by T. C. Edge
Which is odd, really. I suppose it’s just relief to get through all of this. Finally, I’m going to be allowed into the High Tower. Finally, I can get to work.
Sophie rushes straight towards me, and sets her shaking hands to my arms.
“Did you pass?! Are you in?!” she asks.
My smile seems to answer for me.
“You passed! You’re in!” she splutters, dragging me into a far longer hug this time. Releasing me, she continues to show her obvious joy. “Oh, that’s wonderful. You must come to dinner soon! I can’t wait to meet Adryan. Oh this is fantastic…”
She continues to chatter as we go outside. And her desire to meet Adryan is quickly realised.
He stands beside his car, dressed in a fine light grey suit, the same one as he wore during the bachelor ball. Sophie’s chattering fades into nothing in my ears, and I lock eyes with him across the street.
His smile is authentic. There’s nothing fake about this man.
This man…
Who’s about to become my husband.
79
My whirlwind romance with Adryan is complete.
I wander over to him as Sophie’s voice fades out, and step right in front of him, gazing up towards his silver eyes.
“I’m in,” I say gently. “I passed.”
“I know,” he replies, his eyes alight. “You were always going to, Brie. So come on, shall we go get wed?”
He opens the door to his car, and I momentarily forget about my liaison. She ambles over behind, giving us a moment alone before interrupting.
“This must be the lucky man,” she says.
Adryan turns to her, and performs a little bow. She does the same, her expression stiffening with reverence as she does so.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mrs Winchester,” says Adryan politely. “I can’t thank you enough for guiding Brie through this process.”
“Oh, the pleasure was all mine, I assure you Mr Shaw. Brie has been a troublesome delight, if that makes any sense. Quite the challenge at times, but very different from most of the girls I work with. And please do call me Sophie…if you want to, of course.”
She bows her head again, maintaining the utmost level of respect for Adryan. Unlike me, she’s well versed in displaying the proper etiquette around here.
“Well, that’s why I chose her, Sophie,” says Adryan, glancing at me with the smallest of winks. “And do call me Adryan.”
Sophie seems delighted by the exchange.
“I’d love to host you for dinner one evening,” she blurts out, “if that’s agreeable?”
“Most agreeable, Sophie. We can arrange something soon. But now, we really must get going.”
“Oh, of course, don’t let me stop you,” hurries Sophie’s voice. Then her feet hurry, bringing her right up to me. Another bout of congratulations ensue before I’m allowed to get into the car.
As we drive off, Sophie continues to stare at us, visible in the rear-view mirror.
“She’s very…dedicated, isn’t she?” muses Adryan.
“She really is. She’s having serious problems at home, and yet she’s still here, trucking away. I honestly don’t know how she does it.”
Adryan frowns at me.
‘You don’t? Brie, you’ve had plenty of problems of your own, and you’re still going. You don’t give yourself enough credit.”
I shrug and look out the window.
“Maybe,” I mumble, looking at the High Tower looming above us. “So what happens after we sign the contract? Do we move straight in there?”
A renewed swarm of nerves pulse through me. So many enemies. So many eyes. So many things that could go wrong.
Adryan’s voice halts the trail of nagging doubts.
“We’ll be assigned our apartment immediately, yes,” he says. “The Council of Matrimony are very efficient, as you’ve probably worked out. As soon as we sign the contract, we can go straight there.”
I nod and stay quiet, still just staring at the vast number of floors, the circular building disappearing into the low clouds, hiding its summit. A summit that harbours the man I’m here for.
The Office of Nuptials isn’t far. As with most important buildings here, it’s positioned near the High Tower around the Inner Spiral. To get there, we need to pass by the City Guard HQ, bringing thoughts of Agent Woolf back into my head.
I don’t allow her any time to settle, to cause concern in me. She’s done that already when creeping through my mind. I refuse to let her do the same when she’s not even here.
Soon enough, the car is slowing once again, and we’re stepping out. It continues off on a pre-programmed route, slipping into some underground parking facility close by as Adryan leads me towards our next destination.
I would have hoped that a building intended for processing marriages would have something more to it. Some sort of decoration to celebrate the bond people make, the love they supposedly share.
It’s a completely naive thought, and one that comes with hope but no expectation. Entering the building, I find it as unremarkable as the rest, nothing but an administration office where couples come to sign themselves up to live with each other and procreate.
The notion of love, being so alien to most Savants, clearly hasn’t been considered. I do wonder how the regular Enhanced feel about it all. Most likely, it’s just another facet of life here that has become so ingrained that they consider it the norm.
If you’re born into something, after all, you don’t tend to question it. Marriage is a contract and nothing more. If love happens to grow as part of it, then perhaps that’s a bonus, but it’s certainly not expected or deemed particularly important.
Again, when the goal is in increasing the population, all you really need is a man and woman with fully functioning reproductive organs. What part does love, or anything else, play in that?
As far as I can tell, it plays no part at all.
The process is, therefore, a very simple one. A clerk greets us and takes us to a room, a document is brought forward, and our names are signed to it. With the stamp of approval from the Council of Matrimony, we’re sent on our way and find ourselves back outside the building in little more than the blink of an eye.
Adryan sums it up with a pithy: “Well, we’re married,” raising his eyebrows a little as I stand feeling quite underwhelmed by it all.
In essence, that should be a good thing. If ever I marry for real some day, it’s probably best if this particular event is forgotten. And, well, that was just about the most forgettable wedding you could ever have.
Yet, I guess in some way I hoped that it wasn’t quite as bad as this. That something that’s considered more sacred over in Outer Haven is so perfunctory here. It’s depressing to think how the people here really live their lives. An endless loop of duty and etiquette and rigid, boring processes.
With a few deep breaths sucked into my lungs, we set off for the High Tower, and Adryan loops his arm around mine. I look at him in surprise. I didn’t expect Savants to behave in such a way.
He notes my confusion, and seems to remember himself. As we approach the base of the High Tower, he withdraws his arm. I doubt any couples who live here show any measure of affection, however minor, in this cold and lifeless place.
I continue to breath steadily and deeply as I get nearer to the colossal structure. It’s about as close as I’ve ever been to it, the building situated on a raised stone platform that spreads all around its base, accessible by a short flight of stairs.
Up we go, one step at a time, my heart rate seeming to speed faster with each one. Reaching the top, I look ahead across the expanse of empty space and at the main doors leading inside. There are many of them, at least a dozen, zipping open and shut each time someone steps foot nearby.
It’s mostly quiet, though, at this time of the day. Only a few Savants drift around, going about their business without paying me any attention. As we walk across the stone plaza that circles the outside of t
he building, I find myself stopping halfway.
Adryan stops at my side.
“Are you OK?” he asks, noting my heavy breathing.
I nod and mumble: “Just nervous.”
Despite himself, he takes my hand in an attempt to soothe me, and I see his silver eyes fix to mine with an inner confidence.
“You don’t need to be nervous,” he says softly. “Just one step at a time, OK. We’re nearly there.”
I suck in another full breath, only for it to quickly try to escape me. Slowly, I begin walking towards the main doors again, Adryan’s hand still attached to mine. I feel him squeezing lightly, coaxing me on, giving me strength as I enter the heart of this heartless place.
Reaching the doors, the nearest one slips open at lightning speed as we approach, and the interior grows clear as we enter inside. The atrium is vast and circular, the floor a glistening marble and the ceiling rising up a number of floors, creating a cavernous chamber filled with echoing footsteps and quiet, whispering voices.
All around the perimeter of the hall are lifts, dozens of them, shooting up and down and depositing people at their assigned floors where they live and work and do little more. I turn my eyes to the centre of the space and see a single reception desk, occupied by two secretaries dressed in muted and darker grey suits to indicate their lower rank among these people.
With his hand now slipping from mine, Adryan leads me towards them. I continue to search the place in wonder as I wander, finding a number of eyes now on me. So rare is it to see an Unenhanced in here, nothing but an unwanted infiltrator to this place.
How right they are...
And how little they really know.
Staying a step behind Adryan, I listen as he reaches the desk and speaks with one of the receptionists.
“Good afternoon, Rebecca,” he says, nodding courteously.
She does the same.
“Good afternoon, Adryan,” comes her dull response. “How can I help you?”
“I have just signed my marriage contract,” he tells her. “The Council should have informed you that I will be moving apartments with my new wife, Brie.”
He opens out his arm and ushers me forwards. If the woman could show surprise, she probably would.
Instead, she merely nods to me and I do the same, before turning her eyes to the screen on her desk. She speedily finds what she’s looking for, before addressing Adryan again.
“Congratulations on your marriage,” she says first, the delay in saying it quite jarring. It’s like practiced manners that don’t flow naturally, just coming across as odd to someone like me. “I have the information here for you. You have been assigned an apartment on the 51st floor, apartment number 51-35.”
She taps a few more times on the screen and a portion of the desk in front of us slides up. A small contraption rises up from out of the square hole, what looks to be a hand-scanner of some kind.
“Please, place your hand inside the scanner,” she says. “It will configure security for your quarters.”
Adryan does so first, reaching into the space as the scanner glows blue for a second before turning green.
“Good,” says Rebecca. “Now you,” she adds, turning to me.
I do the same, and feel the warming glow of the machine as it records my thumb and fingerprints and the unique structure of my hand.
“Good,” repeats the receptionist. “Apartment 51-35 has now been configured for your use. You will both have access now to the 51st floor. Adryan, you know how things work.” She looks to me and offers a decent imitation of a smile. “Welcome to the High Tower, Mrs Shaw.”
Mrs Shaw…
It sounds so weird.
I nod my thanks with no words to say, and Adryan guides me across to one of the lifts. I continue to stare around, quite unable to fully catch my breath at the staggering scale of it all. And unlike the other buildings, so rigid with their sharp edges and straight lines, this structure is quite mesmerising, circular and endless and rising so high into the heavens.
Reaching the lift, the doors open automatically and we step inside. Adryan sets his hand to the scanner and it quickly determines where in the building he has access to.
“Level 51,” he says.
The doors close and the lift begins to rise, a sense of vertigo engulfing me the higher we go. It moves so swiftly and smoothly that barely half a minute has passed before the doors are opening again, revealing a corridor that circles around the floor, giving access to the many dozens of apartments here on one of the lower residential levels.
Adryan clearly chose this lift in particular, going by the first apartment we find. Right ahead, just a little way down the corridor, door number 51-35 comes into view.
“We got lucky,” Adryan says as we near it. “We’re on the outer edge, and so will have an external apartment, not an internal one…”
“What does that mean?” I ask.
“Simply that we’ll have a view,” he says. “The external apartments all have views. The internal ones are situated closer to the core of the building.”
I find myself saying a little prayer of thanks for this small mercy. Living near the core without windows would probably send me mad within days.
Before Adryan sets his hand into the security scanner to open up our new home, I already know what to expect. A short corridor, a large living space, spacious and airy rooms, but little to no character at all.
What I find meets my expectations, although the space is larger than I anticipated. Which, I suppose, also makes sense given where we are. As the door shuts tight behind us, my legs go a little shaky and my hands start to tremble.
On slightly unsteady legs, I wander forward and set my eyes on my new home, halfway up towards the summit of the world, right in the heart of a nest of vipers, coiling and writhing somewhere up above.
I scan the place slowly, so familiar to me after spending time in the Court House, and yet so alien too. That was just training. This is the real deal. And the heavy tightening in my chest proves it.
Alone now, Adryan comes up to me.
“We’re safe here now,” he says softly. “I’ll protect you from all of them, Brie. I promise.”
I smile and feel his hands reach out to take my fingers. He steps a little closer and leans down, his silver eyes like slits as they look at me. His lips come closer to mine, before trailing left at the last moment and grazing my cheek.
Then he withdraws, and still holding one of my hands, leads me over towards the outer walls of the apartment. With a whispered order, the walls grow clear, and my breath gets caught inside me as the entire city comes into view below.
I stand in awe at the sight, tracing the circular Spiral as it curls around Inner Haven before reaching the boundary wall; sending my gaze further towards the bristling, colourful streets of Outer Haven beyond, part of the north and west and south quarters all visible from here, all so different.
Then, my eyes move beyond, to the perimeter wall, to the large gates, to the woods and swamps and mountains and rivers that pepper the world outside. And as I stare out, a single word falls from my open lips.
“Beautiful.”
I feel Adryan looking at me, see him staring through my peripheral vision, see a smile dust lightly on his face. And then he repeats the word.
“Beautiful,” he says.
And standing there together, looking out at the world, my mind turns to what I can’t see. To the many floors above me, leading up the secret summit where the Consortium rule. Where Director Cromwell casts his all-seeing eye upon the city and the lands beyond.
My path will take me there soon. Right up to the top, to the very core of injustice, to the source of all the suffering down below.
It won’t be easy. And I may well die in the attempt.
But soon, I’ll be face to face with Director Cromwell. And when I am, I won’t hesitate to shut him down.
It’s time for me to complete my mission.
THE END
/> The Enhanced will continue in the next book, Assassin.
Part IV
ASSASSIN
80
I’m surrounded by them. Dead eyes. Blank expressions. Metronomic motion.
They flow about from wall to wall, every single floor of this building infested with their kind. I can’t help but look upon them as the enemy, so alien do they appear when seen in such numbers.
Yet to my side is one of their own. And he is far from my enemy.
I stand with Adryan looking out upon the staggering space before us, one of several ‘communal floors’ in the High Tower intended for the use of all residents. This one is used primarily for ‘consumption’. Or, to a normal person, eating.
Various areas of this floor – level 6 – have been set aside for the purpose of nutrition. There are pseudo-shops that sell fruit, or meat, or bread, or various other healthy, simple staples of a good diet. There are restaurants too – or some form of them at least – where people sit and gather and exchange information.
I suppose it’s a form of socialising, although not as I know it. I can’t see many smiling, happy, faces. I’m not hearing any stern words or arguments. There’s no laughter, or banter, or anything else you might associate with a group of friends, catching up over a bite to eat.
Here, group gatherings are mostly based around work, and as a good opportunity for people to discuss relevant topics that are deemed important to High Tower, and Inner Haven, society. Those, for my mind, are only ever likely to be dull and uninteresting. Gossip, after all, is frowned upon across Inner Haven. Heaven knows how it would be seen here.
Yet, from my brief tour of the communal spaces, it appears that some form of friendship does exist here too, perhaps more than I expected. Adryan has opened my eyes to the varying degrees of detachment and impassivity that the Savants employ.