Revealing Eden (4 page)

—What’s his name?

—How about Austin?

—Like Emily’s brother? Is that a dog’s name?

—Well, why not? If you had a brother I would’ve named him Austin
.

Eden loved old tales about siblings. But one child was the allowable quota, if the mated couple produced enough uni-credits. And like most kids, she never knew her grandparents, who had died, either from The Heat or the toxic environment, long before she was born.

To increase the size of their family, her optimistic mother had adopted her favorite poet, Emily Dickinson, as an ancestor.
Eden and her mother had spent many hours in Emily’s World, the World-Band destination where the Dickinson family lived in the 1900’s. When Eden’s mother started to refer to her as Aunt Emily, Eden simply had accepted it. And so, she’d also embraced the dog’s name.

—Hi, Austin
.

—Did you see his ears wiggle? He likes you
.

—Is he a Pearl?

Her mother had hung her head on her chest and sighed. Even now, Eden winced at the memory of her mother’s red roots. A Pink Pearl, she was fairer than Eden, and therefore even more susceptible to The Heat. But she’d been lax about coating. Minor rebellions keep the heart alive, she would say.

—Austin is colorblind, Eden. He responds to love and kindness. Remember what Aunt Emily said? ‘That Love is all there is, / Is all we know of Love.’ Promise me you won’t forget. Love is like a gentle wind that will open your heart if you let it
.

Even at the age of seven, Eden knew love was dead. Only biological instinct and evolutionary climbing mattered. But it was useless to argue with her starry-eyed mother.

—I promise
.

And yet, when her mother died three years later, Eden had forgotten about Emily’s World along with useless ideas of love and that gentle wind. She just couldn’t think about it anymore.

Eden checked the time. Jamal would arrive in a few hours and she had to be perfect.

“Let’s eat, buddy,” she said, stowing the oxy-cap.

The redwood forest spread into the tiny main room as
she entered it. A sparkling ray of sunshine fell across a utilitarian trio of chairs. Built into one wall, a compact kitchenette contained several chutes from which their daily supplies were dropped. Eden switched on Austin’s nutrient teat, and he began to suck hungrily on it. Then she twisted the knob on a small chute and out popped a perfectly balanced meal, three pills in varying proportions: white carbohydrate, blue protein, and red fat.

She dug into a drawer where she had stashed her father’s extra pills. He often skipped meals, which, along with his genetics, made him rail thin. If Eden weren’t careful she’d be just as skinny, and even less desirable. She swapped out the blue pill for a red one and swallowed all three with her allotted amount of water. A nice family meal, she thought, patting Austin.

Time for her mandatory half hour of exercise. She began to run in place through the forest, though her sensors gave her the impression of moving fast. As usual, Austin rested in the shade. Holo-Images of tree trunks and limbs brushed through her long, lithe frame. With each step she focused on a single image: a white dot on her forehead. Safely mated, safely mated, she quietly repeated. The dot grew larger in her mind until a blinding whiteness was all she could see.

Well done, dear. Your heart rate is 110 beats per minute. You’ve burned 200 calories and added .001% muscle
.

“Muscle adds curves, right, buddy?” she said, as she came to a stop.

Austin made a snuffling sound and followed her to the tidy, little bathroom.

She peeled off her lab uniform and stepped into the cleansing
stall with growing dread. At once, a purple laser washed over her. Each day she expected to hear the high-pitched beep that signaled a diseased mole—an indication of The Heat. Funny, they once were called beauty marks.

Eden heaved a sigh of relief as the laser stopped without a sound. She’d made it through another night. Now, the good stuff, she thought, dialing in a fresh coating of Midnight Luster. Her spirits lifted as her skin and hair darkened to a lustrous shade of black. Water would cause the coating to streak, which was easy enough to avoid in her dry, tunneled world. And in a few days the coat would turn dull and gray—a dead giveaway she was a Pearl.

But for now, she looked beautiful.

Eden stepped out of the stall, refreshed and ready to deal with Jamal. She slipped on a vintage black nightgown and studied herself in the mirror. If only she had more curves. Still, the silky garment was sexy and well worth every uni-credit it cost. She had almost smiled the night she’d picked it up at her local station in the Combs. It wasn’t a nightgown; it was a weapon. One she had saved for a very special occasion.
Like tonight, please Earth
.

Applying her makeup, Eden expertly shaded her face to appear Coal-like. She refreshed the brown caps in her eyes with darkening drops. Red lipstick, smoothed over the lines to make her lips seem fuller, was the last touch. She let her long black hair dip over one eye and smiled.

“Definitely passing, right?”

A
T EXACTLY 05:00, Eden’s Life-Band communicated Jamal’s signal in her head. Her pulse raced as she accepted the connection. She posed seductively, and a distinctive click in her head told her that her Holo-Image appeared before him just as his materialized in her room. He flashed that killer grin.

“How’s my Little Bunny?” he said.

“Jamal,” she said, her sensors registering the warmth of his arms as they snaked around her.

Austin shot up, growling. She had forgotten about him. It was embarrassing, really. As if she’d trained her dog to hate Coals. Maybe he wasn’t color-blind, after all.

“Sorry,” she told Jamal. “Let me put him out.”

She dragged the stubborn animal into the main room. “For Earth’s sake, why do you always act like this?” she whispered. He whined, but she shut him out.

“Come here, pet,” Jamal said.

She walked towards him, swinging her hips, an inviting smile on her lips. As head of security, Jamal could scramble signals to hide their illicit date.

“Hmmm,” he murmured, reaching for her again.

To her delight, things progressed in the right direction
when Jamal kissed her for the first time. His lips were moist and searching. The heat coming off of his body loosened her limbs. It couldn’t be any better if he were actually present.

In fact, she heard an internal warning.
You’re over stimulated, dear. Your blood pressure and heart rate are dangerously elevated. Why don’t you cease activity now?

Programmed since birth to react, Eden jerked back.

“You all right?” Jamal said. “Let’s slow down.”

“No!” she cried, flinging herself at him.

They
didn’t want her to mate. So
they
could cut her off. But Eden wouldn’t let that happen.

“Whoa, pet. I’m receiving dangerous signals. I don’t want you to explode. I need you around.”

“You do?”

“You have no idea.”

“Oh.” That meant he wanted to pick up her option to mate, right?

He kissed her again, a little too hard, she thought. But who was she to complain? She could hardly believe her good luck. And yet, right from the start, Jamal had defied her expectations.

He’d been hired at REA when the former head of security died of an oxy overdose. Moses always had seemed so levelheaded, but then you never knew what secrets lurked in a world where even children wore a poker face. He had treated her decently, an exception to the rule. Of course, she’d doubted his replacement would be as nice.

One day, the security robot had malfunctioned and Jamal stood in its place. While he’d studied her data, Eden had stolen a glance at him. Was it the warrior-like tattoo or his dark
good looks that had felt threatening? About a ninety percent mate-rate, she’d guessed.

He had caught her eye and flashed a blinding grin.

—Hello, there
.

She’d turned away, faint with embarrassment and fear.

—I’m Jamal. Nice to meet you
.

Was he really talking to her? She’d glanced around but there was no one else.

—
What is it, Eden? Don’t you like me?

Why would a Coal even care? Or was he mocking her? Speechless, she’d dared to look at him.

—Well? Am I scary or just not your type?

—I don’t even know you!

Her hand had flown to her mouth. When would she learn to keep her feelings to herself? But Jamal simply had laughed. A big, easy laugh that had puzzled her.

—You’re an honest girl. I like that, too
.

Too?
What else could he possibly like about her? He had to know she was a Pearl. It said so right there on the scanner. Besides, even with the best skin coating, everything about her screamed lower class. And yet, he’d stared at her with an openness that had made Eden blush. No one had ever looked at her for so long or with such sincere interest.

She even had wondered if her oxy reserves had bottomed out and she was losing her mind. But her vital statistics were fine. Why then had he continued speaking to her in that astonishingly direct way?

—
I get it. You don’t think I like your blue eyes, right? You’re wrong about that. Maybe some day you’ll let me see the real you, Eden Newman
.

It was as if he’d peered right inside of her and plucked out her heart’s desire. He wanted to see the Real Eden. She had hung on his every word.

—All right. I understand you don’t trust me. Not yet. Why don’t we spend some time together so we can solve that problem? This isn’t what you think. I’m different and I’m going to prove it to you
.

—Okay
.

The confidence, the bold grin, and the way his eyes followed her when she’d exited the gate had dazzled and unnerved her. She’d stumbled into the lab, dumbfounded.

True to his word, Jamal had persisted and their clandestine visits had begun a few months ago. Now, he lay beside her, as amazing as the sight of a lone flower pushing through the baked concrete.

He settled back and looked thoughtful as he began. “I was thinking about what you said your father always tells you—‘wait and see.’ Maybe the good doctor’s onto something.”

“Uh huh.” Eden wanted to talk about their future together, not her father.

“I mean, look what happened. You got probation—”

“I didn’t start it.”

“I’m not accusing you, pet.” He tucked her into the crook of his arms. “I’m just saying bad news can bring good news. Wait and see. For example, tomorrow night, you’re off work.” His eyebrows arched with anticipation. “Which means you and I should go to the Moon Dance.”

“Really? Are you serious?”

“Dead serious.”

It was all that Eden had hoped for. A Coal didn’t take
a Pearl out in public unless he or she intended to pick up the other’s mating option. And what more public event to show his intentions than at a Moon Dance? By law, everyone had to attend at least nine a year. The Uni-Gov insisted these events reduced the frequent violence that naturally resulted from the crowded conditions in the tunnels.

Eden squealed with delight. She could almost picture a white dot on her dusky-coated forehead. Mated, and with a desirable Coal!

“But I’m on probation,” she said, suddenly remembering. “Bramford hasn’t—”

Jamal lifted a finger to her lips. “Who’s in charge of clearance?”

“All right. But tomorrow night my father’s experiment takes place. You’ll be on guard.”

“I’ll put someone else in charge, take the company craft, cut out to meet you, be back in time for the Big Bang.”

“But I’ll have to go alone.” The thought terrified her.

“Don’t worry,” Jamal said softly. “As soon as you get off the 19:00 transport, I’ll be waiting.” He cupped her chin and looked deep into her eyes. “It’s time for Jamal to make a righteous move. Do you understand?”

She gulped. “Yes.”

“Good.” He gave her a peck on the cheek. “See you tomorrow night, Little Bunny.”