sound dangerous at all. However, it was this branch of government security that ruthlessly stamped out dissension and had the power to make people disappear. That day on the floater put him on a collision course with the agency that would shape the future of his life and mankind.
Chapter 3
O n that particular day Tag was sitting two seats away from Leila and her best friend Tara, and he was enjoying the view. And what a view. Leila was wearing a bright yellow sundress with a matching ribbon that tied her hair in a ponytail. She was amazing. Tara was a very pretty girl, too, but in a different way from Leila. Tara had short red hair and green eyes and was tall. She was two inches taller than Tag and had a shape that most movie stars would die for. She was pretty, but not as gorgeous as Leila, at least not in his opinion. He relaxed in his seat and felt the warmth of the sun on his back and fantasized about going out with Leila. The city passed below and he felt relaxed and comfortable, looking out at the city and Leila, his two favorite pastimes. The public floater was only half full, and most of the riders were students going home after class. No one was saying much because they had taken the administrative placement test that day, which was required of all students the year before they graduated. The test had started early in the morning and lasted seven hours. Tag was tired, but never too tired to gaze at Leila. He noticed that something was different today. She was quiet and slumped over in her seat, which was not like her at all. Suddenly Leila started crying. Tara put her arm around Leila and started whispering. “What’s wrong with her?” Tag thought. He moved unseen to the seat behind them so he could hear what was going on.
“It’ll be all right, Leila,” Tara said. “With all of your other test scores the administrators will know just how smart you really are.”
“No, it won’t be okay.” Leila was holding her head in her hand and said, “This test is used to determine what job you’re best suited for, and I’ve failed miserably.”
“Leila, you’re wrong. You couldn’t have done that bad.”
The floater stopped and three students got off. Leila and Tara waited for them to pass, and then Leila said, “Yes, I did.” She sobbed, “Last night my parents had an argument, and my mother said she was leaving my father and ending their marriage. She has always had a much higher job and she resents that she has provided most of our family’s support.”
Tag ducked further down in his seat as Tara looked around to see if anyone had noticed Leila crying. Then Tara said, “They were just angry. They didn’t mean it, they’ll stay together. Your mother knows what will happen if she leaves. She could even lose that higher job.”
“No, I could tell she meant it. I came out of my room and told her that she just can’t do this! I told her that children from broken families were not allowed to marry because their genetics showed they were not suited to make that kind of commitment. I cried, yelled, and begged her not to do it.”
“What did she say?”
“She said she had made her decision and though she knew that it would cause pain, she was not going to change her mind.”
“Oh Leila, I’m so sorry.”
“My father and I argued with her all night until she finally agreed not to leave until after I was married. She told me that she won’t wait forever for that to happen. That’s the good news. The bad news is that when I took the test this morning I was emotionally, mentally, and physically exhausted. The last half of the test I just marked answers at random because I was so far behind. There’s a chance I can get married, but I probably won’t get a job that will support my family. Without a good paying job, my choices for a spouse will be greatly limited. I’ll be like some poor people that have turned to crime to support themselves.”
“Leila, you’re just being dramatic now,” Tara said, and she tightened her arm around Lelia’s shoulders.
Tag listened to them and felt something inside him break. He would do anything to take away her sorrow, but he was powerless. Oh, how he wished he could hold and comfort her. He couldn’t think of anything that could be done to help her. Then Tara said something that told him how he could do it.
“Leila, let’s pray that they lose your test before it’s graded,” Tara said. “Sometimes miracles do happen.”
“Tara, you’re a great friend, but you know as well as I that will never happen, but I’ll still pray with you. Pray that after they grade this test they won’t accuse me of having cheated on all the others.”
Tag moved out of the seat without being seen. He walked to the front of the floater and waited for the next stop. What Tara had said started him thinking. If Leila’s test were to disappear before they graded it, then she would have to retake it when she wouldn’t be so worn out. He had to find a way to make that happen. Time was short, he realized; grading would probably start that night. Their test administrator was very efficient and usually had results available the day after they took a test. He had to do something now. When the floater made its next stop he used his gift and got off without anyone seeing him go. He called home and left a message. “Mom, I’m going to spend the night with Eric. We took our placement test today and we want to talk about it. I’ll be home tomorrow after school. I love you.” He didn’t worry that she would call to check, because she had never checked on him before and she trusted him. It hurt him to know that he was going to betray that trust by trying to steal Leila’s test, and he knew in his heart that in order to make that happen he was going to have to use the very gifts he promised her he wouldn’t. He wasn’t certain how he was going to do it, but he knew he had to try. One thing he did know, he could not use public transportation to go back to his school. Stealing the test was only half the battle; the other half was not getting caught doing it. In order to ride public transportation you had to place your transport card in the payment slot. If in the future someone suspected that Leila’s test was taken, the first place they would look would be public transportation records to see who used it at the time of the theft. Getting on a public floater without being seen was impossible, because you could not board without your weight triggering the payment computer. So he knew he had to walk back to school and avoid being seen by anyone or any cameras. He had four miles to cover, and all of it had to be done on surface streets, which after dark were dangerous places to be. He started walking and noticed the city around him felt like it had a life of its own. The towering buildings, the floaters flying overhead, the parks that lined the streets, and the people going about their business all caught his attention and brightened the sadness he was feeling-a little. He was avoiding the cameras without really thinking about it. He just moved into the shadows he sensed and continued to walk and watch human existence unfold around him. He noticed the patterns of shadows in front and to the sides of him that showed him where to go to avoid being seen. Sometimes he had to move along a wall, stop, and then duck and run until his sense told him to move in another direction. He used vehicles, moving floaters, and other people to screen him from all the electronic surveillance along his route. He always looked down or away whenever people looked at him so that no one would see his face. He slouched to look shorter than he was. All these things he did with no conscious effort. Staying hidden came as natural to him as swimming did to a fish. Finally he arrived in front of the school. The one-story building loomed in front of him and beckoned to him. He saw that there were still numerous people in and around the school. That was going to make it difficult to avoid being seen.
“Now the real fun begins,” he thought. “At least it’s getting dark, and that should help.” He looked at the school and could see the psychic shadows that he could move in without being seen. The problem was that they were changing rapidly because so many people were still there. Also, a shadow where no one was looking would disappear as soon as someone in the building casually glanced outside. He had never seen the shadow patterns shift so rapidly. He stood next to a tree on the edge of the school property looking across the two-hundred-yard expanse of grass and trees that fronted the school. The trees were scattered and didn’t offer much in the way of concealment. He decided his only chance was to start running, using the shadow patterns as much as possible. Tag hoped that if someone saw him he could jump into another shadow and they would lose sight of him. He had never taken this kind of risk before, but he couldn’t think of another plan.
He began running towards the faculty entrance. There were about two hundred yards to cross, and he was moving fast. He dodged left, then right, going from shadow to shadow, sometimes having to jump because the shadow was three feet off the ground, and then roll because the shadow was only two feet high, but he managed to stay in the psychic shadows all the way up to the shrubbery next to the faculty entrance. Then he waited and caught his breath. He looked back at the ground he had just covered and saw all the psychic shadows were still
