TENET: 88
Keep an open mind.
- Dr. H. VynFleet, 132 Tenets of Childcare & Maintenance
APRIL
April willed herself to remain calm.
But as she gazed out through the glass dome of the hover craft at the bustling and beautiful city outside, it was impossible not to feel excitement bubbling up for the first time in what felt like forever.
The people on the streets of New Canaan were so diverse. She saw Bergalians, Vystians, and Terrans, alongside beings whose origins she could only guess at, all traversing the sliding walkways with an energy she had never seen back home. It was as if they were all moving to the beat of music just a little too quiet for her to hear over the cheerful hum of the cab.
More hover crafts winnowed in and out just above street level, and overhead, huge airships drifted like lazy whales among the towers and spires of the elegant city architecture. They looked elegant, but April couldn’t even imagine riding in something that high off the ground. Just the thought of it started her heart racing.
She looked away from the airships and studied the architecture instead. A person could lose herself here. She could live a full life behind one of the windows shimmering in one of those giant buildings, and no one from her past would ever be able to find her.
At least April hoped that was the case.
Don’t think about him.
But it had been months since she’d thought of anything else, months since she’d been able to live her life without constantly looking over her shoulder.
Hopefully this new life, on a whole new planet, would mean a fresh start.
“We have arrived at your destination,” the hover cab announced suddenly, snapping her out of her thoughts.
They were hanging in the air in front of a dizzyingly tall building, constructed of massive grey stones. Discrete golden letters adorned the stones beside the glass entryway.
The Celestial
Sweet Sun Gods,she had read about this building in In Vogue. It was one of the oldest co-ops in the famous Ancient Gardens neighborhood of New Canaan. And it was the only one that hadn’t succumbed to accepting celebrity buyers in the property bust that happened during the lead-up to the Armada’s attack on Nordholm.
That Armada attack had lost little Bolynne Rivvor her mother. And the loss of Bolynne’s mom was the whole reason April was here.
She’d been far away from the battles, but it had been impossible to escape the news.
Everyone knew that the Armada was famous for targeting a system, attacking its weakest planet and then setting up a weapons base there from which they could threaten and take over all the other planets.
When they set their sights on wealthy Ulfgard and its system, everyone expected them to attack Torgard, the smallest and least populated planet in the system.
Mighty Ulfgard and the other planets sent their troops all the way out to Torgard.
And then at the last moment, the Armada attacked Nordholm instead, a tiny planet right next to Ulfgard.
The home troops were all on the opposite side of the system.
But the civilian women of Ulfgard had all completed compulsory military training at age nineteen. Those young enough to fight rallied, leaving their jobs and homes, to head to Nordholm and defend the system.
And nearly every woman of childbearing age was slaughtered as they stormed the beach.
The Armada’s deadly forces were already set up, and ready to fight the whole System army.
But those brave women bought just enough time for the rest of the home forces to arrive.
And when the home army arrived at last, they were able to send the Armada packing, in one of the terrible force’s few defeats.
The home forces won the day, but everyone knew it was the women who were the real heroes.