museum was a big block of brick and glass set on a slight rise overlooking the sweep of the park to the west, toward downtown, and beyond that the Rockies. From here the park looked like a medieval village, packed with smallholdings and shabby huts, and threads of smoke rising up from dung fires. But the museum on its rise was fortified.
She had to show her Candidate’s pass and submit to three biometric ID inspections before she was allowed into the main entrance. By the time she got through everybody else had already gone in—everybody save Zane Glemp, who was waiting for her by the door.
“I’m sorry,” she said, breathless.
“It’s not me you’ll have to apologize to. Come on. ” He led her inside the building, through an echoing ticket hall and toward the stairs behind the closed-up museum shop. This was a bright tall open space, and overhead the dusty skeletons of marine dinosaurs from Colorado’s vanished Cretaceous sea still swam in the air.
She felt a rush of affection for Zane. He was a skinny kid, and at ten he was a year younger than she was. But he had his father’s brains, and had been allowed into the Academy a whole two terms ahead of her. This first morning he had promised to meet her and show her around, and he was keeping that promise even at the risk of making himself late as well. “Thanks for waiting for me.”
“I was here already.” That was true; he had his own room in the Academy, that he used when his father was away.
“It wasn’t my fault I was late. There was a riot in the park, and I—”
“Save it. They don’t accept excuses here.”
“Well said, Mr. Glemp.” By the elevator shaft, Harry Smith was hauling a small trolley laden with books. He stepped toward them and folded his arms. “Late on your first day, Groundwater? Not a good start.” He was being teacher-strict, nothing more, and that was sort of reassuring to Holle as she tried to get her bearings. But he was standing very close to them. Something about him always made her uneasy.
“I won’t let it happen again.”
He nodded. “Good answer.”
“I’ve got my assignment.” She dug her handheld out of her bag, and tried to show him her study of the ecological disaster unfolding up in the Rockies, of how the tree line had already ascended so far that the old regions of montane forest and shrubland, with their ponderosa pines and cactuses, were withering, whole ecozones disappearing.
But Harry waved that away. “You’ve both made yourselves late for Dr. Zheng’s class, haven’t you? Pop quiz.”
Zane fretted, and shuffled from one foot to another. “Can’t we just go to class? A quiz will make us even later.”
“Then you’ll just have to make up that much more work, won’t you? OK. Overnight the Ark executive announced they’ve finally made their decision on where to locate the space launch center—at Gunnison, Colorado. Why there?”
Holle glanced at Zane. “I didn’t know about Gunnison. I listened to the news. But it wasn’t in the bulletin I saw—”
Harry said, “Of course not. You know as well as I do about the secrecy around the project. You can’t keep a space center under wraps, and there will be an official announcement later today. But both your fathers are at the center of the project. You both are. You should know everything they know.” He dug into the pile of books on the trolley, found an atlas, and threw it at Holle; it was a big, heavy, pre-flood volume, and she had trouble catching hold of it. “Why Gunnison? Work it out. I’ll give you five minutes. Otherwise, another question.” And he walked away, towing his trolley.
The two of them kneeled on the floor and spread out the atlas, looking for the right map. “What an asshole,” Holle murmured.
“He’s our pastoral tutor,” Zane said. “Looking after our overall personal development, while the specialist teachers—hey, look, here it is. Colorado.”
They peered at the map, a splash of yellow and
She had to show her Candidate’s pass and submit to three biometric ID inspections before she was allowed into the main entrance. By the time she got through everybody else had already gone in—everybody save Zane Glemp, who was waiting for her by the door.
“I’m sorry,” she said, breathless.
“It’s not me you’ll have to apologize to. Come on. ” He led her inside the building, through an echoing ticket hall and toward the stairs behind the closed-up museum shop. This was a bright tall open space, and overhead the dusty skeletons of marine dinosaurs from Colorado’s vanished Cretaceous sea still swam in the air.
She felt a rush of affection for Zane. He was a skinny kid, and at ten he was a year younger than she was. But he had his father’s brains, and had been allowed into the Academy a whole two terms ahead of her. This first morning he had promised to meet her and show her around, and he was keeping that promise even at the risk of making himself late as well. “Thanks for waiting for me.”
“I was here already.” That was true; he had his own room in the Academy, that he used when his father was away.
“It wasn’t my fault I was late. There was a riot in the park, and I—”
“Save it. They don’t accept excuses here.”
“Well said, Mr. Glemp.” By the elevator shaft, Harry Smith was hauling a small trolley laden with books. He stepped toward them and folded his arms. “Late on your first day, Groundwater? Not a good start.” He was being teacher-strict, nothing more, and that was sort of reassuring to Holle as she tried to get her bearings. But he was standing very close to them. Something about him always made her uneasy.
“I won’t let it happen again.”
He nodded. “Good answer.”
“I’ve got my assignment.” She dug her handheld out of her bag, and tried to show him her study of the ecological disaster unfolding up in the Rockies, of how the tree line had already ascended so far that the old regions of montane forest and shrubland, with their ponderosa pines and cactuses, were withering, whole ecozones disappearing.
But Harry waved that away. “You’ve both made yourselves late for Dr. Zheng’s class, haven’t you? Pop quiz.”
Zane fretted, and shuffled from one foot to another. “Can’t we just go to class? A quiz will make us even later.”
“Then you’ll just have to make up that much more work, won’t you? OK. Overnight the Ark executive announced they’ve finally made their decision on where to locate the space launch center—at Gunnison, Colorado. Why there?”
Holle glanced at Zane. “I didn’t know about Gunnison. I listened to the news. But it wasn’t in the bulletin I saw—”
Harry said, “Of course not. You know as well as I do about the secrecy around the project. You can’t keep a space center under wraps, and there will be an official announcement later today. But both your fathers are at the center of the project. You both are. You should know everything they know.” He dug into the pile of books on the trolley, found an atlas, and threw it at Holle; it was a big, heavy, pre-flood volume, and she had trouble catching hold of it. “Why Gunnison? Work it out. I’ll give you five minutes. Otherwise, another question.” And he walked away, towing his trolley.
The two of them kneeled on the floor and spread out the atlas, looking for the right map. “What an asshole,” Holle murmured.
“He’s our pastoral tutor,” Zane said. “Looking after our overall personal development, while the specialist teachers—hey, look, here it is. Colorado.”
They peered at the map, a splash of yellow and
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