Wish

The cell is exactly seventeen steps by fourteen. I pace the edges of it at least twenty-two times before I settle against a wall. I take one look at the small ragged bed and decide even the chilly tiles would be better for my health than that flea-riddled tick-trap. I'd slept, I think. As another few deccas tick past, I wonder exactly how many factors I've been here. Should I give up waiting for Niah and try to escape?

I glance up at the small window. I spent quite a few of those factors gazing out at the city below. This vantage point, in what must be a high tower in a replica of the Lord's Palace, reveals a whole world below me. Even far beyond the reach of the city's life-sustaining dome, I can see trees, rolling hills, even distant mountains and what is either a large lake or the edge of an ocean. My mind struggles to comprehend the vastness so it's comforting to retreat within the four barren walls.

"Too high, and I don't think it's real anyway," I mutter to myself.

"It's not."

I startle, shocked by the voice in my cell. I glance around and spot a young boy sitting on the bed. I look around the room again, wondering where he might have come from. I can't believe I never noticed him in all the steps I've taken around this space. He's younger than me, probably only eight or nine narcycles.

"Where did you come from?"

He shrugs. "The City of Light." I blink, because isn't that where we are?

"How did you get here?"

"Virreal. Muma says I shouldn't stray the programs but I didn'a want to be a pirate swabby or echo thief again. I ain't strong 'nough to play fisban with Jordie and Simon. 'Sides, I like the Palace. I like Oli's puppy."

"What do you mean?"

"Lord Oliver calls her Chortessa. She eats people, but she doesn't eat me. She's my friend."

"She is? But she's a beast."

A sadness darkens his eyes. "No she ain't. She's just a puppy. The Lord ain't nice to her but she's not mean. She's my friend."

I nod, pushing myself to my feet. I move across the room and brave the fleas to sit down beside him. "You don't have many of those?"

He shakes his head. "Nah. Muma says it's 'cause we don't belong to the Inner Circle. So, they shoe, um, nah they shun? I think that's it, they shuns us." His head drops and he rocks in place. "That's why I stray the programs sometimes, 'cause I don't fit in like the other kids."

"What does that mean? About the programs?"

He lifts his head with a look of surprise. "You don't know 'bout the programs? But you're in Virreal too. How'd you get here if you don't know 'bout 'em?"

I shrug. "A man brought me. They plugged my mind into the machine."

His mouth drops open. "So you ain't even pick your own program?" He glances around. "I guess that 'splains why you is here. Pretty boring program."

I glance around too. "Yeah, it is."

"Want to see something else?"

I look back at him, startled. "I don't think I can. They locked me in the cell."

He blinks. "But it's just a program."

I know my confusion must be marked all over my face. He sighs.

"You don't know nothing do you? Virreal ain't real. You can change the program, go somewhere else."

"I don't know how to do that."

His brow furrows for a moment. His eyes seem to go distant before he snaps back to attention with a look of determination. He smiles. "Wanna come with me?"

"Where will we go? Can we find my sister?"

"Is she in Virreal?"

"I don't know." I frown, realising that I have no idea where Niah is now. I'd felt so sure she must be coming for me but maybe she's as trapped as I am. Maybe she needs me to rescue her. "Maybe we can find out? Maybe we can rescue her." I smile at the boy.

He grins. "Like a real adventure?"

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I nod. "Yeah, an adventure. If we can escape this place, we can find out where she is, and we can save her. Are you with me?"

"Sure!" He pushes himself up from the bed and pats his hands down the thighs of his pants as if dusting himself off, but his dress pants and fine shirt are immaculate.

I stand too and then turn back to him. "I'm Wish by the way," I say, giving him my hand.

He smiles up at me and takes my hand. "My name's Casper." Our hands remain linked as he closes his eyes and turns to face the cell door. I watch the sneaky smile on his face before he opens his eyes. And in the breath before I can ask him what he's doing, I hear the heavy clunk of the cell door unlocking. The door springs open of its own accord and beyond it, we can see an empty, abandoned hallway.

I smile, hopeful and excited. Maybe we really can save Niah. Maybe we can save all of Nar.

***

Niah

The catacombs of the City Below are a honeycomb maze of networking corridors and chambers. Even this upper level, which must be near the surface, seems to wander. I stay close to Tye's side. I'm glad for the escort because I don't know that I'd ever find the way out on my own. The darker corridors create a more pit-like sense of claustrophobia around me. Perhaps it's also the layer of smoke that seems to blanket the City Below. The faces we see as we move through the halls are ash-stained. Some of the Faithful appear sickly and frail.

"How many people live down here?" I ask as we pass an eating hall with long tables and benches that could seat dozens of families.

Tye shrugs. "I don't know about permanent residents but I've seen that hall to capacity when all the Shadows come in for a meeting, or to escape a bluster storm or dark moon."

I don't know what either of those things are but I guess, unless I'm stuck outside during either, I probably don't need to know. We round another corner and enter a small chamber lit from above by a slatted window of stained glass. A heavy metal step ladder rises up to a trapdoor in the ceiling.

"Want to go first?" Tye asks.

I shake my head, not sure what we'll find above us. "I'll follow you."

He nods and begins climbing. As he reaches the trapdoor, he nudges it aside. It opens easily and tips with a clunk up onto the floor above us. He climbs through, then turns to reach down and help me up.

As I pull up through the door and stand within the small antechamber, I'm amazed at the difference between the barren darkness of the City Below and the charming beauty and pearlescent softness of the carefully crafted walls, the decorative stained-glass windows that cast a rainbow of light around the room, and the fixtures of finely carved furniture. The open door looks out on a large room arrayed in worship pews, a draped altar, and beautiful stone monuments.

"It's a church?" I ask.

"Chapel of the Faithful."

"You openly worship Bellamy on the surface?"

Tye shakes his head. "Not overtly. The front is a place of worship for the Lord actually." He grins and I laugh.

"He must have some ego."

"Oh, yeah. Of course, there are other purposes for the chapels. It's considered non-denominational so those who worship the Sacred of Nar, or the Universal Void, or even the Elixir of the Gods will worship at our chapels. Even share ceremonies some of the time. But almost every Chapel of the Faithful is an access point to the City Below. There are several in the Outer Circle."

"What about the Inner Circle?"

He sighs. "There are chapels there but the City Below doesn't run under the central towers. The Lord's tech penetrates under several levels into the basins where his most top-secret research is conducted."

"How do you know all this?"

He smiles. "The Faithful have spent two hundred narcycles developing the society and the city formed up around them. We Shadows don't only stalk the Shadowland."

I frown. "Why do you call yourself a Shadow?"

He sighs. "That's what I am. My family have been outcast for generations. It's so long ago now that only the Lord would know why, but it means I have no place in the City of Light. I couldn't bear the confinement of the City Below either, so when I was about seven, Tannan started to let me venture out with the Shadows. We're trawlers and herders and explorers. There's a whole world beyond the edges of the Outer Rim and while it currently lies in the shadows, we shouldn't ever forget that it's out there."

I nod.

"Come on," he says, "this is just the first stop. We're on an outskirt of the Outer Circle and there's a checkpoint to the north, but we have to move through the city to get there. To do that, we need to look the part."

Tye leads the way through the chapel and out a door at the back of the great hall. It leads into a narrow alley stretching between the high walls of the chapel and a row of what looks like residential apartments. Above us, the strange sky is lit up by a brilliant, almost blinding radiance. I gaze up at it, wondering how the light is created. The Shadowlands seemed like an eternal night, so the sight of twin suns feels oddly unnatural.

"The caretaker's cottage is at the end of this row. The Faithful keep supplies there. No staples, they're too valuable to leave unattended, but plenty of fresh clothes and hot water." Tye pauses, then says, "The dome has an artificial sky." I look down to see him watching me with a raised eyebrow. He chuckles. "The Lord likes to be extravagant." I smile. "Come on."

He grabs my hand and we jog together down the row to a small rise of stone columns and fibreglass panels. He nudges open the heavy door. Lights flicker on as we step into the room. "Welcome," says a soft female voice. "Please be considerate in your stay."

The disembodied voice is so familiar that it's eerie. "She reminds me of Elixr," I say. I glance around. The rest of the room is familiar too. Its walls are made from the same white fibreglass and chrome. The high technology is a startling contrast to the earthen walls and dark wood furnishings in the City Below.

"Your ship?" Tye asks. I can feel his eyes on me as I explore the room. Each element of decor is clean and functional, minimalist. It looks pristine, unused, unlived in.

I nod as I run my hand across the smooth white leather sofa. "Yes, she has a voice interface like this one." I smile. "White is a fashion trend there, too."

Tye shakes his head. "The welcome bot isn't really an interface. It's programmed to deliver the message but doesn't listen for commands. We have our privacy here. But we shouldn't stay long; the later we leave things, the more Stalkers will be on the streets when we try to cross into the Inner Circle. I don't want to draw attention to you. Your features are a little too distinct to pass for an average Narian.

I sigh, because again Captain Bellamy's face is haunting me. Tye shows me to a room with a closet of Narian clothing and an attached bathroom with jettison shower. It's odd to see a cascade of real water streaming from the pipes above rather than the starship's waterless particle cleanser.

I can't help lingering in the shower a little but change back into my clothes quickly. I pull a set of Narian clothing over my suit. Then, seeing a satchel in the closet, I take that and drop it over my shoulder. I tuck Hart's tablet inside.

Tye is faster. He's waiting as I return to the main room. Seeing him clean-faced with a golden mop of hair gives me an odd rush of wanting. I bite down on the inside of my lip. His eyes seem to devour me, mirroring my yearning, and I wonder what's different. I suppose it's the clothes.

"Do I look okay?" I ask, crunching the edge of the dark shirt in my fingers.

"Depends," he says. His Adam's apple bobs as he swallows, then looks me up and down again. "Will you be offended if I say I see Bellamy in you?"

I sigh. "I suppose not. That's kind of what we're going for, right?"

He smiles and then hands me a black mamot cloak with a fitted hood. "In part, but not always. Here. While we move through the more populated parts of the city, you should keep this on. We don't know who will be friendly to our cause, and seeing your features might draw more attention than necessary."

I nod and pull the cloak around my shoulders. I pull the hood up over my hair and let the lip hang low over my eyes.

"Perfect, now you could pass for a Stalker."

I smile. "And you? You don't look anything like Hanzor or Erron."

He grins. "Well, some Stalkers can be charming." He winks and I laugh.

"Is that what you are?" I raise an eyebrow at him and he laughs too.

"Just go with it. I'll pass. Besides, we have creds to get us past the first boundary so we shouldn't have any problems with that."

"Let's go then!"