Chapter 1: Naomi

I. Naomi: “The Greenhouse Labs”

Naomi gazed down into the valley at the glistening silver domes rising out of the forest. She unslung her backpack, took out a blue bottle with a large green pyramid logo, and drank deeply. Sweat beaded on her brow. As she caught her breath, Naomi studied the closest dome.

She knew the surface was a sunlight-absorbing coating that harvested energy, and that underneath the structure her father was somewhere in his lab, working alongside the other Gaiaflow engineers. Still, from a distance the domes looked natural – like giant water droplets nestled among the trees. Naomi took another drink and replaced the bottle, then hiked down the dirt and stone path towards the closest dome.

As she approached, she could make out the Gaiaflow logos etched into the pattern of the dome's surface – the same logo from her water bottle. In fact, her backpack and most of the objects in it had the logo somewhere, as did the appliances in her home, the clothes she wore, and all the packages of food she ate that didn't come from her village's farms. Naomi thought she wouldn't be surprised if the air she breathed had been marked with the Gaiaflow logo at the molecular level. Gaiaflow was more than just a corporation. It made everything and employed everyone, and it ran the government that ran the Realms. Still, Naomi reflected, it didn't feel like Gaiaflow was “in charge” any more than the trees were in charge of the forest. It just...was everything. And everything was Gaiaflow.

The door opened so suddenly that Naomi faltered for a second. She remembered when she'd been a little kid, before the body-scan tech, she'd had to place her thumbprint on a little pad next to the door. Now, the things just whizzed open as soon as you'd gotten close enough for the sensors.

“Hello Naomi!” chirped a friendly voice as she entered the lobby. The décor was sleek and minimalist, yet comforting, with the ambient lighting and pleasant earthtones that characterized every Gaiaflow lobby she'd seen.

“Hi Bart,” Naomi replied to the automated greeting. In front of her, a shimmering holograph waited patiently for instructions. “I'm here to meet my dad, do you know where he is?”

The holograph's reply was almost instantaneous, just a beat faster than a human being would answer. “Professor Goodman is currently in level 3, room 7. Would you like to know what he's working on today?”

“No thanks Bart, I’ll let it be a surprise. Besides, we've got to go pick up David from training,” Naomi said over her shoulder as she turned and walked out of the lobby. After a short walk along the edge of the dome on a path that slowly curved to the left, she turned and headed deeper into the dome, up two flights of stairs, and out into a large greenhouse full of plants.

Naomi paused, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. She smelled fresh flowers, fertilizer, and a mix of other scents that all combined to form the familiar aroma of the greenhouse. She listened to the soft hum of fans and air recyclers mixed with the muted buzzing of bees as they floated from flower to flower.

This was Naomi's favorite room in the lab. She smiled, then slowly opened her eyes, her gaze tracing along the soft curves of the lattice that supported the giant translucent dome. The surface admitted only the light frequencies the plants needed and harvested the rest of the spectrum for energy – the epitome of Gaiaflow tech: perfectly efficient and totally in sync with the natural world.

As she lowered her gaze to the greenhouse floor, she saw her father and another engineer across a sea of gently swaying plants. They were both wearing the same blue Gaiaflow pullovers and gray pants, but even from a hundred meters away Naomi could recognize her father's stance and movements. She began a slow amble across the greenhouse floor, stopping sometimes to inspect the crops or watch bees pollinate one of the many flower patches interspersed throughout the long rows of plants. Occasionally a wasp zipped by on some errand of its own, or a cricket hopped across the ground in front of her.

As she got closer, Naomi could make out some of what her father and the other engineer were saying.

“--never going to figure out what happened if we just keep throwing away the data.” Naomi recognized the exasperation in her father's voice.

“It's scrap, Kailen. We can crank out a hundred more in the matter compiler tomorrow.”

“Of course, but Jim, why does it keep happening? That's what I want to know. Aren't you the least bit curious?”

Naomi stopped next to an extra large tomato plant covered in ants and aphids. She chose one ant to follow and watched as it climbed the stalk and crawled out along a stem toward a cluster of aphids. There, the ant moved purposefully from aphid to aphid, quickly rubbing each on the back with its tiny legs. Naomi knew that these ants would harvest a liquid released from the aphids' back, and that this ant was stimulating production of the liquid, like a farmer tending its crops. Naomi gazed at the insects in wonder.

“A million reasons. Could just be the software. An AI problem. A solar flare interacting with the hardware...whatever it is, it's not worth the time it'll take to figure it out when we can just--”

“--print another hundred in the compiler, I know, but what if this is something bigger, something, I don't know...” her dad trailed off. Naomi looked up from the ants and aphids. Her dad and Jim were both looking down at something on the ground she couldn't make out. She began walking toward them, and they both looked up. Her dad's face lit up when he saw her.

“Hi champ!” He smiled at her as she approached. “This is Jim Stalwart, he works down in the nano-tech department. Jim, this is my daughter Naomi.”

“Nice to meet you.” He bowed his head slightly in greeting. Naomi reflected how at one time they would have shaken hands. The waves of pandemics had put an end to that custom. She shuddered at the thought of shaking grimy, virus-covered hands and wiped her hands on her pants subconsciously.

“Nice to meet you too.” Naomi bowed slightly back at the man, and turned to look down at the pile of metal components and fine silver thread on the ground in front of them. “What's this? What happened?”

The two men looked at each other for a few seconds. Her dad spoke first. “This is one of the nano-drones that tends the plants. And it's malfunctioning. I'm going to take it back to my lab and examine it.”

Naomi glanced over and thought she could see a flash in the other man's eyes, but he said nothing as her father gathered up the pile of debris, placed it into a small bin, and snapped on the cover.

“Jim, thank you for coming to check this out.” Her dad looked into the man's eyes and nodded.

“My pleasure.” He turned to Naomi. “Nice to meet you. If you're anything like your dad, I think you'll have a bright future in nanotech. If you decide to go that route, of course.” He smiled.

“Thanks,” Naomi replied, not knowing what else to say. They stood for one more awkward moment before her dad tucked the bin under his arm and walked off across the greenhouse in the direction Naomi had come from. She followed him, wanting to ask questions but also knowing her dad well enough to be patient.

They exited the greenhouse and turned left along the curving outer path before turning left again through a sliding glass door that led into a large lab, well-lit by skylights. There were several long metal tables covered in a hodgepodge of gadgets and components. Toward the back of the lab, under the biggest skylight, there was a cluster of small fruit trees underneath a large translucent tent. In the back corner there was a little living space, with a couch, dining set, and kitchen.

Naomi made her way back to the couch and plopped herself down. She kicked off her shoes and leaned back. Her dad walked over to one of the metal tables and set the bin down. He used his arms to gently push some contraptions out of the way, opened the box, and spread the contents down on the table. He spent a moment examining them, his brow furrowed.

“We can't figure out what the hell is happening to them. That's the problem,” he said. Naomi smiled. Her dad always opened up, he just needed some time to process things first.

“What do they do?” Naomi asked. Now that her father had started talking, she had questions.

“They monitor the nutritional content of the environment and make adjustments as necessary.”

“The environment. Like, the soil?”

“Yes. And the air. The insects. And the plant itself. The environment.”

“The environment,” Naomi repeated with a smile. “So, everything?”

“Yeah, pretty much everything. It's the same tech we use all over the world to maintain the ecosystem.”

“And it's not working?”

“No. Well, mostly they are. But not this one.”

“And you don't know why?”

“No. All the scans came back normal, and there’s been no external or internal damage as far as we can tell” Her father looked back down at the device on the table, his eyes casting around for an explanation.

“Yeah, that might be a problem.”

***

II. Naomi: “Training with Soren”

Naomi shaded her eyes from the late afternoon sun as she watched her brother hanging precariously on the side of the boulder. They were in a mountainside glen, shaded by tall oak and cypress trees. Giant rocks littered the landscape, left there by some ancient avalanche.

“That's it! Settle your weight before you move.” Uncle Soren peered down at his nephew from his perch atop the boulder. He sat crossed legged with his hands on his knees like a yogi, long silver hair flowing back into a loose ponytail. His face was smooth yet hardened by his years spent outside, but his green eyes still had the same sparkle she'd always remembered. And he still looked lean and muscular under his loose-fitting gray tunic and baggy trousers. Probably hand-stitched, Naomi thought. Uncle Soren almost never wore standard Gaiaflow clothes.

“Move your left foot first. Your other left foot!” Soren's voice echoed faintly through the canyon.

Daniel shifted his weight slightly. He sprawled against the boulder, clutching it awkwardly with all four arms and legs like some giant fleshy insect. Across a two-meter expanse of ground stood another boulder. Naomi could see the chalk smears from many earlier attempts.

Daniel took a deep breath, relaxed into a crouch and suddenly leapt.

For a brief instant he was suspended in the air, a bird in flight. His feet landed first, toes clenched inside his Gaiaflow climbing shoes with their proprietary super-grip material. He scrambled to grab the sides of the new boulder – there were no handholds, only the slight variations in the rock's surface. His left hand caught, but his feet were slipping while his right glove scraped along the surface boulder... Naomi held her breath – He almost had it! But then his momentum carried him farther, past his handhold and...

Daniel slid off the boulder and tumbled onto the ground with a thud, dust clouds billowing up around him.

“Ooof!” Naomi groaned involuntarily. “Are you ok?” She shouted down to her brother. He rolled over onto his back, eyes closed, and gave her the thumbs up.

“Ugh. I'm fine. I don't know how Uncle Soren does it.” Daniel gathered himself and stood up slowly, brushing the dust off himself.

Soren slid down the side of the boulder before suddenly catching himself with all four hands and feet at once. He shimmied himself all the way across in three big moves like a dancer, then settled into the spot where David had been.

“It's all in the stance, nephew. Not just when you leap, but when you land.” Soren closed his eyes and exhaled, his body settling slowly, almost imperceptibly into a crouch. Then he sprang.

Watching Soren leap was like watching an animal – it looked instinctual, natural. He soared through the emptiness like a gliding falcon, wings outstretched, then reached out his limbs in unison and settled smoothly into a crouch against the other boulder. His hands gripped the rock face like claws, his feet perfectly positioned on his outstretched toes. Soren crouched against the boulder for a moment, then dropped down onto the ground.

“You'll get there, Daniel. Just keep practicing and watching the animals move.” Naomi chuckled. Uncle Soren had assigned Daniel the homework of observing tree-dwelling animals at the genetic research preserve, to watch their movements and how they leapt and landed. Soren was a strange mentor. But a good one, she had to admit. Like all the children in her family, Naomi had been instructed by Soren in martial arts, handcrafts, history, outdoor and survival skills, and what Naomi thought of as “philosophy” – Soren's general outlook on life and the world, which came through in every lesson he taught.

As she watched Soren and Daniel pack up their gear, Naomi remembered a conversation they'd had years ago, when she was just a girl of nine or ten. She and Daniel were laboring through their Tae Kwon Do lesson, practicing their forms over and over, getting tired and cranky...

“Why do we have to learn this stuff anyway?” Naomi had asked, panting. “We'll never get to use it!”

“She's right, Uncle Soren,” Daniel chimed in. “We've got defense bubbles. No one could get close enough to hurt us anyway. What's the point?”

Naomi vividly remembered how Soren had relaxed his stance and looked at each of them in turn.

“What if you didn't have a defense bubble? What would you do then?” She could still picture his piercing green eyes, and how she'd shivered while holding his gaze. The children had stood in silence for an awkward moment, then Daniel laughed.

“Why wouldn't we have a defense bubble, Uncle Soren? Everybody's got one.”

Her Uncle's expression stayed placid and serious. He'd looked at her and her brother as if studying them.

“They are powered internally, after all,” she said quietly, thinking aloud. “And they're not networked – it's not like anyone could hack them. Besides, if one breaks we've always got extras...”

“But. What if you didn’t? What if someone wanted to hurt you? What would you do?” Soren asked.

“Uncle Soren, that kind of thing just doesn’t happen anymore,” Eric replied cheerfully. “People are peaceful now. No one in Gaiaflow has gotten hurt like that in, what, fifty years? Ever since the Great Enlightenment and the Collective and World Peace and all. You should know that, you were around back then.”  He smiled and resumed his front stance.

“Ever since the defense bubbles,” Naomi said quietly. She felt suddenly cold as she fingered the chain around her neck. Her history textbooks spoke of the Great Enlightenment and the subsequent World Peace as if they were a natural progression of human evolution, the inevitable next step in society. But what if nobody had bubbles, Naomi wondered to herself, would people still be peaceful then?

“Soren, what was it like before? Before the bubbles I mean?”

“History lessons are Tuesdays and Thursdays, Naomi,” Soren replied. He’d said nothing more, but resumed his stance and began introducing the next form.

Back in the valley, as Soren and Daniel changed their shoes and prepared to leave, Naomi examined the jade pendant that had hung on a long silver chain around her neck since she was a small child. Mounted behind the gemstone was a PDB 900, one of Gaiaflow's most portable and easily concealed defense bubbles. This device created an invisible forcefield around her, filtered the full spectrum of EM radiation, and prevented anyone from approaching – except for her family, friends, and anyone else who she'd programmed to be admitted to her bubble.

The idea that someone dangerous could approach close enough for her to punch or kick them was ludicrous. Most Gaiaflowans would have laughed at the notion, and rightly so. Such a thing hadn't happened in half a century, since the widespread adoption of Gaiaflow corporate citizenship and the total dominance of the Gaiaflow Collective, which provided all its ‘citizens’ with bubbles. True, there were eccentrics like Soren who still practiced traditional martial arts, but Naomi assumed they were just indulging in it as a hobby, much like modern dance or synchronized swimming.

Still...Naomi had practiced harder after that day. And she still took her martial arts lessons with Soren very seriously, even now, years later.

When they got back up to the hilltop where their vehicles were parked, Naomi's dad was waiting for them, sitting on a flat rock and scrolling through a series of images on his tablet.

“Hey dad! You should have come down to see Daniel, he's doing great!” Daniel looked sheepish and tried to brush the dirt stains off his shirt.

“Well, I did fall a few times.”

“Of course, you did, son.” Her dad smiled and put his hand on Daniel’s shoulder. “We all fall at first, and mistakes are how we learn to be better. Sorry I didn't make it down today. I had some extra work to catch up on.” He gestured down at the diagram on his tablet.

“Is that about the nano-drones?” Naomi quickly asked, as she leaned over to examine the tablet, which showed a complicated blueprint. “Is this the design for one?” Her dad and Soren exchanged a glance.

“Yes,” her dad answered. Naomi thought he might say more. Instead, he shaded his eyes and looked at the horizon, where the sun had almost sunk below the rolling hills. A cool breeze rustled the leaves overhead. “It's getting late. Let's head home. Soren, as always, you’re invited to dinner.”

“Thanks, I think I’ll join you tonight,” Soren replied. Naomi’s head swiveled over to her uncle in surprise.

“I know you’re busy,” her dad continued absentmindedly while closing down windows on his tablet, “but perhaps next time, if you’re able…” He lifted his head with a start and looked at Soren. “You said yes.”

“I did. I’d love to join you tonight. Also, there are a few things I’d like to discuss with my mother in person. Will she be there?”

“Yes, of course. See you at seven.”

“Excellent.”

***

III. Naomi: “Dinner with the Whole Family”

Back at their house, Naomi tried to make it through the history reading Soren had assigned. After reading the same paragraph three times, she sighed and put her tablet down on the couch next to her. Across the living room, she watched her little sister Norah play with the nano-compiler, a small metal box that sat on the faux-woodgrain composite floor in front of her. The little girl was focused intently on the wall-mounted screen in front of her. Naomi watched as she slowly moved her hands around in their special sensory gloves, reaching out with two fingers to pick something invisible out of the air, then tracing a long slow arc in front of her from left to right. On the screen, a string of bead-like objects aligned themselves in a row. Norah finished the movement with a flourish, and on the screen, the end of the string snapped into place, forming a long curving lattice that reminded Naomi of an old suspension bridge.

Naomi shook her head and smiled to herself – she'd never be able to do what Norah had just done with the compiler, and her sister was still only seven. The most she'd been able to manage was a water molecule and a few simple carbon compounds, and this girl was building entire nano-structures of her own design. She'd always had a preternatural ability with nano-tech, and her skills were only getting more impressive as the months and years went on. It was actually really weird, and a little unnerving, though Naomi would never have said that to Norah.

“Now...watch this!” Norah murmured, half to herself. She grabbed each end of the string and twisted them up in a double helix, then smacked the air in front of her with her gloved hand. On the screen, the image disappeared suddenly. Naomi frowned.

“Where did it go?” she asked.

The little girl giggled, and panned the camera view slowly to the right. Soon the image settled on the same lattice structure, or what looked to be the same one, only it had moved several millimeters to the side. But that wasn't possible, of course. The compiler kept its atoms locked in place until the structure was finished.. Norah must have built an identical lattice next to the original one. But then what had happened to the first one?

“How did you do that, Norah?” Naomi asked, feeling suddenly worried, although she wasn't sure why.

“Magic!” her sister answered, and giggled again.

“No really, I mean how did you do that? You shouldn't be able to—”

“Dinnertime! Wash up and come to the table!” Their mom's voice carried in from the kitchen over the bustle of dishes and grown-up voices.

“Coming!” Naomi shouted back. She turned to look at Norah and held out her pointer finger. “We’re going to talk about this again soon. I want to know how you did that, and it’s not magic.” Norah stuck out her tongue as she took off her gloves and shut off the nano-compiler.

When Naomi got out to the big wooden dining pavilion where they took their meals when everyone was together, their mom Sarah was setting out steaming bowls of food while their dad set the places. A long, hand-carved oak table sat under a roof of polished timber that arched high over their heads. Above the table hung a large lantern, connected to a solar panel on the pavilion’s roof, that cast a warm orange-gold glow throughout the space. Outside the pavilion, tall spruce pines and birch trees swayed gently in the late evening breeze and filtered the golden sunlight that shone down from the west. They’d set an extra place for Uncle Soren, and with Grandma Fiona joining them as she always did on Saturday evenings, the table was quite full when everyone had finally gathered.

Dinner was delicious and nutritious as usual — mixed vegetables from the local Gaiaflow automated greenhouse, wild rice, and chicken cacciatore made from fresh tomatoes and chickens from their neighborhood’s communal farm.

The conversation was lively. Grandma Fiona wanted to know all about the children’s studies — What were they interested in? What had they learned that week? What exciting field trips did they have planned with their learning community? Naomi answered between mouthfuls of veggies and rice.

Soren had just returned from a visit to one of the semi-autonomous Realms, and the grown-ups had lots of questions about the new leadership, their policies, and whether the new independence movement ought to be taken seriously. “Just a few malcontents with big ideas and too much free time,” was how Soren put it. Naomi thought that her grandma Fiona didn’t look so sure, but she mostly kept quiet and sipped her chardonnay as the family talked politics. Naomi didn’t understand everything they said, but she knew the Realms occasionally pushed for greater independence from Gaiaflow, and that it was mostly for show. After all, how could they ever be truly independent when the Collective provided them with all their equipment, services, and technical know-how?

Norah was in a phase where she wanted to know all about animals, and she had lots of questions for Soren about what he’d seen out in the wild on his excursions. He warmly regaled her with stories about the wildlife he’d captured and released, the landscapes, and how he’d weathered fierce storms in the little Gaiaflow temporary shelter he brought when he was in “the field.” Norah was the first to finish dinner, and asked to be excused to go play with the nano-compiler. Naomi noticed her dad and uncle exchange a glance when she mentioned the compiler.

Daniel and his friends were exploring a new virtual game universe and he was excited to talk about it. At length. Something about dragons and enchanted mountains, and a new legendary sword that could pierce a troll’s hide, and so on. Naomi enjoyed the sims too, but she had never immersed herself in their world as completely as Daniel did. After he finished his second heaping helping of food, he asked to be excused to go play his game. “After I finish my math and reading homework, of course,” he added after a stern look from his mother.

With Daniel and Norah gone, it was just Naomi and the grown-ups left at the table, and the conversation turned to more adult matters. Their dad was working on a new project, cross-breeding carrots and parsnips to create a cold-hardy super vegetable that could grow all winter in the massive automated farms currently being built across the Antarctic. The trick, he said, was to use genetic modification sparingly — really as little as possible — to supplement traditional cross-breeding. That way the crops wouldn’t deviate enough from their original genetics to cause health problems for people and animals who ate them.

“Isn’t it interesting,” Soren mused, “how our most advanced science often shows us that the traditional techniques are best.”

“Not everything can be left to tradition though,” Fiona spoke up, setting down her glass of chardonnay. “Look at the collective farms. With automation we’re able to produce five times what traditional methods could, and without the need for much human labor.”

“Of course,” Soren said, “But you’re still growing the same crops—”

Their dad interrupted with a vague hand gesture while chewing on a mouth full of cacciatore.

“—with some minimal genetic modification, true,” Soren acknowledged, “But basically the same crops that humans have been growing for centuries. There’s no magic pill to make you full. People still need to eat real food. Just as they always have.” Soren gestured imperiously. 

Grandma Fiona didn’t look convinced. “Speaking of ancient traditions,” she said, “have you heard about the Oracle’s new prophecy?” The table went silent for a moment.

“I have,” replied Soren. “But perhaps it’s best not to speak of these things around the children.”

“I’m seventeen, Uncle Soren. I’m not really ‘the children’ anymore.”

“She’s old enough,” Fiona said, as though that settled the matter. Still, she looked at Naomi’s mom for permission. After a moment Sarah nodded her head, and Fiona continued. “The Oracle, as you know, has a habit of making dire predictions. That’s part of the reason we consult with her, so we can know about dangers and pitfalls before they happen, and avoid them.”

“Wait,” said Naomi. “How is the Oracle a ‘she’? I thought the Oracle was a distributed computer network?”

Fiona raised her eyes and looked at Sarah and Kailen. “Have you not told her?”

“Only what we thought she needed to know, mom,” Sarah replied, leaning back and crossing her arms.

“Well. I think it’s high time she had the whole picture of things, don’t you?” Kailen and Sarah looked at each other. Her dad shrugged slightly, and after a moment her mom nodded. Fiona and turned to Naomi. “The Oracle is a computer network, yes. But it’s also a person. She’s been — she volunteered to be…” Fiona paused as she searched for the right word. “Melded. Joined, cybernetically, to this network.”

“Wait, like with wires and cables?”

“She wears a device on her head. At all times,” Soren answered with a hint of derision.

“Yes. Indeed. This device allows her total access to the Gaiaflow network and acts as an interface between the network and her brain. It allows for a...startling level of insight into the future.”

“Why not just use a computer algorithm? Why have a person involved at all?”

“That’s an excellent question, Naomi,” Fiona said with her eyes sparkling. Naomi felt her grandma was making a mental note of something. “The answer is that we tried it, and the results were less effective than we’d hoped. As it turns out, there is something about the human brain that makes precognition possible. We don’t yet understand it, but we are able to harness it.”

“So you’re doing experiments on people?!” Naomi asked with shock and horror.

“Not at all,” Fiona answered as she set down her glass. “That would be prohibited by the Gaiaflow charter, as you know. No, the original Oracle — the first volunteer — was a software engineer, and developed the brain interface herself. Cassandra. She was the pioneer of the program. A brilliant researcher. It was her obsession for nearly a decade before she made the breakthrough. And when she did finally achieve synthesis with the computer network, well...the results were far better than even she had anticipated.”

“So what happened?” Naomi asked. “Why isn’t she the Oracle anymore? Did she die?”

“Not right away.” It was Soren who replied. “But the strain of merging with the network was severe. It took a toll on her body that she never recovered from.”

“It’s something that we’ve been able to manage by limiting how much time the Oracle spends connected, and rotating them every couple years,” Fiona continued. “But Cassandra was the pioneer and we had no idea what to expect. After half a decade she was showing signs of aging far beyond her years. We couldn't carry on if it meant killing her. So we discontinued the program.”

“She only lived for three more years,” Soren added grimly.

Silence hung heavily in the room.

“But, wait, if you discontinued it, why is it still happening? Why’s there still an Oracle?” Naomi wondered aloud.

“Yes. Why indeed. You see,” Fiona continued, “Cassandra would have stayed connected forever if we’d let her. She’d have worn herself down until there was nothing left, so powerful was her urge to be tapped into the network. It was Cassandra who pleaded with us to restart the program. If she couldn’t be the Oracle, she argued, we had to let someone else do it. It was too important. And too....’wonderful’ was the word she used, I believe.”

“And too useful to Gaiaflow, you mean,” Soren interjected.

“It was what she asked for, son,” Fiona replied gently. “But, yes, you’re right. The level of precognition demonstrated by the human-computer interface is something we...haven’t found a way to replicate yet. And that’s why the Oracle’s prophecies matter.”

“So what did she say?” Kailen asked from across the table, speaking up for the first time. Naomi waited, listening to the sound of the crickets and frogs chirping in the woods. Across the yard, Naomi could see her sister through the big bay windows of their living room. Seated cross-legged on a pillow, she was focused intently on her tablet’s screen as her gloved hands moved carefully to control the nano-compiler that sat on the wooden floor beside her.

“She prophesied the end.” Fiona said simply.

“The end of what, mom?” asked Sarah.

Fiona sighed. “Of peace and prosperity. Of everything we’ve built over the last hundred years. The end of Gaiaflow.”

There was a brief moment of silence. Naomi sensed the tension in the air, and felt suddenly small, like a child realizing that the pool she swam in was actually a vast, deep ocean.

Soren broke the silence first.

“All things must end in time.” He paused. “But time…time is in flux, or so say our quantum engineers. Change results from action in the present, and so is impossible to predict. Why take this prophecy seriously? Or do you believe in predestination now, mother? 

“It’s true that the future is in flux,” she paused. “Our project engineer believes that the cognitive matrix can perceive many possible futures, and when enough of these futures share a commonality the matrix will generate a prophecy. Specifically, she said that a brand new idea would bring an end to the peace. And that the end of the peace would bring about the end of Gaiaflow.”

“A new idea?” Naomi interjected, thinking out loud. “What do you think she meant?”

“That’s what we’re going to see the Oracle to find out,” Fiona answered matter of factly.

“When you say, ‘we’...” said Sarah in her concerned-mom voice.

“I mean Naomi and myself.”

Naomi’s mind reeled.

“Wait, me?!” Naomi replied at the same moment as her mom said “Absolutely not” and her dad murmured something unintelligible.

“I’ll need an assistant,” Fiona’s stern voice cut in. “And this type of thing is too serious to entrust to anyone outside the Founding Family. Unless one of you would like to accompany me?” Fiona raised her eyes and looked around the table.

“You know my feelings about the Oracle,” Soren answered, wiping his hands on a napkin and tossing it casually on his empty dinner plate. Naomi’s dad shrugged and gave a vague hand gesture, muttering something about work and staying on schedule. Fiona turned to her daughter and their eyes met.

“That’s not a path I want to walk down again, Mom,” Sarah replied softly to the unspoken question. “You know that.”

“Then it’s settled. As long as it’s ok with Naomi, of course.” She turned back to her granddaughter and spoke with a sparkle in her eyes. “We’ll be visiting the Thirteenth Realm, my dear.”

Naomi felt a flutter in her chest. “Isn’t that reserved for religious pilgrimages?” she asked. “I mean, unless you’re a monk — which if you haven’t noticed, I’m not.”

“Consider it a religious pilgrimage, then,” Fiona answered with a wry smile. “I think you’ll find it very enlightening. And I also think you’re old enough to get out and see a bit more of the world. After all, in one more year you’ll be eligible for full Citizenship in the Collective.”

One more year, thought Naomi. As if she needed the reminder. She felt her pulse quicken and her breath catch in her chest, and suddenly imagined being with her friends, jumping on Ben’s trampoline, braiding Layla’s hair, hanging out on the veranda late at night with a bottle of wine from their parent’s cellar and talking about the boys they liked.

“Sweetie, if this is something you want to do, we’ll support you.” She looked over at Fiona with a frown. “We just would have liked some advanced notice. Mom.”

Fiona raised her hands in apology. “I get it. I just want what’s best for Naomi. And this could be a great opportunity for her.”

“I suppose we like the notion of keeping you safe and close,” Kailen said with a smile. “But you’re growing up now. And it’s your life, so it should be your decision. Personal freedom, personal responsibility. That’s the Gaiaflow way.”

Naomi looked out into the fading light and sighed deeply, wondering about the distance to the Thirteenth Realm and how long the journey would take. Her heart leapt suddenly in her chest as she imagined striding powerfully through the woods, her backpack full of supplies, setting out into the unknown on an adventure. She felt frightened. But also exhilarated.

“I’ll do it,” Naomi said. “I want to go.”

“Are you sure, sweetie?” asked Kailen.

“Yeah. I’m sure.”

***

IV. Naomi: “Eavesdropping”

Later that evening, Naomi lay awake in bed staring up at the stars through her bedroom window. Grandma Fiona and Uncle Soren had answered lots of her questions about the Thirteenth Realm and its unique inhabitants and customs, but there was still so much to wonder about. By the time she’d mentally packed her bags for the second time, and wondered for the third time about where the bathrooms were in the temples, she realized sleep wasn’t coming yet. She threw off the covers, slipped her feet into the slippers by her bedside, pulled on her robe, and went across the room to her window. She undid the latch, and crawled out onto the flat ledge that jutted out from the roof below her window.

She often spent time out here in the summer. Now, in early autumn, the air was crisp and cool, and she pulled the robe snug against the chill. She looked up at the stars, and the crescent moon that had just begun to wax again. The dark portion was dotted with lights from the lunar mining settlements Gaiaflow had built over the last fifty years. She gazed at the darkened landscape and imagined being one of the handful of astronauts who oversaw the vast automated mines. It was a coveted job — even in an era where work requirements were minimal — and one that people trained for years to obtain. She wondered what it would be like to gaze back on Earth from the dusty lunar landscape.

Just then she heard the patio door open beneath her, and soft jazz music playing from inside the house, followed by the sound of footsteps. The door closed softly, cutting off the music.

Her Dad’s voice floated up from below. “Really, Soren?” he said.

“I guess I’m just old fashioned,” he replied. “When we threw out the old ways, I sometimes wonder if we lost a part of our…” He paused, searching for the word.

“History?” her dad suggested.

“Our humanity. What makes us human beings. Our heritage. After all, we’re still just sophisticated animals.”

“Well,” her father answered after a moment, “I have a hard time believing the old ways are better. Especially after all we’ve been through. Remember, it was the old ways that turned this planet into an oven and flooded the oceans with glacier-melt.”

“No,” Soren said sternly. “It wasn’t the old ways. The new ways did that. Human beings survived for thousands of years without making a dent in the biosphere. Wasn’t ‘til we started making all our fancy machines that things changed. No, don’t blame tradition — it was innovation that ruined the environment.”

“And it’s innovation that’s fixing it,” Kailen answered without missing a beat. “Without the AI and the nano-drones, we’d never be able to repair things so quickly. They say the average temperature has actually gone down in three of the past–”

“Without the AI and nano-drones, you wouldn’t be so worried about security, though, would you? Wouldn’t be having your current predicament. No one ever hacked a horse-and-plow.”

Kailen chuckled. “No, I suppose not. We don’t know if it's a hacker, though, remember.”

“Come on Kailen,” Soren chided him. “What else could it be? You know the fail-rate for Gaiaflow nano tech as well as I do. And you’re much better at math. Are you telling me you think it’s a one in — how many did you say?”

“Five hundred seventy three billion.”

“—chance that the drones happened to malfunction in the exact same way five separate times? In the same lab? No.”

There was another long pause. “But the idea of someone hacking the Gaiaflow servers, in the nano-botany labs themselves, I mean —”

“I don’t like it any more than you do. But not liking it won’t make it go away. Sometimes you have to face your problems head on, Kailen.”

“That’s why I came to you. It could be someone with access to the lab, I mean, it must be, right?”

“Don’t worry. This is what I’m good at. It’s what I do. We’ll figure out who’s behind this, and we’ll fix it.” There was a soft thumping sound, and Naomi pictured Soren patting her dad on the back. “We’ll fix it.”

The two remained in silence for a few more moments, then Naomi heard the door open again. Light spilled out into the yard beneath her, and she watched two shadows flicker across the lawn before hearing the door close. She remained silent, motionless, and thought about what she’d heard. What did Uncle Soren mean with all that, “this is what I do,” anyway? Naomi knew him as an outdoorsman and a tutor, but what did he do the rest of the time? What was all that about hackers and nano-drones? Did he mean the drone she’d seen at the lab?

Naomi shivered. She’s been so focused on eavesdropping that she hadn’t noticed how cold it had gotten. Her teeth began to chatter, and she carefully rose, crawled back through the window, and climbed into bed. She pulled the covers up tightly around her shoulders and lay huddled in a ball until the warmth returned, turning the days words and events over in her head until she drifted off into an uneasy sleep, full of half-remembered dreams in which she was chasing something she couldn’t quite see, that always disappeared just up around the next bend as she approached.