The Mothership split into two rooms on the inside. To the left held the main floor and the stage. Tara's projection was on the main screen and currently in a pre-event loop, lighting rigs had been installed over the old theatrical infrastructure like a second skeleton. The walls still had the old velvet treatments. The balcony rail still had the original wood. Everything old had been kept and completely covered, which was a different thing from renovation and a different thing from preservation and was in fact its own category that didn't have a nice name yet.
Outside, cameras had been banned.
Inside, lenses were everywhere.
Drones in the upper air, fixed lenses on the balcony rail, documentary units on articulated arms along the side walls, and what appeared to be ambient biological monitoring arrays built into the seat backs. Every angle owned. Every moment logged.
The employee had led them to a seat in the third row right next to the walkway. It was a great seat, which immediately made Mom suspicious. The sightline from the chair covered the full main floor, the secondary entrance from the service corridor on the right, and the press enclosure along the left wall.
"Refreshments will be brought to you shortly. Please let me know if there's anything you need." The employee moved away before either of them could respond.
Mom sat down. "Someone put us here. This seat gives us full view of the most important people and the full press enclosure." She pointed to the left and whispered. "That's Deven Holt right over there."
"Who?" Nina wasn't sure what to think. "Do you think Calderon's people might be in the press enclosure?"
Mom looked at the stage. The pre-event loop had shifted to a slow montage of Tara against various backdrops—a coastal bluff, a server room rendered to look like a cathedral, a white studio that contained nothing except Tara and a chair and the suggestion of infinity. Each image held for four seconds before dissolving. The Lattice collar at her throat appeared in every frame, shimmering.
"Calderon would have put us in the back I think," Mom said. "Away from the press lane. Somewhere we could watch without being seen. This is the opposite of that."
They sat with that for a moment.
"Then who has access to an NLT guest list and a reason to put two women from the collective in priority seating at a Tara Venn event?" Nina wondered out loud.
"I'm not sure, but at least we're dressed for it."
A young man appeared at Mom's elbow. "Complimentary welcome service," he said, presenting two tall glasses with liquid the color of a sunset. A single diamond ice cube floated in each one, and each came with a small printed card that insisted all ingredients were harvested ethically.
Both women held their glasses without drinking them, watching the others file in.
The seats to their left filled first.
A young man in a corporate jacket and gold-bordered Deliverance lanyard sat next to Nina. He looked at the stage for a few seconds before he looked at Nina instead, which was the more interesting view. The decade may change, but one thing remains the same: an alt girl will always bake the brains of a corporate drone.
Nina caught him looking.
She turned and smiled at him, baring her decorated fangs. Blue now, and under this lighting the crystal really shined through.
"Hi," he said.
"Hi," Nina purred at him.
"First time here?"
"Is it that obvious?"
"No, it's just that—" He recalibrated. "I mean I haven't seen you at any of these previous events. I think I would have remembered." He looked her up and down quickly.
"Have you been to a lot of these?"
"A few." He adjusted his jacket lapel. "Deliverance. Infrastructure and Logistics." He offered his hand for a shake, proud to share he worked for the second most powerful entity in the room with someone he had assumed was his peer. "We handle the physical side of what New Life promises. You've heard of Malachi Houston?"
She took his hand into hers for a moment. "The company that owns the Ladder. Hard not to know, you can see it from here," Nina replied.
"Tara is the proof of concept for us. She will be the first to move to Halo, but the second and third will move in right after. A whole quarter is up there and ready. That's what we will be getting a peek of tonight. I handled the orbital delivery personally." He beamed. "It's a fully sovereign state. The first of its kind in the Inner Van Allen Belt."
"Who else is moving there? Do you know?" Nina smoothed out her dress.
"New Life is moving press in for the new show that launches with New Life Live. Eternal Tara. They want to give it a retro feel instead of drone footage. The press is part of the show. Apparently, they have some interesting and very surprising names."
"Are you moving there?" Nina asked.
"No, I don't make enough for the fees." He replied. "I hope to retire there, some day."
"Sounds nice." Nina lies like no other, crossing her legs and leaning into his direction. "So if one found themselves in Ascension next week, what would they need to have to get close to this?"
He reached into his breast pocket and pulled out a slim, matte-black cardcase. "Well, you can't just walk up to the Ladder. But Deliverance runs logistics."
He slid two physical, gold-stamped plastic strips from the case and tucked them into Nina's hand, his fingers lingering just a second too long. "Those are contractor RFID patches. Pop them on your collar. That will get you right past the perimeter security lines." He gave her a smug, conspiratorial wink. "Consider it an early welcome to the upper atmosphere. You have to promise to look me up when you get there, though." He held out his pinky.
Nina's smile didn't falter as one hand closed tightly over the plastic strips. "I always keep my promises." She linked her pinky into his.
All of a sudden the stage blazed white.
Tara appeared and the crowd lost its mind.