Solara hadn't spoken a word since they stepped into the hovercar. The plastic wrap on the seats crinkled as she shifted toward the window, her eyes vacant. Runan's heart sunk. Was she in shock or did she still have feelings for her ex? Either way, she must be fighting a battle in her head. If he was closer, he would have comforted her, but the Upper had sat them as far apart as possible and their seatbelts were locked in with a key. No conversation they had was private here. He studied the dirt under his fingernails as the car's air chilled his sweating skin.

"First time in Lower-C, Mr. Udensi?" the driver asked.

"It's hardly a holiday destination and seldom worthy of our attention." The man upturned his nose under the protective suit he still wore.

Runan balled his fists in his lap.

The driver chuckled. "The Lowers are left to fight amongst themselves."

"We will not tell them how to live as long as they continue to produce goods and services for our people. It all settles itself out and the strongest survive."

Despite the frigid air, Runan's blood boiled. The response had been similar when both of his parents fell ill after working with an experimental fertilizer. It intended to accelerate the growth rate of certain vegetables. Not one person who'd supplied the poison to his family offered condolences or support. Instead, they collected rent from orphaned teens.

The buildings of Lower-Caldozza became more lavish, now made of brick and metal, with balconies and sizeable, manicured yards. The want-to-be Uppers congregated here. Soon the vehicle entered the tropical forest barrier where no settlers were allowed. The path narrowed and grew rockier in nature. They whizzed past a few Lower-Caldozzan guards who tipped their hats and nodded, much different from the gun they'd point in a fellow Lower countryman's face should he approach.

After ten minutes of driving through the dense forest which blocked out large beams of light, with only trickles for the climbing thorny vines, they arrived at an imposing cliff. At least three-hundred feet of sheer, flat rock. A wide glowing tube traced its incline past the highest visible point. It was hollow with transparent windows to reveal who or what was travelling. The driver grew closer until a steel wall stood in his way. Mr. Udensi clicked some buttons on his wrist, and the gate raised.

"There are bags under your seat in case you feel ill," the driver said to Runan and Solara.

Then he drove into the tube. As the metal door clanged shut behind them, wind roared around the hovercar, rattling it until the entire thing lifted off the ground. As his stomach somersaulted, Runan gripped the armrest and seat in front of him. Solara sat more relaxed, her vacant eyes on the horizon.

The car rose, each metre they climbed shrinking the trees and riverside city. The farmland stretched along the riverbanks in both directions. Another forest in the distance bordered Lower Caldozza before transitioning into rocky terrain rumoured to be traitorous to cross.

Through the glass roof, a giant metal fan grew closer with sharp blades spinning with no sign they'd stop. Runan closed his eyes and braced his body for impact. The vehicle slowed, and a look up confirmed the fans had stopped.

The driver shook his head. "You'd think they'd never seen proper technology before."

Solara trembled, and her mouth gaped at the intimidating blades. Runan mouthed 'Are you okay' and she nodded meekly. If he had a knife, he would have cut through his locked harness to hold her.

"Most of it is too complex for their minds," the blue-suited man said.

The hovercar left the elevator tunnel and transitioned into a warehouse where people in yellow suits and masks inspected the vehicle and communicated with Mr. Udensi through the car speakers.

"Proceed to decontamination port C," a female voice said.

The hovercar followed a track leading to multiple silver archways with small nozzles. A gentle hissing surrounded them along with orange mist. Runan held his breath and watched the driver and Upper for reactions. The driver wore no mask and breathed normally, but Runan wouldn't take that chance. After he pulled his shirt over his mouth and nose, he glanced at Solara to get her to do the same. He kept her gaze until the spray faded. He'd be damned if his last sight would be some irritating Upper or this strange warehouse.

The car moved forward until docking at a bay with an enormous robotic arm. As the limb extended under the car, the vehicle rocked as if it were being dismembered. A large metal thruster system was pulled out and placed on a nearby shelf. The arm grabbed another metallic disk and after a few snaps, the front dashboard lit up.

"Welcome back to Upper-Caldozza. Destination, Emerald Point D. Estimated arrival time, twenty minutes. Traffic, medium," the voice called out from the car speakers.

An invisible force pulled the vehicle forward, and it climbed a rising track to sit two-storeys above the city. Unlike in most of Lower-Caldozza, shiny glass encased the entire buildings, and they rose to unimaginable heights. Many flashed with images and videos for products ten times their actual size. Special watches, earpieces and metallic mini-people all promising to make life simple, to accomplish routine tasks humans were meant to do but too lazy to perform. A tech chip resting on a pale man's temple promised immersion in foreign and exotic Lower-Caldozza. When the screen shifted, Runan's heart nearly stopped, and his breath caught in his throat.

Messita's laughing and smiling face lit up the side of the building. Below it read: The golden couple faces danger and only one comes out alive. Do you have what it takes to live through death and tell the tale? Find out this Sunday.

"Ru, you have time," Solara whispered from the back seat.

His heavy chest protested. No matter what the Uppers decided, there would a consequence to keep him from accessing or earning enough funds to free his sister with or without Solara's help. What sort of monsters would want to buy a dead woman's memories? His best odds were to shoot the Upper and the driver and make a run for it at a platform. However, the hovercar zoomed down the middle and past the stopping point where most of the men and women left their cars and trains and he had no gun. But the Upper was likely armed even if Runan escaped the harness. He poked and prodded at the thick metal lock, assessing it from different angles. Digging through his pockets, he found food wrappers, a few coins and a screw too big to pick the lock.

With a sinking stomach, he continued to track their path up to the mountain peaks in case they fled later. The tech-bloated buildings thinned out and more enormous mansions sat in the flatter nooks of the undulating terrain. Some featured large green grassy meadows leading to the homes while others commanded an army of trees at their gates.

The hovercar slowed to a stop and shifted to a track on the right where no station stood, just an extra set of rail as far as Runan could tell. Would they shove them off the tracks where there were no witnesses? As he turned to Solara, the entire vehicle dropped. His stomach jumped up into his throat, and he grabbed the seats.

"Sola, you okay?"

"We'll find out," she replied.

Their descent was slow, like an oak seed spinning on wind currents to the ground. The Upper in the front seat was speaking to someone and staring straight ahead into the nearby pine forest. When Messita and Runan were kids, they used to make up stories about the monsters that lurked in the craggy peaks of Upper-Caldozza. They never spooked his sister, but he would study the mountaintops which jutted out past the Upper platform. He could swear there was movement and glowing red eyes. His mother would tuck him in tight and assure him if monsters were real, they'd never survive the drop. Lower-Caldozzans were too pure of heart to be eaten by the beasts.

When they hovered at ground level, Runan asked. "What will you do with us?"

"Nothing. We've securely transported you to the pickup point. The royal guards should be your concern. We had orders to keep you alive... I doubt theirs are the same."

"Ernesito could be dead," Solara said like a child afraid to correct her teacher.

"We had descriptions of two people matching your appearances, but none matching his."

Runan scratched at the back of his warm neck. How would Upper royals have seen him or Solara in the past? He rarely left his farm or the Western side of Lower-Caldozza. Unless Mem-stem planted it using Messita's memories... But how would they know about Solara? None of this made sense.

"He did nothing wrong," Solara said.

"He bribed a guard, took a wanted prisoner hostage, and abetted with the theft of a royal amulet. Though it's likely a regular day for you, Lowers."

Solara sneered and huffed before staring out the window.

"Who gave you our description?" Runan asked.

"The leader of the royal guard."

Twenty metres away, light emerged from the ground and part of the greenery moved to create a gaping rectangular hole. From it, a large, black vehicle levitated with two circles melded into its sleek body which glowed blue in the front and a large round hollow circle at the rear. The craft pulled onto the grass in an awkward motion that almost tipped it over. Once the lights on the vehicle dimmed, a black glass oval popped up, revealing a face with a large growth across the forehead scarcely hid by bright red hair.

"It can't be..." The Upper muttered.

The woman stepped out of the vehicle with tall, thick dark heels which Messita would have loved. Her silver dress flowed down to her ankles as she walked to the craft like a newborn calf standing in their first minutes of life.

The Upper man straightened his hair and jacket and hopped out of the hovercar. After lowering his protective headgear, he prostrated himself. The driver did the same. The woman regarded them with a nod and proceeded toward the door nearest to Runan. It popped up in a second and she stuck her head inside.

"You are the ones responsible for violating the sanctity of our royal healing gem." The stranger surveyed him and Solara. "I'm a little disappointed. I expected more of a fight."

"There's been a misunderstanding—"

"I have misunderstood nothing. The only question is: do you have the answers to keep your heads or will we toss them to the mountain beasts along with your feeble Lower bodies?" She turned to the driver and Upper, who'd stood. "Deliver them to me."

"My queen, you have no protection, no guards, if they try to—"

The queen glared at the Upper with red-tinged nails on her hips. "Do I seem weak to you? Is my rule defined by its leniency and compassion?"

"No, my queen."

"Release my prisoners, and I will do what I see fit. When I'm done, I'll deal with you."

The buckles released, easing the pressure in Runan's chest. He studied the queen for places she could have hidden weapons under her dress or shawl.

"If you underestimate my strength, it will be the last thing you ever do." The queen looked in his eyes in a cold, honest way.

Solara had climbed out of the back seats and passed Runan to meet with the queen. "We hope to shed some light on the theft. Though it troubles us too."

The queen's lip twitched. "Troubled you didn't get away with it."

Runan jumped out of the hovercar the best he could with hands still bound. The earth was hard and rocky beneath the vegetation like the far reached of the river. A loose fragment of shale could become a weapon should he trip, though the Uppers outnumbered them. He couldn't put Solara at risk until the odds were evened.

"Is this one always so shifty?" the queen asked Solara.

"We've been through a lot this week."

"My queen, will you need our assistance?" The Upper stood tall with his chest forward.

"No, return the car. I'll send my people for you later."

The two men nodded and shuffled back to the hovercar, which disappeared onto the raised tracks in minutes. Standing near her vehicle, the queen watched the departure with a curled lip. A piece of shale caught a shine of sunlight, and he contemplated how to fall now that he'd stopped moving. Solara froze in spot, panting.

"Come, we'll take the tunnels. You'll find this craft a lot more interesting and exciting than a motorbike."

"I didn't realize they had motorbikes here," Solara said.

"They don't, but I ensure I'm very familiar with my prisoners. It helps to prevent situations like a man grabbing any nearby object to protect the woman he loves." The queen's brown eyes bore into his. He swallowed and stilled his hands at his sides.

"We're not together," Solara said.

"A man doesn't need to be with a woman to love her, though he'll seldom admit it."

Without looking up, Runan sensed both women's gaze on him.

"But you've never taken my advice seriously, have you, brother?"

Her tone, the small smile playing on her lips, even the way she stood with her chin slightly raised to the sky yet weight resting back on her left leg, screamed Messita. His heart raced as he eyed her from head to toe. But that was impossible. His sister was dead. He'd seen her body and so had Ju'rah.

"This must be a trick," Runan muttered.

"You didn't think you'd be rid of me that easily, did you?"

"How—" Solara started.

The queen held out her index finger. "Not another word about it until we reach our destination. Their tech is useful, but someone's always listening."