Radioactive Revolution: A Dystopian, Post-Apocalyptic Adventure

by Richard Hummel

  Before Jared made it a few steps into the room, Pete ran up to him, frothing at the mouth.

  “I n-n-need a b-booster, now! Kirgor was talking about c-components and the nanotech, and we might have a way to—if we p-put together—and send to—”

  “Pete?” He didn’t respond, rambling on about parts and signals until Jared only heard gibberish.

  “Pete!”

  Blinking, the man looked up at Jared in confusion. “I need a booster!”

  “You said that already.”

  “Kirgor and I were t-talking, and we want to b-b-bond. Did you know he’s an inventor? He worked with humans in the past, teaching them about n-new inventions and ways to do things. His m-mind is fascinating and the short time we spoke, he already grasped the concepts of m-modern p-programming.”

  Smiling, Jared laid a reassuring hand on the man’s shoulder. “Let’s go speak with him and Scarlet. We don’t want to make any brash decisions. If you two are a good fit, we’ll get it done. I have a handful of boosters in my pack.”

  “Okay,” mumbled Pete, his jubilation quelled temporarily.

  “Scarlet, have you spoken with Kirgor yet?”

  “Not yet, but from the snippets of conversation I overheard, it sounds like Pete could barely contain his excitement after speaking with him.”

  “Yes, Pete says they’d like to bond.”

  The news surprised Scarlet, and she had a similar reaction to Jared’s own.

  “Let us go speak with him.”

  Though Scarlet could easily speak with him across the room, they trudged over to where Kirgor lay. Once there, Scarlet bent her head to Kirgor’s, and they conversed for a time. Whatever they talked about remained a secret, since Jared couldn’t overhear a single word. For a moment he thought about asking if they could shield their conversations from eavesdropping but dismissed the idea. It was clear they could from this short exchange, and they didn’t want him prying.

  “Kirgor agreed to bond with Pete. They have kindred minds and believe they are an excellent match. I am sure Kirgor would be happy to discuss his accomplishments with you in great detail, but he is an inventor and revels in discovery of new technology, human and dragon alike.”

  “Wait, dragons have technology?”

  “We do.” Kirgor looked at Jared.

  “That’s what I w-want to learn m-more about,” Pete stammered. “Kirgor will show me.”

  “Sorry.” Jared looked back toward Kirgor. “I don’t know a lot about—well, I don’t really know much about you at all. The only history I’ve seen is that of your persecution and when you went into hiding. That, and some vague memories from Alestrialia. Even with Memory Recall I’m unable to remember the images and memories I witnessed during her departure.”

  “That does not surprise me. The memories are for her heir, not the mind of a human. Though you understood them at their imparting, it surprises me you remember anything at all. What you experienced was a mind meld that usually only occurs with dragons. In our natural language, we communicate with much more than words and pictures. We use a speech that transcends languages and visual cues. It also accounts for auditory and emotional cues that underline everything we say. If you saw an image communicated by our mother, but did not feel the emotional aspect, or hear the undertones of her voice, then you likely did not see or understand what you think you did.”

  Jared’s head spun. “So, all of what I saw, including the dragons leaving the earth? All that might be wrong?”

  “It depends, but if Scarlet’s accounting of our mother showing this to you is accurate, then no. When she showed you the history, you no doubt saw it for what it is, but an entire lifetime of dragon memories cascading through the feeble mind of a human? No, most of those memories are likely false to you.”

  “Wow, all this time I didn’t understand.”

  “That is my fault.” Scarlet sounded chagrined.

  “It’s no one’s fault. I didn’t think to ask, and it isn’t your job to educate me all the time. I should’ve asked more questions to learn more about you and your family. We need to remedy that soon. Maybe we can spend a few days in shared thought space and go over some of your early history and this technology you speak of.” Jared placed a hand on Scarlet’s side.

  Kirgor inclined his head. “That is an excellent idea. If ever you reach the point to mind meld sufficiently outside your bond with our sister, I, too, can show you some of my history. Though Scarlet might show you our history, her view, or rather our mother’s view, would differ significantly from my own. It will be useful to experience the same thoughts from all of our perspectives since we each have our own interpretation of history.”

  “Thanks, Kirgor! I’m not sure how much longer it will be before I can do it, but it’s increasingly easier to maintain a Clear Mind most of the time. Melding with Scarlet and entering my shared thought space is near instantaneous now. I don’t think it’ll take much more before I reach that level. When I do, I’ll spend time with each of you, learning your history.”

  “It will be our pleasure after what you have done for our mother and sister.”

  “Thanks. Now, about this bonding—”

  “Yes, let us begin with the process. If I understand it correctly, we need to fuse our nanites together using a shared booster. The process will force the nanites in my body to fuse with Pete’s DNA.”

  “That’s correct as far as I understand it. Pete, I’ll warn you now, this process is very painful. I don’t know how much pain Carla endured bonding with Attis, but she is a firecracker and probably would try to shrug off how much it actually hurt. Speaking from my experience, you need to prepare yourself for this to hurt immensely.”

  “I’m r-ready.” Pete clenched his fists and approached Kirgor.

  “It’s best if you sit next to him for this. When I bonded with Scarlet, I was unconscious for a time. I think that was because Scarlet dug through my head. I’ll also say Kirgor is much stronger than Scarlet was at the time, so it might go faster and be less painful. But Scarlet had hundreds of years to study the technology. So, basically, I have no idea what will happen.”

  Extracting an injector from his pack, Jared passed it over to Pete. The man was a nervous wreck, his hands shaking. The jubilation he’d shown only moments earlier was gone as he second-guessed himself. He eyed the injector warily until a look of determination passed his features. With no further delay, Pete jabbed the plunger into his arm, depleted half the nanites, and then gently but firmly pressed the needle into the soft skin on Kirgor’s underside and emptied the remaining nanites into the dragon.

  Pete screamed, his body turning rigid. The injector clattered to the floor as Pete’s hands spasmed uncontrollably. He lasted only a few seconds before his eyes rolled up into his head and he slumped against Kirgor.

  Kirgor grunted as the nanites went to work, fusing their DNA together. Other than the short guttural noise from Kirgor, there was no outward sign it affected him the same. Neither Pete nor Kirgor moved a muscle after a few minutes.

  “Let’s leave them be. I’ll keep an eye on Pete, but they could use the space.” Jared walked away from the pair and made sure everyone left them alone.

  Looking around the room, Jared grinned.

  One down, eleven to go.

  Pete and Kirgor were the only ones bonded that day. Several other promising discussions took place, but only Pete worked up the gumption to get it done. No doubt it was the like-mindedness of the two that drew them together. Kirgor had already promised to bond with a human, so when one of them also happened to be an intellectual like himself, Kirgor had jumped at the chance.

  Jared hoped this new bond would propel Pete’s research to the next level. If he figured out a way to charge the phase batteries, or how the equipment and robots worked, they’d have a massive advantage against the cities that no one else in the world likely
had. The thought excited him, and he idly wondered if there were any cities that didn’t get along with another.

  If there was in-fighting amongst the cities, perhaps they could capitalize on it. Or, maybe there was a city somewhere sympathetic to the plight of those who lived below and would aid them in bringing the other cities to heel. It was a frivolous thought, since if there was a city out there willing to help, why hadn’t they done so in the hundreds of years they’d floated above the destruction below?

  No, Jared needed to rely on only himself and those he’d surrounded himself with. Seeing things well in hand with Pete, Jared walked back to the dining hall for dinner. He had no specific plans for anyone, but he’d remind them to make sure of their choices to bond. The process was irreversible, and getting stuck with a lifelong companion they didn’t get along with would be a bad deal for everyone involved.

  Before heading back up, Jared turned to Malsour across the room. “Can you please keep an eye on them? If anything happens, I’ll come running.”

  “I shall watch them.”

  “Thank you.”

  Several hours later, Jared found himself with nothing to do. Vanessa, Elle, and Carla were in the adjacent room talking about the dragons. He didn’t want to intrude on their conversation, so he retreated to his room. Settling onto his bed, Jared practiced his meditation and abilities long into the night. At some point he’d fallen asleep. Interestingly, he woke with Clear Mind activated. Apparently, his subconscious could maintain the ability even while asleep. His arduous practicing had paid off already, and he didn’t think it would be long before he could maintain it indefinitely.

  Once that happened, he’d build the neural pathways into his mind to maintain it without nanites. Then, he’d focus on his other abilities. The one area he couldn’t do anything about was Body Manipulation, which included his ability to regenerate, remodel parts of his body, and his nanite armor. If the nanites failed, those abilities also disappeared. It was not a pleasant thought when he remembered just how many times Regeneration had saved his life.

  Rolling out of bed, Jared found he was the first one to rise for the day in their increasingly crowded home. Though he’d had Carla join him after she bonded, he didn’t think Pete needed the same level of attention. He had a dragon to help him through the process. Carla needed the additional guidance since Attis wasn’t much help. If it wasn’t prey, it didn’t fly, and wasn’t bigger than him, Attis didn’t know how that fit into his world. Hopefully that would change, but for now Jared planned to help Carla as much as he could.

  After washing his face and donning a fresh shirt, Jared left his room. Thankfully, everyone had heeded his warnings and remained indoors. He saw no other people walking around as was common for the morning hours. As he walked past rooms, he heard conversations. He let the people know he’d be going down to the tunnel soon and if anyone wanted to go, to meet at the base of the stairs in a few minutes.

  Jared quickly peeked in on Pete’s room, but found him absent.

  “Scarlet? Is Pete still down there?”

  “He is asleep next to Kirgor.”

  “Any issues? Is the bond complete?”

  “It is complete, though only just, and it took a lot out of Pete. My brother recovered quickly enough.”

  “And Kirgor? What does he have to say?”

  “You should ask him yourself.” Scarlet sounded amused. “He has not stopped talking since the bond completed. His ideas and insight are—well, listen to him yourself. He has ideas about the technovirus and how to stabilize it already.”

  “I’ll be down in a few moments. I’m waiting for everyone who wants to go right now. One of us should be around to watch over everyone at all times. Especially with the cities’ heightened awareness. There’s no telling how many ships they send this time. And they might try to search the surrounding areas. I’m almost glad George got most of the way to the old colony. It will keep their search grid farther from us.”

  Jared finished his rounds of the rooms and went to wait at the bottom of the stairs. It didn’t take long for everyone to assemble. Performing a quick count, it looked like everyone wanted to go.

  “Good morning!” Jared greeted his roommates at the head of the crowd. “I heard you chatting about the dragons last night. What did you think? Did you find someone to bond with?” Jared said it mostly for Vanessa, since Carla and Elle already had companions.

  Vanessa slid her arm into the crook of his elbow and leaned in close. “Do you think any of them would want to? Bond with me?”

  Jared smiled down at her. “If it were me, I’d definitely want to. Just take your time to get to know them. You probably know them better than me by now, since I’ve had little time to talk to any of them one on one. I had a couple short conversations with Malsour, Kanundran, and Ashazad, but thats about it. If I had to take a guess, you and Malsour might be a good fit. He is a strong, dominating presence and is also the de facto leader of his brothers. I think you two would have much in common based on personality. Though, he doesn’t strike me as the compassionate type like you.”

  Vanessa said nothing in reply but leaned into him for support. Her presence always did wonders to lighten his mood and almost made him forget that they’d just poked a hornet’s nest and were waiting for the response. She had a way of making him feel at ease in any situation, and he wondered if that’s what her presence had been like when they’d remained captives of Razael. She was the stabilizing force that allowed her people to survive as long as they had. Sure, her parents had also played a role, but after they’d left, it was all on her.

  “All right, everyone ready?”

  A chorus of voices acknowledged they were, and Jared led them to the tunnel, always keeping a wary eye out for potential danger. He also strained his ears for any sounds of drop ships nearby.

  The trip down the tunnel was much easier than the first time, as people got familiar with traversing the steep slope. Jared found Pete sitting in almost the same place as last night. He was awake and staring vacantly in front of him. The man didn’t even look up as Jared approached. Waiting patiently in case he was in the middle of something, Jared stood a respectful distance away.

  “Kirgor?”

  “Yes?”

  “How is he handling all of this?”

  “Very well. In fact, he grasped the depth of the nanites quickly. I believe his Intelligence is high, since he can already do much of the things Scarlet told me took you some time to master.”

  Jared’s eyes widened as he glanced between Kirgor and Pete. That was great news. If Pete could immediately explore the nanites and the technology behind them, it would help him understand the technology from the cities quickly. In turn, that would accelerate plans for exacting vengeance.

  Deciding it wasn’t the best time to interrupt Pete, Jared backed away to join Vanessa.

  She stood hesitantly, casting furtive glances toward Malsour and Ashazad.

  Grabbing her hand, Jared led her over to them and introduced Vanessa.

  “Malsour, Ashazad, I’d like you to meet Vanessa. No doubt you had brief introductions yesterday, but I wanted to elaborate more. She is the leader of this small colony. I defer to her when it comes to the daily life of everyone here. She’s kept her people alive for years, and it’s a testament to her strength and will.”

  “Greetings.”

  Vanessa winced and shook her head.

  “Apologies,” Malsour was quick to add. “We have not dealt with human minds for quite some time and forget we must tread carefully with our projections.”

  “It’s okay. I was just unprepared for it.”

  There was an awkward pause as human and dragons stared at each other. Instead of letting the silence continue, Jared elaborated on Vanessa’s past actions.

  “You recall my accounting of Razael’s imprisonment, right?” He needn’t have asked, but he
did anyway to be polite with the subject. “Vanessa and her parents were in charge of the other humans during their captivity. Mostly, they kept the people together and encouraged them. If it wasn’t for her and her parents, then many, if not all, of these people would’ve gone mad and died.”

  Malsour looked at Vanessa in a new light as she dipped her head, a faint blush rising to her cheeks.

  “It—we—I didn’t do much. I only tried to make sure everyone didn’t lose hope after we were…changed. We learned to rely on each other and stay together so we didn’t end up getting killed by other creatures.”

  “Your… changes?”

  “Razael changed all of us. It helped us survive, but now we no longer need them, many of us wish to go back to how we were before.”

  “I am sorry you had to endure such treatment at the hands of a dragon. It is not in our nature to behave so, though human history and lore says otherwise. We are peaceful, but we will defend our own fiercely. It is possible that is where the myths originated.”

  “We all thought dragons were a made-up story,” Jared joined in the conversation. “I mean, we knew dinosaurs were real, and many firmly believed in the lake monster stories, but…”

  “Yes, it would seem true history has lost its way over the years.”

  “We’re kind of getting off track here. I wanted to introduce the two of you because I think you might make good companions, and I’d like you both to think on it for a time if you don’t mind.”

  “I will think on it and decide if I want to bond. It would mean giving up my newfound freedom.”

  “What freedom is this though?” Raising his arms, Jared spun in a circle to emphasize his point. “We burrowed into the earth to avoid the ire of those above, just as you did when you left humanity the first time. Is this freedom? Is this the closest we’ll get to peace and acceptance of humans and dragons coexisting? I really hope that is not the case. I have much more grandiose plans to see all humans thrive in society and I want to see dragons soaring the skies once again, unafraid of persecution.”