Ascendant Unrest Page 19

  Book chuckled, shaking his head. Little lights blinked and fluttered from a thin metal strip mounted to his skull over his left ear, tinting his grey hair blue. He patted his generous belly and nodded. “I still can’t believe you guys are actually here to fix that wall. It’s been like that since I moved in here, and that’s going back a while.” He took notice of Pope and offered a raised hand of greeting. “Buenas tardes, amigo. Good evening, friend.”

  “Hey,” said Pope. “You must be Book.”

  The men shook hands. “Enrique, but yeah, the kids call me Book.”

  “Maya,” said Anton, his voice raised.

  She pulled her attention away from the adults and walked over to the toy-rescue operation. “What happened?”

  “You’re okay!” Marcus leapt to his feet, grinning.

  “Are you gonna kiss her?” asked Emily.

  Maya leaned back.

  “Uhh…” Marcus froze, a trapped expression on his face.

  Emily smiled at Sarah. “Sorry your dad’s sick. Mommy said he’s okay. She called Daddy before.” She sighed, her mood shifted sorrowful in the span of a single breath. “They won’t let him come home.”

  Sarah lowered herself to sit cross-legged and gestured at the pile. “So what happened?”

  “Workers thought our stuff was garbage.” Anton scowled at the men, recovering an old x-wing toy with a missing canopy. “They just sweeped it all here.”

  “Swept,” mumbled Maya.

  “All right, all right,” said Book. “We can relocate story time. We used this place on account of it havin’ so much room.”

  The worker on the left blinked at him as if he’d said something stupid. “On what planet does letting kids play on a ninth floor slab with no wall seem like a good idea?”

  “They like the view.” Book grinned. “And they ain’t dumb enough to walk off the edge.”

  Gunfire erupted outside; a few rapid shots echoed from the building across the street, along with several startled screams.

  Three of the workers by the edge leapt back and hit the ground. Maya startled and jumped. The other kids froze like statues. Book started to head for the edge, but Pope put a hand on his shoulder.

  A series of shouted curses came interspersed with more gunshots and the smash of breaking glass. The telltale whirr-whine of an Authority drone grew louder.

  “Drop your weapon,” said a deep, quasi-electronic voice.

  “Fuck you!” shouted a man, before a rip of automatic fire.

  The drone fan noise increased in pitch; the heavy blam-blam-blam of a machine gun started but cut off with a resounding crash. Tires squealed and a deep thud sent a palpable shockwave into the floor.

  Sarah darted to the open edge, waving her arms for balance as she stopped with her toes an inch from freefall. She leaned forward and stared down.

  “Dammit, kid,” yelled a worker. “Get away from there!”

  “Sarah!” bellowed Pope. “Get away from there and come over here.”

  The loud, parental tone made her jump back. She looked about ready to burst into tears but fast-walked over to him.

  He grasped her shoulders and stared into her eyes. “What are you doing?”

  “That man is right outside. He shot down a drone and ran into our building. The blueberries are already here.” Sarah shivered, sniffling. “Can we please hide?”

  “Oh shit,” muttered Book. “Here we go again.”

  “Come on.” Sarah looked at Maya. “We can hide in that, umm.” She bit her lip. “Place.”

  Maya swallowed hard. Genna told her not to tell anyone about the elevator escape route, but if the blueberries left everyone restrained and more black-armored mercenaries showed up, they’d be dead.

  Emily pounced on Anton and bawled.

  “The, umm…” No! The doors on this floor don’t work. “We gotta go down two floors.”

  “Attention residents of Block 13, Building C-11. This is an Authority lockdown. All persons within are to remain in their present location. Anyone attempting to flee is subject to disciplinary action. Anyone found in the hallways will be assumed to be fleeing.”

  A blue four-fanned Authority drone hovered up to the massive hole, bathing everyone in the glare of a blinding spotlight mounted to a swivel under its nose.

  Sarah clung to Pope, emitting a soft, nasal whine.

  Book held his hands up. “Everyone stay calm. Just let them do what they have to do.”

  Maya crept over to Pope and Sarah. “They’re not looking for Brigade this time, just that guy who was shooting.”

  “They don’t care.” Sarah, red-eyed, scowled at the floor. “Any excuse to be mean to us. They do it every time. Dad got angry once when I was eight and cursed them out. They arrested him and left me tied up on the floor. No one found me for a whole day.”

  Pope patted her back. “You gotta know how to talk to them. Be surprised how much an old war story will do for you.” He winked. “Don’t be afraid.”

  The tromp of boots grew loud in the hallway. Everyone fell quiet.

  Two blueberries walked in, carrying compact assault rifles, though they didn’t aim directly at anyone as they swept their gaze over the room.

  “Everyone over there. Line up.” One gestured at the wall by the pile of dust and toys.

  Pope picked Sarah up and carried her; she trembled too much to walk. Maya followed close, keeping hold of her hand. Emily held up her hands like someone being robbed at gunpoint. Pick and the twins trudged to the wall. The five workers and Book followed. Everyone formed a single-file line. Maya refused to let go of Sarah’s hand, still clutching it in both of hers. The older girl trembled, her fearful gaze locked on the Authority officer.

  The other blueberry approached and lifted his visor, exposing his face. Maya recognized him in an instant: Hammond. The one who’d punched Baxter for hitting Sarah. As soon as she made eye contact, she smiled at him. The warm reception appeared to catch him off guard.

  “It’s okay.” Maya pulled on Sarah’s arm. “He’s the guy I told you about. He got pissed at that other asshole for hitting you. He’s nice.”

  A look of recognition dawned in Hammond’s eye.

  At the word ‘nice,’ Marcus and Anton gave her a ‘say what?’ stare.

  His partner, who hadn’t opened his visor, pointed with his left hand at the children. “Stay put.” He approached Pope. A device in his left hand chirped, and he spent a second glancing at small screen. “Hmm. John Pope huh? Staff Sergeant US Army. Been a long time since we ran you in the system.”

  Sarah clung to him, staring at the blueberry.

  “I’m not a people person,” said Pope with a smile. “Been living out in the Dead Space.”

  “What’s got you back here?” asked the blueberry.

  More heavy footsteps echoed below; Maya pictured armored Authority officers swarming the entire building. She hoped the ones who found Arlene and her two-week-old son weren’t assholes, but it wouldn’t bother her too much if Brian got a little roughed up.

  “Monthly supply run. Ran into this kid.” Pope hefted Sarah. “Chased some dosers off her and she needed lookin’ after. Her dad’s in the VA care facility. Figured I’d stick around ’til he got back. You serve?”

  “Yeah. Thirteenth Armored. We repaved most of Pyongyang.” The blueberry chuckled.

  Pope nodded. “Yeah. You boys were pretty thorough there.”

  “What unit?” asked the blueberry.

  “1/75 Ranger Battalion. My ass was all over that damn peninsula.” Pope smiled. “217 confirmed, but that’s just my rifle. Didn’t bother counting the knife work.”

  The blueberry leaned back. “Damn. Look, man. We’re just after some shithead lightin’ up drones for the lols. Took a couple pops at one of our guys too.”

  Pope held up his right hand. “Right on. Nail that idiot.”

  While his partner gave Book and the workmen a cursory check, Hammond waved at Maya, beckoning her over. Sarah emitted an uneasy whine f
rom her nose. Maya reluctantly released her friend’s hand and approached him, arms straight at her sides.

  “You all right, uhh, Lisa?” asked Hammond.

  “Yes, sir.” She smiled a little. “Thanks for sticking up for Sarah.”

  He raised his handheld as if running a scan on her. “Guess we weren’t chasin’ our own tails last time, were we?”

  Maya grimaced. “No, sir.”

  “Hmm. I heard a bunch of stuff about you. Guess things have a way of getting worse on the grapevine.”

  She bit her lip, tapping one sneaker on the ground. “I may have been a little bitchy to some officers in the past. Probably the same ones who are in trouble now.”

  “So you really chose to stay out here instead of going home?” He scratched at his eyebrow.

  “This is my home now. Vanessa doesn’t want me. Some mercenaries kidnapped me and tried to get a ransom. They vid-called her to prove they had me. Put a gun to my face. Vanessa told them to go ahead and kill me since it would be cheaper to ‘grow a new one.’”

  He cringed. “No shit. Damn, I heard that woman was a piece of work, but what the f…”

  “I know ‘piece of work’ means bitch.” She smiled. “But you can’t call her a bitch, or you’ll insult bitches. That stuff I said about her releasing Fade to make people buy Xenodril is true.”

  “Yeah. We all saw those files. Things are, uhh, kinda interesting now. Look, for what it’s worth, sorry for the rough treatment last time. Sarge saw some bad shit during the war, and he’s convinced everyone out here’s got a hand grenade with his name on it. Baxter always was an ass. Wish he got worse than what he did for hitting your friend, but at least he got something. Wasn’t even for that too. Heard the request came from the very top.”

  Maya’s eyebrows shot up. “What did they do to him?”

  “Booted from the Authority, lost his citizenship. He’s a Non now. Not sure where he went.”

  Could he be the guy who sent the mercenaries? She dismissed the idea. Officially, he’d been dismissed for being rude to one of Vanessa’s employees. No way he could find out it was me who faked her complaint email. “Wow.”

  “Yeah. All right, well, if you’re actually happy here. I suppose after that video, there’s not much going back for you.” He shook his head.

  She smirked. “You think?”

  “Got that feeling when no ‘go get her’ order came down the pipe. All right, go on back over.”

  She nodded and hurried back to stand against the wall by Pope.

  Hammond approached the residents and grasped a case on his belt.

  “Please don’t tie me up!” wailed Emily, jumping to her feet. “Please!”

  Anton and Marcus glared at him but didn’t appear ready to put up a fight. Pick hung his head in defeat. He tried to look tough, but his eyes reddened.

  Sarah whimpered.

  “Everyone stay calm.” Hammond removed a little black box, about the size of a deck of playing cards, from the case and held it up. It sprang open at the corners, revealing itself to be a tiny drone. Two bright dots appeared on the front as the fans came to life and it hovered up from his palm. “There’s no need for that. Used to be SOP for everyone’s protection. New policies, and new toys. No one’s going to be restrained unless they give us a reason to.”

  Sarah let her head sag against Pope’s shoulder, exhaling a sigh of relief.

  “’Kay.” Emily sniffled and sat back down, hugging her knees to her chest and shivering.

  Hammond pointed at the drone. “Everyone sit still until this thing flies away. This is for your protection as much as ours. It will let us know if anyone tries to leave this room.”

  Muted gunfire came from somewhere below.

  “That’s our cue.” Hammond pulled his visor closed and jogged out.

  His partner followed, and the armed drone that had been hanging by the hole in the roof dropped straight down. The high-pitched buzz of four one-inch fans filled in the silence after the clamor of boots on concrete stairs faded.

  “Can we talk?” whispered Anton.

  “Don’t see why not.” Book smiled. “Impression I got was just not ta leave this room.”

  “He said sit still,” said Pick. “My butt itches.”

  Pope, Book, and two of the workmen chuckled. Emily scrunched up her nose.

  Sarah squirmed, so Pope set her on her feet. She peered past at Maya, astonishment clear on her face. “They didn’t cuff us.”

  “No…” Book’s eyebrows climbed. “They did not. Talked to us civil even.” He laughed, a deep baritone that made the little drone pivot toward him. “Almost like our little friend here really was the spark of change.”

  Maya grinned.

  After a few minutes of silence, Book started ‘reading’ out loud from a story. He enthralled the kids with a tale of a pair of boy detectives in mid-1800s London investigating a mysterious figure haunting their boarding school. The story held the attention of the workers as well, once they got over the oddity of a variety of different voices coming from a seventyish man. Whenever he narrated character dialogue, electronics in his throat changed his voice to match. Maya couldn’t reconcile the voice of a small girl coming out of Book, so she closed her eyes to imagine the scene. About forty minutes later, echoed shouts rose from the street along with the distant slam of van doors. The minuscule drone emitted an electronic chirp, rotated to face the hole in the wall, and flew out before diving toward the road.

  “Well, that’s an hour I won’t get back,” said one of the workers.

  “Hey wait,” asked the short guy in the hardhat, staring at Book. “What happens next? Is that kid gonna find the secret door?”

  Maya laughed.

  Pope sat on the floor, still holding Sarah, who shivered, still stunned that the Authority hadn’t restrained anyone.

  Book continued the story while the men in white jumpsuits resumed their survey of the damaged wall. Pope and the children settled in to listen. It seemed the plan to relocate the story room would be postponed at least for one night.

  15

  The Final Nail

  With some reluctance, Maya changed into her nightdress to sleep. She squished herself into the sleeping bag with Sarah, on the floor next to Genna’s bed. At least the nightgown made the cozy accommodations more comfortable. Despite the close quarters, she had a feeling that sleeping in a forced hug made Sarah feel better. Pope had the couch all to himself.

  In the morning, Maya woke first. She dragged herself out of the sleeping bag, waking Sarah, who didn’t much move. Before even going to the bathroom, Maya changed into her fatigues and shirt. Sarah trudged into the bathroom as Maya left and headed to the kitchen.

  Genna portioned out a breakfast of Megawaffle, an overly sweet cereal that resembled tiny waffles fused in pairs with a dark brown ‘maple’ layer between them. Maya munched spoonful after spoonful, still not used to the odd aftertaste of boxed milk. The plastic carton of cereal had been permanent-markered at the top left corner with 1 N/C. Maya quirked an eyebrow at the writing.

  “What? Something wrong with the cereal?” asked Genna.

  “It’s okay. I’d say it’s too sweet, but I don’t want you to think I’m complaining. Any food we get out here is good.” She pointed at the marker. “Who wrote on it?”

  “Someone stole a truckload of it and they’re selling it here for one NuCoin a box,” said Sarah without looking up from her bowl. “This stuff’s like six bucks normally.”

  Genna nodded. “Probably. Didn’t ask where it came from. Was still sealed, so it’s all good to me.”

  Pope slurped the last traces of milk-like-product from his bowl.

  “You’re finished already?” Maya gawked at him and then Genna as she tilted back hers.

  “Army habit.” He chuckled. “Havin’ more than two minutes for a meal still feels like I’m taking forever.”

  She slurped up another spoonful. The overwhelming amount of sugar made it difficult to eat fast.
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  “So…” Genna patted the table. “Our mutual friends are going to contact Zeroice and see what he thinks of your idea. Harlowe got pretty angry.”

  Maya shrank in her seat. “Sorry.”

  “Oh, not at you.” Genna winked. “Angry that we hadn’t thought of trying to make the formula public before. Everyone’s been so convinced of Ascendant’s untouchability that no one dared suggest something like that. He said this could put the final nail in Fade’s coffin—if we can pull it off.”

  “Yes!” Maya grinned. After another spoonful, she looked up. “Can we go to the Emporium and get Sarah some clothes? All she’s got is what she’s wearing.”

  Sarah’s cheeks reddened. “You don’t gotta waste money on me. Dad’ll get me something in the Sanc when we go to visit him.”

  “You could use some shoes too.” Pope ruffled her hair. “Lucky you haven’t gotten sick from an infected cut.”

  “I’m used to it. I’ve never had any shoes. Dad says it’s not worth the money since I’d just outgrow them before they wear out. And people will steal them.” Sarah pushed cereal around her bowl. “It’s all right. I don’t mind.”

  “Billy drinks most of his veteran’s pension.” Genna leaned her chin on her fist, a smirk of contemplation on her lips as she watched Sarah eat.

  Sarah glanced sideways at her with a momentary scowl. “He’s not trying to be mean. He thinks I’ll stay inside and be safe. Foz charges too much for everything. I can wait.”

  “I have money,” said Maya. She explained the scav. “It’s in the bedroom in one of your socks under the dresser. I want to pay that man back for feeding us too.”

  “Foz won’t overcharge me.” Genna laughed. “We’ll go talk to him soon as we get back from meeting Barnes. Pope’s agreed to hear him out. Maybe even stick around.”

  He yawned and stretched, making his chair creak. “Hole in the ground’s nice for privacy, but hot running water has its perks.”

  Genna exchanged a surreptitious glance with him and smiled.

  Pretending not to notice the way they looked at each other, Maya finished off her cereal. “When are we going?”