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“Well, sort of. It was like an urban legend. The philosopher’s stone of Mars. Most of my friends don’t believe in it. I don’t know what they’re thinking after that speech, though.”
“Then… why go?”
“Pris asked me to. Well, I also need money. Ever since Raymond’s scandals exploded, our committee has been under constant scrutiny. I need to prove to people that I’m on the right side. That way, I won’t lose my job, you know?”
I gave a sincere stare. “This sounds hard.”
“Totally.”
After Prisne hung up the phone and rejoined us, we kept moving forward faster. But as we turned into another street, we came across a crowd of people waving toward us. It didn’t take long to realize their eyes were actually on Coretta. She greeted all of them with that same playful banter, seamlessly blending into their slang.
“Took you long enough,” someone called out. “Day’s practically over.”
“You know how the capital is,” Coretta shot back.
While they bantered among themselves, Prisne and I pulled up another news broadcast. Apparently, Krivan was going through a rough patch lately. The recent acid rain and the Kern drama had sparked widespread distrust among the public, and now he was claiming that if his withdrawal from the election was what it took to make the people happy, he would step down.
Manipulative bastard. Why make a spectacle of it instead of just stepping down directly?
With so many people beginning to feel the planet was no longer safe, plans for the cylindrical habitat—which technicians had been developing for the past twenty years—were back on the table. Five years ago, they had announced that only aristocrats and those with a customer satisfaction rating above ninety percent would be admitted. Now, heated debates had broken out once again, and all we could do was wait for news from the bureau.
If humanity ever ended up evacuating to that massive habitat in space, the only one among us who stood a chance of going was Prisne. While the wealthy were evacuated to the safety of the habitats, the rest of us would be left behind to die amidst Mars’ unpredictable acid bursts.
In a technocracy, the lower classes being left behind was hardly surprising. After all, we weren’t the ones keeping the planet running.
As our steps finally led us into the Buzz. Now, its streets were choked with even thicker fog than usual. If everything here used to be hidden behind thin veils, now it felt like there was nowhere left to hide at all. In the wake of the acid rain, people had flooded the district in search of back-alley doctors. Whether those hacks were actually saving lives was anyone’s guess, but the high-and-mighty officials in the capital couldn’t be bothered with these “unusual” cases.
Thankfully, there was the Buzz.
Shadowy figures drifted along the sidewalks, some breathing through oxygen masks, others clutching black-market sedatives in trembling hands, their faces hollowed by hunger. When we finally arrived at a shop with a yellow light, Coretta’s companions gave a brief goodbye and vanished.
“The informant is inside.”
When Coretta announced it, Prisne and I checked our bags at the same time, calmly. That gave us a sense of security. It reminded us to stay cautious.
But once we stepped inside, danger wasn’t even the last thing on our minds. After the foggy, depressing atmosphere of the street, this place felt like a party. People shouting, others gambling amid laughter, staff wandering everywhere with trays of drinks… It wouldn’t have been wise to let our guard down, but my fingers had already relaxed just a little. Just as I started heading toward a spot near the door—far from the cash register—Prisne caught my shoulder and yanked me back.
“Over there.”
A woman sat at a table near a rusty window frame. Her body was pressed so tightly against the wall she looked as if she were built right into the architecture, a permanent fixture of the decay.
As we crossed the room toward her, the chaotic noise around us started to feel… fake. The aura bleeding off her was so oppressive it felt like the crowd had gathered here just to drown out her darkness.
“Ms. Grace.”
Prisne’s voice was ice, but the woman didn’t move. She had pulled her hat all the way down to her chin, wearing a black mask, resting her face against the stained wall. Stepping right in front of her without waiting around, I cut straight to it, my tone dripping with boredom.
“So… you’re going to show us the element the whole planet is breaking its neck to find right here?”
“Mina.” Coretta snapped in a low warning, but I just shrugged. If this was a waste of time, I only wanted to get us out of here immediately.
“Mina?”
A rasp of a voice scraped out from under the hat. The woman shifted slightly, then slowly tilted the brim up.
“Mina Olind?”
The moment her piercing blue eyes locked onto mine, I frowned. “How do you know my name?”
