The Great Dome was where ancient architecture and modern technology became one. Glass arched overhead, reinforced by metal strips. At their feet was the cold tiled floor that the elder race of Akron would have used as objects of beauty and worship. All around, nooks held holograms, liquid crystal projections, and structures of riallite--a gem whose deposits had disappeared with the elder race.
Nessa and Kommer entered a pentagonal walkway. He placed his hand in the scanner, and a door with a jagged split opened down the middle.
The door gave way to a room the size of an average dwelling. Beams of light held disk seats in place. The seats were vacant. It was only Nessa and Kommer in the room, but she imagined the elder race collaborating on governance from these chairs.
Kommer cleared his throat, and when Nessa looked in his direction, he pointed to the floor in front of him.
"It's been established there's a food shortage. I don't need to be redundant. You--with your excess--cannot see the crisis."
He extended his arm, and a liquid crystal viewer appeared from his implant. Lines snaked their way through the Capital Basin, from the market clear back to the hill.
"Mother," a young Purple sobbed. "I'm hungry!"
"I'm sorry, Knox," a tall, slender Purple with black hair told the child. "There's not enough."
It transitioned to a second motion image. Time seemed to slow. The domes. The rises. All of the Greens and Blues and Purples living and working in harmony. The old Green, Rofert--who usually had a heap of finned catches from the sea--had activated the digital boundary. He was placing a sign in front of his market.
"No!" Nessa gasped. "Not Rofert! Not Lenn City! Kommer, what's going on?"
The liquid crystal viewer vanished. Both turned around at a sucking sound like an electronic floor cleaner. A burly Blue strode forward in military fashion.
"Trennan," Kommer uttered.