Terranovus
Chapter XVI - The Dinner Party (Part 1)

I had never seen my parents so happy yet disappointed at the same time. My mum reprimanded me for hitting Ava whilst Dad praised my architectural skills and claimed his engineering background must have rubbed off on me. They considered grounding me but remembered the Mayor’s dinner (which they were invited to as well) and decided to sternly tell me not to assault a fellow student again instead.

The dinner party was Saturday, which was fortunately only two days away. The next day at school was awkward, to say the least. Ava had resumed her hatred for me and all her friends feared me, whilst the rest of the school declared me as their hero.

On Saturday, I browsed through the dresses in my closet. There were many of them, as if the Army had known such an occasion would occur. I pulled out a gorgeous navy blue cocktail dress and a deep purple knee-length dress and held them against my body. The choice was too difficult to make.

“You look exquisite in the navy dress Tabitha,” spoke Iris from behind me. I jumped in fright and glared at her.

“Do you always watch whatever I do?” I demanded.

“I am an artificial intelligence designed by the Commander himself. I do not watch, I observe, and my duty is to help your transition to life here in Terranovus be as smooth as possible,” responded Iris. I rolled my eyes and made a mental note to ask Dad to check if the garage had a ladder so I could rip Iris’s pod out of the ceiling tomorrow.

As much as I despised Iris, I went with her advice and wore the navy dress. Though there was a grand selection of shoes to choose from, I once again went for my trustworthy worn out leather sandals.

“Did you really have to wear those shoes, Tabitha?” my mum moaned as we stepped out of an automatic vehicle a few hours later in front of the Mayor’s home.

“It was either these or heels Mum, come on, you know me, do you want your daughter to have a sprained ankle by the end of tonight?” I teased back.

“No, I suppose not,” she admitted and turned round to look for Dad. He was still in the vehicle checking something on his Ingo. “Paul, hurry up, we’re going to be late,” snapped Mum.

That was another thing, since that phone call I overheard a few weeks ago, Dad was growing more and more reserved and quiet every day. Despite being a Saturday, he left the house at the crack of dawn this morning to go to work and mumbled something about a tight deadline.

“Coming,” he said and climbed out of the vehicle. Together we walked up the pathway to the Mayor’s home and admired his mansion. Ivy vines climbed up and wrapped around marble columns that supported the second-floor balcony. Neat and pruned rose bushes surrounded the home and as I breathed in the scent, I wondered how large the Mayor’s pay packet must be.

“Ready?” asked Mum.

“What’s the Mayor’s name again?” I asked.

“Rodrick Volkov,” said Dad. “In the districts, he was a Sergeant Major, but they made him Mayor here.”

“Oh, and I believe his son will be attending tonight’s dinner too,” added Mum, “he’s a few years older than you and just started working for the Army. A lady in college last week told me he and Volkov used to fight terrifically when the son was younger but apparently he’s matured quite a bit recently. She also told me the Mayor’s wife died when the boy was quite young no asking where Mrs Volkov is, okay?” said mum with a sad smile and she pressed the doorbell.

The door opened and a man who stood tall with short cropped hair in a Major uniform greeted us.

“Ah, the McKinley family! Paul, nice to meet you again, I heard they made you senior engineer here, is that correct?”

“Yes it is,” said Dad and he shook the Mayor’s hand. “Sergeant Major Volkov, this is my wife, Vaishnavi, and my daughter, Tabitha.” Volkov’s small and beady eyes darted over to us.

“Lovely to meet you,” Volkov said. He turned and gestured to a young man who was standing behind him. “And this is my son, Philon, he will be joining us this evening.” I felt my jaw drop. No way. It was the same Philon I danced with at the ball. He looked as shocked as I was.

“Hi,” I said surprised. He reached out his hand and shook mine.

“Pleasure to meet you again,” he said with a smile.

“You two have met already?” asked Volkov surprised.

“Yes,” we said at the same time.

“We met at the ball,” explained Philon, “back at the Sectors when the Commander first announced Terranovus.”

“What a lovely coincidence,” said my mum and she leaned forward and shook Philon’s hand too.

“Indeed,” Philon said whilst still smiling at me. He shook my dad’s hand too then Volkov showed us to the drawing room.

The Mayor’s home was incredible and the interior was just as beautiful as the outside. It was modern with a simplistic theme of concrete floors, white walls and light timber furnishings throughout. The drawing room was particularly stunning with its floor to ceiling glass sliding doors. Outside I saw a pristine garden, fitted with a pond and water feature. I wondered if there were fish.

Three out of the four runner-ups and their parents were already present in the drawing room. Normally socialising wasn’t my thing, but as I approached the students who I recognised from my graphic communications class, I found myself at ease in their conversation.

“Oh, I love theatre! Do you?” asked one of the girls.

“I was speaking with an old man at the pier today, he said Terranovus was going to construct a theatre in Ziller, wouldn’t that be amazing?” said one of the boys.

“I hope they design it like the Opera House in Sydney was, that was incredible,” another boy said.

“Nah, Le Grand Rex was the best theatre the world had ever had,” insisted the girl.

“But the weather is so perfect here,” I said, “what about an outdoor theatre like the Romans had?”

Immediately everyone agreed and the discussion turned to the Colosseum. With one ear listening, I let my gaze wander around the room. I was glad to see my parents socialising with other parents. I could hear Dad talk about work of course, whilst Mum described the Families in Need shelter to the other mothers. I knew she deeply missed it more than she let on.

Standing behind my parents was Philon, he was talking with his father and holding a glass of champagne. I made a mental note to myself to definitely not walk into him and spill his drink again.

A dance here would be mortifying. Suddenly I realised he was looking back at me with a peculiar expression on his face, as though he was amused. I blushed a deep red and looked away immediately.

“Do you know him?” the girl to my right asked. I shrugged my shoulders.

“Not really,” I said, “I danced with him for a bit at the ball back in the Sectors.” The other girl to my left gasped.

“You danced with Philon Volkov?” she asked.

“What was it like? Is he a good dancer?” asked the first girl. I laughed and rolled my eyes.

“It wasn’t a big deal,” I said. “I didn’t even know he was a Sergeant Majors son then. I didn’t know until now actually.” The girl to my left gasped again.

“Aww, it’s just like a fairytale,” she said. I rolled my eyes again and paused as the doorbell rang. A few seconds later the Mayor opened the front door.

“Hello Mr and Mrs Waverton, I’m so pleased you’re here, please come in.” No, no, no, no! Please make there be two Waverton families in Terranovus. “Ah, Ava, you look beautiful tonight, the other students are waiting for you.” My mood immediately dropped. You had to be joking. Trust her to be one of the runner-ups. I watched as little miss perfect walked into the room wearing an elaborate cocktail dress sown with thousands of gold sequins. The dress itself could have fed an entire apartment complex back at the Sectors for a fortnight or so. Even my mum’s face dropped as she saw it and I knew she was thinking the same.

Ava’s smile turned to a scowl as she saw me. She turned to her parents, who were dressed just as formally, and whispered something. They all turned and glanced at me. Oh great! Ava smirked, bid farewell to her parents then gilded her way over to us.

“Oh Ava, you made it,” gushed the girl to my left, “you wouldn’t believe the story Tilly was telling us. She danced with Philon at the ball, he asked her to dance, how amazing is that?” Ava laughed or rather cackled like a witch.

“Yes, I saw that. I was there too, remember? It’s a shame though, have you heard the rumours? He’s currently flirting his way through all the girls in Terranovus.” I was instantly taken aback.

“But why would he do that?” asked the girl to my right. Ava smiled, flicked her hair behind her shoulder and looked at me.

“I forgot to tell you girls, Philon asked me out the night before the ball but I declined him.” The reaction was instant.

“But why would you decline him?”

“He’s oh so perfect Ava!”

“Girls,” stated Ava, “don’t you know the first rule in dating? You need to play hard to get. I believe he asked poor Tilly for a dance out of spite, he was trying to make me jealous.” I was speechless for a moment, was she for real? She wasn’t just a mean person, she was a liar too.

“Oh, that makes so much sense now!” I exclaimed and the girls turned back to me. “When I danced with him, he mentioned a girl who broke his heart and said perhaps it was for the best because she had really bad breath. That must have been you, Ava, I’m so sorry.” The girls started comforting Ava, mistaking her anger for me as anger against Philon. I snorted into my drink and was thankful at the sight of a butler enter the room and announce dinner was ready.

The dining room was just as magnificent as the drawing room, except it had a large timber dining table in the middle and large enough to fit all twenty of us. Place names were positioned along the table and I was amused to replace my place card next to Philon’s. Fortunately, Ava’s was on the other end of the table.

Once we were all seated, Rodrick Volkov tapped his champagne glass with his dessert spoon and the room fell silent.

“Thank you, all of you, for joining my son and I this evening. We have most looked forward to congratulating the future generation of this country. We value and appreciate the vision and talents each and everyone one of you hold. We, as a nation, will do everything possible assist you to achieve great things here in Terranovus.

“Before we begin our first course of our meal this evening, I would like everyone to raise their glass and congratulate Miss Tabitha for placing first in the competition. Her eye for detail, and an ability to innovate and understand the requirements of Terranovus is exactly what Ziller was looking for. Thank you, Tabitha.”

I blushed deeply and looked down at the polished cutlery embarrassed. Everyone (except Ava of course) congratulated me and drank from their glasses.

“Seems as though you’re more than just a pretty face,” whispered Philon. I scowled and he chuckled into his champagne flute.

Suddenly a side door leading to a kitchen opened and waiters in white tuxedos appeared. They swiftly served our starter which was a delicious crab and asparagus soup. Everybody immediately tucked in.

“This is wonderful,” said my mother to Volkov.

“It is,” he said. “We’ve just begun fishing off the coast of Primus. The water is the best it has ever been. With no pollution, it seems the little remaining marine life there was left in the world, have all migrated to our waters.” I raised my eyebrows surprised, this crab was real?

“But isn’t artificial supposed to be more nutritious?” asked my mum.

“It seems as though our old Government lied to us. Recent studies from our scientists shows artificial food actually decreased our life expectancy, which is why no one in the Sectors usually lived past the age of 60,” explained Volkov. “The Government couldn’t provide for the mass population so decided it was best to let the citizens unknowingly reduce their lifespan expectancy.” I looked away horrified, how could our old Government do such a thing? I followed the conversation a little bit more until it drifted away to work.

“So how are you liking Terranovus so far?” asked Philon.

“It took a few days to settle in, but I’m enjoying it now,” I told him.

“That’s good,” he said. I sipped a spoonful of the soup and was amazed by its flavour.

“What about you? When was your name called from the lottery?” I asked. Philon dapped his mouth with his napkin to cover the growing smirk.

“Come on now, let’s be truthful. We all know the lottery is bogus,” he said. I froze for a moment, taken aback by the truth.

“So your ticket here was through your father’s Army rank?” I asked. At the mention of his dad, his usual friendly and teasing demeanour faltered.

“Ultimately, yes,” he said, “but I hope to create a name for myself here. I’ve been busy working in the IT department in the Army despite my father wanting me to join the more political/administration side.”

“Politics isn’t for you?” I asked.

“Definitely not,” Philon laughed, “politicians bicker and debate whereas I like to get things done as quickly as possible. Anyway, let’s not talk about work. Do you miss home? Your friends?” I thought for a moment as I took another sip of the soup.

“Home? No, who would miss an overpopulated concrete jungle?” I laughed. “But my friends? I miss them a lot. We had so much fun together whereas all the other kids here are too serious. One of my friends once spent all his savings on a plastic gun and shot a Toff for fun. But the Toff blamed Tommy, Simon and I, so we had to run and jump over a tram line to escape. We nearly got hit by a tram in the process.”

“Do you make it a habit of jumping over tram lines when there’s a tram coming?” he laughed. My face fell.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I heard that’s how you dislocated your shoulder when you tried to escape from the mob when your name was called from the lottery,” he said. I smiled and shook my head.

“Oh,” I said, “yeah. Not my finest jump.” Philon laughed and pushed his bowl forward slightly, empty.

“So tell me about Tommy and Simon,” said Philon curious. I turned to my bowl and focused on the remaining pieces of asparagus and crab.

“Simon is nerdy, likes rules and also loves any type of gossip, and I mean any. If there was a blocked sewage pipe in one of the Sectors he would know about it,” I paused and swallowed the last bit of the soup, “whereas, Tommy was fun but more mature than our other friend Jack. Our gang looked up to him a lot.”

“And you looked up to him too?” he asked. I turned to Philon and watched his curious blue eyes look back at me.

“I did. Sorry, I mean I do,” I said blushing. “It’s hard. It’s been almost a month since I’ve spoken with them.”

Our conversation ended and the soups were taken away. As everyone agreed the soup was incredible, the mains arrived - succulent lamb with roasted vegetables. Just the smell of it made my mouth water.

“If you’re drooling now, wait until you see dessert,” joked Philon.