Page 24 of Last Chance to Save the World

9

Ready to save the world?” he asks, his voice husky.

“Don’t be dramatic; this is just a normal Monday.”

We push through the crowds to the lift. It deposits us in the warm, early morning light of a sunrise, the orange-red glow reflected off the skyscrapers towering over the city.

This lift brings us right to the gates of Central Gardens. At the corner, across the street, we pass a mental spa with bright lights, advertising its services. All the shops are just starting to open up, smells of rich food wafting out, enticing me.

“Not yet,” Rian says, grabbing my elbow and steering me toward the park.

“Just a little—”

“Focus.” His voice is stern enough that I’m distracted from the buttery, sweet smell of fresh pastries blended with the savory scents of spiced sausages. It’sdecadent.If these people knew just how hard it is to hide the taste of goopy-yet-nutrient-dense recycler worm waste with hot sauce, they’d spend all their cash on honey rings and frog.a tat-tarja and pastizzi.

Central Gardens is a large park, a rare spot of green open to all. The meandering paths are carefully maintained and structured to encourage you to take your time, but we go at a fast clip. At least until we see the enormous floating screens.

“What are these?” I ask, peering up at the nearest one. It’s larger than a window, round, and illuminated with a video of some other city, streets crowded. From the background, I’d guess maybe Centauri-Earth.

“Communication Viewing Rings,” Rian says. “Not my department, but I helped approve the installation.”

I keep walking, heading to the next floating screen. A different image in this one—it shows a city in China. The next one is Rigel-Earth—I can tell just from the way the people are dressed. Through it I see a woman looking at her reflection in a shop window. It reminds me, weirdly, of the dusty shops we passed in Xlendi, the way I couldn’t have caught my reflection if I’d tried.

“The climate-cleaner project is big,” Rian reminds me. “The entire galaxy is watching. The CVRs are supposed to promote inclusivity and goodwill.” He sounds like he’s reciting information from a press release. For all I know, he is.

A boy from Rigel-Earth a little younger than us stops, peering through the video. He touches his arm and frowns, which makes me look at my own arms. I’m guessing the sun shield’s flare threads are making it hard for him to accurately see me; he can tell I’m there but can’t spot the details. There’s no sound from the view ring, just visual.

“This is a live feed?” I ask.

“As close to live as possible.” Rian points beyond the trees, where the top of Fetor Towers is visible. “It helps to be boosted by the comm network hub.”

“I bet,” I mumble. The boy from Rigel-Earth in the screen scowls at me, probably shocked to have a window into such a disadvantaged planet as mine. I pull up my sleeve and flip him off.

“Ada!” Rian protests. “Inclusivity and goodwill!”

The boy in the screen returns my rude gesture. For a moment, we both stare at each other, separated by lightyears and worlds away. Then a smile twitches at my lips, visible since I don’t have my hood up, and the boy on the other side of the galaxy snorts in silent laughter.

“Would you look at that,” I say, heading back down the path and past even more floating screens. “There’s one decent person on the entire planet of Rigel-Earth, and I happened to catch him in your little inclusivity project.”

“One?” Rian asks.

“Apparently.” I pull my hood up; it’s too easy to forget about sun protection in the cool, early morning, but radiation doesn’t care about temperature.

The park spills out into a stone expanse. There are more of the view rings all around Triumph Square, as well as more people. Food carts are already strategically positioned throughout the courtyard, and vendors mill about. There’s always a crowd at Triumph Square, but it’s clear that people expect this to be a big celebration, gathering hours before the scheduled launch.

Eight...nine . . . more than a dozen of the people here could be Rian’s. I catch eyes that follow us, stiff postures. I could be wrong.

He’s going to betray you.

I also spot at least ten uniformed officers. Big crowds, big security.

“Look.” Rian points to the front of Fetor Tech. The building holds the prime real estate at the side of the square opposite Central Gardens.

Anenormousdisplay illuminates holographic numbers that encompass the entire front of the building. As I watch, the numbers melt, counting down by the minute. It’s supposed to be a kickoff to the celebration of the launch of the climate-cleaner nanobots, but I can’t help but feel like this is a personal taunting, reminding Rian and me of how little time we have to do what needs to be done.

“It’s fine,” I mumble, grabbing his hand and dragging him toward Fetor Tech. A tight timeline is a complication but a calculated one.

While in the portal pathway between the gala on Rigel-Earth and the nanobot release here, today, Rian and I went over every schematic of Fetor Tech, combining it with his personal knowledge of the building. Fetor Tech has some of the best and latest technological security systems, but it’s still a huge building where lots of workers and guests need to come and go.

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