As I changed on the way to Zenith, Kiara studied me in the rearview mirror. "Wow! You really are from up there." She winked.
I glanced at my reflection in the car window. It had been so long since I'd acted like a zenithian. Of course, I still remembered how.
"Remember, I'll be able to see and hear you. Wanna test it one more time?"
Better make sure everything worked. I ran K-K.exe and heard her voice perfectly. "All good." I opened and closed my trembling hands, wishing the gesture would make the tension disappear. It'll work, I repeated to myself.
Kiara parked on Via Infinitum, the only road connecting Centrália to Zenith.
Suddenly, all my calm evaporated. My breathing quickened as anxiety flowed through my body. The distress came from the thought of setting foot there again, but also from the feeling that something greater than me was about to swallow me whole.
Parliament was more than a building. It was a living memory. And I was a misplaced piece, forced to wear a mask that misrepresented who I was. I had broken with the zenithian worldview and sentiments. Whenever the thought of returning crept in, I reaffirmed that I no longer belonged there. I wanted to stop belonging. That perspective eluded me, yet what I felt now was absolute.
I swallowed. Just one more time. Then I would leave them forever. "I-I don't know if I can do this." My nerves robbed me of air. I looked at the car ceiling while Kiara rested an arm on the seat. When she turned her eyes toward me, her glare pierced me. I lowered my head and pressed my fingers into the seat, trying to smother the anxiety.
"If you wanna stay, we can turn back. The mercenaries will hunt you. Without a name to end the contract, protecting you will become a colossal challenge. Your choice. But follow that path, and…" Sinister words in a calm voice. Kiara stroked my shoulders. "Hey… it'll be alright. We're in this together."
I squeezed my eyes shut and controlled my breathing. Kiara was more than right. Why was there a contract on me? I had no idea. If I was alive, it was because of her. If I had endured all those harrowing situations, it was because she had encouraged me, comforted me, and been firm when necessary, as she was now. I had to keep going. I had to live up to her expectations. I recognized how selfish I was being.
I clenched my teeth. "I'm sorry. I'll try to avoid causing more trouble and live up to your expectations. Everything you've done means so much to me."
Kiara held my hands and smiled. "Whatever happens, we'll face the consequences together."
I bit my lips. We were together?
"I'll call your taxi. I'll cover your back."
"Cover my back? I thought you couldn't go up."
"Don't need to." She gave me a smug wink.
I felt more at ease knowing Kiara would be watching over me. Even from a distance, that would be more than enough. We were together. I would slip in and out. In and out.
"Alright, here." Kiara handed me the Joker card. "This is the key. It'll guide you. The closer you get to the item, the more the pixels will move. See you."
I got into the taxi, admired the card in my hands, and slipped it into my coat pocket. It would work.
The taxi turned onto Via Celeste, Zenith's first street.
The buildings were so lustrous they seemed forged from liquid gold. They towered into the skies, piercing them, possessing them. Their glass reflected the clouds in a blue so crystalline that reality was difficult to distinguish from the virtual. They filtered the sunlight and transmuted the air into a greenish hue. Celestial. Synthetic.
Façades adorned with veins of braided gold, polished jade, and flowing platinum formed patterns that lit up to the rhythm of subtle electronic music. A nearly imperceptible soundtrack, yet addictive.
High above, gigantic holograms danced. Jaci and Tupã intertwined, translucent bodies in an endless loop of weaving and harmony. Sacred animals flew between the buildings, reconstructed in golden pixels and silver luminescence: maned wolves, jaguars, serpents, and macaws. Immaculate. Intangible. Reproduced on a divine scale. A simulation of ancestry, reprogrammed and commercialized. Spirituality was a spectacle. Living manifestations of status and sophistication.
Zenithians crowded the streets, dressed in cloaks of synthetic feathers and filaments of gold and copper. Earthy tones, yet immaculate, as though real earth shied away from touching them. Their garments reacted to the environment, reflecting ancient holoconstellations and mythical narratives. Each fabric fiber contained chameleonic nanoparticles whose colors shifted with the intensity of the light, body temperature, and the wearer's mood.
Solar Cauim, the region's largest brewery, erected monumental stalls. Translucent tents levitated above the ground, adorned with interactive stained glass. In visitors' hands, drinking gourds made of ethereal quartz, embroidered with rare minerals, held brightly dancing liquids.
Sacred blends recowoven by sensory LI combined the exact flavor of ancestral cauim with subtle notes of endangered fruits and herbs, cultivated exclusively for the occasion. Drinks sold at exorbitant prices. Amounts that could sustain families for lunations.
At the foot of the buildings, silver nanodrones and androids sculpted like tribal guardians distributed delicacies. Molecular gastronomy had been transformed into art: dishes composed of floating droplets of Amazonian essence, foams of forgotten fruits, and microstructures of roots and nuts, disintegrated and then reassembled as translucent jewels.
Morsels of ancestral earth, disguised as divinity, appropriated and repackaged as a premium spiritual experience. All in tiny, delicate portions. Enough to fill the mouth while leaving the stomach unsatisfied.
Messages of exaltation flashed across floating panels:
"Honor the earth and its guardians."
"Trees are the weavers of life."
"Rediscover your spirit through the sacred connection with the ancestors."
"The authentic experience of tradition. Exclusive. Limited. Unmissable."
Awá Reru—the Path of Spirits—shone in rotating holograms. Tickets were sold for spiritual retreats in floating temples. A single day's reservation cost the equivalent of lifetimes of work in Centrália.
A tradition dating back to ancient times, yet transcending the very concept of tradition, becoming a spectacle of nanotechnology and opulence. More than celebrating Awá Reru, Zenith resold it in its most luxurious form. It distanced itself from the lower levels as it rose, turning the sacred into something inaccessible. Exclusive. Irreplicable.
And I knew: the real celebration was happening down below, in the streets of Centrália, in the heart of the people. Here, everything was an obscene performance.
The taxi stopped in front of Parliament.
The building ascended like a golden monolith. A monument. A cathedral of power. Zenith's backbone.
Columns sculpted from flowing nanometal shifted in geometric patterns, as though form itself bent around the structure. Towering ultrasonic stained-glass windows projected holograms of national symbols and reprogrammed mythological narratives. Every second, the images overlapped in translucent layers. Marajoara. Tupi. Guarani. Tupinambá. The past rewritten on the surface of the future.
At the top, floating in an almost divine rotation, Zenith's Motherboard glowed with nanoenergy. The nanotechnological heart of Brasil and the Americas. The core of the Aether Network. Where everything was administered. Where everything was controlled.
I took a deep breath. That was where I would go.
Parliament operated even on the holiday. I emptied my lungs as I stepped out of the vehicle and walked toward reception with firm, elegant strides.
I acted as though my ego filled the room. I examined my surroundings, aware that Kiara could see everything.
The vaulted ceiling rose beyond the reach of my eyes. Paintings of an ancient Brasil adorned the space, nanometals concealed beneath the flawless paint. Nanolenses watched every movement; even a fly's flight would not escape them.
Imposing walls and pillars of gleaming marble supported the details of modern, emblematic nanoarchitecture, evoking a glimpse of what had once been a castle. Remnants the zenithians had preserved. Reclaimed pieces of their ancestors' heritage. Portraits of former Aether Network leaders decorated the hall. The entrance was strangely crowded for a holiday.
My suspicions stirred when I recognized a prominent figure: Paulo Lewis, Sessota's director of operations. Lorenzo Cardoso, premier of the Aether Network and considered Brasil's highest authority, was also there. His passage was discreet and swift. Soon, he disappeared into Parliament's hundreds of corridors.
At the reception desk, an android greeted me. "Doctor Akiyama, how are you?"
I tossed my hair back and kept my lips stiff. "Well. I'm here to…"
"You must be here for the Aether Network's joint session?" He smiled courteously. "Members of the World Committees were invited to provide technical opinions." He spoke before I could finish. His efficiency created an unexpected and welcome opening.
I had provided technical opinions for decisions on medical projects before. My presence there was familiar. Still, I was suspicious of a joint session on a national holiday. I huffed, feigning impatience, and stood straight as I studied the place from behind my glasses. K-K.exe was active. Kiara was infiltrating the systems and accessing the current nanosecurity codes. I examined as many details of my surroundings as possible.
The android frowned. "I can't find your name."
"Look again."
"I've checked more than once. It isn't there."
"There must be a mistake."
"Without your name on the list, entry is not possible."
Shit. If I continued with the original plan, he would grow suspicious. Damn it. I should have stuck to the plan. "Alright, I'm wasting my time here. I'll speak to Hideaki Katayama."
"Doctor Katayama?" Apprehension surfaced in the android's eyes.
Mentioning her name always worked. I pretended to make a call through my biochip and drummed my fingers against the marble, showing my impatience. "Hello, Hideaki. Yes, I'm at Parliament for the joint session. They can't find my name… Oh, you'll speak to… The android's name? One moment." I took off my glasses and looked him up and down.
His eyes widened further. "T-that won't be necessary. There's been a system error. Your authority would never be questioned in such a manner." He gave me a crooked smile, almost begging for forgiveness.
"They've resolved the issue. Alright, goodbye."
A pang of compassion pierced my heart. I had manipulated the androids' fear of being deactivated. Zenith treated them with austerity and violence, subjugating them whenever it could, in direct violation of Lex Argos.
Of course, the Aether Network had never accepted regulation. In 2130, it confronted ARGOS over the right to monopolize warfare LI. The result? A global digital blockade. An irreversible nanotechnological fragmentation. But that was only the beginning.
And none of it diminished what I felt in that moment. My guilt deepened as I remembered Kiara could hear me. I forced the feeling aside. More important things were at stake.
"I'll call your escort. Rest assured, he's a human concierge."
"Is that really necessary?" I gave him a disdainful look.
"An escort is required to enter the session. Could you please wait? He's on his way."
Aware of the situation's inevitability, I put my glasses back on and resumed examining the place.
"Nice. Well done." Kiara's voice sounded in my ear.
I held back a smile at the praise.
"I'm decoding the nanosecurity using the map we've got. It'll take a while. The nanoblueprint's gonna be inaccurate. It's seriously outdated. What floor is the session room on?"
I tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. "The 232nd floor. I don't know the room number," I whispered.
"Alright. Once you're there, I'll have a clearer view of the map. Follow the key. It's our best guide. I think the security room's somewhere between floors 200 and 205. Alright, keep it up."
"Doctor?" An adorable blond boy called from behind me. "My name is Joel. I'll be your escort. Could you follow me, please?"
I nodded.
Kokusai's outsourced staff were being hired younger and younger. He couldn't have lived more than twelve cycles.
We reached the nanoelevator corridor.
I had to reach the lower floors. How would I do that with this boy following me?
BOOM! A blast erupted, reverberating through the walls.
What was that? I frowned.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
"What's happening?"
"I-I don't know." Fear was written in Joel's eyes.
He didn't know what that sound was? Wasn't it…
"What the fu…" A burst of static cut off Kiara's voice.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! It felt as though an earthquake were striking us. Desperate screams filled the air.
"IS THIS WHERE THE RATS HAVE THEIR FUN?!" A voice as powerful as thunder boomed. "WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING, LIL' RATS?!"
The boy grabbed my arm and hid behind me. "W-what's happening?"
"That's what I'm asking!" My heart pounded.
"LOOK AT THEM RUNNING SCARED. WE JUST WANNA HAVE SOME FUN WITH YOU!!!" A petrifying, merciless laugh reverberated through the building.
Despite my fear, curiosity won. I peered into the hall. I would return to the plan in a moment. I needed to know where the blasts and that powerful voice were coming from. Using the wall as a shield, I glimpsed the chaos.
An invisible force was pushing everyone from the streets into Parliament. The hall was packed with weeping zenithians. Terror contorted their faces, and wide-open mouths screamed in anguish. Among them, Aether Network military androids shouted orders, forcing them to kneel in organized rows.
"W-what…? Why are they doing this?" A multitude of voices asked the same question.
Some people came closer to Joel and me, forcing us to retreat. I was lost, unsure how to react.
Police nanodrones flew overhead, beeping shrilly: "STOP WHAT YOU ARE DOING! THIS IS AN ORDER! THE ALARMS HAVE BEEN ACTIVATED! POLICE FORCES ARE ON THEIR WAY!"
WEOOO-WEOOO! REEEEEH-REEEEEEH! BEEP-BEEP-BEEEEEEEEEP! The deafening whine of nanoalarms erupted as reddish lights flashed throughout the space.
I crouched beside the boy. I had to stay focused, whatever was happening. At some point, I would need to resume the plan. I had to stay calm.
"THE RATS THINK THEY CAN STOP US?! YOU WERE NEVER THE PREDATORS. YOU'VE ALWAYS BEEN THE PREY!"
The armored nanoglass shattered in a shower of gleaming blades, scattering thousands of shards over everyone.
Suddenly, an imposing figure leaped through the opening. His heavy landing made the floor boom. He wore heavy leather clothes, his hair disheveled and his gaze deranged. A disfigured mask concealed his face, marked with a sharklike grin of sharp teeth. He carried a Gatling gun. Everyone screamed in horror.
My eyes widened in disbelief. "Are you seeing this? I-is that Cron?" The sound was thunder inside my chest, vibrating through my ribs. Terror had a name. And its name was Cron.
"I fucking see it. What the fuck is going on?" Kiara's fury exploded in my ear. "Those androids belong to that bastard Saymon. That fucker's begging me to kill him!"
A shiver traveled down my spine.
"WANNA PLAY?!" Cron's gaze swept across the hall. Behind him, hundreds of nanodrones entered and destroyed the police nanodrones.
Sirens from the Aether Tactical Force (A.T.F.) wailed in the distance. The police forces could do nothing. Capturing the invaders without risking a massacre would be impossible. The Aether Network's own military androids surrounded the civilians and threatened their lives. Zenithian lives were at stake. They had to avoid putting them at risk. For some reason, they mattered more than the rest.
"Ignore that shit. Let's use this mess to keep going with the plan. That boy still there?" Kiara instructed.
Joel cried beside me, curled into a fetal position and sweating profusely, like so many others.
"Alright, I'll get his access code."
My bioscreen opened, displaying numerical sequences that flashed past too quickly for me to follow.
"Head for the emergency exit. They've concentrated the nanocameras on the hall. I'll hack the ones in the stairwell. Hurry. I'll find out what the fuck's going on."
I forced myself to focus on Kiara's words. The nanodrones were gathering above Cron's head, forming a gigantic, pixelated holoscreen. Focus. I had to do what Kiara said. My heart raced. My breathing was labored, and sweat ran down my body. Focus.
Joel and I were at the back of the rows. Everyone else faced forward, alert, desperate for their lives.
"What are they going to do to me?" hundreds murmured.
Joel was so nervous he babbled against his own arm, wet with saliva. A boy who wasn't even a zenithian had been caught up in this mess.
No. I had to stop thinking about others. I blinked. I forced a tearful voice and edged away. The bones of my back struck metal. I let out a muffled cry, enough to draw attention. The faces around me contorted further in panic.
Four Aether Network androids were approaching from behind, covering the rear of the hall.
An android in a black military uniform looked at me. "Hello!"
A deep robotic voice resounded through every corner, silencing the crowd. Sobs and sniffles still echoed.
My attention turned to the front, where a dark figure pixelated into view on the holoscreen. "Fear nothing! We won't hurt you. I mean, unless your leaders want to sacrifice you. I'll politely ask the police to withdraw. Otherwise, Parliament will be painted red." The threat provoked an eruption of distressed voices.
An image appeared of the session room, where the Aether Network's leaders sat, among them President Priscila McQuoid, Lorenzo's right-hand woman. All the militia politicians looked around in horror. A.T.F. military androids, supposedly there to protect them, pointed guns at their heads.
"Are you seeing this? Ah, yes, the world is seeing this. It's important that you see. Yes, you, centralians and netherians. I'm showing you what's happening right above your heads. See these militia leaders gathered here?"
The image displayed each leader's horrified face.
"They decided today would be a good day to sink you even deeper into shit. Push you further down than you already are. I came to show you that the rats were never down below. They've always been up above." A sinister little laugh echoed. "Please, proceed with the session. Come on, PROCEED!"
The militia leaders rubbed their sweaty foreheads. The session continued.
"TIME FOR SOME FUN!" Cron let out an eccentric laugh. His wild eyes traveled over everyone until they stopped on me. Fixed. Intense. His gaze pierced my soul. My heart froze. Why me? I held his stare, my muscles motionless. His eyebrows rose, as though he were smiling. Was he smiling at me?
The military android's leg brushed my back. He and the others moved past me, frightening everyone ahead.
My hair stood on end. I remained still, unsure what to do. I trembled so much I could barely hold my bag against my chest.
The android tilted his head toward me.
I blinked hard.
He was pointing two guns at the hostages. Soon, he would point one at me. I would be another target. Shit. Now what? Where was Kiara?
His features softened into a smile. No. More than a smile. A message. I was free to pass.
"Kiara," I whispered. "I'm ready."
"Alright. Let me know when you reach the stairs. Keep the key in your hands."
I took a deep breath. I recovered a thread of courage, a fragile thread. But for now, it was all I had. I entwined myself with it. I set aside the dread soaking my body and nodded to the android. He turned to face forward and ignored me, as did all the others.
I took the first step.
And no one saw me.