Jennifer’s heels clicked on the polished stone floors of the hallway as she swept ahead of Del. She waved her wrist in front of another door, which opened on two more doors and then a set of silk-plastic curtains.
A long lab room was divided into glass cells. Within each was a medbot attending a child somewhere between the ages of three and ten. Each child was being exercised by a bot, but passively, as if they did not want to move on their own. Del stared at the children as he walked down the line of cells; he noticed immediately that each one was blank of expression. They were alive, their eyes were open, but they hardly seemed conscious.
"These are just prototypes,” said Jennifer. “All they need is the adjusted code to stop development. We'll take these, and the code, back to Earth as soon as possible,"
"But...who are they?"
"Not who. What."
Del had heard of awful things going on, on Earth; just one more reason he had never wanted to go there, on top of the crushing gravity, the air like stew and the brain-spinning EMFs. But this was beyond anything he had heard about.
“What do you mean,‘what?’” he said, then his insides sank, as if he were falling. “S-slaves?” He had never said the word out loud before. It fell out of his mouth.
Jennifer was watching him. "Yes."
He stared at the strange children. They wouldn't be strong enough for any labor. “What kind of slaves?”
Jennifer's eyes had gone cold.
“You know what kind," she said.
Del was chilled. He looked at them again, mere children, children without presence, without mind.
“No.” he choked on the word, having to clear his throat. “You can't. It's wrong.”
“The wrong,” said Jennifer, biting on the word, “Is generations of humans with lifelong trauma. The wrong is humans exploiting humans. An industry of cruelty-”
“I understand,” said Del, trying to stop her. He didn't want to hear more.
“You understand what?” Jennifer's teeth were showing now as she spoke, a vicious edge creeping in, and Del saw it all. Why she had masqueraded as royal staff, and at such a risk. This was why she had flattered Del, made promises.
“You don't have to like it,” she had begun to regain her calm, and eerily, even some of her charm. “But don't try to stop me. This is the right thing to do.”
“The right thing?”
“We flood the market with these-we call them poppets-” she waved her hand at the empty-eyed beings (who were, he now saw, like dolls made of flesh)”-and we get the human women and children out. We rehabilitate. We're already building centers for that. We're already funded, Del. They will have decent employment and good care. We will end the trade of shame. Wipe it off the face of-”
“You never will. Not completely. It's an illness.”
“We will free millions.” said Jennifer. “If that is not enough for you, Del, then you don't have to help me anymore.” Her eyes bored into his. “Just give me the code and stay out of my way. Or you won't get your lab.”
"And...them? What about-"
“They don't feel. Not like we do."
"Don't some Earthers still say that about animals? It's not true. You’re just feeding the beast with different snacks. How can this not be wrong?"
"Company 1 arranged for a transport. It's still being built under Olympus. I will take them, I will leave, and I will go without you unless you get over it. Millions of lives are counting on this."
"It's not the answer."
"Then I’ll let you go to jail, as soon as we’re off the world. It sounds like your mind is already made up. But if you get in my way," Jennifer’s face was hard and calm, “I will put an end to you.”
Kallo landed on the platform above the Central Grid Tower. She nearly ran down the steps, into the tower and straight to the medlab. She wanted to throw her arms around her Daddy, but he was in a kind of restraint system, propped up with several straps holding him in position. Nursebots climbed around him, tending to medication lines.
“Good work in Kinlani, Puffin. But you will have to try harder.” Mano’s voice was no longer AI, but it wasn’t coming from his mouth; it was piped from the speakers around them. He had composed an artificial voice almost exactly like his own had been. It was very strange to hear her Daddy’s voice when his lips didn’t move.
Kallo’s face was hot. “I tried. But everybody is so-I mean, I told them about the storm coming and they just stared at me like sheep.”
“You charmed the princess, the monks and a couple of elders,” said Mano. “It’s all right. They signed on to the new grid. But you know not everyone will.”
“But who wouldn’t?”
“Kinlani and New Kahn have always been allies of ours,” said Mano, “But not everyone is. The Tube communities are always going to resist whatever the Bowl does, no matter what it is, they’ll just take the opposite tack, make up lies and propaganda to resist them.. And the Bowl was ready right away to back us. So expect the Tubes to make a fuss. Some in Arturos will want to vie for ownership, because they’ll want to use the grid to extract profits. Arturos still has a lot of Earth attitudes. Never give them a milimeter. They lie. They are crafty and greedy. We must learn from our ancestors. Stand strong against Arturos, and never believe them or get drawn in. The glacier communities are neutral but we can’t expect support from them. But if we solidify our relationship with the new Lady in the Bowl and stay on good terms with Kinlani and New Khan, then eventually everyone else will have to concede. We need very good alliances with them.”
“What can I do, Daddy? How can I help?”
“I need you to learn to talk to people, Puffin. I can’t do it as well anymore. I have too much to do.”
“But I’m not good at it, Daddy. Del’s the one who’s good at that.”
“Then you will have to be better. And stay away from Del for now on.”
“Daddy,” said Kallo. “Tell me what happened.”
Kalloe circled the dark, seemingly bottomless Hellas Canyon. It was fourteen kilometers deep, but from her altitude it looked nearly eternal. Scents of the Bowl still made it up to her; the geothermal warmth carried spices and flowers and the scent of the sweetest, cleanest water on the world. Arriving unannounced was not only rude but dangerous, so she scanned her comm channels to hail the Bowl Entry channel. Then she saw him.
Del was standing on the edge of the canyon, leaning on a narrow pillar of sandstone and looking down. He was still in his wingsuit. What was he doing there?
Del only turned when her feet hit the ground and she was limping toward him.
"You’re supposed to stay away from here."
"Is that right?" He wouldn't look at her.
"You’re a liar!” Kallo stood facing him with her back to the edge of the canyon, arms stiff at her sides, fingernails digging into her palms. All of her feelings began pouring out. “You’ve been lying. You've been saying mean things for years and years and now we find out you’ve been working with Company 1! You don't even care about us and I'm sick of it and anyway I'm sick of you!"
Del leaned limply against the sandstone, looking at his boots. "I wanted my part of everything I've been working for, for most of my life," he said, calmly. "This grid should be mine-"
Kallo laughed. "You're an announcer! Anybody can do that! You're nothing!"
Del's chest was moving up and down. His mouth was set in a hard line. He looked up, eyes blazing into hers. "Anything else?"
"You're a good flyer. But only good. You'll never be like me. And I used to love you! I used to have a crush on you and I thought maybe someday we would get married-"
Now Del laughed. "You? You'll never be a woman. You'll never be anyone who matters. Just a brat everyone needs to take care of all the time," he snarled the last words through his teeth, "A baby."
Kallo's palm stung as it met his face, hard. She had never slapped anyone before, and she also had never seen anyone draw back a fist before; she watched it pulling away and Del's shoulder pivoting back, and then felt her sternum suddenly crack under it, her ribs splintering, air slammed from her lungs, her feet scrambling and kicking at the crumbling edge of the canyon, and then blackness.
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