Wattys shortlist 2021. One morning the sun rises a few hours early, striking levitating skyscrapers in Soliara ahead of schedule. People in the streets stop to look up at the sky and then down at their watches. Most of them, puzzled but disbelieving...
Chatting her head off at a despondent Tony Solari seated next to her at the corner bar, Nova's thoughts careened off in a different direction from whatever the hell was spewing out of her mouth.
She glanced over her shoulder and couldn't stop herself from sending a glare at one tasteless partygoer and then another. The Soliari had no hearts, which wasn't surprising, but they also had way less class than they thought they did. The party was a hit, a whole floor of the building packed like a night club, and only a quarter of the attendees had anything like a formal invitation to the party but had nevertheless shown up a mere hour after the assassination of the President of Constellation.
Everywhere she looked, glasses clinked together to toast the end of the world and the death of Gaia Solin; she saw laughter, sometimes right in the face of someone who might actually mourn the woman's passing.
Few of the board executives had anything to laugh about. Either their candidate of choice had been murdered, or they were being bribed or extorted to vote for Justin Marius. Come to think of it, Justin Marius's supporters had plenty to celebrate.
Tony Solari was another matter. A gloomy mess, which in Nova's mind kept his class firmly intact. His severe depression was the only appropriate mood to express after the events of today.
Unfortunately, that made him difficult to talk to. Few things were more humiliating than speaking to someone who only responded in monosyllabic grunts.
"Two parties in two nights," Nova's mouth was saying. "Has the boss gone insane? I'd call it a mid-life crisis, if something without an end can be said to have a middle. I guess if anything else important happens, at least everyone will all be in one place. We wouldn't want to be too far from each other when the next piece of gossip breaks out, don't you think?" she asked.
Tony grumbled something in reply that sounded like more than one syllable. At least two. Progress. Her job right now was to tell him that his wife knew about the affair. That way he couldn't be blackmailed. She didn't quite know how to start, however.
"I know I wouldn't want to be alone if the moons disappeared from the sky or the whole capital floated out of the ground or something." All efforts to gain rapport with him before she dropped the bomb out of nowhere. Which couldn't be helped; there was really no possible preamble.
"Mmmm," said Tony, back to the ultimate in brevity.
"It's an exciting time to be alive," said Nova. "Terrifying, but exciting."
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Cristo turned around to face young me and asked, "How are you doing?"
"Good, good," I said. Cristo was distracted by his own train of thought and replied, "Good. Keep it up." He clapped me on the back like a friend and disappeared in the crowd in three steps.
I went in the opposite direction as if I had big plans. I saw the boss by the big windows; he was standing next to Claudia Solace, who looked longingly at the occupied lounge seats and shifted as if she had been on her feet for too long. The boss talked animatedly while Claudia didn't pay attention, and I gnashed my teeth together and murdered my enamel, or tried not to and tried not to glare at them. Claudia Solace was the only person I knew what to say to — I could persuade her. But she was already engaged by the boss, who could have persuaded anyone in the room to vote for whoever the hell he said to vote for.
