Lunar Rising

I’ve told Raven where Riaddne is. It’s not my problem anymore; it’s not. Maybe if I keep telling myself this, I will begin to believe it.

Business in the workshop started looking better for Pa and I. Pa got some orders from a few people around the city, and he let me help him work on some of the smaller stuff. I like the work Pa does, but there’s something I haven’t told him.

Despite my obvious gift for tinkering with gadgets, it’s not what I wanted to do as I grew up. I wanted to be something other than an engineer or scientist. Back on Earth, I almost persuaded Pa to let me join the debate club at school. I wanted to be a national ambassador, bringing peace to countries by negotiating with their leaders. I wanted to travel the world and meet new people, and I wanted to help settle the disputes between the Reformed States of America and Brazil (they’ve been arguing over a border for some time.)

Instead, I’m trying to get myself more involved with mechanics so that I can learn to love the work I was born into. People in this time era are seldom anything except what their parents or caretakers were. The deal was, if your dad was a factory worker, you would probably be one too. It’s all because of the huge population. We can’t have too many of one kind of job, so to ensure that the jobs stay balanced and the world can function, each person takes the job passed down to them. This is a reason why each household is allowed only up to two children: one to fill each parent’s spot. Sometimes the government can find an empty slot in another job, and if you’re fast enough to fill in a dozen forms and contracts, the government will let you take that job. Then you have to pay for your own schooling and education. It’s a lot of money for the job that you want.

Some people are not selective about job changes. I’ve heard that children of parents who work in the food factories are so desperate for a new job other than factory life, they don’t care what new job is given to them, so long as it was different from the one guaranteed.

Many countries are struggling with currency problems, so some people have to work in exchange for cheap housing. The Reformed States of America is far from bankrupt, so we stay out of slavery.

The RSA is one of the few countries remaining with power and wealth. The primary rivals of the RSA are the joined forces of Scandinavia and Brazil, who wield almost as much power as they rule across the hemispheres. Pa came from Scandinavia to the RSA, where he married my mom. She got into an accident in the creation of the sky city, Aeolia, and was not the only victim of the precarious construction. I never knew her, but Pa loved her. For a long time in my early years, Pa stayed distant to me, up until my fifth year. I’d stayed with another family for a few years while Pa found a place where his job would be useful and tried to settle in. When I turned five, I left the family that I had called my own and began a new life with a father I barely knew. To this day, if he knew about the implications of Riaddne, I still would not know for certain what would happen.

I used to wonder if Pa ever doubted his job or my future, but I’ve dismissed such thoughts. He taught me how the things he made worked. He showed me how to put together a robot. We moved to Tylius together to start fresh after work demand went sour back on Earth. Around this time, I arranged a way to smuggle Riaddne to Tylius with me. The first chance I got, I moved it away from my pa’s new workshop and planted it underneath the city, too far away to be traceable to us.

For years, Raven and I talked of fixing the ozone layer, which the government publicized to be a harmful thing, and restoring Earth by introducing better energy. Six months ago, we took our talk and dreams and put them down to paper. Five months ago, we acquired enough materials to begin. Many sleepless hours were spent on this useless project. I now recognize the waste of our efforts; after calculating where we could find pin-points of constant, hot dark matter, I should have realized that our plans would never succeed. There is no way for two teenage kids to get their hands on such advanced equipment. And after testing its power over and over again, I know now that our invention will not work. It will never work.

Tired of putting my energies to such a draining machine, I let Raven know where Riaddne was. My business was no longer with Riaddne. I have nothing to do with it anymore. That’s what I repeated in my head a hundred times when the government inspector came.

The inspector was a woman with soft facial features and a smile that deceived me to be comforting. However, when I heard her deadly, cooing voice, I knew this woman was trouble.

The bell connected to the door rings lightly, drawing my attention to who just entered. I see the woman before Pa does. Pa is busy in the back of the workshop, finishing an order for the other side of town that promised a nice sum of money.

Approaching the woman, I grab a digital notepad and turn it on, prepared to record whatever the woman would order.

“Hello, ma’am,” I greet her politely. “Are you here to pick up an order, or to place one?”

She smiles back. “Actually, I’m here to ask a few questions. May I see your father?”

“Oh!” Her request catches me off guard. “Sure, give me a moment.”

I hop over a pile of junk to reach my pa in the far back corner of the shop. “Pa, there’s a woman who wants to see you.”

Pa’s eyes gleam in the shadows behind the desk he was working on. “A woman,” he repeats, his attention on his work. “I’m very busy. Can’t you take her order and escort her out?”

“She doesn’t want an order. She wants answers to questions. I don’t know why, but I wouldn’t keep her waiting.”

“Well, alright.” Pa heaves himself off of his stool and stretches. “Stay here and connect that green wire with the red one, will you? I’ll be back in a minute.”

I nod, eager to help where I can. Pa goes to the front of the shop and I can hear their quiet voices as he and the woman converse. I hear Pa give a gruff laugh as the woman cracks a joke. I connect the wires, careful not to accidentally turn on the electricity, and then I hear a spark and a sizzle. In a moment, my pa is next to me again, and he carefully inspects the gadget.

“Did she leave?” I ask, not able to recall hearing the door chime sound.

“No, Neil. She says she wants to talk to you. She’s from the government.” He frowns at me. “Neil, what have you been up to? Does this have to do with what you and Raven are using my workshop for?”

“I don’t know, Pa. Shouldn’t be any problems. Let me talk to her.”

I step through the mess of the shop, bumping my head on a low shelf and swearing. Noticing that the woman was watching me as I climbed into the swivel chair, I squeeze out a nervous chuckle.

“Hello again, young man.” She shakes my hand, her grip strong and her skin smooth. “A pleasure. My name is Mrs. Quinn.”

“Good day to you, Mrs. Quinn. I’m Neil.” I shuffle nervously in my seat. “Is there something you wanted to ask me about?”

“I regret to inform you that there is.” Mrs. Quinn takes out a small file with a few sheets of paper in it from her stuffed, black bag. “The government sent me here to investigate. There was a witness who reported that you were building something… ah, what do I say… abusive? Dangerous? Do I dare say, possibly illegal?” She shakes her head and rubs her temple. “I must ask you these questions, and you will answer them truthfully and to the best of your ability. Have I made myself clear?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Is this your father’s shop?”

“Yes.”

“Have you worked on personal gadgets with your father?”

I recall the blaster. “Yes.”

“Have you used contraband items to enhance your projects?”

“None that I know of.” A lie in a way, since most of Riaddne was made with stolen items and mechanisms found on the black market. However, it seemed that Mrs. Quinn was asking about the projects between just my dad and me. My answer to that would be truthful.

“Do you work on projects alone as well?”

Truthful answer? Not quite. Most of my projects are completed alone, with only occasional assistance from Raven or Pa. I lie through a false smile. “No, ma’am.”

“Have you tampered with illegal ideas, such as restoring the harmful ozone layer?”

I look the woman up and down, amazed that even this grown woman believed in the stupid lies that the government used to overwrite the old facts. “I don’t believe the ozone layer is harmful, ma’am. With all due respect, some of the facts that have been delivered to you by your instructors may not be as valid as you seem to suggest.”

She frowns at my blunt words. “So, you have been in these waters, I see. Young man, I advise you now to discontinue your opinions about the ozone layer. It is dangerous, and that is why the government will not be taking measures to bring it back to full strength. Now, I want you to answer this. Have you made any devices, gadgets, or machines that involve the idea of restoring the ozone layer?”

I’ve read that in the past, long ago, people made simple little apparatuses that made ozone. Ozone can be made just by sunlight shining through the oxygen in the atmosphere, but people still made gadgets because even as the ozone layer replenished itself naturally, human creation was destroying it faster. Finally, when the fossil fuels were almost completely gone, people began to look towards other means of power as a permanent replacement.

When scientists invented advanced solar power machines and harnessing “enhanced” power, it became obvious that the ozone layer must remain weakened. Why? Because the thinned ozone blanket was allowing powerful and harmful rays of light onto the ground. The solar panels were modified to be able to use this sunlight. People moved into domed cities to protect themselves from the sun, and large, protected highways or bullet trains in clear tubes transported people and goods safely from one place to another. The smog left over from the fossil fuels could be reused up to five times, turning the ozone layer into nothing but a wisp of a rag.

Once we achieved a means by which we can obtain infinite power, cities prospered in their new way of life. In today’s society, having the ozone layer would make things both better and worse. We’ve adapted to survive without it; other animals that lived in the wild did not, natural bodies of water did not, and the forests of lush green did not.

Earth would die if we continue. The ozone layer must come back. Though I gave up Riaddne, this belief will stay firm.

I lift my chin and speak slowly, trying to sound amused. “I have never even thought of using a device to restore the ozone layer. Although I suppose, it would be something, wouldn’t it?”

She sighs. “Based on the intel that was gathered, the government concluded that you and another individual were making an illegal contraption. We don’t know what it does, but knowing what we know, I can assume it has something to do with the ozone layer.”

I can let this woman think anything she wants to, for she has no evidence. Only Raven and I know the truth.

“Allow me to say this again, ma’am.” I raise my voice, just a little. “I have never even thought of using a device to restore the ozone layer. That is fact. You must trust these words.”

Mrs. Quinn’s skeptical smile begins to irritate me. She stuffs the folder back into her overflowing bag.

“That is all for now. I will bring your answers to the government. Hopefully, they will approve. I hope for your own sake that I don’t have to see you again.” She stands and nods curtly at me. “Good-bye, Neil.”

I remain in my chair for a long time after she leaves the shop. Then I release a long, shuddery breath that I didn’t know I was holding and place my head in my hands.

A strong desire to contact Raven about Riaddne suddenly overcomes me. I want to know if he found it, whether anybody had seen him with our prized possession. But then I remember with a sickening feeling that I had given up the project and placed it solely in his hands.

It’s not my problem now, I think to myself. It’s his.

A few days later, Ms. Quinn returns, accompanied with a motley gathering of people. This time, she has something for me. A simple request. In exchange for something I can’t refuse.