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  My five-acre field had snagged on a partially collapsed pier covered in barnacles and algae. Since I’d need to leave it for a space of time to seek out a new home, I’d need to tie off the mat or risk it floating back out to the ocean on the tide. I could’ve survived on my living raft, but I had missed land and the company of people. The raft would provide all the food I would ever require, so it was best I secured it as soon as possible.

  I shaded my eyes and studied the city. “Eli, what have you gotten me into?” I asked myself. My voice broke when I spoke, rusty from silence. I hadn’t had anyone to talk to in weeks, and from the look of the landscape sprawled out before me, it would be a while before I did.

  A weight, akin to a chunk of lead, dropped to the bottom of my stomach. Perhaps out there somewhere in the wasteland I would find others like me, orphans of their destinies. There was only one way to find out. I had no choice, other than to go belly up, and I’d gone this far. Not the time for surrender, no matter how hopeless it all appeared.

  I grabbed a spool of wire and began lashing the mat to the dock. It would hold my field in place until I could relocate it. If I should change my mind about my new home, I could always take a pair of wire cutters to the lines and float back out with the tide.

  In my gut, I knew this was my final destination. Fate waited for me here. She brought me to this crumbling city for a reason. Without purpose, I was nothing, a flea without a host on this giant planet.

  Once I secured the raft, I turned to take a visual inventory of my temporary home. I had a lot of work to do, starting with relocating everything. It wouldn’t be easy. A voice in my head whispered, impossible, but I didn’t listen. I couldn’t afford to. I’d start with the technology and get the bones moved first.

  I’d survived on solar-powered water, filtered from the air. The hydroponic crops grown on a floating agricultural mat provided my fresh fruit and vegetables—the sea, my source of protein. They would continue to do so, but not without water. Water was my first priority, then shelter, the crops and seeds, and finally my tools and equipment.

  I shielded my eyes and assessed the field, mentally planning the order in which I would break it down. My mind had always required organization. I was never someone who could wing anything. I plotted, planned, and analyzed every situation to death. On this new shore, it would be no different. Once I knew what I had to move, I’d know what I’d have to scavenge, in order to build and move it.

  In the center of the field was a guard post and control center, complete with sleeping quarters and an equipment service depot. The small building served as protection from the sun, but it also housed the brains, which operated everything from the misters to the clear high-tech fabric forming a giant dome over the field during heavy storms, protecting crops from salt spray. It would go first, and the components were heavy. Some kind of hydraulic lift or device, or perhaps a pulley and lever system, would work. I mentally tagged parts I would need to acquire, not present on my field.

  Next, the garden. Planted in the twelve-foot deep humus bed were just about any fruit tree a person could think of, and vegetables of every possible type, a marvel which took a decade to design and another ten years to build. There were hundreds of these fields where I came from, but, like me, it found itself a rare commodity on an alien beach. I would require a lift for the trees too.

  I made my way inside the cabin, with a better idea of how to proceed, knowing before I left to explore I had to take one thing with me. On the shelf, a clear glass tube sat. I pulled it free and turned it around in my hands. Packed carefully inside was hundreds of thousands of seeds, filed by genus, protected inside the hermetically sealed tube designed to provide the optimal means for storage. Without the protective shell, the humidity would’ve sprouted them weeks ago. I stuffed the cylinder in my pack. I couldn’t leave this treasure unattended. Each seed was a viable beginning for a plant and would not only provide food, but additional seeds for future generations. I could very well have held the agricultural genesis of the new world.

  My only companions have been the robotic bees I’d modified to run on solar power. We were not friends, but survivalists. I used them to pollinate my crops, and they relied on me to keep their power cells operational. I wasn’t their biggest fan, but then again, I never had a choice about our cohabitation—not if I wanted to keep the crops producing so I could eat.

  It didn’t mean I’d allowed them free rein either. I’d built a microcomputer to fit on my wrist. I dug around the cabin for a minute until I located it. With a slap, it wrapped around my wrist and locked on. It housed the motherboard from their hive so they could follow me around once we made shore. Better, in this case, off within sight and not out of mind.

  I was their queen bee and held their kill switch and the remote guidance capabilities they once had full control over. They couldn’t function without me, and this was how I wanted it to stay. During my trip, I decided I might need a weapon once my living raft landed somewhere. I could only begin to guess the dangers I might face, and the bees were the best I could come up with on this man-made arboretum. They were what I knew and understood and were unbelievably dangerous for such a small package.

  As I turned back toward the shore, I felt like the only human remaining on Earth. How could such a vast space, which once held a massive population, appear so empty? Only the waves slapping against the field, a few seagulls, and a seal barking somewhere near the shore made any sound. This place was the definition of desolation and isolation.

  When my supervisors asked me a few months back where I imagined myself in the future, I never would’ve envisioned this. Alone, among three dozen or so partially sunken ships dotting an otherwise vacant harbor, a boneyard of rusted metal and past mistakes. I had seen my share of shipwrecks, but never in a place so void of life.

  In the distance, towers of partially collapsed buildings stood sentinel over what could only have been a massive metropolis before the Great War. Vines and plants covered the sides of buildings, creeping over stone and metal, blanketing the cables and beams of a bridge spanning the harbor in the distance.

  I drew in a deep breath. Time to build a new home.

  7

  I offer Axel a cup with My blood type is coffee, stamped on the side in bright red letters. A small chip graces the rim, but otherwise it’s intact. I acquired the old coffee cup in the library, and I figure the prior owner no longer needs it. It reminds me of my home on the islands, and the luxury beverage I started my mornings with. My coffee plants have yet to mature enough to produce the beans to make coffee, but they will eventually, and I’ll have a cup to enjoy it in when I do.

  He furrows his brow and stares at what I offer, as though he isn’t certain he should take it.

  “Water. You should drink. It’s easy to dehydrate here. Your perspiration evaporates, and you don’t realize how much hydration you’ve lost until it’s too late.”

  He nods and takes the cup, downing all of it before returning it to me. “You said there were hundreds of the rafts like the one you floated here on back where you came from, but you talked about food on the islands as though there were a shortage.”

  “I didn’t know until I saw it for myself—tasted food they hid from us—we were being controlled through our needs. After traveling hours through the wilds with Eli and his team, I was thirsty. Eli offered me a coconut.”

  “So, at this point you began to trust the rebels?”

  “Trust no, not yet. But I’d begun to question the government.”

  “Why?”

  “Because the coconut existed in the wilds where the people of the islands were prohibited from going.”

  Sententia, August 2nd, 2238

  Fresh coconut milk was not nearly as sweet as one could expect, and it tasted somewhat alcoholic in nature. Of course, if it contained any booze or had fermented, I’d more than likely be on the ground after I’d emptied the first shell. I never drank anything harder than juice. I tossed the empty coconut
down and scraped my tongue along my top teeth in a useless attempt to dislodge the taste before picking up another.

  “You might want to go easy on the coconut milk.” Eli nodded at the shell in my hands.

  “Why?” I lifted it to my mouth, taking another drink. The sun, the heat beating down on me, the humidity, all of it added up to a painful thirst I could no longer ignore.

  “Fresh coconut milk has, how do I put this, laxative qualities?” Eli smirked and glanced down at my growing pile of drained shells.

  I spewed the fluid from my mouth. “You could have told me before I downed five of these things.”

  “Didn’t get a chance. You were tossing them back like shots.”

  Not so. One could not toss back one of these coconuts like a shot. I glared and dropped the husk on the ground, my thirst gone. Great, we didn’t have toilet paper either. Tears filled my eyes, and I turned away from the rebel. I didn’t want to be sitting in the middle of some jungle, my chip burnt to a scorch mark and any means of becoming normal again, forever gone.

  I never wanted to hang out with a criminal and his psychotic buddies or find myself on the wrong side of the law. I’d tried to be a model citizen since Tyler vanished. And now, here I found myself, in the company of sketchy people I couldn’t trust. Worse yet, the only one I could possibly trust was a ghost in denial.

  Speaking of which…I glanced around, and wiped the tears from my eyes with the back of my hand. He said he’d be back, but it had been hours.

  “Don’t worry about the big guy. Akoni went to catch some fish, hence the coconut milk. It makes a great base for a stew.”

  I decided not to mention it wasn’t Akoni I looked for. “I thought he meant for us to drink it.”

  “Maybe some of it, but not all of it. Look, we can grab a couple of those shells and go find some water, and then we’ll start a small fire. Maybe after you get some decent food in your belly you’ll be fine.”

  “I’ve never eaten fish.”

  “You live on an island, and you don’t eat fish? What do you eat?”

  “I like pork, vegetables, and fruit. I’ve never had the guts to try something from the sea. I guess the possible contamination worried me.”

  “The ocean has a way of diluting radiation, and it’s been one hundred and fifty years since the Great War, more than enough time for it to filter out the major threats. Scientists have tested the ocean and say it’s fine to harvest food from again. I’ve been eating out of it for at least five years and have seen no ill effects.”

  “What about the bald patch on the back of your head.” I forced my expression to remain serious.

  Eli frowned and reached up.

  “Ha!” I laughed out. “Had you for a second.” My gaze drifted over to my other companions as they stopped to watch Eli and me interact. To the left, the female rebel played some kind of dice game with a red-headed man around the age of twenty. Long and lean, the guy was so thin I supposed he might vanish if he turned sideways. His companion, a woman around my age, with blonde hair and large eyes, wrinkled her nose as I made eye contact. Seconds later, she looked away. Her buddy gave her a nudge, and they got up. He leaned over, whispered in her ear, and they walked into the forest. “Where are they going?”

  As if in answer to my question, Eli’s com snapped to life. “We’re going to scout around and see if we can set some false trails. We’ll meet up with you at the designated spot.”

  “All right. Keep your eyes open out there. Don’t engage anyone if you see them. We want to remain as invisible as possible.”

  A branch snapped and Eli jumped to his feet at the same time I did. We both spun around to see Akoni emerge from the trees into the small clearing. “We should move further inland, to the tunnels.”

  “What’s going on?” Eli said.

  “They started at the sewer where we burned your chip, and are now moving in a circular search pattern. It won’t take them long to find us if they continue. It’s not safe to camp here.”

  I eyed the empty coconut shells. “Anyone can see someone has been here.”

  Akoni nodded and pulled out a strange looking gun. For the first time, I noticed he still had his chip. Eli had said almost every rebel had burnt their chip. Akoni appeared to be an almost. I opened my mouth to ask about it, and he turned to lock on in a stare down. His eyes narrowed, his nostrils flared. The breath caught in my throat as though I’d just received a punch to the gut. He raised the end of the weapon ever so slightly, not enough to be obvious, but barely to one side of my torso, and would look accidental should it go off. And for the briefest of moments, I’d thought he’d shoot me. I swallowed and took a step back, not daring to look away. The corner of the rebel’s mouth lifted into a half smile—smirk, as if to say, that’s right, I could kill you right here. Don’t get in your head you’re safe.

  My mouth fell open but only silence emerged. Help. The word sat on my tongue, but I couldn’t free it to alert Eli. This man meant to see me dead. His expression told me if he had his way, it would be right now.

  “I’ll scrub the area and make a path for them to follow to the beach. Take her to the tunnels. I’ll meet you there in an hour.” Akoni’s aim shifted, targeting the shells on the ground, vaporizing all the evidence of our passing through the area in a couple of seconds. With another cold smile cast in my direction, he spun and disappeared into the dense growth. He could’ve shot me, and if Eli wasn’t there, I would bet credit he would’ve.

  I studied what the blast had left behind, rubbing a phantom chill chasing across my skin. Nothing but dark ash remained, blending into the volcanic rock and humus rich soil as if it had always been there. If one didn’t stare at the spot, knowing what they were looking for, they’d never see it.

  Could I vanish as easily? The answer my mind whispered back sent a wiggle of fear up my spine. “I don’t like him.”

  Eli stared at the spot where Akoni had vanished. “If anything should happen to me, get as far away from him as you can.” He turned to look me in the eye. “I’m not blind. I saw what he did and was ready to take him down if he tried anything.”

  “I thought you said they could track us by our chips?”

  “I did, but nobody is looking for him. He’s exactly where he’s supposed to be. Akoni is the squad leader of a special security unit.”

  “Special?”

  “He goes after the people who are considered serious threats, or did, until he secretly joined our side.”

  “A double agent.”

  “No,” Eli said. “He’s on our side.” I watched his expression to see if he could be anything but serious. He meant what he said.

  How out of control everything seemed to spin. One moment, my life had been routine, the next, as unpredictable as a storm. I had no clue which direction I should go or what would come from my actions. I didn’t like it a bit. I craved the order I’d lost the moment Eli exploded into my life and thrust my world into chaos. I wanted to be angry at him, but doubt had crept into my mind. I’d already begun to question everything I wouldn’t have thought twice about before.

  Beginning to believe him didn’t change my situation or that I didn’t want to be a pawn in whatever game the rebels played with the government. Would it be too late to run? To escape to those who pursued and throw myself upon their mercy, explaining I’d been kidnapped and my chip burnt? Or had the government really targeted me for death? If so, it wouldn’t be wise to run back to the authorities. Besides, the smartest man I ever knew, well his ghost, warned me if I kept my chip I’d die. That meant I shouldn’t trust the government.

  The fact I’d even seen a ghost could make the information completely unreliable. Except it didn’t sound unreliable—not coming from my once best friend. I rubbed my forehead, a throbbing pulsed behind my eyes. I wanted an hour of peace to analyze my situation, sort the problems and figure out the best course of action.

  My logic never failed me, but I required some time to focus to make decisions. The rebels
hadn’t afforded me a second. My mind was awhirl, and I had no idea which direction to go should my wild ride come to a sudden stop. Hence the migraine banging on the inside of my skull.

  A shadow of uncertainty lingered in my thoughts. What if what Eli and Tyler said was true and the government wanted me for the same reason I now found myself on the run? The longer my world remained tipped on its axis and spinning out of control, the more Eli’s conspiracy theories seemed less theory and more fact. That they’d tracked me by my now destroyed chip could only mean they’d pursued me as Eli claimed.

  Or did they? I hadn’t seen evidence of my pursuit yet.

  Did I play along or take off and try to make it on my own? Eventually everyone on the run ran out of places to go and the resources to stay hidden. I pondered when I’d become a high-valued target. Or if any of it were true. I glanced back in the direction we’d come. I could escape without Akoni to stop me, breathing down the back of my neck, watching, waiting to take my life first chance he got. And the sick thing—I suspected he worked for the other side and played the rebels.

  Eli grabbed my wrist and pulled me out of the clearing and back into the jungle. “Let’s go.”

  I snatched my hand away, my skin tingling from the brief contact. Again, the electrical spark, an attraction I recognized but didn’t want to. The government would never approve of a match with a man like Eli, and something about it picked at me, increasing my irritation with the situation tenfold. “You don’t have to drag me behind you. I’m capable of following.”

  “The look on your face said you were going to make a run for it, and it’s a very bad idea.”