Free The Chosen Sin by Anya Bast Page A

the underside of the dome.
    Earth sky during the day.
    Hadn’t she just been thinking it’d been too long since she’d seen the blue sky of Earth? Here it was, right in the middle of the Darpong Sector. No travel agent needed. No monthlong hyper-sleep journey on a high-speed ship to get you to a polluted, overpopulated planet that gave you only glimpses of this kind of sky on a good day.
    She’d known that the Shining Way had this kind of artificial reality since the vamps who’d left this place had spread the tale. Experiencing the extent of it was another thing. There were a few corporations that had campuses like this. She’d been in them, but they weren’t nearly this realistic. Daria had never dreamed Sante would have the resources to create this kind of state-of-the-art authenticity.
    Where was Sante coming up with the cash for this?
    She slanted a look at Alejandro. She wanted to ask him if he was suddenly as suspicious as she was, but she didn’t trust her telepathic ability enough yet. Anyway, Alejandro was probably still too day-struck to be thinking that way.
    The first guard hovered near them, but the others sped away, out the doorway and back into the dark desert wastes of the Logos Territory. The remaining guard lowered his bike onto a wide paved parking pad and Daria and Alejandro followed suit.
    The guard dismounted and removed his helmet, revealing a blond head of hair and a face with vibrant blue eyes and a square jaw. “Leave your gear here. Follow me,” he said and walked toward the largest of the structures, the one to which it seemed all the paths led.
    The building appeared to be the central point of the campus. It was long, white, and rectangular, topped with a white dome. Tall, shimmering blue black windows lined the sides. Skylights were set in along the sloping length of the roof. Looking around, Daria realized that was true of all the buildings—better to soak in the fake sunlight, she’d make a guess.
    Daria and Alejandro divested themselves of their helmets and leather jackets and followed. Daria’s boots crunched over the pebbles that comprised the path. As she walked, she studied the perfectly manicured green grass and the well-maintained buildings that scattered the area. It was like Earth, only without the overpopulation and the pollution that came with it.
    Earth, but five hundred years ago. To an Angel settler, even one used to Angel One, it was paradise.
    They approached the white-domed building. The guard pushed open the heavy wood and metal double doors and they entered. The floor and walls were made of blue black marble, and the ceiling arched high above their heads. It reminded her of a church.
    A large fountain dominated the entry room, overflowing with pale emerald water. It looked unpurified, chock-full of the minerals that gave it that distinctive shade. The pure drinking water was one of the reasons that Logos Territory had been the place the settlers had decided on two hundred years ago. It looked as if Sante had found an underground water reserve to service the dome residents.
    Daria looked up. The arched ceiling was painted to look like the night sky—dark blue and scattered through by glittering silver stars. Aside from the fountain in the middle, the room was devoid of ornamentation. With the polished blue black marble walls and floor, much more decoration would have been overkill anyway. The sound of Daria and Alejandro’s bootheels on the floor echoed throughout the chamber as they walked.
    A door leading to what Daria presumed was the main part of the building whined open. A man with shoulder-length glossy black hair and deeply tanned skin entered, followed by five men who looked like muscle. More guards.
    The black-haired man smiled as he approached them. He shook Daria’s hand first, then Alejandro’s. “Valerie, Alejandro, welcome to the Shining Way. I’m Carlos Hernadez. I’ll be helping to