An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon

Author:Rivers Solomon
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: ebook, book
Publisher: Akashic Books
Published: 2017-08-21T04:00:00+00:00

The Matilda Morning Herald

A Boy with Heart

by Graeme R. Porter

C and D deck are abuzz with rumors of “the boy genius,” as he is called among the Matildan medical elite. Yesterday evening, at 21:03 hours, Theo Smith successfully performed cardial replacement surgery on Sovereign Nicolaeus, using an artificial heart of his own design. The human body produces enough heat energy to power the mechanical heart, which is fashioned from repurposed tyranium alloy and medical-grade plastic.

The expected shelf life of the tin heart is six harvest years. Previous models lasted a maximum of seven hundred days.

Smith is thirteen years old and the child of former Sovereign Sedvar Smith. He made headlines one year ago when he single-handedly ended the W deck polio epidemic, creating a vaccine out of the virus itself, putting himself in harm’s way and becoming ill in the process.

“He saved the Sovereign, and for that I’m grateful,” says George Cate, Chief Overseer of Matilda’s Field Decks and food distribution. “I fear that his would-be successors might be too heathenistic in their governance of this great ship.”

The political ramifications have caused a halt to the emergency appointments that were set to take place in five days.

Minister of Medicine and soon-to-be Surgeon General James Fitz is less optimistic. “That we even allowed the honored Sovereign into the hands of a child of such questionable background is unthinkable. I am grateful that things have turned out fine for now, but I question what this means for the future. Young Theo said visions from the Heavens guided his invention. Can we trust that?”

The answer to that question is a resounding yes. Upperdeckers polled agreed that the Heavens chose Theo Smith to be their hands in the earthly plains. The Society for Traditional Values—which spearheaded last growing season’s campaign to decrease food rations to the lowerdecks—has already begun to call Smith “the Surgeon,” a reference to the scriptural verse that alludes to one of Almighty God’s epithets.

When Sovereign Nicolaeus gave a speech over the intercom this morning, even skeptics changed their tune. Regardless of the controversy surrounding him, Theo Smith has made himself a place in upperdeck society.

* * *

Giselle said, “Unfair,” when Aster opened the envelope. Inside were a pass and a handwritten note.

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