Realm Wars

Chapter 9

Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

Dash woke up to her alarm clock blaring.

Was it morning already?

She stretched, then sat up and turned off the device. The aroma of caffeine-filled her nostrils. Ah yes, the elixir of the gods. Just what she needed to wake up. Thank the stars for coffee machines with preset timers. Chatter came from outside. Dash peered out from the blinds of her trailer window. Outside, a team of class-twos marched toward the hover-bus station, no doubt ready for their workday. Some men, some women. It was easy to spot clones by their outfits. While each of them had a different hairstyle and personality, they all dressed the same, walked the same, and talked the same. They all fit in. Not like Dash. She didn't fit in anywhere. Not with emulations, not with colonists, not even with the refugees. Dash shook her head. "No thank you." Not only was she more effective on her own, but the machines were easier to get along with. They followed simple, predictable patterns. And best of all, they didn't judge. She released her finger from the blinds and they snapped back in place.

Dash hobbled to the kitchen and poured some coffee into her mug, then added a generous helping of creamer.

Dash glanced at the holocard above her sink. The photo depicted sandy shores reaching out toward a deep blue ocean. In the distance, sun rays peeked out from behind the Atlantopolis pyramids. The caption read, New Egypt Awaits. She smiled and held the cup in her palms. The warm surface thawed out her fingers.

As she sipped the blonde roast, Dash scrolled through her holo-feed. Quadrant headlines populated the Dashboard. Conglomerate stocks were at an all-time high. Politicians from Center Space passed a bill that would allow more refugee owned and operated businesses to apply for government contracts. Religious zealots protested against references to Daynanic deities in the public-school curriculum, and new environmental studies claimed that portal travel could have adverse effects on the galacta-spiral winds. She shook her head and checked on the weather. According to the radar models, a major storm front was expected to push through later this afternoon. Dash cocked an eyebrow. If she wanted time to investigate Dig Site Six, she would have to leave soon.

She sighed, turning her attention to the cleansing station, where the trashton sat slumped over like a withering plant. She'd have to analyze it later. Today she was going to figure out what was going on at Dig Site Six. But the thought of being somewhere other than her workstation bothered her.

Somewhere with no walls.

Somewhere with no air conditioning.

Somewhere with no coffee. Blegh!

But at least in the meantime, the system could run a diagnostic check on the trashton while she was out. She transferred the ton to her private workstation and plugged in a few wires, then she activated the holo-display and pressed a few buttons. The diagnostic program started to run. Columns of code rained over the screen. She took another sip of coffee, then donned her envirosuit. Hopefully, the computer would have answers for her when she got back.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

Someone was at the door.

"Who in the realms..." Dash said, peaking through the peephole. Dash's eyes went wide. Avalon and Astrea stood outside. She had totally forgotten about babysitting today. "One second."

Dash opened the door.

Astrea raced inside and hugged Dash's leg, almost knocking her over.

Her mother handed Dash a backsack, "I'm actually running late. All of her stuff's in here."