Ben Chaney - Son of Sedonia

Suddenly, strange text files, blueprints, and photographs appeared on screens around the room. Some kind of ship… Beyond massive in the half glow of the curved Earth beneath it, the body looked almost whale-shaped. Miles of solar panels lined its broad, flat wing arrays. Giant glass domes punctuated both the back and the underbelly, housing every biosphere on the planet. And millions of pin-point windows covered the hull.

Without reading the screens, fresh memories bubbled up into Matteo’s awareness. ‘ The Narayana.’ Total Occupancy: 2.8 million persons. Top speed: 99.9992% SOL. Destination: Gliese 581g. Distance to Target: 20.26 LY. Projected Launch Date: 09-2090AD.

“My God…” Simon said, “They’re gonna—”

“Leave us all to rot! Ho-ly SHIT!” Illyk shouted, “We got ’em! Dead to fuckin’ rights, we got ’em! ” Excited laughter broke out all over the room. Matteo willed himself to sit up, but his head rolled into a mat of fuzz. He almost passed out.

“Whoa, whoa, buddy! I bet that was rough… but don’t worry man, ’cause everything’s about to change! We’re gonna put this out on every channel we can think of. Hell, we’ll project it on the sky over Mesa-fucking-Park!”

Matteo heaved his throbbing head up and saw the control panel. The memory cartridge.

“No…” Matteo muttered. He yanked the head-tentacles off, killing the streaming data. Then, in one quick move, his hand shot out and grabbed the memory cartridge from its port. The laughter died in an instant, replaced by the click of Simon’s pistol.

“Now, you got what you came for, Aden,” Illyk said, “You’ve seen more truth about yourself than most people ever should, but we had a deal. Give us the stick, and you can walk away. Don’t, and… well…”

They’d never let him walk away. They would parade him through the streets for their ‘cause,’ and plaster his name all over the Net. A rallying cry that would destroy the City of his dreams, replacing it with… what? These people? His palm sweated as it gripped the digital sum total of his life, and the secret stored within.

BOOOOOM!

The entire cabin shook, throwing Illyk and his people off balance. Lights flickered and several monitors fell off of their mounts and smashed on the bulkhead. Matteo stumbled, but seized the moment. He launched his shoulder into Simon’s chest, wrenched the gun out of the man’s thick hands, and rolled out of the way. The group lunged for him then stopped, facing the barrel of the gun. Matteo kept it trained on them as he crept backward to the hatch door.

“This is my life,” Matteo said, holding up the cartridge, “Use your own for your ‘Cause.’” He opened the hatch. Sounds of chaos spilled inside.

“Kid, you’re making a mistake! Didn’t you hear your old man, he said—”

Matteo interrupted Illyk with a warning shot.

“Don’t follow me!” He jumped outside, slammed the hatch shut, and twisted the lever as hard as he could. As he got his bearings, he saw a column of ink-black smoke rising toward the sky. Sirens, screams, and shouting filled the air.

Spotting the opening in the path, he sprinted for it, bounding over the thick cables in the dirt. He’d almost made it to the opening when he heard the IG-6 hatch door slam open behind him. The familiar near-miss shriek of speeding bullets surrounded him. He tucked his arms and head toward his chest, then dove through the opening as rounds tore shrapnel off its metal frame.

Following the cables out was harder than he’d thought coming in. They curved down paths he hadn’t seen, split into several directions. He turned a right he thought he remembered. It dead-ended into a transformer box. With the violent shouts growing louder, he looked up into the hollow framework of the facility. Started climbing.

The labyrinth of multicolored supports, braces, and beams made picking a clear direction impossible. Gotta get distance . The same advice the vets would give young Nines for being chased into a strange district. ‘ Don’t worry about where you’re going. Just go .’ He wove through the columns and swung over gaps. Climbed around generator hubs and over groups of sprinting workers. Before long, he realized that no one nearby was concerned about him anymore. They all ran in one direction. Matteo paused to breathe the acid out of his lungs, then climbed through to the top of the super structure.

Half of the sky toward the Border had turned black with smoke, filling his nose with the smell of burned synthetics. Then, eyes drifting downward, he saw it. No more than five miles away, a jagged, freighter-wide wound gouged through the Border in a giant ‘V’ shape. Glimpses of the Rasalla District beyond peeked through the billowing smoke. Matteo’s jaw dropped. Paralysis gripped his body, locking him in a blank stare. They did it. It’s happening.

“Corey! Corey, get the fuck down here, let’s go!” said a female voice carried by the wind. Matteo blinked. Others had emerged all over the rooftops, towers, and landing pads of the Outer Ring. Everyone faced the Border.

“Corey!” screamed the voice that had to be Liani. Matteo scanned nearby and saw Corey’s chunky silhouette climb clumsily over a catwalk ledge. The man struggled to his feet and lifted a handheld camera. But the wind carried another sound to Matteo. A kind of low background noise that got louder. And louder. And louder. Then it was a roar. Thousands of voices chanting in unison.

The wave of shock dissolved into needle-flesh all over Matteo’s skin, waking his throbbing limbs. He sprang up, picked his route to Corey, and took off across the complex.

“Corey RUN!” He waived his arms then leaped to catch the next ledge. Pulled himself up to face Corey. Still filming. Matteo grabbed the camera and stared his new, dumbfounded friend in the face.

“ Rasalla is coming! ” said Matteo. As Corey opened his mouth to speak, a shockwave slammed into both of them.

BOOOOM! BOOOOM! B-BOOOOOOM!

Knocked flat on the catwalk, Corey pushed Matteo off of him. Both sat up. Columns of smoke and giant boulders of falling concrete rained down throughout the Outer Ring. Three fresh fractures had punched through the Border to join the first. Corey shouted above the ringing in Matteo’s ears.

“Okay, we can go!”

As they turned for the climb down, Corey’s van sidled up to the ledge, blasting them backward with exhaust. Liani at the wheel. The rear passenger hatch hissed open.

“You have five fucking seconds to get the fuck in the fucking van!” Liani shouted through the PA.

“Jesus…” Corey said.

“NOW!” she shouted. The two of them fell over each other to climb inside. Matteo barely got his foot through the door before the hatch snapped closed. The van bobbed hard and lurched up into the sky.

“About time,” Liani said, “Now quit dicking around back there and get a shot of that! ” She pointed out the window. Matteo handed the camera back to Corey, and the two of them clung to the seats to take a look.

Streaks of gunfire waived through the smoke in sweeping curves. Thousands of muzzle flashes crept along the ground in front of four smoldering gaps in the Border. Fresh explosions popped off throughout the Outer Ring. Flames licked up toward the van. Then, from the ashen plumes emerged ships. A fleet of them… all shapes and sizes. Matteo recognized names spray-painted on their hulls in giant red letters.

‘Falari.’

‘Alati.’

‘Temple.’

‘Rasalla.’

‘Jogun.’

‘Matteo.’