11. The Last Will and Testament of the Eclaines
Chapter eleven
The Last Will and Testament of the Eclaines
“Devóne, I hope you never hear this.” A voice spoke from David’s transplanted lips.
“Too late, Mom,” Boyband said. His voice was firm, forced, if I heard him right. He faced away from us as he listened.
The corner of my mouth turned up in pity. He had been a brother to me long enough for me to know that this was going to shred his facade into that of a child.
He pretty much was, despite the world robbing him of a proper youth.
“We love you.”
“Don’t go that way, Collette. You’re going to make me get all emotional.”
“Like you already aren’t. You really want to keep it just to business?”
“If we get sentimental, I think both of us will break down. Leave that until the end.”
Their unsteady tone led me to wonder if they had already known what was coming. Robierre spoke next, telling us the date. If I wasn’t mistaken, it lined up with a month or so before Boyband met Deleon. They knew their end was approaching.
“I hope we can disregard all of this,“ Collette said. “First, forgive us for leaving this burden on you.”
“It’s not the business, bud,” his dad said. “If you were worried about that, zeg it.”
“Language, Rob! You’re going to make his mouth as filthy as yours.”
“Too late, Mom,” Akna said. We all laughed, but the somber tone did not dissipate.
“I know, I know. Devóne, this is more important than any of this ze– than any of this empire of dirt and beef2. “
Boyband held his head down, now petting David and sniffing.
“Your father and I are sorry for being so absent lately. Know that it was never work that held us away from you.”
“Work in a way.”
“Yes, but this isn’t about lumens.”
“Right. Don’t let lumens distract you, bud.”
“We hope you already know that by now. We wouldn’t have been so distant if our other work wasn’t paramount to the world as we know it.
Note as we know it. There is so much hidden from you, but we hope you’ll see the truth.
There is too much to explain and I fear our few words will do the truth injustice.
After you hear this, find the Luxists. They are your allies in a world full of liars. ”
She gave directions to the monastery we were in at that very moment and instructed him to find a woman named Bhate Robin.
“Pause,” Denji told David.
“Where is she?” I asked.
“She left for Arabasia after the Eclaines died.”
“So she fled from the one place she was supposed to be?” Ralia asked.
Denji shook his head. “As far as I know, she was never told to stay. She was pretty high up so they must have called her back to the hub. Looks like the Eclaines underestimated how bad this would get.”
Boyband spoke softer than usual. His voice broke. “Just–” He cleared his throat. “Just resume the clip.”
David jiggled.
Colette continued. “Once you understand what we and the Luxists stand for, I hope you’ll understand how important this is to us.
We’ve set everything up for you to continue our work.
If we’re still here–I guess you’ll never hear this, but the plan wasn’t to dump everything on you.
We wanted to bring you in when you were ready.
This wasn’t some secret society. We just know the risks our work carries, especially where the world is now.
We didn’t want you to lose your childhood to existential dread and duty. ”
“Too late,” Kuni said. The somber tone would have kept us all silent if anyone else had said it. We laughed, light though it was. I was impressed with how sharp Kuni was and hoped he understood everything that was happening after our frequent conversations on the true state of the world.
“Water Hills is a mess,” Robierre said, “but we sent you there for this.”
Boyband looked back at me. His eyes were bloodshot, but I could see that he didn’t want consolation. He was ready for the reveal as much as me.
“Your father found the school after you had already begun elsewhere.”
“Wait, you transferred to Water Hills?” Ralia asked.
He nodded but was too focused to make a comment.
I focused, not missing anything as Collette continued. “We were so sorry to pull you from your friends. After hearing about your behavior problems at Water Hills, I wondered if it was our fault for pulling you away from the friends you made.”
“Those kids at Water Hills probably deserved your scorn,” Robierre said.
“That is, if your complaints weren’t exaggerations.
” He laughed but was quick to return to a somber tone.
“We took you to Water Hills, knowing we could trust you. We, of course, had to put our hands into the PTA for valedictorian selection, aided by our generous donations, but that did not eliminate your part.”
“Honey, like we were saying, we didn’t want secrets. We were going to tell you everything when you graduated as a chosen pupil for the school’s top performers. We knew you hated that school–”
“As you should have.”
“But we wanted you to have as genuine of a schooling experience as you could. We had everything planned for the end. If that day has come without us… Well, here we are.”
“The school’s a bunch of elite-minded guk.”
Colette did not reprimand Robierre for that curse, but her groan was audible.
He continued. “I don’t think anyone but the PTA members knew what the school actually did.
Sure, PTA membership and a requisite donation entailed their children’s success, but you were also responsible for selecting others.
Every public sponsor gained failed students as filler employees.
E-pace, Tech Tamers, Regene, all of those background-level workers who are there just to fill space in the corporation are Water Hills graduates, or graduates of similar schools. ”
Boyband grinned at me. Zeg. We were right? How the zeg did I guess that?
The swine laughed. “You think you are wise enough for such a conclusion, bakuh? Most of your recent wisdom is mine. You haven’t the faintest idea of how much I influence you.”
His words chilled me, but it was hard to scorn him for bringing us to such a crucial point. It didn’t matter if he was the one who told us what Water Hills was. We were here, a step closer to our goal, because of his insight.
“But, as you might have guessed,” said Collette, “everyone comes to Water Hills thinking it will make them the next sensational neuronet influencer, the next president or CEO, or the next Neon Idol. Water Hills has the connections to send their graduates into the most elite programs, but that is because of the lumens they accumulate from their sponsors. Water Hills is nothing more than a casino that sends its handful of winners to the top but leaves the others as corporate shacs.”
“By now, you must have graduated,” Robierre said.
Boyband shook his head.
“We’ve set you up to be an apprentice to Crystal Bink, a Reef Records producer.”
He turned back wide eyed, not looking at me, but at Naoma.
“Wait, pause it,” she said.
“Ma’am.” David eyed Naoma. “Did you know?”
She looked at me as if to wonder if it were crossing and lines with God by speaking to a being he never hoped his children would create.
“Crystal Bink?” Naoma asked. “Sure, I’ve–”
“No.”
“No what?”
“Do you know the honor you do by speaking to me?”
She smiled, still struggling to keep eye contact with David. “I’m glad I could… help.”
“I am so honored, might I ask one favor? Please, it will not be a great bother.”
“Don’t, Naoma,” Ralia said.
She looked at her, then at me. I shook my head. I think Naoma knew what she was walking into, but she did not back off.
“What?”
“Please end my life.”
Naoma and I couldn’t help but laugh.
“No, no, no,” Boyband reprimanded as he attempted to pick David up. The sweaty meat pillar slipped through his hands and the struggling cybernetic infant arms only made handling him more difficult.
The laughing ceased as I was reminded what this thing meant to Boyband. Vile though its appearance was, it was invaluable to a boy who had lost everything.
“Nay,” Ralia said, pulling our attention away from Boyband, who attempted to convince David that it, he–I didn’t zegging know what it was–had a reason to live despite nature’s protests.
“Yeah?”
“Do you actually know that Bink person?”
“She’s one of the other head producers, just under Anton.”
“Finian, too?” Akna asked.
Naoma nodded.
“Do they have human producers?”
“They have more now, after protesters hit them with a barrage of anti-human allegations. Looks like Boyband’s parents were trying to work the system with those allegations in favor of their son, right Boyband?”
“What did you want?” he asked Naoma.
“What?”
“You paused David.”
“Oh, right. You never said you were into music?”
He shrugged.
She took a step forward and knelt by him. They shared a smile. Hers remained even after seeing David.
She pet David
She zegging pet David. I could see the meaty sweat on her palm as she removed it, but she didn’t break her visage. It has grown firm, kind, all for Boyband. She patted his shoulder.
I didn’t know if I had permission to love her yet, but I did in that moment. My passion burned. Zeg, she was so much more than a beautiful idol. I hated the idolatry the world gave her–despite my secret admiration for her music–but in that moment, I wanted to bow before her like her adoring fans.
Aside from my encumbering admiration, I felt a deepening gratitude.
Here she was, comforting one of the vile fiends that surrounded her.
If she could see through Boyband’s teenage angst and affection for teeth, maybe the kindness and flirting hints she showed me were genuine.
I had always hoped it wasn’t for show, like some manipulative survival instinct, and this pushed my doubts away.
They would return–my error, not hers–but that did not mean they were true.