by Lucy Hawking
“They can detect all sorts of things,” said Empyrean. “Viruses, bombs—probably far more. Whether they can detect you, we should find out shortly. But the less commotion we make, the sooner they’ll move on.”
*
Once the swarm of bee monitors had finally flown away, later that evening George and Boltzmann snuck out of the front hatch, which the inspector bot had insisted Empyrean leave open. Boltzmann had recharged back to full power so the two of them sat in the entrance to the little inflatable home. They didn’t dare go any further. But George had to get out of the tiny, round house and feel, if not the fresh air of outside, at least the difference of atmosphere Inside the Bubble, as opposed to the stuffy little sitting room.
From where they sat, they could see rows of identical inflatable houses neatly dotting the interior of the Bubble. Each house was a different color from its neighbors, with a small garden surrounding it. Robots worked efficiently in the gardens, trimming hedges, tending flowers, and watering the grass. The gardens were so tidy and brilliantly green that George wondered if the plants were real. He reached out and touched a leaf, but an alarm went off and a bossy robot from the next-door house beetled over to shake a finger at him.
“Boltz!” whispered George. “Do you like the future? This is 2081, you know.” George hadn’t even had a chance to share his findings with his robot friend. He was bursting to tell Boltzmann about Nimu’s plan and discuss the real identity of Empyrean, but he figured that was probably too risky. Who knew who was listening to their conversation? Even so, he couldn’t resist having a whispered chat about their own circumstances.
“So it’s 2081!” marveled Boltzmann. “That explains it all. George, you are an old man!”
“Probably in my mid-seventies!” said George. “But, at the same time, I’m actually still just a kid at secondary school.”
“No wonder young Hero thought I belonged in a museum,” reflected Boltzmann. “Look, even that gardening bot there is probably a more advanced model than me.”
“Empyrean told me that Eden people are allowed to use technology but not to understand it,” said George.
“So they know what it does but now how it works,” said Boltzmann. “Interesting.”
“Hero keeps going on about fake news and how science was all a lie!”
“I expect that’s what she’s been taught,” said Boltzmann wisely. “If she had access to a proper education, she’d soon work it out.”
“Yeah, she seems pretty bright, once she stops just repeating stuff she’s been told,” said George. He wrinkled his brow. “I think somehow her guardian and Empy have wanted her to stay in the Bubble for as long as she possibly could. They don’t seem to want her to go to Wonder at all.”
“Oh dear,” said Boltzmann. “Who would have thought the future would turn out to be such a mess?”
“And no space travel!” said George, who was particularly offended by this. “She told me space travel was canceled because it was just a tool of fake science!”
Looking up, he could see a haze of vapor in the warm air, rising to the transparent skin of the Bubble, where it condensed to water, dripping back down onto the foliage. It was, he realized, its own ecosphere. Densely fertile, much too warm and humid, it was the opposite of the barren ground outside. It was also nothing like the Foxbridge he remembered, where all the houses had the personalities of their inhabitants—big, grand, and snooty, small and scruffy, clever and funny. Everything in Old Foxbridge was individual, eccentric, and fun. Here, everything was essentially the same.
Outside the biosphere, the sun was setting, casting long vermilion rays across the landscape. Inside, the tips of the palm trees were turning the color of raspberries. It was a beautiful sight as the whole interior of the Bubble went a vivid pink. Except George knew that these colors, when in a real sunset, were produced by very high levels of pollution in the atmosphere. No wonder, he thought, the children of government ministers lived here, in this Bubble, to protect them from the rays of the sun and the poisonous dust and gas in the atmosphere.
But, as the sun sank, the sky darkened and the stars came out once more, sparkling above them. The atmosphere seemed to clear, giving them a perfect view of the night sky. George looked up at the familiar constellations shining through the transparent skin of the Bubble, marveling that they remained absolutely the same, even when the whole world under them had changed so much. But just then he noticed something. A pinprick of light, moving fast directly overhead, streaked across the sky. It was too steady and too regular to be a shooting star. A satellite, thought George to himself. Maybe it was an old one, left over from his time, the Space Age. But then he saw another, and yet another, crisscrossing the night sky, their routes too orderly and the dots of light too small and even for them to be anything other than man-made.
“I think,” he said to Boltzmann as he gazed upward, “that’s there’s plenty of space travel—just that no one’s allowed to know about it.”
Chapter Nine
“La la la la la!” Hero woke George up with some very loud singing. “Today is my hatchday and I’ll be going to Wonder Academy! I’m going to learn about everything—there will be lessons in unicorn care, Bubble environments, and harnessing the power of crop circles.” She danced around the room until she noticed George—at which point she performed a forward walkover, landing at his feet.
“Ta-dah!” She presented herself. “Morning!”
“Hi!” said George. He was surprised to find her so perky and cheerful, given how scared she’d been the evening before. “I didn’t know you were a gymnast!”
“Yes!” She beamed. “I have a virtual instructor. Did you sleep well?” she said. “Do you want a smoothie? Are you excited about me going to Wonder Academy?”
“Um, I’m sorry about last night, the inspector coming and stuff,” said George, who felt really bad about what he had put the young girl through.
“What inspector?” said Hero, her bright eyes clouding. “There was no inspector. What are you saying?”
George realized that her recent memory really had been wiped by Empyrean, under orders from the inspector. He decided to push it a little further. After all, if he was about to go on a dangerous and illegal journey . . .
“And me telling you I came from space . . .”
“No you didn’t!” Hero wrinkled her nose. “You’re a refugee! From Other Side! That’s what you said when we met you in the desert.”
With that, George knew that Hero’s brain had been tampered with. This was all so wrong, he thought. If even the good guys—and he really hoped Empyrean and Nimu were the good guys—were doing things that were actually terrible, like wiping the memories of small kids, then the future was officially a disaster.
But, just then, the hatch opened and Nimu walked in, carrying two small backpacks.
“Guardian!” cried Hero, running toward her to give her a hug. “Best of all worlds!”
“Eden is the greatest, thanks to Dump, may he live forever!” responded Hero’s guardian.
“Good morning,” said George politely, not really knowing any of the local salutations.
“Hi!” said Nimu over the top of Hero’s head. In the daylight George realized that Nimu was quite a bit older than he had thought the evening before. She looked like she was trying to keep a tight hold on her emotions, but her eyes were very shiny. Gently, she disentangled Hero. “It’s time for you to go.”
“To Wonder Academy?” said Hero, her face brightening.
“Yes,” sighed the woman.
“OMD!” said Hero. “It’s going to be soooo cool! Bye, George, bye, Boltzmann, bye, Empy the unhelpful! I’ve got to get to Wonder Academy so I can lead Eden when I’m, like, super-old like my guardian and whatevs.” George noticed Nimu wince.
“It’s not good-bye to George,” said the woman, recovering herself. “In fact, it’s hello!” She turned to him. “I’m sorry we haven’t had a chance to speak properly. I am Nimu, Hero’s guardi
an. We must hurry—Hero has to leave the Bubble by the time the sun is at its peak on her nine Dumps of the sun hatchday.”
“So no one older than nine lives here?” asked George.
“Exactly,” said the woman.
“Where do you live?” said George curiously.
“I live in a government encampment beyond the Bubble. It’s called the Echo Chamber,” said the woman. “I’m a government minister so I am required to lodge my child in the Bubble until it is time for her to go to Wonder Academy—once she passes the necessary tests, that is. It is not a matter of choice for one of my level.” She sounded much more anxious than the determined woman George had overheard the other night, as though she was trying to reassure George that it wasn’t her wish that Hero had been brought up like this.
Something had been worrying George.
“Where are the other kids?” he said. “Kids whose parents aren’t government ministers or ones who don’t pass the tests. Where do they go?”
“Yes, there are many children in Eden who are not as lucky as Hero,” said Nimu. “We must all serve Dump, may he live forever, in the best way we can, and for some children this can mean allocation to a work unit.” She smiled ruefully at Hero. “This is not for my daughter.”
“All right then,” said George, realizing that Nimu wasn’t going to tell him anything further. But he had caught Nimu’s reference to Hero as her daughter, even if Hero didn’t seem to understand what a mother was. “But, Nimu, what actually happens at Wonder Academy—”
“Wonder Academy,” said Nimu loudly, interrupting him, “is very different from anything these kids have ever experienced!”
“Because,” cried Hero, “it’s more fabulous than anywhere else!”
From Nimu’s face, George understood that Wonder Academy was just the opposite. What was the truth about Wonder? He hoped he would never have to find out.
“Hero, gather your things,” said Nimu, handing her one of the backpacks. She gave the other to George.
Hero skipped off to find her supply of jumpsuits in different colors.
While she was distracted, Nimu turned to George. “We have so little time—”
George jumped straight in. “Who are you really?” he demanded.
“Listen to me, George,” said Nimu, ignoring his question. “Get Hero to na-h Alba and all will be well. Empyrean is giving your robot all the information you will need for the journey.” She passed him a scrap of paper that looked like a badly drawn map. On it were marked one large landmass and one smaller one, labeled na-h Alba.
“What is na-h Alba?” said George, folding the map up to put in his back pocket.
Nimu gave him a bitter little smile. “It’s fierce,” she said. “Independent. Advanced. The mortal enemy of Eden. Clever. Resourceful. Dare I say the banned word—imaginative? The realm of her. Made in her own image. When all the other countries joined into the two different corpor-ations, na-h Alba decided to remain independent. They sawed through the border to separate the two landmasses after the Great Disruption, to prevent Trellis Dump’s robot army from taking over. Since then, na-h Alba has been floating on the ocean. All done by her. You can only reach it by crossing the Dire Straits at its closest point, which means going through Edenopolis, the capital city of Eden.”
“But who is she?” said George. Who was this “her,” this mythical leader of the only free zone on Earth?
“You’ll find out when you get there,” said Nimu, faintly mocking him. George really wasn’t warming to her. “Won’t you?”
At that moment, Hero came back, lugging the overfilled backpack with her.
“You can’t take all that,” said Nimu in alarm. She opened the bag and threw out a cuddly unicorn, a whole series of brightly colored trinkets, some electronic pets, and at least five jumpsuits. Instead, she stuffed in a water purifier, packets and packets of freeze-dried meals, and a flashlight.
“No!” said Hero. “I can’t leave my pets here! They’ll die without me!”
Nimu sighed. “I’ll take them,” she said. “But your driverless transport is outside—it’s time for you and George to leave.”
“George?” said Hero, baffled. “Why is he coming?”
“He’s escorting you to Wonder Academy,” said her guardian. “And so is his robot.”
Behind her, Boltzmann appeared, with Empyrean standing in the background.
Hero looked horrified. “No way!” she said. “I don’t want to turn up at Wonder Academy on my first day with some Other Side kid with me!” she protested. George had to remind himself it wasn’t her fault that Empy had wiped her memory.
“I’m so sorry, Hero,” said Nimu, and she genuinely sounded it. “I’m so sorry this is the life I gave you. I never meant it to be like this. I thought we would do so much better.”
Hero looked taken aback but hugged her guardian. “Don’t be sad!” the girl said sweetly. “It’s going to be amazing at Wonder! I’m going to do so well! You’ll be so proud of me!”
“And you’re going to take George with you,” said her guardian, gently detaching Hero and holding her firmly by the hand.
“Do I have to?” said Hero doubtfully, eyeing George and his robot.
“You do,” said Nimu.
Hero pouted briefly but said nothing more.
*
“Are we ready?”
Boltzmann came and stood beside George, something George found incredibly comforting.
“The update is complete,” said Empyrean smugly. “Boltzmann is now fully primed. He has all the resources you need.”
“Can Boltzmann open doorways? Like portals to space?” asked George, thinking how useful this would be if they got into danger.
“No portals,” said Empyrean. “But I’ve installed Windows 4000, so that should help . . .”
A noise from outside the house made everyone jump. It was just a robot lawn mower, but they all breathed out a heavy sigh.
“Time to go,” said Nimu mistily. “You’ve only got a few minutes before the sun is at its apex. We must all get out of here, as this home will automatically start to deflate. After noon on Hero’s ninth hatchday, none of us has the right to remain Inside the Bubble.”
They stepped outside. The air was humid and sweet-smelling. Enormous tropical bushes with shiny green leaves and brilliant red flowers grew around the circular perimeter of Hero’s former home. A hummingbird fluttered by one of the flowers, its tiny wings batting the air as it reached into the depths of the flower for its nectar. Looking up, George saw a milky sky above them, hazy with brilliant sunshine.
“Why is the sky white?” he wondered out loud.
“It’s a sky screen,” said Nimu. “Inside the Bubble, particles are released into the atmosphere to stop the sun’s rays damaging plant and human life. That’s why the inside of the Bubble is so fertile—outside it, in this region, nothing can grow because the sunlight is too bright now.”
A driverless transport bus had driven up and stopped in front of them. Hero was now crying quietly, tears dripping onto her stuffed unicorn, which she had retrieved from the discard pile.
“Good-bye,” said Nimu formally to George.
“Thank you,” said George, more brightly than he felt.
“I won’t forget this,” she said.
“In the backpacks,” said Empyrean to George, “you each have a purifier, which will turn the foulest pond water into fresh, clean drinking water. You have freeze-dried rations—which you will recognize from your previous travels! If necessary, you will forage for food along the way. Ants are a good source of protein—and some say they taste like lemongrass, although I couldn’t personally comment . . .”
“Will I see you again?” asked George. There was so much he needed to know! He hoped he knew enough to get himself and Hero safely to na-h Alba. But how would he find out anything else?
“I’ve fitted Boltzmann with a ‘phone a friend’ facility!” whispered Empyrean. “The friend, of course, being me. If
you need me . . .”
Greatly relieved, George climbed aboard the transport, followed by Boltzmann and a nervous Hero.
Behind them, the inflatable home was already collapsing. Recycling bots stood ready to scoop up the remains of Hero’s home and make it into a residence for the next bright, young child who would get to stay in the Bubble until their ninth year. Nimu, gazing anxiously upward at the sun’s trajectory in the sky, pushed Hero rather unceremoniously onto the transport. She was about to close the door when she suddenly paused.
“Tell her,” she said to George, “that it wasn’t me. Tell her I didn’t betray him. I would never have done that. True, I got him out of Eden on the last ship to Mars, but only to save him from something much worse.”
“Who?” said George. “Who didn’t you betray?”
Nimu gave him a strange half smile. “Eric, of course,” she said. “Who else?”
With that, she jumped down and closed the door, and the vehicle set off.
Chapter Ten
George scrambled to look back at Nimu as the bus drove away.
“What do you mean?” he frantically mouthed through the back window. “About Eric!”
But it was no good. Even if Nimu had heard him, he guessed she wasn’t about to give him a clear answer. She would be a good double agent, thought George. Talking to her was like the time he went fishing with his dad and tried to land a particularly slippery fish. Just as he thought he had a grip on it, it wriggled free.
“Boltz!” he said. “Did you hear that? Nimu knows Eric! How is that possible?”
The old robot looked straight at George, a serious expression on his battered features.
“Much to tell from Empyrean’s update,” he said. “But I gave that robot a promise that I would stay silent until we reached greater safety.”
“Is my family still alive?” George persisted. “Just tell me that!”
“I don’t know about your family,” said Boltzmann. And the hope faded for George. “Empyrean didn’t tell me. That is all I can say for now. It is metal-wrenching for me to be the bearer of such bad news. I do not know how you humans withstand the impact of your emotions. You must be much tougher than you look.”