Xandra of Mars

CHAPTER 01: Summoned

The night the Rites came for me started like any other, my face buried in a book. Dust from the pages of an old history tome tickled my nose. Its thick cover, warped by time, felt rough to my fingertips. As I soaked up our founding mother’s words, just knowing I was breaking rules made me giddy. Not that I went out of my way to read censored books, but my history tutor never shared these firsthand accounts of Mars’ colonization. As I read, I stretched myself long on the sofa like a cat, one foot landing up on the sofa’s back and the other resting on the seat cushion. And this book—whoa. I reread the passage and gasped. But this part couldn’t be true. Was this why the book was censored? I called out without thinking.

“Ryver? Did any women stand against the Severing?”

Across the library, the desk-high titanium hub spooled. Azure-blue lights ticked up its sides as luminescent nectoliquid fountained up from the center of its basin. The liquid twisted and coalesced, shaping into a blue sphere that floated above the hub and vibrated when the Ryver spoke. It had a deep, motherly voice, which was comforting when you needed to be soothed but annoying when it talked down to you.

“There are no historical records of female opposition before, during, or after the Severing, Miss Xandra. It did not happen.”

I gripped the 22nd Century Chronicles tighter. “I’m looking at it right now.”

“Looking where?”

Whoops. I flinched. “Oh, an old book. Nothing out of the ordinary. I found it tucked in with the Mars histories. Never mind.” I held my breath, hoping the Ryver wouldn’t press.

The fire cracked loudly. I glanced up from the book to make sure the library wasn’t burning down. Sparks from the fireplace reflected in the bay window’s dark glass. Midnight pressed chilly on the atrium door that led out to our east wing patio, but the fireplace radiated warmth with a sweet cedar scent. Normally, I’d be in heaven. Being toasty and safe inside Gamma’s library while the night outside grew frigid was a special sort of wonderful. But this book was messing with my head. Because the whole point of terraforming Mars, of building our atmospheric shell, and above all, severing contact with Earth, was to create a safer planet, a place where we could live peacefully.

I held the book closer to my face to soak up every shocking word.

“Miss Xandra, are you reading one of the censored books from your grandmother’s collection?” the Ryver asked with a chastising tone.

“Ummmm, not sure? It’s not like Gamma’s books have big red stamps across their covers to indicate which ones I’m not supposed to read.”

“I will have to send a note to the governor.”

I sat up and perched my feet on the tea table. “Please don’t. Do you really want to distract Mother when she’s at the Summit? Anyway, it’s for my studies. The Grad Exam is only three months away. History’s a huge chunk of it.”

“Checking now on your latest performance ratings.”

Oh, Mother God. I flopped onto the sofa, stretched flat, and rested the book on my stomach. Sometimes I wished we had a basic Ryver hub that spit out info without comment, instead of a criterion model with its Wisdom & Nurture features.

“As I suspected, among sixteen-year-old girls you are rated at the ninety-eighth percentile in history studies.”

I pressed a pillow around my ears trying to shut out the lecture.

“If you’re concerned about your Graduation Examination, might I suggest that instead of focusing on your strongest subject, you tend to your weakest. Oratory. Most of the girls in your level have already completed the public speaking requirement.”

The suggestion sent a chill across my skin. “I have three whole months until the exam. Plenty of time.” I shoved the pillow under my head and tucked my nose into the book.

“If you’re experiencing any anxiety about the speech…”

The room fell silent. I lowered the book, my brows scrunched. The Ryver never stopped in the middle of a sentence. I darted my eyes to the Ryver hub. It didn’t report me, did it?

BEHH-BEHH-BEEEEEE blared through the chamber. The emergency alert?! Oh, no. I knew I wasn’t supposed to read censored books, but this was getting out of hand. Unless…

My book hit the floor with a thunk as I rushed to the window. If something was happening, something terribly bad, like imminent danger, it was protocol for the security team to flood our estate lawns with light, but it was still dark outside. Was it bad or not? I spun in a circle, not sure what to do. Then tucked myself behind a wing chair while my pulse skittered through my body. “Ryver, what’s going on?”

“A guest has arrived at the estate. Madam Qiu is bringing her to you.”

I grimaced while I inched out from behind the chair. A guest?

Madam Qiu was Mother’s closest aide and protected the family like a doberman. Normally, she’d educate uninvited guests to make an appointment during office hours, not fire off an alert and usher them into the family’s private wing in the middle of the night. “Since when is a guest an emergency?”

“She is an officer with the Arbiter Corp.”

My back went rigid. “What?!” Now the alert made sense. And with Mother away, I was the one who had to greet visitors. “Please tell me there’s time to run upstairs to change.”

“I’m afraid not. They’ll be here any minute.”

A noise came out of my throat that sounded like a half-throttled whinny. I spun to the dark window to use it as a mirror. My casual leggers hung loosely on my lean hips and my hair tie had fallen out, leaving my dark hair in a long, tangled mess. Worse, I was wearing a stained shirt I’d stolen from my brother’s dresser, the funny one with a frog leaping off a cliff with its tongue jetting out to catch a fly. The Arbiter Corp wouldn’t be impressed with messiness, boyswear, or humor. I combed through the tangles with my fingers. Unfortunately, there was nothing I could do to make my nose daintier or my brown eyes any less potato colored.

And where were my shoes? Skidding across the library in socks, I checked the other side of the chamber—looking under the long study table and by the Ryver’s hub with its bulky station seat and in the stretched archway that led into the room. Then I scanned along the bookshelf walls until I made it back to the cozy seating area by the fireplace and window. Aha! As I reached for my loafers tucked under the tea table, the Ryver told me that someone had entered the library’s archway. I popped up and slapped on a smile, with a shoe on one foot and the other held behind my back.

Madam Qiu emerged from the archway wearing a meek unisuit and quilted overrobe that did little to hide her stony demeanor. Qiu possessed the ability to terrify servants or stateswomen alike despite her small stature. Her brows lowered as she eyed my ruffled hair and shoeless foot. I gave her a helpless shrug, then cranked up my smile for our guest.

A tall woman in a cobalt blue uniform with gold buttons and shiny boots strode into our library holding the most erect posture I’d ever seen. Her hair was spun into a tight twist, not a strand out of place. It wouldn’t dare. The woman’s magnolia-scented perfume bit into my nose with its tart bouquet. Her male guard cast a mountainous shadow, with trunk-sized limbs and a groomed beard.

Qiu’s tonal Dǒumǔan accent masked her iron reserves. She nodded with grace, as if guests popped by every midnight. “Miss Xandra, may I present Captain Noma from New Gaia.”

My smile tightened involuntarily. “Oh, hey, all that way?” Very strange. I cleared my throat and attempted to mimic Qiu’s gracious nod. “How do you do?”

The captain scanned me from toes to tangles, her nostrils flaring. She pulled out a silver scroll-tube with a hard wax seal. I hesitated to touch it. Clinging to my smile, I popped on my second loafer. “Captain Noma, was it? Sorry, there must be a mix-up. Mother is at the Leadership Summit at the world capital. In New Gaia. Where you came from?”

“You are Miss Xandra Fallow? Of the Eastern Seascape Fallows?”

I kept smiling. “Yes?”

She thrust the tube my way. I accepted it gingerly and broke the seal. A slip of paper tumbled out. Paper! Paper was reserved for the highest degree of secrecy.

11 Matrona 2357

To Miss Xandra Fallow, by order of Her Serene Luminance. You will present yourself at Palace Darieos for a private audience with Arbitrix Iliana Darieos. A slipjet awaits at Providence City Skygrid Center to transport you to New Gaia. You are to leave immediately.

Goosebumps spread across the back of my neck. Officially, as arbiter of the Grand Council, the Arbitrix served as the builder of consensus over the six domains’ queens. But everyone knew Arbitrix Iliana ruled the world.

I passed the paper to Qiu before swinging to the officer. “What’s going on?”

Captain Noma’s diction was crisp. “You’ve been summoned to meet the Arbitrix.”

“Thanks for spelling that out. That was helpful.” My lips clamped shut. It wasn’t wise to be snarky to the Arbiter Corp. I offered a meeker smile. “Do you, maybe, have any idea why?”

“It is not my duty to know.”

I huddled with Qiu. “Does Mother know about this?”

“The Governor has been unavailable tonight.”

“She’s missing?” My heart thudded faster.

Qiu rested a warm hand on my arm. “She’s been called into many ad hoc meetings this Summit. I suspect it’s more of that.”

I spun to the captain. “Did something happen to my mother?”

“Last I saw, Governor Kalliope was healthy as a tiger.”  

I gaped at her, relieved at the news, but I’d never met such a rude officer.

The big guard standing near the arch cleared his throat. When Captain Noma looked over to give him orders, a Divina Matrem pendant popped out of her collar. Its beveled diamond shape containing a symbol that looked like an upside-down number four represented the Temple. Ohhh. This Noma was a Maestra, a member of Mother’s opposing political party.

“You’ve ten minutes to gather presentable attire,” the captain said. “The journey will take an hour. Bring whatever personnel are needed to prepare you.”

Madam Qiu propelled me through the archway and across the grand foyer decked in maroon and gold family colors while firing orders into her Ryvulet—a device inserted behind the jaw connecting her to the Ryver. Mother’s backup adorners and Qiu were coming along, too.

But someone had to stop this dreadful mistake. The Arbitrix didn’t want me. The one time I’d met her, it didn’t end well. I looked toward the library where my Arbiter Corp escorts waited. They should be flying out of the archway any second, the captain howling that it was cancelled because the message belonged to a different girl.

Any second now.

Any second.

The archway remained empty. I whimpered.

But I couldn’t go to Palace Darieos. Not that I had a choice. When you received a summons from the Arbitrix, it wasn’t optional. Oh, but they’d expect a governor’s daughter, an heir-elect no less, to have mastered a strong posture and commanding voice by my age. I couldn’t even walk into a room of strangers and give a speech without panic—I gasped.

No-no-no. I dragged my feet as Qiu pulled me up the great oak staircase. “How many are attending the Summit?” I asked.

“Delegates include the Grand Council of Queens, global assembly of governors, Sapphic ministers, ambassadors, and major metropolitan mayors. Also, their teams, a few husbands—”

“A big crowd, you’re saying? Like really, really big.”

Qiu slipped a supportive squeeze into her steel grip. “You’ll be fine, Miss Xandra.”

But my heart was beating too fast. I tried my calming breathing exercises. Mother God, someone was going to look awfully foolish when this mistake was sorted.

Please don’t let it be me.