Rook Winters - Weight of Ashes

Another man disembarked from a flyer. He wasn’t wearing full armor, just some type of protection over his torso.

“Marsh Lapin, yes?”

“Who are you?”

“I am, I hope, the bearer of good news. My friends call me Kane and I do hope we’ll be friends at the end of this.”

“Parking three of these alien monstrosities in our yard is a poor first impression.”

“It’s a long walk here and I’m afraid that my schedule didn’t allow for such a rustic journey.” Kane laughed at his own comment.

Marsh didn’t. “And what brings you so far out of your way?”

“Some nasty business unfortunately. I represent the affairs of Governor Torkanuux. There was a defector from a research facility recently. A man named Clint Donovan. I believe you and he are acquainted.”

“We were, a very long time ago.”

“Dr. Donovan, it seems, carried off some of our intellectual property when he left. We have reason to believe he brought it here and left it in your possession. I’ve come to collect it. As consideration for your help, the governor’s office is prepared to supply you with a full restock of your medical field clinic and commit to buying your trade goods at a twenty percent premium for the next two years. I am led to believe that your community, although isolated, does trade food and pelts in order to buy the things you cannot make or grow.”

“That’s generous but I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re looking for.”

Kane put his hands on Marsh’s shoulders. “You disappoint me, Marsh. Our scanners already found the antique motorcycle he rode here. How can we be friends if we’re not honest with each other?”

“We found Clint and his motorcycle on an old road. He was dead already, so we buried him.”

“What about the data vault?”

“What data vault?” Marsh’s voice sounded convincing but his eyes betrayed him.

Kane didn’t miss the involuntarily movement, the eyes glancing down, confirming that a precious item was still safe. He patted Marsh’s pockets then his sides and chest. He yanked the necklace from under the old man’s shirt. “A bit macabre wearing this, isn’t it?” Kane shoved the assortment of bone and antler fragments into a pocket on his leg. “What about the girl?”

“What girl?”

“Honestly, Mr. Lapin—”

“Doctor. It’s Dr. Lapin.”

“Of course, my mistake. I am trying to be civil here. It’s not your fault that Donovan defected or that he kidnapped a girl in the process. We just want our property back and to reward you for your help. Let’s not play games.”

“Believe me, none of this seems like a game to me. There’s no girl here.”

“Tsk tsk tsk. You know, a hazard of my job is that it’s easy to lose hope in humanity when you are lied to day after day after day. You get to be good, though, at telling when someone is lying to you. And when you can’t tell, you just assume. If she’s here, my team will find her. If she’s gone, we will track her. You’ve only hurt your community by being pig-headed and for nothing.”

Kane waved his hand and his small army raised their weapons. “Let’s make it quick, gentlemen, I have a meeting to get back for.”

Court started moving when the first shot rang out. A blue jay flashed across his line of sight as it fled from the noise. He raised the mag gun and looked past the sight marks as he moved forward. The reports of more shots echoed around him. He saw bodies falling. Paulo went down. Anica was staring at him when bullets tore through her and she rolled forward, her shoulders following the direction her head had been looking and she crumpled on top of Paulo.

The screams and cries lasted for several seconds after the gunfire stopped. It was over so fast.

“How could you?” Marsh croaked. He lunged at Kane who stepped to one side then kicked Marsh’s knee, sending him to the ground with a howl.

“You had your chance. Places like this are allowed to exist as long as they aren’t inconvenient. A flea on a dog, out of sight, out of mind until you become a nuisance.” Kane unhooked a baton from his side. It was long enough that he only had to bend slightly to jab it into Marsh’s chest. Marsh convulsed then fell still. Kane pressed the baton into him again with no reaction.

Court collapsed to his knees on the path a few paces from the clearing. The trees around him seemed to spin and sway. He wanted to scream but couldn’t.

What could he do? His little mag gun arrows wouldn’t pierce their armor. He’d be dead in seconds, then they’d take Elle. Or kill her.

There are still a lot of people in their cabins or hiding somewhere. I’m a council member now. I need to survive this. I owe it to them, I owe it to Marsh.

The thought was still coalescing in his mind when the men spread out in a light jog. Explosions followed within moments. The village had twenty-seven cabins for living quarters, the hospital, the council cabin, and three communal buildings. Smoke billowed from all of them in less than a minute.

Then more gunfire. And more screams.

“You’re too exposed,” Elle said. She tugged at his shirt sleeve but it wasn’t enough to move him. “Court, come on, they’re going to see you.” She pulled harder. He didn’t resist and toppled to the ground. “Court, hide, please,” she pleaded.

She kicked him and he grasped what she was saying. He crawled behind a tree a few feet off the trail.

“They’re killing everybody. What are we supposed to do?”

“We stay alive,” she said. “For now, we just stay alive.”

“Did you see that old woman with the fur shawl? What a zoid.”

“At least their buildings lit up fast so we could get out of there. I was worried I’d get dysentery if we stayed out there too long.”

“You get that from eating stuff. Were you planning to cook dinner with them?”

“Jones, Wilkes, shut it,” Kane barked over the comm. Some of these guys were monsters. The humanity had been trained out of them to the point that they cared less about human lives than Kantarka-Ta did.

Wilkes asked, “What’s the problem, boss?”

“Show a bit of decency. They lost their lives because of bad circumstances, not because they lived like that. Don’t dishonor the dead.”

Kane couldn’t see their faces behind him in the grav flyer to know whether they were showing remorse or rolling their eyes. Did it even matter? At least the comm was quiet.

I hope some of these sons of bitches have nightmares too.

After a few minutes of quiet, the men slipped into chatter about home life and plans for the weekend. Kane took some comfort in knowing they still had that much humanity in them.

The other two flyers had flown straight back to New Boston. Kane’s flyer had to stop in Toronto so he could personally deliver the data vault to a quantum computing lab that would crack whatever encryption its data was hiding behind. The extra ninety minutes of travel time was inconvenient but worth it to gain favor with Torkanuux. With Kantarka-Ta on the prowl for more power, Kane couldn’t afford any mishaps. He would place the data vault in the hand of the lab’s director, recording the entire exchange. If something went wrong after that, it wouldn’t be Kane left holding the short straw.

The grav flyers had been gone for at least fifteen minutes and Court was catatonic. They needed to make a plan while they still had plenty of daylight.

“Court, we have to check if anyone is still alive.” Elle shook his shoulders, but he didn’t respond. “I’m going to look.”

He didn’t move even when she slid the mag gun out of his hands. The gun wasn’t much protection, but she felt better having it as she approached the fallen bodies.