We flew into the atmospheric bubble of Industry, one of the largest of the trees, which housed nearly a quarter of the population of ReDawn. The branches of Industry reached horizontally away from the trunk of the tree in all directions, and towers stretched into the space above them, while shorter buildings were suspended downward from beneath. Several kilometers from the trunk, the branches reached for the sky, with structures built in spiral patterns winding up the branches all the way to the tips. The air was thinner here, as the tree processed the toxins out of the atmosphere and produced the oxygen we needed to breathe.
A voice reached into my mind unbidden, though I wished I could ignore it.
Alanik, it said. You and Rinakin left the match before I could speak to you. We would like to meet with you in the Council chambers immediately.
“What is it?” Rinakin asked.
“Quilan,” I said. He was one of the Unity cytonics, the closest to my age, though he was a few seasons older. “He wants us to meet him at the Council tree.”
If he’d noticed we’d left the stadium early, he’d been watching us. Probably planning to move on us in the stadium, where it would be harder for us to refuse an escort. Where if we resisted they could accuse us of making a scene, turn public opinion against us.
As if the wind weren’t already blowing that way.
Two
“I’m not going to meet with them on their terms,” I said. I could hyperjump from almost anywhere on ReDawn, but the Council tree—the capital of ReDawn—was home to the other four cytonics. Working together, they could create a cytonic inhibitor, a field from which I’d be unable to escape.
They could all come to me, of course, but it would be much easier for them to catch me if I agreed to walk right into their jaws.
“Offer to meet them in a neutral location,” Rinakin said.
“I don’t want to,” I said. “Too much risk. They’ll bring the other cytonics.”
Rinakin pressed his lips together. I was right and he knew it.
Alanik, Quilan said. Please respond.
I will not be meeting with the Council at this time, I answered. I will let you know when I am next available.
I’m sorry, Alanik, Quilan said. But your attendance is required.
“He’s not asking,” I said. “He wants us to believe we don’t have a choice.” Though of course we did. As long as we could escape from them, we would always have a choice. To believe otherwise was to hand over our own power, the way they wanted to hand ReDawn over to the Superiority.
“Soon we may not,” Rinakin said. “The Council voted to consolidate the military. Many of the Independence bases are already submitting to the Council’s control.”
I stared at him. ReDawn had maintained two air forces since the end of the last war. We competed and drilled against each other, with the understanding that if ReDawn faced a common threat we would work together to fight it. The division kept us sharp, each side trying to maintain an edge against the other.
“They’re getting ready to move against us,” I said.
“Yes,” Rinakin said. “And they’re doing it in the name of peace.”
There hadn’t been real fighting on ReDawn in almost a century, and both Unity and the Superiority promised peace and cooperation. Never mind that the Superiority had kept us contained here all this time, punishing us for rebellion. Never mind that if we accepted their peace, we also had to accept their control over every aspect of our technology, our travel, our behavior, our culture. They’d already made us paupers, withholding advanced technology from us because we rejected their rule. Now they would make us beggars as well, stripping us of our dignity and our heritage in the process.
And so many of my people accepted it. A prisoner could be convinced that they lived in a paradise, if the prison was pretty enough.
“Is there anyone left who will fight with us?”
“The base on Hollow refused to unify,” Rinakin said. “I sent my daughter and her family there. But I’m afraid they won’t be able to hold out long.”
My brother Gilaf was stationed at Hollow. He and his flightmates helped supervise the lumber work there. Unlike the rest of my family, Gilaf wasn’t going to swallow Unity lies.
“If the other Independence bases see that there are holdouts, maybe they’ll reverse course,” I said.
“That is my hope, but I expect Unity will mobilize their forces quickly to bring them in line.”
It was hard to imagine my people firing on each other, but Unity always seemed more willing to strike out at us than at the Superiority.