Covenant

by Andreas Christensen

  She saw Caroline, the little girl whose mother had diabetes, running around with a couple of other kids, playing some game that involved throwing a ball at each other. The sight almost brought tears to her eyes, but those were happy tears. Her mother had lived, and now they would make a new life here in Buchanan.

  She looked north, toward the Buchanan skyline. The buildings were much taller than the scrapers of Hudson. Of course, all the scrapers, well, all of Hudson was gone now, but even though most of Hudson had been built under ground, the scrapers, the tallest of their above-ground structures, had always impressed her. The tallest scraper had been ten stories high. Here though, it was like nothing she had ever seen, buildings stretching up higher than she had imagined possible. She wondered what it must be like, living up there, like birds in the sky, looking down on the bustle of ants below.

  “Okay, then. That’s the last transport,” Captain Lee said, standing beside her watching the transport land.

  “We’ll need to speak to everyone. You’ll go first, and then we’ll have a chat, well, several chats, with everyone, even the kids. We call it debriefing, and it’s very important to us. After all, we need to know as much as possible about what has happened over there,” he said. Renee nodded, having expected no less.

  “So, in the coming days, once we’ve talked to you, we’ll get you settled, at least temporarily.”

  “Will we be allowed into the city?” Renee asked, and the captain looked at her quizzically.

  “Of course. Some of you will probably be settled within the city, and in time, I expect most of you to become citizens here,” he said. Renee looked at the skyline again. Her people had no home to return to, so this would become their home, and the home of their children. The French would be assimilated into Buchanan society. In a few generations, she suspected their language might be gone, as well. It was, in many ways, sad to know that their culture was already dying and that their children’s children might not even learn to speak French. Yet, it was so much better than the alternative. It was better than becoming the Moon people’s slaves.

  Dave

  Dave looked around as he stood. He’d bruised his elbow when he tried to soften his landing by rolling upon impact, but other than that, he was fine. He stood in the early dawn light and saw the eastern sky was brightening, illuminating an arid landscape of stone and sand, interspersed with pebbles and tufts of grass here and there. The Rift lay to the east, and he shivered slightly at the thought of being here, on the western side, in this place that was never spoken of, and yet was feared by everyone. This place from which refugees had come, only to be murdered by Wardens, drugged and tricked into thinking they were terrible monsters that had to be put down.

  He looked west. Somewhere, far to the west, there would be a place called Buchanan, and Counselor Novak had tried to send him there. What he was supposed to do was unclear to him, but the fact that Novak had wanted to send him there must mean something. Also, the fact that someone had gone to great lengths to stop him only made Dave more eager to find out what was there, and why the Covenant leadership was so afraid of it. He saw smoke far to the south, and his fear was confirmed. The scramjet had taken down the airship. He felt sorry for the agent, but he knew he couldn’t linger here. Someone would come searching for him. He would guess Warden rangers, or perhaps even Luna Brigade special tactical units-he’d heard those sometimes ventured across the Rift, as well.

  He checked his backpack. The unit inside seemed unharmed, so he closed it up and slipped into the shoulder straps, adjusting them properly disperse the weight on his back. Novak´s unit weighed only about a kilo, but there were some emergency rations in the pack, as well as a couple of liters of water and a light blanket. He guessed the pack weighed about seven kilos altogether. It wasn’t much, but he knew that over time, even a small weight like that could hinder his ability to move swiftly. Then he checked the small gun and put it in one pocket, while the box of ammo went into the other. He zipped them both closed and began walking west.

  Sue

  Sue was walking around in her apartment. It was spacious, with a large sitting room, two bedrooms, and a small kitchen that was connected to a delivery system. If she wanted anything, she just had to press a screen and make her choices. There were no knives in the kitchen, though, and all the food that was delivered was already sliced. The bathroom held a large tub, a shower, and another automated delivery system, for towels and used clothing. It was luxurious beyond anything she had imagined. So this is how the Moon people live, she thought, shaking her head slightly.

  One of the first things she had done was test the front door; as she suspected, it was locked. Outside her door, stood at least one guard, and Sue had spoken to him a couple of times, just a few words, enough to see that he was Moon blood. Inside the apartment, there were cameras everywhere, monitoring her every move. She was a prisoner; that much was certain. She wondered why Novak had sent her here, but she trusted that it was part of a bigger plan. When she thought about it, she had come to trust the old man, although she never quite knew where he stood. He wasn’t Moon people, that much she knew. But he seemed to be treated as one, and as far as she knew, he had always served them. In fact, Sue remembered seeing him on the first Selection day viewings she could remember, when she was just a little girl. There was something about him, though, a sadness of sorts.

  She stopped her pacing and gazed out the large window facing out over the communal gardens. Actually, it was more like several big squares, with green patches of grass and trees and bushes scattered about, and stone pathways in between. There were no sales booths or stalls, like she was used to from back home in Charlestown. Still, people were strolling around, some talking, in pairs or small groups. A woman sat on a bench, reading aloud, while children and a few adults sat or stood nearby, listening. She wondered what that was about. A pair of women sat beside a small pond, nursing their babies, while a young boy ran back and forth in front of them, trying to control a kite.

  She looked up and saw the dome far above it all. She had learned that Nidaros was the smaller of the domes that covered the Twin cities, but it still looked huge to her. She could only imagine the size of New Moscow, the larger of the two. Sue wondered if this place had been built to its current size in the beginning, by the people from Earth, or had they expanded over time, as the Moon people grew in number. She made a mental note to ask Shukov, if she ever talked to him again, since he seemed to know a great deal of the history of this place.

  Just as she turned away from the window, she heard a knock, followed by a clicking sound as the door unlocked. Meridian Shukov greeted her with a slight nod as he entered the room.

  “Hello, Miss Atlas,” he said. Sue stopped. Something in his voice told her something was off.

  “I have orders to take you to New Moscow. You have a meeting with First Janissary Ivanov.”

  Chapter 12

  Renee

  Renee had difficulty finding words to describe what she saw. After days of interviews with the intelligence officers, she had been released to the custody of Captain Lee, to go find a place to stay. She would be back for more questioning tomorrow, and she gladly complied. She wanted nothing more than to contribute to the Buchanan military learning all there was to know about the Covenant and its military.

  But for now, they were walking down a wide street, lined with trees, toward something Captain Lee had called a hotel. It stood beautifully by an artificial lake, and the captain told her it was called the Cecilia Hotel, named after the wife of Buchanan’s founding father, Joe Buchanan. The concept of a hotel was foreign to Renee, but apparently, it was a place where one could rent a room to sleep in, and it was usually meant to be temporary. She imagined it must be almost like visiting, only you had to pay for your stay, and you didn’t have to know the people there. It was also supposed to be nice, with a touch of luxury. Renee thought the Cecilia Hotel looked very luxurious.

  “There are a few smaller settlements both i
nside and outside of the Buchanan umbrella further west, and we do have quite a bit of commerce with them. And of course, we have some contact with the tribes to the south, and even the islands off the coast. So when they are here, unless it is official government business, they usually stay at one of the hotels.”

  “There are more of these ‘hotels’?” Renee said, eyes wide. Captain Lee smiled.

  “Well, yes. And there are plans to build another just outside the city proper, in the hills.”

  Renee shook her head, fascinated by all the things that were so different, not just from what she was used to from her own homeland, but also from what she knew of the Covenant. She was, after all, quite familiar with the Covenant, having spied on them and fought them for so many years. But Buchanan was different, and it wasn’t just the features such as these “hotels”; it was also the stubborn determination she saw in the people, the unwillingness to compromise when it came to such issues as equal rights for everyone, the way her people were received with open arms, and how they were told they could, in time, become citizens of Buchanan.

  “You will fit in here just fine,” Captain Lee said. Renee smiled. She could imagine a future here, and as painful as all the losses she had suffered were, she was slowly beginning to accept her new life.

  Renee knew that Buchanan was named after Joe Buchanan, who had originally orchestrated the building of this place as a shelter to protect as many as possible in the years after the Fall, and when she asked if the captain could tell her a little more of the story, he lit up.

  “Well, the actual naming happened soon after his death,” he said, and chuckled.

  “He resisted the name even on his deathbed, or so the story goes. I don’t know, I think he was just a very modest man who didn’t want any fuss around himself or his name. It’s hard to imagine how it must have been back then, in those first years. One thing’s for sure, though, Joe Buchanan must have been a great man, to have organized all of this.”

  Renee nodded. Joe Buchanan had been a well-known name when she was growing up, and she had learned the story in school. And though her people had a different first language, and though they had never sworn allegiance to Buchanan, they had appreciated the friendship that had brought them supplies and technology, and knowledge of the world. For the hundredth time, she silently cursed the Moon people, who had taken all of that away. Captain Lee didn’t seem to notice, and kept talking.

  “At first, Buchanan was just a small settlement, built right here in this valley, surrounding the underground shelter that he built in preparation for the Fall. But soon, even before the Fall, refugees from all over flocked to this place, and after the long winter, the one that lasted for a decade, Buchanan grew into a nation.”

  “How did you come to be such an opposition to the Covenant?” Renee asked. Captain Lee thought for a moment before he answered.

  “Well, I guess the first president, Nathaniel Rawlins, had something to do with that. He was young, barely twenty when he was elected, but he had a clear vision, and I believe his father’s experiences played a big part in making him such a clear-sighted young leader. You know, his father survived the prison camps of the old regime, and he escaped just before the Fall. Nate was adamant that we must avoid the mistakes of the past. Strong defenses, yes, but great liberty within our borders was his mantra, and it still is, for all of us. He is credited with developing the governing principles that continue to guide us to this day. First of all, that everyone is by right a citizen, of equal worth and with an equal voice. He was very clear that we should always keep an eye out for what is happening in the East, and throughout the years we have. The Covenant has always been a shadow hanging over our existence, a looming threat that some day...” He trailed off and gritted his teeth.

  “We got nuclear weapons early on, and that is why we are still free. The nukes have so far deterred them, or else we would have been absorbed by the Covenant a long time ago. Funny, how one clear-sighted man could have had so much influence on our existence. A scientist, a man by the name of Dr. Walker, turned up here just a few weeks after the Fall, having walked through the mountains and barely survived. With our resources stretched to the limit, he was almost turned away, but he managed to convince Joe Buchanan to make sure we had that capacity even before the long winter ended. If not for him...” Captain Lee stopped as they stood before the hotel entrance. Renee turned and looked at him. He was handsome, shorter than average but not by much, and he had a rugged outdoorsy look about him. Well, he was a soldier, after all, as she had been. She didn’t know what she was right now, but she would make the best of it.

  The captain’s comms unit buzzed, and he clicked a button. “This is Lee,” he said, and turned away. He didn’t bother to put in the earbuds, so she could hear bits and pieces of the message he received.

  “...aircraft shot down...west of the Rift...possible survivor...Covenant forces nearby.”

  “Get a craft ready, and pick me up. You got my coords. And alert the team,” he said, and turned back to her again.

  “We have always known that our existence is a fragile one, and it’s something we have come to accept. But we fear our time is coming to an end soon,” he said. An aircraft was approaching quickly from the north. It was shimmering, and it was difficult to make out its shape. The craft came to hover above ground a hundred meters off, waiting.

  “But not today, Captain,” Renee said, smiling. He smiled back.

  “No, not today,” he said, before he turned and trotted off to the aircraft.

  Evan

  Evan checked his gun to make sure it was loaded, with the safety on. He hoped he wouldn’t have to use it. Guns were extremely dangerous on Luna, although there were safety measures in place so that shots fired inside the domes didn’t do any damage to the domes themselves. Still, with civilians everywhere, he´d rather do this without having to fire a gun.

  He hid the gun inside his jacket pocket and started to walk out of his apartment. Then, on an impulse, he put his infopad into the other pocket. He didn’t have a detailed plan. Mark Novak had told him to contact a Meridian Shukov of the Luna Brigade, but when Evan did, Shukov didn´t want to speak to him. He had even told him the presence of Susan Atlas on Luna was none of his business. Shukov had looked a bit troubled, but he’d been clear that his orders came from First Janissary Ivanov, and though Luna Brigade officers normally didn’t take orders from Janissary officers, even when outranked, this was the First Janissary, after all. Besides, Ivanov was one of the great families, and here on Luna they were especially strong.

  So, the First Janissary was here on Luna, which meant Evan was in a hurry. He was sick of these games. It was time to make a move. He wondered what Ivanov’s obsession was with Sue, and at the same time, he questioned himself as to why he cared about this English girl, who he’d only known for a few months of basic training? It wasn’t love, like his father had thought. No, it was something else; respect perhaps? Or maybe Susan Atlas had become a symbol for him? Something, someone, who symbolized that the Covenant had to change, or else become just one more chapter in the history books of yet another lost civilization, along with all the other empires he’d read about. Once decadence and corruption take root, once the population grows complacent, and the rift between the haves and the have-nots grows large enough, change will come, in one form or another. And Evan knew that once that happened, it could mean the end of the Moon people, his people, or it could mean a rebirth. He didn’t hate his people, but he hated what they were becoming.

  He had once read a text, found in a book retrieved from the wreckage that was Earth when the Moon people descended, that listed the seven deadly sins of mankind. He didn’t agree they were all sins, not at all, but even so, he had recognized the wisdom of the words, of how these weaknesses lead to an inevitable downfall. He didn’t see lust or greed as weaknesses; he thought a more apt term would be ambition, and that could be a good thing. And wrath could be righteous, a feeling he was quite familiar w
ith. Envy must be a weakness, though it was something foreign to him, never having had reason to envy anyone. Perhaps he should have envied his late brother, Victor, who had been the light in his father’s life, but Evan had distanced himself so much from his father, that it didn’t mean anything to him anymore. Pride was another sin, according to the text, and perhaps it was, when that pride was unfounded. But Evan had felt pride on so many occasions, pride in his Janissaries, pride in exceling, and he didn’t see that as a totally negative trait. What stood before him as the cardinal sins of the Moon people, what really made him angry, were gluttony and sloth. The way the Moon people relied on the subservience of the English to live their lives in luxury; the way young people numbed their brains and weakened their bodies with drink and drugs, sleeping away their lives; the way everyone took for granted their luxurious lifestyle, as if it was a birthright instead of something won through hard work and ruthless conquest. He couldn’t remember what book it was, but somehow that text had remained with him throughout the years. He often wondered if this thinking had been prevalent before the Fall, and if so, how it was possible that even those people, with such clear thinking and sharp minds could have fallen, in the end.

  Evan closed the door behind him and walked out of the apartment building, his steps light despite the extra weights inside his soles. He could have been faster had he put on the weightless boots that the Luna Brigade sometimes used here, but inside the domes, it would have drawn attention. And attention was something he didn’t need as he walked toward the tube that would take him quickly to New Moscow.