by Isaac Hooke
A siren sounded.
People dispersed in pandemonium.
"What's happening?" Ari said, though she knew.
53
The walls of the buildings and stalls abruptly blinked, and were replaced with multiple images that showed destruction across the world. A person's head overlaid these images in the lower right. Ari heard a voice speak from the air, though it cut in and out. It began in mid-sentence: "At all costs. The Enemy seem to concentrate their attacks on urban centers. Residents are advised to flee to the countryside. Take plenty of purified water, and—"
A mushroom cloud appeared in the distance.
A commotion drew her attention back to the fenced area. A drawbridge sealed on the diamond-shaped ship, and flames erupted from its underside, igniting those men and women who hadn't boarded in time. They didn't even have time to scream. The lattice masts that held the ship in place broke away. The vessel slowly lifted from the ground and began the long ascent.
On the horizon, the azure beams that stretched into the sky abruptly winked out, and all the wedge-shaped flyers those beams had contained plunged downward.
Tendrils of black mist slithered from the long plumes of smoke that smeared the sky. Flyers not restrained by the rail system converged on the mists. Small explosions and flashes of light dotted the air. The attacks had little effect on the invading darkness, and flyers fell, entangled in the mist. Ari saw a mushroom cloud form around one particularly massive congregation of darkness near the horizon, but the black mists emerged from the cloud a moment later, apparently unscathed.
She tried to hold Tanner's hand, but her fingers passed right through his.
Some of those mists swarmed around the diamond-shaped ship that was attempting to flee all this. A translucent funnel formed at the top of the ship, and it climbed faster and faster, pushed ever upward by the stream of fire beneath. A visible shockwave erupted from its base, and the fire reddened. The funnel at its tip expanded, and the ship tore free of the black mists and vanished beyond the clouds.
"So others got away," Ari said.
"Maybe." Tanner didn't sound too convinced.
A terrified family rushed straight toward Ari. She tried to move out of the way but the family passed right through her.
A little girl tripped and fell. The mother went to her, hauled her up.
"Why are you showing me this?" Ari said.
"It's important that you know the truth," Tanner said. "And understand what we're fighting for. Or at least, what we gave up."
A thin line of smoke tore across the sky, passed right through those black mists, and collided with the ground maybe three miles away. A grayish-brown wall of death instantly erupted into existence. The start of another mushroom cloud.
"Tanner..." But already the blast enveloped Ari. The sound was similar to the thunderclaps she'd heard from those smoke plumes, a drawn-out, earsplitting, thunder. Her insides rattled. She struggled to remain in place. Her hair gusted around her. Her eyes burned from the brightness, though her lids were shut.
"I thought we were just observing!" she said, though she couldn't hear her own words.
When the wall of death had passed, around her everything was tinted red. The sky. The dirt. The remnants of the shops around her. The hollowed-out shell of the building. The broken stone statues that were all that was left of the woman and her daughter. The incinerated tree.
"They destroyed everything," Ari said.
"It was us," Tanner said.
"What?"
Tanner glanced at her. There was pity in his eyes. "The mushroom clouds? That's us."
"Why?"
"I don't have all the answers, Ari. Wish I did. Maybe some governments decided that if we can't have our planet, then no one else could. But I like to think we did it because we were trying to destroy the Enemy. Even though it didn't work, as you can see."
Those black mists remained in the red sky, and were spreading out. One flew just overhead. She caught a glimpse of triangular steel within the darkness.
Unable to remain standing, Ari fell to the ground, stunned. "Why why why. Why?"
But she knew, of course. Humanity's history was littered with resource wars, many taking place ages before this Enemy had ever come. Resources. That was the only explanation.
Still, there was something she didn't quite understand. "We left Earth. Abandoned it to them. And still they hunted us to Jupiter's moon. Even in our own violent history, the conquerors always left survivors. This Enemy wants to wipe us out completely. Even though we're no threat to them. Why?"
"No one knows, Ari. Their culture is entirely alien to our own. Who can say what traditions and emotions drive them? Who can say if they even have emotions. Plus we're not completely sure it was the Enemy who crashed our ship. The archives aren't clear. We're not even sure who exactly is in orbit right now over Ganymede, firing bolts of energy at us. Could be the Enemy. Could be another human ship. Our damaged equipment can't make heads or tails of it."
She rested her head in her hands. She felt the weight of the lies that had been heaped upon humanity. Centuries of lies. Though she had to admit, if everyone had this knowledge, there would be few sane people left. Centuries of lies and unknowns. It was enough to drive an entire society to madness.
"End the simulation," she said. "We have a Control Room to steal."
54
Ari stood at the door to Briar's Grassylane District mansion. The irony of the district's name wasn't lost on her. This place hadn't seen grass in an age, and probably never would.
She was wrapped in a heavy cloak, with a scarf tight around her face. The wind was particularly biting today, and even though she was a gol she found it difficult to ignore the cold. The snow whirled around her, falling from clouds where it had been too long pent-up. If the snow continued pissing down, at this rate she'd be standing at the heart of an all-out blizzard in a few minutes.
She was still shaken by what Tanner had shown her. Humanity had destroyed the world while trying to save it. Only a few ships escaped. Maybe only one.
She was on it.
She knocked on the door again. Louder this time. She heard the reverberations echo in the vast hall beyond. Surely at least the servants would have answered by now.
"Open up Uncle!" she said. "I know you're in there!"
It'd been years since she'd visited her Uncle. The last time, she'd had to leave in quite a hurry, before she throttled the overweight man. Her mother had been present, but the conversation had been stilted. Ari thought it was because Briar was there. She'd asked him to leave, but he'd refused. Things had quickly turned sour.
Her mother. Cora. Ari wondered if she still lived here.
She stepped back to gaze at the upper windows, and her boots crunched on the fresh snow that had accumulated on the porch. It was quite a fancy place, not so grand as Jeremy's of course, but more than decent for one of Briar's station. The small grounds were fenced all around and sealed at the front by an iron gate, easily scaled with her gol body. The main walkway was immaculately shoveled, and was lined by ice sculptures cut into the shapes of fanciful animals. The manor itself was made of mortared stone, with steeple-topped windows set here and there, curtained on the inside to keep out prying eyes. It was the kind of home a portal trader would own.
But Briar had another, more important house, and that was the entire reason for her visit.
"Briar! You lardy piece of—" She knocked one more time, and then decided it was time for an inspection.
She circled the mansion, making for the backyard, where an ice rink covered the ground. The ice had known better days—it was plagued by lumps and depressions, and nicks from old skating sessions marred the surface.
She squinted through the whirling snow. A particularly nasty blast of wind cleared the air, and she caught sight of a form huddled in at least three layers of clothing, trying to sneak across the rink in the storm. It had to be Briar.
"Oh no you don't!" Ari dashed toward him
.
Briar glanced over his shoulder, eyes wide with fright, and he abruptly slipped and fell. Ari winced when she saw his head bounce on the ice. He didn't get up.
Ari hurried over and knelt beside him. "Uncle!"
Briar opened heavy lids. "Dear me dear me," Briar said, panting. "You've killed me then, haven't you? I hope you're happy now, blasted woman! I curse the day my sister sired you into the world! Line up the whoremongers, we gots ourselves a fine specimen here!" The folds of fat around his neck jiggled as he spoke, and nearly engulfed the too-tight collar.
"Uncle." She cradled him in her arms. "Those are some nasty words for the daughter of your sister. What were you doing trying to run away from me? You know I'd never harm you."
"Mmm." Briar had aged rather well. She'd seen him at the mayor's dinner party a few days before, from a distance. He hadn't seemed much different from eight years ago. But up close she noticed that he had a touch of crow's feet, and the start of a widow's peak. "You'd never harm me, woman? Indeed! I saw what you did to Jeremy's guards. And I remember those threats you hurled at me with such callous disregard eight years ago... and you say my words are nasty. Not to mention the jolts of lightning you spat at my arse. Not a friendly gesture! Not friendly at all! I still have your lightning marks on my backside, I might add. Not pretty marks. I'm a sensitive man at heart. Much too sensitive for such treatment."
"You are a sensitive man. And I'm sorry for how I treated you. I've been known to have my bitch-of-the-month moments in a single day." She frowned. "But I didn't come here to talk about bygones."
"No no, of course you didn't," Briar said. "You came to see me finished. Well then, do it if you must. Snap my neck. Stab me with that flaming sword of yours. Or use your lightning. I don't care anymore. I told my whorish sister it was a mistake to marry Hoodwink, but did she listen? No!"
"Again you disrespect the good name of my mother." She combed his hair in mock tenderness. "Briar Briar Briar. I didn't come here to harm you. Trust me. But keep mentioning my mother in that manner..."
Briar drew his brows together. "I suppose you would have harmed me already, if that was your intention. Very well. It is my turn for apologies. I won't mention my sister. You are the whoremaster today."
She nodded, giving him what she hoped was her most understanding smile. She wasn't sure she liked being called a whoremaster, but if that was his way of saying he'd listen to her, well, she'd just have to take it.
"Are you all right sir?" someone shouted from the house over the bleating wind.
Ari glanced toward the mansion. Through the raging snow she saw a man wearing white gloves and a black livery standing at the back door. She clenched her fist in Briar's hair. "Make him go away."
Briar gasped. "I'm fine Alf," he called back. "Just my cousin is all! Teaching me how to figure skate! She's quite good!" He lowered his voice and added for Ari's ears alone: "At manipulation."
"As you say, sir." Alf raised his collar, obviously freezing. "If you need anything let me know." He shut the door.
Briar stared at her. "So," he sneered. "You were never one to spread the bullshit thickly on your toast. Speak plainly then. If you're not here to kill me, then what do you want?"
Ari glanced at the back of the mansion. "Is mother really here?"
"Cora? Egads no! She left the city years ago. Too many painful memories she said. I should've done the same, apparently."
Ari scanned the mansion's uppermost windows, which at times the blowing snow completely hid. She didn't entirely believe him, but she saw no one else watching her from those windows.
"Where did she go?" Ari said.
"Dhenn." Briar answered without hesitation. His eyes became distant, and his tone, sad. "She always wanted to be a singer. When she failed, when she lost everything dear to her, she went to Dhenn. Wanted to get away from the world, I guess. The poor thing."
Dhenn. The Dark City, some called it.
She spotted a raven squatting in the dead tree beside the mansion, and her danger sense tingled. She hadn't noticed the bird until now, because of the storm. It was a gol of course—no real bird could cling to those branches in a storm like this. Likely it watched the house. The first thing she always had her New User scouts do when they secured a place was to kill all the ravens.
"So is that all you wanted then, missy?" Briar was sneering again. The man really knew how to get on her nerves.
Ari smiled her sweetest smile, though her eyes must have been ice. "No Uncle Briar, it is not." She glanced at the raven. "They're coming, aren't they?"
She felt his muscles tense again. "Who's coming?"
"The city guards. Or Jeremy's Direwalkers. It doesn't matter. You're going to show me the back way out of this place."
"I am?"
She hauled him to his feet.
"Wait!" Briar said. "I still don't know what you want! And for the sake of my already bruised backside please don't say it involves Jeremy."
"It involves Jeremy."
Briar straightened like a board beside her.
"The back way, if you would?" She shoved him forward. "Unless you want me to mark your backside with lightning again?"
Briar led her from the manor grounds by the back way. She saw the raven take flight, and though the wind whipped it this way and that, somehow the bird managed to climb away through the storm.
She thought she heard the shout of guards from the front of the house, and she hurried Briar along.
55
Ari led Briar through the storm. She kept glancing back, and felt certain someone was following her, so when she neared Luckdown District she veered off into a side alley and waited as a large form lumbered past.
She watched the sky for ravens or other birds in the storm, but the conditions were approaching white-out. Still, she took a circuitous route to the old shack she owned, and by the time she met with Tanner about two hours had passed.
She and Tanner explained the plan to Briar. At first, her Uncle refused to play any part in it. But when she promised him wealth beyond his dreams, Briar reluctantly agreed. His eyes lit up when she mentioned the amount she could pay, and though he did his best to hide it, she detected a subtle, eager quiver in his jowls.
Briar owned one of the houses across the street from Jeremy, a house Briar never used anymore because of the Direwalkers that haunted the night. Though apparently the Direwalker activity in the area had dropped off since Ari's escape from the mansion—New User scouts hadn't reported any bodies drained of blood in days.
Jeremy was up to something, that much was certain. Ari and Tanner were trying to discover exactly just what. And so they moved to Briar's second home under the cover of the storm. Once there, Briar deactivated all his security protocols, traps that would have killed Ari and Tanner if they'd decided to break in on their own. They hunkered down on the second floor, and observed the mayor's house across the street by spyglass, though the storm made it difficult to pinpoint the windows at times. They were trying to see what Jeremy planned, yes, but they also hoped to learn as much about the inner workings of Jeremy's household as possible. The guard patrol schedule. The hours of breakfast, lunch and supper. Jeremy's usual location in the manor throughout the day.
The days passed. Ari forced Briar to stay with them, and wouldn't let him visit other rooms unescorted—Briar still had a lot of trust to earn. Briar eventually helped plant a spy in Jeremy's household—a human servant hired under his signed recommendation. At a designated hour and location, the servant tossed messages over the high stone fence bordering Jeremy's land. Her Uncle was in this as deep as Ari and Tanner, now. Amazing what the promise of a few coins can do. Still, she wouldn't let her Uncle off his tight leash, and counseled Tanner to treat him likewise.
The storm lifted when she left Luckdown District several days later, leaving Briar and Tanner to continue observing Jeremy's mansion. As she neared the transit center, she heard the caw of a raven high above. She glanced at the sky, looking for the bird, bu
t the bright sun blinded her.
City guards were probably on their way.
Several new warehouses had popped up near the transit center since the last time she'd come this way. She supposed the portal traders had built them to store the goods destined for faraway cities. There were five transit centers in the city altogether, modestly named Line A, B, C, D, and E.
Ari reached the transit center, Line A, which was like a huge warehouse in and of itself. Roped-off lines led to each portal, the destinations labeled in large white signage. Her line just so happened to be the smallest. Not a popular destination, she supposed. All kinds of transitioners waited in the lines around her. Small-time traders with pack mules or big-time traders whose caravans bulged with goods. Families with crying babies and gifts for relatives, or lone men and women returning home from work. She kept an eye on the transit center gols, but none of them paid her any heed—they were all slobbering.
Her own line moved smoothly, and her turn came after about three minutes.
She hesitated.
The shimmering surface of the portal in some ways resembled a mirror, wide enough to fit four men abreast, and tall enough for two. Electricity occasionally sparked in subtle waves across the surface. She would have thought those sparks vitra once, the source of all life, but she knew the electricity for the illusion it was.
But it wasn't the false vitra that gave her pause. Though everything else behind her was reflected on the surface, she herself was not. A fact not lost on the family just behind her.
"She has no reflection!" the littlest member of the family said.
She should have been used to it by now, she supposed. Tanner had even explained it to her, telling her that some of the new gol "source" that Jeremy—or whoever was helping him—put in the system had become entwined with the blueprint used in the making of all gols. Any new gols created on the Inside were part Direwalker. Including her. She hadn't sprouted pointy teeth at least. Yet.
