Perfect World Somewhere

Chapter 26

Thirteen years later

Plumgrove

An ocean flickered in the pale, blue-gray glow of her holovision. Orchestral music swelled to crashing waves, and hooves on sand. A young woman on horseback, beautiful and pale, galloped where sea and land met. Her silver-blond hair whipped about her face, matching the flow of the horse's billowed mane. Slow motion emphasized their grace.

Lily recognized her as Ethlyne Blane, a famous actress who often appeared in these advertisements.

A man's smooth, confident voice narrated. "For nearly a decade, Everblue has provided pure water, for all of the worlds."

The camera zoomed out, to an aerial distance, showing the hoofprints left along the beach. They filled with water, and grew into lakes and oceans.

It expanded further, and showed the gleaming blue planet. Then, the narrator stepped into view.

Silas Blane.

"By protecting our resources for the family of Earth, we keep an ongoing promise of hope," he said. "For our children, and for the future."

He still looked as suave and refined as the day she'd met him, when they escaped the ration camp. Silas became the CEO of Everblue after his father died, about eight years ago. His face was now recognized across the Net, always smiling, and giving heartfelt speeches in these asinine commercials.

What she remembered most about Silas was that he unsettled her.

She sighed, and commanded the holovision to turn off. Though she'd decided to retire early, she was restless tonight.

She'd spent the afternoon in Chelworth, a city about two hours away, to meet with a client, if that's what he could be called. The owner of a busy company had hired her to hack some private data from his rival.

The job had been straightforward, but risky, as always. She had ways to evade detection, to bait the Admin's surveillance systems, but there were a few close calls in her past. She tried not to take illicit jobs these days. At least this one paid well. She now had enough credits to give Clarence a decent Yuletide gift.

She sat beside her broad parlor window, wrapped in her favorite wine-red silk robe with the oversized fur collar. As she sipped her hot herbal tea, she realized that her monthly water ration was low. She knew a few dealers, and could obtain some down at the H20 lounges, if needed. But it was precarious, like hacking.

Running a full-time robotics shop in Plumgrove wasn't lucrative. It scarcely paid her bills, but this was where she wanted to live.

Winter had finally arrived, with the first flakes of the year drifting from a darkened sky. She loved to watch falling snow, and loved being home, in Harmony Valley.

The space colonies were so much like the snowglobe on her mantle. So beautiful to look at, even perfect, but they had no true snow. It only took a single crash to shatter the glass, bringing abrupt and fatal change.

She kept it on display, and looked at it every day. It was something Daddy had created, a testament to his genius and skill. Above all, it was something to remember him by.

A flu epidemic had spread through the Vestal Coil five years ago, and sickened thousands. Many never recovered. Daddy was one of the casualties.

He left a will, which had surprised both Clarence and herself. In it, he deeded them the house on the colony, and stated his last wish—to be buried in Plumgrove.

They laid him to rest in a quiet ceremony, near the Black Sky Day memorial.

Returning to the valley awakened something in Lily. She felt a long-suppressed desire for things forgotten, things lost.