Nemecene: The Epoch of Redress Read Online Free PDF

ago. All but the top floors of the highest structures were submerged. The city was all it had claimed to be and more, a testament to the focused resolve of a peaceful civilization determined to survive on a dying planet.
    We started walking along a crossway towards a gathering of people standing on a solid surface extending along the main street, if that's what you want to call it. It was more like they were balancing on a floating stone carpet rolled out across a stagnant river and tethered to its bed by an intricate series of hooks and chains. The invisible barrier surrounding the city kept the dangers of the looming horizon at bay, a seemingly sheltered haven of life. We were safe from the natural dangers of the outside world yet vulnerable to the more sinister ones within. And it was precisely those hidden dangers that we had voluntarily thrown ourselves into, although if anyone were to ask us, we would say that the choice was not ours to make. Something other than Father's suffocating tyranny has drawn us to this place. I can sense it though I cannot see it...yet. All I hope at this point is that personal experience will uncover the real truth behind the childhood ghost stories that scare the mind and trap the heart, and more specifically for me, your story, which has been haunting Eli's nights for the past nine years and is now creeping into her waking hours.
    As we reached the platform, a rush of hot air skimmed the top of my head and hovered for a moment. I looked up and saw the hull of our ride sucking up its passengers from rings etched into the surface around their feet. Eli on the other hand was looking down, scouring the ground around us, and quickly pulled me towards her when she realized I was straddling the edge of a bright red circle. One split second later, and I would have felt more than just a tiny zap between my legs. Ouch. A buzz through my body followed by a cool sweat gave me a little shake. I shudder to think of what would have happened had I been half caught in the lift. I would have needed to seek medical attention and become an easy target for authorities while lying helpless in the belly of the GHU. I guess the extra three minutes Eli has had on this planet have given her a wisdom I am lacking after all. Once I caught my balance, I looked sheepishly at her, expecting her usual snare face, a funny little contortion she makes when she gets annoyed at me (it's somewhere between a sneer and a stare), but her eyes were fixed on where I had been standing. I touched her shoulder lightly and she jumped as if woken from a trance. It was the dream again, I know it.
    We had missed the hovertrain and were left alone in the center of the street, in full view of anyone who cared to notice, trying to look unfazed. Since we only had a few minutes to wait until the next ride and the platform was filling up fast, I signaled to Eli that we should plant ourselves immediately on two free spots at the head of the markings. As I rushed for one at the front, I almost smashed right into a woman vying for the same spot from the opposite direction. For a split second, she gazed deeply into me with her gemstone eyes and sent me a sweet smile. I felt my heart racing and the day's third flush of blood rushing through my veins, and when she turned to walk away, leaving the hovertrain marker free, the grace in her step took part of me with her. Did I know her? I checked to see a reaction from Eli, but she had already stepped into the ring and activated the holopost beside us. My mind was still with the mysterious stranger as I searched for her without success amongst the other waiting commuters. She must have floated like an angel to her destination, I thought, as my heart recovered and my attention returned to Eli's laughter. She had noticed my awkward moment and has no doubt stored it back in her calculating little brain for future fun and games at my expense.
    The highlands we had come from were not as sophisticated as the