A/N - This is really half a chapter, or "chapter lite." It was supposed to be longer, but I wanted to get an update out before the end of the month. If you want the next chapter to be out soon, gimme a high five!

Book One – Chapter Sixteen

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There were no chairs outside Control Agent Carlton Rao’s office. He preferred to make his visitors stand when waiting. Agent Oren looked around the walls of the outer chamber, his hands folded in front of him, and his legs getting more and more tired.

Since Control Agent Rao believed himself to be the truest form of a patriot, the decorum of the outer chamber presented this side of him the most. On the wall opposite Oren was a holographic mural that spanned nearly three meters in length and stood about two meters tall. It was a fairly good replica of the painting by Sir Angelo Durne III, “The First Landing.” Durne was the Artist Laureate of Londinum during the time of the historic first landing, so the task of commemorating the event fell to him. The original mural was at the foot of the Londinum Grand Coliseum, near the actual landing point.

The painting depicted the first building-sized transport shuttle touching down on the freshly terraformed grass, trees in the background stretching up to the perfect azure sky. Further down the mural was an illustration of the Londinum Grand Coliseum under construction. Dividing the two scenes, in the center of the painting was a man planting the flag of the American Empire into the rich soil.

Oren knew it was a falsehood. When the shuttle landed on Londinum, there were barely any plants growing. The landscape at that time most likely resembled a moon like Whitefall, rather than the lavish utopia that Durne had painted. It was a well-known fact, but no one ever acknowledged it out loud. The People, generally, were happy with the mural.

The young agent eased the weight off of his left foot and on to the right. He then let his eyes wand