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and a guard enters. He doesn't bother waiting to be invited in. Instead he walks with clipped steps to Supreme Moon's side. He leans down and whispers into the Great Supreme's ear. Supreme Moon's nostrils flare and he nods slightly.
    Something is wrong.
    They talk quietly, facing away from me, but I manage to catch a few words. Dissention stands out to me.
    Before I have time to process this, the guard leaves. Supreme Moon turns his attention back to me.
    “That being said.” He goes on as if we were never interrupted. “I don’t trust you. You apparently have too much free time on your hands. I am arranging for your training to begin tomorrow. You will report to the Training Dome by nine o’clock in the morning.“
    Exploring the city will have to wait. “I understand.”
    “You may go now. I will not ask Guard Nev to escort you home, but see that you make it there.”
    I nod and turn to go, but then I pause. I glance at Supreme Moon uncertainly, weighing my next question. “Were my tests helpful to you?” I hold my breath as I wait for his answer, knowing full well that he might not tell me the truth, anyway.
    His emotionless mask settles firmly into place, and he shifts away from me. “I saw a girl full of puppy love who wants nothing but to find her mother. You should be very happy to know that the tests were not helpful in the least.”
     
     
     
     

6
     
    After a terrifying ride back to ground floor in the vac chamber, it is a long and solitary walk home.
    I don’t mind at all. Unlike the spoiled Greaters, I am used to walking everywhere I go. The weather in Greater City is very pleasant—not too hot or too cool—and yesterday I saw a lake from my apartment windows.
    Supreme Moon’s words replay in my mind as I go. He knows I’m hiding something. Why isn’t he more forceful with me? There was no cajoling with Jamie when she got pregnant. They took her away without a second glance. He didn’t hesitate to send Mom to a Lesser hospital when her medical allowances ran out. Why is he letting me get away with so much?
    Someone bumps into me, knocking my left shoulder backwards. “I’m sorry,” I mutter, but he doesn’t notice. He’s already five feet down the path and swallowed up by the masses.
    People come and go, as they always seem to be doing here. I wonder about them—do some of them have menial jobs like shop keeper or hospital janitor? If not, who does those things? In Middle City 3, being a shop keeper is a place that is respected, but many janitors are Lessers who have been shipped in to do the work.
    Surely they don’t bring Lessers here.
    I want to know the ins and outs of this city. Every alleyway, every nook, every cranny. That is the only way I will find answers, but looking for those things is out of the question now, with Supreme Moon watching me so closely. The best way to get what I want is to play by his rules—go to my training, walk the straight and narrow—but I won’t leave it at that. There must be a way to get around the machines that seem to be watching my every move.
    One thing still nags me—Fischer’s message in my dream: Keep trying. It was only a dream. My own imagination. But it felt so real. How am I supposed to do what he says if I can’t get out and search?
    One of my first goals needs to be finding Christians in this city. I have to believe there are at least a few. I need someone who can tell me the things I haven’t learned—I know about Jesus Christ, but I don’t understand how to trust him or how to tell others about him.
    Once I reach my apartment building, I slip inside and head straight for the stairwell. The jog up is just as hard as it was earlier in the day, but I know from experience that it will get easier.
    At the seventh floor, I open the door as quietly as I can and step out of the stairwell. The tree can stay to the side because I think I’ll be taking the stairs from now on.
    “What are you doing in there?”
    The voice makes me spin