The Grower's Gift (Progeny of Time #1)

by Smythe, Vanna

  "You cannot do this!" the delegation lawyer finally yelled. "We have rights."

  Violetta laughed. "Here in Neo York I decide what your rights are. Blame your masters. They knew this might happen. Now it's up to them to save you. Or not."

  Her laugh echoed in the silent room for a moment, then his father stood up. Ty hoped he would recall his mother's order and find a more peaceful solution, however, his father merely called for a vote on the matter. The entire panel silently raised their hands. The crowd that had gathered in the velvet seats erupted in outrage, drowning out the pleading and crying of the delegation members. The Citizens of Neo York supported the idea of Nova 18 becoming the sole property of their city, as it was a Neo Yorker who first discovered it could be fit for human habitation. Nova 18 could fit the entire population of Neo York, but not if they shared it with the other cities of the Ring. Yet his mother's barbaric negotiation tactics never went over very well with the public.

  Their outraged protests did little to change anything, as usual. The panel families were already filing out through the back door. The first execution would happen soon.

  Ty glanced at the delegation as he followed his parents from the room, wishing, far, very far in the back of his mind that he had the power to save them. He didn't. So there was no use even looking at them.

  He muttered a hasty goodbye to his parents and ran out towards the elevator that would take him to the boathouse. He'd barely make it, but he'd be there at six like he promised Rober.

  CHAPTER NINE

  The sky outside was a deep yellow by the time Maya woke up the next morning. Giles still snored softly beside her.

  The apartment they were in had wraparound windows, all twice as tall as she was. Advertisements flashed across the sky, broken up by speeding hovercraft. The new medicapsule, one ad read. Fix all common ailments with the press of a button. Now able to mend broken bones. A single one of those in her town could save so many, give the people some hope.

  She didn't see a single person anywhere, nor any birds or trees. Tall, wide buildings stretched out in all directions, connected by tunnels and tubes. One of those must be the school. Perhaps the one that glimmered like a thousand diamonds. She'd find out today, anyway. The apartment they were in was so high up she could not see the street below. Simply looking down she felt pulled into the abyss.

  The oven in the kitchen produced a good imitation of eggs and buttered toast, but it still tasted less real than the eggs back home. The knowledge that if a single one of these machines were available in her town there would be no starvation also took all the enjoyment out of eating it.

  Giles joined her while she was looking for a place to put the dirty dishes.

  "It's this one, I think," he muttered and pointed to a shiny blue door with a shower head styled on its surface. The door had no handle and no buttons to press to open it. In the end, Maya stacked the dirty dishes on the floor beside it and joined Giles at the table.

  "I hope someone comes to let us out soon. I want to find the school as soon as possible."

  Giles swallowed hard, the unchewed bit of sausage going down bringing tears to his eyes. "About that, Maya. I'm not sure studying under Violetta Remarque is the best idea."

  It took Maya a moment to place the name, but then she remembered Giles' terrible story. "What choice do I have, Giles? This is my best chance of figuring out my gift."

  "I'm sure there are other schools like that, in other cities."

  "We're here in this one, and I doubt we'll ever be able to enter another one."

  Maya picked some dirt from under her fingernails, not wanting to meet his eyes. His intentions were good, but he totally didn't understand. The need to learn her gift was all-consuming, constantly on her mind.

  Giles looked down at his hands too and didn't reply.

  "I'll keep out of her way as much as I can, I promise," Maya finally said. "I want to get back home to my parents as soon as possible."

  "I don't want you to go to the school at all," Giles said mutinously.

  Why was he being so difficult? Couldn't Giles see this was hard enough on her as it was? Why did he insist on giving her more to worry about?

  Still, she understood where his questions were coming from. She took hold of his hand with both of hers. "I'll be in and out of that school in no time. We'll still see each other each afternoon. And you'll have all the time in the world to get reacquainted with your brothers."

  Giles frowned down at his maimed hands, then looked at her like he was struggling to make a decision. He shook his head, and Maya steeled herself for more arguments, but he smiled one of those smiles that made his eyes glimmer. "You're right. This is what you need to do and I won't get in your way."

  He stood up and pulled her after him. "Since we're stuck here, I think we should make the best of it. I'm sure there's enough gadgets in here to play with for the rest of our lives and never get bored."

  He showed Maya the shower, where she spent the next hour enjoying the bubbles. The jet of warm air that whooshed over her as she climbed out of the shower surprised her so much she screamed.

  While she was showering, Giles had found the virtual reality gaming console. They spent the next two hours wandering around a land of history, with snowcapped mountains sheltering castles made of stone. The Medieval world was so real she could smell the roses in the gardens and the pines that surrounded her castle. Maya chose to play Isabella, who would soon inherit the whole kingdom to rule as she pleased. She pulled out of the VR world once she began to feel her sense of identity slipping, merging with the mind of the princess.

  Giles switched off the console soon after and turned on the television. On the news, an excited news anchor was informing them that the talks about something called Nova 18 were going well, and that soon the planet would be under the sole control of Neo York. Then a short segment showed Nova 18, explaining its significance. It was a planet they hoped to make into a second Earth so that people could abandon this dying planet.

  Maya shot to her feet and pointed wildly at the screen. "Do you hear that? They mean to leave Earth, not even try to save it."

  Giles moved to switch off the news but she held him back. "This can't be! I have to stop them."

  Giles shook off her grasp and switched off the TV. "There isn't anything you can do, Maya."

  "I can try," she said and sat back down. "As soon as that Rober kid comes back I'm going to make him take me to the school."

  She spent the rest of the afternoon by the window, refusing to speak to Giles. Ads kept flashing in the sky: A state of the art oven, capable of producing even the most complicated foods; a dishwasher that could change the color and shape of your dishes while making them spotlessly clean; a comb that dyed your hair any color with the press of a button.

  Who wanted all that? Was having more things all the Citizens cared about?

  Maya had a whole list of ideas to speak to Rober about by the time the greenish tint of twilight colored the sky outside. Whatever he was doing to help the Badlands was too little and too slow.

  The panel by the door started beeping once the sky turned a dark green color again. A picture of Rober's face flashed across the screen. It took them a few moments to figure out which button to press to answer the call.

  "How are you doing?" Rober asked once they finally succeeded. His pale red hair was standing out all over the place and a faint bruise was starting to rise on his cheek.

  "Fine," Maya replied. "I want to go to the school as soon as possible. Come let us out now."

  Rober shook his head. "Today is not a good day for you to be wandering around the city. Have some dinner, play a few games and I'll see you later."

  Maya opened her mouth to insist he let her out now, but the screen went black.

  "Try to call him back," Maya pleaded with Giles.

  He only made a halfhearted attempt, muttering about how unwise it was to go against the wishes of a member of a panel family.

  "What's
a panel family?" Maya asked once her anger at his complacency faded.

  Giles sat down on the sofa across from her. "How much do you already know about the Ring?"

  Maya shrugged. "I know that it exists."

  After she learned of the mines and other terrors designed to keep people from the Badlands away from the cities, she refused to learn any more about them.

  "I don't know much more than that myself," Giles said. "I was only eight when we left. The Ring is made up of five megacities. This is Neo York, and then there's Chicago, Toronto, Dakota and New Los Angeles. There's no real government in any of the cities or the Ring as a whole. They're all run by families that control most of the wealth, technology and commerce."

  "Didn't New York drown after the North melted?" Maya asked, trying to recall from her studies what the city once looked like. Tall buildings were all she remembered, but none of them as tall as the ones that surrounded her now.

  "The old city was, yes. They safeguard it, it's a tourist attraction of sorts now."

  "Great, so they preserve a drowned city, and let the rest of the world die off," Maya muttered. "It figures. They plan to leave it all behind anyway."

  Giles leaned back and looked past her out the window. "Anyway, Neo York is run by a panel of six of the most powerful families, Greenwood, Schwartz, Weinstein, Orsini, Montague and Remarque, of course."

  Maya recognized the names of the kids in the hovercraft. No wonder they had no problem getting Maya and Giles into the city. And no wonder they expected her to bow at the mere mention of their names.

  "I don't know much more than that," Giles continued, "except that you don't want to get on the wrong side of any of them. They made sure every Citizen knew that from the start."

  Out in the Badlands, no one knew very much about how the cities of the Ring operated. If they wished to let everyone die out, would they even let Maya help? How could they not? They couldn't enjoy spending their days cooped up in these tall buildings.

  After a while Giles suggested they play another game and Maya agreed, mostly to pass the time before Rober finally came.

  She stayed awake as long as she could. The Orsini kid didn't come like he promised he would. And after all Giles said, she was beginning to doubt they were anything other than prisoners in these comfortable rooms. The only thing she couldn't understand was why.

  ~

  A gorgeous black skinned woman with slanting blue eyes smiled all the way to the doors of the elevator that led to boathouse eight, miles above the Earth, where Ty was expected by Rober. Seven hostile pairs of eyes locked on him as soon as he entered, but Rober said, "Ah, there you are. I'd begun to worry you wouldn't be able to make it. What happened after I left?"

  "More or less as you predicted. Only there will be no trials, just executions," Ty said and sat down in one of the plush egg-shaped chairs.

  Sage Montague leapt up, sending her chair spinning. "And I suppose that was your darling mother's idea? She does like to simply kill anyone who stands in her way."

  "You're right about that, Sage," Ty replied, fixing her with his icy gaze. "So it's better not to get in her way."

  It was all Ty himself ever tried to do, and the only sensible way to deal with his mother.

  Sage eyed him up and down. "She doesn't scare me."

  The rest in the room were listening intently, but none spoke.

  Ty glared at Sage. "She should."

  When Sage made to protest, Rober interrupted.

  "Calm down, Sage. We're just here to talk."

  Sage rounded on Rober. "Why did you even ask Ty to come? We don't need his help and I doubt we'll get it."

  Ty looked from one to the other. "Help with what?"

  Rober motioned for Sage to sit down and she obeyed. He leaned over the table and poured Ty a glass of cognac, not the real stuff his father drank, but the artificially made one his father despised. Not that Ty had a taste for either.

  He swirled his drink in the glass and scanned the room. Adam and Sage Montague. Tanya Weinstein. Anne Greenwood. Henrik Schwartz. Liam and Michael Northman. All the ones who agreed with Rober's plans, all younger children of the panel families that controlled Neo York. His friends. Outside the window, the Earth was a blue and brown ball, swathed in thick white clouds.

  Rober stood up and looked at Ty. "I've called this meeting because the future of our planet is threatened and no one else is doing anything about it. We want to and we will. We need you with us, Ty."

  Ty leaned forward in his chair. "Need me for what?"

  Ty had listened to Rober's rants about the planet often enough. He'd been certain Rober understood he wanted nothing to do with it. The whole setup felt like a deadly trap all of a sudden, and it would be best if he simply got up and left before they said any more.

  Rober turned to him. "Help us change the way things are!" He pointed through the window at Earth and continued. "They spend days arguing who has more right to be the first to leave this planet behind. I am sure, we are all in this room sure, more can be done to save it. If they can terraform Nova 18, they can terra save Earth!"

  A few of those gathered chuckled.

  "Maybe we should find another slogan, though," Liam said. "Terra save Earth sounds a little forced."

  Ty laughed along with the others to hide his shock. Rober's face turned red.

  "Who cares what we call it? We're not selling anything. Millions are still displaced in the Badlands, lacking food and shelter, lacking safety, while we in the cities draw the last resources to live in made up worlds, with pictures where real nature should be."

  Ty stopped listening. He'd had no idea Rober had begun acting on his wishes to help the people of the Badlands. Organizing meetings, going against his parents' orders, the panel's orders. If he had known, Ty would have tried to stop him. Did Rober imagine he was the first to have these ideas? Didn't he see that likely thousands had been prevented from carrying out similar things in the past?

  The stones on Ty's bracelet turned so cold he was sure they left burn marks. He fought against the feelings of anger, betrayal, terror before something went wrong. He imagined stuffing it all into a metal chest in his mind, its walls thick, its locks infallible. Exactly like Salvio taught him to do all those years ago when he started teaching him how to control his power. Ty hadn't had to perform this exercise to control his gift for years now.

  "What do you want from me?" he asked harshly, cutting across the rest of Rober's speech.

  The others turned to glare at him.

  "Let him finish speaking," Tanya barked.

  "Hear me out, please," Rober replied. "Between us we wield enough power to control the entire Ring. I have the power to make the shields fail, the Montagues control the space technology. We could make this world a good place for all to live. You, Ty, will be in control of this city soon."

  "It's time someone did something to save the Badlands," Sage cut in. "We're in a great position to do so. It's our responsibility."

  Ty looked at her. "Responsibility? How? None of us caused what is happening."

  "We can't let them all die," Tanya insisted, "not when we have the means to save them. It's the right thing to do."

  Ty admired their fire, wished he could share it. However, too much depended on him staying on his mother's good side. Eve's safety, his own survival. And now this.

  Ty had heard too much. They all had. There was no way to unhear it ever again. He couldn't believe Rober would ambush him like this. But telling everyone in the room how he really felt about their insane plans wouldn't do any good either.

  "My parents plan to rule for at least another fifty years, Rober. And you, Sage and Adam, how will you two get past Hercules to seize power?"

  Unlike the ancient son of a god, Hercules had no weakness. And his only goal was to become the head of House Montague.

  "The plan we propose is a long term one, one that will be carried out in stealth," Rober explained. "We will give the towns and villages the ability to begin
healing the land and keep their efforts secret. Once that is achieved a coup will have to take place."

  Ty locked his fingers into a tight ball in his lap, still struggling to stuff all his rage, anger, sadness and panic into the large metal chest in the darkest corner of his mind, slamming the lid down, locking it tight before the emotions could make him lose control and lash out with his power. Using his power on them all now would likely be a kinder fate than his mother finding out about their plans.

  He grit his teeth, forcing himself to ignore the thought, his jaw aching. The stones on his bracelet turned so painfully cold he wanted to rip it off. Maybe that meant it was working. Maybe it was helping him stay in control of his power.

  Finally the waves of dangerous panic began to lessen. He had to choose his words carefully. Merely saying the things Rober was saying carried a death sentence, and Ty's mother would not be satisfied with mere executions for speeches and plans like these. No. She'd keep every one of Ty's treasonous friends alive for months, ripping out their teeth, pulling out their nails, cutting away fingers and limbs. Then she'd execute them, if there was anything else left to kill. That in itself might spark a revolution, though not likely. The panel deferred silently. And Violetta Remarque took her power very absolutely, and very personally.

  Rober was eyeing him with a hint of fear in his eyes now. As well he should. He, better than anyone, understood the terrible position Ty was in. He knew how thin a line Ty walked every day, keeping his mother happy and his sister safe. Rober knew Ty would always keep him safe too— keep all his friends safe if he could. Rober was counting on it. Why else had he dragged Ty into this?

  Right then Ty hated him for it.

  There was no walking away from this meeting, not ever. Neither could he go back. Rober and his revolutionaries had to be stopped before they got hurt.

  Ty took a long swallow of his cognac and leaned back, smiling, knowing full well that the smile never reached his ice cold eyes.