Contributor

by Nicole Ciacchella

  "Nothing, huh?" she asked, giving him a lopsided grin.

  He blanched a bit. "Dara, I didn't mean it like that. You and I—"

  "No, forget it. I'm sorry. I didn't mean it."

  "It's okay," he said softly. "So much is happening to you right now, and I'm worried. I'm just looking out for you."

  She softened. "I know, Jonathan. But I don't think Letizia has an ulterior motive. There's a lot at stake for her too. Still, I promise I'll be careful."

  "Good," he said. He bent down and brushed a soft kiss over her cheek. "Just give me an hour, then I'll be back to help you."

  "Thank you." Her eyes filled with tears again, and she unconsciously clutched at the lapels of his jacket. Lately, she had the feeling he was the one thing keeping her together.

  "I'll always be here for you, Dara. Always," he promised. Gently, he disengaged her hands and kissed them. He waited while she opened the door to her apartment, and was still standing there when the doors closed.

  Dara fell back against them, letting them support her as she closed her eyes, so that she wouldn't have to see all the things that still needed to be done. Even with Jonathan's help tonight, she wasn't sure she and her father could manage everything. Resolutely, she pushed off the doors and headed to her room to change. If she stood still for too long, she might never move again.

  Chapter 15

  "It's fairly good," Letizia said, a faint crease appearing between her eyebrows. They had been at it for four hours already, and Dara's eyes burned.

  Jonathan had left about a half hour ago, placing a mug of much-needed coffee in Dara's hands. Her father had returned from his shift late, mumbling his way through an introduction to Letizia before stumbling off to his room.

  "But?" Dara asked, taking a sip of cold coffee, hoping it would help fortify her.

  "But that's the problem: it's fairly good, which means it won't pass muster with Andersen."

  Too tired to feel anything but numb, Dara rubbed a hand over her forehead. "So what should I do?"

  "Your research isn't deep enough. You have good working knowledge, but you haven't uncovered anything important, anything innovative."

  "I studied every source you recommended." She was barely able to suppress a sigh of exasperation.

  "Then look for others. Dara, you need to get your head in the game." The ferocity in Letizia's voice startled Dara out of her torpor. "I told you, I'll do what I can, but you have got to make sure you're not slacking. Gutierrez and LeTour aren't about to make this easy on you, and Andersen is not going to make allowances for your personal problems. You know that."

  "I know, I know. You're right. But I'm trying my best."

  "Try harder."

  Dara threw her hands up in the air. "Maybe I'm just not cut out for this. Maybe I don't deserve to be Andersen's apprentice!" she blurted, her frustration getting the better of her.

  "Oh, I see. So throw it all away. What will become of you then?" Letizia asked caustically.

  Though she knew Letizia was right, Dara stubbornly held onto her sense of righteous indignation. "It's just too hard." The words sounded like they'd been spoken by a petulant child, and Dara winced.

  "Do you think anyone cares about that?" Letizia's voice was like chips of ice. "Since when has fairness ever been part of the equation?"

  "I just... I didn't... I thought..." Dara cast around for the words, but they wouldn't come. She knew Letizia was not the type to coddle her and that, no matter what she said, the other woman would come back at her with a healthy dose of reality. It didn't matter that Dara was already drowning in her own reality.

  Letizia sighed and rubbed her face, her shoulders slumping slightly. The realization that Letizia was engaged in an endless battle struck Dara, and it looked like the battle was taking its toll on her master.

  "Look, I don't say these things to be mean," Letizia said, her voice softer this time. She stilled for a moment, her head in her hands, and then lifted it to look Dara in the eye. "Did I ever tell you about the assistant Andersen had two years ago?"

  "No, you didn't," Dara said slowly. She felt a shiver of dread race up her spine.

  "You remind me of her, a little. She was extremely smart and driven, and Andersen was very hard on her. But no matter what he threw at her, she learned how to take it. From every indication, she had a very bright future ahead of her at Magnum."

  Dara's mouth went dry, and her palms began to sweat. For some reason, she didn't want to know how the story ended.

  "Letizia, is it really...appropriate to tell me about this? I mean, I appreciate you helping me out, but I'll be working with Andersen's former assistant, and I probably shouldn't know..." her voice trailed off at the sight of Letizia shaking her head.

  "No, you won't be." Letizia's voice was very, very quiet, and she had dropped her gaze, staring at the hands clasped in her lap.

  Shocked, Dara asked, "Why?"

  "She's no longer a Ballast, Dara."

  "She...she's a Core?" She wondered if the horror in her voice was as plain to Letizia as it was to her.

  "That would have been kind." Letizia laughed bitterly, which surprised Dara. It was so rare for her to see the other woman express any genuine feelings. "The last I heard, she had to seek refuge with the Roots."

  Dara gasped, and Letizia's head snapped up, her gaze meeting Dara's. Letizia's eyes were wet.

  Cores were a more loosely-knit group than Ballasts. They lived in small clusters throughout the domes, separate from the Ballast enclave. Cores performed the duties that kept the domes running smoothly, tasks like cleaning offices and hauling trash. In return, the Job Creators provided Cores with everything required to fulfill their basic needs: housing, clothing, and food. While Ballasts formed the heart of the business, the innovators who kept their Job Creators on the cutting edge of technology, their focus would have been impossible without Cores. Though Cores enjoyed fewer luxuries than Ballasts, the Job Creators had established a fair system. After all, Ballasts provided the high-value Contributions.

  Still, being a Core was far better than being a Root. The Roots could offer no Contributions of value. Because the domes were reserved for those who Contributed, only the Roots lived outside. Survival in such harsh weather conditions was difficult, and the Roots were known for warring over the limited shelter available to them. Though they had learned how to cultivate some crops, and though the especially resourceful Roots could sometimes gather food from the sparse plant life, there was rarely enough to go around.

  "How could that happen?" Dara demanded.

  "Andersen reported her to the Authorities for slandering Magnum," Letizia said, and Dara stared at her, mouth agape. Resources were far too sparse to be shared with those who committed high level crimes against society, so the punishment for committing a crime such as theft, murder, and slander was immediate expulsion from the domes.

  "Why would she do such a thing?" Dara had been raised to be ever cognizant of all that Magnum had done for her. To slander her Job Creator entailed a level of ingratitude she found difficult to understand. "I mean, after all the resources Magnum allocated: her education, her food..."

  For the slightest of seconds, Letizia's mouth twisted into an expression of disgust. "I know."

  "Head of Engineering Andersen was right to turn her in for such a crime," Dara said firmly.

  "Head of Engineering Andersen is always extremely attentive to his duties."

  Though these were the right words, the way Letizia said them, the expression on her face, confused Dara. It was almost as if Letizia disapproved of Andersen's actions—but that couldn't be correct. Dara assumed that Letizia had been born and raised a Ballast, just like herself. After all, it was highly unusual for anyone to go from being a Job Creator to a Ballast and it was almost unheard of for someone to go from being a Core to a Ballast. Given this, Letizia would have been educated just as Dara had, would know her place in society and her duty to the Job Creators.

  "Isn't it our obligati
on to provide value for our Job Creator in exchange for all they provide to us?" Dara asked.

  "Of course." Letizia smiled, but Dara thought it looked somewhat forced. "I thought that sharing this story with you would help give you a clearer picture of the sort of person Andersen is."

  "He's a man of...integrity." Somehow, the word didn't seem right.

  "He is indeed most attentive to the needs and wishes of the Job Creators."

  "As we all should be," Dara replied automatically.

  The story had shaken her to her core, and her mind swirled with a myriad of unfamiliar emotions. There was no way she could process what Letizia had told her, and she found herself wishing that her master hadn't shared the story with her at all.

  "I want you to keep this in mind, Dara: if you're going to succeed, you need to know exactly what kind of man Andersen is, as well as exactly what kind of person you are." Something in Letizia's tone made Dara feel like she was being tested, but for what she couldn't say.

  "Yes...I guess you're right," she hedged. A fleeting look of disappointment passed over Letizia's face.

  "Let's get back to work," Letizia suggested. For some reason, she sounded resigned.

  "Yes, let's do that." Dara reached for the nearest tablet and started studying it intently, desperate to look anywhere but at Letizia. For a few moments, the air seemed suffused with awkwardness, but then Letizia's smooth composure returned.

  When Letizia finally left two hours later, Dara knew she should snatch whatever sleep she could get, but she simply could not put their conversation out of her mind. While the system could be frustrating at times—and Dara had certainly had plenty of personal experience with this as of late—it was also what kept everyone safe. Where would they be without the Job Creators?

  And, yet, some small part of her continued to protest against the unfairness of it all, and this realization made her feel sick to her stomach. Such thoughts were dangerous. Such thoughts could get her—and, possibly, her family—cast out of the dome.

  Chapter 16

  "Ouch, you're looking rougher than ever," Ryan smirked at Dara the next morning. He leaned against the wall, forcing her to walk around him.

  "Why don't you crawl back into your hole?" she suggested, deliberately nailing him in the ribs with her elbow. She widened her eyes in feigned innocence as he let out a grunt of pain. "Oh, I'm sorry!"

  "Maybe you shouldn't stand so close to her station," Javier offered. He stood at his own station, casually sipping coffee.

  "Hope you and D'Angelo talked for a good, long time last night. You have a lot of work to do, if you think you can compete with the presentation I'm putting together," Ryan said, an edge to his voice. He massaged his ribs, and Dara pressed her lips together, trying to suppress a smile.

  "I don't know, LeTour. Some of us are so good at what we do that it doesn't take us twice as long to prepare as it should," she said. She held his gaze for a second, snorted dismissively, and turned her attention to her station.

  "That mouth of yours is going to be your only asset when I become Assistant to the Head of Engineering."

  "Should I buy a ticket or is this a free show?" Javier asked, smirking at both of them.

  "Don't get too comfortable, Gutierrez. I've got your number too."

  "I'm not intimidated by empty threats, LeTour." Javier heaved a bored sigh and took a long, slow sip of his coffee.

  Dara looked up at him from beneath her lashes. She'd been so preoccupied by her worry about competing against Ryan that she wondered if she'd been missing her true competition all along. As if reading her mind, Javier gave her a slight wink. She started, her mouth tightening, before forcing herself to look away.

  "What are you doing, LeTour? We've got a meeting," Chen barked as he scurried into the room.

  "Of course, sir," Ryan said, his voice unctuous. As he left the room, he threw death glares over his shoulder at Dara and Javier.

  "He's pathetic," Javier drawled.

  Dara was unable to suppress her snort of laughter, and as she glanced over at Javier, she saw that he was smiling.

  Don't get friendly, Dara. Only one of you can win, and he knows it.

  "Yeah, well, I wouldn't underestimate him," she said, looking away.

  "Oh, trust me, I never underestimate anyone."

  "Good morning, Javier," Walters said, striding into the room. "Are you ready for the planning meeting?"

  "Of course." He handed her a tablet.

  "Very good," she said, scanning it. "Let's go."

  Dara was relieved to have a moment to herself. Though she'd stood up to Ryan, her hands had been shaking the entire time, and she took several deep breaths in an attempt to calm her racing heart.

  "Where's your backbone, Dara?" Letizia asked, startling Dara so severely that she jumped and banged her hip painfully against her station.

  "What do you mean?" Dara asked, wincing.

  "I mean LeTour. Why do you even engage with him? He's doing his best to mess with your head, and he's winning."

  "Yeah, but I—"

  "I'm not interested in your excuses," Letizia cut in. "You don't have to sink to his level. You can ignore him." She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at Dara.

  A retort leapt to the tip of Dara's tongue, but she knew Letizia was right. Dara's protests died, leaving her standing with her mouth wide open.

  "Few things are more intimidating to people than being ignored. Why do you think my colleagues have dubbed me the Ice Princess?"

  "You know about that?" Dara asked, feeling her cheeks flame.

  Letizia looked at her like she was an ignorant three-year-old. "I make it my business to know everything. Just like I know that LeTour tampered with your station."

  "What?" Dara cried, panicking. She hurriedly flipped through several screens, her stomach plummeting.

  "But how did he... The security protocols... What am I going to do?" She was on the verge of tears, and her breaths came in furious gasps. She couldn't believe she was falling apart in front of Letizia like this, but she was powerless to stop it.

  "You don't think a weasel like him knows how to hack past security protocols? Really, Dara, what are they teaching in school nowadays? How can you be so naive?"

  "And how can you be so calm?" Dara asked, furiously rounding on Letizia. A few seconds later, her brain caught up with her mouth, leaving her horror-struck that she had just yelled at her master. Fearfully, she looked up at Letizia and saw the spark in the other woman's eyes.

  "Finally showing some backbone," Letizia said approvingly, and Dara was so astonished she gaped openly. "Don't worry about your notes. I have a backup—several, in fact. I strongly suggest you follow suit from now on. And LeTour isn't the only one who knows something about hacking his way past security systems."

  "What?" An inexplicable sense of dread immediately replaced Dara's relief.

  "I have a feeling that your friend LeTour is about to let his master down in a big way. Now, I do believe we have a meeting of our own. Let's go."

  Wordlessly, Dara gathered her things. She wanted to ask Letizia how she knew that Ryan would let Chen down, but her head spun too dizzyingly for her to be able to think straight. Who was this woman?

  Dara was glad that she just needed to listen and take notes during the meeting. She simply couldn't control her jumbled thoughts. A sick sense of anticipation suffused her, and she was anxious to get back to see what had happened with Ryan.

  Before she and Letizia had even made it back to engineering, Dara could hear Chen yelling at Ryan. She looked over at Letizia and saw a slow, satisfied smile creep up over her master's face.

  "You know why Senior Engineer Chen is yelling at him, don't you?" Dara asked.

  "I believe it's because LeTour mysteriously lost the notes he was supposed to have prepared for Chen's meeting this morning."

  "You believe it or you know it?" Dara's own frankness surprised her.

  "You're right, I'm being disingenuous. I know it." Leti
zia met her gaze.

  Though she tried her best, Dara found it impossible to maintain eye contact with her master for more than a few seconds.

  "Come on, Dara. Surely you don't think it's unfair to use LeTour's own weapon against him."

  "What he did... He sabotaged me and..."

  "And I sabotaged him right back. Don't forget, your success is mine, and I assure you that I have far more to lose than you do."

  "But—" Dara protested weakly. She wasn't sure exactly what she was going to say, but Letizia cut her off before she could say anything.

  "But what? But it's not fair? But you don't like what I did? You told me that LeTour is ruthless. Well, guess what? We're all ruthless here." Letizia's voice was hard and cold, and Dara shivered slightly.

  "I—" she began, trying to find something, anything to say, but, once again, Letizia cut her off.

  "You should expect me at your apartment tonight. We still have a lot to do. Right now, I want you to write up a report of the meeting we just attended."

  "Yes, Senior Engineer D'Angelo," Dara replied, her spine stiffening.

  Letizia turned and strode crisply off, leaving Dara alone. Chen's voice rose, and Dara flinched. She had no idea why she felt sorry for Ryan. After all, he had tried to sabotage her.

  Get to work. Work will distract you.

  But no matter how hard she tried, she could not block out the sound of Chen's shouting.

  Chapter 17

  Taking a deep breath, Dara did her best to ignore her churning stomach and shaking hands. She looked around, noting Ryan's smirk and the way Javier held his stylus poised over his tablet, ready to begin scribbling notes. Chen's twitching right eyebrow bespoke his impatience, but Walters looked as coolly regal as a queen examining her court. Andersen sat with his hands steepled, his searing blue eyes fixed on her face. With one last breath, Dara hazarded a quick glance at Letizia, who studied her intently, her face rigid.

  Fortunately or unfortunately, Dara had been elected to begin the presentations. Though the hours and hours she and Letizia had spent preparing had felt nearly endless, Dara felt panic sharpening its claws on her nerves, now that the day of the presentations was already at hand. Letizia had picked her presentation apart piece by minute piece, but Dara wished her master had critiqued it one last time.