to New York, Jacksonville, and Paris.

“…the U.N., but they didn’t believe him.” She stopped and looked at Charleston as he entered.

Great, he thought, more studying. It sounded like they were going over Stiles’ attempts to convince the world that climate change would eventually lead to the sixth extinction, as it had. Most hadn’t believed him, while some mocked him, calling him a modern day Noah. Charleston smiled. “Back at it already?”

Savannah returned his smile. “Our Test isn’t going to take itself,” she replied. “Want to join us?”

Charleston took a seat at the large round table that sat off to one side of the lounge, the big room separating the podkind’s quarters from their parents’. “No, actually,” he replied. “I’ve been thinking about what Violet said.”

Savannah fought not to roll her eyes and mostly succeeded. “Bitch,” she muttered.

“Warning, language!” Apu sounded from its spot in the ceiling above them.

“I mean,” Charleston began again, “I’ve been thinking about what we all said. What we all saw.” He paused as his mind’s eye again saw Charles leap from the Observatory. He shook his head. “I agree that Violet isn’t to be trusted. She has some reason for talking to us, like New York said. She clearly has her own goals in all this. Otherwise, why show up twice in as many days to talk to a bunch of kids? She said it herself. We don’t have any power or anything.”

“Soooo?” Savannah prompted, waiting for more.

“But she was right about the Observatory. Did any of you figure out the two things she said we learned today?”

This time, Savannah’s eyes did roll. “Arrogant bitch,” she said louder.

“Warning, language!”

“You really don’t like her, huh?” New York remarked appraisingly.

“I think one of the things is about the Planners and how that woman lied,” Charleston continued.

“I told you, she lied to protect us,” Savannah replied quickly.

“But what about everyone else? And the other bodies? Did that woman lie to everyone in the park who saw those people jump? And if we didn’t believe her, surely adults wouldn’t.” Charleston looked from one friend to another. “And if a Planner lied to more than just us, what other lies have they told?”

“That’s exactly what Violet wants us to think,” Savannah snapped. “But it’s bull…” she caught herself. One more bad word and Apu would intervene. “It’s nonsense. Except for one thing,” she continued. “It tells us Violet’s goal is to undermine our faith in New Washington.”

“Wasn’t that pretty clear when she told us New Washington isn’t what it seems?” Jax asked with a grin.

Savannah gave him a look. “Yes, but why does she want us to doubt our home?”

“Isn’t that what we’re trying to figure out?”

Savannah shook her head. “Sorry, no. I mean, what does it tell us about her that she wants us to doubt New Washington?”

“I’m not following.”

“Look,” Savannah began. “No society is a utopia, no matter what people think or say. And no history is accurate. Jonathan Stiles was just a man, no matter what is said about him now. He was a great man, no doubt, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t have his flaws or make mistakes,” she continued with an apologetic glance at Charleston.

“I know,” Charleston said quietly. And he meant it. It’s true, he, more than his friends, looked up to Stiles and wanted to be like him, but he wasn’t a child any more. Still, he realized with an uncomfortable feeling, letting go of something he’d believed in since before he could remember didn’t feel great, either.

“I’m still not following,” Jax said.

“It seems to me that Violet is counting on us not knowing this,” Savannah explained. “On us having some sort of fairy tale understanding of where we live and the adults around us. She wants to shake our faith, which means she will benefit from us doubting New Washington.”

“How?”

“If she can convince us New Washington isn’t what it seems,” New York jumped in, understanding dawning, “and that those in our lives have lied to us, it will make us more likely to trust her instead.”

“But why?” Jax asked. “You all said it, her included. What are we that she wants us to trust her? What does she stand to gain?”

“That’s what we need to find out,” Charleston said.

Savannah scoffed. “Need is a bit strong.”

“Fine,” he conceded. “That’s what I want to find out.”

“But how?”

“By finding out who she really is.”

“You mean, by searching the records?” Savannah asked dubiously. “Even if I agreed, that’s impossible. Those kinds of things are kept in City Dome. Probably in the Council of Nine building.” She paused. “And, second, I doubt we’ll learn anything useful about her by doing exactly what she told us to.”

Charleston paused. “I want to find out who she is. She was right about the Observatory. And no matter what that Planner said, what happened today was a big deal. Something is going on and she’s a part of it. What if she isn’t from New Washington? What if she really is from an enemy dome? If we search the records and find nothing about a girl named Violet, we would know she’s lying. And, more importantly, we would know she’s the enemy. We could tell Mama C and have the Dome Guard arrest her.” He paused again and looked from one friend to another, gauging their reactions. “It’s basically our civic duty,” he concluded.

Savannah laughed. “Why not tell Mama C now?”

“Mama L already dismissed us,” Charleston replied. “We need proof.”

“Let’s say you’re right,” Savannah began cautiously. “It’s still impossible to sneak out of Podkind Dome and into City Dome. Every podling dreams of it and none have succeeded.”

“It’s Founder’s Week,” Charleston reminded them. “And just because we planned on studying the whole time doesn’t mean we have to. We can go to City Dome and…”

“And sneak into the Council of Nine building?” Savannah finished for him. “During the day? That place is full of people. No way we’d get past the foyer. And that’s assuming they let us in the front doors at all.”

She was right, of course. The Council of Nine building was one of the few buildings in City Dome not open to the public. “Wait!” he said in a rush. “You said during the day! What if we snuck into it at night?”

“Not possible,” Savannah said simply.

“No way,” New York added. “We wouldn’t get out of this dome, much less make it all the way to City Dome. That’s even more impossible.”

“I know a way,” Paris spoke up suddenly.

“What?” Charleston asked. He’d again forgotten the boy was even there. Why was he so quiet all the time?

“I know a way we can get into City Dome.”

Charleston shook his head. “By what I meant how,” he explained lamely.

“Tunnels run beneath us,” Paris answered. “They go everywhere.”

“How do you know this?” Savannah asked.

“I’ve seen workers,” Paris answered, meeting her eyes. “At night, when I can’t sleep.”

“You can’t sleep?” Charleston asked without thinking. It was such a foreign concept to him he couldn’t believe his ears.

Savannah shot him a look and asked, “Where?”

“Under Red Dome,” Paris answered.

“Wait, what?” Even Savannah couldn’t hide her shock at this. “How do you leave Residence Dome without alerting Apu? Are there tunnels under us now?” she asked, looking at the floor, which was smooth and seamless.

Paris smiled a rare smile. “People think computers are human-made systems of wires and electricity programmed to function a certain way.” He laughed quietly at this apparent misconception. “They are as alive as you and I,” he continued.

Charleston stared at Paris, dumbfounded at this explanation.

“How did you learn about these tunnels?” Jacksonville asked.

Paris shrugged. “When I can’t sleep, I get bored. I wander. It’s very peaceful in the domes at night. Except when the workers are around. Then it’s really noisy.”

There was so much to process in what Paris was saying Charleston didn’t know where to begin.

“These tunnels,” Charleston started, deciding to focus on the part that could get them to the records, “they go to City Dome?”

Paris shrugged again. “They go to the Trunk.”

“How do you get in them?”

“There’s an entrance in Dining Dome, in the kitchen. That’s how Acu gets its ingredients.” He paused, then continued. “Haven’t you ever wondered how ARS gets delivered?” Paris asked, his turn to express disbelief.

Acu was the Automated Cooking Unit that made all of the Podkind’s meals. These meals were made largely from ARS, short for Artificially Reconstituted Sustenance, a spongy, block substance that possessed all the vitamins and nutrients a person needed. Acu did its best to shape and season the artificial stuff to make it appetizing, but the Podkind weren’t impressed by its cooking ability. They frequently referred to the cuisine as ARSE, in an effort to more accurately depict its taste. Luckily for them, each meal was supplemented with at least one actual food from Farm Dome, which produced enough real meat and produce to allow this luxury.

“I assumed it was all delivered while we were in class,” Savannah replied, looking embarrassed by her lack of knowledge.

“How long would it take us to get ready to go?” Charleston asked Paris.

“We could go tonight,” he replied.

Jacksonville was looking at his friends disconcertedly. “Are you guys actually serious about trying to sneak into City Dome? What if we get caught?”

“You’ve never been caught?” Charleston asked Paris by way of an answer.

Paris shrugged. “There’s never anyone out late at night…no humans at least.”

“What does that mean?” Jacksonville asked, his voice going up a notch.

“He already told us,” Charleston replied. “The robots that deliver our food.”

Jacksonville looked to Savannah and New York, who hadn’t weighed in yet on the idea. “What about our Test? We have to study!”

“I hate to admit it, but Char is right about Violet,” New York said. “We need to figure out who she is. Plus,” he said with a wry grin, “we’d go down in Podkind history if we snuck into City Dome.”

Jacksonville growled something unintelligible and looked at Savannah. “Our Test,” he prompted.

Savannah was chewing her lip.

“Maybe Violet was right about us,” Charleston interjected. “Maybe we aren’t as smart and resourceful as she thinks.”

Something hardened in Savannah’s face. “Let’s do it.”

Jacksonville shook his head. “So, sneaking into the Council of Nine building is impossible during the day, but totally doable at night? That doesn’t sound crazy to you?”

“Aren’t you at least a little curious what Violet meant, Jax?” Charleston asked.

“What’s the worst that could happen?” New York seconded.

“Apu catches us and turns us in to the Council of Nine,” Savannah answered. “What?” she replied to the look Jacksonville gave her. “I’m just being honest.”

“Paris, how do you get past Apu without setting off any alarms?” Jacksonville asked, and Charleston knew he was in.

“Like I said,” he began, “people think computers aren’t living entities.”

“That doesn’t really answer the question,” Jacksonville pressed.

“I just ask it.”

 

The Podkind is a science fiction/fantasy novel written by Johnny Cycles. Click here for the next installment!