by Tal Turing
The man nodded, calmly, “Yes, but Urbanic Dome is right next door and there is a direct connection. It is much faster.”
“Oh.”
Urbanic Dome, named for the corporation which perfected dome technology, was the first and oldest dome of the valley. Ann noticed, right away, that it lacked the bright colors and festive atmosphere of SkyTran.
Rather than hide the fact that the city was protected by a dome, Urbanic seemed to emphasize it. The sky was like an aurora borealis of lights and form which highlighted the structure and the details of Maltiempo as it pressed up against the rotating, protecting structure. It was spectacular in its own way.
The taxi descended to a landing area at the intersection of several building-lined streets.
“I can walk...” Ann offered as she opened her portable AI to pay the fee.
“It is already after hours, the city is dying and you shouldn't walk alone. I will wait for you.”
“I am not going to pay you to wait, I might be a half-hour or longer in there. I may even stay the night,” Ann protested as she left the vehicle. The man did not respond.
She walked down the street, the ground rough and uneven. It was only the most prestigious streets which had raised walks for pedestrians. The corpers took vehicles everywhere else, it was no wonder they all seemed so thin and lacking muscle. Ann, on the other hand, although short in stature, had a thick, athletic body and healthy, almost ruddy, skin. She was proud not to look like a corper or be one.
But there were disadvantages sometimes. Ann did not have an AI implant deep in her skull, so she frowned when she reached the entrance of the building and was confronted with a corper security portal. There was a sign as well.
The Sanctuary is Temporarily Closed
Well, it was half-right, Ann thought. She tried using her portable unit to communicate with the building AI, but it did not understand. How would she get in? And since many of the Sisters were residents of the village and normally would work within, wouldn't there be some way for them to enter?
She traced the front of the old building and found a narrow alley way which led to the service entrance. Thankfully, it was equipped with a retina scan. That was good enough and although Ann had never visited before, it recognized her and welcomed her as a member of the Techview Sisterhood.
She huffed as she walked in and down a dark hallway. The lights were dim but it was enough for her. She called out a standard greeting and heard the echoes of her voice die away as she listened.
On the ground floor she found rooms containing clothes and toys, and Ann was reminded that this place was also an orphanage of sorts, she also noted that the donated items were from both the villages as well as the domes themselves. Apparently there were some good people even in the cities. But then corpers usually had slightly different reasons for the things they did.
Sure, an orphanage within the Domes seemed a good thing. But it was also yet another way for the corporations to attract humans into their web of slavery. She picked up a listening helmet and sighed. For some it would make a difference. Sometimes it was those differences that counted.
She shrugged and moved on, her boot heels striking the stone of the hallways; it was delightfully reminiscent of Techview even if the rooms were more plain. There, she said it, was she becoming so spoiled? She entered a restroom and turned on the water to wash her hands. The water was cold. Good.
Sister Annabelle worked her way back to the entrance. The halls were clean, the racks devoid of jackets or weather suits. She found nothing that suggested an on-going daily routine, the refrigerator was near empty, the coffee maker had been washed and placed in storage. It didn't seem anyone planned to return anytime soon. But what about the First Sister? The one who had boldly stated that she would not leave.
She found a brochure in a waiting room and flipped through it; it concerned those damn Sponsorship Laws, the things that allowed village children to become corporate slaves. She found a Q/A section near the back.
Q:I heard that Corporate Assets are akin to indentured servants – Answer – An indentured servant normally works for a specific amount of time and they are still considered as having individual rights, similar to a contractor or an employee. A corporate asset serves as long as it takes to pay off their debt and until that time are considered corporate property.
Q:Isn't it true that if sponsorship isn't working for me, I can return to the villages? - Answer – Although technically the Sponsorship Laws have no jurisdiction among the villages of Las Joyas, many of those villages see assets as traitors and will not accept them back. Further, the asset could be reclaimed if they should enter corporation jurisdiction in the future.
Ann scowled, replaced the brochure and moved on.
The second floor of the property was more familiar to her, large rooms dedicated to common and group activities: sleeping quarters, dining and training rooms. Although the rooms were now devoid of people, Ann could picture the similar rooms in Techview but with people, lights and activity. It was like walking the halls of school during a festival break: both soothing and lonely.
She found the sanctum on the third and top level floor. It was so bare and simple that Ann's first thought was that it had been looted, stripped down. But there were benches arranged in a circle, a wooden platform near the center and Ann realized that it was easy enough for her to criticize the corpers for surrounding themselves with luxury while the Inner Sanctum of Techview was clearly extravagant compared to this.
It was only when she stepped near the chamber center and looked up, through a damaged skylight, that she realized how intentional the room was. The sky light was clear and in the dying light of the day, she could clearly see the swirl of the storms above them. It was both awesome and hypnotic and now she could understand the attraction of living in this dome.
It took her much longer to find the First Sister's quarters but when she did, she was sure what it was: a room designed to be both functional and for living. There was a small kitchen with accompanying table and chairs in one corner, a larger discussion area in the center and a reading alcove and bookcase opposite the kitchen.
It was only when Ann looked beyond a half-size book case that she found a small sleeping area. There were filing cabinets filled with articles and papers on various topics: counseling, family law, psychology, depression, philosophy, and of course the Sponsorship Laws and how they were interpreted among the various cities and villages of Las Joyas.
The lair of a true believer.
The bed was made but she found a glass of water placed nearby, some books spread out on one side and a pair of boots at the foot of the bed. The space was clearly lived in and its occupant expected to return.
She found a picture of the First Sister among a group of teenagers. She took in the short black hair, the pale complexion, the dark blue eyes. Ann felt sure she could recognize her again. But somehow she neglected to take the picture with her.
Miriam
Ann arrived back at the hotel long after dark. The lobby of the opulent establishment shined in its floors and sparkled from its ceilings, but other than some hospitality assets, aka hospies, the area was empty. But the sounds of reveling and dining filled the air from the over-crowded taverns on either side.
Emerging from behind a gilded column, Ann spied the leggy body and flashy costume of a female party-goer. But the woman held her bright, coral-colored, head between two clenched hands. It was Miriam.
The girl saw her as Ann approached and flashed a wan smile but her face was pained.
“Everything okay?” Ann called.
“Yeah...hi Annabelle. sorry, I just have such a headache, its a leftover gift from all those surgeries I had last year. They give you pain medicine but withdrawal is a bitch if you'll excuse the sexist terminology.”
“Why would I mind?” Ann smiled back. She knew that corpers all had electronic implants lodged in their skulls, but there many cosmetic surgeries available as well and there was no telling what horrors the
poor girl had endured in order to reach such a high level of physical beauty. Ironically, Ann thought Miriam's eyes and her smile were her best features. “So when did you want to go see these gardens everyone has been touting?” Ann began the conversation, but she had less interest in seeing domer flowers than she had in talking to Miriam about her Sponsorship. In particular, how she was able to leave it so quickly. When the two had first met, Miriam was a deep-in-debt medical research asset, distraught over the death of her brother and the separation from her family. Now, somehow, she was an officer and barely in her twenties.
“Not today...not tomorrow, I'm swamped.” Miriam blurted irritably.
“Sure, it's no problem. Just let me know,” Ann replied.
“I'm sorry, it's not you, it's...well other things are taking all my time...”
Ann smiled at the girl's pretty green eyes and her pouty lips that reminded her so much of her own youngest daughter, always so much going on in her life. Ann did not envy that at all.
“Miriam, don't worry about it. Anytime that works...”
“The day afterwards?”
“You don't have to commit...”
“The day afterwards,” Miriam insisted, “we'll go in the afternoon. Now I have to run to this stupid mixer where I'll be asked a million dumb questions by a hundred over-sexed corper males.”
“Sounds like fun.”
“Only when it's my idea,” Miriam sighed, waved and hurried away.
The Temple of the Faithful Sons
It was the next day and all of her attempts to contact people who knew Sister Lyn had stalled. So Annabel Paige changed tactics. An hour later, she and her persistent, annoying escort arrived back in SkyTran Dome's spectacular garden district. She left the man outside, on the beautiful street while she walked within a transparent walkway, a dedicated entrance to a large, white temple. Even as she entered, the sounds of the dome at noon were muffled and she felt alone.
The Believers will be Saved
The Saved will be Rewarded
The Rewarded will be Believed
Each line appeared on a wall, and then disappeared before the next appeared. She walked by, uninterested in how or if it cycled.
The floor was carpeted and the temperature comfortable, upscale without being gaudy. It reminded her a bit of a university until she walked into the Chapel.
The walls fell away into a huge room, filled with seats and aisles facing a giant stage and altar. The insignia of the Faithful Sons blazed in a silent fire even now.
A portly woman appeared even as Ann turned back.
“Are you seeking guidance?” the woman asked with a glare at Ann's weather suit.
“I have a meeting with Brother Ambrose, he wasn't specific about where I should meet him.”
“I would know if you had a meeting with him, at least if it was a significant meeting. Hold on.”
Ann watched the woman's eyes as they went distant, no doubt now inundated by images and sounds from her AI. Ann looked down at her portable assistant, it did not indicate a message. Perhaps she was meant to wander the halls of this place until she found the prominent religious leader who promised to grant her some of his time. But soon she noticed the woman had motioned to her and was leading her back out, up wide stairs and to an office.
The sanctum of Brother Ambrose was lined with ancient tomes and artifacts and Ann wondered how he came into possession of some of them. The back of his office held a window which looked out into the Chapel and even from there she could see the eternal flame. It held no comfort for her, quite the opposite.
“Tell me more about this Sanctuary which you represent?” the man spoke with patience and indulgence.
“We are a small society, but with a strong interest in aiding and guiding women and children, especially those who have left their homes in the villages and are often separated from the love and support of their families.”
“It is important to provide food to the hungry,” interjected Ambrose firmly, “a place to sleep for the weary, but nurturing the soul should be left to those who can obtain the sustenance that it needs. Miss Paige, have you considered that life guidance is not as important as spiritual direction? Do you not believe that the actions we take here on this earth pale compared to our duties in the after time?”
“I suppose,” Ann replied as she got the feeling this meeting would not be fruitful.
“Things happen in phases. For millennia the corrupt world has been allowed to pursue their self-serving agenda and then, in the span of a decade, it all has changed and their world has ended, just as the Book has said it would and we are left in the final fight. I just can't understand why so many of us yearn to go back to the old ways.”
“But it is you who live in the Domes, isn't that their purpose? To restore mankind to its former glories?”, Ann pointed out.
“Don't think I am judging you,” the man smiled. “I am a sinful, imperfect man, I know that. What I am trying to point out is that it matters much less what we do than whose side we are on. We must support the side of Good.”
“I am not disagreeing with you. But my immediate concern is the whereabouts of one of our leadership and although our local sanctuary is not part of your conference, I hoped and I still hope that you will assist me.”
The man nodded quickly, waiting for her to finish.
“I am all about cooperation and unity and I know many important and influential corporate citizens that I am fortunate to have as both friends and parishioners. But they will not think the same way as me; they will not understand any expenditure of energy that does not directly benefit our Father and the Faithful Sons. Which is why I have a proposal.”
Ann tried to keep her practical blue eyes from distancing. If he already had an answer, he had readied it long before he had heard what she had to say.
“Your building is abandoned, it's staff scattered!” he declared. “That could never happen in one of our satellites. We will bring you into our fold, you would still be able to provide the physical encouragements which are so important to you, but we would oversee the spiritual counseling which is essential. Then, as part of the Faithful Sons, I can demand a full inquiry and get results.”
“What if she is being held by a company?”
“Very doubtful. What would they want with a villager when they have their choice among their own assets? Believe it or not, there is a strong symbiosis between the Domes and the villages. As we grow, we need more of their goods and services and they are happy to take our money. It is a win-win. Companies find themselves competing for the best village workers and so no corporation is so stupid as to antagonize them in this way. But she may be in a hospital or a med den, she might be in a hospital or with a boyfriend. Who knows, but we might find out.”
“I know what you are asking but I don't have the power to make that decision...”
“Come now, Miss Paige. We know who you are and where you are from. Certainly a member of the Techview leadership can make that decision or can convince your fellows.”
“That decision would take time and I need immediate help.”
“Sometimes bold action is needed. Your local presence is broken anyway, I am offering you a chance to rebuild it in a single day. Think about it.”
Ann's mood was dark as she left the office and descended the stairs. Upon reaching the ground floor, she could hear activity in the large chapel and took a step in that direction. Perhaps she should look around a bit?
“Miss Paige.” came the voice of the woman who had met her before. Ann turned. “I believe your appointment is finished? Let me help you find the way out.”
Ann followed the woman who walked several paces ahead of her, back into the walkway which led back toward the place where she had entered. As they reached that position, the woman waited for her.
The woman spoke quickly.
“If he ever found your friend, she would be in much greater danger than wherever she is now. He calls himself a 'sinful' man for good reas
on.”
Ann's mouth dropped open at these unexpected words. She was more than surprised, she was shocked.
“Why...why would you tell me this?”
“It is not that I don't believe in our cause or that I do not love the Father. I do, more than you can understand. But it is written that much anguish and pain will be felt by the unbelievers. I can't change that, but neither must I aid it. The end will come as it should either way. I don't expect you to trust me, but I have told you my truth.”
“Can you help me, with my friend?”
“No. If they have taken her, though I doubt it, then she is lost to you. And otherwise he will not care to even look. His interest is only in the small fraction of lost souls that find their way to your sanctuary and showing them the error of their ways. Think on that, Sister.”
Transom Security
It was becoming clear to Ann that it would not be easy to find the missing woman. Lyn had not returned to her home village, her friends had not heard from her and the abandoned Sanctuary yielded no clues. She had asked for help from a leader of one of the largest religious sects in Las Joyas and he offered nothing unless the Sanctuary was brought under his supervision.
Despite what Brother Ambrose had said, Ann still felt that it was likely the First Sister was in control of an area company, but which one? It was then she remembered the story she had been told about Lyn, that she had somehow engaged one corporation against another. It was an interesting idea and then she saw the sign with the rotating golden globe and the lettering:
Transom Services – East Transom Villages Branch
She walked into the building and told them her problem. She was shuffled around to many different counters until she found herself seated in one of many semi-private cubicles facing a line of attendants over a long counter which separated them.
The person before her was a young man dressed in a light gray uniform which sported another of the globe symbols on his breast.
Ann thought that it was a strange choice. There was no longer a global community, there was only a planet ruled by storms, by Maltiempo, and the humans were relegated to an microscopic fraction of the Earth's surface. An island would be a more apt representation.