Chapter 9#

   Bluren waited in her inventors office for no more than ten minutes before her projects and tools were delivered at her door. The strange part was that they were delivered by the same messenger who gave her the letter from the Masters. She knew him right away from his half-steel half-human face and hands. She hadn't known what to say, so she didn't say anything other than a small thank you. The boy had stared at her as if he recognized her, too.

   The next half hour was spent unpacking musty boxes of hard drives, her own personal tools, and other various parts of potential inventions. While rummaging through, she happened to find the small wooden chest that she had packed Bethany's project in. She carefully handled the small iron diamond and set it on the table. Also inside the box, was a leather bag, about as big as the palm of her hand. Bluren undid the drawstring and took out the tiny chrome cylinder.

   This was supposed to bring down the dome connection. What was the dome connection, and why did it need to be brought down? Bethany had said that the masters were banishing people who tried to defy their intelligence. Bluren had been personally invited to work for the masters. Was she out of danger? Bluren felt a pang of guilt about what Bethany's note had said about the masters becoming too powerful. Was she just contributing? No. She was determined not to do that. Bluren would get to the bottom of whatever was going on, and find her sister in the process.

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   At around one o'clock, Bluren was interrupted from her work mapping out a blueprint, by an announcement on the loudspeaker. "Attention Masters. The hour of eating has come!" It was the voice of the boy that called her on the stage at her initiation. She still didn't know his name. "Please join in the cafeteria for a lovely meal. Please return to your offices after eating, and thank you for your work."

   The cafeteria was almost as noisy as the experimentation facility hallway, only with voices instead of machinery. People were lined up along the food counter. There were mounds of food. Everything from breakfast cereal to meat, such as chicken. This much startled Bluren, meat animals were almost never seen and seldom eaten by people of Bluren's class. She had tasted sausage once on a Christmas, and lunch meat once when she had volunteered at a Grocery and they were throwing it out. Bluren loaded her plate with anything that looked appealing. Noodles in a cheese sauce, thickly buttered rolls, a boiling onion soup with herbs and spices, and fresh cows milk, all of which were great luxuries.

   She said her prayer, and as she started to eat, she thought of the expensive breakfast rolls she used to make each morning. She thought of the people of outside The Beach that lived without home or work. She was eating enough for maybe three of those people to have a good meal. There were people she knew that thought it a delicacy to have hot soaked oats with a sprinkle of home-ground cinnamon. Bluren suddenly felt sick. How could this all be free? Where was all this food coming from? She looked around at the others in their nice clothes and smiling faces. Did they ever wonder or think of the food they might be stealing from those outside?

   Bluren ate her milk and buttered roll, but returned the rest to the counter before heading back to her work.