18. Enter the Dynasty #2
Was I a fool for putting so much faith in that? Was I jaded by the light I saw in East Arabasia?
These thoughts were mine, so I didn’t need to deny them.
“They are mine as well.”
I don’t care.
I wanted to find somewhere peaceful to live with Naoma.
This was the goal of a chain of unlikely hopes, but I held to it.
I wanted to take Naoma back to the land of her ancestry, away from Reef and those who wanted to manipulate her just as Anton Jackson had.
There we could thrive with the Luxists. Boyband could produce Naoma’s music and Akna could probably help.
Kuni could grow up in his homeland. Abbas could bridge the hatred between the East and West. Ralia could thrive in the technological heart of the world.
Naoma and I could lie down on the tatami mats of an empty monastery. Our hands clasped. Neurospaces off. Only the light of the sunset on us through the window. We could live life as it was meant to be lived before Gong consumed the old world.
“Focus,” Koro said. “No avoiding conflict like that, either. Choose a party. Where do you stand? If we arrive before you answer I’m not letting you out.”
I was in the Republic for now. I would remain so unless I continued.
“The SocStans.”
“Why?”
I breathed easier knowing she wasn’t coming at me with an insult.
“Because they were the party that made me want to come to the Republic. Not them specifically, but the image the Republic created.”
“And you loathe the health-centered focus of the current administration?”
“I worked for Haven Health before I met Naoma. I still have ties to them.”
“Really?” Kyo asked.
I nodded. Might as well use the truth to hide any prying into my past. “My stories of immigration were never fabricated. I had nothing, so I gave my body to earn any lumens I could by participating in medical trials.”
“What kinds of trials?” Koro furrowed her brow. “Zeg, do you have techbone?”
I looked at Naoma, hoping she would tell me how to best proceed before I revealed everything about myself. I thought I was smart for disguising the truth, but I was well on the way to revealing it like a stumbling man with a bowl full of liquid.
“I’ve been paying for his Okrepinate,” Naoma responded.
Kyo winced. “And you’re sure you’re not just holding onto him because you pity him?”
Koro backhanded Kyo’s arm.
“I’m sure,” Naoma said.
Kyo’s smile stretched to her eyes. “Good. That’s kinda cute.”
“Why the SocStans over the Memory Runners or an Entertainment industry like Reef? That is your girlfriend’s party.”
“No,” Naoma was quick to speak. “It actually isn’t.”
“Naoma’s back to bite just like before!”
Koro backhanded Kyo’s arm again. “Shut up.” She shot Naoma an equally frustrated glare. “What do you mean?”
Kyo backhanded her sister’s arm with less intention. “She’s going off to do her own thing, don’t you remember?”
“I don’t mean–Nay, the zeg are you coming to this party for?”
“Know your competitors.”
“So what, you can outsell them?”
“That’s what we’re all trying to do, right?”
“No! Not at all.” She pointed at me. “Did your zegging anarchistic boyfriend push his ideals on you once he forced you to quit your job?”
“No. I decided I can think for myself rather than conform to my job’s political alignment.”
“Are you really that narrowminded?”
Kao reached over Kyo to push Koro back. “We love you Naoma, but don’t you dare say anything like this at the dynasty or–”
“What, or Zhou will off me?”
“Yeah. I think he would. Someone with your influence openly opposing the order we need while Haven zegs this country up is something he can’t have.”
Naoma’s voice was a burning blade. “Since when do you all bow down to this shac? No one owns a political party.”
Koro shook her head with a patronizing smirk. “Wow, Anton really did shelter you, huh?”
Kyo reached out to touch Naoma’s hand but was quickly rejected. She settled by placing her palm on the table. “You have a lot to learn, girl. It’s okay to admit that you don’t understand everything.” Her too-kind look and pitch made her sound as if she was talking to a child.
“You can’t mean–”
Kao cut her off. “You underestimate the influence he has. These aren’t just parties.” She paused to look out the window as the skyride descended. Violet spotlights shot up from the pink glow below. “Just… take it easy. Stay with us–”
“I’m not a child.”
“Then why don’t you understand what you once did?”
“What, just because I didn’t have the courage to question things before I left?”
Kyo nods from side to side. “She is right, Nay. I don’t want to blame it all on your new boy, but something’s off.”
“I learned to ask questions.”
The skyride drifted down into a crowded roundabout.
Koro scoffed. “The girl turned off her neurosystem once and thinks she gets it all.” The whole time she spoke, she was staring at me.
Kao reached for the door. “Leave this conversation behind for now. I’m begging you to keep your old self at the forefront Naoma, at least until you leave.
Taint your image later, but not under our invitation.
You might think stepping out of Reef woke you up to the world, but all it takes for a hermit crab to appreciate its shell is stepping out into the cold grasp of the sea. ”
Kyo waved for Naoma to proceed her out of the skyride. “What she means is, don’t burn your bridges. Look, I’m all for seeing the world and such. Explore yourself and all of that–”
Koro followed her out of the vehicle. “But don’t think you know better just because of a bad experience with Anton.”
As I left last, I looked at them in all of their glamor–not yet caring to bask in the light of the palace–wondering if they had an inkling of the catastrophes we were dealing facing compared to their frivolities.
I couldn’t blame them. Even if they thought publicity and marketing were at the forefront of politics, they had no concept of the beings whose politics dealt with planets themselves.
Koro glared at Naoma, her eyes pensive as if attempting to decipher the source of this sudden betrayal. Kao mirrored her, but Kyo didn’t seem perturbed. Was she hiding disgust under her charisma?
She stroked Naoma’s arm then held her hand. “Enjoy yourself. You and your boy have some fun. Mingle. Drink and hit fixes. We’ll meet after you two have some personal time feeling out the Dynasty. Do whatever you want but just try to remain politically positive.”
“Don’t you mean politically neutral?” Kyo kept a tenacious grip as Naoma failed to pull her hand free.
“No. I mean don’t be a zegging idiot. You’re a part of the Entertainment party at least until you leave.
You want connections? You’re an entertainer.
That is your income. Your worth and personality.
Zhou permitted your presence because you, by definition, are a zegging politician.
We all are. Humans consume. They must be fed something or they become worthless corpses.
Nutrition and in media. Humans must consume something at all times or their senses will breed chaos.
That is what we offer. Entertainment isn’t some leisure to pass time.
Entertainment is the modern nutrition and the only means by which you can hope to accomplish anything.
Pharma and that SocStan guk are businesses with clever marketing.
People are becoming too smart for advertisements.
Entertainment is the only way you can accomplish anything, Naoma.
Even Haven understood that when they employed you for their ads.
People are too stupid to think for themselves.
That is why we feed them. Words and studies don’t hold the sway they used to when information and evidence can be so easily forced and manipulated.
Most people won’t buy that guk anymore, they’ll only take it when it’s forced into their mouths with a sweet coating around that corrupt pill.
You, Naoma. Trash the Entertainment party all you want, but it’s no single ideology.
It’s the capacity to make the world better through molding people’s minds in a way they enjoy.
You want a purpose? Make it tonight. This idea of a corrupt party doesn’t exist. You, me, all of us are different people with different purposes who make the world a better place by our media outlets.
Freedom. That is what entertainment is.”
“And if Zhou decides my purpose doesn’t fit here? Will he ruin my reputation to fit his design? That doesn’t sound very liberating to me.”
“Then your purpose is wrong.“ She dropped Naoma’s hand. “Fix it.”
“Do you need me to stay with you?” Kao asked.
Naoma shook her head. “I trust I’ll find my way.”
“As do all lost teenagers,” Kyo said.
They pivoted in unison and headed along the pulsing emerald pavement towards a tower more majestic than anything I had seen in Arabasia.
Even though those pagodas and temples had been masterful reconstructions, this made me forget the appeal of time-tested culture to savor the allure of modern light.
The palace stretched to the width of a colosseum and rose five levels, each slightly smaller than the previous.
An illuminated staircase stretched up to the grand entrance under a red arch.
Similar arches, though smaller in size, spanned the rim of each level, some opening out onto balconies upon which stood guests in a variety of clothing that only the Violet District could understand.
A small stream with blue and green lights ran along the side of the jade path. Upon further inspection, I saw that the lights were bioluminescent jellyfish with Arabasian characters imprinted on their bodies with thin gold.
Naoma pulled me along, leaving no time to wonder if they were living creatures as I turned back to the palace under the grey sky.
It was the shade of grey seen in sleepless cities whose lights never permitted a true rest of black sky.
I didn’t check the time in my neurospace, knowing that seeing how late it was would only tire me out more.