Atlas Fallen

by Jessica Pierce

Sav’s fingers tenderly examined the bones. “Luckily, I think it’s just sprained. Can you move it?”

  Tesla flexed her fingers and nodded, looking up at the top of their prison. “It’s too high to climb, even with a boost. Each level has its own water system to avoid cross-contamination between station floors, but I honestly have no idea where we are.”

  The continuous echoes of the tank made the space feel massive. Tesla tried to recall the specs from when she’d done a welding job for the water system on Level Eight. That tank had been at least fifty feet long, but this one felt even larger. Several yards away, the cavernous space fell into deep shadow. Tesla could hear more leaks dripping within the darkness. She shivered, and Sav removed his jacket, covering her shoulders with its warmth.

  “Jasmeen will find us,” he said. Tesla wondered if he was trying harder to convince himself or her.

  “The microComms!”

  Sav grabbed the sleeve of his jacket and shouted into the cufflinks. “Jasmeen, Blitz, do you read?” A bit of crackled static erupted from the speakers before cutting off completely.

  Tesla swore. “The walls are too thick here to get a signal.”

  “Good thing I have excellent company while we starve to death.”

  “Jasmeen was right, Sav. You shouldn’t have gotten yourself arrested. Finding Doyle is the priority. You should be out there protecting the High Chancellor instead of stuck here with me.”

  “And how would you have gotten yourself out of this rusty death tank with a busted wrist?” he asked, leaning back against the wall. “Truth is, I don’t blame you for not telling us about your father.”

  Tesla pulled on a threaded crystal until the small jewel came loose between her fingers. “I didn’t tell you, because I’m not like him.”

  “I know you’re not. Just like I’m not my father.” Tesla’s head rose to meet his stare and he gave a half-hearted smile. “Jasmeen comes from a powerful family,” he explained. “Blitz got into the academy for being a genius. I was a scholarship kid.”

  A drop of water fell onto the back of Tesla’s neck and she brushed it away, shivering at the streak of cold it left behind. “There’s nothing wrong with needing help for school. If it weren’t for scholarships, I never would have thought flight training was a possibility.”

  “Except I had to use scholarships because my dad gambled away our family fortune. I was nearly rejected when it came out in my interviews that I hadn’t disclosed the debts.” He brushed a bit of dust from his pants. “Now you know the LeFevre family secret. We’re broke.”

  Tesla sat next to him in a pool of gossamer skirts. “If it makes you feel better, I’m broke, too.”

  “Actually, for some reason that does.”

  “Gee, thanks,” Tesla teased, lightly shoving him. She quickly sobered. “Do you think Doyle set me up? It doesn’t make sense.”

  “Who else knew about the gun?”

  She tossed the crystal, watching as its twinkling light faded into the darkness. “I’ve been running that through my head. Only Kiyo knew that I had taken his pistol. But I suppose anyone with half a hackbrain could have broken into my apartment while we were out investigating.”

  “I don’t believe it’s a coincidence that we’re looking for a traitor and then Sec-Bots show up at your door accusing you of the same thing. You were right to think it’s a setup, but I just can’t figure out why. To throw us off the trail? But Jasmeen and Blitz are still out there, so framing you didn’t change the plan. They can still protect Imani Nwotu without us.” He stood, rapping his knuckles against the tank wall. “Do you think this thing is rusted through enough in some spots that we could squeeze out?”

  Tesla pushed herself up from the floor, wincing as her wrist gave another twinge of pain. “There’s only one way to find out. You look around here and I’ll check farther in.” She pulled the locket from her neck, using its tiny blue light to illuminate the shadows while avoiding the icy water dripping from high above.

  The sour smell intensified, and she covered her nose with the sleeve of Sav’s jacket. Sewer contamination? The walls here were streaked with rust, but not enough to create any fissures in the heavy steel large enough to make an escape. She’d just decided to turn back when her slipper connected with something soft and wet and all... wrong.

  Her fingers shook as she lowered the locket’s light, her other hand closing over her mouth to muffle the scream that burst from her throat. “Sav,” she croaked, her voice breaking into slivers against the tank’s walls, “Doyle isn’t the assassin.”

  “What? How do you know?”

  She stepped back from what lay sprawled across the floor, her shoes sliding in the pool of blood. “Because I just found his body.”

  THIRTY-FOUR

  SAV DIDN'T BOTHER CHECKING for a pulse; the milky stare from Doyle’s remaining eye told them everything they needed to know. The microComm light in Tesla’s locket glistened sickly off the chunks of flesh and blood pooled around his body. A pistol lay in his outstretched fingers, his legs bent at odd angles from the way his body had fallen after the gunshot. She knew if they looked hard enough along the opposite wall, they were sure to find the bullet which had killed him.

  “If someone did hire Doyle to assassinate the African High Chancellor, it doesn’t make sense to kill him before he accomplished the mission,” Sav said, shaking his head while checking the man’s pockets for anything useful. His sharp intake of breath made Tesla jump, and he pulled out a small plastic bag from the pocket of Doyle’s coat. “Skirri powder. That explains the stealing and the large amounts of money he’s been moving. He’s a drug addict, not an assassin.”

  Blitz had said he found an email where Doyle had threatened someone if the supply wasn’t available. At least those pieces fit together now.

  Tesla looked away from the body. “But if the package we saw was actually drugs, then where did he get the gun in his hands? Freiter’s message said—”

  “Freiter was wrong,” Sav growled. “We were all wrong.” He threw the bag as hard as he could deeper into the shadows.

  They retraced their steps back to where they’d first fallen into the tank. The fluorescent lights overhead flickered and dimmed, casting dark angles across the floor. “That’s weird,” said Tesla. “We’re standing in a part of the water system.”

  Sav kicked a piece of rubble. “So?”

  “So, it’s a critical system. There are reserve power cells and protocols in place to keep power constantly flowing in case there is ever a station-wide energy failure. The lights shouldn’t strobe like that.”

  “Look at this tank. It hasn’t been used in who knows how long. The wiring is probably busted too.”

  Tesla shook her head. “No, these lights are still hooked to the same system as the operating water tanks. I know because each level had to safety check the wiring systems last month, and my team helped solder the systems shut after they finished.”

  Sav shielded his eyes against the flickering lights. “Does it mean a way out?”

  “No, but it does mean that the station is diverting huge amounts of power for something.”

  “The ball?”

  Tesla frowned. “No. Something much bigger. It would take a massive amount of diverted energy to affect the power reserves.”

  A scurrying sound came from above their heads and Sav squealed, quickly jumping behind Tesla for cover. “Is that a rat? I’m going to tell you right now, I don’t do rats.”

  Tesla gave him an incredulous look. “You were ready to battle a squad of Sec-Bots for me and now you’re afraid of a tiny rodent?”

  “Do you know how many diseases they carry?” he insisted. “And who knows how long it’s been nibbling at power cords and dipping its toes into the station’s chemical additives. Your tiny rodent could be the size of a starcraft by now.”

  A voice boomed from the lip of the tank. “A mutant rat. Really?”

  Tesla’s knees nearly gave way from relief at the sight of Jasmeen’s
face peering down at them. “You found us!”

  “Correction, Blitz found you. I lost you after the stairwell. Sorry, it took us a minute to isolate the signal from your microComms.”

  “Where are we?” asked Tesla.

  “Water system of Level Three.”

  The hydroponic and farming level. They were only one floor below the ball, but that still didn’t explain the glitchy electricity and power surges. Tesla gently rubbed her wrist. “How did you even find the signal? I thought it would be too weak inside these walls.”

  Blitz’s wild hair appeared, followed by his triumphant grin. “I simply used the public dataports to amplify the signal, and then I pinged it like a radar.”

  Sav whooped, throwing a punch into the air. “Blitz, I am going to get you the best damn lunarshine corpCredits can buy.”

  “I’m okay with that,” the boy laughed. He disappeared, and the scurrying noise began again, followed by the end of a rope which came to stop just above their outstretched arms.

  Sav cupped his hands around his mouth. “We need more rope,” he called back up. “Tesla’s pretty beat up. I’m going to have to rig a harness for her.”

  “That’s as far as it goes,” yelled Jasmeen.

  Tesla tried to recall the safety schematics from her crew shifts, mentally searching for something that could help. “Look for a small panel marked: CHEM LINE DELTA.”

  The sounds overhead split in two directions as Blitz and Jasmeen divided their efforts. “Over here,” she heard Blitz say.

  “Okay, Tesla. Now what?” asked Jasmeen.

  “Pry open the panel. Inside you’ll find a heavy-duty hose used to purge the tanks in case of systems failure. It should be strong enough to bear our weight.”

  The screech of metal on metal bounced from the walls. A jolt of excitement shot through Tesla as the chem line’s chrome nozzle came into view, slowly lowering to hover mere feet above them. “Guess you won’t have to starve to death with me after all,” she said, nudging Sav with her good hand.

  “As beautiful as you look, Tesla, I’m really glad your face isn’t the last one I see.”

  Tesla laughed. Sav jumped, his hand wrapping around the nozzle as he helped pull the chem line farther down. He looped the cord around her waist and showed her how to nestle it beneath her arms, securing it in a knot toward the center of her chest.

  A guttural groan came from the deep within the tank and Tesla froze. She placed her hand on Sav’s arm stopping his movements. “Did you hear—”

  “Shh!” Sav hissed, looking back toward the shadows.

  Tesla’s voice dropped to barely a whisper. “But Doyle’s dead. That’s not possible.”

  He left her tied to the rope as he inched toward the sound, the locket held high for the little light it offered. Tesla watched the dark swallow him whole, until she couldn’t even make out the faintest hint of his outline.

  Dress shoes scraped against steel. Sav gasped. “Oh my god.” He ran back into view. “I found him!”

  “Who?”

  “Freiter! He’s alive!”

  Jasmeen’s face reappeared, her voice warbling as she spoke. “Is he okay?”

  Sav’s smile faded. “His leg has a deep laceration, probably from falling into this hell pit. I don’t have enough light, but I think it’s infected. I need to examine him in a sterile environment. If I get him on a round of antibiotics soon, he may pull through.” He pointed back toward the shadows. “Tesla found Doyle, too, but he was dead when we got here.”

  Doyle and Freiter dumped in the same tank? There was no way it was a coincidence. Whoever was behind Doyle’s death had intended for the evidence to never be found. Tesla quickly untied herself as Sav ran back into the darkness, returning with the limp figure of a handsome boy around her age whose dark hair lay matted against his forehead. Together they tied the harness around Freiter and watched as Blitz and Jasmeen slowly pulled him to safety.

  The chem line lowered once more, and this time Tesla was able to tie the cable around herself, using her feet to help walk her way up the tank’s side. With a last heave, and Blitz’s help, she vaulted herself over the edge. With Jasmeen’s help, Sav soon followed.

  They collapsed, all four of their bodies falling against the cool metal bulkhead. Tesla moved her head enough to see Jasmeen staring back at her with sullen eyes. “I’m sorry for doubting you,” the girl said. Her fingers brushed sweat from her face, leaving her hair in a wet, tangled mess.

  Tesla rolled onto her back, struggling to catch her breath. In this position, the strobing lights were blinding, even when she closed her eyes. “What changed your mind?”

  “The command center. It didn't make sense that you would have allowed yourself to be in danger of getting caught just like the rest of us. If you really were an assassin, a trip to the brig would have prevented you from accomplishing your mission. So, I knew you had to be telling the truth.”

  Another groan came from a nearby wall. Tesla opened one eye to see Freiter propped against a shelving unit as Sav’s hands gently prodded his leg.

  Freiter mumbled something, but the sounds were so slurred that Tesla was able to make out one word: Liam.

  Jasmeen’s muscles flinched as though she’d been struck. She backed away until her body touched the wall. Tesla reached for her hand, but the girl pulled away, a look of shock clearly etched across her features as she pointed back to Freiter. “Did he just say—?”

  “He’s hallucinating from the pain,” Sav assured her. “I have to get him to a medical bay immediately."

  Jasmeen nodded, but Freiter’s hand shot out to grip Sav’s collar. Each movement of his lips seem to cost him the last bit of energy he had.

  “He killed Liam,” Freiter groaned.

  They all exchanged an uneasy look.

  “Who killed Liam?” Sav asked, shaking him gently to keep him awake, but Freiter’s eyes rolled upward and he slumped forward against the boy’s chest. Sav tried to wake him, and again once more, before saying, “Shit, he’s passed out.”

  Neurons firing, Tesla remembered what Daxton had said about how the truth regarding Liam’s death might one day lead to doubts of whether or not the prince had taken the throne by force. Usurper. Her heart began pounding in her ears and she looked back down into the tank. Were it not for Jasmeen and Blitz, she and Sav would have starved to death, a feast for the bilge rats. No body, no crime.

  She steadied herself against the wall, praying to the stars she was wrong. Hands trembling, she asked,“If the royal family dies, and the Red Council has to select a new Grand Imperator, who assumes the throne while they choose a new leader of the First World Union?”

  Blitz gave her a confused look. “We’ve never had that happen, but the protocol is for the royal advisor to become the Sovereign Interim until the Red Council completes an investigation of the royal family’s deaths. Once the investigation closes, the High Chancellors publicly announce the new royal line.”

  “And who becomes the Sovereign Interim if the royal advisor is currently dead at the bottom of a water tank?”

  Jasmeen’s head whipped around. “The only way that would happen is by freak accident or war. In the case of the latter, the Sovereign Interim’s power is transferred directly to the Defense Minister, who is given executive control over all the First World Union’s military force.”

  Tesla’s blood chilled. The power went to Kyrartine—the man who’d just placed his own Sec-Bot army in every corridor of the Atlas. The same man who had urged Daxton to go to war with the Restoration. Had he also killed Liam?

  Freiter had tried to warn them of a sneak attack, an assault so calculated that they wouldn’t see it coming until it was too late.

  A Crow Strike.

  “It’s not just an assassination,” Tesla breathed. “Kyrartine is going to overthrow the entire royal family.”

  The lights flickered again, glinting off the daggers that had now appeared Jasmeen’s hands as she said, “We have to get to Daxton.”r />
  THIRTY-FIVE

  A WAITER DRESSED IN LIVERY the color of blood twirled about the room carrying a tray of long-stemmed champagne glasses. From his place on the balcony, Daxton watched the man weave between women dripping with twinkling diamonds and men wearing crop-tailed tuxedos cut in the latest New London fashion. He’d once seen a herring dive and swoop in much the same way during a tour of the southern Neo-American coast; the bird had moved with a mixture of grace and war, making its kill with elegant ease. A squat, red-nosed man reached for another glass from the tray, but his wife smacked away his meaty hand and the waiter danced on.

  Swaths of roses and peonies overwhelmed the balcony railing, sending clouds of sickly sweet air swirling around him. Theopoenne Fox crooned a soft jazz ballad on a stage just under a great crystal chandelier. It was an old song from before the Great War about girls who had lost their lovers to the sea. As the mournful notes reached his ears, Daxton tugged at his collar for what seemed like the thousandth time.

  It wasn’t just the upcoming announcement making him nervous; the others were supposed to be here by now, searching the crowd for any signs of Doyle. He’d tried using the microComm Blitz had delivered earlier, but all he’d gotten was empty static and electronic chirping.

  Something was wrong. He could feel it.

  The song ended, and Daxton felt his uncle thump him heavily on the back.

  “It’s time,” said Kyrartine. Instead of a tuxedo, the Defense Minister wore his dress uniform, and Daxton had to admit that, even in the stiff wool fabrics, his uncle somehow looked at ease. Comfortable, even.

  Kyrartine tore a rosebud from the balcony’s arrangement, placing the flower into the buttonhole of Daxton’s jacket.

  Bright yellow spheres hovered in the air—live feeds from trendmags and news outlets waiting for the signal to broadcast his engagement in real time. Kyrartine left his side, and Daxton gritted his teeth as a pair of evening gloves slid around his waist.

  “Ready, my love?” Cerise cooed into his ear.