Seneca Rebel (The Seneca Society Book 1) (8 page)

When the California Gray Party jumped ship from the national agenda five years ago, and the Federal Government turned the other cheek, so began the official decline in Los Angeles civility. Truth be told, it was already headed in that direction, but the rogue state government definitely sealed the deal. People stopped paying taxes and there was nobody to regulate a thing. At first, with the disappearance of building codes and regulations in the interest of raising money, ambitious architectural projects sprouted up across the city. But when the money dried up, and it dried up quick, we were left with a landscape of sophisticated and new mixed with unfinished and broken down. Our building fell somewhere right in the middle because our landlord had owned it since it was built twenty years ago, and he took great pride in managing it. I missed that building.

I was alone now in my golden room. My new home. A twelve-by-twelve cube with sleek lighting and texture just like the hallway at S.E.R.C. and, in it, all of my necessities. My bed had no frame, just a single-sized mattress that emerged from the wall when I commanded it to. It would soften, harden and adhere to my temperature preferences. I shared a wing with six other girls my age, also in the S.E.R.C. program.

In anti-contamination efforts, I was given a three foot by three foot cube which could be filled with any personal belongings that I wanted to bring from the Aboves. It all would have to go through a weeklong sterilization process in the Quarantine and Cleansing sector. According to Reba, humans went through a heavy-duty decontamination "zap" inside the dome that brought us down from the Aboves. "The Aboves" was a term I came to know well, as everyone in Seneca referred to the surface of the Earth this way. I was no longer an American. I was a Senecan now, spending every waking second learning new things about my new life in this new world.

I’d just fallen into a catnap when Monday morning intruded as my flexer blurted that it was 7 a.m. My first session of the day would begin in an hour. I rolled out of bed, put on my Seneca blue robe and flip-flops, and headed to the restroom designated for my wing.

I had met a few hallmates while I was getting settled in, but had only exchanged small talk. I didn't know anything about these girls other than their names. Everyone seemed nice enough and welcoming. They all had been newbies just like me not too long ago.

The restroom was golden, like everything else. Sterilized to the max. There were UV self-cleaning mechanisms in place and smart automatic dispensary nozzles for water in the showers and sinks. I was super fascinated by the waterless toilets. They had a special red liquid that transported the waste away for conversion and gasification. We each had our own cubby that opened by flexer identification. Inside it we kept our shampoo, soap and mouthbrushes, Seneca's own version of toothbrushes. During my visit to Claytor Lake, not only did I get my Necrolla Carne vaccination, but they also swiped DNA samples, drew blood, did a full body scan and took a mold of my mouth, which they used to form my mouthbrush. It fits like a mouth guard and has five hundred tiny, powered bristles that, in ten seconds, does a better job brushing my teeth than I could in two minutes. I've always been a huge fan of efficiency, and in Seneca efficiency is scripture.

I got ready in a rush, and then took a one-minute ride in a super-speed acoustic carrier from the youth residential sector into S.E.R.C. It was my first time being transported through the air by sound waves. I feel like they should be called "non-sound" waves since the frequency is too high for us to hear anything at all. Quiet, quick, safe and devoid of harmful emissions, acoustic carriers are the only mode of transportation within Seneca City. It’s a technology that people in the Aboves recently started to experience commercially on a limited basis. In Seneca it was completely normal and it made me feel like I had stepped into a new life in the future.

My goal was to get to S.E.R.C. early and be on the lookout for Blue Combat Boots. I'd thought about him a lot since I’d seen him last. My dad had always reminded me that I had important things to do in life and said that focusing on boys would just interfere. He said he was the only guy I needed, at least for the time being, but I didn't have him now, and the way Blue Combat Boots made me feel was out of my control. If my dad could know what had happened to me over just these last few days, I was pretty sure he would understand. I truly aspired to be everything he wanted for me. But I wasn't the first, and I wouldn't be the last girl to be swept away by a mysterious guy with electric eyes. I wanted to know so many things about him. Where was his golden living cube? How long had he been here? How did Seneca find him? He was apparently involved in Seneca's advanced medical arena, but what exactly was he doing?

I posted up in the hall and waited... and waited, and waited. It was three minutes before session.

"Campbella!”

I let out a sigh.

"Oh sorry, not the person you wanted to see first thing on a Monday?" Reba's sincerity brought me a dose of warmth I'd been missing. I hugged him and could tell he was pleasantly surprised.

"No, no, I'm sorry, Reba, I just– it was a long weekend. The vaccination kicked my butt. You know how it goes."

"Do I ever. I told you it wasn't going to be pretty."

"You weren't lying."

"Chica, Puerto Ricans never lie."

"And what about Senecans?"

He raised an eyebrow and grinned. "Touché."

I looked up over his shoulder, trying to focus on the spot where I'd last seen Blue Combat Boots in S.E.R.C. Reba could tell I was pre-occupied.

"Well, glad to see you survived. Better safe than sorry. Who wants their face eaten off by a flesh-eating parasite, right?"

There he was. He was probably fifteen yards from the location where he’d entered his session last week. I had to get to him before he went inside. At least get close enough so that he would notice me. I ducked out from my conversation with Reba, "Gotta go, see you later?"

"Sure, okay. Lunch!"

At any other time I would have loved chatting with my new friend, but this mission was top priority. Our eyes had to meet again. I didn't take mine off of him. He stopped a few steps away from the door and took a look at his flexer. It was black and blue and wrapped around his wrist. I slowly moved in closer. I felt my temperature rising, my breath quickening. Every face in my periphery was blank except for his. I studied him. His serious expression, the way his sideburns faded into the stubble that traveled down around his chin and over his top lip. He was the perfect mix of babyface and rugged. I wanted to know him so bad. He was still, while everyone around him was in motion. I started in his direction, trying not to be obvious.

In the blink of an eye, I felt myself twirled around, a door opened in the wall and I was moved through it by another body. I was in the dark, with someone else’s breath closing in on me. I stood stock-still.

And then we were illuminated. Blue Combat Boots and me. His flexer lit the room with its screen. Not a room, but a small closet, with walls lined in liquid mercury control panels.

"Who are you and why are you following me?"

"I'm sorry, I was just– I wasn't following you."

"You were. I saw you last week. Friday you came outside my first session and now you're back."

Busted. We stared each other down, each one having a completely different reason than the other.

"Tell me what you want."

He looked paranoid, guarded and intent on getting answers.

"I am so sorry, I think you have the wrong idea."

"I don't have any idea. I just see what I see and want to know what's going on."

"I totally get that and I realize how this might seem. Wow. I'm totally not spying on you or anything crazy. I'm Doro. I'm new here."

"Uh huh..." It wasn't enough.

"I just thought you looked... interesting."

"Interesting?"

Okay. I had dug myself into a hole. At this rate, things were not looking good. If I wanted to save face, my only option was to go with honesty. "I saw you on my first day and thought you were..." Wow. No matter what I said next, I was destined to sound like a fool–

"Handsome."

He breathed a sigh of relief. I allowed myself a bashful smile. He squinted but didn't blink. I welcomed the way his eyes pierced right through me. His paranoid, guarded, intent gaze morphed. He squished his lips in thought, trying to get a read on me, I could tell. Although these weren't ideal circumstances for a first meeting, I was glad that it looked like he believed me.

"You just sent me into code red, you know."

"I know. Bad move. I really didn't mean to cause you any–"

"It's okay. We're good."

He said we were good. I was closer to him than I could have imagined on this mission, and we were speaking, one on one, with no one else around. I could get used to this.

 
Suddenly, our flexer notifications went off at the same time. It broke the tension and we both laughed. Session was beginning.

"Dang." He muttered as he turned, flexer raised. The golden door opened, and he was gone.

12

A
S
THE
WEEKS
went by, I started feeling kind of down. Becoming acclimated to Seneca was a thrill and there were no dull moments, but I missed my family to death. If family was everything, then I had nothing. It wasn't enough that they were in my memories and digital images tucked away in the depths of my Veil— the virtual location in which all of a person’s important data resided. I needed my mom. I was sixteen and I had lost both of my parents. I couldn't accept it. Somehow, I had to find the way to fight for the one parent I had left.

I sat on the floor of my room scrolling through old pictures: the Campbell family joking around, our house and yard in the Glendale 'burbs, the lemon tree my mom and I used to make lemonade from. My dad would come home from work right before I went to bed and tell us stories about what had gone on in his lab that day. He said goodbye to me in the morning and goodnight to me at bedtime, but other than that, during the week, all he did was work. His company was subcontracted by the largest particle collision research and testing facility in the world. The last thing he and his partners had created before he disappeared was an element. He told me he'd call it Doromium and that it was the thing he was most proud of in life besides me. But on weekends, there was no talk of work. We'd pack up and drive to Joshua Tree, where we'd spend all day collecting rocks and eating PB&Js with bananas. Then, when Mom and I slept, he’d stay up all night to work.

The hole in my heart wasn't going away. It was growing more and more raw by the hour. It was beginning to feel like I’d better do something fast, or eventually there would be no heart left to beat.

I had to find a way to let my mom know what was going on. Even more important than that, I had to get my mom into Seneca. She deserved this better life too. As a matter-of-fact, if we are all equal like I've always been taught and I truly believe, then what we were creating in Seneca belonged to everyone, not just to some elite selection of quirky geniuses.

It was Sunday afternoon. I'd spent the last sixty-two hours alone. If I had to endure one more, I’d go clinical. I flexed Reba. He picked up after one ring. "Campbella!"

"Hey. Busy?"

"Never too busy for my main California girl. Que pasa?"

"Just thought you might want to grab a late Sunday brunch or something."

"Pick you up in five!" He was at my door in four.

"Thanks for coming over."

"What are you in the mood for? Eggs, pancakes, a chocolate milkshake?"

"Chilaquiles." I was homesick like nobody's business and needed a plate of queso-drenched chilaquiles like a medical emergency of the highest order.

Ten minutes later we were seated in the best Mexican restaurant in our sector. Food was not a problem in Seneca. Top chefs and culinary gurus from across the globe were among those being recruited, as well as botanical and farming experts. If there was an expert for something, you best believe they were being recruited to Seneca. We had the best hydroponic and organic produce and meats, prepared in the most brilliant ways. New citizens were in for serious palate thrills when they got here.
 

After salivating at the amazing aromas, I had no trouble gorging on my favorite spicy delights. My eyes were closed, as they always were when I wanted to hone in on a particular sense, except sight of course. When I opened them, Reba was sitting in front of his untouched plate, just smiling, watching me.

"What?"

"You're a funny eater, Campbella."

I launched a tortilla chip straight at him. He picked it up and ate it. It was good to have a real friend here. Someone who would eat food off your plate, meet you for lunch on a minute's notice and maybe even give you the details on Blue Combat Boots. I still didn't know his name.

"Sooo... I was wondering."

"Uh-oh."

"What? I haven't even said anything."

"You've said enough. I liked it better when you were throwing food at me. How about that kernel of corn?"

He always brought such a great energy to the moment. I had completely forgotten the creeping depression that had been taking me under less than an hour before.

"Look. I saw who you were checking out. On the first day, and the day when you first got back from getting your Necrolla shot."

"Well?"

"Well."

I could tell that this was not what he wanted to be talking about. But I knew he had the dirt, and the anticipation was building. I flicked a sour cream-covered corn kernel and it hit him square in the forehead.

"Yeah! That's my girl."

"So, what, you don't want to tell me? I have to find out for myself, is that the deal?"

"Okay. What exactly do you want to know?"

"Everything."

Reba sat back. He was going to give me the info I wanted because he’d known all along that this conversation was inevitable... and that it was going to go down with a patch of sour cream between his eyes.