Scavenger Alliance (Exodus Book 1)

by Janet Edwards

Chapter Thirty-seven

  The next morning, I stood on the roof of the Americas Parliament House. The eastern horizon was streaked with red and orange harbingers of dawn, but elsewhere was still dark enough for the lights of New York to make a dazzling display. I looked up at the Earth Resistance flag and saluted it.

  “I like your hand on heart salute,” said Tad, from behind me.

  I turned to face his shadowy figure and smiled. “Donnell says that the Military salute points to the head, but the important things come from the heart.”

  “That’s true,” said Tad. “Especially things like loyalty. Is it Earth you’re swearing allegiance to, or is it your father?”

  I shrugged. “There isn’t really a difference, is there?”

  “I suppose not,” said Tad. “I’ve been thinking about our situation. I can’t possibly stay on Earth, but when the alliance leaves New York, I want to go with you as far as your new home. I can spend a day or two helping out with things before I portal to America Off-world.”

  “Things like turning the power on for us?” I asked.

  “Yes. It’s not just that I want to make sure you have a good home for the future though. I need to know exactly where I can find you, because …” He paused for a second. “When I was ill, I kept having strange dreams about you and the Rosetta component. I’ve finally worked out the meaning of those dreams.”

  I remembered Tad rambling about components when he was delirious, but I didn’t see what his Rosetta component had to do with me. “I’m not sure what you’re talking about.”

  “It’s impossible for me to build the more advanced Rosetta component, so I’ll have to make the simpler prototype instead. That isn’t ideal, but I can make it work. It’s the same with our relationship, Blaze. It’s not possible for me to take you to Zeus, but there’s another solution. One that isn’t ideal, but we can make it work.”

  “What solution is this?”

  “I have to go to Zeus, there’s no way to avoid that, but I don’t have to stay there forever. It will take me a year or two to get the Fidelis Project well established, but then I’ll start coming back to Earth for a few months of each year, and finally settle down to live here permanently. It’s not an ideal arrangement, it’s going to be a difficult first few years for both of us, but I think we can make it work.”

  “Donnell kept meaning to come back to London,” I said, “but he never managed to do it because there was always another problem that only he could solve. There’s always going to be another problem for you too.”

  “I’m not Donnell,” said Tad. “Chaos knows I’m worse than him in most ways, but I intend to do better than him in this. The Fidelis Project got its name because it’s based on faith and loyalty. Every Betan world is sending precious experts and resources to Zeus and trusting them to recreate interstellar portal technology. I wouldn’t do very well leading a project like that if I couldn’t keep faith myself.”

  He solemnly gave me the hand on heart salute of the Earth Resistance. “Fidelis, Blaze.”

  I laughed, and studied Tad’s face as he lowered his hand again. Having a relationship with him would be a huge risk, because there were so many things that could force us apart. We might have a lifetime together or only a couple of months, but that was true of all relationships, and my life had always been full of risks.

  Tad seemed to be studying me too at first, but then his eyes started their rapid focusing on a multitude of invisible images.

  “Thaddeus Wallam-Crane the Eighth,” I said, “are you checking the Earth data net for instructions on how to kiss a girl?”

  He gave me a startled, apprehensive look. “Yes, but I’m not finding anything useful.”

  “I think kissing is the sort of thing everyone has to research for themselves.”

  He hesitated, then took a step towards me and waited expectantly. I took my own step forward in turn, there was a pause as we exchanged the nods of two musicians poised ready to begin playing a duet, and then we both made the final movement to close the gap between us.

  We were better at the timing than the actions. There was a clumsy moment or two as we worked out how to hold each other, then the awkwardness slowly faded as our lips bridged the gap between different worlds and opposing loyalties.

  About a minute later, Tad pulled away a fraction. “You’re right. We definitely have to research this for ourselves, but your father will be expecting you downstairs.”

  “I think he’ll guess what’s delaying me,” I said.

  Our lips met again, and the sun rose over New York as I kissed the last of the magicians.

  Message from Janet Edwards

  Thank you for reading Scavenger Alliance. This book is set in the 25th century of the Portal Future. You may be interested in reading the Earth Girl series, which is set in the 28th century of the Portal Future, and features descendants of Blaze. I also have books set in two very different future universes. The Hive Future where humanity lives in vast hive cities. The Game Future where people no longer grow old and die, but live in virtual worlds.

  Please visit me online at my website to see the current full list of my books, including suggestions on the reading order. You can also make sure you don’t miss future books by signing up to get new release updates.

  I’d like to thank Andrew Angel and Juliet for Beta reading Scavenger Alliance, and fact checking its New York setting. Any remaining problems are entirely my fault.

  Best wishes from Janet Edwards

  Books by Janet Edwards

  Set in the Game Future

  REAPER

  Set in the Hive Future

  TELEPATH

  Set in the 25th Century of the Portal Future

  SCAVENGER ALLIANCE

  Set in the 28th Century of the Portal Future

  The prequel novellas:-

  EARTH AND FIRE: An Earth Girl Novella

  FRONTIER: An Epsilon Sector Novella

  The Earth Girl trilogy:-

  EARTH GIRL

  EARTH STAR

  EARTH FLIGHT

  The Earth Girl prequel short story collection:-

  EARTH 2788: The Earth Girl Short Stories

  Other short stories:-

  HERA 2781: A Military Short Story

  Please visit https://janetedwards.com/books to see the current full list of books

  You can also make sure you don’t miss the next book by signing up to get new release updates

  About the Author

  Janet Edwards lives in England. As a child, she read everything she could get her hands on, including a huge amount of science fiction and fantasy. She studied Maths at Oxford, and went on to suffer years of writing unbearably complicated technical documents before deciding to write something that was fun for a change. She has a husband, a son, a lot of books, and an aversion to housework.

  Visit Janet at her website: www.janetedwards.com

  Follow Janet on Facebook: www.facebook.com/JanetEdwardsAuthor

  Follow Janet on Twitter: https://twitter.com/JanetEdwardsSF

  Sign up for new release updates: www.janetedwards.com/newsletter

  Preview of Telepath

  Amber is one of over a million eighteen-year-olds in one of the great hive cities of twenty-sixth century Earth. She’s about to enter the Lottery of 2532, which will assess her abilities and decide her hive level, her profession, her whole future life. Amber’s dream is to be level 10 or above, her nightmare is to be a level 99 Sewage Technician.

  When Lottery discovers Amber is a rare and precious telepath, she must adapt to a new life protecting the people of the crowded hive city. Her job is hunting down criminals before they commit their crimes, but she doesn’t know she’s being hunted herself.

  Chapter One

  Forge and Shanna led our group out of the lift into the forbidden territory of Level 1, the highest of the hundred accommodation levels in our Hive city. I stopped for a moment, dazzled by the splendour of the shopping area in front of us. The Level 1 shopp
ing areas always had the finest decorations in the Hive, but this was the last day of Carnival, the annual Hive festival of light and life, so there were added gold and silver streamers everywhere.

  Shanna glanced back at me. “Come on, Amber!”

  I hurried to join the others under one of the giant overhead signs that said “Level 1”. We automatically formed into a circle with Forge and Shanna standing in the centre. Twenty-two of us, all wearing traditional gold and silver Carnival costumes, and carrying masks. Forge was the one exception, conspicuous for choosing a costume and mask in the red and black colours of Halloween, the ominous Hive festival of darkness and death. Forge had constantly been challenging Hive rules on Teen Level, and wearing a Halloween costume during Carnival was his final act of defiance.

  I noticed that a couple of men dressed in the blue uniforms of Health and Safety were standing nearby and watching us. On any other day, the hasties would have been scolding us, telling us that a group of teens had no business in one of the shopping areas reserved for the most important people in the Hive, and sternly sending us back down to Teen Level 50.

  This wasn’t any other day, because we were eighteen. Tomorrow the million eighteen-year-olds in the Hive would all enter Lottery. We would be assessed, be optimized, be allocated, be imprinted. The Lottery of 2532 would decide our future lives, what profession we would work at, and whether we would live in luxury on a high level of the Hive or in a cramped apartment somewhere in the depths.

  Shanna smiled at the rest of us. “We aren’t going to be like all the other teens. We won’t split up from our friends after Lottery. Let’s promise that we’ll all meet up two weeks from today.”

  There was a muttering of promises in reply, my own among them, but we all knew we were lying. We’d lived on the same corridor on Teen Level 50 for five years, and shared thousands of moments of laughter and arguments. Now the notoriously unpredictable verdict of Lottery would send some of us higher up the Hive and others further down, label some of us a success and others a failure.

  Shanna had boundless confidence. She was sure she’d be one of the successes, even be among the elite who lived in the top ten accommodation levels of the Hive. The rest of us felt far more uncertain about what lay ahead. We wouldn’t want to meet up again if we were among the failures. I knew I couldn’t face the others if …

  I fought back against the nightmare doubts. The verdicts of Lottery were unpredictable because of the sheer complexity of the automated decision process, but there was logic behind them. Everyone said I was bright and articulate, and I’d followed all the advice about spending my time on Teen Level doing preparation work. The Level 99 Sewage Technician, butt of all the jokes, couldn’t happen to me. Please, not to me.

  “Good luck,” said Forge. “I hope all of you will be high up.”

  This time the response was wholehearted. “High up, everyone!” we yelled in unison.

  There was a second of silence, and then twin chiming sounds as the doors of the two nearest lifts opened. More groups of teens were arriving, and the watching hasties were waving at us to signal that we couldn’t linger here any longer. Forge put on the Halloween mask that transformed his handsome face into something demonic. Everyone else put on the joyful masks of Carnival, and followed him across to the moving stairs in the middle of the shopping area.

  We jumped onto one of the handrails of the downway. Forge first, then Shanna, and then the rest of us in turn. Riding the handrail was the classic act of teen rebellion. The hasties usually intervened to stop it, telling us to travel sensibly and safely on the moving stairs instead.

  They wouldn’t intervene today. This was our last day as teens, and Hive tradition gave us the right to one last act of rebellion, starting to ride the handrail on Level 1 itself and continuing on down as deep into the Hive as we could.

  I caught a glimpse of us in the mirrored wall beside me. A proud line of twenty-two masked figures, spectacular in our glittering costumes. As the handrail plunged down from the Level 1 shopping area to the one on Level 2, Forge raised his right hand and shouted the ritual words.

  “Ride the Hive!”

  “Ride the Hive!” We yelled the words back to him.

  The shoppers turned their heads to watch us go by, applauded, and called their good wishes to us. “High up to you.”

  “Ride the Hive!” We yelled the words each time the moving stairs went down to the next level. We’d never be together again. We’d never be the same people again. Lottery would do more than assess our abilities, optimize our possible professions to give us the one most suitable for us and useful to the Hive, and allocate us our level. It would imprint our minds with all the information needed to do our assigned work.

  All our lives we’d known and accepted our minds would be imprinted during Lottery. We’d discussed it dozens of times, eagerly looking forward to being given a wealth of knowledge. Over the last few weeks, the tone of those discussions had changed from joyful anticipation to nervous whispers about exactly what imprinting would do to our minds.

  Now Lottery was upon us and we were terrified. The assessment stage lasted between three and five days. By this time next week, we’d all be imprinted and beginning our new adult lives. We’d no idea if we’d be high or low level. We didn’t know what profession we’d be given. We weren’t even sure that we’d be the same people after our minds were imprinted. We were facing the black unknown, and we screamed defiance to block out the fear.

  I was fifth in line when we started on Level 1. Riding the rail was hard, so two of us had fallen before we even reached Level 5. As the overhead signs told us that we’d hit Level 18, I counted the figures reflected in the mirrored walls. We were down to fifteen now, and I was third in line. The ones who fell down from the handrail onto the moving stairs didn’t climb back on the handrail again. Custom decreed that the last ride was over when you fell.

  I focused my eyes on the two figures still ahead of me. Tall, heavily muscled Forge, his black hair matching his red and black costume. Slender Shanna behind him, her fair hair cascading down the back of her silver dress. She was perfectly poised and elegant, looking as if she could ride the handrail forever, but then her foot slipped as the rail made the bend to reach Level 46.

  Shanna flailed her arms, teetered wildly, and tumbled down onto the moving stairs next to her. She’d barely got time to stand up before the downway reached the Level 46 shopping area, where she stepped off and waved at the rest of us. I heard her final cry come from behind me.

  “Go Forge! Go Amber! Ride the Hive!”

  I daren’t look back as she called my name, but I held up my arm in salute and farewell, and blinked back tears from behind the fake smile of my Carnival mask. Shanna had been my best friend for all my years on Teen Level. I’d lived in her shadow, been alternately grateful to her for being my friend and jealous of her self-confidence, and now I’d never see her again.

  There was a faint chance that one of my old friends would come out of Lottery as the same level as me and we could stay in touch, but I knew it wouldn’t be Shanna. She was bound to be rated far higher level than someone as ordinary as me.

  I concentrated on the red of Forge’s shirt ahead of me, and the difficult job of keeping my balance as the rail flattened out, turned, and dived down again at each level change. We were below Level 60 now, I was shaking with the effort of the ride, and my legs stung from scratches as my silver sequinned skirt blew around them.

  We were still descending through shopping areas, because all the accommodation levels of the Hive had their shops, but they were plainer here, selling more functional goods. There were no fancy mirrored walls now, but I caught a reflection of us in some glass on Level 63, and saw there were only four of us left. By Level 70, there was no one behind me, and at Level 72 Forge fell and I was left alone.

  I kept riding the rail on down, all the way to Level 100 itself. There were no shops or people there, just dusty pipes to salute my triumph as I jumped to the
ground, but I’d ridden the Hive.

  I only felt the briefest moment of celebration before depression hit me. I’d ridden the Hive, I’d screamed defiance, but it hadn’t changed anything. Tomorrow morning, I would enter Lottery, because there was nowhere else I could go and nothing else I could do. There were one hundred and six other Hive cities in the world, but I wouldn’t have the right to ask to move to one of them until after I’d been through Lottery.

  Even if I could ask for a Hive transfer right now, I wasn’t courageous enough, or foolish enough, to take that leap into a darkened lift shaft. I’d no idea what life was like in other Hives. Our Hive news sometimes mentioned their names, but never gave any details about them. The occasional malcontent claimed other Hives were far more luxurious places to live than ours, but they obviously hadn’t had enough courage in their convictions to apply to move.

  Moving Hive wouldn’t help me anyway. My problem wasn’t with my Hive, but with suffering the suspense of waiting helplessly while my profession, my level, my whole future life was decided for me. Every Hive would have its own equivalent of Lottery, and it was better to face it here than in an alien place.

  I yanked off my mask, turned round, and stepped onto the upway. I stood there, weary and defeated, letting it carry me back towards my sliver of a room on Teen Level 50. It would have been much faster to take a lift, but it somehow seemed appropriate to go back the same way that I’d arrived.

  I was on Level 56 when I heard the chanting ahead of me that warned a telepath was nearby. I was looking forward to changing out of the Carnival outfit that had been chosen by Shanna, and was far too spectacular and revealing for someone like me. I was thinking about packing my bag to take to Lottery. I was planning to have an early night so I’d be well rested tomorrow. There was nothing in my head that was incriminating, but I joined in the chanting just the same.