Cindy Psi: Spy In Training
Chapter 27: An Afternoon Off

Selma and Cindy materialised in a public transporter room and quickly stepped off to allow the next person to transport out. The payment facility here was more sophisticated than the one on Oliver County and there was no need for Selma to tap anything to process the payment; a device detected and registered their respective PCDs as they left the transporter room and deducted funds accordingly. Cindy was impressed with the inner galaxy technology.

She was dressed in what Selma had assured her was reasonably standard pre-teen fashion for the area: a white, short-sleeved top with a slight V-neck, a black ra-ra skirt with grey patterning, shiny black ankle length boots and a black pork pie hat. The only colour came from a dark purple backpack that had a designer logo on it that Cindy didn’t recognise. Selma had retrieved an image onto her PCD of a girl wearing this ensemble and shown it to Cindy, who used the shiftsuit to replicate it as they transported. Selma herself wore a very business-like, pale grey suit that was very well-tailored to make the most of her slightly large frame. ‘Well-tailored,’ thought Cindy, Well I guess it would be!

The cover story they had agreed was that Cindy was Selma’s younger sister and ward. The two were looking to temporarily locate in Brunel while Selma undertook a six month contract there and they were considering whether Cindy should attend the local school or undertake her schooling online for that period.

We’re not really just going to go straight in and talk to this woman are we? Cindy asked as they made their way out through the transporter building toward the streets of Brunel.

No, we’ll replace a place to stay and observe her for a few days first. We need to get confirmation if we can that she is our target. And remember to talk out loud when not talking about the mission – two girls like us walking along silently but moving in unison looks very weird!

“I’m hungry,” said Cindy in response, and she was.

“Ok, let’s grab a bite – there’ll be a few nice places here,” Selma said as they went through a revolving door and out into the town.

Cindy looked up and down the road they were on and, for the first time, took a moment to register where they were.

Brunel was unlike anything Cindy had ever experienced on Oliver County. Her home planet was deliberately rural, comprised almost entirely of a network of villages interspersed with rolling parklands, fields, rivers and lakes. Her home village of Tenterfield was much like the next one over, and it much like the one after that, with all key amenities like shops, school and med centre for minor ailments. Of course Cindy knew about cities from school and streams, but she’d never been to one. Until now.

The first thing that struck her was the continuous movement. Monobuses and monorails were weaving hither and thither on their tracks, the former on the ground, the latter suspended in the air. People in hoversuits flew short jumps from building to building while others skittled along the roads on Segways, hoverboards, and in two person hovercarts. Wherever you looked, different sized clumps of people in one conveyance or another were busily going about being somewhere they weren’t a moment ago; it was like some kind of grand dance.

The next thing Cindy noted was just how many people were involved in the dance. More people assembled in one place than Cindy had ever seen in her life. It was a little overwhelming. As she looked up the street, the buildings grew smaller, not just from perspective, but actually. Cindy assumed this must be heading out of town. Sure enough, when she looked down it the buildings grew to massive skyscrapers, each one a unique shape, each trying to outdo its neighbour, and each full of thousands of citizens of Valentine going about their business (whatever that may be).

She and Selma began walking towards the bigger buildings, and Cindy noted the city was built on a grid. It reminded her of her idea of the Ancient City of New York back on old earth that they’d studied in history last year. She wondered for a moment if the streets were numbered or if they had names. Selma, she sent.

Yes Cind?

Are we safe to go into mindspace here?

Yes, same rules as back on Adriá – no big displays of power but something like, well this conversation, should be fine. Why do you ask?

Well, it’s just that there’s so many people, I wondered if maybe the chances of someone with the talent being nearby were greater, Cindy mused.

Ah, right, yes – good thought. That’s true, statistically it is more likely, but the talent is still very rare so it’s not a big risk. So don’t worry. “Ah, this is a good place,” she added aloud.

They had come to an eatery set back from the road in the ground floor of one of the office buildings. It had flashing fluorescent strips around the door, radiating outwards in patterns of yellow, orange then red. Cindy saw from the sign over the door that it was called “The Jukebox”. As they went in it was apparent that it was an old earth rock and roll age themed diner with booth seating and a menu of burgers and ’shakes. All facsimiles, of course, but the menu spoke of how teams of chemi-chefs had worked to craft “the most authentic 1950s dining experience it was possible to achieve”.

“Have whatever you like,” Selma said, pinging Cindy’s PCD a link to the menu, “My treat”. Cindy ordered something called a “Greasy Joe Cheeseburger & Chocolate Shake Combo”. “Good choice,” said Selma, then, after looking around briefly to make sure they couldn’t be overheard, she added: “Have you ever been to a Jukebox before?”

“Oh, is there more than one of them? No. I’ve never been to a city before.”

Selma looked surprised, but just for a moment. “Oh that’s right, I forget you’re from the outers. Well, I guess we need to figure that into our story. Let’s see, we’re both from the outers, but I travel to GC regularly for my contracts and leave you home with hired guardians. I’ve brought you this time because you’re a bit older and more independent now and because this contract is a bit longer. There we go. Have you got all that?”

Cindy marvelled at Selma’s capacity to think up a feasible back story so quickly before remembering she was an experienced spy after all. “Got it.” She said. “Here’s our food.”

The food was delivered by a woman dressed in what Cindy assumed was appropriate attire for a 1950s waitress. She was in a pink dress with a white frill at the bottom and sleeves (the dress was slightly too short to be practical for food service Cindy thought), with a small, white apron and a round, pink hat. Her over-large name tag proclaimed her to be Gloria.

“There we are, girls,” she said with an odd drawl to her speech as she deposited the plates in front of them. Then, noting the small travel satchels Cindy and Selma had with them she added “Just in town for the day?”

“A few days,” Selma replied as Cindy thanked the server for the food. “Going to see a few sights.”

“Well make sure you take in the Skypark while you’re here. It’s quite something. Enjoy your food!” She said as she moved away to serve other customers.

Cindy leaned in conspiratorially to Selma. “I love the ‘accent’,” she whispered, “They must get that from streams or something!”

“I’ve heard they train them up for days to get them to sound right. Cool, huh?”

“I guess,” said Cindy, who thought maybe it was a little bit over the top. “They sure haven’t missed a trick. Look at this food!” she finished, motioning at the oversized, sumptuous looking hamburger on her plate, dripping with cheese, pickles and relish and accompanied by a massive portion of golden, crisp French fries.

“IKR!” agreed Selma, surveying her own plate which was laden with a steaming hot dog that was, frankly, ridiculously long, and dripping with onions. “Well,” she added, “Tuck in!”

As the girls started eating their lunch, which Cindy had to admit was absolutely delicious – if this was how people ate in the fifties but using real food with real saturated fats it gave some idea how the tragic obesity revolt came about eighty years later – Cindy thought she noticed something tickling the back of her mind. She was about to sping Selma to tell her, but her train of thought was interrupted when the older girl spoke.

“So we have this afternoon free,” Selma was saying as she continued munching away on her hot dog and flicked through pages on her PCD, “I’ve booked us a short term apartment in a nice block near Brunel Central and the lock will be keyed to us from 6pm. Shall we go and see this Skypark the server mentioned? It does look quite impressive.”

“Sure,” said Cindy, finishing off her mountain of a hamburger, “Lets.”

Selma had a quick check on her PCD to make sure the gratuity level on her auto-payment app was set appropriately for the meal and planet (it was), and the two of them made their way back out on to the street.

Selma? Cindy sent as they headed off towards the centre of town.

What’s up?

Just before we left I thought I felt a slight tickle in the back of my mind.

What sort of thing? Selma’s tone was concerned. Like a spyline?

Maybe. I couldn’t really tell. It might have been nothing. The more I think, the more I think maybe it was nothing.

Hmm, or maybe it could be Dave of one of the others checking up on you. Well, I won’t check back with them because we have to stay covert but be vigilant and let me know if it happens again. “So have you ever heard of the Skypark?” She added aloud.

“No, I don’t think so,” Cindy replied. “What is it?”

“That.” Selma said, and pointed along the street they were walking down. Several hundred metres in front of them Cindy could see the street, already quite wide, widened out to form a huge intersection. On each corner of the intersection were four, identical buildings, amongst the tallest Cindy had so far seen in Brunel (or indeed, ever). Each building rose up maybe 150 floors, and tapered backwards as it climbed, like someone leaning backwards to look up at the sky. Then, at the top, there was a shimmering, glass-like plane connecting the four, and in its centre there was something Cindy couldn’t discern from this distance – some kind of huge, solid shape seemingly suspended in thin air, around a kilometre above the ground.

As they drew closer the shape came into focus and the scale of the construction became clearer – and Cindy was astonished. The shape she had been unsure of in the centre resolved itself into what looked like a giant theme park, ringed by several hovercoaster rides and other towers, turrets and lights. The shimmering pane seemed to be a flat, square pyramid of glass. On the diagonals were monorail tracks with carriages running from each of the four buildings to the centre construction. The glass dome was speckled with what Cindy soon realised were people. Right in the centre, under the floating theme park, Cindy saw there was actually a single pillar running all the way down to the ground, and it was interlaced with what turned out to be two hovercoaster tracks that spiralled crazily down the shaft to disappear below the intersection at the bottom, presumably to surface in one or two of the buildings. As Cindy and Selma watched, carriages carrying screaming people rocketed down the tracks, occasionally seeming to nearly fly off out of control, then re-gripping their respective curves as they darted and wove down the shaft.

The girls were now on the corner beside one of the buildings. They stood there staring for fully a minute and a half before either of them spoke. Selma broke the silence.

“Well that looks like fun!” She said.

Cindy was still drinking it in. It was like nothing she’d ever seen before. She knew of the major theme parks from streams of course, but when you saw something like this in person, well, that was something else. “It sure does …” she said, dreamily. Then, snapping herself out of it, “It’s a shame we can’t go and see what it’s like.”

“Well, why in the galaxy not?”

Cindy was flabbergasted. Can we? … she began, before catching herself. “Sorry, can we??” She exclaimed. “Can we really?!?”

“Well, I don’t see why not,” Selma laughed. “Like I said, we’ve got the afternoon free, and I’ll tell you something …”

“What’s that?”

“I bet I want to check it out even more than you do! Come on!”

And with that the two girls ran laughing towards the nearest building entrance.

The rest of the afternoon passed in a happy blur for Cindy. It felt like she’d spent the last few months being buffeted by unexpected changes and extraordinary events – not to mention a number of new, often very difficult, relationships – and the opportunity to just switch off and enjoy something like the Skypark was more welcome than she could have guessed. Simple, uncomplicated fun like she used to enjoy back home with her Father or Tess what seemed like an age ago.

And what fun this was. The Skypark was an endless wonder. When the girls first entered the building Cindy realised the spectacle wasn’t confined to the outside. The entranceway was a sweeping foyer spanning fully the bottom thirty floors of the building. It was surrounded on three sides by balconies that followed the backward tilt of the construction, looking a bit like a gigantic theatre where each row of seats was in fact a whole other floor. People walked along the balconies, going in and out of the shops that lined them. The lower floors had the big name departments stores, Cindy noticed, many taking up several frontages and floors. One particularly well-known chain had nearly half of the left side.

In the centre of the foyer a bank of about twenty glass elevators were constantly zipping up and down, ferrying people to different points in the shopping plaza and to the floors above. The need for the elevators reinforced for Cindy the scale of the place. She was aware that hoversuits could manage short hops up to a few floors, certainly enough for any building Cindy had ever seen them in (which was precious few – the library and the museum on Oliver County and she couldn’t think of any others), so the elevators were another novelty and an indicator of just how big the place was.

It was to the elevators they headed, and Selma pushed the button marked “Skypark”. Cindy noticed that the intervening floors had colour coded sections indicating some were hotel accommodation, some were apartments, and some were other entertainments like bowling alleys and various generations of cinema.

Once they got up to the Skypark level they exited the building through a scanner that checked them for weapons and deducted payment from Selma’s PCD, and they stepped out on to the transparent pyramid. From this side, it was even more spectacular. They looked down through the glass upon which they stood and took in the view of the city, so far below.

“It makes your knees wobble, doesn’t it?” Selma asked.

“It sure does. It is, um, safe and everything?” Cindy was more than a little concerned.

“Yes. I had a quick glance on the PCD when I looked it up earlier. It’s actually pretty clever.”

“It just seems that that single hovercoaster shaft in the middle isn’t anywhere near enough to support the weight of that massive – thing – in the centre …”

“Well, that’s where it’s clever you see. It doesn’t. It doesn’t need to.”

“This must be incredibly strong glass then.”

“It is,” Selma replied, “But that’s not it either. Have a look at the park. See those four towers in each corner …”

Cindy nodded.

“Can you see a very thin cable running out of them?” Selma was pointing at the top of the closest tower. Cindy stared and, sure enough, she saw a very faint line that looked like it was stretching off into the unseeable distance straight up from the top of the tower.

“I can. What’s that? Wait, are they somehow … anchored? In space?”

Selma looked at her approvingly. “Very clever. Exactly that. Each tower has an orbiting anchor that holds the whole thing up called a skyhook. It’s as safe as can be. Doesn’t feel it when you look down though, does it?”

“No! Can we go to the centre on the monorail please? The glass is freaking me out a bit.”

“Ok, let’s go.”

The two girls boarded the monorail that ran from the top of their building to the complex in the middle. Cindy was impressed by how efficiently everything ran – there was no waiting, and elevators, rails and hover transports of all kinds were frequent. There were also plenty of people walking along by the monorail tracks or further out on the glass surface. Some were sat having picnics with the city buzzing away below them. It was all quite surreal.

When they got to the park proper Cindy was still more overwhelmed by the scope of the construction. The centre buildings were bigger than she had thought, and contained every ride, amusement, game and diversion Cindy could imagine and plenty more that she never would have. The whole place was a thrilling confusion of sound, lights, movement and colour. Cindy noticed a boy who looked about 17 in a booth that she thought Jane would like – you chose your favourite pop star and a hologram of the star would sing a line to you that you had to copy. After a couple of lines, the machine knew enough about your singing voice and it would generate a 3D stream of you doing a duet with that star. You could even choose which song you wanted to sing with them. From what Cindy saw of the teenager’s duet with some teen pop sensation that Cindy didn’t recognise the results were extremely convincing. When it finished he tapped his PCD on the booth’s save pad so presumably you got to take it home as well. Cindy could just imagine Jane swooning over her own duet with Jason Radler and filed this as somewhere to tell her about when she got back to Adriá.

The two girls spent a couple of hours going on various rides and trying various games of chance and skill before Selma said it was time to head back to the booked apartment. Cindy asked if they could leave via the central hovercoaster, to which Selma just gave her a look as if to say “Well of course we can” and they made their way towards it. The two of them buckled in to the ride called “HC1 – The Hurricane” and looked excitedly at each other. Cindy just had time to notice that the same boy who’d been using the pop star booth was boarding a few carriages behind them before the ’coaster started moving. Cindy felt a slight tingle in her mindspace.

Remember to scream out loud! Selma sent.

Yes, of course. Good reminder! I will.

And before the girls could say anything else, all access to rational thought was cut off by nearly fifteen minutes of terrifying hurtling, turning, inverting and spinning down a kilometre-high pole. Cindy lost all track of whether she was screaming or not, but at some level she made sure she didn’t go into mindspace at all to prevent any accidental transmitting. Other than that, she just enjoyed the ride.

When they got off they were chattering excitedly to each other about how incredible the ride, and indeed the whole park was. Cindy was on such as high she barely noticed the walk to their temporary apartment, or the ready-meal they had the kitchen produce for them when they got in, or indeed anything much else before she collapsed into bed. She said goodnight to Selma, who said she wouldn’t be long off bed herself, and she was asleep before she knew it.