Ben Chaney - Son of Sedonia

Corey quietly put the pistol down on the floor panel of the railcar. Showed his hands. Liani did the same. Both stood gradually, careful to make no sudden moves. Facing them from the oncoming rail were three men in Virton jumpsuits and hard hats, brandishing assault rifles strapped around their shoulders. Their apparent leader was shorter and thinner than the other two. Faded tattoos curled and twisted out from the cuffs of his sleeves and the collar at his neck. He grinned as they sidled their car beside Liani and Corey’s. Got a full up-and-down look at Liani.

“Ah, there you are… or there two of you are, at least. Where’s the kid?”

“Got away from us,” said Corey, “Ran off at the evacuation checkpoint when he saw SCPD guarding the place.”

“SCPD…” the leader stepped out of their car and crouched beside one of the officer’s bodies, “Shame to have to kill ’em. Got a brother applying to the police academy talkin’ about wantin’ to serve and protect. But that was before all… this .” He rolled the body over, unclipped the officer’s weapon from its strap, and picked it up. Handed it to one of the other workers.

“I’ve got the mem-stick in my pocket,” Corey said, “I’m just gonna reach my hand in and take it out, okay?” The leader stood, pointed his weapon at Corey, then nodded. Corey held his opposite hand up as he carefully went into the pocket. Removed the memory stick. One of the workers leaned forward, took it from him, then stepped back. Used some kind of Neural interface to scan it.

“We’re good,” said the worker.

Loud clinking machinery broke the tension as the construction platforms undocked themselves and started moving along the main center rails. Their floodlights cut off as they crept away into the darkness of the tunnel where Liani and Corey had come from. Other lights appeared down the tunnel to the West, accompanied by the sounds of countless voices.

Two new platforms emerged from the darkness. Each carried a small army. Some of the figures wore the same kind of Virton jumpsuits or operated hulking Virton repair mechs. Others were clearly T99s to Liani’s eyes, but there was something different about them. They’re wearing EXO gear! Both platforms passed then turned around the bend in the track, disappearing. Corey and Liani looked at each other, wide-eyed.

“Hmmm,” the leader said, scratching his pitted face, “I’d say that complicates things. See, we might have sent you on your way, but now…you’ve seen a little more than you should’ve. Can’t have you running back East telling stories about that, now can we? Kill the guy. Take the girl.”

One of the men reached into their railcar for Liani and grabbed her under the arm.

“Hey, fucking let go of me!” she shouted. Thick fingernails gouged her skin as she tried to pull away. Corey lunged to push him off, but caught a heavy elbow to the temple, knocking him to the floor of the rail car.

“Easy, lover boy,” said the leader, “we’ll take real good care of your pretty little Inner Ring lady-friend here—”

POP! POP! Corey got two shots off before the pistol jammed. One tore through the cheekbone of Liani’s attacker and the other pierced the leader’s tattooed throat. As they collapsed, the third gunman turned on Corey.

“NO!” Liani grabbed her attacker’s sub-machine gun, turned it on the third man, and sprayed until he collapsed in a heap. The tunnel fell to hollow silence. She dropped the gun and rushed to Corey. He had slumped on the floor of the rail car. Three weeping holes crossed from his shoulder to his hip. Corey opened his mouth to speak. No sound came out. Liani pressed her hands and forearms down on the wounds.

“We’ll get you some help… we’ll take the rail car and… and…”

Corey raised his shaking hand and interlaced his fingers with hers. The look in his eyes told her a simple ‘no.’

“You brat! ” she said, laugh-crying, “You just had to play hero and save the girl, didn’t you?” That same goofy grin crossed his red lips.

“Love y-you… Li-Li…” it barely came out a whisper, but she heard it. Corey’s grin faded. His muscles slackened.

“No! Uh-uh!” Liani howled, echoing through the tunnel. She took him under the arms and pulled with everything she had. More than she had. Corey groaned at the pressure on his shoulder wound, but didn’t budge as she put him in the rail car seat and closed the harness. The docking clamps! She stepped over the bodies in the workers’ rail car, hopped up on the deck, and rushed to the console. Hit the big green button marked ‘Release.’ The clamps clinked loudly as they folded away. She hopped back in the workers’ rail car. Shrieked when a hand grabbed her foot.

“P-p-leassse—” the man hissed. It was the one shot through the cheek. The bullet must have gone through his sinuses. Liani snatched up an SMG and aimed the barrel at his broken face. Started to squeeze the trigger.

“Nguh—Ngd—Ndoctor,” he said, coughing blood. She lowered the weapon and scanned the floor. Beside the dead worker, she found the memory stick and snatched it up. Climbed back into her rail car beside Corey. He wasn’t moving. Wasn’t breathing. A trickle of blood dripped down the side of his seat. Liani pinched her eyes shut, letting the tears roll down her cheeks.

“Hell yes, we’re gonna find a doctor,” she said, her heart gone from the words, “And you’re gonna tell me where to find one.”

“ABOUT FOUR DAYS,” said the chief engineer. Four days? Jogun could hardly believe it. The tanks in the fusion plant were over twenty stories high…and there were hundreds of them. The City must have been running week-to-week on shipments from Themis. How could they let things get this bad? All his life he’d watched the City glowing silently beyond the Border. The exact same brilliance each and every night. Powerful. Ever-lasting. It had looked as if it were made by God to light Heaven and Earth. ‘Like us and the suns, nothing lasts forever.’

He had tried to look hard and calculating during his tour of the plant, but fear churned in his gut. The place was huge…huge and crazy complicated. The container-lined walls reached up forty stories to the domed ceiling, and groups of big, round ‘reactor chambers’ sat in the center of the floor. The engineer rattled on about deuter-something-reactions this and neutron-something-damage that. Jogun hated feeling so stupid. His Themis programming as a Crawler tech had been so specific, limiting him to geology, lunar physics, and basic maintenance. If only Matteo was here… he’d have all this stuff on lock.

“If four days is what we got, then that’s what we work with,” Jogun said, “Just gotta be careful where we use it. The teams’ll be in place by midday tomorrow, so we gotta get movin’ on prep for the main push.” He looked up at the tanks as though he were deep in thought. Really, he just meant to hide the fear. He had enough of his own to deal with, no sense in spreading it around.

“And after, sir? How do you plan to occupy a modern MegaCity without power?” asked the engineer. Good question, asshole. The answer in his heart told him that they would just leave. With their enemy crippled, they would go back to Rasalla and live in peace. But the hunger in his soldiers’ eyes told him the truth. Same as Matteo, they had wanted the City and its treasures for their whole lives. They’d never leave willingly.

“Oh, we got power. All that the Righteous need. The Power of God, my friend,” Jogun said, loud enough for his T99 escorts to hear. It didn’t feel right coming out of his mouth. Shouts from the entrance bounced through the warehouse, along with the sounds of rattling ammo belts and thumping footsteps. Jogun tensed as his men turned on the noise with their rifles ready. They stood in front of him.