Summer Planets by A. T. Nager (great YA SF novel a teenager age 19)

Page 9.

5. City

When Jared’s Temporale transport landed amid the ruddy glow of myriad lights in Mercury Free Port City, a Port Authority sedan took them into the city: a black-uniformed policeman driving; Stella in the front seat; and Jared in the rear with Thanar Valk. A rain storm had moved in from the sea and lashed the city with wind and water. Only the central dome loomed dry and darkly gleaming as ever—the Old City, where government operated, where Jared worked and played, where Lyxa had her main palace.

In the wind-whipped suburbs of Mercury City, the storm had moved on but in some places flood waters still flowed. In some places, land vehicles lay overturned. Low-level windows were gone from some of the darkly glowering stone buildings dating back a thousand years or more. Crews were everywhere amid flashing orange and blue lights, fixing and salvaging.

Jared and Thanar Valk sat in the back of a ground car driving away from the space base. Stella sat ephemerally in the front seat, surrounded by a smoky-looking electronic privacy shield against the chauffeur’s prying looks. To Jared, she seemed steady-state as usual, although she was often unreadable. Her sketchy flickering seemed steady-state, but you never knew.

Valk had been staring at Stella as well. Only the very wealthy could afford to keep djia, and a commoner like Thanar Valk, even in the police, rarely got close to a prime djia like Stella. Valk interrupted Jared’s thoughts. “We’ve arranged for you to stay in a suite at the bachelor officers’ barracks near the Old City,” he explained.

This looked like a deserted city, Jared thought. Usually millions of people were in the streets, night or day, and even then the city still looked deserted. It looked dead and deserted because it was too big even for a billion souls scattered across this continent. Some buildings were as much as two thousand years old.

Nevertheless, people still lived here. Millions of people, who had never known anything else, and now it was quite likely their world was about to fall apart around them.

Rain beat against the car windows, and the car cautiously drove into the wind.

Jared thought again of escape. His thoughts drifted back to an assignment he’d had during his blissful years of innocence at the Academy. His class had been sent to a remote farming planet called Lethe, far from the bustle and concerns of the galaxy’s capital. The air had been sweet, the forests deep and dark, the fields fresh and windy. It was a place Jared longed to return to, now more than ever. If things continued at this pace, there would be no future for him here. And if the fleets and armies collapsed, nobody would bother looking for one missing junior officer. At least, one must hope there would not be a total collapse. It was all in the hands of President Cyrus Mbe now, and Jared hoped that his boss had a better idea then he himself had, about how to save the human range.

Stella leaned back and told him: “I’ve had a message from Lyxa. She knows you are back, and wishes you would come to see her.” The djia had their beginnings long ago in many technologies—in the many ways that people could communicate through electronic or digital gadgets. The human brain itself had not yet been harnessed as a transmitter, but the djia had become effective transponders and personal assistants.

“Any particular reason?” Jared asked darkly.

Stella shook her head. “I have no other information.”

Jared studied her. Her facial sketchings redrew in mostly neutral lines. If there was any underlying subtext, she was veiling it well. Jared knew his little djia well enough by now. She was a loyal friend, but with a devious dimension that no doubt tied in with her baseline grounded in Lyxa. Whether she spied on him for Lyxa was a question he never cared to pursue. He was all right with assuming that Lyxa only took an occasional interest in him as her whims dictated. He liked the djia too much to begin resenting or even fearing her. He preferred to see her as a woman, a sister maybe, or even a friend; not a lover, therefore not a seducer, and therefore not a strong interface for Lyxa other than to convey random messages.

Thank you for reading. If you love it, tell your friends. Please post a favorable review at Amazon, Good Reads, and other online resources. If you want to thank the author, you may also buy a copy for the low price of a cup of coffee. It's called Read-a-Latte: similar (or lower) price as a latte at your favorite coffeeshop, but the book lasts forever while the beverage is quickly gone. Thank you (JTC).

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