Tool

Chapter one

Jonathon laughed. "Come on, then," he said and took her hand.

It was incredible. The ground under her feet felt both soft and hard at the same time, like walking on a very deep carpet. The smell. It was . . . Aurelia thought hard about how she would describe this to her parents. It's fresh but not citrus fresh, lighter than that. Crap. She had no idea how she could make anyone on Earth capture the smell of grass.

"So?"

Crap again. She'd been so busy thinking about grass that she hadn't heard a word Jonathon had said to her.

"Um, I'm sorry, I really wasn't listening," she said, blushing once again.

Again he laughed "I think we'd better get you off the grass, or else you won't be able to hold a decent conversation."

He took her back to the path, and they walked towards the large door.

"I was saying how all's well so far," Jonathon said. "Nicholas is safe. Only the two sec Workers who are guarding him, a couple of hospitality Workers, and I know he's here."

"Hospitality Workers?" Aurelia asked, confused.

Jonathon looked at her strangely, then shook his head. "Sometimes I forget you're not from around here," he said. "Yes, hospitality Workers. You don't think I look after this whole place by myself, do you?" He gestured towards the building in front of him and the gardens around him.

Aurelia stopped in her tracks. This whole place. It implied it all was Jonathon's. Such a thing was unthinkable. One person in a building this huge, using this much land? Why, on Earth, space was so limited that thousands of families lived on one small city block. No, it can't be true.

"Oh, don't look so shocked!" Jonathon scolded, taking her hand again and resuming walking. "It's not all mine."

"Whose is it, then?" Aurelia asked.

He shrugged. "It belongs to my family. All the ruling class families have houses like these. It's one of the advantages to having a city designed specifically for your needs. Each of the elite families had a large section of land put aside for their own use when Lunar was being built."

"So other people live here, right?"

"Sure. My parents, for a start, though they tend to keep mostly to themselves. The ground level and the basement below it are separate from the rest of the house."

Aurelia snorted. "So you still live with your parents."

He grunted in response. "I guess I do, but I rarely see them."

They reached the large entry, and it opened. Inside was a long white hallway with various doors leading off it. Jonathon ushered her through one of these openings, and she found a living room with couches that begged her aching bones to sit on them.

"Drink?" he asked.

She nodded and looked around. Like nearly every building Aurelia had ever been in, this one was circular, a large tower sweeping up in a spiral. The room was a familiar curved shape. What was inside was distinctly unfamiliar, though. The couches and tables weren't the standard issue furniture that came with most living pods. These were deep, soft, and obviously expensive. Sitting, she sank into the cushions and the couch cradled her. I could sleep here, she thought.

Jonathon handed her a glass of water. "Or do you want something stronger?" he asked.

"No, I'm fine. Thanks."

Like most Earth people, Aurelia didn't really drink. Real alcohol was in short supply and expensive, and synth drinks tasted like rocket fuel.

Jonathon came to sit next to her. He put a hand on her knee, and she felt the warmth of his skin. "Had any thoughts?" she asked him, mostly to distract herself from the presence of his hand.