“It’s easy to find that information, even for a normal person. This is my father you’re dealing with.” He said “father” as if the man were a demon.
“But it sounded so much like him … the way he spoke …” I stretched my mind for any bit of hope. “And he was cut off.” I was grasping at straws, but I kept going. “If it had been your father, he would have gone on longer. Messed with my head more.”
Hyden looked at me the way you’d look at a child trying to revive a dead goldfish. “I wish I could convince you how dangerous it is for you to be out there”—he pointed out the window—“with your chip signal just blowing in the wind for my father to access.”
He pulled up to a block of government buildings decorated with once-noble statues, now chipped and crumbling. Bored marshals ensured that the line of protestors stayed behind ropes. Hyden paid to park in an underground lot. We climbed the stairs to ground level and looked up at the building with the large engraved letters reading Hall of Records.
“You sure you want to do this?” Hyden asked.
I gave him my best “don’t ask” look and climbed the stairs.
Inside the lobby, we passed through a body scanner. It went off as I stepped through. Did my chip set it off ? I started to perspire. What would I say?
A guard motioned for me to step aside. She waved a wand over me and stopped on my pocket. I pulled out some dollar coins.
We continued walking and passed a Starter leaning against a wall, at the end of a long line. She had the typical Starter gear: layers, tatters, handlite, and a water bottle slung across her shoulder. But she also had a perfect shape, a model’s face, and no visible flaws.
Metal? Maybe if examined under a magnifying glass, she’d display signs of a normal Starter—a few acne scars, some freckles.
Hyden glanced in her direction, then quickly looked away. I smiled at him.
“Bet you’d like to scan her,” I said.
His lips barely hinted at a smile. “I think we need to go to the second floor,” he said as he pointed to the stairs.
The building was ancient, and neither of us would have trusted the z-lift. Some of the newer buildings were zaprophyte-powered, a complex system of energy created by plants feeding on fungi. The spore dust was a temporary resource for that, and some enterprising people were turning lemons into lemonade that way. But it was controversial, as some felt it released dangerous spore contamination into the air. And it wouldn’t last.
On the second floor, after waiting in line, we finally spoke to an Ender at a counter. She had an old airscreen in between us. The images it produced were faded, scratchy, and broken, a lot like the Ender herself.
“Ray Woodland, did you say?” she asked in a croaky voice.
“Yes, he’s my father.”
“But he’s a Middle, right?” she said.
I nodded.
“Then, honey, he’s gone,” she said in a tired voice, as if this wasn’t the first time she’d had to tell a teenager that a parent was dead. “They’re all gone.”
“Not all of them,” I said. “I personally know one. And what about the holo-stars and politicians?”
“They’re in a special category,” she said, as if I were a child. “But everyone else …” She shook her head.
“Can you just look him up, please?” Hyden said.
Her lips pressed together and she started moving her fingers across the airscreen. It was slow to respond and she had to retry several times.
Finally, she came up with a result. She pushed an icon that then reversed the text so I could read it.
RAY WOODLAND, age 55, deceased.
It had his address and occupation, “inventor.”
“I don’t … Couldn’t there be some mistake?” I said. “There were so many Middles at the same time, there were bound to be some errors.”
Hyden looked at me. His expression—on Jeremy’s face—was so sad.
The Ender tilted her head. “I feel for you, honey. I really do. You Starters need closure. I’m going to show you something I really shouldn’t. But—”
She made a motion like she was zipping her lips shut.
“Okay?” she asked.
“Sure,” I said.
I looked at Hyden. We were both confused.
“Just wait over by that door,” she said.
She motioned to a door a few feet away. We did as we were told, and a moment later, she opened the door and let us in.
She put her finger to her lips. We nodded and followed her silently to a back room that was filled with Enders sitting at desks. It was an eerie sight, with no light other than what was emitted from their airscreens. All the screens showed corpses.