“Wake days, but yeah.”
“Aliens had just said hello—aliens, Goah’s Mercy! And instead of being in awe like everybody else, you go off looking for an advantage. So Edda. How in Goah’s Name did you know that it would come in so handy one day?”
“I didn’t. Back then it just felt like an opportunity, you know… for,” she shrugs, “whatever. Media attention is always good. It creates… chances. And now, see?” She spreads her arms. “We happen to need a project for the trial. Something big, yeah? Something that makes a lot of noise. It’s… perfect!”
Aline laughs. “Quaestor Mathus would say it was Goah’s Will all along.”
Edda snorts. “If that bitch knew what was coming…” She laughs and puts the second sardine in her mouth without adjusting her pace along the road.
To their right is a large factory that steadily belches black smoke high into the air.
“By the way,” Aline says, her face wrinkling in disgust. “this is my family’s contract now, you know?” She gestures with her thumb at the building and shakes her head. “The Sievers want yet another steel-melting wing, as if they didn’t make enough karma already. With coal, can you believe it? The Quaestor raised the limits of aws Balance just for them. Pure sin!”
“Yeah, I guess. At least your family gets part of the karma.”
“That makes me feel dirty, Edda. Thank you very much.”
“I didn’t mean it like that. Sorry, I was trying to cheer you up.”
“It’s like it doesn’t matter what we do.” Aline shakes her head in frustration. “Even after, you know,” her voice has shrunk to a whisper, “our little action on the coal barge.”
Edda chuckles. “Lunteren’s most popular diving attraction.”
“We risked being caught,” Aline says, her expression as sour as her voice. “And for what? They just roll more karma, and…” She turns her head and gives the industrial site a glare meant to melt it away. Then she stops in her tracks, eyes wide with sudden inspiration. Her toddler—Alida—bumps blandly against her mother’s back, but keeps placidly sleeping, just as advertised. “I have an idea!”
“Uh oh,” Edda says, stopping next to her.
“Let’s blow up the factories!”
Edda rolls her eyes and swallows her last piece of sardine.
“What?!” Aline says with a frown on her face and a hand on her hip. “It hits all the right notes! Good for society, and… Ha! Imagine the faces of the Colony Elders, not to mention the Sievers, Haacks, De Ridders, and I say let’s include the Van Kley’s processing plant for good measure!”
“Oh, come on, Aline. You are thinking too small. We have to shake society, remember? Disrupt it, Rew said. And you want to, what, repeat the coal barge fiasco?” Edda waves a hand at a point on the sea, next to the harbor.
“But… this is way bigger than a barge. I’m talking about destroying all the polluters in Lunteren! The whole lot: industries, plants, warehouses, we could—yes!—clean Lunteren once and for all!”
“And how do you want to do it, huh?” Edda is frowning now. “Blow everything up? Get some explosives, and boom?! People could get hurt, Aline. We cannot do that.”
“Well, no, of course not. Blowing up was more of an expression. I mean… incapacitate, sabotage.”
“Come on. The more you speak, the smaller it gets. It’s like with the barge. You said it yourself, they will just pour karma over the wound and a day later everything goes back to normal.”
“Not a day. A week at least. A month if we get creative. And we will!”
“Even if it’s a year, sister. That’s not the point. The whole idea is just… too small, too local. Think about it. What would we really achieve? Who would care outside of Lunteren? We would only harm our neighbors.” Edda points at the rack filled with bicycles, next to the factory entrance. “Even your own family would be out of commission.”
Aline purses her lips and resumes the walk in sour silence.
“Think about it, Aline,” Edda says, catching up. “You’re talking about a little stunt here in the world’s ass. Not even our neighbors in Geldershire really give a shit about who pisses on whom in Lunteren. It’s just the truth, mensa.”
Aline gives Edda a glare out of the corner of her eye. “All you care about is your dad. That is the real truth, mensa.”
“This is not about my dad! You cannot be blind to the opportunity, Aline. In a few days, all the eyes of Germania will be set on our little backyard. When will something like that ever happen again? This could win us the trial, yeah? Truth is, if we want to win, it’s got to be big. Bigger than whatever Gotthard and the Smook assholes come up with, because I’m not Elder Yog’s favorite human of late.”
Aline rolls her eyes. “Understatement of the century.”
“Quaestor jokes aside, it’s like Goah awsself keeps waving the Century Festival right in front of our nose; like Goah wants this.”
Aline snorts. “Oh, so pious now. It wasn’t Goah, Edda. It was you.”
“Are you serious?” Edda’s voice is more severe now. “Are you saying that you don’t want to take advantage of the Festival taking place right here?”
“It’s too risky, Edda.”
“Too risky?!”
“Yes, Goah’s Mercy! The risk is huge. If they catch us… Wait!”
They step aside while a pedal cart, filled with still-flopping catch, passes by towards the colony. They remain silent until the electric buzz fades behind them.
“They won’t catch us, Aline,” Edda says, keeping her voice calm and controlled. “But even if they did, what could they do? Throw us in jail a few days?” She scoffs. “Been there, done that. Worth the risk any day. Listen, we are not hurting anybody. It’s not like your idea.” Edda gestures with her thumb back at the receding factory. “Sorry, sister, but if they catch us sabotaging the livelihood of our neighbors, then we are fucked for real. And you call my
