Void

There was a time, all but forgotten now, when the world was dominated by technology. The people relied on these advanced devices for everything from health to transportation to entertainment. A weapon that could take away this power of the people would have meant the destruction of their world. But, the very thing that led to their advancement as a civilization was also what was destroying the world they lived in. Poison was released into the atmosphere daily because of these devices. Eventually, the land they thrived on would no longer be there to support them, so the human race adapted.

As time went on, fewer were born without these adaptations. Those without the adaptations were classified as Voids; and as their numbers decreased, it become harder for them to survive in a world no longer designed to sustain them. The .2% remaining of these people faced the threat of extinction.

~

“What’d you do? Create a bomb?” Nate asks, to which Harlow holds up a hand to silence him.

“Not unless a bomb counts forward,” she replies, and then the device begins emitting a sound, causing them all to jump from the sudden loudness. Harlow looks at the device more closely, analyzing the other buttons and presses the one with the negative sign on it. It decreases the volume to a more reasonable level, and she’s glad to find that her guess about the function of the button was correct.

“It’s music!” Wren says, smiling, and Harlow gives Nate a satisfied smirk. “But how is it doing that? Is it an instrument?”

“No, I think it’s a recording of music that was made a long time ago,” Harlow answers, as the music stops. “I guess that answers the question of how much charge the batteries had left.”

“Batteries?” Nate asks, as the door to the basement opens.

“Nate,” Jane Wright yells down, “your boss is here.”

Wren freezes in panic, her blue eyes opening wide, as if she hopes her power to manipulate matter will make everything disappear if only she focuses hard enough. Nate doesn’t waste a second, reaching behind the tree trunk to grab the large blanket Harlow keeps there. He whips it at her. After years of practice catching what Nate unexpectedly throws at her, Harlow reflexively reaches out and catches the blanket.

Harlow moved in with the Wrights after her parents died. When Nate hadn’t yet accepted that she would be part of the family, he used to throw everything she asked for at her, like toys and even food. They were only kids at the time, but Harlow earned her right to be part of the family in Nate’s eyes when she learned to keep an eye out for unexpected flying objects.

“Hide everything. Now,” Nate whispers urgently, before getting up and heading upstairs.

Spreading out the blanket, Harlow throws it over the table with all her findings. Recovered, Wren picks the music player off the ground and hands it to Harlow to hide under the blanket, as well.

“Stay here,” Harlow tells Wren before turning to follow Nate up the stairs, but Wren follows close behind. Harlow looks back sternly at Wren who pouts but remains downstairs. Harlow, too, stays in the basement but puts her ear up against the door at the top of the stairs. She hears the deep baritone of Nate’s boss, Uriel Ember Garnett, a high-ranking employee of the government. Embers control fire, and Harlow has always questioned what type of role an Ember could play for the government, as Embers usually have more working class jobs related to lighting the streets and warming homes.

“What was all that noise?” Uriel asks, making his question sound like an order from a general.

“That was Harlow, sir. She has a tendency to sing,” Nate responds.

“Oh yes, Voids and their love for the arts. I’ve never quite understood the purpose they believe it to have.”

“I believe us Voids enjoy it,” Harlow says, closing the basement door behind her. “We find a purpose in expressing ourselves through the arts.”

Nate, at her side, nudges her as warning not to antagonize his respected boss. Jane, standing with Uriel across from the two of them, also tries to communicate a warning to Harlow through her chastising expression. But, it’s not hard to irritate Uriel and the temperature in the room has already risen in his own type of warning for Harlow.

“I’m sure you’ve received a good education with the Wrights and understand that the arts once played a large role in the world. They distracted from real problems, those that would have destroyed life if things continued on as they had been,” Uriel responds calmly, despite the atmosphere that suggests otherwise.

“Which thankfully they did not,” Jane says, drawing the attention away from Harlow before her next words could escape from her Pandora’s box of a mouth. “Mr. Garnett, I assume there’s a reason you’ve come for a house visit today. Should we leave you to discuss business with Nathan?”

“That won’t be necessary,” Uriel says, offering a polite smile to Jane. “I actually came to ask Harlow about something.”

Harlow pulls herself up taller, attempting to look confident although suddenly nervous, but her feet like so often betray her, shifting beneath her as if on their own accord. She keeps her eyes confidently trained on Uriel, hoping to hide any sign of discomfort.

“We are trying to locate an illegal item that we believe came into your birth parents’ possession before they died,” Uriel continues. “Is there anything they left you that you could inform me about?”

As Harlow’s necklace, a heart-shaped pendant with a tulip engraving, weighs heavily on her chest, Nate opens his mouth to dutifully answer his boss, but Harlow hits the heel of his work boot with the side of her own, making him pause.

“No,” Harlow says, focusing on keeping her eyes forward and her voice even, “they didn’t leave me anything that I know of.”

Uriel holds Harlow’s gaze, as if he expects the truth to jump to the surface, but all he sees is his own reflection as Harlow refuses to look away first. He nods his head, and Harlow lets out a subtle breath of relief.

“Sallow,” Uriel calls out in the direction of the front door, and a man dressed all in brown appears next to Uriel. He’s a Traveler. Travelers that work for the government are expected to blend in with the environment, hence the wardrobe, and appear only when needed to teleport their assignment. “If you think of anything else, let me know,” he says, before disappearing with Sallow.

~

Jane, like the rest of the Wrights, knew that the necklace was the only thing left to Harlow from her parents, which is why she warned them about looking further into it until she could return home later. Jane’s job is at the recycling plant, where she uses her power to reshape discarded items into what is most highly demanded by the community. It is one of the more highly valued jobs to have as an Atom, as opposed to those that make house calls to warm up people’s food. If Jane were to be late for work today, it would raise alarms that would only add to the government’s suspicion about Harlow and their family.

Harlow watches Jane leave and round the corner outside the house. The second she’s out of sight, Harlow heads back towards the basement. Before she can open the door to the basement, Nate grabs her arm, forcing her to stop and look back at him. She has to squint a bit to look up at him because of the light streaming in through the skylight.

“What?” Harlow asks, impatiently.

“Why did you lie to my boss?” Nate asks, and Harlow resists the urge to roll her eyes at him and his need to follow every rule in the book.

“You have to have realized that Uriel didn’t have the best intentions.”

“What do you mean? He’s just doing his job, looking for a reported illegal device.”

“I don’t trust him,” Harlow explains, “and I’d like to have more faith in my parents than some government employee I barely know.”

“But you barely knew your parents.”

Harlow, offended, pulls her arm away from Nate and turns back to the basement, determined to prove him wrong. To show him that her faith is placed in the right people. But, she realizes she needs Nate’s help. As much as Harlow would prefer to get Wren to help her, which Wren would agree to immediately, Nate has better control over his power.

“Come on, I need your help,” Harlow says reluctantly, motioning for Nate to follow her back down the stairs. Recognizing that he hurt Harlow, Nate follows. Neither is surprised to find Wren at the top of the stairs, having been listening in on the conversation with Uriel.

“It’s the necklace, isn’t it?” Wren asks, excitedly. She reaches up to the necklace even though she’s not nearly tall enough to actually get to it.

Sitting down at the top of the stairs, Harlow leans back against the door, and unlatches the necklace. She holds the silver pendant in her hand, tulip face up. Wren is quick to sit down on the step below, inspecting the necklace in Harlow’s hand as if her corneas are small magnifying glasses.

“I’ll never understand your resistance to chairs,” Nate says, as he sits down on the top platform of the stairs beside Harlow and motions for her to hand the necklace over to him. “I assume you’re not waiting for mom to get back like you said you would?”

Harlow offers a small smile back in response, as she hands the necklace over to Nate, more carefully than she’s ever handled it before.

“Can you sense anything about it? Like something inside or if it’s made out of something unusual?” Harlow asks him. Nate takes a moment, closing his eyes so he can focus on his other senses. The Atom power doesn’t work through vision, but instead through a hyper tactile sense. They can feel the molecules in the air and in objects if they focus hard enough.

“There is something embedded inside. I’ll do my best to get it out without damaging the necklace,” Nate says, and then the silver begins to melt on its sides, separating into two halves, transforming the pendant into a locket. Nate opens the locket over Harlow’s hand, and the object inside the necklace drops out into her grasp. He clicks the locket closed.

The object in Harlow’s hand is a small, oddly shaped device. Through the translucent outer shell, wires can be seen inside the object. Harlow lightly touches the device with her other hand and the device emits a quiet humming sound. Eyes going wide with realization, Harlow rushes to place the device in her ear.

“…Harlow. I’d hoped you would never have to hear this. If you are, it means we can no longer be there for you, and for that we are both deeply sorry.”

Nate and Wren both look on curiously.

“It’s a recording,” Harlow tells them, “of my mother.”

“…We uncovered information the government didn’t want revealed. The advancements that allowed people to develop a new form of life in order to save the environment have unforeseen consequences. Powers have allowed people to become more self-sufficient and less reliant on others. As time goes on, people’s capacity for empathy will continue to decrease. You may have recognized signs of this already, such as the decline in an interest of the arts, which rely on the ability to relate to other’s emotions to truly appreciate. The Voids are needed to stop this, but they are being hunted. You’ve been lucky to have the Wrights to shield you, but it’s time you finish what we started. Find the Voids and help save our humanity.”