The Restoration of Flaws (The Phantom of the Earth Book 5) Read Free Page A

instructions in a z-disk on your counter.” He nodded to the z-disk surrounded by golden light, then bowed to her. “May your research lead to many proper and significant conversions and an eternal life.”
    “Thank you,” she said and bowed courteously in return.
    Her suite smelled like cinnamon and cloves. Garnet gravel lined narrow streams topped by water lilies near the walls. Golden plants squiggled up and around thin carbyne support poles. Indigo phosphorescent beams glistened along the black marble floor. The couches were plump, the kitchenette complete with any and every cooking utensil she’d ever need. She looked around, not a little in awe. Her whole life, she’d always shared a suite with Pasha.
    The entryway to her unit slid open. Oriana started.
    A keeper bot curtsied smoothly. “Aha, madam, apologies for startling you. I’m Ramona. I’m yours to command.”
    “I’m … okay for now … thank you, Ramona.”
    Oriana stepped out onto her terrace. To her right lay a hot tub shaped like an amoeba, to her left an archway with dangling grape vines. She moved down the marble steps ahead of her and leaned on the crystalline balustrade, closing her eyes to enjoy Palaestra’s vanilla air. She opened her eyes and roamed beneath the grape vines to an opening where a ladder led to the rooftop deck. She climbed the ladder. From her perch atop the Champion’s Suite in the RDD, she could see the Gorges of Hillenthara in the northeast and to Palaestra City in the southwest and all the compressed diamond pillars that supported the Beimeni zone in between. That was hundreds of kilometers in either direction. Far beneath her, candidates streamed into the courtyard. She searched for Pasha. How could he have been a second-half captain in the Harpoons and make it so far to the end and not be bid on by an RDD consortium?
    She descended down the ladder, back onto her terrace, and strolled to the opening leading back into her suite. She looked out upon the RDD facilities, carbyne and glass palaces in the distance, surrounding the Research Superstructure transport station. An artificial gust whipped her hair around her face. She heard a doorbell ring and turned toward her suite. Her doorway opened again revealing two silhouettes, speaking, it seemed, to Ramona. Oriana recognized Pasha’s voice.
    He ambled over the tile to her terrace. His escort hung back behind him. She had the impulse to sprint to him and hug him like she had during development but checked it.
    “Is this real?” she heard herself say.
    “I’m so glad you did it, O,” Pasha said. His voice caught.
    And wasn’t this the ending assured, even in their fiercest battles, by the Summersets, that they would both be purchased if one excelled? A part of Oriana hated that they were right.
    A man stepped out onto the terrace, a beautiful man with a sharp nose, wavy hair, and eyes of flecked obsidian. She bowed. “Welcome to my suite. To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?”
    “O, this is Supreme Scientist Antosha Zereoue,” Pasha said. “He traveled all the way here from Boreas to greet us.”
    Oh gods, a supreme scientist , and the one who had purchased her, in her suite! She hoped Antosha didn’t notice her blush. “Forgive me,” Oriana said. He stood silently. “I should’ve known, I should’ve inquired, I should’ve—”
    “No, no, my dear, it is I who should apologize,” he said, his voice soft and kind. “I wish I was here in time to greet your arrival for the Walk but,” he sighed, “circumstances as they were, I was forced to complete other business.” He kissed her hand, as tenderly as a lover. “I was the supreme scientist covering Regenesis, soon to be the supreme scientist of the Ventureño Facility, covering Reassortment.”
    Oriana felt light-headed.
    “The specifics for our first meeting with the Holcombe Strike Team are contained within your z-disk. I hope I don’t have to tell you to keep this information in strictest