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  If only she hadn’t touched her. If she had persuaded her to eat, it could have turned out differently. This whole girl’s future hinging on one outburst. It just wasn’t fair.

  Then she saw it as the steam cleared around her. She thought she had imagined it at first. A white plastic card lay on the ground. She thought it had fallen off the white suit when they made the mad dash out of the room but when she bent down and turned it over, Dr. Tesla’s face stared back at her.

  The hiss of the doors opening caught her attention and she looked back up. If Dr. Tesla had been standing there at that moment, she would have handed it to him, but there was no one there, not a soul. She looked both ways down the hall as she hurried back to her locker and slipped out of the bio-suit. Looking around one more time, she walked to the other end of the locker room and slipped Tesla's card through the card reader. It beeped green as the cabinet of containment suits slid open. There were all different sizes. She selected a small one that came up to her chest. Could she really do this? It was stupid. What was she trying to prove? She put the little suit back on the rack and closed the cabinet as she started back out of the locker room.

  The doors slid open as she approached them and she froze in place. No one was coming down the hallway. Completely alone, she turned back around.

  CHAPTER THREE

  “It feels funny,” Jenny said as she rubbed her hands over the tight, white plastic suit that encased her. “It feels like someone else's skin is all over me.”

  “You’ll get used to it,” Sam said.

  As they exited the room, she hit the button on Jenny’s arm. Jenny’s mouth hung open as she watched the ripple move across her body until the suit disappeared. She rubbed her hands over her arms again.

  “Wow. That’s incredible.”

  Sam smiled. Jenny almost looked like a regular kid now. It was still obvious though by her muscular jawline and her thicker body she hadn’t grown up inside the Covenant. They would get looks but nothing more than that. Most would just take her as a recent convert.

  “Don’t draw attention to yourself,” Sam said. “It’s important you act just like everyone else. Do what I do and everything will be okay.”

  “Are we leaving? Are you taking me home?”

  “Not yet,” Sam said. The words stuck in her throat. “I want to show you something first.”

  “What is it? Why do I need to wear this?”

  “Because we’re going outside.”

  “Then I can take this off once we’re out?”

  Sam knelt down and put her hands on Jenny’s shoulders. “Under no circumstances are you to take it off. Do you understand?”

  “Why?”

  “We’ll be outside but not like the outside you know. The city is protected by a field of energy called the Shell. It protects us from the rest of the world. We’ll still be inside the Shell.”

  “Kind of like a giant magic bubble.”

  “Yes, exactly. It’s like a giant magic bubble. Nothing can get through it unless we want it to. People, bacteria, viruses, anything dangerous to us is kept out.”

  “Dangerous people like me, and my mom and dad?” Jenny asked.

  “Don’t think of it like that, Jenny. If there was no bubble, then the people inside the city would get very sick. It’s what keeps us alive.”

  She held out her hand for Jenny to take but Jenny just stared at it.

  “What do you do if someone gets sick? Will they die?”

  “Not if we treat them in time. There’s medicine we can give them, but ultimately we rely on the Shell to keep us protected.”

  She seemed satisfied with that answer for a brief moment.

  “Medicines like the kind that made me go to sleep? Like the kind you have in the mush?”

  Sam smiled. “There’s all different kind of medicines here. If you lived here, you would never have to worry about getting sick again.”

  Jenny nodded. “Where are we going?”

  “It’s a special museum. I want you to see it with your own eyes and understand what I’ve been trying to tell you about all of this. See what New Covenant City is really all about.”

  “What’s a moose mum?”

  “A museum is a place that shows us how far we’ve come.”

  Sam looked down the hallway. It was almost too easy. No one was in sight until they rounded the corner and found a guard standing at the exit. Without saying a word, he tipped his head to Sam and they walked past him out into the light of day. If he had even an inkling of what they were doing, he would never have let them pass. Jenny looked back at the guard and then stopped in surprise as soon as they stepped outside.

  “What's wrong?” Sam asked.

  She looked back at Jenny, whose mouth hung open as she looked up at the giant colored buildings all around them. Puffy clouds reflected in the windows of each one. Skyscrapers so high, some of their tops were breaking through those same clouds. Each building a different color and over everything the thin white Shell of light covered the sky.

  “What kind of trees are those inside that building?” Jenny asked.

  Sam looked out on the city she had taken for granted a hundred times.

  “Which building? That one has palm trees; the other one I believe has pines and Sequoias.”

  “They’re huge and so beautiful.”

  Giant videos played along the side of some buildings. On one a father played basketball with his daughter. On another a mother read a tablet to her son. On a third a family was silhouetted by the setting sun as they walked hand in hand. At the bottom of it a tagline read - The New Covenant. Humanity’s Destiny.

  Then a small glowing purple insect flew up to Jenny, and she jumped back as the creature hovered in the air, only to realize it wasn’t an insect at all when it beeped at her.

  She held out her hand and the tiny drone beeped at her again and zipped backward. Jenny let out the first laugh Sam had heard since she had been here.

  “What is that?”

  “A drone.”

  “What does it do?”

  “Tells you things.”

  “Things?”

  “Drone. Show us the way to the Museum of Fat.”

  The little thing squeaked and changed to a blinking purple and moved away from them. Jenny reached out for it again and it shrieked and spun in a circle before a large shadow passed over.

  Sam and Jenny both looked up as a ship floated by and made its way to the building they had just come from. It was twice the size of the others that surrounded it. A huge emerald green tower interspersed with what must have been hundreds of evergreens and aspen inside.

  “Is that what I came here on?” Jenny asked.

  “Yes, it is… Oh. The drone is getting away from us.”

  Jenny looked at the little purple blinking dot waiting for a half a block away. “Thanks, but maybe we should go back. I don’t want to go to the moose mum.”

  Sam frowned. “But you were looking forward to this, and it’s a special museum, Jenny.”

  “No thanks.”

  “Please, Jenny. You don’t understand how much trouble I went through.”

  Jenny looked back toward the huge emerald building they had come from but mid-turn something caught her eye and froze her. It was a domed building a few blocks away that was pulsing through the different colors of the spectrum.

  “It’s the zoo,” said Sam.

  “The zoo?”

  “Yes. Do you know what a zoo is?”

  Jenny shook her head. “I heard stories. I didn’t think they were real. Is it true there are animals there from all over the world?”

  Sam smiled. “Yes. From every continent. Do you want to see it?”

  Jenny bit her lip and looked back at where they had come from. Sam knew this was a chance she would never have again and could see Jenny knew it too, as she looked between the two buildings. If they couldn’t go to the museum, maybe the zoo could help convince this girl. Maybe it could be the straw that broke the camel’s
back, as they used to say.

  “It will be all right,” Sam said and reached out for Jenny’s hand. “There’s nothing to be afraid of. Trust me.”

  Jenny looked back at the emerald tower one last time before she grabbed Sam’s hand and smiled.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  They still held hands as they stood in front of the enormous mirrored dome while mothers, fathers, and children walked up to it hand in hand. The children didn’t run, skip or even pull their parents along. They walked alongside them like miniature adults.

  One boy holding his mother’s hand caught sight of Jenny and pointed toward her. He said something to his mother which caused her to turn toward them, before she picked up speed and jerked her son forward by his arm.

  “Don’t stare,” they heard another mother whisper, as she too pulled her little girl by her arm. “It’s not polite.”

  Jenny looked around and caught others staring at them, too. Grownups who had enough sense to look away when she made eye contact. Perhaps this was a bad idea, but they had come so far already.

  “Why are they staring?” she asked.

  Sam squeezed Jenny’s hand. “It’s okay, Jenny. Forget about them. Let’s go see the animals.”

  As they drew near to the dome, men, women and children disappeared through the sliding glass doors. Right before they went through, Jenny stopped in her tracks and looked up at the huge dome before them.

  "It’s okay,” said Sam. “You don't have anything to be afraid of."

  "It’s not that,” Jenny said. “How does it stay up?"

  “Excuse me,” said a father and son as they brushed past them.

  “Remember. Don’t draw attention,” Sam whispered into Jenny’s ear.

  Jenny nodded, and they watched the father and son that brushed past them move through the sliding doors. Inside they caught a glimpse of a microcosm of the world. A world filled with palm trees, vines, and huge six-foot tall ferns. A large sign that read Welcome to the New Covenant Zoo floated in the air over peoples’ heads. As they entered Jenny reached out to touch the water droplets on a fern, and Sam pulled her hand away.

  “Don't touch anything wet. It will bead on the suit,” she whispered.

  Jenny nodded and as they rounded the corner of the path, a woman’s translucent blue head appeared floating in the air. Jenny clutched Sam’s waist in surprise as another child stared at her. Sam was beginning to question this choice but when she saw the awe in Jenny’s eyes, she couldn’t help but smile. This might work.

  “It’s a hologram,” she said.

  “We’re so happy you could visit us,” said the head. “Please enjoy your time here. Animals from climates all over the world can be found in the New Covenant Zoo. For the safety and security of these animals, please do not run or scream in the zoo. Please also refrain from touching, poking or sitting on any animals and watch where you step. Beyond these doors are seven inner sanctums. Each is a different ecosystem.” A map appeared with a ring for each sanctum, each with a title. The titles read Tropical Rainforest, Wetlands, Temperate Forest, Grassland, Taiga, Tundra, and Desert.

  Sam pulled Jenny along by the hand. “Come on. There isn't much time.” They walked past a huge golden statue of a wolf with its head resting on a lamb, sleeping between its paws. Jenny’s neck craned toward the statue as Sam pulled her through another set of sliding doors. Jets of air blew past them and then they were in the jungle where invisible things croaked and chirped.

  The same woman’s voice spoke to them, but this time there was no hologram.

  “Welcome to the rainforest,” she said. “Our rainforest sanctum contains over five thousand different species of plants and animals. If you would like any information on any of these species you can ask by calling my name. Melissa.”

  As she spoke a large butterfly fluttered through the air and circled around them until it landed on Sam’s head. Jenny couldn’t help but giggle.

  Sam looked up at the creature as it fanned out its large green wings. “I guess someone likes me,” she said. She slid her finger under the creature's feet and moved it off her head down to Jenny’s eye level, as she looked at it.

  “It’s so beautiful,” she said. “I’ve never seen one so big.”

  More families exiting the zoo passed them. They looked straight ahead though, right past them as if Jenny and Sam didn’t exist, but still veered around them as they walked. Then the butterfly fluttered away as one family brushed by them too close. When Sam looked up, she saw Jenny staring at a huge long yellow body resting on a branch. It blinked its eyes at them and its pink tongue slid in and out of its mouth.

  “What is that?” Jenny asked. Her body as straight as a board. “Is it a…”

  “I believe it’s a python,” said Sam. “Do you want to hold it?”

  “Why isn’t it in a cage?” Jenny asked as she looked around, suddenly aware there were no bars in here.

  “There aren’t any, Jenny. They don’t need them. Every creature here has been given the Sacrament. The same one I have been. The same one everyone here has been. The same one you will have if you choose to. There is nothing to fear here.”

  “I want to go,” Jenny whispered.

  Sam got down on one knee and grabbed Jenny’s hands. This time she didn't jerk away.

  “It’s okay. None of the animals here can hurt you. Look…”

  She pointed down the trail and Jenny tensed up even more at the sight of a large gorilla sitting fifty feet down the path. It looked like a statue at first until a mother and father with two small children sat down next to it and the creature shifted on its feet. The family brought their faces only inches from the large primate’s as another tiny purple drone flew up to them, snapped a picture and left.

  One child, a small boy not more than two, screamed, “Gorilla,” and tugged on the creature's fur.

  The animal's eyes glanced down at the boy and looked forward again.

  “Jonathan, no,” his father said and pulled the boy away with tufts of fur still in his little fists. “Don’t do that.”

  The boy flailed his arms and legs trying to touch the ape, his foot kicking it in the shoulder in the process, before the father pulled him further away. “I think it’s time someone had a refreshing,” he said.

  “Excuse me,” said a little girl as she brushed passed Jenny to get a better look at the python. She pressed her face up against the snakes and squealed with delight as its tongue flicked out and tickled her nose.

  “What’s wrong with them?” Jenny asked.

  Sam smiled. "They’re perfectly fine, Jenny, even better than fine, they’ve had the Sacrament. They won’t attack us. They don’t need to eat. Their brains are free from hunger. Free from all those violent instinctual chemicals that once drove them. They can live in harmony with each other and us. The same way everyone in the New Covenant lives with each other."

  “What about water? Don’t they drink?”

  Sam shook her head side to side and whispered, “Everything we need is given to us during sleep. There’s no need to ever ingest anything orally.”

  Jenny shifted on her feet and looked down the path. “Do you ever have to go?”

  “Go where?”

  “To the bathroom?”

  Sam hadn't considered that. What if Jenny had to go? What would they do? Before she could answer the bushes rustled, and they both stepped back to see it was a boy, one not much older than Jenny, the same boy who had pointed her out at the entrance. He stared at her, not saying a word. Jenny couldn’t help but laugh.

  “What’s it like outside the Shell?” he asked.

  “Where’s your mother?” Sam replied.

  As if on cue a woman came jogging down the path. “Phillip,” she called out, skidded on a wet stone, paused and started up again. “Phillip, come here this instant.”

  The boy looked away. His face going red.

  “I’m sorry,” she said. “The boy is too curious.” She smiled at Sam and then it disappeared as she t
urned to Jenny and did a double take.

  “She’s an angel,” Phillip whispered.

  It was the squeak of glass though that made Sam jerk her head around. Her jaw dropped a half inch as she realized what she was staring at. Jenny rubbed her fingers over the invisible suit as condensation clung to her arms, legs, and chest. It was her head though, that was the dead giveaway. As a circular watery halo floated around it. She rubbed her hands over it to wipe it away but just as soon as she did it returned. This was such a stupid idea. How could she bring her here, in this warm, moist environment?

  The mother pulled her son closer to her body. “Why is she in that thing?”

  “It’s fine,” Sam said. “It’s just a field trip.”

  Her eyes widened. “She hasn’t had the Sacrament?”

  “Not yet. She’s perfectly fine. There’s no danger,” she said, finding her voice cracking.

  The mother began to step away from them, pulling her son along with her. “This is why you must always listen to me,” she said and cleared her throat before turning back to Sam. “You should be ashamed of yourself.”

  “What?”

  “Bringing her in here like that with other children in here and these animals... These animals.. What if she ate one?”

  Sam shook her head. “I’m sorry. We’ll just be going.”

  She reached out for Jenny’s hand but Jenny stepped away.

  “Come on. Let’s go,” Sam said.

  Jenny took another step backward.

  “What if there was a tear in her suit?” the woman asked over her shoulder. “She’s ingested who knows how much contaminated, decayed plant and animal matter with that mouth? Defecating daily and then spreading those germs to the same hands she eats with.”

  Sam twisted her body back around toward the woman. “The suit won’t tear and her hygiene is fine,” she said, “and there is no danger to your family. She’s just a girl who wanted to see animals. Just like your son. Now if you would let us be, we won’t bother you anymore.”