Future Tense

One hour ahead.  One day, one year, one decade.  Time had become one.

Portia Derinow had never seen the sun.  She knew it had to be floating out there, somewhere, and not just because her cyberteachers had told her so.  After all, New Hadria hadn't drifted so far into the mists and rain that she couldn't tell day from night. But she wondered.  She wondered what it would be like to feel sunlight. Just once, just for a moment. And, as she stared out the window at the endless rain, she decided she wanted nothing more.

"I would like that too," Gail had agreed.  Portia's older sister looked up from her memobook.  "We can look at old pictures and read old books and listen to old music, all of which try to capture the essence of sunlight.  But it can never be the same as actually feeling it--seeing it for one's self. I have to admit, it does arouse a great curiosity in me." 

"That's just it," Portia said, turning away from the window.  She perched on the beige ottoman like a large, colorful cat about to pounce.  "I'm curious."  

Sighing, Gail closed up her computer.  "Unfortunately, it's not like having a curiosity about sex or about what happens if you try swallowing a food pill without water," she said, placing the computer alongside her chair.  "There's no way you can really satisfy the curiosity."

"I know it," Portia said, glumly.  "That's what sucks."

Gail thrust her hands into the pockets of her jacket, exhaling. "The idea of sunshine is almost mythological to me," she said.  "You've read about the great lost cities--Los Angeles, Miami, Phoenix--"

Portia nodded.  "And I've also read about the places on the earth now which get so much sun, and no rain, and no one can live there because the air is so hot and there's no water."  She shook her head. "Why can't there be a balance?"

Portia was just becoming aware of the hard realities of life.  People could become accustomed to any duress, Gail believed--especially if they had never known anything else.  But now Portia had reached the educational level where she was learning of the past. Her sharp, analytical mind--so sharp for a twelve year old girl--pieced things together in a way that tantalized her curiosity.  

In a very real sense, Portia was losing her innocence.

"I hate to use the old 'when I was your age' line," Gail said, interrupting her own thoughts.  "But I was about your age when I discovered all the things you're learning now--that things haven't always been like this."    

The grabbing metal hand of the homebody robot tugged on Gail's jacket.  "Call for you," it said, in its flat and emotionless voice. A few lights blinked, then the robot rolled away.  Gail rolled her eyes, which made Portia giggle a little. "I wonder what's falling apart now."

Raven appeared on the Veraphone monitor, biting her red-painted nails as she waited.  Gail briefly wondered what Raven wanted as she pressed the connect button and sat down.

"You need a new robot, Derinow," Raven said in her raspy, smoke-filled voice.  "That one you have is a dud."

"It works,  That's all I care about."  Privately, she thought that if conditions in New Hadria got any worse, she certainly wouldn't need a new housekeeping robot.

Raven stared straight into the monitor, her dark eyes inauspicious.  "We have trouble," she said. "Big trouble."

Gail groaned.  "What now?"

"For starters, we just lost twenty-five of our supporters in an explosion set by the Subterrists.  Another twenty innocent bystanders were badly injured."

 "Where did this happen?"

"The old train station, about half a kilo or so from the Canossa," Raven said.  "They were our Southwest Division. I guess they were using the station as their rendezvous point.

"They were," Gail concurred.  "It was large, empty--and safe."

"No place is safe once the Subterrists know you're there."

Gail rubbed her eyes.  "This just happened today?"

"Not even a half hour ago."

 "So who are we left with?  That was our last quadrant we just lost."

 Raven nodded, and took a deep breath.  "Honestly? You, me. Our circle. And your sister."  Raven shook her head. "And we have the folks at the courthouse here--at least for now.  Unless they scared off by what happened to Southwestern," she said sourly.

Gail leaned back in her chair.  Raven was not a woman to get shaken easily; this latest disaster had obviously colapsed what resolve and optimism she had left, and Gail felt sorrow.  Raven's long, dark curls were drenched, as if she had just come in from the outside. Most likely Raven had just been at the Southwestern scene herself.

"And we still have the hospital," Gail said, attempting a slightly cheerful tone.  Yet she failed to portray an optimism she did not feel. Two years ago, over ten thousand citizens of New Hadria made up the Surfacist People's Movement.  Now, the movement was being carried by fewer than one hundred. "The Subterrists haven't touched us yet."

"Yet," Raven repeated.  "You don't imagine the hospital will hold on forever, do you?"

Gail grimaced, and shook her head. 

"You also don't imagine," Raven continued, "that Islene will be particularly merciful to any of us should her Subterrist guerillas discover that we've been running this revolt, do you?"

 "I don't think she'll stop at killing us."

Raven smiled weakly.  "I think the time as come," she said, "for some other worldly intervention.  I'm calling the circle together tomorrow night, at my flat."

"But we still don't have an ninth," she said.

Raven waved her hand in dismissal.  "Never mind, I'm working on it. You know Gawal, my assistant?  I think he can fit the part. The rest of us can raise enough power, so that he really only needs to be a body."

Gail froze.  Portia, of course, was the only member of the circle who would not participate in this rite of raising power.  The rest of them--four males, four females--would pair off. Gail had been able to avoid the sex part this far, not having a male counterpart to couple with, but now it seemed inescapable.  This rite would need a full circle of nine. Gail had to admit that Gawal certainly had his charm. Coupling with him would not be unpleasant, if only Gail could gain some interest in such things.  But she wouldn't share her doubts with Raven. The exotic circle leader had too many troubles of her own. "Let it be, then," Gail agreed.

After Gail disconnected, she spotted Portia standing in the doorway, looking dismayed.  "How much did you hear?" Gail asked.

"All," Portia said.  "I'm scared. When will they be after us?"

Emilie J. Conroy

ejconroy778@gmail.com