Heir Ascendant

by Matthew S. Cox

  “I hate Trenton,” said Binks, wandering off. “I really fuckin’ hate Trenton.”

  Maya pulled on Genna’s arm again. “I’m hungry.”

  “Any chow down here?” asked Genna. “That’s a damn fine idea.”

  Sidiqi shook his head. “Nah. Gotta go upstairs.”

  “Be right back.” Genna stood, set her on the chair, and kissed the top of her head before walking back out the way they’d entered from.

  Maya gripped the seat, trying to conceal her nervousness. She jumped when the door closed. A momentary worry that everything continued to be an elaborate plot to kidnap her into the hands of the Brigade stalled the breath in her throat. What if Genna had done her part by bringing her here and that had been her cue to go away and never come back. Maya picked at the seat. Stop being stupid. She closed her eyes and put herself back in that little hidden room where Genna had broken down and cried. That wasn’t fake.

  A few minutes went by in silence before footsteps scuffed up alongside her.

  “So, you really loaded up that shipment, kid?” asked Binks, a skinny man with dark brown hair. He had an edgy twitchiness and a wiry musculature that unsettled her, though his smile seemed friendly enough.

  “Yes, but I promised some of it to people who need it. Doctor Janus at―”

  “What?” Harlowe leaned forward. “How do you know about her?”

  “I was running away from some blueberries and hid in the Integration Ward. I didn’t know Doctor Janus helped the Brigade.”

  “Ballsy,” said Sidiqi.

  “Not really. You guys do know it’s not contagious after forty-eight hours.” Maya stole a peek out of the corner of her eye at the door. “I’ve been vaccinated. There’s people there who are going to die if they don’t get Xenodril soon. Some are younger than I am. Ascendant doesn’t care because they don’t have any money.”

  “Hmm.” Harlowe tapped his finger on a bottle opener. The wiry man handed him a glass-bottled beer from a plastiboard case on the floor. “And you want to just give it to them.”

  “Of course.” Maya blinked. “It’s my fault if they die.”

  Harlowe popped the cap with a pffsh, and flicked it onto the table. “You definitely ain’t your momma’s daughter.”

  Maya narrowed her eyes. “That bitch isn’t my mother.”

  Harlowe raised his bottle to her. “All right then. You know how to work a PCM-6?”

  “No. I’m not even sure what that is.”

  The sandy-haired man, Jameson, dragged his chair around next to her and spent the next few minutes teaching her how to use a small radio communicator. Once she got the basics of it, he held up a thin, black elastic strip studded with two tiny metal discs.

  “This is a throat mic. It picks up your voice so you don’t look like you’re using a radio. Hold your hair off your neck.” When she did, he leaned around behind her and pulled the mic taut to her neck before securing a fastener and running the wire down under her tee shirt. He lifted the bottom of the tee enough to discover her leggings had no pockets. “Hmm. Bink, we got any spare BDU tops?”

  The wiry man jogged over to a locker cabinet and rummaged up a large long-sleeved shirt―also plain black. He threw it to Jameson who held it up for Maya to slide her arms in. The garment engulfed her to the shins.

  “Perfect.” Jameson turned the communicator off, slipped it into the lower front left shirt pocket, and connected the wire. “No one will notice it.”

  “I’m guessing I’m not going to carry a gun, right?” asked Maya.

  “You are a genius.” Harlowe smiled.

  She looked back at the door when the motor noise started in the hall. “What will happen if someone grabs me?”

  “Then I figure Genna’s gonna be ripping someone’s nuts off.” Harlowe swallowed a few gulps of beer.

  Maya looked down, thinking about the three men in the alley. As scary as watching her kill people had been, knowing her mother could do that if she had to made her feel safe. Those idiots never saw it coming. “Yeah.”

  About ten minutes later, the door flew open at the behest of a boot, and Genna walked in carrying two yellow plastic baskets. The smell of fried food and spicy sauce followed her to the table. Maya stood to let her mother sit in the chair, then hopped into her lap and shot a quizzical look at a pile of long lumpy brown things doused in orange sauce on one side and the most pathetic looking donuts she’d ever seen on the other.

  “What is it?” Maya sniffed at it and grabbed her nose when spice burned up inside. “Ow.”

  “Chicken fingers and onion rings.”

  Maya teased at the choker around her neck while she ate, drinking quite a bit of water to mitigate the spicy sauce. She wouldn’t hurt anyone, but she was going to help. Genna kept a protective arm across her back. Despite the torrent of butterflies battling for space with her lunch, she felt happy―for however long it would last.

  aya huddled between Genna and Sidiqi in the front seat of a huge box truck. Tire treads deep enough for her to use as a ladder caused a continuous vibration that permeated the seat and left her legs feeling weird. Binks sat behind them with Jameson at his left, and Carver, who looked old enough to be Genna’s dad, drove. The flat-nosed truck and giant windshield made her feel as though she flew with nothing between her and the street. Whiny electric motors changed pitch each time they slowed or sped, and one of the dials kept flickering off and on.

  Clicking from the back seat announced Binks checking his weapon for the fifth time since they’d met up with Carver. The older man had picked them up about six blocks from The Hangar. If anything went wrong, the Authority cameras wouldn’t be able to connect the truck to the bar.

  Maya slid her hand into the shirt pocket and grasped the radio. Her upcoming role was simple. Kris, the snow-blonde woman, had picked out a secure position from which Maya could do what they called ‘overwatch.’ She’d take up a perch on the fourth floor fire escape of an apartment building with a perfect view of the warehouse and the surrounding streets. From there, Maya only needed only to sit still, stay awake, and give them warning if anything approached. They repeatedly told her that if anything went wrong, she should climb down and walk away as calm as if she had nothing to do with the warehouse hit.

  That, more than anything else, got her shivering―the idea that this operation could go so wrong.

  Carver muttered about idiots when an indecisive car in front caused them to get stuck waiting for an extra cycle of a red light. His agitation spread to Sidiqi in the middle seat, who’s fidgeting squished Maya. She pressed her arms out and squirmed, trying to fight for more room. Jameson slid a magazine into a compact rifle and racked it. Binks handed another one past the gap between the seats to Genna. She held it low between her knees to keep it out of sight. He passed her a magazine, and she clapped it home.

  Sidiqi’s rifle glided over her head. He pulled it down fast enough to make her flinch, but guided it with a dexterous touch so it didn’t hit her. Binks held a magazine out. Maya reached up and grabbed it. Sidiqi tilted the rifle and pointed at the opening. She turned the mag around and placed it in the slot.

  “Not bad. You got a little commando, Gen.” Sidiqi patted the mag down and racked the slide.

  “Safe on,” said Carver.

  Genna, Binks, Jameson, and Sidiqi replied “safe” one after the next.

  Maya looked at the bag between her feet. She leaned down and pulled the doll out.

  “Aww,” said Binks. “That’s adorable.”

  “Concealment.” Maya smoothed the doll’s hair. “Makes me look more normal. Not every girl plays with dolls. Mom didn’t.”

  Genna studied her lap with sad eyes and ran her hand over Maya’s hair. “Things were so different when I was your age. How the hell does a war that only lasted nine months fuck up the world for ten years?”

  “Officially…” said Carver, sounding distracted. “Shit kept going on for a few years. There’s still some old officers left back there with lit
tle kingdoms.”

  “More than ten years,” said Binks. “Been almost eleven now, and it’s gonna be fucked awhile more. At least they held off on using the big thermo-nukes or we’d be sittin’ naked around campfires eatin’ prairie dog.”

  “Bah, war would’a happened sooner or later. Planet wasn’t big enough for all the people trying to control it.” Carver battled with the gearshift, slowing as he took a rightward turn. “One minute out.”

  “You stay put and don’t leave ‘til we come out, got that?” Genna pulled Maya into her lap.

  “I understand.” She clicked the radio unit on and took a bud out of the breast pocket, which she stuffed in her left ear. “Comm check?”

  Binks chuckled. “Good idea. Might help if we all turned on. Freq 229.”

  Maya pulled the radio out enough to see the LCD screen and flicked the frequency over to 229.

  The truck eased to a stop alongside an older-looking apartment tower where fake brick facing had flaked off in large chunks. Similar buildings occupied the street behind them on both sides, but to the left, a wide-open area surrounded an H-shaped warehouse. Ascendant logos marked the walls as well as the security booth by the gate. Chain link surrounded the whole property, though the razor wire was missing in more places than it remained.

  One man in a white uniform shirt, not even armor, sat in the booth with his feet up. Rapid flickering light of a television screen shimmered over him. He slurped coffee and seemed at total peace with the world.

  A mass of folded grey cloth flew over Maya’s head and hit the windshield in front of Genna. Another landed in Sidiqi’s lap. Except for Carver, who already wore one, the adults put the Ascendant worker jumpsuits on over their clothes.

  Genna opened the passenger door and dropped out. When her boots hit pavement, her head wound up at shoe level. Maya climbed from the seat to the floor, sat, and slid off into waiting arms. Genna carried her across a sad excuse for a strip of lawn to a metal scaffold style fire escape a few yards past the corner.

  “The ladder’s too high.”

  “I’ll give you a boost.”

  Maya raised her hands and stared at the folded ladder. “Okay.”

  Genna dipped, then tossed her airborne. Maya clamped one hand on the cold metal and dangled for a few seconds, legs flailing. Genna grabbed her by the sneakers and pushed up once Maya stiffened her legs. She got her other hand around the rung and pulled herself onto the second floor platform.

  “I’m okay.”

  “C’mon back,” said Carver in the earbud.

  Genna remained under her, looking up with worry all over her face.

  Maya peered at her through the grating. “I’m okay, Mom.”

  Fear didn’t stand a chance facing the guilt brought on by the memory of little Ashley’s half-grey face. Maya leapt to her feet and hurried up two flights of metal stairs to the fourth floor. She crept to the corner and dangled her legs between the bars.

  “Don’t sit like that,” said Binks. “Takes too long to get up and move if there’s a problem.”

  “You forgot the doll.” Sidiqi’s voice sounded in her ear, but he waved the blonde toy at her from the truck.

  Maya pulled her feet up onto the platform. “I don’t need the doll. No one’s gonna see me up here anyway.”

  Genna jogged back to the truck and pulled the door closed with a muted whump. They drove away, leaving Maya scowling at the slogan ‘Building a better you’ under the word Ascendant on the side of the box. She always thought the white/cyan pyramid logo looked stupid. She hated it more now since she pretty much despised everything even remotely connected to Vanessa.

  “Hey boys and girls,” said Zeroice over the earbud.

  “What the hell?” asked Carver.

  “Relax.” Genna cleared her throat. “That’s our net man.”

  “How’d he get on this channel?” asked Sidiqi.

  “Did a frequency sweep in the area via an old cellular tower no one bothered to shut down. Those prewar radios are the only things using that range. Easy as pie to find it.”

  “Fuck,” said Binks.

  “Authority ain’t even looking for it,” said Genna. “Everything goes over the net now. We’re off the grid.”

  “She’s right,” said Zeroice. “They don’t even have the kind of equipment needed to eavesdrop on this stuff. Guess Head did you all a solid from beyond the grave. You wouldn’t believe the junk he’s got.”

  “You raided his place?” asked Genna.

  Zeroice chuckled. “Nah, I moved. Beats that shitty hotel.”

  Maya grabbed the bars of the fire escape porch and pulled herself up on her knees. From her elevated perch, she had a wide-angle view of the warehouse and both streets. It wasn’t quite seven at night yet, so no commuters clogged the streets, though this area had what passed for cheap rent inside the Sanctuary Zone. It looked every bit as crappy as the area around Block 13, but probably cost ten times more to live in.

  “Nothing’s out here,” whispered Maya.

  “Copy,” said Carver.

  The truck pulled up to the gate at the entrance to the warehouse. Maya listened to half the conversation in her left ear as Carver presented a falsified shipping manifest that Zeroice had sent back by way of the Brigade’s two scouts. The guard didn’t seem motivated enough to even look at it and buzzed them in.

  A few seconds after the truck’s rear end cleared the gate, Binks muttered, “We’re in.”

  “All right, people,” said Carver. “Keep the weapons out of sight. Maybe we can do this clean.”

  “What are we looking for again?” asked Sidiqi.

  “A-Profen,” whispered Maya. “Six pallets with the same lot number. Xeno bottles are squat and fat with a cap the same width as the rest. A-Profen bottles are flat on the bottom and curve to a cap half the diameter of the bottle.”

  “You are scary, kid,” said Binks. “Can we keep her as a mascot?”

  “I put the actual shipment number on the documents.” Zeroice chuckled. “It should look legit.”

  Various grunts and mutters of agreement filtered over the earbud. Maya kept pushing it back in place as it hadn’t been designed for a small ear. The truck disappeared around the right spar of the H-shaped building, sliding between two rows of parked forklifts.

  She shifted her weight rearward onto the balls of her feet to spare her knees more punishment from steel grating. At a hiss, she glanced over at a medium-sized beige car gliding across wet paving.

  “Car, coming from my right. Two inside. Looks like, uhh, old people,” whispered Maya.

  The elderly couple drove past the warehouse, past her, and off out of sight to the left.

  She looked up at an Authority drone emerging from between two high-rise buildings about six blocks beyond the warehouse, coming straight at it.

  “Drone incoming,” whispered Maya.

  “How’s it look?” asked Carver.

  “Um. Blue, four fans, big gun.”

  Binks chuckled. “Love this kid.”

  “Not what I mean,” said Carver. “Is it tilted forward moving fast, or does it look like it’s doing its normal lazy patrol thing?”

  She pulled the oversized black shirt up around her neck. “Oh. It’s high and slow.”

  “I’m on it,” said Zeroice. “It won’t pick up your weapons through the roof unless it comes within thirty yards. Gimmee fifteen seconds.”

  Maya stared at the approaching drone. The whine of its fans getting louder and louder tightened her fingers around the metal struts. It reached the far edge of the warehouse before it wobbled and performed an abrupt about-face, heading back and to the left, not quite the way it had come in from, while gaining altitude.

  “It’s leaving,” whispered Maya.

  “That was nineteen seconds,” said Sidiqi.

  Zeroice chuckled in her ear. “I changed its status monitors. It thinks it needs to go charge.”

  “Damn, this feels like real labor,” said Jameson. “Any of
you guys know how to work a pallet jack?”

  “It ain’t rocket science,” said Genna. “Out of my way.”

  Maya leaned against the railing on her right, still squatting. She let go of the bars and clamped her hands over her knees to rest her fingers. A blue-and-white car with bar lights nosed onto the road to the left of the warehouse, turning in her direction. Maya remembered what Pope said about motion attracting attention and resisted the urge to roll flat. She kept as still as she could force herself to.

  “Authority car coming. Left side. Looks quiet.”

  “Noted,” said Carver.

  She moved only her eyeballs to track it. The officer drove up to the corner where the truck had dropped her off, lingered a few seconds, and turned left, departing along the road that ran parallel to the near side of the warehouse.

  “Passing left side… and gone,” she whispered. “How much longer?”

  “Two more palettes,” said Genna. “Hang on.”

  Maya remained calm until a rectangular steel box atop the warehouse split open down the middle a few minutes later. Two hatch doors opened outward, releasing a three-fan Ascendant drone. Her heart raced, making her dizzy.

  “Ascendant drone coming out of the roof.” The want to whisper collided with the need to scream, resulting in a raised voice. “No! It’s moving around where the truck is.”

  She jumped to her feet and clung to the railing as the drone slid forward and cleared the edge of the building. Carver muttered, sending Binks and Jameson for rifles. Genna grunted as if moving something heavy.

  The drone kept going, not turning until it reached the distant edge of the warehouse property, at which point it swerved left and began what appeared to be an orbital patrol path.

  “It’s at the end of the parking lot, going left,” she whispered.

  “Timer release,” said Zeroice. “I can’t recall it without setting off an alarm, but I can blind it. The thing should continue going in circles for hours no matter what happens.”

  “Baby,” whispered Genna. “Get to the ground and wait for us at the corner. I’m”―she made a straining grunt―“loading the last pallet now.”

  Maya ran to the fire escape stairs, clanking and clattering to the second floor platform. After a couple of bounces, the ladder extended, and she rode it more than climbed to the street level. A few feet away from the sidewalk, she jumped and trotted over to the corner.