Page 1 of Bred

Chapter One

Lyra

“Hello, Beijing. This is Lyra Patrovich, Elite Global Officer #9969, registering a standard transcontinental orbital patrol over controlled airspace.”

“Ni Hao, Officer Patrovich, you are clear for passage over Chinese space.”

Every few hours I have to check in with the territory below. The Chinese, Russians, and Americans all get jumpy when one of our patrols goes overhead. It’s no mystery why. Every single one of them breaks international law on a daily basis. They’d prefer we didn’t notice. Sure enough, as soon as my presence is received, clouds begin to accumulate ever more thickly in an effort to cover certain sites below.

Weather is easier to control than the Global Democratic forces, of which I am a part. Sworn to uphold order worldwide, that’s me, and their little tricks don’t make any difference at all. Cloud generation technology is standard over sensitive military sites. What they don’t realize is we’ve adapted technology to use water vapor as an amplification device. I can see troop movements, weapons plants, essentially everything a government might want to hide, and I can see them in much higher resolution through the cloud cover than I could if they left the day clear.

I set the feed to record as I glide through orbit, chasing the curve of the planet as I experience the glory of space and the eternal night that stretches from the small glowing bauble of Earth all the way to infinity. Light is an illusion, nothing more than cosmic radiation our bodies have adapted to illuminate the realm in which we live, but there is so much beyond the borders of our world and our understanding. Being on the verge of space reminds me of that, makes this moment hallowed.

Soon I’ll be back down on Earth. I’ll forget what it is like up here. You always do once you get swallowed by humanity, the day-to-day bustle of existence. There are thirty billion people below me. Hard to believe that once upon a time our species numbered in the thousands. There’s only a few hours left of my patrol, but I wish it could last longer. I’ve been trying to get transferred to one of the space stations for almost a year now, but they’re impossible to get onto. The waiting list for transfers is hundreds of people long, and only the very best and the most distinguished will ever set foot in them.

This far, I’m not the best, and I’m far from distinguished. I’m one of a thousand global patrol officers, which gets me close, but not close enough.

Bewwoop!My communicator activates. There’s a call from the surface. I punch the little black button and my best friend’s voice comes over the speakers.

“Lyra?”

We’re really not supposed to take personal calls while on patrol, but it’s impossible to stop Caddy from getting in touch when she wants to. She built the comms systems on these things, and no matter how many times the official engineers try to patch them out, she always opens new backdoors.

“Hey, Caddy, what’s happening?”

“Oh, nothing. Just watching television.”

“...and breaking international orbital protocol?”

“Yeah, that too,” she giggles. “Do you think Kim is a good name for a baby?”

I shrug, even though she can’t see me. “Do babies even need names? It’s not like they know what they are. They don’t have a concept of nouns. You could probably wait a few years before naming them and it would be fine.”

Caddy laughs. “It’s just me and Dez are trying to work out what to call this fetus kicking me in the liver.”

She’s due in two months, has been on bed rest for one month and I think she’s going stir crazy. She’s one of the smartest engineers space force has, and she’s stuck in bed watching telenovels. Suffice it to say, everyone is bearing the brunt of her boredom.

Bleeep Bleeep Bleeep

“What’s that?” She can hear everything going on in the shuttle. I wouldn’t put it past her to have sensor data as well. She’s nosy as hell and she doesn’t give a damn about things like ‘protocol’ or ‘matters of international security.’ She’ll patch into the shuttle from her apartment on the 140th floor of her building using the same connection everyone else is getting their social media on. It’s totally non-secure and she’ll probably be put in prison for it one day, but Caddy is one of those people who never seem to get in trouble for anything.

“Anomaly,” I frown, looking at the sensor logs.

“That’s weird.”

“Yeah, it’s in upper orbit.”

“Go have a look.”

“That’s not protocol. Protocol is to call it in and let...”

“Go look! Please! I am so bored.”

“You want me to break protocol and risk my career to entertain you?”

“You have to! I’m pregnant!”

I roll my eyes, glad that she doesn’t have a visual feed. Caddy thinks the entire world revolves around her, including me, all the way up here in orbit.

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