Contribute (Holo, #2) by Kristy Acevedo

Author:Kristy Acevedo
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Jolly Fish Press
Published: 2017-07-11T07:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 15

DAY 24: 203 HOURS TO DECIDE

AS OF TODAY, 52% OF EARTH REFUGEES HAVE CONTRIBUTED. THE OFFICIAL EARTH MOURNING CEREMONIES WILL END.

DOMINICK AND I somehow make it into my LU.

“I’ve been waiting for you here all morning,” Dominick says. “It wasn’t easy to track you down. I had to ask people. You really aren’t in the system.”

“No, I’m not.” I move my backpack out of his way so he has room to sit on my holobed.

“Can you believe this place? Pretty much like they said it would be. Better now that you’re here.”

I fake a smile. “Have you noticed any problems?”

“Only with our people not used to the system. Wanting extra rations. One guy is trying to create a monetary system using rocks. It’s not working, though. I mean, everything is free and . . . they’re rocks.”

I smile again. It’s amazing to see him after all this time, but it’s so hard to talk to someone who hasn’t experienced the world the way you have. “Did you see anyone get punished by the BME?”

“Yeah, one guy punched another and got surrounded. Pretty effective.”

I lift up the pant leg of my uniform to show him one of my fading scars.

“What the hell? What happened?”

“I stuck my head in the water fountain.”

He tries not to laugh, and it makes me laugh.

As he slides closer to me and puts his arms around me, his bandwidth glows on my shoulder. A reminder of what he could become. A reminder that I found him too late.

I cover my leg. “Did you know we were on a spaceship?”

He looks at me like I’ve grown five heads. “No, when?”

“Before we arrived here. We were on a spaceship during the whole time we were out of communication range.”

“We came here through vertexes in our old Hub.”

“That was really a spaceship. I guess your deck didn’t see the windows. Wait, you’ve been here over a week? So we weren’t on the same ship.”

“I wasn’t on a spaceship. I was in a whole LU community. Sun, stars, and moons . . .”

“Dominick, it was a spaceship. My ship took down the illusion. It was all holographic. Everyone in my LU community saw it. Ask them. The meritocracy even admitted they used the illusion to avoid upsetting us during the integration process. Seamless integration.”

He stands from the holobed and looks out my window wall. “Have you seen the future humans?”

“You mean the vances? No.”

“Vances?”

“For advanced humans.”

“Oh. I hadn’t heard that one.” He sticks his hands in the pockets of his uniform. “Alex, the stuff you said about the comet not being real . . .”

“All true.”

He rubs the back of his neck with one hand. “It can’t be true. There’s no way. It’s too incredible and terrible.”

“You need to meet the Umbra.”

“No, not another group like Rita’s. What I need . . .” He sits closer to me and kisses me again. It’s already not the same since he’s not listening. I want to let him in, but how can I when he doesn’t even believe the truth? When he doesn’t believe in me? I break away.

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