The voice of an AI speaks. “Officer Scylla, you have a reach.”
“I’m in the middle of something. Please send to the databank.”
“I cannot. It is from the Interpreter Center.”
Officer Scylla scowls.
“I’m sorry, I’ll be right back.”
As soon as the door closes, Thane begins to feel angry. He is upset with himself for being too honest with Officer Scylla. At the Interpreter Center for giving him this horrible job. At Professor Jacob for recruiting him.
His life would have been much more comfortable if he had never accepted this responsibility. What has it gotten him so far? He lost his friendship with Aris. Benja, the man he reported to the Interpreter Center, killed himself. He just saw a lot of dead bodies.
But there was a reason he accepted this job. He wanted to help the Interpreter Center keep peace. He does not want anyone to destroy the Four Cities and the Planner’s ideology. That reason has not changed.
Maybe I can tell him I was drunk. Maybe I was following an ex-girlfriend. Maybe I thought I saw them going into the house together. But I was mistaken. It was no one I knew. Jealousy is a good motivation, right?
The door opens and Officer Scylla walks back in. His face is tense with what appears to be suppressed anger.
“Thane, you are required at the Interpreter Center. If I have any additional questions, I will reach out. Thank you for your time.”
Thane feels like the weight of the entire building has been lifted off him. He gets up, shakes the officer’s hand, and walks out of the Elara Police Station. As soon as he exits, he runs toward the train station. There are only a few places Metis and Aris can be at this hour.
Aris turns on her side and watches Metis’s face as he sleeps. Even at rest, he looks worried. She wants to trace her finger on the line between his eyebrows. But she does not. His eyes flit under his lids. What is he dreaming about?
She wonders if he would let her use the copper helmet on him. He has not offered, and she has not asked. Would she see their old lives together? What would that look like? Would she recognize the person she was? Does she even want to see herself as someone else—a stranger she shared a body with?
A sigh escapes her. She doesn’t know if it is the openness of the sky, the barrenness of the landscape, or the sleeping man next to her that makes her feel so raw and fragile. She is not used to this Aris.
Fresh air. She needs it. She eases out of the bed as quietly as she can. She opens the back door to the pool. The water lights up like the bright blue of the midday sky. She looks up and is dazzled by the real sky—black and blanketed with stars. No matter how many times she sees it, it still takes her breath away.
The city lights in Callisto obscure all but the brightest stars. When she missed the night sky, she used to go to the planetarium, one of her favorite exhibits at the Natural History Museum. There, she shot through Jupiter’s atmosphere, witnessed the Big Bang, and watched stars die. But nothing replaces the reality of tilting her head up and seeing the brilliant dots of light that have traveled millions of years to her eyes.
A baritone duet of hoots punctuates the air. Maybe great horned owls. In the old times, owl hoots were considered a bad premonition. An omen of a horrible event to come. But considering the season, the hooting is likely amorous. Most great horned owls mate for life. Each year they will find each other to mate before parting ways. A rare thing in the animal kingdom.
In her world, only animals breed. Humans are artificially conceived in the Center of Discovery and Learning. She read that Old World women had to carry little humans inside them for nine months before birthing them. Aris wonders what it would be like to hold life inside her. She will never know.
Aris finds a spot on the edge of the pool and dips her legs into the water. It’s warm. The hairs on her arms stand up, reminding her that the rest of her body is still in the cold air. She wishes she had a swimming suit, but then remembers she is surrounded by the nature preserve—the nearest structure is a long walk away. She pulls her shirt over her head, eases off her panties, and lowers herself in.
The water relaxes her at once. She swims laps until her head clears. She flips over and floats. Her entire field of vision is filled with the starry sky. In the silence of the water, she begins to dissect her situation, the way the old Aris did with any obstacles that came her way.
There are only a few weeks left before Tabula Rasa. That, she cannot change. Or can she? Is there a way to stop it from taking her and Metis down its destructive path?
The idea is farfetched. If there is a way, it would have already been found. The people of the Four Cities have been around long enough to find out.
Is there another way?
What if I don’t go to the hospital? the question Benja asked her months ago resurfaces.
She told Benja there must be a way for the system to find the stragglers. There is no place to hide.
But what if there is?
She and Metis can wait out Tabula Rasa. Instead of an AI as the first voice they hear, they would have each other. The idea sounds almost plausible. But she does not know of a place in the Four Cities they could go that would be safe.
She feels a disturbance in the water. Something touches her leg. She screams.
“I’m sorry,” Metis says.
“You scared me!”
“This reminds me of the first time we met this cycle.
