Neron Rising

ron at the same time. My mouth opens to say somethi

the screen that lights up on my forearm. It’s a message fr

and magic. “The panic that would happen. The effect on the economy. The entire plan

he pit of my stomach. I see it in her eyes, her cold, calm ey

turning on my heel and stalki

ough the twisted service tunnels of the sewer systems to get back t

sted up. I can’t brea

ves, and I hardly touch my food. But it’s one of the great things about him—he understands when I’m filled wi

eaves m

er I’ve cleaned the dishes. “You need

ut the door before he can prot

lack when I look up, other than the moon that sits high in the sky. It looks like it’s n

rned on in windows, office buildings. In the towering elite buildings, the

side, but so

he skywalk. I don’t think about where I’m goi

ters the side of one of the tallest buildings in this sector. I

have to walk anywhere you want to go, when the cities are more vertical than horizontal, you climb a lot of s

this planet; the govern

le when I climb a

t, there is the service equipment to keep the upper half of this building cool. There’s a landing just

s access up there to the residents who can afford to l

ts me from falling ninety-six floors t

el. Where there were once roads where people used their personal transport vehicles, the space has been filled with more build

his. This didn’t just appear here. They had to ima

hey’re kind of beautiful against the bac

d about how bored I

sed to be the

l going to co

I ask down th

r him rustling, and then sliding int

ice in my head. “I have to warn you, I’m probably

ime,” he says, and I swear I can hear a littl

’s wrong. All these people. Suddenly I feel responsible

voice is so calm. There’s this low, deep timbre to it. There’s somethin

a secret that would aff

in knots just at t

ret of that scale,” he confesses. “Sure

it is that I could tell people, but it would create so much chaos, I might actually ma

,” he says. His words are like a soft touch, like

ing spiral right now, and I have no intent to get myself out of it at the moment. “Look a

at affect every single solar system. He could make the galaxy a better place. He could stop the centuries of g

ietly. “Just a few days ago you were complaining about your boring life, a

g has changed at all. Other than now I have to figure out how to get me and