by Orion, W. J.
“They gonna have neat little tentacle-speakers to tell us this story, like you?” Caleb asked.
Chapter Five
See You Soon
Yasmine ran her hand down the side of the large pickup truck her uncle claimed as his chariot. It and four other Monolith vehicles sat in a line on what passed for the main street of Shant, ready to be started up and convoyed back into the city to their central tower. The Ivory Tower, Monolith Tower. A dozen Monoliths wandered up and down the line, securing weapons and gear on the trucks and vans while most of Shantytown watched on from the broken sidewalks. This was a big day for everyone.
She wiped her dusty fingertips on her khaki pant leg and felt her mom’s phone in the pocket beneath.
I should take a picture. For like, posterity, or whatever it’s called. Screw it.
She reached into her pocket and, for the first time since her mother died, pulled out her phone in front of strangers. A few seconds later she had the camera app open, and started to snap pictures of the crowd and of the row of armed and armored vehicles ready to spirit their adventure east to the city, then north to the starship that might give them a shot at catching up to the crab fleet.
“That thing really works?” a small voice asked her.
Yasmine turned to the speaker. Liam, Brent and Kim’s eldest, stood nearby looking at her, and her mother’s phone, with near-reverence.
“It does,” she said, smiling.
“Dad said you took a video of the big fight with the crab. Did you do it with that phone?”
“Um, yeah. I did. Not a very good video, but yeah, I got some footage,” Yaz said.
“Will you show it to me? Can I see the video?”
“Sure,” she agreed, and went to the sidewalk where he stood.
They sat down on the curb beside each other, and Yasmine opened up the file for the twenty-two minute long video of the night the crabs attacked Shant. Open-mouthed, he stared at the small screen for every second of the recording. He watched every crazy tilt of the shot, watched every explosion, and listened to every word said. He heard Yasmine, Knox, and her uncle, The Baron, speak. He watched the fires, and he watched Yasmine and her allies reign triumphant over the crab that nearly killed Trey and could’ve destroyed the entire settlement.
“I… I can’t believe that’s real,” the boy whispered. “My brother always believed that you were a real hero, and this sure proves it.”
“I don’t even know what a hero is,” Yaz said, “but thank you.”
“You’re a hero,” the kid said, as if the answer was the most obvious thing in the world. “You’re gonna save the world.”
“I’m just trying to get a little even,” she said. “I shouldn’t be talking to you like this. You’re too young. I… I should shut up.”
“I’m not stupid,” Liam said to her, scratching the short black hair on his head. “I know how this world is. I know aliens invaded and ruined it. I know people fight, and they die, and I know all the swear words my dad thinks I don’t hear. I still think you’re gonna save the world.”
“I think he’s right,” Yasmine heard Trader Joe say from behind them. “Despite your shocking lack of skill taking video.”
“Please stop,” she said to the both of them as she stood up. “I don’t really like being talked about like that. Besides, I dropped the phone.”
“Tough,” the tall alien with the goggles and strange hat said. “When a person makes themselves into a thing, then they are that thing. You have done heroic things, and people will now think of you as a hero. Perhaps, even, they shall think of you as their hero. And a people with a hero to follow are capable of great things.”
“I just want to try and get our water back,” Yasmine said. “Names and titles aren’t important. Only survival.”
“And community,” she heard her uncle say. “Because without a community, there isn’t much reason to survive. And community, we got,” he said, spreading his massive arms wide, taking in the crowd of Shant citizens watching on, and the Monoliths helping to get their journey started. Somehow his words carried, and the whole population seemed to stop and take in his message. Faces in every direction turned to them.
“When do we leave?” she asked him, ignoring the situation.
“You got all your stuff?” he asked her.
“Everything, I think. Hard to know what to pack for a journey into space,” she said.
“Just bring a towel,” Trader Joe said. “We’ll sort the other details out as we go.”
“Why would I have a towel?” Yaz asked him. “I’ve never been swimming, and I don’t think I’ve taken more than five baths in my entire life.”
“It’s a long story,” the alien explained, then laughed. It was a good sound. Very human.
“If you’re packed, and you’ve said your peace to the people here you want to talk to, then we are Oscar Mike,” her uncle said. “Tower for a day to set things up while I’m gone, then we head north to this place Trey says there’s a ship. So before we mount up, make sure you say goodbye.”
“Liam, where are your mom and dad?”
“Down there,” he said, pointing to the front of the row of vehicles, near the exit gate.
“Walk with me?” she asked him, extending a hand. He took it. A few minutes later they found Brent and Kim standing near the Baron’s red truck. They were talking with a young Monolith guard, and all wore smiles.
“We get a goodbye this time?” Kim said, her eyes glistening with the beginning of tears.
“Don’t cry. Don’t you dare waste the water on me,” Yaz chastised. “Besides, this isn’t goodbye. More of a ‘see you soon from my spaceship,’ really.”
“Hardly imagine that’s for real,” Brent said, scratching his head in the same way Liam had just a few minutes prior.
Wonder where the kid got that habit. “Well, I believe Trey, which means there really is a spaceship we’re headed towards, and that means we’re really going to go into space after the crabs and all our water.”
“It’s going to be years before we see you again, isn’t it?” Kim mused. “You could travel to different planets, and space stations, and marry E.T., and come back here with your own alien babies before we see you again.”
“I guess that’s possible, sure.”
“Promise me your E.T. will take good care of you,” Brent said to her.
“I’m not marrying anyone, or anything,” Yaz said with a laugh. “I’m too young to settle down.”
“I like it, smart,” Brent said. “Stay single. Figure out who you really are. Find out how to love yourself first, then find someone who loves you as much as you do.”
“Thanks, Yoda,” Yaz said.
“Welcome, you are,” Brent said with a grin. “I’m gonna miss you. Pick us something real neat off a crab ship, won’tcha?”
“I’ll keep my eyes peeled for a sweet ashtray.”
Kim strode forward, scooping the teenager into her arms. She squeezed tight, hugging with her entire body and soul.
That feels so good, Yaz thought to herself. She returned the hug, and didn’t even flinch when Brent joined. She felt as the tiny spitfires of Owen and Liam crashed into their legs, adding even more love to the moment. When she started to sweat thoroughly she loosened up, and the giant hug pile separated.
“Brent got you a gift,” Kim said. “Go get it?” she asked him. Brent nodded and ran off into the crowd. “You’re gonna love it.”
Brent reappeared, holding a long gift wrapped in stained fabric. He handed it to Yasmine with a smile.
Whoa, heavy. This is metal. And the end is… spiky…
“Open it,” Brent said to her.
He is one proud dude. She opened the fabric at the end, and let it slip off to the ground. She revealed a Halligan tool that looked brand new. Little heavier than the first one I had, but it’s awesome. “Wow, thank you so much,” she said to him.
“I know the tool was a big part of your picking career, and seemed like
it might be a big part of your crab-killing career, so… I went into the old fire station here, and found this in a storage locker. It’s heavier than the one you had before, but I figure you’re so strong, and there’s no gravity in outer space….”
“It’s perfect. I can’t thank you enough.”
“One ‘thank you’ when you return will be enough,” Brent said. “Now go. Sooner you leave, sooner you return.” He wiped away the first sign of tears and turned away.
She let him hide his emotions, then tried to hide her own. She went to Kim and hugged her again and then dropped to a knee to embrace the two little boys, who made no effort to hide their raw sadness. She held them tight and held on until they let go.
Yaz kissed the tops of their heads and they went to their mother, who pulled them close.
“I’ll be back. I promise. And I don’t make promises much.”
“No joke,” Knox said from nearby. “Now get in the truck so we can do this.”
Yaz smiled and went to the giant red pickup truck nearby. Her uncle stood on the step rail, hanging half off the truck. In his white armored chassis, Trey stomped around to the rear of the pickup and undid the back cargo door with a tendril. He climbed up into the bed of the truck and hunkered down on his many mechanical legs.
“I’m ready,” he said with his voice machine. His numerous glassy eye sensors almost winked with excitement.
She looked back to her uncle, who wore a huge grin. He looked down at her and nodded.
“I talked to the people I needed to. I’m at peace,” she said to him as she went around to the passenger side.
“Good. Peace is good,” he replied as he shut the door and started the engine. “Now let’s get this war started.”
“Show me the way to our water, Uncle Caleb.”
Nothing dared attack the Monolith convoy on the way to the city.
Chapter Six
Knights of the Conference Room Table
The first time Yasmine went to the Monolith’s tower she arrived unconscious. After an ambush on the two-vehicle convoy she’d been in that day, and after her first time firing a machine gun as a result, she passed out, and woke up in an air conditioned office on the seventeenth floor of the skyscraper her uncle had turned into a quasi-fortress and sanctuary in the wasteland of the sandy city on the shores of a dry lake.
She didn’t get to see the building on the approach or appreciate its mammoth height. Her uncle had just navigated over the remnants of an iron bridge that spanned a dry part of the lake. She’d taken care not to look at the holes large enough to swallow them and dump them into the sky below.
“Judging by the way you’re trying to break your neck to look at it, the size of my tower impresses you,” her uncle said. “Not bad for an old man.”
“You’re not that old. It’s one of the tallest buildings still standing,” she said as the truck shook back and forth on the damaged road surface.
“Little shorter after that crab bastard tried to blow the top few floors off, but yeah. My baby is the biggest girl in town. A shining, dirt covered pillar of hope and safety. I just wish everyone else would get on board and try to cooperate with us. All I want is peace and prosperity for everyone. Greedy scavengers just want prosperity for their damn selves and they screw it up for everyone.”
“When everyone does well, everyone does well, right?”
“You know, that’s wisdom, Niece. You are a wise one. You shall lead us to the promised land of stealing our stuff back from the aliens.”
“I can’t believe you reclaimed a giant building and turned it into a safe place for so many people. You have any idea how many lives you’ve probably saved?”
“No, but I can tell you exactly how many I’ve had to take since the invasion. Human lives far outnumber alien lives, and that makes me frigging sick to my stomach. I was a fireman. Saving lives is what I did as a calling, Yaz. I pulled people from car wrecks and house fires. I performed CPR on people. Narcan’d overdoses. Carried overheated senior citizens out of hot apartments. I lived to help people. I only pointed guns at animals I hunted for food I ate. And fucking in the worst time of human existence, people are still spraying douche nozzles, being monsters just to get a drink, or steal a can of jellied cranberry. So many of us can’t see beyond the ends of our noses. Why couldn’t they just step up and help each other?”
“Not all could. Not all had the courage,” Yaz proposed. “It’s easy to be scared in this world. But you had the courage and took the risks. And you saved a lot of lives. Far more than you took, certainly. I know we’ve only really known each other for a few weeks, but I’m proud you’re my uncle.”
“I’m proud you’re my niece,” Caleb said, and Yaz watched as his chin quivered.
“You’re so proud of me you’re gonna cry,” she said, teasing him.
“So what if I do? I’ve loved you your whole life even if you weren’t a part of mine. If I want to cry over you, I’m gonna. Uncle’s right.”
“Pshaw. It’s a waste of water. Save it, though I do appreciate how much you care for me. It’s weird, to have anyone care for me like people have lately, but it’s good, I guess,” she said as they entered the area of the city with taller ruins, losing sight of the massive tower above.
“Community,” her uncle said, wiping away a drop of tear from the corner of his eye. “If you want to care for people, sometimes you gotta get cared for.”
“I’ll see if I can figure it out so I can get the community and not get cared for.”
“Kid… think you’re gonna be out of luck on that front,” he said as they passed a small guard tower manned by Monoliths. He waved and they cheered. “See. They care about me. I care about them.”
“Community,” she said.
“Community.”
He had gathered his knights and squires around a rectangular table in a conference room that overlooked the city (and the massive dry lakebed the city had been built on the shore of). The desolate basin reached to the horizon and punctuated the desperate feeling inside Yasmine to get the water back from the monsters who stole it. But first, affairs of business and government had to be handled. At his side sat Mike, the bulky black guy who seemed to be his right hand man, and best friend to boot. Yasmine sat on the other side of her uncle.
“You know, I’ve been thinking,” her uncle began the meeting with. As he spoke, he looked at each of the clean-ish faces, all sporting a variety of worried or anxious expressions. “I’ve been thinking that it’s time to reassess how we do things around here.”
“What are you talking about?” one of the elder women present asked him.
She’s a wild one. Hair dyed three colors, scars on her face. Such fierce eyes. Probably about as old as my mom would be, if she was alive.
“You know we were hit by a crab ship the other day. Took the roof off the house then went to our new friends in Shant to lay down some pain. My niece here—feel free to call her the Baroness—and a few new friends hit back hard, and we were able to take that crab out, plus two more, and the ship that hit our building.”
The room erupted into a roar of cheering and applause. Yasmine blushed, but didn’t know why. After a solid minute of the clapping The Baron finally raised his hands and the room quieted.
“We lost people here. More than a small amount of Monoliths, I’m finding out today. Too many, really. And you know, that leads me to the conclusion that with my niece here, who has made friends with the good guy crabs in person, as well as another alien who we had no idea existed, is friendly, and is willing to help us get even, it’s high time to do just that — get even.”
“You mean try and fight the crabs?” the same older woman asked. “There’s no point. We tried fighting them once and we nearly all died. Kill the stragglers still hanging out in the wastes and all you’re doing is wasting time and what few bullets we got left. And what does this have to do with how we run things here?”
“He’s not talking about killing crabs in the wast
es,” Yasmine interjected. “He’s talking about going after our water and getting it back.”
No applause came for her comment, just an awkward silence shared with the thirty or so highest ranking Monoliths.
“She speaks for you now?” the old woman asked the Baron.
“If she wants to, she does. She’s my family, and more than that, she’s an absolute Monolith badass. She’s the Baroness, you got that? If I die tomorrow, she takes over, no questions asked,” he said. “And you would want her to take over, because she’s like that. But more importantly, I am leaving the tower for awhile, and we’re taking four armed vehicles with us.”
The silence to his statement matched the silence that met Yasmine’s earlier comment.
“How long will you be gone?” someone in the back asked.
‘The better question is, ‘where are we going?’ because that’s a good one,” the Baron said. “We have reliable intelligence that there’s a friendly crab cell north of here. That crab cell has a spaceship, and we’re pointing that big, tentacle-engined bad boy up into the sky at the ships that are carrying our water away from here. We’re gonna ride it like we stole it straight into the stars.”
The murmurs ripped through the room like a rising tide. Many were obvious sounds of disbelief—scoffing—while others were hushed exclamations of thrill.
“Then what?” the older woman asked. “Bring it back and pour it in the holes where the oceans used to be?”
“We haven’t gotten that far yet, but that’s the general idea,” the Baron said. “We have friends who can give us a shot at getting some water back, so we’re taking that shot. All this shit we’ve been doing: saving lives, killing a few crabs here and there, growing broccoli and frigging kale in hydroponics tanks here… it’s peanuts. Worse yet, it’s like making the beds on the Titanic. Ship is gonna sink. It’s too late for half-measures. We’re too low on bullets, the water gets lower and lower every day, and there’s no other place to get it. So yeah, we’re leaving to get the water, and I don’t know how long we’ll be gone.”