Chapter 13
I do not like this.
“I don’t like this,” I said, echoing my amp.
“Relax. People never pay attention to each other,” Lyra said. “It’ll work as long as you play the part. Enforcers can get in trouble if they question the wrong high-towner, so don’t force them to question us.”
It is a flimsy disguise. Your face is not even fully covered.
I tried not to fidget with the silk jacket I wore.
The clothes were too soft, too lightweight, and too fluttery .
Lyra and I wore the same shade of blue because we were traveling as newlyweds on our honeymoon.
After a lifetime of only wearing brown, I didn’t like pastels on me—it made me feel weird —but Lyra looked gorgeous in the dark gray gown overlaid with a sheer blue cape.
The fabric brushed the floor while she walked, which I focused on to keep from looking at the very low-cut V-neck of the tight bodice.
She moved so gracefully that I never would’ve doubted that she’d grown up in Aberdeen if she told me.
I, on the other hand, was a fish out of water…
something I’d been feeling like a lot lately.
And not just any fish… I was the hideous strangerfish that no fisherman wanted but somehow always managed to get tangled up in nets anyway.
Lyra and I wore sheer silk masks that covered only our mouths, like all the Providents.
I think it represented their original vow of public silence as part of their religion, but I don’t think any actual Providents still followed that old belief.
Honestly, I didn’t know much about them, so I hoped an enforcer didn’t ask or else our cover would be blown.
I figured Lyra could do the talking for us as she seemed to look natural in this charade.
She currently had her arm looped through mine, and I admit, I didn’t not like it.
But that was the only thing I liked about this trip so far.
Everything else sucked . I rode in an AV for the first time and hated it.
It would’ve looked odd for us to arrive at the spaceport on foot, and it turned out that the resistance had several cars to get around Aberdeen.
Speaking of which, this was also the first time I was in Aberdeen, but since the AV’s windows were blacked out, I couldn’t see a damn thing.
When the AV finally stopped, it was inside an enclosure attached to the spaceport.
Not being able to see the outdoors, I could’ve believed we were still in Dreswick, except that there were more cars in this building than in all of Dreswick.
There must’ve been a hundred vehicles here, picking up and dropping off passengers.
Robotic carts trailing passengers from each AV were hauling more luggage than my entire life’s worth of possessions.
Most suitcases were as tall as a person, which made me wonder if anyone had tried to sneak aboard a flight that way.
Lyra guided us through the massive rose-glass doors to the spaceport, and I stumbled to a stop at the sheer size and opulence.
Our own robotic cart zipped away with our luggage, taking a platform lift to the next floor up.
As it pulled away, I asked, “Uh, are we going to see our bags again?” It wasn’t like I had anything in it.
Lyra had them packed with all the usual things a high-towner would travel with.
I didn’t ask where she got all the stuff.
“Of course. It was tagged the moment the cart arrived.”
I tried not to gawk at the massive, open-air atrium filled with strange, multicolored artificial plants that climbed to the ceilings.
I’d never seen so much glass in my life.
Entire walls were made of it. The spaceport climbed three stories high—higher than any of the Dreswick factories.
Even so, only robotic carts traveled the second and third walkways.
On the ground floor, driverless taxis waited in a row as passengers ahead of us climbed on and pulled away.
There was no exchange of chips, let alone credits. It was as if all this service was free.
Interesting. This entire facility is operated by a single AI computer. If I can access this computer, I will have access to a wealth of data.
Sounded like Byte was already plotting its next upgrade.
Lyra nudged me forward and whispered, “Don’t stare. You’ve lived in Aberdeen your entire life, remember?”
“You could’ve warned me it looked like… this,” I said.
“You mean, I should’ve told you that however you imagined Aberdeen is probably exactly what it looks like?”
“I didn’t imagine it looked this nice.”
A family of four climbed on a taxi in front of us, and we stepped forward just as a new taxi arrived.
It was a vehicle with only a large screen, six seats, and an open trunk at the front.
Lyra and I each carried personal tote bags filled with all the proper snacks, like cheese and crackers rather than meal bars.
She handed me her bag, and I placed both in the trunk before taking a seat.
The moment we both sat, the taxi zoomed smoothly forward. The screen lit up, and an automated voice announced, “Welcome to TerraSoft-11’s spaceport, brought to you by Softbiotics Corporation. Please scan your IDs so I may deliver you efficiently to your gate.”
Lyra had given me an armlet, and we each raised our left forearms, so the taxi’s camera could scan our screens.
“Welcome, Dennon Kincade and Mara Kincade. You have two confirmed tickets on the next shuttle to Solace Station, which departs in fifty-three minutes. Would you like to go directly to your gate, or would you prefer to stop by the food court for a meal prior to departure?”
“Take us to our gate,” Lyra, AKA Mara, replied curtly.
Soft, classical music played through the taxi’s speakers.
Its screen displayed our names and gate overlaid on a map of the spaceport with a red dot indicating our current location as our taxi sped through a tunnel that looked like it could go on for miles.
The same artificial plants lined the walls, and at our speed, they almost seemed to be alive.
I’d never been claustrophobic before, but there was something about this never-ending tunnel that made it feel like my world was closing in on me.
Your heart rate is increasing, but I do not sense danger. What is wrong, Cal?
“Just not a fan of flying,” I said, which was partially true; it just didn’t apply to the current moment of feeling like an outsider trapped in a hostile alien environment.
But I’d also never flown before, and despite dreaming of flying among the stars—like every kid everywhere—I couldn’t say I was looking forward to seeing them this way, expecting to be jumped by enforcers at any minute.
Lyra glanced at me. “It’ll be okay, sweetheart.
” She clasped my hand. She knew I was talking to Byte, but she was also good enough at being a spy that she never dropped the act.
And the fact she was holding my hand despite no one else around meant that, even alone on a taxi, we were still under surveillance.
I glanced up but saw no drones. Dreswick factories had cameras inside to spy on the workers, but I figured someone in Aberdeen wouldn’t put up with being spied on…
but maybe the average high-towner didn’t have as much clout as I thought.
This structure is an optimal design for a spaceport. The architects prioritized the welfare of passengers while eliminating ground traffic near the shuttles. I currently do not have advanced enough analysis processes to examine their systems and identify opportunities for improvement.
I sighed. “Just another one to add to your upgrade queue, right?”
I have identified and prioritized seventeen thousand two hundred eleven optimization upgrades.
Lyra glanced at me then, and I shrugged. If I could have Byte schedule an upgrade at a time of my choosing, I would, but so far, it seemed the amp had a mind of its own and it didn’t give a crap what I wanted.
The taxi drove at a leisurely speed that was fast enough I wouldn’t want to fall off, but slow enough I wouldn’t die if I did fall…
assuming the taxi behind us didn’t hit me on the way down.
But I was right: the tunnel did go on for miles—at least three by my guess—before our taxi turned down a corridor that I realized was our gate.
There were several taxis ahead of us in line.
As each vehicle was emptied of its passengers, it zoomed away, and the next one moved forward.
Beyond the drop-off point, at least sixty, maybe seventy, people were lined up and stepping through a scanner one at a time.
Along the wall to their right was a conveyor carrying everyone’s luggage—and there was a lot of it.
I supposed our bags were in there somewhere, not that I’d even recognize them if I saw them.
Every bag was a gray box, just like ours.
It would’ve been faster to get off the taxi and walk as we were parked in line, but when I moved to jump off, Lyra put a hand on my leg to keep me from looking too Dreswick. And so we sat there and waited.