ruining my mood.
“Oh, well have fun, I guess,” he was definitely irritated.
“I know you were hoping we could go together, but Henri went through the trouble of going to the Captain and calling your Dad and stuff,” I started to apologize.
“No, it’s fine. I’ll take you another time,” he cut me off.
“I’ll come find you when I get back,” I promised.
“Yeah, whatever.” I closed my mind again, he was killing my happy buzz.
Elite Headquarters is located in West Virginia, about a hundred miles west of the Nation’s capital. The actual compound sat on several hundred acres of what used-to-be farm land, but now boasted the latest and greatest technology that the world had to offer. The compound’s stores sell anything a Pledge or Operative needs . In Washington, D.C. you could buy anything imaginable, and probably many things that I couldn’t imagine. Erik, like many of the other Operatives, frequented the city bars to pick up girls, but Pledges weren’t usually allowed to visit the city, even on our days off. I guess the idea was that Pledges stationed at various other locations weren’t able to be afforded the same luxuries, so it wasn’t fair.
As a child, my parents and I had traveled constantly, never staying in one location for more than a couple of months. S ince coming to live with Mac and his family my travels had been limited. My relocation trip to Elite Headquarters was the first time I’d left the School’s grounds since arriving seven years before. The notion that a real city existed, only a hover ride away, had been driving me crazy.
Donavon had completed his Pledge year and graduated from School the year before; since becoming a full-fledged Hunter he had been taking full advantage of his newfound freedom. Sometimes he brought me flaky pastries filled with chocolate or strawberry cream from the bakeries. Other times, he brought back lengths of embroidered silks to take home to Gretchen, so she could have outfits made for me. When he was feeling lazy, he just bought trinkets from the street vendors.
Henri had reserved a hover car for the day that he used to drive the three of us the hundred miles into Washington. I kept my face glued to the cold glass, watching as the dense woods surrounding Headquarters gave way to small farms and spread-out houses. We were still twenty miles outside of the actual city when the buildings became more dense and elaborate. The roadways beneath us were packed with bumper-to-bumper road vehicles. From our vantage, point in the air I suddenly saw the city materialize beneath us. I stared down in wonder.
When we reached the outskirts of D.C. we flew straight through the border check point, without stopping. Ordinarily, all vehicles – both road and hover – needed to stop and the occupants were required to show identification. But, since we were in a clearly marked Agency car, we were able to sail through without pausing.
I was overwhelmed the moment we landed. The buildings were tall and packed so close together there was no space to walk in between – the height restrictions for the structures long forgotten. Most of the buildings were made of diffractive glass that changed color depending on where I stood. The architectural-style varied from one building to the next, with no two looking exactly alike. I saw some buildings that were short and square, some tall and thin, and several topped with elaborate sphere-like structures. I even saw one hexagon shaped building that had, what appeared to be, a moving walkway that snaked around the periphery, taking people all the way from street-level to the pinnacle. A sky railway arched high above the busy ground walkways, connecting one building to the next.
The sky was dotted with small hover cars – this must be their primary mode of transportation. Although the streets inside D.C., were just as packed with road mobiles as the beltways surrounding the
“Oh, well have fun, I guess,” he was definitely irritated.
“I know you were hoping we could go together, but Henri went through the trouble of going to the Captain and calling your Dad and stuff,” I started to apologize.
“No, it’s fine. I’ll take you another time,” he cut me off.
“I’ll come find you when I get back,” I promised.
“Yeah, whatever.” I closed my mind again, he was killing my happy buzz.
Elite Headquarters is located in West Virginia, about a hundred miles west of the Nation’s capital. The actual compound sat on several hundred acres of what used-to-be farm land, but now boasted the latest and greatest technology that the world had to offer. The compound’s stores sell anything a Pledge or Operative needs . In Washington, D.C. you could buy anything imaginable, and probably many things that I couldn’t imagine. Erik, like many of the other Operatives, frequented the city bars to pick up girls, but Pledges weren’t usually allowed to visit the city, even on our days off. I guess the idea was that Pledges stationed at various other locations weren’t able to be afforded the same luxuries, so it wasn’t fair.
As a child, my parents and I had traveled constantly, never staying in one location for more than a couple of months. S ince coming to live with Mac and his family my travels had been limited. My relocation trip to Elite Headquarters was the first time I’d left the School’s grounds since arriving seven years before. The notion that a real city existed, only a hover ride away, had been driving me crazy.
Donavon had completed his Pledge year and graduated from School the year before; since becoming a full-fledged Hunter he had been taking full advantage of his newfound freedom. Sometimes he brought me flaky pastries filled with chocolate or strawberry cream from the bakeries. Other times, he brought back lengths of embroidered silks to take home to Gretchen, so she could have outfits made for me. When he was feeling lazy, he just bought trinkets from the street vendors.
Henri had reserved a hover car for the day that he used to drive the three of us the hundred miles into Washington. I kept my face glued to the cold glass, watching as the dense woods surrounding Headquarters gave way to small farms and spread-out houses. We were still twenty miles outside of the actual city when the buildings became more dense and elaborate. The roadways beneath us were packed with bumper-to-bumper road vehicles. From our vantage, point in the air I suddenly saw the city materialize beneath us. I stared down in wonder.
When we reached the outskirts of D.C. we flew straight through the border check point, without stopping. Ordinarily, all vehicles – both road and hover – needed to stop and the occupants were required to show identification. But, since we were in a clearly marked Agency car, we were able to sail through without pausing.
I was overwhelmed the moment we landed. The buildings were tall and packed so close together there was no space to walk in between – the height restrictions for the structures long forgotten. Most of the buildings were made of diffractive glass that changed color depending on where I stood. The architectural-style varied from one building to the next, with no two looking exactly alike. I saw some buildings that were short and square, some tall and thin, and several topped with elaborate sphere-like structures. I even saw one hexagon shaped building that had, what appeared to be, a moving walkway that snaked around the periphery, taking people all the way from street-level to the pinnacle. A sky railway arched high above the busy ground walkways, connecting one building to the next.
The sky was dotted with small hover cars – this must be their primary mode of transportation. Although the streets inside D.C., were just as packed with road mobiles as the beltways surrounding the
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