Elevatia

4. I am definitely special

I slept well that night in my new medium-sized bed. The lime green pyjamas were a bit much but I suppose Elevatia's clothing designer really was committed to the look.

A version of the familiar dream came to me. This time, I was standing barefoot in the middle of the Medium District - Medium buildings all around, the Lowlie District off to the West. I started to walk forwards along the deserted streets. The buildings around me all began to crumble into dust as I passed. I reached the edge of the water – the High seas – that separated the High faction from the rest of us. And I carried on walking, barefoot, onto the surface of the water and across the High seas. This is a little on the nose I thought.

"Galileo, Galileo," sang a little capuchin monkey behind me.

"Oh no, my maths final!" I groaned. And then I woke up with a start.

I shook off thoughts of the dream over breakfast, determined to immerse myself in Medium life. The day passed pleasantly. Jayla and I attended induction events at the Medium University together. I liked Professor Granton our new teacher – he welcomed us warmly to Medium and showed us to the careers fair in the evening to see what options we had for life in the Medium District. After an hour going round the stalls with Jayla I felt so at home in the sea of similarly sized people, just like everyone else.

Jayla rifled through the free leaflets she'd accumulated up in her tote bag. "What do you think Kit? I really liked the look of the "Agricultural rations coordinator" job profile. The lady on the stand said it involves working in the open air, the execution fatality rate is only 15%, and it has good dental!"

"Wow that sounds exciting Jayla! I'm so glad for you." I said giving her a high five. "Professor Granton introduced me to the actuary firm."

"A life in accounting?" Jayla said sceptically. "Are you sure you'll like that Kit? Don't you yearn to stand out from the crowd and do something meaningful, if a little dangerous, for the sake of your fellow humans?"

"Not in the slightest."

"Fair enough. Are you coming to dinner, it's nearly 8?"

I nodded, about to follow her, but just an elderly man on a nearby "bioinformatician" stall chipped in.

"You're Kit, aren't you? Didn't you have a secret meeting planned with a hooded figure for 8pm today in the library?"

"Oh of course!" I said, remembering all at once. "Thanks so much, Derrick."

"Don't mention it, it seemed plot-relevant."

I said goodbye to Jayla and headed to the library at the outskirts of the District, unable to shake my curiosity about what the hooded figure had to say.

The library was an impressive circular building topped with a large blue dome. I headed into the main hall – quiet and dimly lit at this time in the evening. The shelves stretched in all directions lined with books – none placed too high or too low to easily reach. I walked towards the centre of the deserted hall, directly under the dome, and looked up admiringly. It was beautiful. The whole thing was painted with scenes of the famous story we all knew of the Uprising: how Miles Vyle and his loyal supporters rose to overcome the evil mixed-heightists; how Miles was crowned his Highness; how his supporters became the Upright and helped maintain the new order; and how Miles established Elevatia as we knew it today.

"Pretty isn't it?" came a voice quietly from behind me. "Pretty stupid!"

I turned, shocked to my core at this profound critique of our founding myth.

A hooded figure was standing beside one of the bookshelves.

"You!" I cried out in sudden recognition. "You're the one who gave me a note at dinner yesterday!"