Alice’s Order

By Nathalie De Los Santos

In 2140, Alice is a sixteen-year-old girl and genius. She became a weapon developer after her sister, Dawn, was killed in an Empyrean terrorist attack. Alice then rises up against the Empyreans, who are executed when their psychic abilities are identified. She creates the robot Neutralizers that perform and automate these “ethical cleansings.” But Alice soon meets a friend who changes her perspective on the attack. A benevolent, peaceful activist who was friends with Dawn, Lawrence advocates for the rights of Empyreans. As Lawrence is persecuted for his peaceful activism and Alice witnesses the oppression of her government firsthand, the fabric of everything she fought for is unravelled.
Torn between the left and the right—somewhere in between—Alice’s coming-of-age story is about trying to find her place in a technocratic world where information and truth are distorted at every turn. Who she becomes in order to fight back against the altered truth is not the hero she expected.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Nathalie De Los Santos
• Release date: Mar 8, 2020
• ISBN: 9798622861949

Book preview

sister.

Part One

One

February 2nd

When Alice walked through the locker room, others turned their heads. She had observant, piercing eyes—the color of a blue morpho butterfly. Her round porcelain face was child-like; her button nose popped out; her long luxuriant buttery-blonde hair flowed, hiding her swan-like neck. By default, her expression seemed reserved, pretentious, and calm for a sixteen-year-old girl.

Alice undressed under a towel, clutching the front tightly that the flannel felt rough in her hand. A girl started to peel off her clothing next to her, stark naked and Alice glanced at her wide-eyed for a moment. No one wants to see any of that, Alice thought. Before the girl could catch her judgement, Alice quickly slid into her swimsuit and let go of her towel in with perfect grace, fully dressed for her swim competition. The girl looked at her as Alice pulled her towel off and in folded it in a single, sweeping motion in pleasant awe.

In the pool, each time she dove into the water, the muted sound beneath the surface brought a calmness to her heart. The pressure she worked against under water forced the world to slow itself as she went fast toward her goal. When she emerged, chlorinated water stung her eyes, the liquid popped out of her ears, and she saw she had come in second. Her heart sank and she sunk in the water instead of letting out a deep defeated noise.

Alice noticed her sister Dawn in the bleachers cheering when she finally emerged from the water. Dawn was tall with tan skin, bathed in shimmery powder, and had glittering cerulean-blue eyes. Dawn resembled Alice in many ways physically, but she was not reserved like Alice. A smile always marked her face. Dawn wore a brown tank top, floral shorts, a Confederate flag scarf wrapped around her neck, and purple canvas shoes. Dawn held up a crudely drawn sign with a cartoon version of her. Alice didn’t acknowledge her sister out of embarrassment.

You love it, you little priss! Dawn cackled.

A volunteer came over and placed the medal over her head. Come take a photo.

Alice stood with the first- and third-place winners, and the three girls smiled at the drone camera. The girl who won first place turned to say something to Alice, but Alice made for the change room as soon as the photo was taken.

Good job! Another girl beamed at her in the change room.

Despite the shower of praises, Alice kept a scowl on her face. She’d win next time, second wasn’t good enough. The praises seemed like insults to her. Alice showered, dressed, and met her sister outside who trying to call their brother.

Why isn’t Cyrus answering? Dawn sighed, looking at her watch in frustration. She tapped once into her watch. The home screen displayed balls of her applications. She pressed the message icon of a shaking envelope, which had zero notifications associated with it currently. As soon as Dawn dropped her wrist by her side, the watch’s display faded to black.

Alice didn’t have it in her to express disappointment anymore, but she wished her older brother Cyrus had seen her success. Dawn and Alice walked down the street, Enforcer guards awkwardly brushing past, clanking around.

Let’s party! Dawn offered.

Alice shook her head.

Oh, come on.

I didn’t win, Dawn.

Is someone a sore loser?

Dawn adjusted the collar of Alice’s polo and beamed. Her sister kissed her forehead.

I kinda hope wherever mom and dad are, they can see what I did, Alice mumbled.

Dawn hugged her a little tighter, You were dad’s favorite.

Alice drew away from Dawn and looked at her sister seriously. What happened to them Dawn?

It might take years to find them, Alice, if they’re still alive.

A silence passed between them and Alice lowered her head. She was so young when they vanished, so the question always invoked an emptiness than a solid emotion. They descended a set of cracked steps, hearing the train echo in the distance down the hallway.

Where are we going? Alice inquired.

We’re gonna take a detour. Solus’s at the next stop. His band is in town!

Dawn started to sing when they sat down on the warm plastic seats. Alice noticed someone recording her wonderful voice. She sang Heart-Shaped Box by Nirvana, a song from the Old World, the world before the war. Alice peered over Dawn’s shoulder and saw that she messaged her friend that they were on the train.

Alice saw her friend’s response pop up online:

Solus: I’ll just get on the next train then, stay there. Anthony tagged along.

Dawn looked around at the next stop. She saw her friends a couple trains down. Alice tried to see where Dawn was waving, saw a tall black man and a skinny, dark haired boy ahead wave back. Two cloaked men entered their train at the last moment. One glanced at a man with a large suitcase, which began to drift in the air and then flew and bashed into a woman’s head across from him. Her friend screamed. The other cloaked man brandished a knife, which floated out of his hand and toward another young man’s chest. Dawn panicked and rose. Alice took a moment to process.

Dawn? Alice turned to catch up with her. Don’t leave me!

You’ve killed our family, our brothers! one of the cloaked men shouted.

Death to Confederates!

Lost at every pause, Alice ran down the train and bumped against the side of a man, but he did not budge. Alice glanced at him as he was recording the scene with his watch.

Dawn! Alice cried around this useless man.

The man heard her and moved out of the way. Alice ran as fast as she could toward her sister. Shattered window pieces flew into the air around Alice. She shielded her face, thankfully only getting a few scratches on her arms. Alice saw Dawn’s bloody footprint and used it as a guide.

Dawn!

Alice ran down the train into the other compartment, pushing past people shoving their way out the door. Alice slipped on blood, almost falling face first, but balanced herself by leaning backwards. She saw her sister up ahead, glancing around frantically. A man approached Dawn from behind: an older gnarled man with a bald head and a black beard. His eyes burned into her.

Scum like you need to be erased from the earth. Trash.

Alice felt like everything froze in time except for the man sinking the knife into Dawn’s flesh over and over. Her time-lapse of horror.

Tears gushed out of Alice’s eyes. She didn’t realize she had screamed. Her heart pounded with a vengeance. The medal in her hand dropped and bounced at her feet. In her mind, she heard the hum of a somber voice echoing. Was this a song Dawn had listened to? A man’s voice hummed a haunting elegy to her, but which song was this? An Old World song?

Her sister’s murderer approached Alice. He held the knife up and it floated by his ear. The knife hurled itself at her, but its trajectory oddly changed just as she flinched and cowered. The knife fell to her feet. She looked at the assailant and felt a white, hot anger suddenly take her. The man took a step forward and with every fiber of her being, she screamed out no. In an instant, the background behind the man bent and twisted inward and the man was thrown back within an impossible speed. In the blink of an eye, she saw the man both inside and outside the train, blood gushing from open wounds, wherever he made contact with the wall. The train had suffered minimum damage and the man was fused into fabric of the metal, stuck halfway.

The Enforcers clamored in, too slow to push through the crowd and the traffic in the area. Alice stood, blank, eyes wide as saucers but unresponsive to the chaos around her. She stood at the center of her own time-lapse, as the chaos of the scene flooded around her. The silence her mind afforded her brought her to a strange calm. She did not notice at first someone standing behind her until he put his hand on her shoulder.

With a very affirming voice, the man said, Hey, let’s get out of here.

As he pulled her away from the scene, Alice looked back at the man fused into the wall, her sister lying on the ground, blooming red around her. The sound was slowly trickling back into her ears. She felt the man’s hand squeeze hers and tug her along.

I’m going to get you to the medics. When she didn’t respond, he continued, Just look at my shoes okay? Look at my shoes.

She glanced at his skater shoes, the fabric frayed and the soles marked with skid marks, red with black laces. He sat her on the bench and she kept her eyes on one fraying shoelace, greyed by dirt. The paramedics came. As they circled around her, Alice looked at the man who had helped her. He had long dark hair, a mess of bangs and cut just at his neck, his eyes were grey like a coming storm. He was one of the boys Dawn had waved at and now that Alice looked at him, he was the singer that she sometimes saw on Dawn’s stream. Solus. She opened her lips to say something, but as soon as the paramedics began to ask her questions, she could not get a word in. Behind him, she saw the other paramedics rush into the stopped train. She did not want to see them zip up Dawn in their black bag. Her throat constricted, and she felt as if she would choke. The steps between faded into a dark place in her memory. Alice sat at the Enforcer station, unaware of time, in a room with frosted glass panels all around. Anger replaced her sadness.

An Enforcer approached her. Thirteen has claimed responsibility for the attack. Can you confirm this, Miss Winder?

Why didn’t you come sooner? Alice demanded, indignant.

Miss Winder. We need to know who’s responsible for this.

Alice knew Thirteen was the group of Empyreans, psychic terrorists that did things like this. Before she could answer, a guard opened the door. An older man walked in, with grey hair and dark eyes. She could see the veins beneath his transparent skin, his hands worn with age. He wore all white, his cuff links lined with gold, and his uniform marked with golden embroidery. Alice recognized him – her father’s boss from many years ago, but she could not remember his name. She noticed the Enforcer salute and stand at attention.

Hello, Alice. Do you remember me? He greeted her.

My father worked for you. She answered.

My name is Ramsey, Ramsey Schizer. He knelt so he met her gaze. No human could fuse a man to the wall. That’s what you saw right?

Alice nodded, but then felt tears slide out of her eyes. She didn’t want to remember.

Ramsey circled her, looked at her carefully, Who summoned that kind of power, Alice?

I don’t know, she said, weakly.

He gestured to the Enforcer behind him, who turned and left. Alice felt her spine straighten so suddenly, she felt a muscle pull by her ribs. She was frightened. Was she in trouble?

You can avenge your sister when you find the fight inside of you.

Alice stared at him blankly, and he gave her a cordial smile. He rose and placed his hand on her shoulder.

Your father served me, and you can serve me, your country and stop the monsters who were behind your sister’s death.

There was nothing inside of her, let alone a response. As Ramsey left her, Alice stared into the wall, watched the silhouettes of the officers pass the frosted windows. After an hour, an officer took her home. When Alice came home, her brother sat on the couch without any expression, staring into space. Her brother was a tall young man, with chestnut brown hair, slender with bright eyes like hers. He was stylishly dressed in a navy-grey suit which contrasted with his pale skin.

Why wasn’t he upset? Where were his tears? He sat there without any expression, staring off into space, not talking to her. Where were the words of consolation, of care?

Why didn’t you come? Alice demanded.

Cyrus said nothing. Alice began to weep again.

Hey, he rose. He gave her some tissues. Here.

She didn’t want the damn tissues. Cyrus tried to give her water. Alice huffed and turned away, angry. Her energy seemed to trigger his. His anger was marked, and he nearly slammed the glass on the counter. He turned and went down the pathway.

Cyrus locked himself in his room. Alice couldn’t believe him. She went down the hall to slam on his door, but as soon as she came close to it, she could hear his sharp breaths.

Cyrus… Alice placed her hand on the door, feeling the same loneliness he made her feel all the time. Why didn’t you answer her messages? Alice fell to her knees, shaking with rage, tears hitting the ground. Her words usually bounced off him, but she did not know that they didn’t this time. Maybe if you came, she wouldn’t be… she, she… Alice couldn’t find the rest of her sentence, only felt her blinding anger.

Alice went into the living room. She sat on the red loveseat. She stared at the charred wood in the black fireplace. She started to cry in little breaths. Alice waited for Dawn to emerge from her room and rummage around the refrigerator. Anything besides this. Alice’s sobs filled every inch of space. Her indignant screams cut all of what held Cyrus together in his solitude.

Two

The Muse

Alice. Dawn put on a fruity voice as she held a monkey doll, wagging it in front of a six-year-old Alice.

Alice sniggered and tried to snatch the monkey. Her peewee arms went around the doll, her hands unable to touch. Aw, I’d love a hug. Dawn bunched the monkey against Alice’s chest.

Her brother, Cyrus, crouched in the corner with a visor, enclosed by haphazard cans of Go! Go! Juice. He twisted his arms into what looked like interpretive dancing from the outside, but he was fighting invisible monsters in his game. The game was called Go! Go!, which the juice was named after. Alice could hear the chatter in his headset. He was a brown-haired seventeen-year-old boy with a goofy grin that countered his intensely focused, icy eyes. His spindly knuckles were a rosy red, and he was slender—veins bulging out of his skinny arms.

Pepper them! Awesome! The voice was canned by the output of Cyrus’s headset.

Nerds. Dawn paused from painting a beautiful oak tree.

Can I play? Alice walked over.

Yeah, right. Cyrus made a Z-pose with his arms and squatted.

Final attack: shit your pants. Dawn went back to her painting.

What’s shit? Alice asked.

That’s a word only I use, Dawn replied, embarrassed. Dawn took out her tablet and viewed Cyrus’s stream. How much money are you making from ads?

I dunno—ultimate attack! Cyrus shouted and sprung into a mountain pose, feet hip-width apart with his arms raised, emitting the stupidest groan that left Dawn laughing hysterically.

Dawn picked up a juice can and glanced at the ugly orange font sprawled across the aluminum: Go! Go! Juice. Dawn mocked Cyrus in an adenoidal voice, adding snorts along the way, My name is Cyrus Isaac Winder and I smell like a den of farts.

Who wants to buy a stupid painting of a tree?

Dawn pulled out her own visor from under her bed. The helmet was turquoise, dotted with red, blue, green, and yellow polka dots. She flapped her arms around and stood on one leg.

You can’t join! Cyrus hollered.

Look, I got a donation of one thousand dollars.

Do you even see the comment? It says nice boobs.

Doesn’t mean I didn’t make any money!

Stupid, filthy, casual, thumbnail-boob imitating—

Dawn poked him in the ribs and Alice caught Cyrus’s smile despite his frustration.

Alice looked at the tablet of Cyrus’s stream. He was jumping up in the air in a mech suit, peppering bullets at his opponents. Millions of comments swarmed the left side of the screen in green text. Commentators roared in the chat to the right in panels overlaid in Cyrus’ stream—boys with headsets and microphones. She watched him, in-game, leap in the air while his mech turned in a circle, raining hellfire on his enemies and she let out a small Wow.

Dr. Winder entered the room and eyed Cyrus disapprovingly. The two looked strikingly similar, only differing in age. Dr. Winder had bristly gray hair, a craggy face that bore high cheekbones, and beady blue eyes. His bony fingers were gnarled with gray hairs. He wore a stainless-steel ring with an engraving on it on his right hand. He wore all black: a sweater, dress pants, and pointed brogue shoes. He radiated an air of severity that extended inwards. His expression only turned warm when he glimpsed at Alice.

Alice. He outstretched his hand to her.

Alice took her father’s hand. To the left, outside the children’s quarters, was an outdoor path. Each compartment of the house was its own building. Behind the children’s room, down a straight gravel path, was the master bedroom. They turned to the left, into an opening of the spiral wall, to enter the central gardens of the house, which every quarter had a view of. A giant willow tree stood in one corner. In the center, there was a circular pool like an iris. Alice hoped they’d play with his drones again, but he sat her by the edge of the pool.

Would you like to hear a story, Alice?

She nodded, sitting closer to him. She beamed up at him and he smiled, though he gave her a thousand-yard stare. He took her little hands into his old, worn ones.

Once upon a time, there was a magnificent Princess. Eyes like a coming storm, she was cunning and brave. She came from the Kingdom of Flowers, her symbol was the Narcissus. Dr. Winder pulled from his pocket a dried narcissus and placed it into Alice’s hands. She touched the petals and let out a wow. Do you know that once flowers were very rare, Alice? Now they grow in abundance. She would have loved to see this. Alice waved her gift excitedly and Dr. Winder smiled. He continued. This Princess could sense the earth was dying, sucked of its life. But the world did not care. There was a great beast disguised as a man who had the power to reset the universe. He did this because he did not want the cosmos to die in a cold or fiery death. So over and over he did this when the seas became deserts, the nutrients in our soil turned to dust and the sun disappeared behind a cloud of ash. Those who were unhappy with the earth, their lives and their fates turned towards him, as he would promise them something significant in the next cycle. The Princess could see the Beast inside this man. The Princess rose up against this man, but the man went after her family. One by one, each fell in battle until she was left. Before she went to fight her final fight, she sent the last child of the family to safety…

Dr. Winder trailed off. Alice glanced up at her father, saw tears in the corners of his eyes. Fear.

Dad? She reached up at his sleeve.

Dr. Winder wiped away his tears and embraced her. What do you want to do today?

You said you’d teach me how to fly your drones. Alice reminded him.

Right. Come, I’ll show you.

Her father and her childhood memories vanished as soon as her body was bathed in the bright, white light of the hallway. Alice hid under her blanket as Cyrus approached her.

Go away, she could barely speak without the snot escaping her nostrils.

Cyrus sat and the bed let out an exhale. He placed his hand on her back. She felt him lay his head down on her back and she felt his tears through her blanket, through her shirt, and then felt his shaking. She heard him mumbling but couldn’t hear. She turned, slightly lifting her blanket off her head.

She caught the last bit of his words, I’m too afraid to go…

He sat up as she did, and the two locked identical eyes. He faltered and stared into his lap, his tears hitting his thighs.

Afraid of what? Alice asked, quietly.

To go identify her. Cyrus’s voice cracked at his last word.

Her anger washed away into shame. She wanted to take back her words of anger towards him, to erase the rage she put out into the world as if it never existed.

I’m sorry, Alice.

She didn’t respond immediately. He wiped away his tears and rose. She took his hand.

She managed to smile, Do you remember when you took me and Dawn to Sanisco?

Of course.

She patted the bedsheet, gestured him to sit. A genuine smile marked his face briefly before he sunk into her lap and she held his head as she mumbled her memories.

Three

Trust Engineers

Alice was six when she first went to Sanisco with her teenage siblings. When Cyrus, Dawn and Alice arrived at the airport, they strolled with guards behind them down a concrete walkway. Cyrus plugged his visor into an external battery. Dawn hummed a tune. Inside, they walked onto a shiny, smooth floor that reflected the lights above them that were nestled between industrial metal support beams. People traversed by sitting atop their self-rolling luggage. The three siblings walked to the check-in, weaving between the luggage-riders. Cyrus typed the flight information into the kiosk, annoyed by the lag between tapping the screen and the computer’s reaction. They had all forgotten what a spinning colored progress wheel meant.

Come on, this is 2085. Cyrus’s taps were more frequent, though the result was the same.

The kiosk opened beneath the screen and they slid their baggage into the chute. The door took a while to close and Cyrus fake kicked the machine.

Today, I’m going to the west coast, down to Sanisco to go to SECOND SIGHT’s headquarters, Cyrus said to his followers, and circled around in one spot to give them a panorama of the airport.

Out of nowhere, people appeared in seconds to take pictures of him.

Cyrus! a girl cried hysterically.

Whoa… Cyrus smiled and gave everyone high fives.

Even through the scanners, the officer laughed when Cyrus placed his visor into the conveyor. I love your channel. The TSA officer smiled at Cyrus. Hello, girls.

The trio went to their gate and proceeded into the entryway. Alice looked at the little windows in the entryway and saw the shaft of the rocket towering above them on the runway. On the rocket, all passengers were dressed in space suits.

Did you know this flight would have taken almost seven hours with old technology? Dawn adjusted Alice’s helmet.

What would you do for seven hours? Alice inquired.

God knows. Dawn laughed. It sounds horrible.

Alice had never gone to space, but the flight was unremarkable: it only took about five minutes to get settled, launch, and land. The stars they briefly saw blurred like a long exposure photo ruined by movement in a camera.

When they landed back on earth in Sanisco, Cyrus helped Alice out of her space suit.

Was that fun? Cyrus asked.

She shook her head and yawned.

Savage, Alice. Cyrus frowned, crossing his arms.

Come on. Our luggage is on belt seven. Dawn waved at them.

---

The SECOND SIGHT headquarters was made up of a grid of white streets between a series of buildings. People zipped down them on pedal bikes. It resembled a university campus. The buildings were neon pink, sea blue, and green, with a yellow stripe.

Check it out, you guys! Cyrus looked up to the sky with his visor.

Alice moved out of the way as a woman pedaled past her. The woman had VR goggles on, which quietly said, Seven-point-five miles, three hundred fifty calories. Your trip is ending. Your trip has ended! Good job! Would you like to post to SECOND SIGHT? The app would like to receive your profile, contacts, date of birth.

The central building was wrapped in glass windows with rectangular panels in blue, red, and yellow glass that varied chaotically in their placement and size. As soon as Alice and her siblings