The above image was made with stable diffusion using the prompt 'Floating New Miami futuristic.'
New Miami was an island city built on ten square miles of floating platform. Old Miami was slowly disappearing under rising water levels, and the affluent had largely relocate to the new island. A commuter ferry brought the working class to and from New Miami every day. And because the entire island was an Elite District, there were no checkpoints for Harlen and Xero to worry about once their plane landed.
As promised, Harlen's new payment card was waiting for him at their hotel. It contained one point four million bits, which was more money than he could even conceive of. It was enough to buy a house in his hometown and comfortably live out his days in that house. Or to travel the world, paying for special unfit travel visas every step of the way. If he wanted, Harlen could even buy his own electric helicopter or have an animal companion custom engineered for him. The possibilities felt limitless.
"What the hell am I going to do?" wondered Harlen aloud while having lunch in the room with Xero. "What are you going to do?"
Regarding Harlen with her cat-like eyes, Xero smiled gently. "How much do you know about the Jala government?" she asked.
"Only what they taught us in school," said Harlen. "Instead of elections, you have aptitude tests. Your system helped inspire our order, though some of our offices are still elected. But beyond that? No offense, but I was never that interested."
"I'm not going to explain it all to you," said Xero. "But instead of political parties, we have administrative factions. My faction favors sharing information and integrating with other species on other worlds. We're the ones who gave your people the fusion plasma and quantum harvester technology. And now, medical nanobots."
"Okay," said Harlen.
"Integration has fallen out of fashion on my planet," said Xero. "Those that favor protectionism are largely in control, and will remain so for the next decade at least. I was banished to Earth for refusing to play a part in a program designed to sabotage your progress and stall human advancement."
"Is that why the Jala pulled out of their diplomatic posts when I was a kid?" asked Harlen. "All I remember is my parents arguing over whether it meant an ET attack was coming."
"You're still a kid," said Xero. "But yes, that's when power changed hands on my world. The protectionists are convinced that humans will continue developing and launch an attack against us in approximately three hundred years. My faction thinks that the best way to prevent that from happening is to bring our cultures more closely together."
"So you're selling black market nanobots to a corp?" said Harlen. "That's kinda bad ass. I still can't believe we got away from those drones. So then, what are you going to do now?"
"Assuming everything is safe, I'll return to your city with Dara and spend the next year teaching her scientists about the nanobots," said Xero. "After that, I'll confer with my faction regarding next steps."
"That's cool," said Harlen. "What's it like, living here as a Jala in hiding?"
"I'm not in hiding from everyone," said Xero. "Just the elites and their automated systems. Mostly, I live among the unfit, as they're the least likely to be monitored by groups who would report on me to my government."
"That makes sense," said Harlen. "The only person monitoring me is my social worker. The government doesn't care. The corps don't care. I guess that's why I'm here. Because I'm such a nobody."
"A nobody?" asked Xero. "Who would you rather be?"
"Before getting my Qualification, I thought for sure I'd be Exceptional," said Harlen. "Since then, I've just been occupying myself however I can, trying not to think about the future."
"Do you practice an art?" asked Xero. "All of the best artists and artisans are unfit. Inventors, too."
"I had a chemistry set that I liked," said Harlen. "I had fun fixing up my place but I wouldn't want to do that work forever. Maybe you could say that I'm still experimenting."
Dara arrived and the trio boarded a corporate plane without incident. In flight, Harlen turned to Dara. "The card you gave me has more bits on it than I thought it would," he said.
"The feds will automatically deduct taxes from the total within thirty days," said Dara. "Your final take home will be approximately eight hundred thousand."
"What happened to a million?" asked Harlen. "Wasn't that the deal?"
"Accounting for taxes was never discussed," said Dara. "We could have given you the whole tax burden. Instead, we absorbed most of it to thank you for a job well done."
"Okay," said Harlen, considering that. "This was by far the craziest adventure I've ever had."
"Would you consider performing more work for us in the future?" asked Dara.
"Maybe," said Harlen. "Like what? I guess I don't want to get shot with another drone dart."
"There may be another international job, but for now we'd have you running errands and taking deliveries in support of our new medical research," said Dara.
"I'm going to take up residence in your neighborhood," said Xero. "You would be my agent there."
"I don't know," said Harlen. "What's the pay?"
"Eight hundred bits a week," said Dara. "Deposited to your new card."
"That sounds ... doable," said Harlen. "Can I still do my internship at the Historical Society?"
"If that's what you want," said Xero. "You're in a position now to do whatever you want within certain broad constraints. What you do next is entirely up to you."
Read my novels:
See my NFTs:
