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"Will it take long?" I ask her

She doesn’t answer

As we ride in the air train, we pass by the lake, dark now in the distance

No one goes to the lake here It still suffers fro in or drinking The Society tore out o used to keep boats But, when it’s light, you can see that there are three piers left in one spot, jutting out into the water like three fingers, all equal length, all reaching Months ago, when I first caood spot tohe could see from above that I have noticed from below

And now, on the other side of the air train, the dome of Central’s City Hall comes into view, a too-close moon that never sets In spite ofof pride and hear the notes of the Anthe in my mind whenever I see the faoes to Central’s City Hall

There’s a tall white wall around the Hall and the other buildings nearby The wall has been here since before I came "Renovations," everyone says "The Society will open the stillzone back up again soon"

I’m fascinated by the stillzone, and by its name, which no one seeued by what’s on the other side of the barrier, and sometimes after work I take a small detour on my way home so that I can walk next to the ss Ky’s th of the wall, which curves back in what I iine is a perfect circle I’ve never followed it all the way around, so I can’t be sure

Those I’ve asked are uncertain about how long the barrier has been here--all they say is that it went up sometime in the last year They don’t seem to reme

I want to knohat’s behind those walls

I want so ible things, too

Like a poe for two trades to come in I traded two of an I did not reach Thee and tells of a journey I found the beginning of it in the Carving and knew I had to have the end

And the other trade is evenGrandfather’s microcard from my parents’ house in Keya here to me I asked the trader to approach Bram first with an encoded note I knew Braaer And I thought he’d be more likely to send the microcard than either of my parents

Bram I’d like to find a silver watch for him to replace the one the Society took But so far the price has been too high I rejected a trade for a watch earlier today at the air-train stop on my way to work I will pay what’s fair, but not too much Perhaps this is what I learned in the canyons: What I aive, and what I won’t

The sorting center is filled to capacity We are some of the last to arrive, and an Official ushers us to our ein immediately," she says, and no sooner have I sat down in my chair than words appear on the screen: Next sort: exponential pairwise

I keep my eyes on the screen and my expression neutral Inside, I feel a little tick of excitement, a tiny skip in the beat oftold ive no indication that the sortto the at these words and wondering Is it finally time?

Wait for the actual data, I re out for a sort; I’ out for a particular set of information, which I’m supposed to , each ele an importance to each of its properties, and then paired to another eles fit optimally It is an intricate, complicated, tedious sort, the kind that requires every bit of our focus and attention

The screen flickers and then the data coht sort The right data set

Is this the beginning of the Rising?

For a briefthe error-checking algorithm? What if they didn’t? My mistakes will all be noted The chi

My fingers don’t tre the natural io I guide it slowly to its new location and slowly lift’s bug worked

I think I hear a breath of relief, a tiny exhalation so, a cottonwood seed of h

Have I done this before?

But there’s no time to follow the wisp of memory I have to sort

It’s almost more difficult to sort incorrectly at this point; I’ve spent so ht This feels counterintuitive, but it is what the Rising wants

For the h quick and relentless But there’s a short lag while ait forfro the sort in real ti be happening now?

Will Ky and I be together for it?

For ain above the white doh my hair as I rush to meet him Then the warood-bye, but a new beginning

"We’re Matching," someone says out loud

He breaks

How long have we been sorting? I’ve been working hard, trying to do what the Rising asked At some point I became lost in the data, in the task at hand

Out of the corner of reen--Ar in on the man who spoke

I saw the Officials e first ca have Officers been here?

"For the Banquet," thefor the Banquet The Society can’t keep up any, but at the ed and his words unintelligible, and above the cloth his eyes meet mine for a brief moment as they take hiht?

Are we Matching people?

Today is the fifteenth The Banquet is tonight

The Official back in the Borough told ed? What has happened that would make the Society in such a rush? Data culled so near to the Banquet will be prone to errors because they won’t have much time to check for accuracy