Free The Song of the Jubilee (The Phantom of the Earth Book 1) by Raeden Zen

cobblestones, through the crowd of Piscatorians, men and women of the South with porcelain skin, animated tattoos, and serious expressions. Most all were on their way to the Shore, an underground beach ahead of a man-made lagoon, lined with smoke shops, craft stores, eateries, pubs, and entertainment centers. The fishermen’s Block, an arced cement slab near the submarine docks, lay farther underground, below the lagoon; the docks were built into the earth and connected the commonwealth to the Gulf of Yeuron. A hologram displayed the action there beneath one of the station’s alloy arches; it depicted fishermen already hauling in the morning’s catch, filleting and preparing the meat for the markets throughout the commonwealth. Beneath other arches, holograms formed into depictions of the Shore, Piscator Reef, the Gulf of Yeuron, the Homeria Sea, and various species of sharks and fish, along with market prices as determined by the traders in Navita Territory, “the place of markets.”
    Hans extended his consciousness, searching for Janzers. Though they were transhuman, their unique DNA gave off a different signature in the ZPF. He counted no more than four divisions. He could deal with twenty-four Janzers among hundreds of thousands of Piscatorians. Many of them were posted near the promenade that led to the Shore, or near the station’s borders, which were covered with Granville panels. The Granville syntech made it seem as if the station sat below the sea, near a hard coral reef, with algae and sea grass, jellyfish, crustaceans, sea turtles, snakes, stars, limestone skeletons, and remnants from elk horn and brain coral. Closer to Hans and Connor, polychromatic holographic advertisements scattered around the compressed diamond support pillars, while on several billboards, bioluminescent synisms formed the bust of Chancellor Masimovian above the Second Precept. SUFFERING IS QUESTIONING. QUESTIONING IS DESTRUCTIVE. DESTRUCTION IS NEVER INEVITABLE.
    Destruction is inevitable, Hans thought, the destruction of Masimovian’s system. But first, I must see Connor to the Naturan safe house. He didn’t tell his allies there that he’d induce the fever in Connor. He’d deal with that when he arrived. He led his brother to the interterritory tracks where the throng thinned, for no Piscatorian would dare leave the territory during the peak season. Few Janzers patrolled those tracks.
    Stay close to me now, Connor , Hans sent. Connor could receive but not send telepathic messages. He’d not yet learned how to avoid Marstone’s reach in that manner—a recaller only did so much to elude the commonwealth’s surveillance. Hans pushed his consciousness out into the ZPF. He influenced the visual cortexes of the crowd and the Janzers such that they could no longer see him or Connor. Neither the Piscatorians nor the Janzers can see us, he sent to his brother. Avoid them.
    They’d practiced this contingency. Father would take no chances with Connor, not after what had happened to Solstice. It was one of the reasons Hans became so skilled at creating illusions. When executing this particular feat with the ZPF, the last thing Hans would need was for his brother to crash into an unsuspecting Piscatorian, drawing attention to their departure.
    To Hans’s relief, Connor moved in stride with him, and they soon arrived at an interterritory track where four unoccupied transports lay in wait. Hans glanced back. The Piscatorians moved swiftly, focused on achieving the day’s production and sales targets. He’d miss many of them, especially Icarian, the Block operator. He touched his finger to the side of one of the transports, determined to see his brother to safety in Natura and rescue his father from captivity.
    WELCOME FARKAI appeared on the readout. The solid barrier disappeared for Hans’s entry. It sealed. Connor did the same, and WELCOME ALLESANDRO appeared. Inside, Hans stood near a screen that showed the tunnels, the interterritory