Ascendant Unrest

by Matthew S. Cox

  Genna reached out and grabbed her hand as she walked by. “He keeps doin’ that, you best be tellin’ Doc.”

  “I will.” Sarah nodded, smiled, and hurried out the door.

  Maya picked at the few traces of polish left on her toenails, battling a moment of guilt at her old closet of unwanted shoes. Not that tiny high heels would’ve done her much good in the Habitation District. The desperate dosers who’d steal the clothes off the backs of the unwary or the defenseless probably wouldn’t even bother… no one would buy them out here. Maybe if the Authority changed, they’d do something about people who’d rob street kids for a handful of NuCoin. She scowled at the floor.

  “What are you thinkin’ about now, baby?” asked Genna. “That glare’s gonna light the rug on fire.”

  “I’m mad at the punks who took Sarah’s clothes, and her father. He won’t get her any. Wastes his money on beer, and she doesn’t mind. She’s wearing a curtain she found upstairs.”

  “That girl’s a saint.” Genna snapped a small, black piece into a larger section of the rifle with a click. “Takes care o’ that man like a live-in nurse.”

  “I thought we were going to change things. The way everyone cheered, it sounded like the whole world was on our side. How can people just not care that Vanessa’s setting Fade loose on purpose?” Maya slapped her hands on the cushions beside her knees, creating dust clouds. “She’s killing people to make money.”

  “It’ll take time.” Genna set the rifle down and put an arm around Maya, pulling her close. “Most people out there, they ain’t so afraid of the Brigade anymore. They know we’re on their side now. And Authority does too. Even Citizens are startin’ to resent being under the gun all the time, them armed drones always whizzin’ around overhead.”

  “They need to arrest Vanessa for killing people. The Authority’s supposed to protect us, not treat us like prisoners.”

  “Wasn’t easy after the war ended. What little we had left of a government barely held on to itself. Shit, the Eastern Commonwealth States is all we got. You know, before the war, ‘state’ meant a whole big patch of land, not just a Sanctuary Zone?”

  “Yes.” Maya fell into the same rote recitation she’d given the e-learn back in the penthouse. “Eastern Commonwealth States consist of New York, Boston, Trenton, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, DC, Richmond, Charlotte, Atlanta, Jacksonville, Orlando, and Miami.”

  Genna patted her on the head. “Yep, though Pitts never quite made up their mind if they’re in or just allied. But as long as the Authority can keep all the citizens afraid of what’s out in the wildlands, people be willin’ to put up with a whole lot of badness in exchange for protection. S’long as they think what’s out there is worse than what they’ve got inside, the Authority is in control.”

  “Mom?”

  “Hmm?”

  “When you found me, you wanted to kill that Authority pilot… aren’t a lot of blueberries veterans?”

  Genna’s jaw tightened. She kept quiet for a moment, stroking her fingers through Maya’s hair in a repetitive gesture. “Some, yeah. Lot of ’em are sellouts. Doin’ whatever Ascendant wants, not carin’ ’bout the oaths they swore. No better’n traitors. The ones here in Baltimore, they a special kinda bad. Was a time I wanted ta kill every damn last one of ’em.” Her expression remained intense, the kind of face she’d give someone seconds before punches began flying, though silent tears wet her cheek.

  “Are you crying because I made you think of Sam?”

  “A bit.” Genna glanced down at her, expression softening. “You said ‘found you,’ not ‘broke inta your home and kidnapped you.’”

  Maya shook her head. “Nope. This evil woman kept a little girl prisoner all alone in a tower, and made her smile and dance for people. You saved her.”

  “You…” Genna looked about ready to burst into tears but wound up laughing. “I guess that’s one way ta put it.”

  “Are people here afraid of the wildlands? The AuthNet said that bad people live out there. Cannibals and murderers, and even some old military robots.”

  “I’m sure they make it sound a lot worse than it is.” Genna pulled Maya back into her lap and held her with both arms. “They wanna keep everyone scared. Authority drones still watch over the Habitation District. ’Course, I doubt anyone from the wildlands would bother with us. It ain’t like they say out there. Bunch of small towns mostly, anarchists, independents, farmers. Yeah, bandits sometimes, but ain’t nowhere near like they tell everyone.”

  “What about killer robots?” Maya held her arms out and mimicked a robot walk.

  Genna laughed. “I suppose there could be a few of the KT3s left out there, but the war’s over. No one to fix ’em up.”

  “Why did people let Ascendant take over?” Maya leaned her head back, snuggling.

  “Not sure what you read on that computer you had, but no one really ‘won’ the war. After a time, everyone realized there wasn’t much left to fight over. Command on both sides had been more or less wiped out. Soldiers decided to stop shooting at each other. Eventually, we all went home. Hell, the truck I took back to the airfield on my way here had a dozen NoKos on it. Two months before that, we’d have killed each other for wearin’ the wrong uniform. On that truck, we all just a bunch o’ poor people couldn’t believe what our idiot leaders did.”

  “NoKo? Is that North Korean?”

  Genna patted her back. “Yeah. After the war, people wanted order, and they didn’t care who wound up in charge as long as someone kept things together.”

  “Before I left the Sanctuary Zone, I didn’t really understand the war. It felt like a story.”

  “Yeah. All things considered, we got a lot more tech left here than I ever expected. A few major cities soaked up people and kinda put themselves back together, but not everyone wanted a government back. People who live in the wildlands decided ta try somethin’ different.”

  “I want something different too.” Maya fidgeted with her shirt. “Citizens have too much and Nons don’t have enough.”

  “Now that is something to work on. Smart as you are, I’m sure you’ll fix it someday.”

  Maya pondered the idea, daydreaming about a future where the poor weren’t so desperate, and the Vanessa Omans of the world didn’t treat people like crap for not having money. “We proved she is evil. Why is she still there?”

  “Brigade has people inside the Authority, and Harlowe’s heard some good things. Ascendant’s scrambling to save themselves. I’m sure that bitch is doing everything she can to keep control. She’d have to be a damn fool to drop Fade on anyone, at least for a while. I hope a long while. You at least helped shine a light on that roach.”

  Maya shivered. “I don’t like roaches. We should step on it.” She cast a nervous glance around the floor.

  “Oh, we will. We hurt them good, but we ain’t done yet. And you”―Genna tickled at Maya’s sides, making her squeal―“need ta stop worryin’ about everything. All you gotta do now is be a kid. This ain’t your fight.”

  Sarah laughed, scooting out of reach as Maya squirmed and grabbed for the attacking fingers, giggling. After a few minutes of tickle war, she lay flat on the couch, winded and grinning. It didn’t matter that she’d gone from the luxury of a Sanctuary Zone penthouse to the bleakness of a crumbling apartment building in the Habitation District.

  She had a real mother.

  2

  Cost Benefit

  Maya hovered at Genna’s side in the kitchen, watching her cut the plastic away from a pack of raw chicken. She peeled off the wrapper, exposing a tile of meat about an inch thick and nine square. BioNatura Corporation grew it somewhere in the Baltimore Sanctuary Zone, but Maya had never seen the raw, packaged form in person before. Whenever she’d had ‘real’ food instead of a Hydra tray, it had always been at a restaurant. Genna handed her the crumpled up wrapper and dropped the meat onto a cutting board with a wet slap.

  “Toss that in the bin.”

 
Maya crossed the small kitchen to the trash, staring at the floor in case a roach decided to brave the light. “Does that cost a lot?”

  “About two NuCoin a pack.” Genna sliced it into cubes, adding the meat handful by handful to a simmering pot. “Fourteen raided a warehouse. Some of it trickled back to us.”

  “Fourteen what?” Maya wandered back to her mom’s side and tilted her head.

  Genna chuckled as she dropped the last of the meat into the soup. “Brigade operates in teams. I guess it’s like a platoon, but we’re not official military anymore. Fourteen’s the group who hit the warehouse.”

  “Why does the Brigade steal food? You said they paid you?”

  “Most of my ‘pay’ comes from the VA. What’s left of the old government tryin’ ta do right by us vets I guess.” She stirred the soup, making appraising faces at it. “That or they want us all close in case they need us. Brigade took that food ta give out ta Frags.”

  At the word ‘Frags,’ Maya thought of the people living on the outskirts of the Hab, sleeping in plastiboard boxes. That woman who looked after half a dozen kids already had given some of her grilled rat to Maya without hesitation. Like Sarah, the people out there had all worn old curtains or towels for clothes—at least the ones who had anything on. As soon as the Ascendant threat stopped, she’d start a campaign to help them.

  Maya stood on tiptoe to peer into the pot. Watching someone cook for real fascinated her far more than any video the AuthNet had. “Can we get Sarah some real clothes? And shoes?”

  The door opened.

  Genna smiled and patted her on the head. “I’ll see what I can do.”

  Sarah trudged into the kitchen. Thin and pale, her hair frizzed, she looked like she’d gotten into a fistfight with a dust storm and lost. Fresh tear trails had drawn white lines in the grime on her face. She took a seat by the table, staring at the floor. Her voice came tiny, a trace above a whisper. “Is it still okay if I eat here?”

  “What’s wrong?” Maya ran to her side.

  “Is your father coming?” Genna glanced back and forth between two small bottles before opening one. She sprinkled the soup with whatever it contained, and smiled. At the sight of Sarah, her expression shifted to one of concern. “Faerie?”

  “Dad’s asleep,” said Sarah. “I couldn’t wake him up. He’s… umm….”

  The odor of beer-burp clung to her friend’s clothes. Maya folded her arms. “Drunk.”

  Sarah nodded. Awkward silence lingered for a moment before she rubbed at her arm. “I’ll make something for him later.”

  “Hmm.” Genna set the spice down and walked over to pat her shoulder. She tugged on Sarah’s ‘dress,’ exposing the upper part of her arm where she’d rubbed. Having been protected by her improvised garment, the skin remained striking in its paleness compared to the rest of her.

  “He didn’t hit me,” said Sarah in a flat tone. “I’m just itchy.” A few seconds passed. She looked up. “I don’t have fleas.”

  “When’s the last time you had a bath?” asked Genna.

  “A week or two.”

  Maya tilted her head. “You said you just had a bath.”

  “They have jokes in the fancy city, right?” Sarah pulled a chair away from the table.

  “Or washed that thing?” asked Genna.

  Sarah’s cheeks pinked. “It’s an old curtain. It’ll fall apart if I try to wash it.”

  Genna tested the material between her fingers. “It should handle a wash. Go on and run a tub. Soup’ll be a little bit yet. I’ll let you borrow one of my shirts ’til yours dries.”

  “It’s okay. I don’t wanna be a burden.” Sarah looked up with a worried grimace.

  “G’won.” Genna gave her a light nudge. “No burden.”

  Sarah looked down. “Okay. Thank you.”

  “Keep the soup movin’, baby?” Genna patted Maya on the head and walked with Sarah into the back of the apartment.

  Maya dragged a chair over to the stove, climbed up on it, and pretended to be a witch with a cauldron. A few minutes later, a metal squeak rang in the walls. She looked around, trying to figure out where the sound came from until the hiss of water in pipes made it obvious. Genna returned soon after with Sarah’s yellowed curtain-dress, and tossed it in the sink. While Maya stirred, Genna added a pack of pre-cut celery and square potato bits to the soup along with a heavy-handed dose of garlic powder.

  “Wow!” yelled Sarah, from the bathroom. “You have bottle soap? Is it okay if I use some?”

  Genna laughed. “How else you gon’ take a bath without soap?”

  Maya kept stirring, basking in the smell of spices and mesmerized by the vegetables swirling around. Genna hand-washed the curtain-dress in the sink. Within seconds, the water turned brown. Maya cringed.

  “Ow,” muttered Genna. She held the sopping wad of fabric up and pulled out a thin metal rod, which had stuck her in the finger. “What the heck?”

  Maya pursed her lips. “Lock pick.”

  “Girl needs ta be careful where she goin’. Ain’t gonna end well she gets caught with that thing.” Genna set the pick on the counter and resumed washing. A few minutes later, she’d gotten the improvised garment as clean as possible, wrung it out, and hung it over the back of a chair.

  Sarah emerged from the hallway a little while later in a dark green T-shirt that covered her to the knees but left one shoulder visible. The scent of peaches clung to her. She almost looked like a different person with her hair neat, (relatively) straight, and dark from being wet―and not a scrap of dirt anywhere on her. With a nervous glance at her soaked dress, she sat on that chair without leaning back.

  “Now that you done in there, goin’ ta hang this up ta dry.” Genna carried the curtain-dress to the bathroom.

  Maya grinned at her.

  Sarah managed a weak smile.

  “You can use the tub here whenever you want.”

  “Thanks,” muttered Sarah. “Our water heater’s busted.”

  Genna glided back in and portioned out three bowls of soup and some bread before joining them at the table. “You know, you take such good care of that man. It’s okay to rest sometimes. I gotta tell Maya she’s still a kid. Don’t gotta go savin’ the world yet. That goes for you too. Spend a little time bein’ a kid.”

  “I guess. I’m just…” She fidgeted at the fabric in her lap. “I don’t know why Dad’s mad at me.”

  “Billy needs ta lay off the beer a little, f’ya ask me.” Genna dosed her soup with pepper. “He’s mad at the whole world. But not you.”

  “Yeah.” Maya nodded eagerly. “Whenever he looks at you, he stops being angry.”

  Sarah looked up, gave a halfhearted shrug, and started on her soup. “I guess.”

  Maya blew on the spoon a few times and took her first taste, nibbling on a bit of chicken. Garlic, and pepper flooded her senses. She slurped up two more spoonfuls before taking another breath.

  “Looks like I did okay?” Genna winked.

  “Mmm!” Maya beamed. “It’s good!”

  “Yeah, Miss Genna. It’s like Sanc food.” Sarah’s smile radiated guilt, but she kept eating.

  “Mom, can Sarah bring some soup to her dad?”

  “Sure. I think I got a plastic bowl around here somewhere.” Genna glanced at the cabinets.

  Maya started to grin at her, but something didn’t seem quite right. Like she’d been avoiding eye contact. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothin’, baby.”

  “Why won’t you look at me?” Maya leaned forward, trying to duck enough to catch Genna’s gaze.

  “Heh.” Genna leaned back, finally looking at her. “I been avoidin’ tellin’ you somethin’ all day, ’cause I know how you gonna take it. It ain’t bad news.”

  The warmth of soup in her belly shifted to discomfort; she tensed, staring at her mother.

  “Just a job. Brigade wants me on hand to help out a supply run. We’re bringin’ Xeno up to Philly. Not too dangerous. Worst part is how long
it takes ta drive.”

  “I wanna go,” said Maya.

  “No,” blurted Sarah, voice raised. “It’s too dangerous.” Her blue eyes widened, threatening tears. “Please don’t. What if they’re looking for you?”

  Maya frowned. “They know where I am. The Authority isn’t that stupid. They have to know who I am now.”

  “They probably do, and they don’t care.” Genna reached across the table to squeeze Maya’s hand. “If they did, they’d have been here already.”

  Maya let off a sigh of relief.

  “Still, she’s right. That’s a long lotta road. Only way I’d bring a little one along is if the trip was one way, like movin’ to a new home. I already talked ta Billy. Says you can stay with them ’til I get back.”

  “But”―Maya sniffled―“what if something happens to you? Please don’t go.”

  “It ain’t dangerous that way.” Genna reached over the table and took her other hand, holding them both. “I… we don’t think Ascendant is going to come after you, but I’d prefer if you stayed here where the others can look out for you.”

  Sarah blinked at Genna. “Dad didn’t say anything.”

  He also thought I was his daughter. He could use some Synaptin. She stared at the ceiling, annoyed at herself for the reflexive idea to suggest one of Ascendant’s meds. Of course, The Dad could use some. Dementia, Alzheimer’s, and a handful of other mental issues caused by physical damage to brain tissue showed improvement in seventy-four out of 100 trial patients. Granted, nine suffered drastic personality changes and one went insane, but those numbers had been acceptable for Vanessa.

  Why do I keep thinking about drugs? Maya biffed herself in the forehead a few times.

  “What are you doing?” asked Sarah.

  “Trying to shake out bad ideas.” Maya picked up her spoon again.

  Genna nodded. “Good. Because you’re not going to Philly with me. We’ll only be a couple days.”

  “Did the people in Philly see the video?” asked Maya.

  “Everyone in the Eastern Commonwealth States did, baby. We patched it into every screen with a network connection, every handheld, and every transmitter we could find. Hell, we even sent it to California and over to Europe.”