Just look at her. She’s so obsessed with Hologis that she can’t even stay focused on a tour. And tonight, she wore that oh-so-extravagant dress for nothing. It was probably the most expensive dress in the room, and she wasted it.

Glacia’s words twist inside my head, about how Ladia won’t want me if I keep acting like this. Like what? I’ve worked so hard to be where I am. Ladia will be proud. And Glacia said she wanted to be friends? We’ve known each other for four years. She’s always been the same, making me feel awkward, and somehow doesn’t get why I’m avoiding her. Now she’s telling me to smile. Smile? Anyone can smile. She acts like it’s some big deal. If you ask me, she smiles way too much. She’s happy about everything. What do I have to be happy about? My father is dead. The girl I love is fifteen light-years away. My friends ditched me. My sisters and mother aren’t here. I have the Embassy and Ladia. Nothing else.

And Glacia wants me to smile?

Here, I’ll do it. She doesn’t have to know. I curl my lips. Pull my cheeks back. Clamp my teeth over each other. Adjust my chin.

No. I’m not smiling. I’m lying on a bed looking stupid. Smiles shouldn’t be so clunky. How did I sink so low? Pathetic.

Fine. So what? I’m not in the mood to smile anyway. I’ll smile when I see Ladia because I’ll actually be happy.

The next morning, we begin training for our permanent assignments. Lucas gives us a tour of Shield Tower, and—thankfully—Glacia doesn’t act ridiculous. We manage to finish the tour without starting a tower-wide Hologis tournament.

We’re forced to sit through assemblies. One was a complete waste of time because it was just a big history lesson and I already know all that stuff. I know how the Program began and when each of the three branches was founded.

I want to see the cool stuff.

The third day starts the same as the second, but Horizon Tower turns out to be much less strict about what we’re allowed to see. Compared to Shield and Threshold, Horizon is so…high-tech. Gone are the offices and lines of people winding through the room. In their stead are maps and images and words scrolling along thin panels in the walls. One workstation has a live video feed of Horizon’s southeastern outpost, as seen from the top of the Crown, miles away. On the same workstation is another video feed from inside the outpost. Square factories make up most of the outpost, and a launch pad stands in the center, probably for Undil’s satellites.