Fracture (Chronicles of Discord, #1)

Fracture - Chapter 5

                                                                             The Tula

Ben adjusted his tie in the mirror and watched as the door slid open to admit Astra Uel Ne Toban, she stepped over the threshold and, placing her hand over her heart, bowed.

“The Tula High Council requests your presence for the greeting meal, Senator Burton.”

Philip Burton stood and thanked her.

“Ben stop grooming; it’s time to go.”

Ben smiled. His father had decided to treat him with an offhand disregard in the hope that it would encourage Councillor Ladron to disregard him also. Ben wasn’t convinced that such a strategy would work; Councillor Ladron struck him as far too sharp to be taken in by such a ruse. However Ben intended to help as much as he could by displaying a far too cavalier temperament. If he could convince Councillor Ladron that he was interested in something a little more tangible than politics he might give him the space he needed to discover the true state of Tula affairs. With that in mind he turned from the mirror with the intention of winking at Astra. In this endeavour however he was thwarted, for Astra's eyes were downcast and her words as she answered his greeting were directed at the carpet.

“If you are both ready I will take you to the Greeting Hall.”

As she straightened, Ben caught sight of a glimmer of gold around her wrist, but as her arm dropped back to her side the grey of her sleeve slid down, cutting off his view.

They followed her down the corridor to the lift and filed in to the glass sphere; it was slightly squat, bulging wider than it was tall. There was a clear glass bench across both sides and a frosted panel that only partially concealed the glowing wires that powered the control panel.

“Not the most private of lifts,” observed Ben looking through to the glass wall that shut off the endless room the other side of the elevator shaft.

“In fact,” he continued, “nothing here seems to take privacy into account.”

Astra turned from the control panel and reached out a hand to touch the glass behind him. Immediately the surface clouded up to a milky, faintly opaque white.

“All of the subsidiary offices are made up of glass cubicles that have opaque touch technology,” she turned back to the control panel. “The architect that designed Government Building wanted to reflect the transparency of the regime in his proposal, the opaque touch technology was added to give the workers the choice of privacy should they want it.”

Ben looked across at the rows of workers in their little glass cubicles, none had availed themselves of the facility to make their work space more private.

“Some choice.”

“I beg your pardon?” Astra turned, fixing her eyes upon him, her expression remaining blank.

“You seriously think those people in there have a choice?” he asked, leaning toward her and dropping his voice to an intimate whisper. “Can you imagine the disturbance one of those cubicles changing colour, even for just a second, would cause? There'd be pandemonium!”

Astra blinked several times and took a step away from him.

“We will now proceed to the Greeting Hall.”

The lift started to move, dropping three floors and then changing direction and moving forwards. The change of motion surprised Ben and his body jerked backwards, slapping his head against the glass behind him.

“The change of direction can take you by surprise.” remarked Astra blandly. “There are hand grips embedded into the bench for your convenience.”