Ben Chaney - Son of Sedonia

“Okay,” he said, puffing the air from his lungs. He air-braked into a one-eighty degree turn then laid on the gas. The shock troops had no time to react. Matteo flew straight at them, banked hard right, and flashed them with a full blast from the hover engines. Parked facing the exit.

He punched a button on the center console and watched as the passenger door hissed up and open. Jogun, head slumped, sat back against the ruined column. Blood trickled from a gouge in his side.

“JO!” Matteo called out. Jogun heaved his head to look. His mouth moved but the voice failed against the storming hum of engines. Matteo threw open the driver door and scrambled around the front end. Behind them, the soldiers started to rise. As he reached his brother, Matteo squatted, scooped under Jogun’s knees and back, and lifted him like a half ration of rice.

“Never could tell you anything…” Jogun rasped. Heartbeat drumming in his ears, Matteo carried Jogun to the seat and set him down. As the door slammed shut, high-pitched whines sounded off. The first shots fired as he dove away onto the hood, swung his legs around, tucked through the driver’s side door, and dropped in the seat. He rammed the throttle to maximum.

They fired out of Sedonia Tower like a cannon shot, shoving them both deep into the upholstery. The Tower shrank in the rear-view, fading to a silhouette in the hazy dawn. No one followed. If they even could… The pressure stopped as the Solari cabin adjusted to the speed. The ride smoothed, sailing over the Center Ring like a knife through water. Jogun gasped and coughed, clutching his torn flank. His breathing stuttered and heaved.

“Come on, man, into the belly,” Matteo said, “Told me to do it enough times, you think you’d remember…”

Jogun shivered as he pressed his lips together, taking slow, bumpy breaths one by one. Jo rolled his head to the side. Looked down out the window.

“I-it’s over…” Jogun said. They crossed above the City skyline at blinding speed, passing from Center to Inner Ring in seconds. Fires raged everywhere, stippled throughout the monumental angles, platforms, and curves. Heavy gunships took crowds of prisoners some places. Fought fever-pitch battles in others. Giant Federal command ships hovered amongst the clouds like angry Gods. Through the windshield, Matteo saw stray rounds streak up to the sky, most disappearing into the dawn drenched fog of smoke. The quiet rang in his ears.

“Matteo…” Jo cringed in pain. Continued. “You did good… on your own… just like you always said you would.”

“Jo, I never meant—” Matteo stopped as Jo kept talking.

“I think I was scared you were right. That you didn’t need me. That—that—I was alone… That I should be,” Jogun stared out of the window, “I never told you the truth because I knew you’d leave… but you deserved to know, you always deserved to know…”

“Quit talking like this, man, we’re gonna find Utu!” Matteo ground the ball of his foot into the accelerator. The Solari shuddered as it reached top speed. The first squat apartments of the Outer Ring appeared under the horizon. Matteo poured sweat as he forced the wheel steady. He felt Jogun’s hand gently rest on his shoulder.

“It’s-o-okay,” Jo said, sucking short breaths, “It’s okay…you’re strong. You can choose for yourself now. You got this…” The hand slipped off Matteo’s shoulder.

“No, no, no, no, NO! Come on, Jo, I need you, man, I need you! ” Matteo clutched Jo’s hand, “I’ve always needed you, you’re my— You are my brother. Rasalla’s our home. I can’t do this without you, now please just… just stay… stay—.” The sadness settled over him as the Solari boomed over the Outer Ring. Past the ruined Border.

Tracing due East from the Rasalla River, Matteo recognized the Healing Quarter. The Temple of the Wheel sat at the far end of it with strings of prayer flags blowing in the scorched air. Scores of the wounded, dying, and dead lined the grounds, tended by fluttering blue shapes. Matteo brought the Solari down in the only open patch he could find, feeling a twinge as those who could walk scattered to hide. He powered off the engines and released the doors.

“I’m one of you! Scrap! Ashes! Dirt!” Matteo shouted, waving his arms, “Get Utu!”. He ran around to the passenger side, took Jogun’s body from the car, and turned. Stopped. Jogun’s eyes gazed at the sky, unblinking as ash-colored raindrops wet his face. Before the tears could come, Matteo looked around him. The Blue Ladies, wounded dwellers, T99s, others strange to Matteo…they crowded together, heads bowed. All at once, they dropped to their knees. Bowed. An old woman stepped forward with two young helpers. Dressed in temple blue, bits of copper and tin rattled on long necklaces around her thin neck and shoulders. She lifted a withered hand to Jogun’s forehead.

“The Healer has gone home,” she said aloud, “We will take the machine from his flesh and send his body to the Earth as it came. Place him here.” The two helpers laid a blanket of heavy Rasalla cloth on the rain-dappled ground. Matteo stepped forward and knelt. Lowered Jogun’s broken body to the blanket. Reaching forward, he closed his brother’s eyes. The old woman placed her hands over her heart. Raised her tiny voice to the crowd.

“When the hour is dark, do not despair.

For He is with us.

Begging his children to find their path.

Blessed are those who do, following unto its end.

Blessed are those who find faith, not only in God, but in themselves.

Blessed are those who show the way of Love, of Sacrifice, and of Peace.

Do not despair.”

Matteo blinked back tears. His path was clouded. City. Slums. The world? Who knew what it would mean from here. He looked one last time at the peace on Jogun’s face. Over the swirling chaos in his mind, Matteo heard his brother’s clear voice. ‘ You got this. ’

LIANI FIDGETED WITH her kevlar Press helmet. She wished she would have tried a few more on before stealing this particular one from the GloboMetro field HQ. The pinching straps worked at her frayed nerves as she approached the City-side checkpoint to the Outer Ring. Kilometers of razor-wire fence had been rolled out to form a new Border, thirty meters high, guarded by legions of government troops and patrolling aircraft. Liani glanced up. The Federal command ships hadn’t moved since the ‘Intervention,’ hovering high above Sedonia City with an ever-present hum. Liani felt tiny. Exposed. The Narayana’s supposed to be twelve times the size of one of those… She wondered where it might be.

The Aug-troops at Access Point Charlie each stood taller than an average gigantic human, decked out head to foot in heavy Augmentor rigs. She felt their eyes glaring at her from behind those smooth, blank masks as she walked up to the gate. Thankfully, a regular size officer in a helmet and fatigues seemed to be in charge of clearance, checking a cargo manifest of a ground truck. He waved them through and turned to Liani.

Okay… showtime. Liani threw on her cutest smile and batted eyelashes over her brown, color-corrective contacts.

“Hello,” she said with a sly pitch. She rolled up her sleeve, gulped a lump in her throat, and held out her upturned arm.

“Evening, ma’am,” said the officer as he took her hand and waved a scanner baton over her arm. Concealer cream covered the tiny scar on her smooth skin. He didn’t seem to notice it. This better work… The technician working with Doc Utu had called it a ‘Bounce Chip.’ It would detect the scan, block communication with the main City server, then reroute the query to their server back in Rasalla. New picture, name, date of birth, social security number, current employer, political affiliations, and detailed family history. All of it had to gel, or she’d go away for identity theft. Not a healthy idea in the Post-Intervention world. The scanner beeped, stopping her heart. Liani watched as the officer read through the information on his private Neural display.