After surrendering the clothes and devices they'd gained from the royal residence, Runan and Solara returned to the busy city of Upper-Caldozza in a cramped transport pod that chugged along over the forest toward the main speed-train line. Curious glances followed their movements, including those of the woman who'd filmed them earlier.
"Did you get your sister's body back?" The woman's bony arm dug into his side in the tightly packed vehicle.
"No, it hasn't been resolved yet, but I'm hopeful."
"What happened to her?" A woman with thin braids leaned past her friend to see Runan.
"An accident on the river. They hit some rapids, she was dazed, Ju'rah didn't catch her in time."
"Is Ju'rah okay?" The bony woman's wide eyes would have had Messita fighting her off.
"Yes... sort of... considering he lost the love of his life." And your mind vanished from your body. He scratched at his neck, but his unease remained.
"Those two had the most incredible relationship. Was it too good to be true?"
Solara bit her lip and spoke. "You saw all the enjoyable moments and the tense ones resolved the way you wanted. Anything looks perfect in those circumstances."
"Was it fake?"
"No," Runan said firmly. "But they disagreed, like any couple, and found compromises. Those just happened off the clock."
"Some memories were likely airbrushed," Solara said.
"Airbrushed?" The Upper twirled her braid around her finger.
"Edited for the right nuances to match audience desires," Solara said.
"How?"
Solara's gaze wandered from the woman to the window as they approached the tracks. "They monitor your reactions during the experience to see which scenes and emotions you respond the most positively and negatively to. The averages create our content recommendations for the quarter."
The women frowned. "That seems so wrong. I thought the memories we bought were real."
Solara smiled weakly. "They are enhanced realities, some more than others."
"Do you make memories too?" the bony woman asked Solara.
"No, I do the extracting and editing."
"And you?" Braids grinned at Runan.
He barked out a laugh. "I'd rather be dragged behind an ox while being chased by wolves. Would you want to expose your life to strangers who hate your people for money?"
The brow of the woman closest to him creased. "We find you guys pretty neat. Way more exciting than we are, right Shay?"
"The highlight of my month was saving up enough to buy Messita and Ju'rah's beach date."
"I loved that one!"
"Aren't you Uppers all rich?" Runan asked.
The woman both laughed. "No, only the high scorers on the aptitude tests get highly paid jobs. The rest of us survive."
"Not so different, are they Ru," Solara whispered in his ear.
He shook his head as the transport pod crawled to a stop at the train platform.
After the ride, their companions showed them where to locate the Mem-Stem building, which would be impossible to miss with its staggering height and rocket-like shape, and they parted ways. Runan inhaled deeply before they approached the security guard at the front doors. He stopped them, raising his stun gun.
A woman in baggy clothes that hung from her gangly limbs like hand-me-downs on a poor child stood beside them and scrutinized them through glasses thick like beer bottles.
"What's your business here?"
"I'm here about my sister."
"Runan, right?" the woman asked. Once he nodded, she dismissed the guard. "I'm Tunia. You should follow me inside."
The mix of silvers, crystals and golds in the lobby left Runan clenching his fists. If they could afford this, why come after his farm? An eye scanner opened the elevator for the three of them.
"Where are we going?" he asked.
"You'll find out when we arrive. Until then silence is safest."
Something in her tone and her indirect glance at the camera in the elevator's corner reassured him. They were being watched, and she didn't want Mem-Stem to know what was happening. Once they reached the twentieth floor, they disembarked into a drab, poorly lit hallway.
"Only the best for our finest technicians." Tunia winked. "We're close."
After closing the door, she sat at a desk cluttered with wrappers, devices of different shapes and sizes. Walls of blank screens surrounded them instead of windows. She clicked something on her watch then smiled. "So, Messita sent you. What has she gotten herself into now?"
Solara and Runan sat opposite the woman with a bean-shaped birthmark on the left side of her face. A number on the back of her screen caught his eye, matching the one Messita had given him. "It's a long story," he said before he and Solara spent the next twenty minutes sharing their series of misfortunes.
Tunia ran her hand over her buzzed hair and shook her head. "I can't believe she jumped successfully."
Runan drummed his fingers on Tunia's desk. "She was complaining of headaches. I'm worried about her lasting in that body."
"It's impossible to predict long-term outcomes. We've never had a case with an exposure time longer than twenty-five minutes."
Runan ran his hand through his thick hair. "She'd been there for four days."
Tunia's eyes widened, and she grinned. "I wish she'd reached out. We could learn so much from her now."
He ground his teeth. His sister wasn't a bloody experiment. "I want her returned to her body and safe in Lower Caldozza."
"Ru, we agreed to support with—"
"I don't care. I want her home and alive," Runan snapped, making Solara stiffened at his side.
Tunia browsed through her tablet. "That's an ambitious dream. We could send her mind elsewhere, but her body has been dead far too long."
"And they would kill her the second they found her, Ru. We have to act bigger. Even if we don't succeed with Ita's plan, it may create enough chaos to gain allies up here. Tunia, what made you break regulations and reach out to Messita?"
Tunia scratched at her short hair again with bright orange nails. "Right after she and Ju'rah were chipped, we had access to all their live experiences before the recording controls were developed. That's why I recognized you earlier, Runan, from your interactions with Messita."
He sighed with a heavy heart. "We fought a lot after she did that."
"But those fights were so raw. In my years of exporting memories, I'd never experienced such powerful emotions and from a Lower. She was a fearless badass we all revered. How she got her way with chipping and redirected your anger to Ju'rah was brilliant. I wanted to be that in control of my life. She wasn't a ruthless, uncaring, or stupid woman like our society led us to believe about Lowers. After we got to know each other, she taught me so much about Lower culture, about your sad living conditions."
Runan scoffed at the false compassion in Tunia's eyes. "And you thanked her by involving her in dangerous experiments."
"She had the perfect mind for it, and it connected her to this world as she wanted."
Solara leaned back in the plastic chair. "So you were drawn in by your ability to empathize with her, by the differences between your prejudices and reality. Could we recreate that and distribute memories to the public?"
"Those memories were deleted, and we'd need something stronger. I was always curious about Lowers, not as many are."
"Can we share when I discovered her body?" Runan asked.
Tunia adjusted her thick glasses. "Yes, but that's more tragic than empowering. Messita died in an accident, not because of injustice."
"When she was in the queen's body? To show how powerful and smart she is."
Tunia shook her head. "They'll feel threatened and trust you even less."
Solara looked up solemnly. "When the Upper guards tased us and hurt Ernesito."
"I was relieved when they shot him." Runan would have attempted to injure the man himself if his hands had been free.
"You can have my memories. If you want guilt and self-loathing to make us less intimidating, you'll find plenty."
Runan reached for her hand. "Sola, you don't—"
"I'm helping her, Ru. I've witnessed too many things in my office to let our society suffer when there's another option." Solara turned to Tunia. "Do you have copying technology here or do we go elsewhere?"
Tunia stood, her tall, rail-thin figure squeeze passed tables of electronic boxes to their side of the desk. "It's down a few floors."
"What will you do with the memories?" Runan asked.
"I have a few contacts who can post them anonymously on different networks. We'll try to make it viral as quickly as possible."
"Viral?" Runan asked.
"Popular," Solara said.
"How will that help?"
"Doubt in an institution is a powerful tool, especially when the information contradicts the truths you take for granted. It could open the right doors when you need them the most. It'll also bring us good allies to support Messita."
"Why would you risk your job for us?" Runan asked.
"The moment someone learns that your sister jumped, they'll connect it to me and I'm done. I was her main contact and no one would expect she figured it out alone, even though she did. I have nothing to lose, and I don't believe Lowers deserve the treatment they receive."
Tunia stepped into the bright white hallway with splotches of colour along the sides. It lit up as they walked to another set of doors that opened with the Upper's retinal scan. After a quick pod ride down three floors, they entered a colourful lobby. A furry red rug sat under the sparkling chandelier with colour-changing lights that faded in and out. A grinning teen stood at the desk alongside two older Uppers. The girl supported herself with a cane and bounced with excitement.
"I can't believe I get to ride a horse!"
The mother's smile faltered. "Remember it well, sweetheart. You'll only experience it once."
"Until I start working, then I can go as many times as I like."
Weren't the Upper Caldozzans swimming in money? These parents wore the same strained faces he and Messita did when rent day came. He looked to Solara who was anxiously playing with her necklace. If she could expose her guilt, he could be an ally too.
Runan walked to the mother and daughter. "I was six when I rode my first horse,"
"I didn't realize this technology has been around so long," the mother said.
"No, it was an actual horse on a farm."
The girl grinned and stepped closer to Runan. "What was it like?"
"She tried to run off, but my dad held her steady and we trotted around the yard. After a few years, I got the hang of riding solo."
The father crossed his arms. "Where was the farm? I haven't heard of any nearby."
"Lower Caldozza. I manage the farm now, and I'd be happy to let your daughter ride a real horse free of charge."
The girls' eyes lit up. "Really?"
"Sweetheart, the man can't be serious. No one visits Lower Caldozza."
Tunia approached with a smile and adjusted her grey lab coat. "Runan Zaridi, Messita's brother, is visiting today."
The girl's jaw dropped, and she examined Runan's body. "I-I- wow. Is she all right?"
The question stopped the air in his lungs. The whole Upper family waited on his answer as if they genuinely cared. "No, she isn't."
As the girl's lip trembled, her mother squeezed her shoulder. "We've very sorry to hear that." The woman met his eyes as she spoke.
He swallowed the lump in his throat. "Thank you. I wasn't sure anyone up here would care."
"We have another appointment, but on behalf of our special guests, I'd like to upgrade your daughter's experience today to the eternal package. Which room will you be in?"
The girl called out, "Seventeen."
Tunia played on her watch then smiled at the family. "The memory technician will take care of it." She ushered Solara and Runan into a different hallway with numbers past fifty. When they arrived at number sixty-seven, Tunia swiped her wrist and the frosted glass door slid open. Runan advanced, but Solara but her hand on his chest.
"I need to do this alone," she said.
He took a heavy breath and stepped back. "You don't trust me."
"Memories are personal. Raw ones can be easily misinterpreted. I care about you, a lot, more than I ever have in the past and it scares me." She held his hand. "Those feelings led me to betray my ex, and it's tearing me up that I could have prevented his fate."
"Ernesito made his choices and was aware of the consequences."
"He was there because of me."
"Because you have a kind heart."
"A kind person wouldn't manipulate someone's affections for them."
"You wanted to help Messita."
Solara's face grew red as a honeysuckle apple and her hands gripped her shirt sleeves. "I helped because I'm still in love with you."
Runan's heartbeat echoed in his ears. The heavily breathing woman before him stood with wide eyes and her lips parted, darting toward a frown.
Before she took the words back, he did what he should have done years ago, and closed the gap between them. Her soft lips froze against his, and he pulled away, gazing into her honey eyes. "Sola, what's wrong?"
"You should hate me."
He ran his thumb over her cheek. "I could never hate you."
Solara chuckled and tears slipped down her face.
"Not even when I was mad at you. I was humiliated by how I yelled at you and convinced I wouldn't be good enough for your new elite life. I fell in love with you fifteen years ago, and those feelings haven't faded."
Solara hiccupped and took his hand. She chewed her bottom lip and stared at his. Running his fingers along her smooth jaw, Runan caught her gaze. "Want to try again?"
Her lips were hesitant against his at first, then they grew more confident. Heat washed over his body. Moving his hand to the base of her skulls, he deepened the kiss until someone cleared their throat.
"I'm all set up for you, Solara," Tunia said.
Runan pulled away and stroked Solara's red cheeks. "You've got this," he whispered inches from her lips.
As Solara walked toward Tunia in the memory room, she glanced at him twice with an uncontrollable grin. He mouthed 'I love you' and she bit down on her lip again. Tunia shut the door, and he calmed his racing heart alone in the hallway. Her love made him long to jump on a rooftop and confess his own to all the people he knew. Messita had been right about a lot of things: Sola loved him, Upper society had serious issues, and some of these Uppers weren't as bad as they seemed. If there was stark inequality in Upper-Caldozza, the city of wealth and excess, they had a common goal, to overthrow this broken system. They just needed enough allies to do it.