False Idols - Published Version

Chapter 1

Sarah Fenton shifted uncomfortably in her seat inside the stuffy lounge of the Lal School for Gifted Orphans. She stole a longing glance at the silent air conditioner that perched atop one of the room's two open windows. It was only April in Providence, but the temperature was already well over eighty degrees Fahrenheit, with high humidity making the heat unbearable. Unfortunately, the orphanage's climate control would only kick in when the temperature exceeded one hundred.

She wished the orphanage provided tank tops instead of the baggy long-sleeved shirt she was wearing. At least then she would be a bit cooler. She also regretted cramming tissue paper into her bra before leaving her small dorm room. The crumpled Kleenex were now damp with sweat and she would have to peel little balls of paper off her skin later.

Stuffing her bra was a childish thing to do, but she had wanted to look mature enough to deserve the internship she was here to interview for. She'd woken up thinking today could be her ticket out of the orphanage.

Yet by now she'd been sitting on an old, cracked faux leather sofa for thirty minutes, waiting for the morning interview. Around her on mismatched chairs and couches sat half a dozen of her classmates, fellow orphans at the institution that had taken her in. They were a motley crew, mostly about her age of 16, of every size and race, all wearing clothing whose bland cleanliness only served to accentuate its age.

Every few minutes, the principal of the orphanage, Margaret Kim, would stick her head out of her office door and call out the name of one of Sarah's classmates. After a few minutes, that student would walk back out of the office, head hanging a little, shoulders slumped a little, and Ms. Kim would call the next name.

The whole event seemed like a waste of time. Sarah was impatient for her turn to come. She'd been up late necking with Robbie Bayer in a broom closet last night and she had overslept and missed breakfast; her stomach rumbled.

She looked down at the apple bar she was snacking on. It had unblemished red skin and sweet white flesh that tasted like an apple. But it was not a real apple. The apple bar was a rectangle, making it easier to stack than a round apple, and had no core or stem.

Sarah had eaten real apples a few times in her life. Their skin wasn't as perfectly red, and they had cores full of tough fiber and bitter seeds. But she preferred something naturally imperfect to something unnaturally perfect. She wished vat-grown foods like apple bars could look more real, even if it meant she'd occasionally swallow a few seeds by accident.

After shaking her phone to charge its kinetic battery, she checked the long distance signal strength, and saw it was zero. Not a huge surprise; it was well-known that communication satellites were failing and the undersea data cables were being corroded. Getting reliable access to what bandwidth remained was pricier than most people could bear. She certainly couldn't afford it.

Not that network strength really mattered. She probably didn't have enough credit to make a long distance call. She definitely didn't know anyone worth calling.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a muffled yelp and a thump from within Principal Kim's office. A moment later, a male classmate named Nathan came back out of the doorway, sheepishly rubbing his backside as he quickly strode out into the hall.

Sarah rolled her eyes. Nathan was such a dork.

She heard a man's voice calling out to Principal Kim. "Sarah Fenton is next." The voice was friendly, but carried the tone of someone who took for granted that his orders would be followed.

Principal Kim greeted her in the doorway. "Be careful," she whispered into Sarah's ear.

"Careful? – Don't you mean, 'good luck?'" asked Sarah incredulously.