Prologue
“President Miller was was killed early this morning. Sources are saying Miller was found dead in his room after coming home late the night before.”
“Are you really listening to the broadcast again? What is that, the thirteenth time this week?” I glanced up from the radiation filter I was messing with to see my sister, Emma, leaning against the garages door frame. I gave her a slight smirk and turn back to my work.
“Yup,” I say, popping the ‘p’ just to annoy her. I heard her sigh before she’s walking over and taking a seat on the counter that lined the back wall.
“If The Council ever heard that you had a radio, you’d be in big trouble.” I set my wrench down in favour of switching it out for a screwdriver. I lean farther into the hood, ignoring the hair falling in front of my face.
“Em, can you remember the last time anyone saw The Council leave Glasswater?” Emma hums in thought, her heels hitting the wooden cabinets.
It’s quiet for a few minutes before Emma’s speaking again. “How do you think tomorrow’s gonna go? Do you think you’ll be accepted to Sea Hall?” I let out a snort and stood up, preparing to put my tools away.
“I’m from a small settlement who’s got nothing but her mechanical skills to offer. What do you think?” I see Emma shrug from the corner of my eye. I roll my eyes and grab my cleaning rag, scrubbing my tools down to get the grease off.
“You never know.” Her voice is quite. I stop cleaning the wrench and watch my sister. Her brown eyes are downcast and I immediately know what’s she’s thinking.
My older brother, her twin, got the chance to go to Sea Hall. I can still see the excitement shining in his eyes. That was two years ago and no one’s heard of or from him since. Emma still wakes up sometimes, pleading for Jasik to come back.
“He’s still out there. You know that,” I say when the quiet becomes too much. She gives me a smile, pushing her blonde hair behind her shoulder. I catch a glimpse of a glow from her shoulder, a sad smile twisting my face.
A throat clearing throws me out of my head. I look over my shoulder to see my father standing with a smile on his face. His arms are crossed and his black hair is peppered with streaks of gray.
“Come on, kiddo’s. Time for the party,” He says, his voice excited. Even though he seems excited, I can see right past that. He’s not anymore excited then I am. Which is not at all.
Ma demanded a party be thrown on the eve of my 17th. She invited our entire settlement, all 184 of us. Big number, I know. Our entire settlement only takes up around 3% of The United Supreme. We’re the second smallest settlement.
“Yay,” I said, sarcasm rolling off my tongue. Dad shot me a gentle glare. I give him a grin. “Give me a minute, papa. I still gotta clean up.”
He nodded once and turned back inside. Emma let out a small hum and jumped off the counter.
“What were you working on anyway?”
“Dad said the radiation meter was being screwy and asked me to check the filter. When I popped the hood, I only saw smoke-” I shove my shoulder into my tool cabinet to get it to close and lock. I stepped out of my work overalls and hung them up by the garage door. Emma kept her eyes on me. “-The entire filter was jacked up and now I’ve gotta replace the entire system. And since filter parts are scarce, I’ve gotta do it with random parts I’ve found around town. I’ve been working on it for the last few days, but I’ve gotten any barely time to sneak away from ma. She’s kept me on a short leash.”
I was thankful Emma stayed during my explanation. Half of my family would have brushed me off. Every female in my family has been a botanist. They’ve helped replenish the farms that were destroyed in the war. Dad and Jasik were the only mechanics in the family, then I came along. Ma didn’t want me practicing though, ’cause The Council always say mechanics were meant to be male. Buncha sexist pigs if you ask me.
Dad and Emma were the only ones that actually bothered to encourage my skill, since it’s the only one I have. Give me a plant, and it’ll be dead before it even touches my hand. Give me a wrench and spare parts, well, I can get you a translator up and running within the hour.
Not to toot my own horn, but toot toot.
Emma grins at me and holds the door open when I slip my sweater on. When we pass our mirror, I make sure to wipe the oil from my cheeks. I grumble when it does nothing but smear.
“Oh well,” I mutter when I give up. I pout at myself in the mirror, seeing my dimples pop out from the simple move of my cheeks. My black eyes are full of light, happiness being reflected back at me.
“There you are, Dayaa. Come here, everyone’s already waiting.” I glance over my shoulder to see ma waving me over from the end of the hallway. Her chocolate brown eyes were proud as she wrapped me in a hug. “Oh, my baby girl! Almost 17!”
I let out a giggle and relax my body. Might as well make the most of her affection now, ’cause once she sees the stain on my cheek, there is going to be hell to pay. Now, she isn’t abusive. Far from it. She just has a hard time showing actual affection or care.
“You’ve still got Myra and Marie, ma. That’s four extra years.” Ma laughed and leaned back. Her eyes were quickly latched onto my skin. A frown twisted the corners of her lips.
“Dayaa Rae, I swear to The Council, if that is grease-” She’s cut short by the sound of people chatting. She sends me a glare, one that screams ‘You’re in big trouble’. I just give her a cheeky grin in return and give her a two-fingered salute as I follow after her.
Our living room and dining room are filled with people when we walk in. They all give a cheer before they turn to do their own thing. It brings a smile to my face when I see my entire colony.
I’d grown up with these people. They were, by extension, my family. A sharp feeling tugs at my heart, reminding me;
I’m leaving.
“Why the long face?” I snap my head up at my best friends voice. Mallory and Greg Pack are smirking at me, their matching blue eyes filled with mischief. My face soon matches theirs.
“No reason. What are you doing here? I thought you were going to guard the gate?” Their faces darken before their back to shinning.
“We got until tonight to get packed. Thought we’d come and say bye before we leave.” I give them my infamous box smile and tug them into hugs.
“Glad I was on your mind, then. One last hour of fun?” When they nodded, I looked around the room to see if anyone was watching. If anyone was, they turned away before I could see them.
Mallory grips my wrist and drags me from the room, opening the garage door. “Dad said you were working on the radiation filter in an Overboarder.”
My grin stretches until my cheeks hurt.
The Pack’s have always been a close family friend and supported me as soon as I expressed my interest in machines at the age of 5. Their dad was a mechanic as well, so he was able to teach me most of what I know. Everything else was from experimenting.
Mallory and Greg, although not interested in mechanics, were there to listen to me if I wanted to rant. They’d learned enough from their father to help me when I needed it. Most of the time, however, was just spent talking.
“Yeah. It’s completely screwed. The line drive was blown way outta proportion.” As I talk, I climb into my oil-covered overalls and pop the hood while Greg and Mallory grab my tools. As soon as I’ve got my hands on my ratchet, I’m getting to work. “The transmitters also gotta get some work done.”
“The transmitter?” Mallory asks. I can feel her against my shoulder, watching me work. I give a shrug and lean farther into the hood, trying to reach the phoenix plug.
“Yeah. I noticed a while back that dad’s signals were going fuzzy. Of course, there’s always the option that it could be the model, but I highly doubt it. Older models don’t go in and out. They drop completely.” I hear Mallory and Greg hum but stay silent. The only sound in the garage is the sound of metal hitting metal.
That is until I hear ma screech, “Dayaa.”
I flinch, scraping my hand on something.
“Crap,” I hiss, yanking my hand away. I shake it out, glancing down to see blood pooling. Mallory and Greg are cleaning up as quick as they can when I look up. I send them a thankful look as I rush to my sink to clean my hand up. It stings and it’s then I realize I hit it on the radiation container.
“Crap, crap, crap! Mal, grab me the radiation kit. Now!” My hands are frantic when they take the kit from my childhood friends hands.
Radiation’s not an overly big problem in the United Supreme. There’s still some trouble when you leave the gates, which is why every vehicle and person is equip with a radiation filter before they leave. The only problem is, is when you harm yourself on something that holds radiation. That’s when things get messy.
I rip the ointment I need open with my teeth and spread it over my hand, wrapping it in automatic healing gauze.
“Dayaa Rae Garner, what in heaven’s name are you doing?” I glance over my shoulder to see ma with her hands crossed, dad right behind her.
Before I answer, I turn to see Mallory and Greg have left. “Thought I’d get some final work in on the filter before my life’s decided for me. Hand got caught, though.”
I held up my bandaged hand for emphasis. Dad looks surprised while ma looks disappointed.
“What’d you catch it on?” My shoulders tensed as dread filled me. Ma always yelled when I got hurt on a project.
“Radiation filter.” I clench my fingers when dad sighs. That’s new.
“The radiation filter? I thought you were better then getting it caught on a filter.” The shake of his head forces my heart in my throat. Ever since I completed my first build by myself, he’s been proud. Whenever I hurt myself, he was right there.
Him telling me I was better than getting my hand caught on the filter during a project he put me on hurt more than I can describe. And I knew I couldn’t use ma yelling as an excuse. Nor could I use getting startled. Being alert was the first rule I learned.
“Sorry, dad. I’ll be more careful next time,” I mumbled, packing my kit away. I refuse to turn my head to my parents.
“There will be no next time. I should never have let this go on. I shoulda snuffed this out long ago.” Ma’s voice is harsh and cold. She only ever took that tone if she was mad. “You’re lucky I even allowed you to continue with this obsession! But, this is the last straw. I refuse to allow my baby-girl to get hurt on one of those stupid machines ever again.”
My head is snapping up before I can stop it. Is she telling me I can’t work with machines anymore?
“Laurent, lock the garage. Dayaa, you’re going to your room and staying there ’till tomorrow.” Her grip is harsh when she grabs my wrist. I attempt to yank it out of her hold, thinking she’s joking.
She’s known since I first took dads wrench when I was 4 that mechanics were my pride and joy. Last time she tried taking it away from me, I ran to the edge of the colony, over by the dump, and started building my own Overboarder with the idea of leaving Red Marble. The locals found me three hours later. I was halfway done with my build.
"What? No! Lemme go.” I struggle against her hold when I realize she’s not kidding. “Ma, please. You know those machines are my life.”
I’m crying by now. I can feel the tears trail down my face. My chest is burning with both anger and hurt. I can’t believe she’s actually taking my life away.
“Too bad, Dayaa. Tomorrow the representative isn’t going to allow you to continue on with your obsession. So suck it up and deal with it.”
When she locks my room door, I scream. I scream in frustration. I scream in pain. And I scream just to curse the world.
When my throat burns, I stop. And only then do I allow myself to drop onto my bed.
Who does she think she is, telling me what to do? Who does The Council think they are?
I will not let another person tell me what to do with my life.
