Dreamer by Steven Harper Read Free Book Online Page A

to me.”
    “Leave it, Kendi.”
    “Ara, I’m second in command here. If the Empress told you—”
    “I said, leave it!” Ara snapped.
    “Fine.” Kendi rose. “Just don’t get yourself killed or incapacitated, Mother, or I’ll be commanding this shitshingle half blind.” And he left the galley.
                 
    Ara shifted impatiently from foot to foot. She examined her fingernails. She counted the gray ceiling tiles. And she waited. Behind her, in the public clerk’s office proper, low murmurs mixed with the clatter of computer keys and flat-voiced computer responses as people used the terminals. Despite the computer access, however, a hefty line of people waited to talk to the half-dozen clerks behind the counter. Painted signs admonished, Everything for the Good of the Unity, You Are Your Neighbor’s Keeper, and You Have a Friend in the Unity. The room was cramped and dingy, with dirty white tile on the floor and cheap, lumpy walls. Ara had been waiting in line for an hour, and that gave her time to think. Words and phrases mixed in her head, and the office offered no distractions.
    The safety of this Confederation is more important.
    I think that’s the first time you ever lied to me.
    I want you to destroy it.
    There’s something you aren’t telling me.
    The line shuffled forward a pace. Ara sighed. She had wanted to tell Kendi what the Empress had said, but the words had stuck in her throat. How could she kill a child?
    Maybe it won’t come to that, she told herself. Maybe the child won’t be a threat.
    “Glory to the—Ara? Stars above, is that you?”
    A chill stabbed Ara’s bones. She glanced up sharply and realized she had reached the front of the line. Behind the counter was a man who looked about sixty. He was bald, heavily freckled, and thin. He didn’t look the least bit familiar. Who was he? How had he recognized her? Should she brazen it out? Pretend he was mistaken? Run for it?
    She settled on polite bewilderment.
    “I’m sorry, sir,” she said. “I don’t think I—”
    “It’s me, Ara. Chin Fen.”
    Recognition dawned. “Fen?” Ara gasped. “What the hell are you doing here?”
    Fen shrugged. “Everyone’s got to go somewhere. What are the odds, huh? Looks like you didn’t complete—” He halted for a moment, then leaned forward, lowering his voice conspiratorially. “Complete your Silent training after all.”
    Relief washed through Ara, though she didn’t relax. Chin Fen had left the Children of Irfan when he and Ara were in their early twenties. She remembered him as quiet and shy. More of a hanger-on than a friend. He’d always been friendly, though, and now that Ara was over her initial shock, she realized his presence was a gift, a free contact.
    “I didn’t recognize you at first,” she admitted. “But what should we expect after—”
    “Don’t say how many years it’s been,” Fen interrupted. “I don’t want to hear it.”
    God, he’s a year younger than I am, Ara thought, trying not to stare at the wrinkles and spots. And I’m not even fifty. Is that what living under the Unity does?
    Fen lowered his voice again. “Look, don’t tell anyone that you’re Silent, even an untrained one. You’ll be sold into slavery. You wouldn’t believe what I went through to avoid being found out.”
    “I won’t tell if you won’t,” Ara murmured.
    Fen nodded. “So what made you leave the...university?”
    “I had a change of heart,” Ara replied. “It didn’t turn out to be what I was looking for.”
    “For you and me both,” Fen laughed. “How long did you last after I left?”
    Ara thought quickly. She’d have to remember whatever lie she told. Best to keep it simple. “Two years. Maybe three? I haven’t thought about the university in a long time.”
    “It was a good time. You, me, Priss, Dello, and—what was his name? The guy who limped.”
    “Benjamin,” Ara supplied with a small twinge.
    Fen snapped his fingers. “Benjamin