Pure as Glass / 2 /

Snow.

He had not believed the morning report. Now that he was standing atop the world, he was filled with hope as he watched the clouds pour over the mountains. They barely made it past the peaks, but that was more weather than his world had seen in ages, more weather than his world had seen in his whole life.

Jonathan was not alone at the top of the world. It took his a few minutes to adjust but once he did, he realized that he was standing beside the most powerful woman in all of Clifton, the CEO of Golden Lion Enterprises. Moira Singh was smiling and it took every ounce of Jonathan's will to not stress about why. Because if he thought about it, if he took a step back and looked at himself, he'd know why. Someone like her, calling someone like him up, and just smiling as he looked dumbstruck out onto the world she saw every day. She was god and he was man, she had pulled back the curtain enough to remind herself the difference.

"Do you know what I see when I look at those mountains, Mr. Bassett?"

Jonathan shook his head, "No, Ma'am, I do not."

Moira Singh met Jonathan's gaze and her green-gold eyes held his attention until she looked away toward the mountains again and asked, "What do you see?"

Jonathan tilted his head to the side. He knew he should tell the truth, but he knew he shouldn't reveal too much at the same time. He was not afraid of her disapproving of his opinion, he was afraid of her using whatever he said against him. She was god and he was man, after all. He knew that at his core.

"I see new life, pure as glass." Even as the words left his mouth, Jonathan knew he revealed too much.

"Pure as glass, so eloquent." Moira Singh did not look away from the mountains. She walked closer to the edge and took a deep breath. "Are you aware of the origin of that phrase?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Enlighten me."

Jonathan did his best not to sigh, he knew that she knew the origin and the fact that she was asking him to tell the story meant that she knew he knew. Circular logic, the games of the powerful were not his forte. All Jonathan could think about was how Rook must have felt, had he been standing in this same spot? Jonathan told the story that his father had told him as a boy in their hovel above the bar.

"As it came to pass, the world was turned pure as glass. The crops in the fields began to fail, and upon graves loved ones would wail. Mankind had reached grand new heights, as they filled the world with color and lights. The world beneath them seemed so small, that they forgot to care for it all. With digital and physical dancing dangerously close, their own problems they failed to diagnose. A few bright minds did foresee, the problems that would come to be. In response to the coming storm, they built cities beyond the norm. Nations fell as the world became Clifton, Developer's Town, and Amberlee. Self-contained, self-sustained, and the farthest thing from free. Another storm will come and wipe away this monstrosity. Then the world will be. Pure as glass, finally free."

Moira Singh still smiled, "Such a beautiful string of words. Where did you hear it?"

There was no sense in lying to someone who knew everything. There were few secrets that someone like Moira Singh was not clued in on. Jonathan did his best to remain calm as he answered, "My father used to tell me when I couldn't fall asleep just as his father did for him. Children want to hear that everything will be fair."

Moira Singh nodded and finally turned her back on the mountains. The fiber walls responded to her thoughts and closed away the view, leaving only a glowing wall. "What wisdom, Mr. Bassett, what wisdom you have for being so young, so inexperienced?"

Jonathan sighed, "My father was murdered when I was a boy. I had to grow up. I survived on the streets until I was old enough to enlist in your Security Force, Ma'am."

"You did more than enlist, Mr. Bassett. You shone." Moira Singh suddenly had a small black box in her hand.

It was roughly the shape of a cube and about as wide as her palm. "I will not lie to you and say that I've had my eyes on you since the beginning, but people that work for me have. They liked that you came from the streets, that you took every opportunity to climb, and that you follow orders. Which is why it is so terribly sad that I will have to terminate your employment."