Artificial Absolutes (Jane Colt Book 1) Read Online Free PDF

out again as he stepped off the train.
    Jane followed him. “Hey, we haven’t caught up in a while. Do you have time for dinner this week? Just you and me, no Dad or Sarah?”
    Devin didn’t reply, even though he was right beside her. He tapped his slate as if she were invisible.
    Annoyed, Jane stopped and watched him disappear into the crowd of commuters. “Love you too, bro.”

    Copy-paste, copy-paste, pull-data, copy-paste… Did anyone even read those stupid reports?
    As Jane trudged through another mind-numbing day at Quasar, her thoughts wandered back to her run-in with her brother. Why had Devin been so distracted? Or had he really cared more about someone on the other side of a screen than the person right in front of him? The latter seemed rather sad, but he was far from the only one guilty of it; she’d often done the same to Adam.
    Pull-data, copy-paste, run-app, copy-paste…
    Jane gave her eyes a break from the screen and looked around. As always, the office was full of well-groomed employees arranged in tidy rows, immersed in their work. It was exactly as it looked in the Quasar ads: Vibrant. Engaged. Energetic. It was smart. It was efficient.
    It was the loneliest place she’d ever known.
    Still resting her eyes, Jane looked up at the internal defense guns mounted on the ceiling. Yes, the office had guns in it. Every major building in the galaxy did. Have one deadly attack on a high-profile place, and suddenly they’re standard issue. Yikes.
    The thought of going back to her copy-paste-pull-data made her brain hurt. Instead, Jane did what she, as a very bad employee, often resorted to when the monotony got the best of her: gaze at the giant fish tank across the room and daydream.
    A bright green fish, translucent fins flowing behind it like a pair of scarves, swam across the aquarium. Fuy Lae. That species is from Fuy Lae in the Zim’ska Re system.
    What a pity Zim’ska Re was such a dangerous part of the galaxy. The beauty of its planets was legendary.
    Maybe one day an alien race would be discovered. Not extraterrestrial creatures from other star systems like that fish. Intelligent aliens, as advanced as or more advanced than humans. Maybe they would be wiser, see everything wrong with a society in which status determined success and happiness was measured in numbers. Maybe they could introduce humans to a new way of living, one that allowed them to untangle their desires and release themselves from material pressures.
    Maybe those hypothetical aliens sounded a lot like Adam.

    Jane set her tray down on the café table. “I don’t have much time. I have so much work, I really shouldn’t leave my desk today. There’s data to be pulled and put into pretty charts! I seriously wonder how they haven’t managed to replace me with a computer.”
    Adam took the seat across from hers. “I actually don’t have much time either. I volunteered to help out at a shelter in the city’s Outer Ring this afternoon.”
    “Of course you did.” Jane unwrapped her utensils.
    Adam smiled. “I know, I know. ‘Why do you waste your time with these things? The marginal difference they make is negligible.’”
    Jane pointed at him. “Exactly!” She was desperately hungry, despite having barely moved all day. She started scarfing her dish of Eryatian meats and fruits, which had been arranged in a rosette on her plate before she wrecked it.
    “Jane?”
    Jane swallowed a bite. “Hm?”
    “How do you feel about capital punishment?”
    Seriously? Talk about an appetite-killer! She looked up. “Why do you always drop these heavy, meaning-of-life type questions on me?”
    Adam backed away. “Sorry… I’m just… curious, I guess. We can talk about something else.”
    I’m full anyway. Jane put her utensils down. “It’s okay. I think capital punishment’s necessary. I mean, the prison planets are full-up as it is, and there are some truly horrible people out there. Why?”
    Adam’s gaze fell. “I