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Not knowing what I should do, I sat on the bed and waited.
Sure enough, the commander eventually appeared. Grim of countenance, he barked, “Why are you naked? Where are your clothes?”
“In the recycler. I’m waiting for their return.”
“Put something different on.”
I blinked.
He sighed. “You don’t know where to find anything, do you?”
I shook my head. “In the habitat, clothing is provided after cleansing.”
“Here, it’s stored in either a dresser or the closet.” He laid his hand on the wall, and a section slid open to reveal a tiny chamber. “There’s not much in here yet. Serena had a few things sent over until you can shop for yourself and decide on a style.”
I approached the rack of garments with incredulity. The gown I’d worn that morning had been white. Many of the items in the closet also gleamed white, but others were in his reds. “Who do these belong to?” I asked, stroking the velvety softness of the dark red garments.
“They’re yours. You don’t have to wear white when you’re in the apartment. Only when you leave it.”
Wear another hue?
He tugged free a tunic of dark red and matching pants. “Try this.”
Rather than take them, I stared up at him. “I need to learn more about surface customs and laws.”
“Perhaps you should have read a book instead of starting a fire.”
“What is a book?”
“I forgot. You can’t read. Put this on while I work on something.” He thrust the clothes at me and left.
I rather enjoyed the softness of them and the fact they covered my legs. When I emerged from my cubicle, it was to see the machines still hard at work cleaning the damage I’d wrought, while the commander paced, speaking aloud, “I want it delivered today.”
He stopped speaking and whirled to face me. He tapped the side of his head and then addressed me. “We’ll be receiving a learning device shortly. But before it arrives, I need to ask you about the terrorists you encountered on your way to the Consulate.”
“Oh, what about them?” My heart raced as I recalled what Silas had asked me to do. Say nothing. A simple request, so why did I feel bad about it?
“Despite them disabling surveillance, we know two got away. We’re trying to locate them before they attack again.”
“Why did they attack that place with the tubes?” I diverted.
“To cause havoc on the surface. It’s one of our recycling centers.”
“For water?”
“Waste in general. It repurposes it so we’re not taxing the surface unduly.”
Which led to me asking, “Why do the Grays live in the Caves, but other colors don’t?”
The question thinned his lips. “Because we needed a way for the world to function without killing it due to overpopulation.” At my puzzled look, he added, “We used to have an excess of people on the surface, and even when the contaminated oceans suddenly flooded the surface, we tried to save too many. In the process, humanity squandered almost all the remaining resources. The world almost died from being overextended. To save it, decisions, hard ones, had to be made. The color caste system emerged as a part of that.”
“How are colors decided?”
“Genetics. Aptitude. Health. Attitude.” He shrugged. “A variety of things go into the calculation.”
“Does everyone start out as a Gray?”
He shook his head. “Children who are properly bred are born to their color. Those that aren’t are placed in special facilities until they develop and show where they belong. Those that never present are classed as Grays.”
