I didn’t know what I could say to comfort her.
“Counsellors have been lecturing us for weeks,” Celeste’s voice abruptly changed from anger to bitter despair. “On the day after Carnival, we’ll enter Lottery. We’ll be assessed, optimized, allocated, and imprinted. We’ll be given our levels and sent out as proudly productive adult members of the Hive, but becoming an adult means we have to end our teen relationships.”
“It has to be that way,” said Atticus sadly. “Everyone will come out of Lottery as different levels, so …”
“I know!” Celeste snapped at him. “They kept saying that over and over again. Once people are ten, twenty, or fifty levels apart, then old friendships become embarrassing to both parties, and the closest of relationships disintegrate under the strain. The counsellors told us that it was better to make a clean break before Lottery, and walk away with the happy memories of Teen Level intact, but making a clean break from the most important person in your life is like …”
“Like losing part of yourself,” I finished the sentence for her.
“Exactly. You understand why I couldn’t do it. I told Seb that we should stay together whatever our levels after Lottery, but he …”
Her face crumpled, and I finished the sentence again. “He wanted to split up?”
Celeste rubbed her face with the back of her hand. “Yes. Seb said that I was being ridiculous. He told me that we had to follow Hive tradition, and say goodbye on the last day of Carnival. When I kept arguing with him, he started shouting that he was obviously going to come out of Lottery far higher than me, and wouldn’t want a low level ex-girlfriend trying to cling on to him.”
She lifted her head defiantly. “So then I told him that he could go waste himself, and I walked out of the event. I was nearly home, just transferring from the express belt to the medium belt, when the lights went out and the belts stopped moving.”
I caught my breath. I’d imagined people trapped in lifts in the darkness. I’d imagined people falling when the moving stairs stopped. I hadn’t thought about what would happen to those riding the belt system, especially the express belt. “Were many people hurt when the belts suddenly stopped moving?”
“They didn’t stop suddenly,” said Celeste. “They just gradually slowed down.”
“There’s an inertial braking system that brings the belts to a controlled halt in emergencies,” said Atticus. “Our warden training course included an explanation about how that works, but I didn’t understand a word of it.”
“Anyway, only a few people fell,” said Celeste, “but everyone was panicking in the darkness until some people with lanterns arrived. They took us to the shopping area, and then we moved on to the park.”
She groaned. “I wish I’d never suggested staying with Seb after Lottery. Now my last memory of him is going to be the superior pitying expression on his face when he said he was going to be much higher level than me.”
“Lottery is unpredictable,” I said. “You could be the one that ends up higher level.”
“I hope I do,” said Celeste savagely. “I hope I end up fifty levels higher than Seb. I hope I end up elite while Seb is a Level 99 Sewage Technician!”
She got to her feet. “It was good of you to check that I’m all right, but now I’m going to join in the party. Seb isn’t the only boy in the world.”
Atticus and I stood up as well, and watched her head off towards the event area. “It’s probably better for Celeste to be angry than hurt,” I said.
“Perhaps,” said Atticus, “but I pity any boy who tries dancing with her in her current mood.”
There was a long moment of silence. I was thinking about Celeste’s situation. Next year, Atticus and I would be entering Lottery. Did I really want to get into a relationship that could only last twelve months before ending in a painful breakup? I wasn’t sure that I did.
I tried to work out how to say that to Atticus, but he said it first. “It may not be a good idea for us to get involved with each other. A year from now …”
“I agree. We’d be constantly counting down the time until we have to split up.”
“It’s not that I don’t like you, Amber,” said Atticus. “It’s that I think I could like you far too much.”
I nodded.
“I’d still like us to be partners for Carnival though,” he added. “Just as friends who aren’t going to move on to anything serious.”
“I’d like that too.”
We walked on to the event area. “The others are over by that tree,” Atticus said.
There was a ring of trees around the edge of the event area. I was about to ask which tree he meant, when I spotted a cluster of familiar figures. We dodged our way through the crowd to join them.
“Amber’s here,” Atticus yelled above the sound of the music.
They all turned to look at us. “Amber!” several voices chorused my name at once, and I was hugged by Margot and Preeja.
“Did you find Linnette?” Preeja asked anxiously.
“Yes. I’m afraid she’s broken her leg, so she’s over in the medical area. Forge is there too, getting treatment for his cut leg.”
“How did Forge get here?” asked Margot.
I remembered the story that Forge had told Ruby. “The medical facility discharged Forge, and he was on his way home when the power went out. I met him when I was searching for Linnette.”
“But if Forge has already had his cut leg treated once, why does he need it treating again?” asked Preeja.
“He fell in the dark and reopened the wound.” I hastily changed the subject. “I can’t see Casper. Where is he?”
“He’s down the other end of the park by the lake,” said Margot.
“What? Why?”
“Most of the park animals and birds have moved down that end of the park to get away from the crowds and the noise, so the feeding stations there are very busy,” said Preeja. “The park volunteers are helping to keep them stocked with food, and Casper is in charge of feeding station 14.”
I frowned. “Yes, the poor park animals and birds must find this very confusing.”
“Don’t waste your sympathy on them,” said Margot. “They’re used to moving out of the way of park events, and Casper told us the park has enough animal and bird food stored to last them weeks. We’re the ones stuck with surviving on disgusting emergency ration bars. You should organize things better, Atticus.”
“It’s not my fault,” said Atticus.
“Yes, it is,” said Margot. “You’re our emergency warden.”
Shanna’s voice came over the event sound system, announcing another song by Pasquale, and Atticus turned to face me. “Would you like to dance, Amber?”
“Yes, I would.”
Atticus took my hand, and we ran to join the crowd of dancers before Margot could start complaining again.
“I’ve just remembered something,” I said. “On our way to the park, Forge and I passed an overturned trolley of food packs for kitchen units. If I went back and salvaged them, they might be edible. At least, more edible than the ration bars.”
“Oh no!” said Atticus firmly. “You’ve rescued Linnette. You’ve rescued Forge. You aren’t going wandering off again to rescue a heap of food packs. Margot can either eat the ration bars or beg bird food from Casper.”
I laughed.
Chapter Twenty-three
Two days later, Linnette arrived at the event area, with Forge pushing her in a manual wheelchair. Reece was still under arrest somewhere, and Shanna was in the middle of her third marathon session of party music, but all the rest of our corridor group gathered round Linnette to welcome her back. She was just explaining how she’d fallen on the downway, when the lights in the park ceiling suddenly flared from moon to full sun brightness.
Everyone shaded dazzled eyes with their hands, and cheered wildly. The music abruptly stopped, and a new tune started, the changeover so fast that Shanna had obviously prepared this in advance.
/> “The suns were shining in the park.”
The girl singing was rated Level 1 like Pasquale, but she’d only come out of Lottery the previous year, so this was her first song that had gained much attention. Some of the crowd knew it, others clearly didn’t, but by the second chorus they’d all got the hang of the tune and words and were singing along.
“The suns were shining in the park.”
Once the song ended, there was a crackle on the sound system, and a faintly embarrassed male voice spoke. “Attention everyone. Blue Zone now has power, but Emergency Services are requesting that everyone stays in the parks for now. Maintenance teams need to get all the upways, downways, and lifts back in action, and hasties have to check the corridors for hazards. They estimate that will take about four hours.”
The crowd booed.
“It’s no use complaining at me,” said the male voice. “I’m only the park keeper. The good news is that Blue Zone’s main freight transport links are already back in operation, and will be bringing in stockpiles of supplies from Turquoise and Navy Zones. We should be receiving a consignment of food and drink within the next two hours.”
There was another crackle and Shanna spoke. “You heard him, everyone. Free food and drink is on the way, and this is going to be real food not emergency ration bars!”
The music started up again and we all yelled the lyrics.
“The suns were shining in the park.”
Forge came to stand next to me, and stooped to shout in my ear. “I’ve just got to go and …”
The rest of his words were drowned out by the next line of the song, and he hurried off. I assumed that he’d gone to join Shanna.
About an hour later, the crates of food and drink arrived. The people delivering them barely had time to take off the lids before they were mobbed by desperate teens who’d been surviving on water and emergency ration bars for two days.
Half of our corridor group joined the charge for the crates, but I didn’t have the build to fight my way through the crush, so I stood watching their progress with Linnette and Casper. My mind was fully occupied with the prospect of getting decent food at last, so I didn’t notice the music had stopped until Shanna arrived to join us.
“Where is Forge?” she asked.
I frowned. “I haven’t seen him since just after the power came back on. I thought he was with you.”
At that moment, the warriors of our corridor group returned in triumph with a crate that they tipped out on the grass.
“They’ve sent us masses of luxury food and drink!” I rejoiced.
“We deserve it after being starved for days,” said Margot.
“Melon juice, Violet Zone cheese, and Turquoise Zone blueberry crunch cakes!” I dropped to my knees to grab at the bounty. “What would you like, Linnette?”
“Anything will do,” said Linnette, “so long as it isn’t a ration bar.”
I put a random set of food packs and bottles on her lap, and saw Casper was standing looking doubtfully down at the assortment of food and drink. “Would you like to try some melon juice, Casper?”
“I want orange juice and the Blue Zone cheese with holes in it.”
“Melon juice tastes wonderful,” I coaxed. “So does Violet Zone cheese.”
Casper shook his head. “My budget says that I have orange juice and Blue Zone cheese for lunch today. Madeleine from Support Services runs my learning support group. She worked out my budget with me, and she’s says it’s important that I stick to it.”
“We don’t have to pay for these things, Casper,” said Shanna.
Casper still looked doubtful. “Reece told me something was free once when it wasn’t. We should check with someone official.”
Shanna looked irritated, and opened her mouth to say something, but a voice spoke from behind me. “The food and drink is definitely free.”
I knew that voice. It was Buzz! I turned round, and was confused to see she was wearing the red and blue, diagonal striped uniform of Emergency Services.
“Casper, this is like one of the Carnival events that have free food and drink,” she added.
Casper nodded, and smiled happily as he picked out a food pack for himself.
“What are you doing here, Buzz,” I asked, “and why are you wearing those clothes?”
“I chose to wear an Emergency Services uniform to reassure the people we were rescuing from lifts. Now the power is back on, there are a terrifyingly large number of Blue Zone teens that need a psychologist to assess their actions during the power outage and decide on appropriate treatment. I was automatically assigned all the ones in this area, because you’re still on my case list.”
“What? But I haven’t done anything wrong. It was Reece who frightened everyone, not me.”
Buzz laughed. “I didn’t say you’d done anything wrong, Amber. I said that you were still on my case list. The behaviour monitoring alert on you is still active, and has flagged you for multiple actions requiring my attention. I’m curious why you froze in terror on a cliff, but volunteered to wander round in the darkness searching for a lost girl.”
I shrugged. “I’m scared of heights, but I’m not scared of the dark.”
“That’s intriguing given Hive culture encourages a fear of darkness and the Outside.” Buzz sighed. “I wish I could discuss it further with you, but sadly I’m going to be far too busy with all my other cases. I came to see you first, because I hoped I’d be able to deal with your case extremely quickly. You’re uninjured and showing no visible signs of trauma, so I’ll sign you off and leave you to enjoy your meal in peace.”
There was a chime from Buzz’s pocket. She took out her dataview, checked it, and groaned. “A hasty just arrested yet another problem teen and is bringing him in for … Oh, there they are!”
She waved an arm, and I saw a female hasty coming towards us. I blinked as I saw who she had with her.
“Forge!” Shanna, Atticus, and I chorused his name in unison.
Buzz gave me an amused look. “This is your friend, Forge? The one who rescued you from the cliff?”
“Yes, why has he been arrested?”
“Because a maintenance team caught him crawling through the vent system.” Buzz frowned at the display on her dataview.
I exchanged bemused glances with Atticus. Shanna was glaring at the approaching Forge, and he gave her a nervous look, but neither of them had the chance to say anything before the hasty started talking.
“This is Forge 2514-0253-884. What would you like me to do with him?”
Buzz looked up, studied Forge briefly, and then gave an abrupt nod. “We’re too busy dealing with cases who are a danger to others, to waste much time on a boy addicted to taking risks. We’ll settle for putting a tracking bracelet on him for a month.”
“What?” Forge looked appalled. “A tracking bracelet like the ones that little children wear? You can’t do that to me!”
Buzz grinned at him. “I think we can. You won’t be able to go anywhere you shouldn’t without setting off alarms. Hopefully that will encourage you to keep out of trouble in future.”
The hasty produced a bracelet from her pocket, and took hold of Forge’s arm. “I suggest you keep still and accept the inevitable, because any argument will just end in you wearing the bracelet for longer.”
Forge cringed with embarrassment as the tracking bracelet was fixed around his wrist.
The others had been watching this in silence, but now Margot spoke in a bitter voice. “I hope you’ll give Reece a much bigger punishment than making him wear a tracking bracelet. He terrified everyone. It’s his fault that Linnette broke her leg.”
“My job isn’t to punish anyone’s past actions, but to make sure their future behaviour is beneficial to the Hive,” said Buzz.
“So you’ll let Reece carry on without any penalty at all? What if he hurts someone again? What if he hurts Linnette again?” Margot put a protective hand on Linnette’s shoulder.
“Reece will be
given corrective treatment to ensure that does not happen,” said Buzz gently. “Treatment is always more constructive than punishment, however Reece’s disruptive personality traits are likely to have a harmful impact on his Lottery result.”
“Disruptive,” Margot repeated the word eagerly. “You mean Lottery will make him low level?”
“It’s impossible to predict the outcome of a process as complex as Lottery,” said Buzz, “but Reece does not have the cooperative, conformist nature that is required for most positions in the Hive.”
“Good,” said Margot. “I hope Reece comes out of Lottery as a Level 99 Sewage Technician.”
Buzz laughed. “Perhaps he will. Goodbye now.” She turned and walked off with the hasty.
Forge gave a despairing groan. “If I have to wear this bracelet for a month, that means I’ll be wearing it during the next two swimming competitions. The other teams will make my life a misery.”
“Never mind your swimming competitions.” Shanna spat the words at him. “What about the Carnival parties? I’m going to look ridiculous dancing with you when you’re wearing a child’s tracking bracelet.”
She turned and stormed off.
Forge started moving after her, but then stopped. “I expect she’ll need a few hours to calm down.”
“I expect she’ll need a few weeks to calm down, and I can’t blame her for that,” said Atticus. “What were you doing in the vent system, Forge? You’d been stuck in there for days. Amber had to rescue you. Why go back in there again?”
“When Amber let me out of the vent system, I was so busy worrying about how we’d get Linnette to the park that I left my backpack behind. I didn’t remember it until I was having my leg treated by the medical staff. When the power came back on, I thought I could run back and retrieve it before there were any people around to see me.”
Atticus shook his head in disbelief. “What was inside the backpack that was so important?”
“It wasn’t what was inside the backpack,” said Forge. “It was the fact the backpack had my name written on it. I was worried that someone would find it and I’d get into trouble. Unfortunately, there was a maintenance team checking the downway, and they spotted me climbing out of the inspection hatch.”