The Circadia Chronicles: Omnibus: The Complete Colonization Sci-Fi Series by Heather Heckadon (books to read to get smarter .txt) 📗

Jane looked like she had swallowed a huge pill and was trying to be happy about it. Smith seemed mad. He nodded anyway.

"Okay, then," Ross said. "Let's go."

As they opened and lowered the door that turned into stairs, the stench immediately crept into the cabin. The smell of old rotten garbage, sweat, and smog washed over us like a wave. We exchanged glances and exited the ship.

Tall, white concrete walls blocked my first sight of Mumbai. They surrounded the facility, which stretched for many acres, and obstructed the views on all sides. I saw a few tall buildings rising above and beyond the walls. The structures with their broken windows looked empty except for a few lookouts. A large white building lay to the east, and another was northeast inside the walls, both part of the Herrold brothers’ compound.

A lady wearing a pristine white mini dress greeted us at the door and introduced herself in an Indian accent as we all came down the stairs. "My name is Nira. I am the Herrold brothers’ assistant. If you have any questions or need help while they’re busy, you may direct them to me. I'll show you around the facility while the Herrolds receive a briefing. Follow me." She walked off, and we trailed behind.

Smith, Jane, and I watched the brothers disappear on a white golf cart while we headed toward the matching white facility in front of us. Nira rambled on about what each office and room was for, but I wasn't interested. Maybe I would've been another time, but right then, I wanted to see how different the world was from when we left. I looked out the windows wherever we were, hoping to catch a glimpse of something outside the walls to no avail. She continued despite my disinterest until I heard a voice cut her off.

"Wait! So the Herrolds have had this facility for how long?" Smith asked. Obviously, someone was interested in the tour.

"The brothers have been at this facility for six months." She gave a curt smile.

"How did they make this happen so fast? What did they do before this?" He waved his arms around to show the vastness of the place.

"Oh." She hesitated. "They worked for the government." Nira offered another insincere smile since it was clear she felt the tension in the room when she said it.

"Really?" I asked. "What did they do?"

"Ma'am, I'm honestly not sure. I know they were a part of the military or Marine Corps, but as far as what they did, I have no clue. That would be a great question for the two brothers." She hurriedly finished answering the question and moved on. Then I saw what I was looking for—the gates.

"Hey Nira, can we go see the gates? I'd kinda like to glimpse the outside world. You know?" I knew she'd jump at the idea of changing the subject, so I asked.

"Absolutely! Right through these doors!"

CHAPTER THREE

What I thought were the gates turned out to be the entryway to the corridor that led to them. Nira led us out of the building and toward the crossed-wire double doors. When I looked through there, I saw a driveway with two larger and much taller metal doors. They were accessible by palm-vein scan only. The security was impressive but unnerving. "These are state of the art and nearly indestructible," Nira stated.

"Why?" I asked.

She gave me a strange sideways glance and slowly answered, “Security is necessary with the type of work we do here. Trade secrets are all the rage in the competitive private space industry." The fake smile showed once again. I had more questions in my head after her weird answer.

"Can we get closer?" Smith asked.

"I'd rather you—" Jane interrupted Nira by walking straight past her to the large metal doors. I followed.

The closer we drew to them, the louder the noise became. Banging and crashing reverberated through the metal and echoed in the corridor. A low din of hundreds of voices droned on, evidence that there were tons of people outside the walls. We heard distant yells of “Let us in!" and "We're starving out here! We have children!"

Every hair on my body stood on end. Shivers went down my spine. I turned to see Nira staring at us almost tearfully. When I locked eyes with her, she looked away so she could speak without drowning in her tears. "It's like that everywhere," she admitted. "The Herrolds told me to keep it to myself for as long as I could until they could talk with you more. They said you wouldn't be numb to it like we are."

"How do you live with it?"

"I don't. I mean, I forget. I forget the world is hungry, and angry is abnormal. Until someone like you comes along. It's like you see the new world from the past. It's painful," she answered. "But in our new world, this is normal. It’s a fact of life we have to bear."

"It doesn't bother you that you're fed and they're not?" Smith asked.

"It does. Tremendously! Some of those people out there are my family. However, we’re providing our progeny with a future that’s much different than our current reality. I can't be hungry and think straight. I can't deny food. And if we opened the gates to the masses, there wouldn't be enough to feed them or ourselves." She stopped and seemed to contemplate her next words carefully. "Have you ever been on an airplane, Mr. Green?"

"Yeah."

"The stewardess always directs you to put your oxygen mask on first, then assist others. Correct?"

"Yeah..."

"That's what we're doing here."

We nodded slowly. It wasn’t a difficult concept to understand, but it was tough to accept. I wondered how long it took to become normal after the people outside the walls started screaming.

"Aella, Smith, Jane, if you would follow me, I'll take you to the brothers so you can all speak some more," Nira directed. "I'll show you more