Tree: Live to give, give to live (Numbered Book 3)

by Magus Tor

  Aurelia looked at the bar, where there were tens of trays of glasses, and more being added even as she watched. “But there's got to be litres of it here,” she said.

  Elza turned to look at the man she was escorting, catching his eye and giving him a smile before turning back to Aurelia. “Just goes to show how much money there is floating around here. Only the best for the politicians, right?”

  Aurelia thought back to her childhood. She and everyone she had known, including the adults, had drunk water. Fresh, clean water was a precious commodity on ruined Earth, and one that they didn't take for granted. Even on the most special occasions, there was water, and maybe a small but costly bottle of synthetic alcohol for the grown-ups. And here she was, drinking something that probably cost more per mouthful than she made in a month. Or a year. She closed her eyes and put the glass down. Suddenly it tasted bitter, and she didn't want any more.

  “Heard anything from Nicholas?” Elza asked her quietly.

  Aurelia shook her head. Nicholas was a Military Class Clone, one who was under threat of death should he be found within the confines of Lunar’s dome. So Jonathon had arranged for him to go out on the Lunar surface ostensibly as one of the Connectors, men in black who formed the connection between the legal residents inside the dome and the illegal ones outside. In truth, Nicholas was drumming up support for Jonathon's political causes, but Aurelia hadn't heard anything from him since he'd left.

  “Jonathon might have communicated with him; but if he has, he hasn't told me,” Aurelia said.

  Elza put a hand on her shoulder. “Don't worry about him. If something had happened, then Bryn would have come to tell you.”

  Bryn was a real Connector and had been designated Nicholas's escort.

  “I guess you're right,” sighed Aurelia. “But that doesn't mean that I don't worry.”

  “He's doing what he has to do, just like us all,” said Elza, again eyeing the man she was escorting. “It's not always fun, and it's certainly not safe, but sometimes, just sometimes, it's a tiny bit glamorous.” She looked down at Aurelia's Champagne glass. “You should drink that; it'll only be wasted if you don't. And you risk your life enough to deserve it. I know how you feel; I was the same when I first came to Lunar, but drink it anyway. Besides, you'll need it in a minute.”

  Aurelia was just about to ask why when a deep, loud sound rang out. “What was that?” she asked.

  “Time for dinner,” said Elza. “But first, everyone who's important enough gets to make a speech. Which is where the Champagne comes in.” She reached over and grabbed a second glass. “Come on, I'll show you in. I'm sitting at the same table as you, don't worry. And don't forget your glass.”

  Picking up her drink, Aurelia did as she was told and followed Elza through the crowd of people. As they pushed through, she noticed something was off, and it took her a second to realise what it was. The crowd was separating, the men going in one direction, the women in another, until eventually they entered the dining room through different doors. Once inside, it became clear why this was happening.

  The dining room had what looked like a tiered stage at one end, with each level of the stage containing a long table with chairs on one side, facing the audience. Beneath the stage was a series of smaller, round tables. As Elza led her to one of the round tables at the very front of the dining room, Aurelia could see the men trooping out onto the stage and taking seats on the long tables. Weird. She was about to ask Elza why the room was set up this way when she saw Jonathon walk onto the lowest tier of the stage, closest to the female audience, and scan the tables in front of him. She caught his eye and gave him a little wave, and he smiled in relief, then winked at her. She smiled back until Elza hissed at her to sit down.

  “What's going on here?” Aurelia asked as she sat next to her friend.

  “It's simple,” explained Elza. “Each table contains one important man; the others at his table are his admitted supporters. Each of the head guys at each of the five tables will make a short speech before we eat. It depends on the occasion, but you can use the speech for whatever you want, to drum up more support, explain your policies, even to announce a marriage or birth. The important thing is that you're the one speaking, since only five guys are deemed powerful enough to have a voice.”

  “Okay,” said Aurelia. “But it can't be that simple.”

  Elza laughed. “You catch on to Lunar fast. Of course it's not. Just because someone is sitting at your table doesn't necessarily mean that they are your supporter—just that they want to be seen that way. And on the other hand, just because someone isn't sitting at your table doesn't mean that they aren't your supporter. The whole system was set up to try to make politics on Lunar more transparent, but of course it doesn't work. It just means that people are sneakier. The only reason most people come to these things is to see if anyone changes tables; no one much cares about anything else.”

  According to Elza, because Jonathon was at the lowest table, he was the most important and therefore would speak first. And when he did, Aurelia was surprised. Yes, he held the attention of those in the room, and he was a good speaker, but he also said absolutely nothing. In the course of a five-minute speech, he managed to say nothing of importance at all.

  “That takes skill,” Elza told her. “The ability to keep everyone's eyes on you whilst saying nothing is very important at meetings like this. It means that you don't give any of your secrets away, but you still look like you know what you're doing.”

  By the third speech, Aurelia could see exactly why Elza had recommended that she bring her drink in with her. And by the fifth speech, she found that she was pleasantly light headed and more easily amused by the staid antics of those at the top tables.

  “All done,” said Elza as they stood to applaud the final speaker. “Now we get to eat.”

  Food came out, course after course, and Aurelia was incredulous to see that every single plate contained meat. Real meat, not synth-steak. She remembered that it had been here in this restaurant that Jonathon had given her real meat for the first time and had explained that whilst Earth dwellers got synth-meat, there were still meat animals. They were raised and slaughtered on Earth, but the meat was reserved solely for the Ruling Classes.

  There were four other women seated at their table, all of whom seemed interested only in gossip and dresses, though two of them did find time in their busy conversation schedule to grill Aurelia about her relationship with Jonathon. Aurelia managed to deflect their questions well enough, though Elza did come to her aid once or twice.

  “So, what do you think?” asked Elza as the hospitality Workers cleared away their final plates.

  “It was...” Aurelia tried to think of a diplomatic way to put it.

  “Boring?” supplied Elza.

  “Well, yes,” she admitted.

  “That's a good thing, at least right now.” Elza took a quick glance around the table to check that the other women were involved in their own conversations and not listening. “The last thing we want is any excitement at this point. As long as everything stays boring, it means that Jonathon is still top of the heap and has nothing to worry about. It's when people start changing seats at those tables that you have to wonder what's going on.”

  “I guess,” said Aurelia. But still, she couldn't really see the point of the evening. Just a bunch of Ruling Class eating expensive food, drinking expensive drinks, and talking about how important they were. It was all just a long, expensive evening of showing off.

  “Come on,” Elza said, getting up. “We can go back to the main room now; the segregation is over.”

  Aurelia noticed that many of the women stayed in the dining room, however, not seeming anxious to join the men who were already leaving the top tables.

  “Another glass?” asked Elza when they got back to the bar.

  Aurelia nodded, and as Elza went to get her a drink, she felt a hand on her arm.

  “Did I bore you to death?” asked Jonathon's
voice, quiet and gentle in her ear.

  “Just a little,” she said with a grin.

  “Told you all this was nothing to worry about, just a night of posturing, little peacocks that we all are.”

  Elza returned and handed Aurelia a glass. “Nice speech,” she said to Jonathon, who smiled in return.

  They managed to have a full ten-minute conversation with Elza before they were interrupted.

  “Oh, crap,” said Elza.

  The man whom she was escorting came to join them.

  “Time for us to go,” whispered Jonathon in Aurelia's ear.

  Quickly, Aurelia drained her glass; and after a brief word with Elza's partner, she and Jonathon managed to extricate themselves and make for the staircase. Now that Jonathon had given his speech, it seemed that people were less likely to grab his attention as he walked through the crowd.

  “They don't need me to plead their causes now,” he explained when Aurelia commented on this.

  “Is that what they wanted?” she asked.

  “Sure.” He shrugged. “It's all anyone wants here; everyone's just looking out for themselves. They make nice, but all they want is for me to say a quick word about this project or that person, just slip it into my speech, no pressure.”

  “Gods,” said Aurelia. “That's got to be pretty irritating.”

  “No shit.” Jonathon grinned as they started climbing the stairs.

  It wasn't until they got to the platform at the top of the stairs that Aurelia realised she was still carrying her empty Champagne glass. Looking around, she spotted a small table on the other side of Jonathon where she could leave it. She put a hand on his arm to stop him, half turning as she did so, and then it all happened so fast. A sharp noise sounded—crack! The glass in her hand fell to the floor, someone screamed, and as the pain blossomed through her shoulder and her legs started to buckle, Aurelia realised that she was the one screaming.

  Chapter Two

  She tried to open her eyes, but a bright light shining down on her made her squint. She wanted to speak, but her lips were too dry. There was no pain; in fact, putting her mind to it, Aurelia discovered that she felt nothing, just a pleasant floating sensation. She was about to drift back into the comforting blackness when someone spoke.

  “Ah, awake, good.”

  Hmmm. The voice was familiar. The light still blinded her, though, and she found that she couldn't turn her head. Who was it? Damn it. Think. Woman. Good. Mum? No. She had all the information she needed but found that she couldn't piece it together. It was more than frustrating, and to her surprise, she heard a moan and then realised that she had made it.

  “Hold on a sec; let me give you the anti-sed,” the voice said.

  She felt momentary pressure on the inside of her elbow, and then the fuzziness started to recede. Her vision became sharper, clearer, and her thoughts started to align themselves back into regular patterns.

  “Elza?” she croaked.

  “Yes, dear, I'm here.”

  A shadow blocked the bright light, and Aurelia blinked. It was Elza.

  “What the hell happened?”

  “Um, it looks like you were almost assassinated,” said Elza.

  Gradually, Aurelia's sense of self was coming back, and she found that she could move slowly. She arched her neck, wiggled her fingers and toes. Everything seemed to be more or less in working order.

  “Want to sit up?” Elza asked.

  “Please.”

  Elza pressed a button next to the bed. There was a whirring sound, and then Aurelia found herself sitting. Looking down, she saw that her shoulder was covered in thick white bandages.

  “Okay, I think we're going to have to start at the beginning,” she said. “I'm not feeling too quick right now.”

  Elza smiled. “The important thing is that you're fine. I've removed the barb, the wound has been sealed shut, and there's no lasting damage. You'll be sore for a couple of days, but that's pretty much it.”

  “Barb?”

  The hospital head held up a small container, and Aurelia heard something rattling inside. Tipping the container up, Elza displayed a metal rod about half the size of Aurelia's little finger.

  “This is a barb,” she said. “It shoots like this, as a straight rod, and when it hits flesh it's designed to split open like this.” She manipulated the rod, and Aurelia saw a collection of mean-looking spikes project from one end. “In your case, the barb hit bone before it could split, which is good because it means a lot less damage. Only a glancing blow, but your shoulder will feel badly bruised for a couple of days.”

  “Got it,” said Aurelia. “And, er, any ideas why someone would want to shoot me with a barb?”

  “They didn't,” said another voice. “They wanted to shoot me.”

  Jonathon walked over to the bed and bent to kiss Aurelia's forehead.

  “You sure?” asked Elza.

  “Definite. I've got the sec vid footage right here.”

  He held out his personal screen, and Elza took her own screen and tapped it against his, downloading the data.

  “Mine's connected to the blow-up screen over there,” she explained, tapping icons until a picture appeared on the opposite wall.

  “Play it at half speed,” Jonathon said.

  The three watched as Jonathon and Aurelia slowly climbed the stairs. As they reached the top step, Aurelia's hand rose with the Champagne glass, and her head turned until she saw the table to the side of Jonathon. She then put her hand on his arm, and he stopped. Her lips moved, though there was no sound on the vid. Then she took a step to the side and a half step forward as though to walk behind Jonathon to the table, but the moment that her body crossed his, she crumpled to the floor.

  “Mmm,” said Elza. “If Aurelia hadn't crossed just at that moment, the barb would have gone straight through your back, hitting the heart or close to it.”

  “Agreed,” said Jonathon. “Take a look at the second sec vid.”

  Elza pressed the relevant icons, and footage from another camera showed. This time, the focus was on the floor of the restaurant, and they could see guests milling around and people talking. Suddenly every single person in the vid turned towards the same point, a look of collective horror on their faces.

  “That's when the shooting happened,” Jonathon explained. “Notice anything odd?”

  “I did,” Aurelia said softly. “Everyone looked at the same time towards the stairs, but before that, when the shot must have been actually fired, not a single person was looking in the right direction.”

  “Which means none of them could have shot you,” Elza mused. “Interesting.”

  “We'll get someone to work on it, figure out where the shot was fired from, which angles work. But we've got a bigger problem than that.” Jonathon looked pale, and as he rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand, Aurelia knew that he was exhausted.

  “Someone's trying to kill you,” she said. “Again.”

  “Despite the fact that Nicholas, my would-be assassin, is out of the dome,” Jonathon said. “But my problem is even bigger than that.”

  “What?” asked Elza.

  “This time someone got hurt. And it wasn't me. It's not going to happen again.”

  Aurelia snorted. “Right, and how exactly do you plan on stopping people from trying to assassinate you? Maybe you've got a persuasive argument? Should we just ask them nicely to stop?”

  Elza turned around to hide a grin, but Jonathon looked angry.

  “Look,” said Aurelia, more calmly. “It's a risk of the business, I get it. The only reason that I met you in the first place was because someone tried to kill you and you needed my help. I can't say that I appreciate getting shot, but maybe we just need to start taking a little more care until we find out who's behind all of this.”

  Sitting on the edge of the bed, Elza looked at Jonathon. “She could be right. We've sort of let this take a back burner for a while, but the truth is that we know that Nicholas didn't plan your assa
ssination attempt. He was simply a tool, but we haven't looked into who gave him the orders. I think we should make that a priority.”

  Jonathon shook his head in frustration. “That's not exactly what I'm talking about. And to be honest, just taking a little bit more care isn't quite what I had in mind. Election time is getting closer, the risk is going to get higher, and whoever it is that wants me dead is going to try harder. I agree that we need to look into who's behind this, but we need to take much bigger precautions than just being careful.”

  “What exactly do you have in mind?” Aurelia asked. She saw his deep blue eyes narrow a little as they always did when he was calculating something, working out the best way.

  He took a deep breath, then let it out. “It's time to get out of Lunar.”

  Aurelia frowned. “You mean...?”

  “We're going to Earth.”

  He made it sound so final, like the decision had been made and agreed upon, and for a second that irritated her. Surely she should have a say in all of this? She took a moment, not letting her first reaction get the better of her, and let the words sink in. Looking over, she saw that Elza was nodding thoughtfully. So she thinks this could work. Alright. She'd give him the chance to explain himself. There was no point getting mad.

  “Why?” she said. “I mean, why other than the fact that you might be safer from assassins down there? You'll need more of an argument to convince me.”

  “Seriously? You're the one lying in a hospital bed wrapped up in bandages like a mummy,” Jonathon said dryly. But he smiled a little and sat at the foot of the bed.

  Aurelia looked from him to Elza and back again. She could see that they were both almost persuaded that going to Earth was the best plan. She was the only one who needed convincing, which was weird since Jonathon was right; she was the one who had been injured.