The hovercraft hums to life. Moments later, it sinks underground and drifts through a tunnel, then stops and rises straight up. Daylight brightens the cabin, forcing some people to close their window panels.

Up we go, above the city, the glassy towers and grassy parks and lines of streets. The forest comes into view. It wraps around the rear of the Embassy, its thick orange canopy hiding whatever lies within. Flocks of birds soar over the trees. Some dive inside, while others ride the wind higher into the sky, above the tops of the towers, even higher than the hovercrafts.

The Embassy shrinks and becomes a glassy strip within the forest and field. Once we’re higher than the city, the hovercraft rotates and zooms southeast toward the sun, which is already halfway to its peak. As we leave the Embassy behind, Belvun itself takes over. A river sparkles between the trees, a valley dips between two rocky hills, and hazy gray mountains with white peaks loom in the distance, some of them hundreds of miles away.

The light pink sky sweeps from horizon to horizon. Our hovercraft climbs toward it, higher and higher, until suddenly a thick fog bursts into view and blocks out the world. A cloud, I realize, and we’re passing right through it. Then it thins again, and I feel my mouth drop open: all I can see for miles are rolling clouds bathed pink and orange all the way to the reddish horizon.

“You’re from Undil, aren’t you?”

I look at the woman next to me. An amused smile plays across her lips.

“Yeah, we got here yesterday,” I tell her.

“Are you a new Recruit?”

“Yeah.”

“What did you get on your Placement Report?”

“A hundred.”

She lifts her eyebrows, impressed, and touches her husband’s wrist. “This young man got a perfect score on Undil’s Report.”

He leans forward and peers at me through his reading glasses. “Congrats. That’s something to be proud of, that is.”

“Thanks,” I say.

He scratches his chin and goes back to reading while his wife massages the back of his shoulder.

“Harry and I used to live in Ellaciss City,” she tells me. “We moved to Subari once the desert started causing problems. And a good thing we did, too. Ellaciss City was overrun not long after we left it.” Her eyes droop, and her smile falls into a sad frown. “By the looks of things, Subari will go the same way sooner or later.”

Her husband grunts. “Might’ve been easier if we had just gone down with Ellaciss, Marie. Certainly would have been better than dealing with this mess.”

“Oh, don’t say that.”

He grunts again.

“Do you have family in the Program?” the woman asks me.

“Um, used to,” I say. “I have younger sisters who will probably join, though.”

“Well I wish them the best. Undil’s always had a promising Embassy.”