Rebels Read Free

cannot miss something you never had in the first place.
    Orphans are rare in Upper Indra. In fact, I believe I’m the only one. Life expectancy is long here. Citizens are limited to a single progeny per cohabitation. This is how it has always been: father, mother, and child.
    A child on their own? An orphan? Who would look out for such a thing? Who would show it care?
    Veda is an anomaly, too. Horses have not existed for centuries, but my father successfully bred them in his labs. The colts were pitch-black, and none survived very long. Only a solitary mare.
    Most refer to Veda as white, but they’re mistaken. Veda is ivory. And that is altogether different.
    No one knows how long she will live, but I do not worry. No one knows what to expect from me either. Veda belonged to my mother, and now she is mine.
    And she has never run faster.
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    What I know: my father was the most famous geneticist of Indra. He worked in the City of Indra, where the Middler population is trained from birth to serve those of us on the Islands. My father had Middlers at his beck and call, perhaps even wiping his backside aftera visit to the privy if he so demanded, which I very much hope he did not.
    My father was that important.
    According to Governess, I’m an Indrithian of Importance as well. I inherited the Armand Cosmo legacy.
    Too bad I won’t understand a word of it. Life Guide refuses to instruct me in genetics. I excel at every other subject, especially mathematics. I solved proofs and deciphered evolutionary patterns before Life Guide even taught me how. But still, genetics are too advanced, he says.
    â€œBut what about the test?” I ask him. “The one the High Council administered when I was little? The results said I have an aptitude for genetics. A gift.”
    Life Guide pretends not to have heard me. If I persist, he claims that I’m remembering incorrectly.
    I have a flawless memory.
    â€œJust like her father!” That is what Waslo exclaimed when he heard the results, my memory is clear. “She is like him,” he said, looking down at me with shiny eyes half filled with wonder, half with fear.
    I wish to understand the secrets in our cells, the mysteries of the blood that beats within our flesh. We all exist as one, but forever apart. Did my father even know this? I want to know all that he knew, and more.
    Instead, Life Guide and I study Indrithian history, to marvel at our great society and its innovations and advancements.
    Mostly we study The Book of Indra .
    â€œBest not dwell below,” Life Guide cites when I ask a question he wishes not to answer.
    What he means: learn what you are told to learn. Close your mouth and memorize a flower sonnet.
    Sometimes I think he doesn’t know the answers himself.
    Sometimes I think “the answers” are all he knows.
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    In my father’s time, genetics research was of the utmost importance. Population control, ensuring sufficient air and water supply for every Indrithian. The EX2 pill was his creation. I have taken my daily supplement since I turned twelve, as has every other Proper Young Woman. When I am cohabitated, I will discontinue my daily dosage, conceive my single offspring, and resume my daily EX2 pill after the birth. Except for the small human creature growing within me for nine months, everything will remain exactly the same.
    Perhaps it’s good we’re only allowed one. I can barely manage myself.
    Due to my father and the EX2 pill, the population is suitably controlled. Indra thrives. Now genetic research and implementation have evolved into something else entirely. Geneticists specialize in enhancements: dimple insertions, skin replenishment, skeletal adjustment. Nothing that changes the world, just your appearance.
    Governess begged me to get a chest alteration before the party season. “No need to inflate for the whole evening,” she