The Ark

15.

I perched on the back of the couch, facing Delta's gigantic holo. Several screens were open, each flickering from one thing to the next—it was seizure inducing stuff.

"How can you work with all this?" I asked, trying to focus on one window at a time. Despite my efforts, the sensory overload still ended up being too much and I had to look away. I thought I had glimpsed some random camera feeds in the mix of flickers and wondered if that had contributed to her finding me.

Delta shrugged and handed me a mug of coffee. "You get used to it," she said, standing by the projection as though she was about to launch into a formal presentation. "Okay, before I start. In the interest of full disclosure, much of the information here has not been legally acquired." She eyed me for a moment with a finger poised at her lip. "Actually, none of it has been legally acquired. Is that fine with you?"

I gave a one shouldered shrug and nodded. After seeing the mad screen behind her, I'd kind of figured.

Seemingly satisfied with my response, she tapped on her interface, filling the gigantic holo with one window. Golden sunshine and blue skies reflected around the room as an advertisement played out—a sprawling township, a family exploring fields and woodlands. It looked open and fresh—lifetimes removed from the cramped, artificial surroundings of the Ark. As the footage faded out, the words Welcome to the New World appeared, along with the ZenExplore investment details.

"I take it you've heard about the ZenExplore launch?" Delta asked, her eyes glued to the holo as the ad started up again.

I nodded and sipped my coffee, marvelling at how quickly Zenith had gotten the advertising out. The announcement had only been a day ago.

She swiped at the holo and split the screen, leaving the advertisement playing on the left while she brought up a stock chart on the right. "The Ex-Department of Exploration and Rehab re-branded as ZenExplore yesterday and people are throwing points at it—investments have skyrocketed. Everyone wants a piece of the Old World."

I raised my eyebrows remembering how Theo had told me not long ago that they were the shittiest investments around. My stomach gave a lurch at how much had changed since then.

Delta blinked hard and flicked something from her MR onto the holo. "And now for the spanner in the works," she said as an image appeared over the stock chart.

I stood, squinting at the grainy picture and finding I couldn't tear my eyes away from it. "Where is this?"

"That's the New World," Delta responded, watching me. "Stills taken from one of the unmanned research rovers before it was destroyed."

I stared hard at the image, unable to believe what I was seeing. It was a road through a stark landscape. Hardy shrubs pushed their way through the decrepit bitumen and cracked, chalky soil while the collapsed remains of what looked like houses lined the road in a sad guard of honour. In the distance, the desert gave way to a forest growing into the ruins of a city. Trees grew atop high-rises blanketed in vines and other opportunistic climbers. But these were all background details.

In the centre of the picture was a figure—a person. They were swathed in long, lightweight khaki clothes—the majority of their face hidden by a scarf and broad brimmed hat, but I could see their eyes. They cast a hard, calculating stare down the barrel of a rifle—straight into the rover's camera.

"A survivor?" I muttered, still not quite believing my eyes.

"Not just one." Delta pointed at the picture, directing my attention to the stranger's right leg. A small child was peeking out, their wide eyes full of terror at the sight of the rover.

I recoiled, stumbling a few steps before my ass hit the back of the couch and I was forced to sit down. Hot coffee spilt over my legs. "Holy shit."

"Yup." Delta folded her arms, gazing into the dark eyes of the survivors. "And they're not the only ones. Thermal imaging drones have picked up multiple signals in a number of these Oasis Pockets." She made quotation marks in the air around Zenith's name for the habitable zones.

"So, Zenith knows?" I asked slowly.

"Of course!" Delta let out a bitter laugh. "How else would her team have confirmed the areas were habitable so quickly?"

I swallowed and met the child's terrified eyes again. "And she's still going to develop the land? What about the people living there?"

Delta made a face that confirmed the naivety of my question. Of course Zenith would push ahead with the development. She had never been one to let people get in the way of progress. Her ruthless displacement and development of crowded parts of the Ark were testament to that.

"Who owns that land?" I asked. "Technically I mean."

Delta nodded approval at the question, as if my comprehension of the situation was a test. "Well, that's complicated. When the Ark was colonised, the Old World remnants were put in the charge of the amalgamated government."

"But?" I asked, feeling one coming on.

"But," she continued, rubbing a hand down her face. "That was pre-privatisation. Now that all the government departments are privately owned, land distribution is technically in the hands of those businesses."

I blew out a long breath. "So this New World will only be for those that can afford it?"

She nodded again. "Let's put it this way, it's not going to solve the Ark's capacity problem the way they're pitching it will. Not to mention any investments in the development are more than likely going to be funding the eviction of these survivors."

"Eviction to where?" I looked back at the picture—straight down the barrel of the old gun in the survivor's hands. "They don't look like the type of people that will just clear out the moment Zenith's team turns up."

Delta followed my gaze to the stranger, her mouth pulling down at the corners. "If that's the case, investors might end up funding a secret war."

I tore my eyes away from the projection and tried to free myself from the weight of her words. I was drowning in all this new information—suffocating under every word. It was almost distracting enough to make me forget the real reason I was there.

Almost.

I took a breath. "What did this have to do with Dad?"

"Ah." Delta pointed to the holo, the chalky ground in the projection swallowing her hand momentarily. "This picture was leaked twenty-four hours ago, by a source I am almost certain was your dad."

Goosebumps prickled my arms and I swallowed back a rush of bile. The morning after the announcement—when he'd ditched me at the last minute to deal with something urgent at work. Could that have been what he was doing?

"The image was taken off ArkNet forty seconds after it went up, but it was long enough for plenty of people like me to get a good look."

"You're telling me Dad was targeted for leaking a picture?" I could hear the doubt in my own voice. "What makes you so sure it was even him?"

"Not just the photograph," Delta corrected. "Embedded in the picture file was this." She swiped at the holo and the image flipped revealing a row of text.

Initiation sequence: 13072307

I read the line under my breath and blinked in shock at the numbers. "Why is my birthday an initiation sequence?"

A wild glint appeared in Delta's eyes. "Because I think your dad was planning on taking down ZenTech from the inside."