Ascendant Unrest

by Matthew S. Cox

  “Come inside already.” Vanessa shook her head.

  Sarah helped her stand, whispering by her ear, “I don’t trust her.”

  “Yeah.” Maya stepped over the puke and crept into the apartment; the smell of PBJ made her gag again.

  A brush of air-conditioning pushed the hair off her cheeks. The place looked about double the size of the apartment Genna’s crew grabbed her from. Maya’s heart sank like a stone in her chest. She’d give anything to be duct-taped in that bag again.

  “Ahh, well. It’s good to see you survived that horrible ordeal in one piece.” Vanessa smiled.

  “Are you surprised they didn’t kill me? I mean, you told them to.” Maya tried to glare at her but something—guilt, the years she’d spent thinking of that woman as a parent, fear for her life—made her flinch and stare downward. “You looked right at me and said it.”

  Vanessa sighed. “I would have thought you learned better than that, my dear. I knew they wouldn’t. You were all they had. The only advantage. If they did anything to you, they walked away with nothing. I knew they wouldn’t do it.”

  “Maybe you believe that, but I think you really didn’t care either way.” Maya scratched at her stomach, still staring at the carpet. “You know what real mothers do? Real mothers pick their missing kids up in person at the Authority precinct. Real mothers, I dunno, touch their kids instead of cringing away. Maybe a pat on the head, or, gasp, a hug?”

  “I can smell the sewer on you from here.”

  Right. “I guess I should be happy you took time out of your schedule to be in the same room when there isn’t a commercial to be made.”

  “I’m glad you appreciate the sacrifices I make for you.” Vanessa walked around a huge white sectional and stopped only a few feet away. “My, my. You do need a bath. Well. You may not believe me, but I am happy you are in one piece.”

  “Cheaper than buying a new fertilized embryo?” Maya tapped her foot. “Oh, you know what else real mothers do? They meet their children before they’re out of diapers.”

  “You really should work on your tact, young miss.” Vanessa circled to the left, eyeing Sarah. “And this would be your friend.”

  Sarah stared at her, somewhere between petrified and furious.

  “I have some unfortunate news, I’m afraid. Regretfully, your father passed away earlier this morning.” Her lips twitched, the same way they always did whenever she won. The bitch enjoyed that.

  “What?” Sarah gasped. “No!” She fell to her knees, shaking.

  Maya scowled at Vanessa and knelt to embrace Sarah. “Leave her alone.”

  “You’re lying,” mumbled Sarah between sobs.

  “I know it’s difficult to accept. The man’s weakened condition allowed his cancer to advance rapidly to the point of being untreatable.” She paced side to side as if in a boardroom meeting. “It pains me whenever a veteran loses that last battle. Had he sought treatment months ago, we could’ve restored him fully.”

  Sarah fell sideways, all strength gone from her muscles. Maya held her as she cried so hard she couldn’t breathe.

  “Why are you doing this to her?” asked Maya. Hearing Sarah wail brought back all the pain of losing Genna.

  Vanessa put on her compassionate face. Maya trusted it about as much as she’d trust DeeDee. Well, perhaps a little more. Whatever lay in store for her here would certainly not include being molested. At least she’d give her biological mother that much. Granted, both amounted to prostitution, though Vanessa’s form of making Maya sell her body didn’t involve sex. “This isn’t going to be easy to hear, but you are much better off without him.”

  Sarah lifted her head. “What? How can you even say something like that? Go to hell. What is wrong with you?”

  “You surely can’t see it.” Vanessa sighed. “Poor thing. That man expected a little girl to take care of him like a wife. You cooked, cleaned, and waited on him, didn’t you? You fed him like a toddler when he became too sick to eat on his own. What did he do? Certainly not be your father, spending his pension on booze instead of seeing to your needs. It’s kinder for you that he’s gone. You will be much happier here.”

  “I loved him,” whispered Sarah. “He’s my dad. That’s all that mattered. He was sick. He didn’t know any better.” She sniveled. “He died trying to stop you from taking Maya.”

  Maya huffed in and out her nose, giving fury a few seconds to tamp down her sorrow. “That’s not even funny. You calling someone a bad parent. You couldn’t even call me to say goodnight.”

  “You are mistaken, girls.” Vanessa wagged her finger. “The miscreants who are responsible for your father’s death are the same ones who abducted you yesterday. They are not working for me. Quite the contrary, I would very much like to see them all put down like the skulking rats they are. I have not yet identified the head of the serpent, but when I do….”

  Sarah blinked and snapped her head up. “How do you know so much about us?”

  “The poor man was rather talkative in his last moments.”

  “You killed him!” Maya shouted, jumping to her feet.

  Vanessa pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. “No, Maya. He died to cancer. A rather unexpected sudden surge and metastasis. I had hoped he could prove useful in finding you.”

  “You don’t want me.” Maya took a step back. “You never wanted me from the day you realized I wasn’t cruel like you. Once you knew I could never kill people for profit, I became ‘flawed.’ Just let us go. You never even liked me.”

  Vanessa’s expression sharpened. Heads of companies often withered from that glare. “I suggest you behave yourself, unless you fancy something rather unfortunate happening to that hermit you’ve attached yourself to.”

  “Pope? He’s alive?” Maya blinked.

  “For now.” Vanessa glanced at her minicomputer.

  Benson emerged from the interior hallway, carrying his shoes. His pants bore no trace of vomit and a faint cologne scent hovered around him.

  “Wait outside for me, would you, Benson?” Vanessa smiled at him.

  “Yes, ma’am.” He gave the girls a brief nod before walking out.

  As soon as the door closed, Vanessa’s fake smile vanished. “This is your home, Maya. I imagine those dust rats have filled your head with all manner of nonsense. Even that little presentation they made you put on won’t matter.”

  “Oh? I think it’s already mattered. Besides, you told the whole Eastern Seaboard that I never existed. What are you going to say now?”

  Vanessa laughed, covering her mouth with a dainty hand. “For such an intelligent person, you are so naïve. I merely have to explain that it was a necessary ruse to lure out the Brigade terrorists who had kidnapped you. And then go on to express how happy I am that you have returned safe.”

  Maya wrapped her arms around Sarah, nestling her friend’s head to her chest as she wept. “The Authority won’t believe you.”

  “Oh, I think they will after we make a happy reunion video. Also, prepare yourself mentally to record some additional advertisements. We’re about to launch a new skin de-aging cream.”

  “How about, eat a dick?” asked Maya.

  Sarah’s sobbing barked with an unexpected laugh.

  “My word.” Vanessa gawked. “You have been associating with some rather questionable people. That is truly unfortunate. Maya, you should take some time and consider your position carefully. The residents of a certain little rathole might have an unfortunate day ahead of them. That little half-Chinese girl is rather adorable. It might actually sadden me if something were to happen to her. Or that scrawny ragamuffin boy with a pronounced allergy to shirts. He is painfully cute.”

  “No!” shouted Maya. “You wouldn’t! Leave them alone!”

  Sarah scowled at Vanessa.

  “You accuse me of willfully distributing the Fade virus for no reason other than profit, claiming thousands of innocent lives, and you think I’d bat an eyelash at a handful of Frags caught in an
unfortunate building collapse? I hear those old structures are rather prone to it.”

  Maya shivered. “Please don’t hurt them.”

  Vanessa took a step for the door. “Would your delicate, overdeveloped conscience feel better if I were to allow your friend here to go back there? Even if she’s an orphan now?”

  “No.” Maya shook her head. “I want her to stay here.”

  Sarah gave her an odd look.

  “Very well. Both of you go clean yourselves up right away. You’re absolutely filthy. You’ll find things in the closet to wear, her as well. Don’t bother trying your old trick. The AI won’t allow you to leave unless you are escorted by one of my staff.”

  “Why do you even want her?” Sarah coughed and wiped her nose. “It doesn’t make any sense at all.”

  “The will,” said Maya. “She needs me alive to protect herself.”

  “Very good.” Vanessa slow-clapped. “In a somewhat twisted turn of events, you simultaneously made my life exceedingly difficult, but also protected it.”

  “Huh?” Sarah looked back and forth from Maya to Vanessa. “You should be in jail for using Fade on everyone.”

  “I thought you disowned me,” said Maya.

  “Oh, after that little exchange at the prison, I had planned to.” Vanessa frowned. “The ads weren’t meeting rating goals anyway. Your disappearance might’ve been a cost-saving proposition: security, food, clothes, and so on. But the timing of your adorable attempt at being inspiring wound up being good for me. With those Authority nitwits initiating an investigation into your accusations, it put a freeze on my ability to change legal documents related to the company. I couldn’t remove you as my heir.” She scoffed. “I should’ve done it once I realized you didn’t have what it takes to run a company as prestigious as Ascendant.”

  Maya gave her the finger. “You should go back to school. Prestigious isn’t the word you’re looking for.”

  Sarah blinked.

  “And, ’cause I’m stuck in the will, if those people kill you, I get control of the company by some trustee they won’t be able to touch. So by keeping me here, where someone would need another nuke to get to me….”

  “It’s about time you showed some evidence of all the money I spent on your genes.” Vanessa clucked her tongue.

  “I am smart. I’m just not heartless.” Maya folded her arms. “You forgot to select that option when you ordered me.”

  “Well, I suppose we will need to adjust that bleeding heart of yours. Pity those amateurs got in the way. I was rather looking forward to having that wretched woman you’ve become so enamored with executed for treason and kidnapping. She got lucky. A bullet was much faster. Don’t worry dear. By the time you’re an adult, we shall have corrected your unfortunate sense of empathy.”

  Maya draped herself against Sarah, lacking the strength to even sit up under her own power. Sprawled on their knees, the girls clung to each other.

  “Ta. Back soon.” Vanessa waved at them moving only her fingers, her large smile showing perfect, super-white teeth. She strode out into the hall, the door sliding closed behind her with a soft pneumatic hiss.

  Benson’s murmuring echoed briefly outside before fading to silence.

  “What the hell?” asked Sarah. “You told her to keep me here?”

  Maya squeezed her tighter. “You know where I am. She wouldn’t have let you go. They would’ve killed you.”

  She squeaked and shivered. “You think so?”

  “It’s Vanessa. She gives Fade to four-year-olds to make money. She doesn’t want anyone finding me.” Maya sniffled into her shoulder. “I know she would.”

  The lavish penthouse at the top of the world―or what remained of the world―hung in dreadful silence, save for the soft weeping of two girls with broken hearts.

  22

  Five-Star Prison

  Maya lay upon a cloud-soft mattress beneath silk sheets, staring at a plain grey ceiling.

  Essence of honey-lemon chicken swirled at the back of her throat from the Hydra meal she’d eaten hours before. The bedroom’s enormous walk-in closet held a vast array of Maya’s fancy dresses. A little section at the back held much less fancy clothes for Sarah. All but one pair of shoes were Maya’s size, but even the least extreme―shiny white kitten heels―looked woefully uncomfortable. Another set of kitten heels, but not a designer brand, sat beneath Sarah’s clothes. She wondered if Vanessa had planned to keep Sarah in tow when dragging Maya around to company functions, an ever-present ‘piss me off and you know what happens to her’ threat.

  Her friend curled up beside her, also in a pink silk nightie. Sarah hadn’t stopped crying from the moment Vanessa left, including the whole time Maya showed her how to use the electronic bathtub. Sarah didn’t even ask about the hole at the back end of the tub that contained the hair machine. More out of routine than desire, Maya had brushed her teeth (because a brush and toothpaste existed here) and then taught Sarah how to do the same. The older girl continued weeping, though as an intermittent sniffle or soft whimper.

  I wonder what Pope is doing. She teared up again, thinking of him getting cute with Genna. Despite Vanessa’s assurance that he remained alive, Maya figured she’d imagined him showing up on the street right before they got picked up by the Authority. He hadn’t looked angry or devastated by Genna’s death. Would he try to find her? Should she even go with him if he did? It didn’t seem likely. A man like that would probably welcome the chance to go back to his quiet solitude.

  Everyone will be safer if I stay here.

  At Sarah going quiet, Maya opened her eyes and rolled her head to the side, coming nose-to-nose with her.

  “Hey,” whispered Sarah, wide awake. “Guess you can’t sleep either.”

  “No. I don’t think anyone sleeps their first night in jail.”

  Sarah emitted a combination sob-giggle. “I didn’t think jail had such nice beds. This is too soft.”

  “We can’t leave. It might be comfortable, but we’re still prisoners.”

  “Yeah.”

  Maya blinked a tear from her eye. “I’m sorry they took you too. Are you angry because I’m glad you’re with me?”

  “Maybe a little but… if my dad is really dead, I don’t have anywhere to go.” She managed a weak smile and grasped Maya’s hand. “I’m glad we’re together too.”

  “I’m sorry you’re in danger. She’s going to hurt you if I do anything wrong. I won’t. I’ll do whatever she wants.”

  Sarah shivered and scooted closer. “I’m scared.”

  “I am too, but I won’t do anything to make her hurt you.”

  “Do you think she was lying about my dad?”

  Maya broke eye contact.

  “You believed her.” Sarah let out a shuddering sigh.

  “Sorry. She’s got this little thing with her lips whenever she does something she thinks is a total win. Vanessa loves it when she makes a checkmate move at a negotiation and sits there watching the other person squirm with no way out. She loves it even more if she hurts them doing it.” Maya swallowed a lump in her throat. “I’m sorry. If I wasn’t in your apartment, they―”

  “Stop.” Sarah rolled flat on her back and took a huge breath before wiping her face. “If you’d been with Doc and Zoe, they’d be dead now. Or Arlene and Brian.”

  “I would not stay with Brian.” Maya grumbled.

  “You know what I mean. It wouldn’t matter. It’s not your fault.” She sighed. “I guess I should stop crying so much over my dad. And Brian wouldn’t have tried to protect you. He’d have let them have you.”

  “Yeah.” Maya looked at her again. “Why wouldn’t you be upset over your father?”

  “Dad was nuts. He barely did anything. He loved me, but didn’t take care of me like a dad should. It’s not his fault. The things he saw during the war broke him. I hate her, but Vanessa isn’t wrong. Even Genna kinda said the same thing, but not quite so mean.”

  “Sarah.” Maya rolled on her side,
facing her. “Your dad really did love you. I could see it whenever he looked at you.”

  She sniffled, tears welling in her eyes. “Sometimes it was like he’d go back to how he must have been before the war. But most of the time, he was someone else.” She picked at the bed for a few seconds in awkward silence. “Should we try and escape?”

  “Not worth it. There’s only one door and a fire exit. Both computer controlled. Even if we could get out, she’ll hurt everyone in our building.”

  Sarah sat up, elbows on her knees and her face in both hands. “She killed him. You’re right. But why?”

  “She knows we’re like sisters and wanted to use you to control me.” Maya propped herself up on her elbows. “When I first met you, I was scared. I’d never been around any other kids.”

  “That’s sad.” Sarah wiped her face and nose. “What time is it?”

  Maya glanced at the nightstand clock. “Almost two in the morning.”

  “Ugh.” Sarah flopped back down. “I can’t sleep.”

  “Me neither.”

  Maya closed her eyes and put an arm across Sarah. Perhaps if she stopped trying to sleep to get away from all the pain and guilt swimming around in her head, she might drift off. Eventually, Sarah rolled toward her and grabbed her like a giant, living teddy bear. No matter how hard Maya tried to think of anything else, the image of Genna collapsing behind the car played over and over in her mind.

  A heavy stone burdened her chest where her heart should’ve been. Maya stared at the ceiling, trying to think of any possible way to escape.

  Sleep snuck in like a thief under cover of darkness. Maya moaned and sat up, head wobbling about for a moment or so until the fog cleared from her mind. Half-closed eyes focused on the blur of cyan light at her left, which sharpened to 10:17. Sarah had flopped on her back and lay sprawled with her arms and legs askew.

  After a yawn and a stretch, Maya slipped out of the bed and hit the bathroom before wandering back and standing in the middle of the room, swaying on her feet. She scratched at her stomach and stretched again. A peek in the closet at all the expensive dresses, plush sweaters, and fanciness made her frown―and feel guilty. Kids in the Hab were lucky to own a complete outfit of actual clothes, and if they had to wear curtains, carpets, or plastic bags, they at least felt grateful to have that. People living on the edges between the Hab and the Dead Space made do with even less.