KETTY'S SUBDIVISION Wattys2017

Chapter 2-Part IV

Meanwhile, Kato had caught the whole thing in high definition. Once he saw Ketty was unhurt, he raced home to investigate what was happening. Spoiled as he was, his father had the bigger space yacht locked up, because Kato had stolen it on a senseless joy ride not long ago. In fact, there was no way for him to make it out across the ocean safely, so he spent the night on the network, replaying his video and talking to friends. Something was happening and he couldn't sleep. By Saturday, his video clip had gone viral. It was a lucky shot that brought attention down like an avalanche.

Kato sprawled across his massive bed, a wasteland of blankets and pillows he could never fully utilize. It was his parents overcompensating for his crappy childhood. There were some parts of human nature that evolved more slowly than the genetic breakthroughs of good health, long life, and strong gene pools. The human propensity towards being selfish and evil had not been eliminated. When he had tried to kill his real father for doing the unmentionable to his little sister, he had been placed into foster care.

It had given him carte blanche to act like a spoiled little brat, and now, at seventeen, he had everything a boy could want.

Kato knew he looked good, light on his feet, he moved like the wind, but he couldn't get Ketty out of his mind. She irritated him and he didn't know why. "I hate my life, Egor." He threw a ball at his personal bot, who easily caught it before it could damage his artificial skin. "I'm so bored."

"Should I consider you are threatening your own life, master? I can take the appropriate action to ensure your safety."

"Chill out old buddy. I'm just venting."

"It seems if you took more of an interest in your moral character, you would naturally become a happy and productive member of society." Kato knew this was part of Egor's standard teaching protocol, a persistent nagging in the hope he would grow up. He knew it was good advice, and despite how annoying it was, he had a deep affection for his bot.

They had been through a lot in the last two years, since Egor had arrived freshly packed in his tiny cubicle. Kato would send him there when he was mad at him, as if Egor could get his feelings hurt. The thing that had irritated him the most was he later found out Egor had been trained on the Mc'kee farm.

It had been a year ago, when an invoice slipped from Egor's cubicle. He had ranted to Egor in private for days.

"That insolent little goody two shoes. She has her hand in everything.

"Miss Ketty was the finest teacher I ever had." Egor had said back then.

"What makes her so great?" Kato had asked.

"She is kind and shows perfect honor in all circumstances."

He was so sick of how awesome she was. Ketty this and Ketty that. Just the thought of her made him feel irritated. But after that, he had done some reconnaissance and went out to the Southern Ocean, where he began observing her training ground.

That's how it started, his little obsession. I just want to find out her secret, he told himself while watching from the bluff. She has to have a fault. That had been a year ago, and despite his insecurities and fear of rejection, he had grown fond of her.

She was different than all the rest.

Now Saturday morning rolled around. Kato waded across his bed and went to his halo graphic cubicle where he could immerse himself in the network. He was nervous that Ketty had spotted him. Yet he couldn't get the image of her standing in the dying sunlight as she shook her head, sending up a rainbow of spray that circled her like a halo. Her two pony tails had moved with a subtle grace, and then she had exposed her personal beauty, causing him to look away. It was his first act of chivalry. He knew if he had been surfing with her, the code of conduct among friends would have made it no big deal. But they weren't friends.

There were more than a few girls at school who practically threw themselves at him, but for some reason he wasn't interested. He brushed that aside and got down to business. One screen replayed the recorded video of the strange girl who lived next door.

When he thought of her, his heart twisted in a tight knot. He pictured her eyes and the way her hair fell over her shoulders. When she laughed, her voice cracked in a high-pitched snort. He liked that she laughed a lot, despite the constant ridicule. He remembered the way she looked walking away, the swish of her dress and sway of her hips. And she was competitive. When she played sports, she played to win. He could never let her know how he felt, it would be social suicide, a fate worse than death.

Another screen played his video of the meteor. It already had fifty million hits, no small feat despite this age of media overload. Still he worried about what it was. Local authorities were playing it off as space debris but he knew better. Something was wrong, and he pushed beyond his home planet, deeper into the Subdivision. There were reports of similar occurrences, but the rest was speculation and grand standing.

More than anything he wanted to take a ship out and investigate, to dig down to the bottom of the ocean, which he could have easily done in his dad's personal skiff. If no one else was going to do something, he would.

He plunged into the galactic network, beyond the Subdivision, but ran into a brick wall. There was a lack of information, like the lines had been cut.

"We are looking into the matter," an automated voice kept telling him. It was odd, but he knew he would get to the bottom of it.

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