The Atomic Sea: Part Five: Flaming Skies

by Conner, Jack

  “She got a dose of the gas,” Frederick told Liru. “It’s made her a bit wiggy.”

  Liru nodded to the other two servants, who assumed flanking positions, and led the way inside. Avery, half-walking Layanna, followed after Janx and Frederick. Hildra took up the rear, looking cautiously around as they went. Liru ushered them down a stairway, then down a long, opulent hall. The air smelled of perfume and the sound of Lai music drifted through the corridors, with lots of strings and woodwinds. Was an orchestra playing somewhere? The notion was mad.

  An Octunggen man in uniform and Lai woman appeared around a corner, the woman leading the man by hand. He was an older-looking officer, cheeks flushed with alcohol, while the woman was younger and half naked. She had at some point worn an expensive dress, but it had been peeled down to reveal her upper half, which was quite bare, displaying her flat belly and firm breasts. A diamond necklace hung between them, glittering like ice.

  Pretending to laugh, though underneath it she wore a grim, haggard expression, she led the man to a cabin, slipped inside and closed the door behind them—all without even a look in Liru’s direction, as if this were a very casual and not-to-be-remarked-upon event. It was then that Avery realized where they were, and just what this place was. So did the others, apparently.

  “This is a cunt corral!” Hildra said.

  “A hell of a one,” Janx agreed.

  “This is no mere whorehouse,” Liru replied. “This is the premier establishment of pleasure in Ayu. The elite of the city honor us by spending their idle moments here.”

  “But aren’t your guests disturbed by what’s going on in the city?” Avery said. “How can they ... seek pleasure ... when the city’s dying?”

  “How can they do anything else?” was Liru’s answer. “It is either turn your mind off to it or go mad. When word came from the high command that this was to happen, giving the Octunggen and some of the Lai elite time to prepare, naturally many of them sought the ultimate diversion.”

  That at least consoled Avery to some extent. The Octunggen and their Lai puppets were still human, if barely.

  As they reached an intersection, Liru stepped to the side and gave his two men a sharp look. They spun about, hands darting inside their pockets and coming out with gleaming pistols.

  Five other men with pistols stepped out from their places of concealment. Two pointed them at Frederick. The rest covered Avery, Janx and Hildra.

  “What’s the meaning of this?” Avery demanded, keeping his hands away from his gun.

  Liru flicked his gaze at Frederick. “He knows.” He pulled a pair of handcuffs from a pocket and stepped forward. Frederick made as if to resist, then shrugged and allowed Liru to snap the cuffs on him.

  “You think we wouldn’t know?” Liru said. “You think we wouldn’t find out?”

  “Find out what?” said Frederick, but he sounded overly innocent, almost amused.

  Liru struck him across the face. Frederick spat blood at his feet.

  “We know you took the hava,” Liru said. “You realize how much that was worth? Tell us where it is, we might go easier on you.”

  “A bullet in the head instead of torture?”

  “It would be better, trust me.”

  Avery looked at Janx, who was scowling, then Hildra. Her eyes were wide but her face twisted in anger. “Son of a bitch!” she whispered. “Fucking drugs were stolen!”

  “I guessed they might’ve been,” Janx said in a low voice, “but I didn’t guess he’d be stupid enough to return to the place he stole ‘em from.”

  “The drugs are burnt to glass and hell,” Frederick was telling Liru. Avery expected Frederick to blame it on him—it had been Avery who had burnt them, after all—but strangely Frederick did not.

  “Not a chance,” Liru said. “Why would you do that? Now we either want the hava or the money you got from selling it, we don’t care which. First though—I just want to know why you came back. You had to know it was suicide.”

  “Why does anyone do anything?”

  Liru nodded to two of the men, who grabbed Frederick under the arms. “We’ll have to question you. Don’t say I didn’t give you the option of doing this the easy way.” He gestured to Avery’s group. “What are you lot doing in Freddy’s company?”

  “A friend,” Hildra said, speaking quickly. “From the neighborhood. Used to buy hava off him. When the gas came ‘round, he said he knew somewhere safe.”

  “A mistake,” Frederick said. “Obviously.”

  “I feel no sympathy,” Liru sniffed. “Only one of them has bothered to accept the Sacrament, and he consorts with those who haven’t, which makes me question even his adherence to the Faith.”

  Interesting, Avery thought. This man was one of the converted Lai. Were all those aboard the same?

  “Do you know where the hava is?” Liru asked Avery, perhaps because he was the so-called convert. “We could make it worth your while.”

  “I have no idea,” Avery said. “I would tell you if I did.”

  Again he expected Frederick to contradict him, but the man remained eerily silent. Resigned to death, perhaps. Resigned ... and downright heroic. It was quite a transformation.

  It was Liru’s turn to shrug. “Then be on your way.” To several of his men, he said, “Take a ship and bring them ... to safety.”

  Avery knew then that they would die. The men would shoot them and toss them overboard as soon as they cleared Paradise; Liru merely wanted to keep the sound of gunfire away from his establishment’s wealthy clients. Avery’s group had escaped one death only to find another.

  * * *

  Without another word, Liru marched Frederick away. The drug dealer and son of a goddess allowed himself to be shoved down the hall, not even looking back. The two men gripping him held him tight, and two more followed in their wake.

  “Come on,” said one of the remaining men to Avery’s company. Layanna was still mostly unconscious. “But first hand over your guns.”

  Avery had hoped the weapons wouldn’t be noticed. Reluctantly, he, Janx and Hildra did as requested. Avery wished he could ask Janx to take over carrying Layanna—she was getting heavy—but he wanted Janx’s hands free.

  The man that had spoken led the way, and Avery’s mind burned as they walked. “You know,” mused the man, “you all look familiar. Are you actors of some sort?”

  “Yeah,” said the man behind them. “They do look like people I’ve seen before, don’t they? Or read of, maybe. A woman with a hook, a big man with no nose ...”

  They’d been hearing the descriptions on the radio, Avery knew, but they hadn’t quite realized it yet. It wouldn’t be long, though.

  Janx and Hildra nodded to each other as they rounded a corner. The guards were herding them loosely, not expecting resistance. After all, they were merely escorting Avery’s group to freedom, or so they had said. Who would fight that?

  Janx grabbed the guard in front of him by the back of his tunic and hurled him against the wall so hard that bones cracked audibly. Without even pausing, Janx leapt on the man in the lead, while Hildra spun about, slashing the first guard across the abdomen, spilling loops of red intestines, and shoving him backward so that the last guard, reaching for his gun, was trapped under the weight. While she moved to slit his throat, Janx crushed the larynx of the lead man with his boot heel.

  The man who had been disemboweled still lived, and he groped desperately for his blood-spattered gun, lifting it to take a shot at Janx.

  Though his hands were encumbered, Avery stomped on the gun and pinned it to the floor. Janx grabbed the man’s feet, jerked him forward so that the gun was left beneath Avery’s foot, then pulled him up by the front of his tunic and punched him in the face, hard. The man sagged back.

  Taking a deep breath, Janx turned to Avery and Hildra. “Where’s my revolver?”

  Hildra passed it to him, and they rooted for their other weapons as they talked.

  “We can’t just throw Freddy to th
e dogs,” Hildra said. “He did just save our bacon, and it’s our fault what happened to him.”

  “We didn’t steal those drugs,” Avery said. “But I agree. We’ll help him if we can. But he’s not our priority. We must clear Ayu airspace and reach the Over-City.”

  His head snapped up. He’d heard footsteps from down the hall—footsteps of a sizable party, by the sound of it.

  “Shit,” said Hildra. “Come on!”

  She took point while Avery shifted Layanna in his arms. It was a strain, but he held her tight against him as they moved. Janx seemed to understand and did not ask to carry her. They rounded a corner and hurried down the hall, away from the sound of footsteps. A shout echoed from behind them, then another.

  Avery was hardly aware of the music surrounding him, of the noises of laughter and conversation, so intent was he on placing one foot in front of another without stumbling under his burden; such a trip would mean his death, most likely. Thus he was unprepared when he and the others burst into the parlor.

  Hairs prickled along the back of his neck. Janx swore.

  Before them stretched a wide and opulent room, gorgeous chandeliers depending from a high, arched ceiling, lights from their candles glittering off the crystal and illuminating in soft light the many expensive couches and deep armchairs spread all around, on which the elite of Octung lounged and played, half-naked girls and boys sprawling across their laps, or teasing them with sultry smiles, or offering fine cigars and brandy on silver trays.

  Most of the Octunggen were infected, naturally, and they sported a wide variety of mutations, from simple gills and striations to full-body alterations. On a nearby couch, a sprawling Octunggen officer with a corpulent belly and teeth like a barracuda was being fed grapes—with fingers that very quickly sprang away from the snapping jaws—by a mostly naked Lai boy not even into his teens. Nearby a group of men and one female—none other than General Carum—had gathered around a gambling table, but the prizes heaped in the center were not chips but naked Lai, of both sexes, who did not appear to be prostitutes—they were too morose and without grooming, and all were gagged and bound—but very well could have been slaves or prisoners taken from the facilities Frederick had spoken of.

  Avery stared at General Carum, feeling his gorge rise and his mouth drop open. She had come here to amuse herself after consigning Ayu death.

  The gazes of many of the room’s occupants strayed in his and the others’ direction. Not Carum, she was still too involved in the game, but many.

  Avery’s scrotum contracted. One word, one yell, and it would all be over. Many of the men and women present wore uniforms—or the remains of uniforms, as some were unbuttoned or even heaped on the floor—and he knew they must be highly-placed officers, majors and colonels, even other generals. They would be intimately familiar with the description of everyone in Avery’s party.

  Please, he thought. Please look away.

  A long moment passed. Avery thought his bladder might release. Finally, distracted by the willing flesh before them, the guests of Paradise returned their attentions to where they’d been, and Avery breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn’t enough, though. Some of the Octunggen still seemed curious about them. One or two were frowning.

  “Split up,” he hissed out of the corner of his mouth. “We’re too conspicuous together.”

  Hildra and Janx moved right, and he, sagging under Layanna’s weight, went left. He realized he was circling toward the stage. There Lai musicians played a twangy, reedy song, with many long ululations and warbling duets. When the instruments died down, a young woman stepped forward. She was infected, but it had only made her more lovely. She glowed with bioluminescence. It shone from her face, radiating from within her body, and as she reached a high note she grew even brighter. The subtle striations on her face only enhanced her high cheekbones and full lips.

  Avery cut through a series of tables before the stage, saying “Pardon me, excuse me” as he went. Once Layanna’s right foot struck an Octunggen major in the head, and the man reared up, drunken and red-eyed. “What’s the meaning of this?” he bellowed.

  “I’m most sorry, sir. The lady’s had a bit too much to drink, I’m afraid.”

  The major grunted, piggish and beery. At last he gave a loud burp, right in Avery’s face, then laughed coarsely and said, “Haven’t we all?”

  He plopped back down and resumed drinking. A prostitute sitting next to him leaned forward to re-light his cigar.

  Avery moved on, careful to keep his face turned from General Carum. He could hear her harsh laughter even across the room, and once out of the corner of his eye he saw her reach forward and pinch the buttocks of the captive girl on the table in front of her. The girl whimpered but was careful not to shrink away. Carum chuckled, said something in a low tone that elicited laughs from the other Octunggen, then raised her bet.

  At the far end of the room Avery rejoined Hildra and Janx. They turned back to see a squad of guards enter the room on the opposite side from the very hallway the group had come from. The guards scowled and scanned the room. Before their eyes could settle on their quarry, Avery and the others ducked into a hall leading from the parlor and put some distance behind them. The music began to fade.

  “Shit,” Hildra said. “That was close.”

  When they’d reached a good distance from the parlor, they stopped to catch their breaths. A muted ululation rang in the distance.

  “What now?” said Janx.

  “We need to get off this bird,” Hildra said. “It’s crawling with Octs.”

  “We will,” Avery said. “But first ...”

  “Yeah?”

  “This place—it’s probably the only civilian airship that highly placed Octunggen craft would dock with. It’s our best chance to steal the dirigible of some captain and use it to enter the Over-City, if we can convince their crew to give us the proper codes.”

  “Ha!” said Janx. “But how? We’re still in Ayu airspace.”

  “According to Frederick, Paradise can come and go as it will from Ayu, I assume because it has so many high-ranking Octunggen on it, not to mention that the Octunggen occupiers in the other cities probably like to have a good time as much as their counterparts in the capital, and the zeppelin goes back and forth. This presents us with an opportunity.”

  “Maybe I’m slow, but what?” Hildra said.

  Avery, drawing the words out, said, “This place ... is mobile.”

  Hildra and Janx stared at him with different degrees of horror.

  Finally Janx threw back his head and laughed. “You want us to hijack a whorehouse?” He laughed long and loud. “You want us to hijack a whorehouse!”

  Hildra did not look so amused. “Don’t burst a lung,” she said.

  Chapter 3

  Two Lai guards, both mutated and presumably having accepted the Sacrament, stood outside the bridge, which Avery and the others found at the bow on the lowest level. Avery stumbled a bit on the bottom step as he helped Layanna down the stairs. She was still feverish and out of it. The jellies were close. Just ahead of him, Janx approached the bridge doorway with caution. Hildra, confident and swaggering, strode out front.

  The two guards straightened as she approached. They eyed her with amazement. A young, slender woman in scuffed pants, tight shirt and leather jacket, her flesh a map of scars and tattoos, a hook where her left arm should be, was surely not the sort of guest they were used to. Just the same, they acted remarkably polite.

  “No guests are allowed on the bridge,” the older guard said in Lai-accented Octunggen. “Perhaps you’re lost? Is there something I could help you with, miss? I would be happy to.”

  Hildra pulled the pistol out of the waistband in the small of her back and pointed it at his face.

  “Surrender your guns and open the damned door.”

  Both guards turned ashen.

  “W-will do, ma’am,” said the first one, and they handed over their weapons. The older one inserted a key int
o the door’s lock, opened it, and Hildra gestured the two to step through.

  She and Janx exchanged a glance, their faces tight, some grim humor burning in their eyes, and stepped onto the bridge side by side, guns in hand. Avery, following with Layanna, heard a great deal of shouting and the crash of Janx’s revolver.

  He passed through the doorway into a medium-sized room facing a bank of windows, with the great panorama of Ayu and the surrounding swampland laid out before them. Lai men and women in quasi-military uniforms had abandoned their consoles and desks and were all on their feet facing Janx and Hildra, their eyes wide and their faces waxen. There were no bodies on the ground, but there was a hole in the ceiling.

  Avery sat Layanna down against the bulkhead, locked the door and pulled out his own gun. Here goes, he thought. He tried to ignore the fluttering in his belly.

  “Give up your guns!” Hildra ordered.

  Already cowed, the crew complied, though as it turned out only a few were armed, one being the captain, a man in his early sixties with a bristly, graying mustache and dark, baggy circles under his eyes. From his dark red cheeks Avery deduced that he was a drinker, and that he had been drinking recently, surely in response to the catastrophe that had struck Ayu. He introduced himself as Captain Macu Konlil, then said in Octunggen, “What in the hells can you be about?” His voice betrayed only a slight quaver.

  “Turn this vessel about,” Janx ordered.

  The captain squinted his eyes defiantly, then said, “Do you have a heading?”

  “Take us northwest,” Avery said. “Do what we want and no one will be harmed.”

  Konlil absorbed this, turned to his crew and said, “Back to your stations. We have a new heading.”

  “Why northwest?” Hildra whispered to Avery after the course had been changed. “Didn’t the Over-City go in a more northeasterly direction?”