The Rift in the Domain- The Auranos Stories Book 2

Chapter 31 - Life in the Fast Lane

I could get into the minutia of how our rebels moved into the city, how our farmers who stayed outside the plateau saw Shadow's legion wandering around a few miles away, looking for us the very next morning. (If they knew where we were, they didn't dare to attack where we had such a defensive advantage.) Or I could carry on about the twenty-four Dominions who passed out when they saw the city all lit up, or how we had a budding medical center (founded by Kaian, actually) a meeting base, the architect's guild running inspections on the buildings of the city, and a running newspaper called The Weekly Undergrounder within three days.

But that's all trivial, isn't it?

What I probably should explain is that the city was divided into six main districts, each of which would have a representative in the Rebellion Council. Each district had one vote and would serve as the deciding factor for most major legislative, judicial, and moral issues until we had a more fully-fleshed government system. Comet, Lykar, Urtam and I would together make up the seventh vote, meaning that the Dominions' opinions were fully represented. I was serving as the Council's chairwoman and executive officer, de facto leader of the rebellion's budding military forces. (I was begged to take the position.) Our districts were drawn up and the representatives were to be chosen within a few weeks.

And with that out of the way, maybe I should describe the extraordinary way the rebels organized themselves. Right off the bat there was a clear business district, claimed by storekeepers, tailors, bakers, blacksmiths and other services, a residential district where families with children could be safely out of the chaos of downtown, an entertainment district lined with theatres, restaurants, and bars hosted by previous pub owners. And there was the much more serious area of town where we'd started to set up military training, making soldiers and leaders out of anyone willing to fight.

Sure, there were empty buildings. There were whole avenues of hollow walls with no life inside. Standing in the capital building at night made the city look like a glowing spiderweb- streaks (or streets, as it were) of light cutting through the darkness like glowing thread. But we'd grow into our empty shell. I was sure of it. And it didn't matter now anyway; it meant that we could expand if we ever wanted.

It was rough, trying to keep order in a city where we'd just walked in. There were a lot of risks we had to take- for example, before we'd properly recruited people into the military force, we had to take the risk that crime rates would be low enough to keep people feeling safe.

And, you know what? They were! We had almost zero crime in the first weeks, thanks to the innate busy nature of the city. People didn't need to steal or smuggle because the economy, at least for now, was hyper-competitive, keeping prices low and employment high. The things we saw in those first weeks were the best-case scenario, frankly. It was a miracle you'd see in a textbook, like an ideolog's plan for a perfect world.

We knew it wouldn't last, but we made the most of it so that things would be stable when the miracle wore off.

I could tell you how Kaonon as a name didn't stick. The Dominions wanted something new, something they had created for themselves. I heard rumors flying about ideas- even when you walked down the street you'd hear people referring to the city by a whole slew of things. "Undercity" was a prominent frontrunner, as was "New Stronghold." I kind of liked them both- but we didn't intervene in the naming process, letting the Dominions hash it out through the grapevine themselves. There were some pretty strange names, like "Pinnacle" and "Spirit's Grove." But the one name that really stuck was "New Moon City." By week two, all other contenders seemed to have vanished. And so the name was adopted.

With that, the Dominion rebels started determining a name for themselves, as a group. The phrase "Mooners" was tossed around by a few smart-alecks. Frankly, I heard all sorts of names. I don't know that anything particularly distinctive actually stuck. We were the underground rebels. And, you know what? That worked for me.

My friends and I decided to stay where Lykar suggested- the city entrance. There were barracks on the bottom floor that held a few soldiers, as well as a stable where the panthers could stay, but the twelve or so gatekeepers' rooms were up near the top of the towers, past a slew of security doors.

It was strange, having a flat all to myself. Mine was at the top of the towers, directly above the entrance hall, so I had a spacious balcony that looked over the fields below. If I looked over my shoulder to the left I could see the waterfall, and the sun always lit it up so beautifully at dusk and dawn.

I had a whole bed now, a full kitchen, a bathroom, and a living space, too. But don't think I was lonely- the only time I really had to appreciate the room was at night, when I stumbled in after a long day's work, collapsing into the dusty, weathered couch. The room had a whole wall of floor-to-ceiling one-way ballistic glass windows that took hours to clean properly. But when I'd cleared off all the dust, the window flickered with light, just like Maikin's glass panes in the city.

"H-he-l-ll-lo," Maikin's voice spluttered, fazing through several different pitches. "R-r-restarr-ting s-systems. P-pl-pl-pl- please wait-t-t-t."

I jumped back as the screen glitched through a loading cycle.

"Systems online," Maikin said, voice smooth. "Running diagnostics and updating local database."

"Maikin? Really?"

"Diagnostics successful. Hello, Abigail Vera," Maikin said.

"How did you know it was me?" I asked, skeptical.

"I've updated my local memory with information from my help kiosks in the city. Facial scans and records from the kiosks indicate that you are Abigail Vera."

"Weird," I murmured, sitting back in my chair. "Well... make yourself useful, then. What's the news around the city?"

"Kaonon city news is unavailable at this time."

I grinned to myself. Of course it was- the old news outlets that Maikin would have accessed in New Moon were long dead. But with the help of a few of our technicians, The Undergrounder would probably be available as an official news source on Maikin's kiosks soon.

"Mm," I wondered what else I could ask Maikin. "What time is it?"

"It is currently nine fifty-three."

Well, duh. That I knew. But... I had another thought. "What time is it in Lagoki?"

"Accessing Lagokian databases. One moment please."

"Lagokian data- what?"

I didn't get an answer- Maikin was loading. Then, finally, she spoke. "It is currently eleven fifty-three in Lagoki."

"Wait, Maikin, you have Lagokian databases?"

"The AI databases in Lagoki are separate from the Kaonon AI databases. However, I have access to some parts of the Lagokian database. For example, the weather is currently clear in Lagoki, at about-"

"Wait, wait," I said, standing up. "Answer me this- could you get a message to Lagoki? Could you get a message to... Orai, maybe? Could I talk to him?"

"Running clearances... clearance check complete. This room, Kaonon Room A-1, has level 8 confidentiality and priority," Maikin said. I didn't know what that meant, but for the time being, I didn't really care. Maikin added, "Would you like to begin a digital conference with King Orai?"