Guardian Mine

2-Jade

They called her 2-Jade, for her pale green eyes. Her parents named her Hannah, but that was a long time ago; another life. She rested her head on the window, or rather, the false window, looking down at Old Nippon, now raised from the sea. She was in a transport, leaving Asia and heading to what used to be called North America. She passed the land of her parents below and whenever she saw Old Nippon her thoughts came back to them.

She could remember their stories from their childhood of what it was like, and the cataclysm that occurred. When the sea level rose and submerged the austere country, killing millions along coastlines and islands across the earth. It was above the waves now, one of the many 'miracles' of the Traveler. She sniffed. She hated how all of humanity suddenly worshiped this alien ball. It came bearing gifts and we gave ourselves to it. The cost, she knew, would be great.

"It doesn't feel like a window, mommy." The child asserted across the aisle from her. Must have been her first time on an orbital transport.

"That's because it isn't." The mother explained. "Remember how I explained it?"

"We're in space!" The child beamed"

"Right on the edge of it. We went up really high, so that we can travel really fast without the air pushing against us, then we'll go back down and land. We'll cross the entire ocean in the time it took us to get to Gammy's."

"Really?"

"Yep." The mother said, cheerily. "Because we are in space the transport doesn't have any windows, but the walls project what we can see outside, with cameras. That's why it doesn't feel like a window, but only looks like one."

"Oh" the child sounded disappointed and turned back to see the land of her ancestors passing below.

Everything changed that day, when mankind was invaded. It didn't happen like the stories and movies and stim-sims envisioned. There was no great fleet, no inter-dimensional beachheads, no fire from the sky. Just a giant ball, landing on Mars, with power beyond quantifying. It happened with gifts, happened with power, and in one fell swoop we surrendered to all the shiny toys and newly terra-formed Edens. They called it the Traveler. It passed through our system, terra-forming moons and planets to sustain human life, it taught us new physics and how to harness its Light, and we worshiped it.

Soon, she'd be done with all of this. One last job and she could get enough money for passage on one of the Pioneers. Deep space exploration ships, going out and not coming back. She wasn't the only one reading in between the lines of code.

Kord, her facilitator, told her about some corporate types looking for a runner. Something to do with breaking into Bray-tech to steal some hot piece of R&D. Big pay, high risk.

She couldn't resist.

They were to meet in New York. Once it was called a city but now it covered a quarter of the eastern seaboard. One of the first Mega Cities constructed with the Traveler's Light. It defied the laws of sustainable growth.

She queried her HUD: fifteen minutes until landing. She decided to use the time going over what she knew of her contractor, Serapis.

She found nothing.

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"It takes a special skill to find the sketchiest of dive bars in the greatest city of Earth." She remarked as she took her seat. The 'Tavern' was small, cramped, and dark. Situated at nearly the bottom tier of the city's original island. She would discover later that the bar top was the original, from nearly four hundred years ago. There was even a urine trough running its perimeter, she had to ask about it as she never saw something of the like. The walls were covered in old photographs of the original city and saw dust littered the floor. After some time she realized it was intentional.