Fledge

by JA Huss

  "I'm an Aves Mother, and I'd like to sponsor one of these participants. Are there any left?"

  Ash takes a deep breath but says nothing. Not our fight, his eyes tell me.

  "Lady, I can count on one hand the number who have sponsors, which one do you want?"

  She strains to see behind the man, her eyes darting back and forth and then her hand extends and her finger points. "Him. I want to sponsor him." The kid is easily the youngest one in view. He looks to be about ten years old. Half my age. If they're all this young I might have to grow a conscience. I'm no child killer. I look over at Esta as the words form in my brain and I have to hold down a shudder.

  The fat guy yells, "Hey, kid, get over here. You want to accept this lady's offer of sponsorship?"

  His eyes don't even register Esta. He looks at me and then at Ash. "Sure, why not."

  Esta almost claps and I look up at Ash, but he shakes his head at me.

  "Day after tomorrow, Ashur?"

  He nods to her.

  "Great, we'll come together."

  Ash leans over and gives me a hug. "Junco, the first fight is a slaughterhouse, just kill anyone who comes near you and don't try and make it to the top. It doesn't count in the first fight. Your scorecard is the only thing that matters."

  Esta looks over at her charge. "Just do whatever she does, kid. She's a trained killer, she can't lose."

  Ashur grabs her by the shoulder and turns her away as I laugh. I look down at the kid. "Well, shit, you gonna show me where to go or what?"

  "I'm not your slave," he says, jutting his chin up at me.

  "No, but I'll keep you alive tomorrow if you're nice. So shut the fuck up and take me somewhere."

  I'd make an excellent Aves Mother.

  Chapter Eight

  From my vantage point on the claimed bed I can see the entire dorm. The bunks are stacked seven high and they line both sides of what is a relatively small and narrow room when you consider that the better part of a thousand people are sharing quarters.

  Lined up like soldiers in formation, the tables down the middle play host to several dozen smaller groups of participants. Apparently I missed the application deadline for joining one. But I'm not much of a joiner anyway.

  The kid sits on the top bunk directly at the head of my own. He said he had a bunk before he went up to the front and was roped into Esta's mid-life crisis plan, but if he did, it's been claimed now. He didn't look broken up about it.

  He's eating some ration pack and I feel the need to eat something as well. I kick the metal bunk frame to get his attention. "Hey, where can I get some food?"

  He looks down at his ration, frowns, then offers it to me.

  "No, where can I get some food? I don't want that shit. What else do they have here?"

  "They got a machine." He nods his head down towards the front of the room. "If you got money."

  "I think I do. Come on, let's go check it out."

  "What if we lose our bunks?"

  "Who gives a shit? They'll be plenty of them empty tomorrow, right?"

  He shows a smile for the first time and I give him one back.

  The climb down goes without incident, but he waits until I am on the ground before flying down to join me. As soon as we leave the periphery and enter the throngs of people the trouble begins. A girl snarls and makes a gesture that I can only assume is something obscene. I smile and promise internally to set her straight tomorrow. Farther down a boy, older like me, gets brave and reaches out to touch my hair and hiss at me as we pass. I bat his arm away and he calls me a few choice names.

  The kid hangs back for a second, his bravado failing him at the exact moment it needs to rise to the top, and I have to stop and wait for him to make up his mind to proceed. I watch his face play out the conflict and remain patient as he moves past a group of girls that taunt him.

  By the time we reach the little galley that houses the machines he's a nervous wreck. "Hey," I call to him as he looks at the long walk back to the bunks. "Forget about them. We'll sleep in here if you want."

  He just looks at me like I'm crazy. "There's nowhere to sleep in here!"

  I pan my hands out over the floor and then gesture to the tables. "There's plenty of places. Don't sweat it, like I said, the crowd won't be so brave tomorrow. And I guarantee that you and I," I wait for him to find my eyes, "will still be alive."

  He smiles again.

  I pan my thumb across the panel on a food machine and then let the kid pick something good. I get two and we wait as the autocook prepares it. I have no idea what it is, but when it comes out, my stomach grumbles and we both scarf it down like wild animals.

  Afterward I find a cigar machine and grab half a dozen of those, then get a drink for both of us. "Wanna go outside so I can smoke this in peace?"

  He screws up his face. "Are we allowed outside?"

  I shrug. "Why wouldn't we be? Are we prisoners or something?"

  He thinks about that longer than I feel is necessary, but finally decides we are not. The fat guy at the desk tries to stop us when I head for the door, but I shake my head and he backs off.

  The day is almost gone when we sit down on the grass and I light my stogie.

  "You're not from here, are you?"

  I puff for a few seconds. "No, I'm from Earth. Just woke up three days ago. I have no idea what's going on to be completely honest."

  He shakes his head at me, but my face convinces him without words. "What are you doing in this Fledge? If you're Aves?"

  "That, kid," I pause to exhale, "is very fucking complicated."

  I look away, but when I look back he's still waiting for an answer. "Lucan made me, or else I had to go back to Earth with someone I don't care for. I'm only half Aves." I shrug. "So I don't get automatic placement, I guess."

  I lie back on the grass and look up. The Fledge building is massive, about half as tall as the height of the habitat, which from this vantage point looks to be a couple miles high. The structure slopes against the side as it climbs and I can only imagine what that does to the gravity in those areas, assuming this is a torus-shaped habitat. That might not be right, but it feels right from the way the horizon curves up on itself.

  There are seven distinct segments to the building. "What's the deal with this?" I ask, pointing my cigar at the partitions along the side of the building.

  He looks up and sighs. "The fight levels. Fight one is on the first deck, two on the second. It goes on like that. So, how did you manage to meet Lucan?"

  I puff on the cigar and think back three days to when I woke up. It feels like years ago. My mind wanders back to the night I hit the deer and it feels like lifetimes ago. "He was there when they pulled me out of morph. Nasty bastard, isn't he?"

  I smile over at him but he's got a weird look on his face. "Is he? I never thought so."

  Oops, got a believer here. "Isn't he?" I ask, looking away now. The kid shrugs and shuts up so I take that as a no. "So, you got a name?"

  "Isec."

  "Nice to meet you, Isec, I'm Junco. So what do you know about the fight then, Isec? Because whatever you know, it's a hell of a lot more than I do."

  He tells me, but it isn't much. We stay out for a little longer then make our way back inside. The crowds in the middle of the room have dissipated so we walk back to the bunks with no hassles and Isec is snoring within minutes of hitting the sack. I envy him because I lie awake listening for boot steps on the bunk ladder or the heavy beat of approaching wings the entire night. The adrenaline jacks up a little higher than my previous normal, and I wonder just how safe it really is to close your eyes here.

  My mind drifts back to Lucan. The kid obviously doesn't share my opinions of him and it makes me replay one particularly interesting tidbit. One of these days, Junco, we will have an honest conversation.

  Just once I'd like someone to start the conversation with honesty and not make me wait for it. Just fucking once.

  The fat guy is reading off the rules via som
e amplification device elsewhere in the dorm but to my delight, I can see them as they pan across my field of vision. "Hey." I kick Isec's bed. "Are you seeing this stuff on a vision screen, Isec? Or is it just my Aves shit kicking in?"

  "Shut up, Junco, I'm trying to listen."

  OK, I guess it's just me. I read along with the announcer, but then skip ahead because he's too damn slow.

  General Fledge Fight One

  Rule One: One body equals one point.

  Rule Two: Only biologically attached weapons allowed.

  Rule Three: Fights begin when the shields drop.

  Rule Four: Fights end when the buzzer sounds.

  Rule Five: No medical attention will be provided.

  Rule Six: If you're alive at the buzzer, you advance.

  Rule Seven: Those unable to attend the next fight will be culled.

  Pretty fucking easy. The announcer demonstrates Rule Four and everyone jumps when the buzzer blares. I look over at Isec and he's panicked. "Hey, Isec?"

  I watch him gulp air as he turns to look at me. "What?"

  "Stop worrying. Jasus, kid, you're gonna die of a heart attack before we even get in the arena."

  He shoots me a weak smile but then gives his full attention back to the announcement.

  "Hey, Isec?"

  He tries to ignore me.

  "Isec?"

  "What!"

  I smile as he finds my face. "I said you'll live through this one, kid. Relax, we're a team."

  "I don't think you know what you're doing. You're gonna get us both killed."

  "How old are you Isec?"

  He screws up his face. "What's that–"

  "Just tell me how fucking old you are."

  "Ten."

  "Ten? Isec, when I was ten I had already assassinated two world leaders on Earth. I think I know what the fuck I'm doing. So relax, because if you get killed it will be because you panic and don't do what I fucking tell you. Got it?"

  "But you haven't told me how to do anything, we don't have a plan."

  "Duh, kid. I haven't seen the arena yet, have I?"

  "By the time you see the arena we'll be fighting."

  "So?"

  He looks like he's gonna scream and I smile at him. "Just trust me."

  He doesn't, that much is clear. I try another tactic. "Do you know what the arena looks like?" He nods. "Perfect, describe it to me."

  "A large oval arena, small free-G streams on the periphery and gravity wells in the center where the top of the ziggurat is. The terraces hold five hundred on the bottom, then two-fifty, then one twenty-five, then sixty, then–"

  "I get it, they graduate upwards."

  "We go up facing out, then when the shields go down, we fight until the buzzer sounds."

  "How long does the fight last?"

  "Five minutes."

  "OK, here's the plan, when we get up there, just before they drop the shields, turn and face inward."

  He stares at me like I'm a lunatic. "That's your plan? Turn around and face inward?"

  "You got a better one?"

  He scowls at me.

  "Then shut the fuck up and do what I say. Now, Ashur said that body count is what matters, so I'm pretty sure I'm gonna get a boatload, but since I have to make sure your count is high as well, I'll send some of them back for you to finish off. When the shields go down, you get behind me. We'll be back to back. Get it? You call out when someone comes close enough to hurt us. Tell me where they are on the clock face. You know what that means, the clock face?" I use my hand and describe what I'm saying. "Twelve is here, three here, six here." He nods. "Good, you say the clock time from your perspective, and I'll reverse it to my perspective, OK? I've used that technique quite a bit, so it's no biggie for me to switch the numbers around, but if you try and do it, you'll fuck it all up."

  My battle plan clearly calms him down and he's got his business suit on now. "Let me see your hands." He thrusts them towards me. "Make your claws go out." He presses on his palms and the razors protrude, not anything as dangerous at Tier's, but good enough for a ten year old. I press on my palms and the razors shoot out like arrows. I look at Isec and smile. "Pretty cool."

  "You only have three on your left hand."

  "Yeah, nightdog ate my fingers back on Earth, that sucks, but you use what you got, right? Now take your boots off and tuck your socks into them."

  "Why?"

  "Talons are weapons too."

  "Is anyone else going to use talons?"

  "Shit, I sure fucking hope so, else they're stupid. Off, now. Tie them to your pants, you got a loop on those?"

  He checks and says he does.

  "Good, tie them on loose, on the way up to the battle level drop them on the floor, we'll pick them up after the fight."

  I look down below and people are beginning to line up near the machines on the far end of the room. Isec scoots over to the ladder, but I put my hand up. "Not yet, let's be last. Oh, and one more thing. I can't fly, so I'll be on foot the whole time."

  His mouth drops open. "You're kidding right?"

  I smile. "No, I told you I just woke up three days ago. I've never used the wings."

  "We can't do this on foot!"

  "Like hell we can't. I've been in worse places than this on foot. Alone even. And I've got you watching my back and you've got me watching yours. OK, looks like it's time to go. Shove that fear down now, Isec. When it's over you can think about how fucking scary it was, but for now, this is just another job, another day to get through – got it?"

  Isec flies off and I climb down quickly to keep the adrenaline up. We take our place at the end of the line. It's at least an hour before we even make it to the door, that's how slow the line moves. But eventually we do make it and then we are filing around the 3D ziggurat.

  We are on the bottom level. Isec steps onto his square-shaped pad and drops his boots. I'm about to step in mine when I realize it's already occupied.

  A rough hand directs my gaze upward to an empty space. I look back at Isec and shake my head. "No change, kid!" I call. "Do it like we planned!" I scramble up to the next level and push past the others already lined up and step onto the pad.

  I have no time to think, because we are moving upward to the battlefield before I can even take another breath.

  Chapter Nine

  My neck strains as far as it can. My feet are stuck to the pattern on the ground, so I can't move them to get a better look at Isec, but this is the first fight, which means the arena pops into view in a fraction. I feel my bare feet come unstuck and pull the quick-release loop that holds my boots to my person and they fall to the floor with a clunk that reverberates around in my head, alone, as the silent and slow world of the fight moves in and takes over my body.

  I see Isec turn around and look up to find my face. I smile at him, then point and scream "Go!"

  The shields evaporate and I'm about to dive down towards Isec when he flies upward and gets pulled into the free-G.

  Shit!

  And then the stupor of surrealism wears off and everyone is in motion. I have to let him deal so I can take out the girl next to me. My claws extend and I have a second to compare them to hers, which are painted a pretty pink color. A few fractions later the blood from her jugular splats a polka-dot pattern across her face and she slumps to the stone floor, out of the game.

  The next guy is the hisser from last night, I jump in the air and swing my newly taloned feet around and take out his eyes, then finish him off with my left hand while my right clasps around the throat of another boy, bigger than Isec, but not by much. He flails at me, trying to scrape his claws across my face, but my reach overtakes him and a few seconds later he's unconscious when I squeeze my fingers together and rip out his esophagus.

  I look for the next one but only find a pair of frightened eyes on a girl who towers over me by almost a foot. She flies upward out of my reach and I have a minute to look for Isec. He's fighting, but still caught up in the free-G about two l
evels up. I clamber along the stone until I get purchase and pull myself up the next level.

  A group of girls are waiting for me and one drags her talons across my chest, leaving gaping wounds in my light armor before I can grab her foot and break her leg. The next girl has an illegal knife and I actually take a second to laugh at her. She loses her concentration and I grab the knife and swipe it across her throat, ducking slightly to avoid the hot blood that pulses out of her jugular. The third girl flies off and I find a handhold on the rough stone terrace and climb up the next level, then look to see if Isec is even still alive.

  He is, but he's bleeding. I kick a guy with wild eyes off the terrace and he lands on a big mean-looking mother who quickly disables him and throws him down two more levels. The big guy looks up at me and I shrug. "Sorry!"

  "Junco!" Isec screams. "Help me, Junco!"

  I get a running start and then fling myself off the terrace and soar through the free-G until I bump him out of it. We fall back down to the bottom terrace, rolling to help break the fall. "Get behind me. Now!"

  He does and I hear the clock face signals being called out as we twist and turn, back to back, killing anyone who comes near. For a few seconds the fighters around us seek other targets and I have time to notice that the display on my interior vision is rating the attackers, flashing my endocrine biog status and pinpointing any injuries. A team of four swarms in on us and I crank out some epinephrine to compensate. I target the first guy's injured lung and puncture it clean with the tip of my razor and then fling him back to Isec. His buddies grab me by the arms, but I create a standing wave and shake them off, then cross my arms and drag my claws across their faces, pushing them behind me at the same time.

  The last guy catches me off guard and knocks me to the ground. He's on top of me as my breath is shocked out of my lungs. I look up and see Isec's panicked face. The guy draws his razors back, and then his body goes flying across the terrace and the big guy I apologized to earlier falls on him and cuts his head off with a razor so long it stops me cold for a few excited heartbeats.