Page 73 of The Mentor
Christina and Boulder had wanted to come with us, but just like Magni, Boulder had been banned from entering the Motherlands; in the end, he and Christina stayed back while Finn, Marco, and I went with Kya and Shelly.
With another volley of Pearl’s warnings about keeping the boys on a short leash, we left the school at four AM on Saturday morning to avoid anyone seeing the girls.
Khan had arranged for a military drone to pick us up and take us to the border. It was designed to transport battalions of soldiers and easily fit all twenty-five of us.
Our first overnight stop was in a city called Old Angeles. The place was enormous, with more than three hundred thousand people living there. That made it slightly bigger than our capital, Freeman, which I rarely visited because I found it too crowded for my taste. We Nmen preferred space and nature around us.
Yet, Old Angeles was very different from Freeman and I was surprised at how green everything was. Not only did they have lots of trees and parks, they also grew gardens on the house façades.
“We call it urban gardening,” Kya explained. “It improves the air quality while supplying us with vegetables, fruits, and herbs.”
“I like it,” I told her and was especially impressed with the way some of the colors of the gardens created beautiful patterns.
“How do they water them?” I asked and leaned my head back to see the plants at the top of the building.
“They’re all set up with irrigation systems.”
“Okay, but then how do they get to them when they want to collect the fruit and vegetables?”
Kya showed me the clever system that made it possible to rotate the beds. “It’s always two rows connected, and when one side goes down the other goes up. With most buildings, it’s easy, as all you have to do is push a button.”
Khan wasn’t the only one who had spread the news with the press. The council in the Motherlands had done the same and the moment we arrived, members of the press corps were ready to document our visit.
Curious glances met us everywhere we went, but only a few people dared approach us. It wasn’t uncommon to see people move to the other side of the street and watch us nervously.
Two guides joined our group. Cindy and Varna were our trained mediators, which I suppose was the closest thing the Motherlands had to law enforcement. They seemed friendly and excited about the task.
Before we left the Northlands, Kya had suggested that Finn, Marco, and I should all shave, but we weren’t trying to hide who we were and this wasn’t an undercover operation, so we didn’t.
The only thing we did agree to was to leave any clothing made out of leather back in the Northlands. Killing animals was considered a crime in the Motherlands and there was no reason to provoke them.
It soon became clear that the women had arranged for a busy schedule for our group. On our first night, we went out to a restaurant called The Happy Cow.
“This is one of the few places that serves real meat,” Kya explained as the servants showed us to two large tables.
“What do you mean they serve real meat? I thought you were all vegan?”
“That’s true, but when you live in the Motherlands you don’t have a choice. You are either a vegetarian or you’re a criminal. At least that’s how it was until a few years ago.” Kya got distracted when she saw that the boys and the girls separated themselves at two tables. “No, I want you to mix a little,” she instructed and followed up with a direct message to Nero. “It won’t kill you to sit next to a girl for a change.”
“You were talking about something that happened a few years ago,” I reminded her.
“Yes, there’s always been a group advocating for the consumption of meat, and you know how a lot of technology and science from before the Toxic War has been lost?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Well, they found a technique from the twenty-first century where you don’t have to kill the animals to get their meat, and now we have a small industry that we call cellular agriculture.”
“How do you not have to kill the animal if you want to eat meat?” I asked and smiled at the young waiters who were bringing bowls to the table with shaky hands.
“We call it cultured meat and it’s a little too technical for me to explain, but it’s something about the farmers taking tissue from the animal’s muscles and then using the stem cells to grow the meat.”
“What is this?” Marco picked up a small sphere from the bowl.
“It’s water,” Shelly told him. “Just peel it and put it in your mouth.”
With a small tilt of his head, Marco did as she told him and his eyes expanded before he swallowed. “That is so cool.” As he used his finger to prod at the little bubbles in the bowl, his excitement rose. “How come they don’t break?”
“The outer layer is made of an algae extract, and not only does it keep the water clean but it also keeps the bubble from bursting. That’s why you want to peel it before putting it into your mouth. You know, in case someone touched it.”
