Heir Ascendant

by Matthew S. Cox

  Pat, pat, pat. Droplets hit the tub wall, streaks of crimson slid down toward her face.

  Maya looked up at the tip of a combat knife. Her shivering stopped. Another droplet swelled and fell. She forced herself to lift her gaze higher.

  Genna stood in an odd sideways lean, her beautiful face marred with a swollen left eye, bloody lip, and trails of blood. Some of her ropey hair lay twisted around her throat as though Moth had used it to strangle her. Her right arm hung at an unnatural angle, broken. The loose camo shirt was gone, the tank top ripped. She stared down with a weary, defeated expression.

  Maya grasped the edge of the bathtub and sat up, putting one hand on her left ankle where the handcuff had been. “Are you going to sell me to the robot dealer?”

  Genna pulled her hair away from her throat and let it fall behind her. “I’ve got a better idea. You tell another lie. Tell your momma I saved you. Reward would buy a lot of Xenodril for those who need it.”

  “I’m sorry you had to lose your son because Vanessa is mean.” Maya looked down. “I don’t like her either.”

  “I’ve been so angry for years.” Genna spat blood into the sink on her way to use the toilet for a seat. “I hated every Citizen for being vaccinated. Sam lingered for eight months. When he rasped his last breath, he was the color of that wall from head to toe, blind, hallucinating. He didn’t even know who I was. He kept whispering for his mama, even though I was right there.”

  Maya pulled her hand away from the line of bruise around her ankle. “When did you know?”

  “I saw the look in your eyes when that bitch said she’d just make another kid.” Genna exhaled with a slight shake of her head. “Well played, baby. You beat us.”

  “She doesn’t want me. I don’t want to go back.” Maya buried her face in her hands and cried, at last able to let her emotions out.

  “Come here, girl.” Genna slid the knife into a sheath behind her back with a click, the same knife that had cut the tape off her. “Moth never saw that one coming. They didn’t implant no armor in the groin.”

  Maya sniffled, stood, and climbed out of the tub before taking two tentative steps closer to Genna. “No witnesses, right?” She stared at her toes. “I suppose it’s better than starving.”

  “I’m not gonna hurt you.” Genna brushed a finger over Maya’s cheek while silent tears slid down her own. “How can that bitch throw away such a beautiful gift?”

  “All she loves is power. I’m just for holo-net commercials.” Maya fidgeted. “Do you think Sam would mind if I stayed with you?” She wheezed as a one-armed hug squeezed the air from her lungs.

  “I don’t think he’d have a problem with it.”

  Maya reached up, threading her arms around the woman’s back, finally returning the embrace after a minute. Genna got up and carried her, staggering across the trashed apartment to stand at the huge hole in the wall. Maya squinted into a breeze that lofted her hair. A crowd of curious Frags gathered about the bodies of Icarus, Headcrash, and Moth fifty stories below, next to the shattered remains of the bed. Maya watched them for a little while, then looked up and frowned at the gleaming lights and intact walls of the far-off Sanctuary Zone.

  Genna backed away from the dangerous precipice.

  “Mom?” Maya rested her head on Genna’s shoulder.

  The question―the title―brought tears.

  “Yes?” whispered Genna.

  Maya pointed at the destroyed terminal. “We should leave before they trace the calls.”

  lien shadows lengthened across the vast field of ruin, drawn by a hesitant morning sun that dimmed the glow of scattered fires among the rubble. Maya had kept her face hidden against Genna’s chest on the way out of the building and for some moments after. The sight of dead people was not one she wished to remember. She peered up over the woman’s left shoulder, still unsure how to process the feeling of human contact.

  Fragments of standing concrete hinted here and there at the presence of former skyscrapers. Wind, laden with the ill scent of mildew and dirt, pushed her hair forward in a gust and sent a brief chill through her nightdress. Soft rattling emanated from the trinkets and wooden bits in Genna’s hair. Maya looked to her right, the direction they moved, at a far-off indigo murk staining the sky.

  No stars showed from beyond the tainted atmosphere; a band of deep, dark blue separated the ground from a sky a shade paler. Maya stared until a hint of shapes appeared within the gloom: buildings. Reading about the Dead Space on the AuthNet hadn’t been a tenth as scary as being out in it. She clung tighter.

  Genna’s gait slowed to a stagger. A few steps later, she stopped.

  “I can walk,” said Maya, her voice a few decibels over a whisper.

  Genna swayed on her feet, but got her hand under Maya’s butt and hefted her up an inch. “You ain’t got shoes.”

  “Neither do any of the kids climbing on the buildings.” She leaned forward to study the ground. Dark dirt, littered with the occasional stone, metal fragment, or bit of electronic debris didn’t look too bad.

  “Yeah, well. They used to it.” Genna swooned to the left, but controlled her fall such that she ended up sitting on a white metal box that would’ve been about waist high if it hadn’t fallen over. ‘Baltimore Sun’ adorned the side in black block letters. Maya withdrew her arms from around the woman’s neck as she leaned back against a two-story triangle of concrete that used to be the corner of a massive building. “I ain’t wanna take no chances.”

  “Do they have hospitals out there?” Maya pulled her legs up, knees to her chin, and sat sideways across her new mother’s lap.

  Despite having one eye swollen closed and a broken right arm, Genna chuckled. “Not like the kinda clinics you’re used to, but we got somethin’.”

  “You’re in a lot of pain.” Maya reached up, but hesitated before touching the purple lump on Genna’s face. “You don’t have to carry me.”

  “You ain’t used to bein’ out here.” Genna rested a warm hand atop Maya’s foot, then squeezed it. “I never shoulda done it. Taken you outta that nice comfortable life. It ain’t your fault what they do.”

  Maya clenched her jaw when Genna’s finger traced over her bruised left ankle. “That woman never had time for me. I wasn’t lying. I really only did see her when she wanted me to pose for an ad. Vanessa can’t love anything other than Ascendant.”

  Genna leaned her head against the concrete behind her. “Got a confession to make, kid. That whole mess”―she exhaled―“was my idea. Thought I’d take that woman’s child away like she’d done mine… Killin’ you wasn’t a real part ‘a the plan. Moth took somethin’ I said sarcastic to heart. Barnes didn’t think they were gonna pay. Backup Op was to bring you to the Brigade.”

  Maya stared down. “I was angry at you for a bit. I have a confession too.”

  “I bet you do.” Genna forced a smile through her pain. “When did you go from tryin’ ta play me to hopin’ I felt like changin’ my mind? Or you still playin’?”

  Maya looked her in the eye. “Are you still doing a mission?”

  Water gathered at the corners of Genna’s eyes. “No, baby. I can’t give you the kinda life you’re used to, but you got yourself a momma now if that’s what you really want.”

  “I didn’t really have a life. That place was so dark and lonely.” Maya shied away from a foul-scented breeze and snuggled close. “Don’t you mean new momma?”

  Genna smiled. “That woman never been yo’ momma.”

  Go ahead kill her. I’ll make another one, said Vanessa Oman in her memory.

  Silent tears crept down Maya’s cheeks. “I decided to trust you when you figured I wasn’t a robot and didn’t say anything to the others. I saw you crying.” She looked up; her expression started a quiver in the woman’s lip. “I’m not lying, but I am manipulating you a little since I want to stay with you.”

  “You gonna be some kinda scary when you grown. Where’d you come up with all that shit? How you know about an
droid power cores?” Genna took a few breaths. “‘Nother minute and we’ll keep on.”

  “I made it up. Sounded technical enough. I spend a lot of time on the AuthNet reading.”

  Genna let her head sag back and chuckled into a wince.

  Maya yawned. Much of the fear she had kept hidden had waned, allowing the weight of being up all night to settle heavy on her brain. An involuntary squirm came over her at the memory of a roach crawling on her foot. She closed her eyes. “Isn’t it silly to get a tattoo they will kill you for?”

  Genna brushed at Maya’s hair. “There ain’t no Brigade tattoo. Can’t believe Head bought that. This from my time wit’ the 494th.” She sighed. “The Night Terrors. Unit insignia.”

  “Oh. Hey, if you’re a veteran, you’re not a Non.” A distant crunch in the rubble scared away the onrush of sleep. “What was that?”

  “Someone movin’ around.” Genna grunted, adjusted her one-armed grip on Maya, and stood. “Oughta get going.”

  Maya wriggled loose and slid to her feet, her toes sinking into the damp soil. “You’re hurt. How far is it?”

  “I can’t let you get sick.” Genna grabbed at her in an effort to pull her up again, seeming in the throes of a panic.

  Maya held the woman’s hand in both of hers. “Fade can’t hurt me. I’m vaccinated too. If you carry me, you’re not going to make it. It looks far.”

  Genna gave up trying to pick her up and tightened a grip around Maya’s right wrist. “Stay close. Watch where ya step. It’s about two miles.”

  The sun had gathered strength in the time they’d been resting. What had once been a strip of dark resembled a city, a sprawl of buildings that lacked the gleam of her former home as well as the everpresent whine of Authority drones. Amid the dull concrete-colored monoliths, a few scattered signs of civilization manifested as gleams of neon or traces of motion.

  Maya twisted left to peer at the shining silver edge of the New Baltimore Sanctuary Zone. “I’ve never been this far out before.”

  Genna tugged and pulled her up to a steady walk. “‘Bout ten miles of Dead Space ‘tween Citizen land and where we goin’.”

  Maya’s gaze lingered on the shining cluster of modern buildings behind them, a city full of sad people living sadder lives. Despite the comfort of a perpetually climate-controlled apartment, she’d felt like a rat in a sterile cage. Thinking of all the times she stared at the roof deck waiting for a helicopter that never came, or all the times she’d been scared stiff to attention when an Ascendant drone glided too close to the window got her heart heavy. The drones assumed her an intruder before they scanned. One bit out of place amid millions of ones and zeroes, and it would’ve shot her. Vanessa wouldn’t have cared. She’d have made another one. Maya turned her scowl downward, placing her steps with care around chips of concrete and pieces of broken civilization, wincing every so often at the inevitable buried rock.

  The Dead Space had once been a thriving metropolis before the war, though Maya had only seen it in images on the AuthNet educational archives. She squirmed her arm around, trying to pull back so she could grasp Genna’s hand, but the woman refused to let go of her wrist. The ‘you’re not going anywhere’ grip comforted her as much as it annoyed her.

  “Is it as dangerous out here as it says in the archives?” Maya took a long step over a patch of spilled chemical.

  “Can’t say. Been a while since I read anything online. Bet they make it sound worse’n it is. Citizens gotta be ‘fraid so the Authority can keep control. Long as they think they need protection, they stay in line.” She remained quiet for five or six strides. “Won’t say it’s not dangerous out here. Dead Space is worse. Ain’t as bad in the Hab. Only dangerous there if ya look like an outsider.”

  Maya looked up and blinked. “Hab?”

  Genna filled her lungs and lifted her chin before speaking in a grand tone. “The Baltimore Habitation District.” She gestured forward with her left arm, lifting Maya’s. “Where we goin’.”

  “Oh. I read about that. Never heard it called ‘Hab’ before though. The AuthNet says that people kill each other in the streets and fight for food all the time there.”

  “And… you still didn’t want me to turn you in at the gate?” Genna sniffled.

  Maya shrugged one shoulder, yawned, and cast a bleary gaze over smashed buildings. In the light of morning, a handful of scattered tents caught her eye. The color of concrete, only fluttering gave them away as not. “It was on the AuthNet, so I figured it was a lie… or at least not as bad as they make it sound. I don’t mind going there.”

  They crossed the debris field in relative silence for about an hour. Maya looked up every few minutes, growing worried when Genna had both eyes closed and the character of her walk seemed more like a series of random almost-falls and catches rather than planned steps. She shook Genna’s arm, startling her unhurt eye open.

  “It’s not much longer.” Maya pointed. “I can see people now. How far inside do we have to go?”

  “Block thirteen,” said Genna, sounding delirious. “Find Barnes…”

  “You’re bleeding.” Maya walked faster, pulling her along. “Hurry up. Don’t slow down. This city looks as big as the Sanctuary Zone.”

  “It’s bigger. More ah us than them.” Genna released Maya’s wrist long enough to reach across her chest and squeeze her broken right arm. She growled with a clenched jaw and took a few breaths. “Okay. I’m awake. Pain says I’m still alive.”

  Maya grabbed Genna’s hand. “Why do so many people live here if they hate the Authority so much? Wouldn’t they want to be far away in the Dead Space or in the wilds?”

  “There ain’t ‘nuff room in the Sanctuary Zone. They only let so many people inside, an’ it’s a bitch to become a Citizen if ya ain’t born into it or serve in the military. Lot of these poor bastards drag their sorry asses into paradise every day to work.”

  “Why?” Maya blinked. Did all those miserable people she’d watch from the penthouse day after day really live out here?

  Genna shook her head. “They hopin’ someone on the rung above ‘em falls off.” She stopped perhaps thirty yards from a pair of rectangular metal signs bearing the words ‘Baltimore Habitation District’ on either side of a street opening. A handful of locals milled about, some hurrying along while others stood around talking. “You sure you wanna hop off that ladder, kiddo? You were near the top.”

  Maya looked from the people ahead to Genna. Almost twelve hours ago, this woman wanted to kill her. Now she could barely stand, her body half-broken to save Maya’s life. Going home meant being a mouse in a cage all over again. Always alone, only tolerated when necessary for Ascendant business. Too soft, said Vanessa again in her mind. You’ll need to understand how the world works if you think you’ll ever have a position in my company. “Yes. I’m sure. I’m sorry you got hurt protecting me from Moth.”

  “I should probably ground you for a month.” Genna resumed walking and cocked a half grin. “Little girls shouldn’t trigger post-traumatic stress induced psychotic rampages in veterans.”

  Maya smiled. “I claim self-defense, but I promise I won’t do it again.”

  he Baltimore Sanctuary Zone looked more like an abstract blur of lighter color on the distant horizon than it did Maya’s former home. Feet accustomed to soft carpet found the texture of a paved road coarse. She turned away and glanced at the buildings flanking the street. To her left, an old red brick structure, reinforced with armor plating, held the trappings of an Authority command post, though no one occupied it. A prominent sign announced ‘Firearms regulated by drone enforcement.’ Below the text, a stick figure leaned back in death, a dotted line connecting its head to a tiny drone silhouette.

  On Maya’s right, a cracked storefront window bore three huge Chinese characters in gold paint over red. Inside, it appeared to be a restaurant where a handful of people crowded around tiny tables.

  Maya took a breath and let it out while pressing a hand into her b
elly to stall the torrent of butterflies. Vanessa told them to kill me. Was she faking? As scary as the dingy street littered with people was, the lonely penthouse apartment didn’t feel any more welcome. A lush cage remained a cage.

  She leaned forward, pulling on Genna’s arm. “Wake up. Where are we going?”

  Genna’s hair decorations rattled as she shook her head. “Doc Chang.” She blinked, gathered a wad of phlegm in her mouth, and spat a bloody glob to her left. “C’mon.”

  Maya cringed at the pat hitting the street. The idea of being a barefoot waif seemed far less romantic at the wonder of how many people did things like that to the ground she had to walk on. Of course, except for one pair of slippers more like socks with rubberized treads, all the shoes sitting in her old bedroom were tiny versions of a grown woman’s high heels. Not the sort of thing that would do well out here. Nothing practical to wear because she was never allowed out except to record ads, attend the occasional tour of a facility, or conduct a ‘walk around and smile at the peons’ trip to the Ascendant office. She narrowed her eyes. Only bought me what the photo shoots required.

  “You okay?” asked Genna at a hand squeeze.

  Maya yawned. “Yes. I’m tired.”

  “Me too, kiddo.” Genna stumbled but caught herself. “Won’t be long.”

  People―for the most part in grey shapeless ponchos, a few in threadbare rags―seemed to come in two varieties. Those late for something important and those who had nowhere to be and all day to get there. A man in an olive drab jumpsuit that looked like it lost a fight with barbed wire started to approach Genna. His expression implied he planned to beg, but he backed off after making eye contact with Maya.

  Along the first street, the ground floor of each building contained stores. Some appeared abandoned, nothing in them, others offered consumer electronics or gadgets the locals either couldn’t afford or wouldn’t bother spending money on. The pervasive smells of over-salted soup, grade D meat, and a bizarre piss-beer mixture tainted every breath. A handful of cheap food places seemed to do most of the business around here, as well as three bars and two other buildings with black paint all over the windows. Maya narrowed her eyes and vowed to herself that she’d never wind up working in one of those places.