The Softwire: Betrayal on Orbis 2 (27 page)

When I finally fell on my sleeper, I was too tired to even say good night. It felt like I wasn’t asleep for even a nanosecond when I heard, “You kids are going to sleep the cycle away!” It was Charlie. He was standing in the doorway. “You ready to see the biggest celebration in the universe?”

The lack of sleep was no longer an issue as we eagerly piled out of the dorm behind Charlie.

Our preparations at Odran’s paled in comparison to what the people of Core City had done. It was as if someone had scraped off all the neglect and decay and polished the whole city like a magnificent gleaming spaceship. Everyone was dressed in some sort of costume or elaborate outfit, and every food shop was giving away eats and drinks for free. There were no grumbling mine workers, no cranky shopkeepers, only happy aliens, shouting, dancing, singing, and eating.

“What do we do?” I asked Charlie.

“Have fun. Be kids,” he said, smiling.

“Where will you be?” Max asked.

“I’ll be right there with Rose and Albert,” he said, pointing to a group of small tables surrounding a street vendor giving away drinks.

“Hey, kids!” Rose and Albert shouted, waving at us.

I hadn’t seen them since the Earth News Café on Orbis 1.

“What are they doing here?” I said.

“Best festival’s on Orbis 2; everyone knows that,” Charlie replied.

I was torn between seeing my old friends and exploring the Festival. Some of the other kids had already disappeared into the crowd.

“Go on,” Charlie told us. “You can visit later.”

Max, Ketheria, Theodore, and I ran into the crowd. Shop owners who didn’t sell food had imported delicacies from the other rings and were generously handing them out. Ketheria immediately found someone giving out toonbas and parked herself in front of the shopkeeper.

“Don’t be greedy,” I whispered.

“There’s enough for the whole galaxy,” the shopkeeper exclaimed. “You never get to see these on Orbis 2.” He gave her another pouch to carry.

I paused before popping one in my mouth. I thought about how these Trefaldoorian treats had betrayed Toll Town.

“It wasn’t your fault,” my sister said. “Let’s have fun, all right?”

“All right.”

We ran through the streets, tasting every food we could stomach. Theodore sniffed each treat before he put it in his mouth, while Max tried everything that was handed to her without a thought. The sweet and spicy smells of foods cooking open in the streets filled the air. It made me light-headed. It wasn’t long before we were laughing and dancing with everyone in Core City, and any thoughts of Switzer, Toll Town, or Odran were replaced with a giddy sensation that I never felt before.

“This is better than any Birth Day, ever!” Max declared.

In one open quad, Max pointed to a child of a Citizen strapped in a metallic chair that skipped across a large reservoir of yellowish-green water like that in the cooling tank. An alien dressed in festive purple and green silks presented the proud parents with a hologram that depicted their child pulling the Crystal of Life as he dipped in and out of the water.

“Just like Toll,” the child cried, reaching up for the holo with three of his arms. He used his free arm to stuff his face with something yellow, stringy, and slimy.

Theodore stopped below another hologram and said, “Look, free use of tetrascopes. You can link into the mind of another being and experience whatever they are doing. It’s as if you are them. We can actually be
in
the parade with one of these.” He scoured the list of people selling themselves as riders.

“I want to be a miner loading the Crystal of Life,” said a small alien clone, pulling on the skirt of its mother or father (I couldn’t tell).

“Forget it,” Max told Theodore, and pointed at another screen. “No humans. Says so right there.”

A large screen floated over the vendor’s head. It read:

Right there, fifth on the list, were humans.

“I guess tetrascopes are addictive,” I said.

“Let’s try anyway!” Theodore insisted, and the tall alien in charge only grunted and pointed at the screen, pushing Theodore aside.

“So much for being friendly,” I mumbled.

“So much for reading the sign,” the alien replied.

“Come on, Theodore. There are better things here than tetrascopes,” I said, leading my friends down the street and into a crowd of dancing aliens.

“Yeah, like that!” Max cried, pointing to something that looked like one of the chairs in the water, only this was floating in the air above our heads.

One short, stubby alien dancing by himself told us, “They’re for the parade. You don’t want to miss a good spot. You’d better get one.”

“But we don’t have any chits or crystals,” I said.

He laughed and said, “No one needs money this cycle.”

We raced through the crowd and found a long line forming in front of a shuttle cart that was handing out the flying chairs. Max snuck to the front of the line with us in tow.

“How do they work?” she asked a gruff, stocky alien with a scar around his bald head.

“They are simple,” he showed us. “Up, down, forward, and back. Stabilizers will keep you from tipping.”

“Golden!” Max shrieked, and jumped on the metal and plastic device.

It looked more like a saddle than a chair except for the armrest that housed the controls. In an instant we were soaring above the crowd, zipping in and out of the aliens already waiting for the parade.

“This is better than Ring Defenders,” Theodore shouted as we chased each other back and forth over Core City.

“Try and catch me!” Ketheria yelled. Nugget hung on the back of her flying chair. His big feet were locked into the machine and he waved his hands in the air while whooping.

We caught Ketheria easily when she was stopped by a security-bot.

“Your behavior has forfeited your seats. Please hand them over immediately,” it informed us.

“Certainly,” I said, and pushed into the flying robot. The computer chip was so simple. I manipulated its programming and trashed its memory of the last report.

“Thank you for complying,” it said, and raced away, leaving us with our flying chairs.

“Perfect!” Max cried.

“Do you think you should have done that?” Theodore asked, worried as usual.

“Yes, I do,” I told him, and grabbed his toonbas before I raced away. Everyone chased after me.

This was the Orbis promised to me on the
Renaissance.
This was what our parents sacrificed their lives to achieve. This felt good. I squashed my feelings of bitterness, of being cheated, and ignored the fact that this affluent and sophisticated world was not responsible for my happiness.

I saw thousands of aliens below me, and many were already in place to get the best view of the parade.

“Look — there’s Charlie!” Max shouted, pointing to the spot we left him.

I waved as small bolts of light shot up from the ground and exploded into images of Toll or the Orbis insignia. As the ring fell into shadow, the lights in each building flickered on, pulsing with different colors for the Festival. More and more glowing images were fired into the air. Some displayed images of OIO symbols, while others displayed images of home planets. It made me want to launch one for Earth.

“This is fun,” Nugget said as Ketheria pulled next to me.

“The parade is going to start soon,” she informed us.

“Let’s find the best place,” Max said, and dove into the crowd already forming above the main street.

Every seat was a good seat. Aliens tucked in and around each other, leaving enough room for everyone to see. A lot of people had stayed on the ground, and from where we floated I could see almost the whole parade below me. A horn blasted, and the crowd roared. The first participants of the parade stepped onto the street.

“It’s Theylor!” Theodore shouted. My friend, along with another sixty Keepers, advanced down the street. He carried a carved, golden staff with the insignia of Orbis high above their heads. It was a metallic-colored hologram of the four rings surrounding a blazing wormhole.

Drapling followed them with another group of Keepers, maybe twenty altogether. I immediately recognized them as the Descendants of the Light. Their robes were decorated with long silver and yellow vests, and the staff Drapling carried bore the OIO symbol — a vibrant, shining circle atop a silver staff. It lit up the whole street.

Each Keeper was dressed in a crown of crystals that fit over both of their heads.

“Theylor!” I shouted, and both of his heads looked up and smiled.

Behind the Keepers were small flying aliens that shot streams of colored lights over the parade watchers. The lights bounced off buildings or rained down upon the spectators. I watched Theodore turn completely pink as one of the flying light balls landed on him.

Everyone was shouting over the music and cheering. I saw aliens changing forms as they walked along the parade, and I saw gigantic metallic beasts enacting battle scenes with aliens from their home planets. Creatures I had never seen on Orbis before danced through the parade decorated in costumes of metal, light, and crystals. Small Citizen children darted through the spectators wearing holographic masks of Keepers, Trading Council members, and even Toll. I didn’t remember ever being so happy.

“There it is!” someone above me shouted.

“Oh, I can’t believe how lucky we are,” another alien cried.

I moved my chair up to see what they were talking about.

“What do you see?” I asked the alien.

The slender creature pointed down the street with its long, black claws. “See them?”

I squinted to see better, but long, red ribbons tumbling through the air blocked my view. When they cleared, I caught a glimpse of something large and shiny.

“What is it?” Max shouted over the noise.

“I don’t know!” I yelled back. Then I saw ten small aliens with thick arms carrying a silver bit and harness like the one Toll used to pull the crystals.

“Wow! But Toll already has one,” I told the alien.

“Not that,” the alien snapped, then pointed farther down the street. “That!”

Past the first harness was another identical harness, only slightly smaller, perfect for Smool. I assumed that, with all this pageantry, they must use these shiny, new harnesses to pull the Crystal of Life. But when I saw what was behind the second metal bit, my heart dropped faster than a human in the cooling tank.

“What is it?” Theodore asked.

I looked at it again. It couldn’t be, could it?

“Watch my chair!” I shouted, and I dove to the street. I jumped off my seat and ran into the crowd. I pushed past an alien dressed in long, green robes and stood at the edge of the parade. A stately Citizen’s belt was visible under the alien’s robe.

“It’s wonderful, isn’t it?” the Citizen gushed. “I mean what a sacrifice they’re making for Orbis. I couldn’t do it.”

I
couldn’t believe it. Directly behind the new bit and harness for Smool, three small aliens carried a third bit — a bit small enough for a Samiran child.

“They wouldn’t,” I cried.

The alien in green looked at me and said, “Oh yes, Toll and Smool have given their child to us so we may continue harvesting the crystals. The Centillian made the announcement at the start of the spoke. Isn’t that joyous? I mean, we did feed them and care for them for two thousand rotations. If you ask me, I think it’s only right,” the alien gushed, the last sentence only a whisper but full of arrogance.

I could not stop staring at the miniature bit and harness that was now directly in front of me.

“Are you all right?” I heard the alien ask as I bolted into the street. “Hey, what are you doing?”

I stopped in front of the creatures carrying the baby bit.

“Out of the way,” the aliens demanded, pushing me backward as they walked. Their dark, thick skin was crusted and blackened. The noseless creatures looked identical, and they were all the same height as me.

“Where are you taking this?” I asked the one in the middle.

“Are you an idiot? To the cooling tank, where else?”

The other aliens only laughed.

“How long before you get there?” I said.

“When the parade is done?” another said. “This one really is stupid.”

More laughter.

“When is the parade done?” I demanded.

“When it is finished,” affirmed the third alien, and all three of them were laughing uncontrollably now.

I looked up at Max and waved at them to come down. They bolted straight toward me and hovered just above my head.

“We have to get back to Toll,” I said.

“Why?” Theodore asked.

“That bit is for the baby, isn’t it?” Max said.

“Yes. That’s Odran’s solution. Keep the baby Samiran for Orbis. Let Toll go, but keep his child as a slave to pull the crystals,” I said.

“Toll will not like that,” Nugget said from the back of Ketheria’s chair.

“No, he definitely won’t like that,” I agreed. “He will flood the ring and we’ll all be history.”

“You have to warn him,” Ketheria said.

“Look out!” Theodore shouted as powerful hands clamped down on my arms.

“Let him go!” Max yelled.

I struggled to look over my shoulder, but I already knew who it was. Odran yanked me against his tank, and the metal from his support glider dug into my back.

“Everything was working perfectly until you showed up. My seat on the Trading Council is almost paid for. You will not ruin this for me, you meddlesome brat,” Odran gurgled in my ear, squeezing my arm even tighter.

“Stop — you’re hurting him, Odran,” Ketheria cried.

Max darted forward and pounded on Odran’s tank.

“Leave him,” I told her.

I’d been in tougher situations than this, and Odran had just given me the advantage — he’d underestimated me.

“Do you actually know how insignificant you are on these rings?” he said. “Can you even begin to comprehend your status on Orbis?”

“That doesn’t give you the right to treat us so poorly.”