The Uprising

by L. J. Suarez

  Reed pointed his gun at the Monad’s temple, his face turning cold. “Do you have kids?”

  Mace grimaced at Reed. What was he doing? He couldn’t believe this was the same man who he’s known since his childhood, and had served with Aaron on the Committee.

  The technician attempted to get out a word as his body trembled. “Yes… Yes, I do,” he finally said.

  “If you want to see them again, then begin the broadcast. I will not ask a second time.” Reed lowered the gun.

  The technician paused, then turned to the floating drone behind him that had been following the group all the way from the landing pad. His NI glowed a brilliant gold along his neck as his link to the drone was established. The drone acknowledged the technician’s non-verbal command and moved over to face Reed. It made a few electronic beeps, and a green light came on beside the drone’s forward panel. The technician nodded to Reed, acknowledging that the broadcast had commenced.

  Reed took in a breath and began to speak. “To all Monads throughout Gaia. My name is Reed.”

  Everyone in the room seemed to not breathe as Reed addressed every Monad watching the broadcast. Mace found himself frozen where he stood, not believing Reed’s sudden turncoat move he had pulled on everyone. He racked his brain as to what had gotten into him. Had the events that transpired at the settlement caused him to lose a screw?

  “For centuries you have inherited this world during our absence. But no more. The time has finally come when you are no longer the dominant species of Gaia—or Earth, as it is truly called.” Reed stepped to the side for the drone to get a good look at the case. “This…is our key to take back our planet. Our home. What is rightfully ours. Inside the case contains a nuclear weapon our ancestors once made. We have successfully secured it inside Empyreum’s central power grid. An explosion generated from this device would not only decimate this facility, but send a shock wave of searing heat that’ll reduce everyone within a hundred feet to atoms. The nuclear fallout following the blast would kill millions more throughout the city. I doubt even Monads are that resilient to that level of radiation. With the central power grid gone, every Monad city would lose all power and be left in permanent darkness. As we speak right now, Empyreum’s security has likely rounded up all our brothers and sisters who have penetrated the city walls. To the Inner Council, our demands are as follows. First, you are to release our people immediately. The Science Institute will then use their genesis pods to bring back all of our dead loved ones we lost. And finally, every Monad on Earth is to evacuate and never return.”

  Reed opened the top half of the case, unveiling the chrome-covered warhead inside. He picked up the small remote device and held it in front of the drone. “This is to show that my intentions are sincere.” Mace’s heart stopped as he watched Reed press the red trigger, and an electric power-up sound emanated from the bomb. A yellow timer attached to the B83 started to count backward.

  “You now have approximately one hour to comply with our demands. If I see that you have begun preparations for a planet-wide evacuation and the genesis pods are being prepped, I will deactivate the bomb. If you refuse to comply, or attempt to derail our plan in any way, then everyone in Empyreum will perish. I suggest you get started. Do not attempt to have your security forces infiltrate the grid to stop us. If I see any airship come anywhere near this complex, I will detonate the bomb. Make no mistake, we are all prepared to die for our cause, so do not test us. The clock is ticking.” Reed signaled to the Monad technician to have the drone end the transmission.

  As the drone floated away, Reed placed the trigger in his pocket.

  Ionne took a step toward Reed. “You know that the genesis pods were dismantled nearly three decades ago. There is no way to bring back any deceased humans.”

  Reed turned to the doctor, and a grin crossed his face. “Forgive me if I don’t believe you. You must have some pods still left behind at the Institute. And you will use them to bring back the ones we’ve lost.”

  “I assure you that what I am telling you is the truth. We no longer possess the capability of returning others from the dead. You must believe me.”

  Reed looked Ionne straight in her eyes. “For your sake, I hope you are lying.”

  Mace cut Reed off as he attempted to walk away. “What’s gotten into you, Reed? That wasn’t part of the plan.”

  “No,” Reed said nonchalantly. “This is the new plan.”

  “What about my father? He needs medical attention. We don’t know how much longer he can hold on.”

  “And he’ll get it as soon as the Monads cooperate with our demands.” He placed a reassuring hand on Mace’s shoulder. “Just…trust me on this. Okay? Your father trusted me. It’s time that you do, too. It’ll all work out on our favor. You’ll see.”

  “And what if the Monads call your bluff? Then what?”

  Reed’s left eye twitched, and his next words turned Mace’s blood cold. “Who said I was bluffing?” With that, Mace watched Reed walk off.

  Chapter 38

  Ava found herself laying on the ground with a throbbing pain at the back of her head. The ominous zapping of pulsar rifle discharge felt like a mile away. Bishop was gone. Not a living soul was anywhere in sight, for that matter. She had a bone to pick with her comrade for knocking her out. Picking herself off the ground, Ava attempted to raise Mace on her wrist band, but all she got back was silence. She had no way of knowing if Mace had been captured by the Monads or if he was even still alive. Regardless, she needed to get to him any way she could.

  Ava was on the move again through the Central Plaza district, covering her mouth with her sleeve to avoid inhaling the dark smoke that still lingered in the air wrought by the recent battle. She came across Monad guards marching down the street, and hid behind a metal column before they could detect her. With her back glued to the column, Ava poked her head out and saw a group from the New Lazarus faction several feet away, being arrested by Monad guards. Hundreds of her fellow settlers had all been rounded up like cattle, with their weapons and gear confiscated and arms wrapped in restraints as a security airship hovered closely above, flashing its bright lights below. It was clear that while she’d been out, the tide of the war had fallen on the Monads’ favor. She knew from the start that it was foolish breaching the city. Despite having numbers in their side, they were clearly outmatched by the Monads’ technological superiority. Mace and Bishop’s hate for the Monads had clouded their judgment, and her warnings had fallen on deaf ears.

  Ava spotted Bishop among the captured settlers, on his knees with his arms restrained. She wanted nothing more than to march over to him and return the favor by knocking his teeth out. But Ava couldn’t risk getting herself caught. The Empyreum security airship’s landing gear extended from the bottom of the hull, and the craft was coming in for a landing when a giant holo-screen materialized on the face of a nearby building. She was taken aback when she saw Reed’s face plastered on every digital screen across the district.

  Reed was in Empyreum. Ava wondered why he was in the city, and more importantly, what he was doing on the master feed. She was relieved to see Mace on the feed standing behind Reed in the background. At least she now knew that he had made it after all. Reed began to make a bizarre speech demanding the release of the captured New Lazarus forces, as well as a planet-wide evacuation of all Monads, and the cloning of their fallen loved ones through the genesis pods.

  Ava felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up as she watched Reed activate the warhead. He warned that if the Monads didn’t comply, he would let bomb go off in exactly one hour. The man who was talking on the screen sounded nothing like the Reed Ava knew. This man was threating to murder millions of innocent people just to force the Monads off Earth and to bring back the ones they had lost. There wasn’t a single shred of doubt in her that he wasn’t bluffing. She could tell just by looking into his eyes on the feed.

  Empyreum seemed to be at a standstill while Reed spoke to its residents.
There was an excruciatingly long pause after Reed’s face vanished from the master feed. The Monad authorities stood around dumbfounded as to what to do next.

  A moment later, one of the lead Monad guards opened a holo-screen over his arm. Ava couldn’t make out the face on the other side of the screen, or what was being said. Closing the holo-screen, the lead guard went to one of his subordinates, and what Ava witnessed next was unimaginable.

  The Monad guards began to release Bishop and the rest of the captured settlers from their restraints. The human fighters then retook their weapons, some even snatching pulsar rifles from the Monad captors. Ava felt a sense of dread in the pit of her stomach as she watched the freed settlers yell out a victory chant at the top of their lungs. The New Lazarus warriors were now rounding up the Monads guards and placing restraints around their arms. One human fighter even knocked an Empyreum guard over the head with the butt of a pulsar rifle for refusing to put on the restraints.

  Reed pointed his M16 at a Monad pilot and forced him to board the airship that had recently landed. Once they were both inside, the ship then lifted off the ground and shot up toward the north. More than likely, Bishop was on his way to the power grid to rendezvous with Reed and the others. That was where Ava needed to be. After Bishop attempted to take her out of the equation, and Reed’s malevolent message on the feed, Ava was convinced that father and son were behind the ambush at the Gray Zone border. They had planted the seeds for both their people and the Monads to fight each other, leading to this uprising without anyone else realizing it.

  Bishop and Reed needed to be stopped.

  She came out of her hiding spot and joined her fellow New Lazarus natives as they raised their weapons in the air in celebration. They waved the flags of the old world brought from New Lazarus while marching down the street. She pushed her way through crowds of both humans and scared and confused Monads all the way to the other side of the district. Ava spotted a group of five New Lazarus troops harassing a Monad woman on a pod-shaped hover bike. One of the guards had her arm in his hand and attempted to pull her off it while she resisted.

  “Let go of me!” the Monad woman demanded.

  The guard said, “Hand us your ride, and maybe we won’t hurt ya.”

  The Monad woman pulled her arm free from the guard and kicked at his abdomen. The guard let out a grunt, and his nostrils flared as he approached the woman with closed fists. “You’re gonna pay for that, you Monad bitch!”

  Ava rushed over to the New Lazarus guards and stood between them and the Monad woman. “Back off.”

  A surprised look came across the lead New Lazarus guard’s face. “Ava, we just wanted this Monad’s floating bike over here, that’s all. She wasn’t being very cooperative.”

  “Forget her bike, just do your job and secure the perimeter—now.”

  The human guard looked intently at Ava until the female settler grabbed his arm. “She’s right, we got better stuff to do. Mace’s counting on us.”

  He stared at the hovering bike for a moment, then nodded. “Keep your shitty bike.” He nodded to his compatriots. “Let’s go.”

  Just as the guards were about to leave, Ava noticed one had a Glock hanging from his belt. “Your gun, give it to me.”

  The guard looked at Ava as if she had lost her mind.

  “Give it to her,” the female settler said.

  The guard mumbled something under his breath as he pulled out the gun and begrudgingly handed it to Ava, who placed it in her belt.

  The group of settlers walked past Ava and the Monad woman and disappeared around the next street corner.

  Ava turned to the Monad. “You ok?”

  The Monad woman nodded. “Thank you.”

  “Don’t mention it.” It was Ava’s turn to stare at the floating bike. “Listen. We don’t have a lot of time. In less than an hour, that madman on the master feed is gonna blow us all to hell if we don’t stop him. I need to get to the central grid right away. Can you take me there?”

  “Yes.” The woman motioned for Ava to hop on the back of the craft. “Climb on.”

  An explosion echoed behind them. Both women whipped their heads back and watched as a huge fireball rose to the sky. More infighting had commenced. “Quickly,” the woman urged Ava.

  She climbed on the back of the craft, and within seconds they blasted across the Central Plaza toward the north end of Empyreum.

  Ava held onto the Monad woman’s shoulders as she maneuvered the bike past a piece of debris blocking the main street. The woman then turned her head slightly to the side and yelled through the wind on her face. “Do you know Mace?”

  Ava was taken aback that she knew Mace’s name. “I do. How do you know him?”

  “We were…friends. When we were children. It was a long time ago. I saw him on the master feed when Reed was speaking.”

  Ava nodded, not sure of what to think of that. “I’m Ava, by the way,” she said. “What’s your name?”

  “Kora.”

  Chapter 39

  Mace nervously paced the inside chamber of the central power grid.

  He watched over at Reed, who stood by the railing of the platform looking over the main reactor. Just fifteen minutes had passed since Reed had threatened to destroy all of Empyreum. So far, the Monads had complied with at least one of their demands. They watched from the master feed as Empyreum security released their people. They took to streets of the Central Plaza to celebrate their victory while they terrorized Monad citizens along the way. Mace’s eye twitched at what unfolded on the holo screen. Now they waited to hear whether the Inner Council would comply with the rest of their demands.

  Mace stood over Aaron’s body resting on the stretcher. His chest still moved thankfully, but there was no way of knowing how much longer it would stay moving. He was surprised his father had lasted as long as he did. Mace held Aaron’s hand in his. “I’m…sorry you’re in this position,” he whispered. “It shouldn’t have been this way. I swear to you that I’ll make this right for all of us. Just hang in there, Dad…a little bit longer. You hear me?”

  Footsteps echoed from behind Mace. He turned to see Bishop walking toward them. Reed and Bishop embraced each other. “I’m glad you made it through in one piece. You did well. I’m proud of you.”

  “Thanks,” Bishop said.

  Mace moved in between Reed and Bishop. “You mind telling me now what the hell is going on?” Mace said.

  Bishop looked at him as though the answer was obvious. “What does it look like? We’re taking back our planet.”

  “Forcing the Monads to bring back the people we’ve lost wasn’t part of the plan. They don’t have the genesis pods anymore.”

  “You believe everything a Monad tells ya?” Bishop said. “You of all people should know better than that.”

  “What’s with triggering the bomb? We were supposed to just show that we have it, not actually turn the damn thing on. What if we can’t shut it off?”

  A sympathetic smile edged at Reed’s lips. “You worry too much, kid.”

  Reed and Bishop stepped to the side and spoke in hushed tones as Mace felt a hand on his shoulder.

  “There are no genesis pods left,” Ionne said. “I swear to you, they have all been dismantled. I saw to it myself. He must realize he is making a grave mistake.”

  Mace looked over to the father and son duo across from him. “Don’t think he’ll be taking your word for it.”

  A grid technician called out from a nearby terminal. “I have Councilor Saavi on the com link. She wishes to speak with you.”

  Both Reed and Bishop moved toward the terminal. “Finally. Put her through.”

  Saavi’s digitized head materialized over the terminal. “You must be the one they call Reed?”

  “At your service. Thank you for releasing our people. That was a smart decision. Now, have you begun the evacuation procedures?”

  Saavi paused before she nervously continued. “A planet-wide evacuation is simply not po
ssible in the timeframe you have given. Surely we can come up with some kind of alternative we can both agree to.”

  “I don’t want to hear what’s not possible. Use that big Monad brain of yours and give me solutions. And don’t bother to stall at any point, cuz time is not on your side, Councilor. About our final demand. Are the genesis pods prepped?”

  “We no longer possess genesis pods. We had them dismantled decades ago. The ones you have lost cannot be brought back.”

  “You’re lying. I know you still have pods stored somewhere in your labs.”

  “He is not lying,” Ionne said. “The pods are gone. You must understand this. I am truly sorry. There is nothing we can do.”

  Reed wasn’t having any of it. “You would seriously risk the destruction of your entire civilization because of your stubbornness to help us. How pathetic can you people be?”

  “I wish that were so,” Ionne said. “We want nothing more than to help you and prevent any further violence toward our people. But it is the truth nevertheless.” She looked over to Mace and gave him a look of, you know I’m right.

  Mace swallowed hard and turned to Reed. “She’s telling the truth.”

  With his fists clenched, the vein on the side of Bishop’s forehead bulged as if it were about to pop. Reed stepped away from the terminal and stood over a railing, his saddened eyes fixed on the blue, glowing tubes of the main reactor.

  Mace stood next to Reed and gazed at the core with him. Reed let out a long sigh. “Well, I guess I’ll never get to see my wife again.”

  “I’m sorry, Reed,” was all Mace could muster.

  Reed turned to Mace. “I’m sorry, too. And the Monads will soon be sorry they ever brought us back to life.” Reed returned to the terminal where Saavi’s head still floated. “Don’t bother with the evacuation. You’ve just sealed your own fates. In forty-five minutes, you and the rest of your kind will burn.”