|YA featured story|
Welcome to 2325.
The natural world is no longer habitable, the government has been all but privatised and the 15-billion strong population has spent the last 170 years crammed into a single man-made continent.
When her father's...
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"What is it with Zenith and heights?" I grumbled, staring up at the Shangri La tower. A holo-advert for the hotel's luxury spa played across its glass façade—complete with a digital waterfall that fell from the very top of the building. It cascaded onto the street, drenching Delta and me in mottled blue light. It was the tallest building in the Chinese Territory by a long way. So of course, Zenith owned the penthouse as her own private holiday retreat.
Delta let out a snort, adjusting the pair of hov-boards she carried under her cyborg arm. "The woman's a gargoyle, what did you expect?"
I huffed a laugh, fixing my hood as it slipped off my head. "Um, should we be standing out front like this?" I asked, with a self-conscious glance around. "Won't their security cameras like, spot me or something?"
Delta craned her neck back to watch the holo water falling over us. "Hate to break it to you," she said sarcastically, "but you're old news now that everyone thinks you're dead."
"They think I'm—?" Her words took me by surprise, but realisation dawned on me quickly. "Because of Zaphron."
"Yup." Delta closed her eyes against the light washing over her and for a moment it looked as though the waterfall was real. "Gotta hand it to him, that crazy plan of his worked in a lot of ways."
I let out a sigh of agreeance, a weighty knot growing in my chest. By faking my death, he'd given me back some of my freedom.
And what had I done in return?
I groaned.
Delta's eyes popped open. "You reconsidering letting the Alliance help us with this?" she asked, casting a sidelong look in my direction.
I shifted my gaze from the tower to Delta and back again, shaking my head slowly. We were so close to finishing this for Dad—and waiting for back-up would cost us time we didn't have. Working things out with Zaphron and the Alliance would have to wait. "No," I said emphatically. "We have our half-baked plan—and we're sticking to it."
She beamed, as though that's what she'd been hoping I would say. "Then let's get into position before it gets dark."
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