The Sundered by Ruthanne Reid

Author:Ruthanne Reid
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Sff, Ya
ISBN: 9780985260019
Publisher: 4th Floor Publication
Published: 2012-06-22T05:00:00+00:00

These really were decent tickets. We’re seated high in the center, just close enough to hear over the rag-tag orchestra. The set is mostly just painted walls, of course—this isn’t Tenisia—but the fourth-tiers designing it did fantastic things. There are even mountains, snow-capped like photos in old books, and they almost look real.

They used forced perspective. I could do that. Once upon a time, I could have painted it even better.

The play, a “historical romance,” begins.

According to this, not only was the world once free of black water, but it was also full of machines. There were no Sundered Ones, no power we couldn’t see or control. It was all machines, whirring and clanking in the service of humanity, and making our lives easy. According to this play, those machines were even great enough to carry us into the sky.

To the stars. Away.

The rest of the play is silly. There’s a feisty young scientist (don’t care), a dangerous love triangle with a corrupt politician (don’t care), a potential child out of wedlock (still don’t care), and I have a lot more fun watching the fourth-tier Sundered behind the scenes.

They do all the special effects, of course. The backdrops, the “machines,” the costumes, the vibrant makeup, the lighting and the sound. They do everything but recite the lines, and they do their jobs better than the actors.

In front of me, Toddy cheers wildly as the main love interest (I think he’s the main love interest—I forget which one is the bad guy now) plants a big wet kiss on the female lead. All is forgiven, trust is restored, and now they can go away to the stars.

And all at once, it hits me.

The Hope of Humanity. What if it isn’t something to fix the Earth? What if it’s something to leave the Earth?

What if?

If.

The rest of the play goes by in a blur. I can’t stop thinking about it now, about leaving the Earth behind, just finding someplace new, without black water at all.

My head is full of weird thoughts when the play ends, and it’s really not late enough to go to bed. My Travelers say goodnight and wander off, determined to get drunk or whatever.

I think I want to find the local Soothsayers. I need to go relieve some stress. I want to have some leaf-dreams.

I also want to be absolutely sure they aren’t working with testy in this place. If they are, we are leaving so fast we might as well have a ship to the stars, and I am damn well taking Parnum with me.

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