The Grower's Gift (Progeny of Time #1) (10 page)

His father called the meeting to order once the whole delegation was seated at a table parallel to the raised podium. Beyond that the less prominent Citizens who had come to the talks settled down into the plush velvet seats that lined the room. The Special Forces still flanked the delegation, giving Ty hope that this would be a short meeting, leaving him plenty of time to arrange for Maya's transportation out of the Ring before he had to meet Rober at six. He hoped Rober still had them hidden away.
 

His father began the meeting without delay.

"Dakota and New LA decided to go ahead and settle Nova 18 without consulting us first, and now they are too afraid to face us," his father's voice echoed across the room. "So they send you all, the lesser relatives of the ruling houses. Still, you're here, and I'm eager to hear what you've got to say in your defense. Why don't you start?"

His father pointed at the man on the far side of the table.
 

The chosen man stood up shakily and fumbled with his tablet. Murmurs had started up again before he finally cleared his throat to speak.
 

A holographic rendering of the planet Nova 18 sprung up from his tablet and hung in the air in front of the assembly. The man coughed again and launched into a long explanation of how and why the planet was so important. The ruling families of the cities that made up the Ring had begun preparations to abandon Earth and settle Nova 18 once it became clear that nothing could be done to prevent the rapid destruction of Earth due to the depletion of natural resources and the broken weather patterns. To date, however, the families couldn't even agree on what to name the planet that was to be their new home, which was why it was still referred to as simply Nova 18. Coming to an agreement on how to divide it up seemed even more impossible.

Ty glanced over at Rober from the corner of his eye. His friend's cheeks had already turned scarlet, and he'd balled his hands into fists. Ty hoped Rober wouldn't interrupt the talks with any of his revolution ideas today.

The delegation man was reading through a tedious list of all the families and their special roles in making sure everything was going according to plan. He zoomed in on the tablet, revealing the surface of the planet and the facilities that had already been built there for the first settlers.

Ty had almost dozed off by the time the man finished. Then Ty's father had him read out loud and explain the clauses in which Dakota and New LA were in violation.
 

This was followed by a two hour round of legal arguing which even to Ty's untrained ear sounded like a lot of pointless, circular logic. By the time they finally called a recess for lunch at two o'clock, Rober was stomping his feet and muttering obscenities at the delegation and their faulty arguments.
 

If Ty thought the lunch break would offer an opportunity to arrange Maya's transport out of the Ring, or even inquire about her, he was wrong. His father wouldn't let him leave his side, introducing him around for the whole two hours of the break. Ty smiled, shook hands, and only spoke when someone asked him a direct question.

The delegation members weren't allowed to leave the assembly hall. Lunch was brought in to them and the Special Forces were still guarding them when the afternoon session started.
 

At four thirty, Rober leapt over the panel table and punched the man who'd been speaking. Ty goggled at him while an SF guard dragged him out of the room after all attempts to make him calm down failed. Rober winked at him and pointed at his watch. Ty understood perfectly, the meeting was at six and he had to be there.
 

By five, Ty was seriously considering trying for something similar. Not that he'd ever do it, because it would most likely take his father decades to forgive a stunt like that. Yet by five thirty the talks still showed no sign of winding down. And then what? Would Rober take Maya to his mother in retaliation if he didn't get to the boathouse by six? Ty hoped not.
 

The conversation was still going nowhere. The offending cities held themselves blameless, refuting every piece of evidence put forth by Ty's father and the others. Ty checked the time again. These talks could well take all night.
 

Suddenly, Ty's mother's stood up. "We will never reach any sort of consensus like this," she said. "I demand that members of representing families of New LA and Dakota meet with us directly." The other panel families nodded at her words. "We will keep you all here until such a time as they come to retrieve you by agreeing to make any and all of the legally binding contract between us and them null and void. Each day that they don't come, one of your number will be executed."
 

Ty's insides turned to ice with her words. The delegation stared at his mother with their mouths open and eyes wide, as did everyone else in the room.
 

The rest of the panel sat very still and very silent, indicating their agreement by saying nothing. So long as Violetta Remarque was ruthless enough to mandate the executions, they could pretend to be blameless. They all knew very well that Ty's mother never failed to come up with some medieval form of torture for those that displeased her. And this delegation had kept her in the assembly hall all day, away from her precious facility.
 

"You cannot do this!" the delegation lawyer finally yelled. "We have rights."

Violetta laughed. "Here in Neo York
I
decide what your rights are. Blame your masters. They knew this might happen. Now it's up to them to save you. Or not."

Her laugh echoed in the silent room for a moment, then his father stood up. Ty hoped he would recall his mother's order and find a more peaceful solution, however, his father merely called for a vote on the matter. The entire panel silently raised their hands. The crowd that had gathered in the velvet seats erupted in outrage, drowning out the pleading and crying of the delegation members. The Citizens of Neo York supported the idea of Nova 18 becoming the sole property of their city, as it was a Neo Yorker who first discovered it could be fit for human habitation. Nova 18 could fit the entire population of Neo York, but not if they shared it with the other cities of the Ring. Yet his mother's barbaric negotiation tactics never went over very well with the public.
 

Their outraged protests did little to change anything, as usual. The panel families were already filing out through the back door. The first execution would happen soon.
 

Ty glanced at the delegation as he followed his parents from the room, wishing, far, very far in the back of his mind that he had the power to save them. He didn't. So there was no use even looking at them.

He muttered a hasty goodbye to his parents and ran out towards the elevator that would take him to the boathouse. He'd barely make it, but he'd be there at six like he promised Rober.

CHAPTER NINE

The sky outside was a deep yellow by the time Maya woke up the next morning. Giles still snored softly beside her.

 
The apartment they were in had wraparound windows, all twice as tall as she was. Advertisements flashed across the sky, broken up by speeding hovercraft.
The new medicapsule
, one ad read.
Fix all common ailments with the press of a button. Now able to mend broken bones.
A single one of those in her town could save so many, give the people some hope.
 

She didn't see a single person anywhere, nor any birds or trees. Tall, wide buildings stretched out in all directions, connected by tunnels and tubes. One of those must be the school. Perhaps the one that glimmered like a thousand diamonds. She'd find out today, anyway. The apartment they were in was so high up she could not see the street below. Simply looking down she felt pulled into the abyss.

The oven in the kitchen produced a good imitation of eggs and buttered toast, but it still tasted less real than the eggs back home. The knowledge that if a single one of these machines were available in her town there would be no starvation also took all the enjoyment out of eating it.

Giles joined her while she was looking for a place to put the dirty dishes.

"It's this one, I think," he muttered and pointed to a shiny blue door with a shower head styled on its surface. The door had no handle and no buttons to press to open it. In the end, Maya stacked the dirty dishes on the floor beside it and joined Giles at the table.

"I hope someone comes to let us out soon. I want to find the school as soon as possible."

Giles swallowed hard, the unchewed bit of sausage going down bringing tears to his eyes. "About that, Maya. I'm not sure studying under Violetta Remarque is the best idea."

It took Maya a moment to place the name, but then she remembered Giles' terrible story. "What choice do I have, Giles? This is my best chance of figuring out my gift."

"I'm sure there are other schools like that, in other cities."

"We're here in this one, and I doubt we'll ever be able to enter another one."

Maya picked some dirt from under her fingernails, not wanting to meet his eyes. His intentions were good, but he totally didn't understand. The need to learn her gift was all-consuming, constantly on her mind.
 

Giles looked down at his hands too and didn't reply.

"I'll keep out of her way as much as I can, I promise," Maya finally said. "I want to get back home to my parents as soon as possible."

"I don't want you to go to the school at all," Giles said mutinously.

Why was he being so difficult? Couldn't Giles see this was hard enough on her as it was? Why did he insist on giving her more to worry about?

Still, she understood where his questions were coming from. She took hold of his hand with both of hers. "I'll be in and out of that school in no time. We'll still see each other each afternoon. And you'll have all the time in the world to get reacquainted with your brothers."

Giles frowned down at his maimed hands, then looked at her like he was struggling to make a decision. He shook his head, and Maya steeled herself for more arguments, but he smiled one of those smiles that made his eyes glimmer. "You're right. This is what you need to do and I won't get in your way."

He stood up and pulled her after him. "Since we're stuck here, I think we should make the best of it. I'm sure there's enough gadgets in here to play with for the rest of our lives and never get bored."

He showed Maya the shower, where she spent the next hour enjoying the bubbles. The jet of warm air that whooshed over her as she climbed out of the shower surprised her so much she screamed.
 

While she was showering, Giles had found the virtual reality gaming console. They spent the next two hours wandering around a land of history, with snowcapped mountains sheltering castles made of stone. The Medieval world was so real she could smell the roses in the gardens and the pines that surrounded her castle. Maya chose to play Isabella, who would soon inherit the whole kingdom to rule as she pleased. She pulled out of the VR world once she began to feel her sense of identity slipping, merging with the mind of the princess.
 

Giles switched off the console soon after and turned on the television. On the news, an excited news anchor was informing them that the talks about something called Nova 18 were going well, and that soon the planet would be under the sole control of Neo York. Then a short segment showed Nova 18, explaining its significance. It was a planet they hoped to make into a second Earth so that people could abandon this dying planet.

Maya shot to her feet and pointed wildly at the screen. "Do you hear that? They mean to leave Earth, not even try to save it."

Giles moved to switch off the news but she held him back. "This can't be! I have to stop them."

Giles shook off her grasp and switched off the TV. "There isn't anything you can do, Maya."

"I can try," she said and sat back down. "As soon as that Rober kid comes back I'm going to make him take me to the school."

She spent the rest of the afternoon by the window, refusing to speak to Giles. Ads kept flashing in the sky: A state of the art oven, capable of producing even the most complicated foods; a dishwasher that could change the color and shape of your dishes while making them spotlessly clean; a comb that dyed your hair any color with the press of a button.
 

Who wanted all that? Was having more things all the Citizens cared about?

Maya had a whole list of ideas to speak to Rober about by the time the greenish tint of twilight colored the sky outside. Whatever he was doing to help the Badlands was too little and too slow.

The panel by the door started beeping once the sky turned a dark green color again. A picture of Rober's face flashed across the screen. It took them a few moments to figure out which button to press to answer the call.

"How are you doing?" Rober asked once they finally succeeded. His pale red hair was standing out all over the place and a faint bruise was starting to rise on his cheek.
 

"Fine," Maya replied. "I want to go to the school as soon as possible. Come let us out now."

Rober shook his head. "Today is not a good day for you to be wandering around the city. Have some dinner, play a few games and I'll see you later."

Maya opened her mouth to insist he let her out now, but the screen went black.

"Try to call him back," Maya pleaded with Giles.

He only made a halfhearted attempt, muttering about how unwise it was to go against the wishes of a member of a panel family.

"What's a panel family?" Maya asked once her anger at his complacency faded.

Giles sat down on the sofa across from her. "How much do you already know about the Ring?"

Maya shrugged. "I know that it exists."

After she learned of the mines and other terrors designed to keep people from the Badlands away from the cities, she refused to learn any more about them.